Spanish police have fired rubber bullets and charged protesters in central Madrid after a huge demonstration against economic crisis measures.

Thick smoke hung in the air early on Friday from plastic bins set alight by protestors chased by police, who hit them with batons when some tried to reach the heavily-guarded parliament at the end of a mostly peaceful march.

AFP reporters at the scene said dozens of protesters lingered, some throwing bottles at police, near the Puerta del Sol, the big square at the heart of the city where a march of hundreds of thousands wound up late Thursday.

A police official said that officers arrested seven people and six others were injured.

Earlier, tens of thousands of public employees, trade union members and other Spaniards have marching in 80 Spanish cities to protest the latest batch of austerity measures approved by the government.

The safety of London 2012 has not been compromised by the failure of private contractor G4S to supply security staff, the BBC has been told.

The head of security and counter-terrorism at the Home Office, Charles Farr, said he first learned of problems with G4S in late June.

He said from then on he and ministers monitored the situation closely and put contingency plans in place.

G4S confirmed it could not meet its commitments only on 11 July, he said.

This was, Mr Farr said, after he asked for a guarantee at a meeting of the government's Olympic Security board.

BRUSSELS - The German Parliament on Thursday (19 July) approved a bailout for the Spanish banking sector of up to €100 billion, despite criticism that Berlin is funding a "bottomless pit."

Members of the German Bundestag summoned back from holidays for a special session approved - by 473 votes in favour, 97 against and 13 abstentions - a demand by finance minister Wolfgang Schauble to approve Germany's contribution of up to €29 billion to the Spanish bank bailout.

Schauble said Madrid was carrying out the necessary reforms of the labour market, pension and health systems. But the country's financial sector needs a bailout to buy more time and avoid being shut out from markets, after the real estate sector crashed leaving banks with piles of bad loans, he added.

"Even the appearance that Spain will not be able to recapitalise the banks on its own can lead to contagion and then it becomes a problem of financial stability for the whole eurozone," the German minister said.

BRUSSELS - Romania's parliament passed a law on Wednesday (18 July) limiting the jurisdiction of its constitutional court in an apparent contradiction to promises made to the European Commission by Romania's prime minister Victor Ponta just a few days before.

Speaking to EUobserver on Thursday, commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde said "if limitations are being made now, we must look at it."

Ahrenkilde said the Commission had previously been given promises that Romania would abrogate decrees limiting the court's competences and had been satisfied with Ponta's lettered commitments.

The court saw its powers to review decisions passed by parliament revoked on 4 July in a decision that was published and passed into law on the same day, causing concern in Brussels. Romania's action, said the Commission, was contrary to its own constitution.

Barroso "is among those who benefit from the financial crisis in Europe," says Der Spiegel -

It has steadily increased his power. [...] Barroso came across as a secondary player, but now he is increasingly developing into an equal.

(...)

When some European leaders raised objections to the fiscal policy recommendations from Brussels, the Commission president fired back. He reminded those assembled that they were the ones who had given the Commission the right to set parameters for national governments. It didn't make any difference to him if they continued to play their little tactical games, he said, noting that he would prefer to stick to facts. And then Barroso said heatedly: `If the European Council doesn't sign off on these recommendations, we'll have a serious problem.' The European leaders were shocked. Was that really Barroso speaking? It certainly wasn't the Barroso they'd grown accustomed to.

Spanish demonstrations turn violent in the early hours of this morning, as 100,000 march in front of the parliament in protest against cuts in wages and social spending, and a three point rise in VAT

26 people are reported to have been injured; Spanish unions are planning to call for a general strike; mood of protest is spreading to Italy, where CGIL, the largest union, announced a general strike for September; the protests in Italy concern a planned two point rise in VAT, other taxes and austerity measures; the Bundestag voted in favour of the Spanish package yesterday by 473 to 97, but Angela Merkel get her own majority; Wolfgang Schauble had to reassure the Bundestag that the Spanish government remains liable throughout the life of this package, saying there will be no possibility to sidestep this fact; the CDU's deputy parliamentary leaders says Schäuble's message was so clear that there is no way that any tricks can succeed (i.e. direct capital injections); a Spanish bond auction went badly yesterday, with yields now at over 7% and spreads at over 5.9%; Spain's EFSF loan will carry a floating interest rates, in contrast to previous EFSF loans; Claus Hulverscheidt says the programme is not going to work, as Spain is likely to require another programme; Angela Wefer says the conditions for Spain are very tough, and it will take another Bundestag vote to change them; Heike Göbel says the Bundestag's next vote will be on Italy;so does Marcello Sorgi, who blames Germany for making the crisis worse; Confidustria is complaining about the extraordinary increase in Italy's tax burden, now one of the highest in the world;the Monti administration is now pondering a wealth tax; Fitch affirms Italy's rating but says political risks remain; the Finnish opposition demands a No confidence vote over the latest collateral agreement; Germany, the Netherlands and Finland are reluctant to give ground to Ireland, which demands a renegotiation of some elements of its programme; the Greek government, meanwhile,  scraps 200 state-controlled entities, and relaxes investment rules for private entities.

The breakdown, which equates to approximately 26 tanks, two warships, 18 fast jets, one submarine and 26 helicopters, is expected to form the starting point for negotiations over defence equipment between Edinburgh and London in the event of Scotland becoming independent.

The projected division of assets has raised questions over whether an independent Scotland would be forced to invest in billions of pounds of equipment to fulfil its military ambitions.

The BBC has spoken for the first time about a court order that banned it from showing two drama-documentaries about last summer's riots, as legal experts questioned the "excessive" injunction.

The broadcaster said it was disappointed by Mr Justice Flaux's court order, adding that it raised a "critical point" about the freedom of the media to report in the public interest.

The injunction by Flaux, the Birmingham crown court judge who presided over the murder trial of eight men who were acquitted on Thursday, prevented the BBC from showing its two-part series, The Riots: in their own Words, and stopped the wider media from reporting on the ban. Flaux admitted he had not seen the films, but had read a transcript, when he ordered the ban on Monday.

The wide-ranging court order was only allowed to be reported on Thursday after the jury returned their verdict in the 12-week trial.

In a statement, the BBC said on Friday: "The BBC was of the firm view that as the programmes did not contain any reference to the incident which was the subject of the trial their broadcast could not have affected the trial's outcome.

Why is it that the U.S., Britain and Japan, despite their huge debts and other economic problems, have not succumbed to the financial crises that are threatening national bankruptcy for Greece, Spain and Italy - and perhaps soon for France?

After all, even the strongest British and American banks, such as HSBC and JPMorgan Chase, have now admitted that they were as accident-prone as their continental rivals. Borrowing by the U.S., British and Japanese governments is well above European levels relative to the size of the economy. These governments are not even considering fiscal consolidation as ambitious as the 3 percent deficit targets now being written into national constitutions across most of Europe - and Britain has missed by a wide margin the much less demanding targets David Cameron set himself in 2010.

Given that financial markets are supposed to be dispassionate arbiters of economic management, why are they punishing Mediterranean countries with cripplingly high interest rates, while the British, U.S. and Japanese governments are left free to borrow without any apparent limits at almost zero cost?

(Reuters) - Lenders like Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co say they are facing mounting pressure to buy back bad mortgages they sold to investors, signaling that banks' home-loan headaches could continue for years.

Investors like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been pressing banks to buy back bad mortgages for years, but in recent months those requests have intensified, the banks have said in recent second-quarter earnings reports.

These comments from banks provide a fresh reminder of the loose ends that remain from the housing bust that started five years ago. The threat of new expenses and litigation is dampening bank share prices, and the problem could linger for some time, analysts and experts said.

"This is not done yet," said Paul Miller, analyst with FBR Capital Markets. "There will be continued surprises in the industry."

Not only do many of the superrich feel deeply aggrieved at the notion that anyone in their class might face criticism, they also insist that their perception that Mr. Obama doesn't like them is at the root of our economic problems. Businesses aren't investing, they say, because business leaders don't feel valued. Mr. Romney repeated this line, too, arguing that because the president attacks success "we have less success."

This, too, is crazy (and it's disturbing that Mr. Romney appears to share this delusional view about what ails our economy). There's no mystery about the reasons the economic recovery has been so weak. Housing is still depressed in the aftermath of a huge bubble, and consumer demand is being held back by the high levels of household debt that are the legacy of that bubble. Business investment has actually held up fairly well given this weakness in demand. Why should businesses invest more when they don't have enough customers to make full use of the capacity they already have?

But never mind. Because the rich are different from you and me, many of them are incredibly self-centered. They don't even see how funny it is -- how ridiculous they look -- when they attribute the weakness of a $15 trillion economy to their own hurt feelings. After all, who's going to tell them? They're safely ensconced in a bubble of deference and flattery.

Unless, that is, they run for public office.

(Reuters) - Rebels seized control of sections of Syria's international borders and torched the main police headquarters in the heart of old Damascus, advancing relentlessly after the assassination of President Bashar al-Assad's closest lieutenants.

The battle for parts of the capital raged into the early hours of Friday, with corpses piled in the streets. In some neighborhoods, residents said there were signs the government's presence was diminishing.

Officials in neighboring Iraq confirmed that Syrian rebels were now in control of the Syrian side of the main Abu Kamal border checkpoint on the Euphrates River highway, one of the major trade routes across the Middle East.

Rebels also claimed control of at least two border crossings into Turkey at Bab al-Hawa and Jarablus, in what appeared to have been a coordinated campaign to seize Syria's frontiers.

Omar Suleiman, Egypt's former vice-president and long-time spy chief to deposed president Hosni Mubarak, has died in the US, the official MENA news agency has reported. He was 76.

"Former vice president General Omar Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday in a hospital in the United States," the agency said.

"He was undergoing medical tests in Cleveland," Suleiman's aide Hussein Kamal said, adding that arrangements were being made to return his body to Egypt for burial.

The former intelligence chief stepped briefly into the limelight when he was appointed vice-president during the uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Aziz Dweik, a senior Hamas leader and the speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, has been released by Israel after months of detention without charge.

"Dr Aziz Dweik was released at the Beit Sira roadblock," in the occupied West Bank, the head of his office, Bahaa Yusef, told AFP on Thursday.

Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman confirmed: "Mr Dweik has been released from Ofer prison."

Dweik's lawyer, Fadi Qawasmeh, said Israel had accepted his request not to renew his client's administrative detention for a further six months.

The Israeli army arrested Dweik on January 19 at a roadblock between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah.

It said his detention without charge was necessary because of his "presumed involvement in the activities of a terrorist organisation."

MercoPress: Traditional summer carnivals in the eastern Cuban cities of Bayamo and Manzanillo have been suspended due to an outbreak of cholera in the region, authorities said on Wednesday.

Mercosur:

MercoPress: Mercosur full members Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay are insisting with their decision to sanction the Paraguayan government following the impeachment and removal of former president Fernando Lugo.

MercoPress: The removal of Fernando Lugo as president of Paraguay interrupted European Union/Mercosur discussions, which could resume following the April 2013 presidential elections said on Wednesday the European Parliament mission visiting Asunción.

Colombia Reports: Community leaders from the department of Cauca said Thursday a government-announced peace agreement claiming a truce was reached between Colombia's army and the indigenous guard were completely false.

Colombia Reports: Another extradited paramilitary commander testified against the former security adviser of ex-President Alvaro Uribe, who has been accused of working with drug trafficking organizations, local media reported Thursday.

LAHT, LA PAZ - India's Jindal Steel & Power has pulled out of its contract to develop the El Mutun iron-ore mine in Bolivia, the largest mining project of President Evo Morales' tenure, Mining Minister Mario Virreira said.

Tim's El Salvador Blog: There had been little attention to El Salvador's constitutional crisis in the English language press before this week.   If you wanted to know what was happening, you didn't have many sources other than this blog.

Guyana Chronicle (18 July): Four persons were killed last evening and several others injured, and the PPP/C Linden office and the Linmine Secretariat were razed as police moved to clear the Mackenzie/ Wismar bridge following the second day of protests by Lindeners against the July 1, hike in electricity charges in the town.

LAHT, RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's National Petroleum Agency said Thursday that Chevron Corp. will be fined nearly 50 million reais ($24.7 million) for an oil leak at an offshore field last November.

LAHT, CARACAS - Chevron has extended a $2 billion line of credit to its joint venture with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the Venezuelan company said.

Rebuilding global fisheries would make them five times more valuable while improving ecology, according to a new University of British Columbia study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

By reducing the size of the global fishing fleet, eliminating harmful government subsidies, and putting in place effective management systems, global fisheries would be worth US$54 billion each year, rather than losing US$13 billion per year.

"Global fisheries are not living up to their economic potential in part because governments keep them afloat by subsidizing unprofitable large scale fishing fleets with taxpayer money," says study lead author Rashid Sumaila, a fisheries economist and director of the UBC Fisheries Centre.

"This is like sinking money into a series of small, cosmetic fixes in an old home rather than investing in a complete, well thought-out renovation that boosts the home's value."

The Australian government has released the draft of its first food security plan aimed at positioning the country to become the "food bowl for Asia."

The plan focuses on increasing Australia's exports and capitalizing on the worldwide growing demand for food, which is expected to increase 77 percent by 2050.

Aside from providing food for Australians, the country's food sector also provides for an additional 40 million people around the world, the report says.

"Australia produces enough food to feed a nation almost three times our size, our food system is safe and stable and there are many new opportunities to export more food to Asia," Australian Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said in a statement this week.

A drought scouring the farming heartlands of the United States is the worst for 25 years and could drive up food prices, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday.

The United States is the world's biggest producer of corn and soybeans, and the warning came as some farmers warned they may be forced to harvest crops early to sell the stalks off cheaply as animal feed.

(...) Vilsack revealed that 78 percent of US corn and 11 percent of soybean crops had been hit, and compared the situation to a 1988 drought that cut production by 20 percent and cost the economy tens of billions of dollars.

ScienceDaily (July 19, 2012) -- Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) -- the main cause of global warming -- increased by 3% last year, reaching an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes in 2011. In China, the world's most populous country, average emissions of CO2 increased by 9% to 7.2 tonnes per capita. China is now within the range of 6 to 19 tonnes per capita emissions of the major industrialised countries. In the European Union, CO2 emissions dropped by 3% to 7.5 tonnes per capita. The United States remains one of the largest emitters of CO2, with 17.3 tones per capita, despite a decline due to the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices and an increased share of natural gas

Europe's offshore wind capacity soared by 50% in the first half of 2012, compared to a year before, figures from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) show.

The association's `key trends and statistics' report says that 132 new offshore wind turbines, providing 523 megawatts (MW) of power were fully connected to the grid in the first six months of 2012, compared to 348.1 MW in the same period in 2011.

The figures for wind turbine builds were even more impressive with 103 erected in five wind farms since January - a 95% increase on the equivalent period in 2011.

The average size of wind turbines grew to 4MW, up 14% on last year, and 30% more turbines were connected to the grid.

Christian Kjaer, chief executive of EWEA, hailed the news as a triumph in the face of economic adversity.

"Offshore wind power is increasingly attracting investors, including pension funds and other institutional and corporate investors," Kjaer said in a statement. "But it would be good to see more activity in southern Europe where jobs, investments and growth are desperately needed."

Microsoft, the world's largest software company, has reported its first quarterly loss as a public company as it took a previously announced hit for writing down the value of its ailing online unit.

The Redmond, Washington-based company reported a net loss of $492m on Thursday, or 6 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $5.87bn, or 69 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding the multibillion-dollar write-down, which was signalled earlier this month, and factoring in some deferred Windows revenue, the company actually exceeded Wall Street's expectations, boosting its shares in after-market trading.

"It looks good, given the dicey economic environment and the weakness we already know about in PCs," Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said.

After several years of stumbling behind mobile and Internet trailblazers Apple Inc and Google Inc, and a decade-long static share price, some expectation is building that Microsoft can re-establish itself as a tech leader with its new, touch-friendly Windows 8 system, due out on October 26, and an accompanying tablet of its own design.

An international team of researchers, led by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and the University of York, has provided the first molecular evidence that Neanderthals not only ate a range of cooked plant foods, but also understood its nutritional and medicinal qualities. Until recently Neanderthals, who disappeared between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago, were thought to be predominantly meat-eaters. However, evidence of dietary breadth is growing as more sophisticated analyses are undertaken.

Researchers from Spain, the UK and Australia combined pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry with morphological analysis of plant microfossils to identify material trapped in dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) from five Neanderthals from the north Spanish site of El Sidron.

Their results, published in Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature this week, provide another twist to the story - the first molecular evidence for medicinal plants being used by a Neanderthal individual.

About 50 people have been injured in the incident, police say.

Witnesses say a gunman wearing a gas mask opened fire at the cinema complex in Aurora, at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

There are reports the gunman released a smoke bomb during the incident. Police say they have one suspect in custody. Many ambulances are at the scene.

If fans of Bradley Wiggins are fretting about his reception in Paris should he win the Tour de France on Sunday, they can relax. The French public may have started the race knowing next to nothing about the be-sideburned English cyclist - but the more they have seen over the last three weeks, the more they like.

"The French are discovering a little more about him every day," says Alexandre Roos, who has been following Wiggo on the Tour for L'Equipe.

"They know now that he is articulate. They know he is good at interviews. But above all they know that he has a life outside of cycling - that he likes music and British culture, and that he is very proud if it.

"And the French respond really well to that side of him. I know people who are not at all into cycling, but who are definitely interested in Wiggins the man."

So this one's mostly DIY, folks.