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Swivelling Solar Home Stars in Madrid Contest

International teams have built 19 sun-powered homes in Spain's capital for a contest that shows off futuristic designs, including one house that swivels 180 degrees.

In western Madrid's huge Casa de Campo park, the sun glints off the solar panels of a futuristic mini-village erected in 10 days by university teams from China, Japan, Brazil, Egypt and across Europe.

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Spain Injects 4.5 Bn Euros Into Bankia

Spain has made a 4.5-billion-euro ($5.7- billion) non-cash injection into Bankia, a money-losing, state-rescued lender at the heart of the nation's financial crisis.

Madrid moved urgently to shore up Bankia's depleted coffers, delivering the capital as an advance payment on a eurozone banking rescue loan of up to 100 billion euros that was agreed in June.

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Portugal Wins Crisis Reprieve Ahead of German Court Decision

Bailed out Portugal won a precious reprieve from its creditors Tuesday, a day before a crucial court decision in Germany that could bring a painful end to a summertime lull in the eurozone debt crisis.

The EU and IMF agreed to relax Portugal's deficit targets for 2012 and 2013, rewarding the Portuguese for pushing through reforms and drawing a marked contrast with the little patience shown by creditors to Greece.

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Finnish PM Says He is Not Pressing Spain to Seek Bailout

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen Monday backed Spain in its "unfair" financial crisis and said he would not pressure it to seek a full sovereign bailout.

Katainen, addressing a Madrid economic forum before meeting with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, said he did not like to speculate about a Spanish bailout.

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Activists to Protest Spanish Bull-Spearing Festival

Animal rights activists said Friday they would protest a centuries-old festival in central Spain which a bull is chased and then lanced to death.

Hundreds of people, many on horseback, are expected to mark the Toro de la Vega festival in Tordesillas on Tuesday by chasing a bull into a plain near the town and then throwing lances into the animal until it dies.

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Spain Wants to Know Conditions for any Bailout

Spain wants to know the conditions it must submit to before requesting any sovereign bailout, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Friday.

"We have to know the conditions, analyse them and then it will be decided," he said in Paphos, a coastal resort in Cyprus where European Union foreign ministers are gathering.

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Spanish Police Evict Moroccan Immigrants from Tiny Islet

Spanish security forces launched a night time operation lasting into the early hours Tuesday to evict 73 immigrants from a tiny islet just off Morocco, officials said.

Spain's Guardia Civil police acted after scores of immigrants landed in the past week on the bare, rocky surface of Isla de Tierra, which lies an easy swim off the beach and is as long as two football pitches.

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Deficit Reduction Spain's Top Priority

Reducing Spain's budget deficit, which has soared past EU limits due to the deep recession, is the government's top priority, Finance Minister Luis de Guindos said on Monday.

Deficit reduction "is the number one priority from the point of view of economic policy," he said.

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Thousands Return Home after Costa del Sol Forest Inferno

Almost 4,000 people who fled a deadly forest fire in mountains near the glitzy Spanish resort of Marbella returned home on Saturday after the blaze was brought under control, local officials said.

An elderly British man perished in the fire and five people were injured when fast-moving flames and choking smoke engulfed mountains near the Costa del Sol in southern Spain.

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Spain Approves Creation of 'Bad Bank'

Spain's cabinet approved a major financial reform package on Friday including the creation of a "bad bank" to buy troubled property assets and bad loans from lenders.

Spain had agreed to push through the changes as a condition for receiving a banking sector rescue loan of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) from its Eurozone partners.

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