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Spain

Capital: Madrid ; GDP growth (annual %) 2016 :3.2%

The immigrant success story that led Spanish police to a Chinese banking behemoth

In Spain's Chinese community, Gao Ping was the ultimate immigrant success story. He was a young man at the same time as he arrived additional than two decades ago and took a job as a cook in a Chinese restaurant.

By 1997 Gao had opened an import business and begun building a commercial empire that would make him the highest-profile Chinese in Spain. He became a patron of the arts and cultivated political ties in Spain and in his native Zhejiang Province. In 2007, Chinese media carried a picture of him with Spain's King Juan Carlos I. And in interviews he was quoted saying he wanted to become a bridge between the two cultures.
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Spain's PM appeals to court over Catalan independence

The Spanish government and Catalan authorities took a step further on Friday (28 July), in their showdown ahead of an independence referendum planned for 1 October in Catalonia.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy announced that he would appeal to the Constitutional Tribunal against a text, passed in the Catalan parliament before this week, which would facilitate the adoption of a bill to organise the referendum.
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Spain: Rajoy Calls For Calm In Face Of ‘Authoritarian Delusions’ In Catalonia

Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called Wednesday, July 5 for calm in the face of “authoritarian delusions” in Catalonia, as tensions between Madrid and separatists in the northeastern region surged over an independence drive, AFP reveals.

“To all Catalans, to all Spaniards, I want to tell you to maintain confidence someday as authoritarian delusions… will at no time defeat the serenity and harmony of our democratic national,” Rajoy said at a gathering in Madrid.
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Key Facts: Full name: Kingdom of Spain
Population: 46.4 million (UN 2011)
Area: 505,988 sq km (195,363 sq miles)
Major languages: Spanish (Castilian), Catalan and its variant Valencian, Gallego (Galician), Euskera (Basque)
Major religion: Christianity
Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 85 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 euro = 100 cents
Main exports: Transport equipment, agricultural products
GNI per capita: US $31,750 (World Bank, 2010)
Internet domain: .es
International dialling code: +34

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Climate change laws around the world
2017/05/14
There has been a 20-fold increase in the number of global climate change laws since 1997, according to the most comprehensive database of relevant policy and legislation.

The database, produced by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Sabin Center on Climate Change Law, includes more than 1,200 relevant policies across 164 countries, which account for 95% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

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Brexit negotiations should treat energy as ‘special case’
2017/05/14
There are strong practical reasons why the UK and EU should treat energy as a appropriate case during Brexit negotiations, argues a new statement.

The statement, jointly authored by Chatham Home, the University of Exeter and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), says finding common ground on energy during the Brexit negotiations would benefit both the UK and remaining EU27, while compromise may be relatively easier to achieve than for other areas.

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Bankia rises from Spain's real estate ashes
2014/07/11
Just a few years ago, Spanish lender Bankia was on the brink of collapse. Presently, thanks to an aggressive restructuring programme, the bank is hitting its targets and has ambitions to compete with national giants Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank.

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