EARTHQUAKES
HIT JAPAN
On Friday 11th March, north-east Japan was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 8.9 in the Richter scale, the biggest known earthquake recorded in this area. It took place in the Tōhoku region, causing a tsunami with waves around 10 meters high. This earthquake was preceded by several foreshocks –one of magnitude 7 on 9th March- and followed by hundreds of aftershocks.
Despite having buildings designed to prevent quake damage, there have been huge consequences of the disaster. The earth was trembling during six minutes and then the tsunami spread across Japan’s nothern islands causing floods, landslides, fires, building damage and 14,981 deaths. Apart from that, 9,880 people are missing and around 5,000 injured.
BIN LADEN KILLED
The US president, Barack Obama, announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed on Sunday in Pakistan.
Osama Bin Laden was a terrorist responsible for killing thousands of innocent people.
Obama said that the operation had been in the making for the last ten months, and apart from Bin Laden, they have also killed Bin Laden´s son.
Bin Laden was shot in the head and later buried at sea.
After Barack Obama´s announcement Al-Qaeda pronounced the revenge for Bin Laden´s death.
LOCAL AND REGIONAL ELECTIONS IN SPAIN
Local elections were held across all of Spain, while regional elections were held in 13 of Spain's 17 autonomous communities; Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia, and the Basque Country have a different electoral cycle.
Before the general election, Spain held an election in Catalonia on 28 November 2010. The days before the elections were marked by the protests which had been held in different cities across Spain since 15 May.
The elections were a landslide victory for the opposition People's Party (PP). The governing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) were beaten in every region, including Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha, which the PSOE had held outright at the 2007 elections. After the election, the PP have outright majorities in eight of the thirteen regions that were up for election.
The local elections followed the same pattern, with the right-wing party winning control of all of Spain's largest cities, including Barcelona, which had been PSOE-controlled since 1979. The PSOE won only five of Spain's fifty provincial capitals. In the popular vote, the PP won by 38% to 28% nationwide.
