motogp Jerez

A glorious day in Jerez, saw Spains Dani Pedrosa win the Moto gp in front of his home crowd, taking the chequered flag well in front of second placed Valentino Rossi.



In third place was pole sitter, and another Spainard Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi's team mate, once again keeping the former world champion honest. Pedrosa has been around the top of motogp for a while now, and only his own impetuousness has stopped him from becoming a world champion, but now with Lorenzo promoted this season to the top tier, Pedrosa has to share the adoration of the Spanish fans.



However today's result was an excellent boost to Pedrosa, who must now try to prove that he can continue at this level. While both Pedrosa and Lorenzo look to be future champions, Lorenzo in comparison appears to be a clamer person and that may be enough for him to make a challenge in the coming months.

Roger Waters Dark Side Of The Moon Tour In Spain

Former Pink Floyd rocker, Roger Waters is to perform just one date in Spain on his Dark Side Of The Moon tour. The gig has been confirmed for the 9th May in the village of Artafe in Granada.

A strange choice of venue perhaps, the gig will take place at the Artafe football ground at 10pm and some 25,000 fans are expected to pack the stadium.

Roger Waters created Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett in 1966, along with Richard Wright and Nick Mason and was responsible for writing most of the bands material after Barrett left the band in 1967, and up to his own acrimonious departure in 1985.

The concert features a light and sound spectacular that will last for 2 hours 45 minutes, and will feature Pink Floyd classics tracks from the albums The Wall, Wish You Were Here, The Final Cut and the legendary Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety.

The stage set will take 300 people a week and a half to build.

Tickets are available through http://www.ticktackticket.com/ for 65 euros each.

Zapatero Wins Spain Election

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist party, defeated the Conservative Popular Party lead by Mariano Rajoy in yesterdays Spanish election., and will continue in office for the next four years.

Zapatero's 169 seats to Rajoy's 153 is not enough to have an absolute majority, but the Socialists collected five more seats than in the last election.

Zapatero however spoke of a clear victory and urged unity in this 'new period' in Spanish politics. "The Spanish people have spoken clearly and have decided to open a new period without tension, without confrontation," Mr Zapatero told the flag-waving crowd gathered outside his party's Madrid headquarters.

The Prime Ministers programme of liberal reforms during the last four years, including gender equality law, same sex marriages and fast track divorces, would appear to have been endorsed by the voting public, despite opposition from the Catholic church.

The Popular Party who lost the last election over the Iraq war programme and moreover the Madrid bombings, accepted defeat and leader Rajoy sent a message to his rival wishing him luck 'for the good of Spain'.

Eurovision Song Contestant in Fixing Scandal

TVE the Spanish state television company recently hosted shows to find a singer to represent Spain in this years Eurovision Song Contest. Among the entrants, an Andalucian Flamenco singer, aged 70 Antonio Gonzalez, recieved the most telephone votes and was placed as number one contender.

However TVE officials discovered some irregularities in the telephone voting, believing some 110,000 votes should not count. And so Gonzalez has been demoted from first place to 36th.

The five finalists will battle it out in a TV gala on Saturday March 8th, to find out who will represent Spain.

Pesetas still being changed to Euros

Six years after the official change of currency for Spain, from Pesetas to Euros, the Banco de Espana reports that people are still bringing the old currency in to be exchanged.

Around thirty people a day still bring in pesetas in note or coin form to be changed into euros.

The bank's director also reveals that they offer a service to exchange burnt or damaged euro notes for new ones, so long as at least half of the note remains intact.
In some cases seriously damaged bank notes are sent to technicians for approval, before exchange.

Its not a surprise that the bank note exchanges take place as the euro notes are worn out after a few transactions!

Amy Winehouse at RockinRio Madrid and Lisbon

Five grammy award winner, Amy Winehouse, is confirmed to play at RockinRio in Madrid and Lisbon this summer.

The singer who is currently the subject of constant rumours over her drug habit, will headline at the Madrid festival, on day three of the five day event, July 4th.

James Morrison, Jamiroquai and Shakira will be among the big names sharing the bill with her

Amy will be performing in Lisbon on the opening day of the Portugese festival on 30th May. She will play after top rated Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, but before the headliner Lenny Kravitz.