The Foods Standards Agency (FSA) investigation of a salmonella outbreak that killed two residents of a care home reveals the eggs to have been imported from Spain.

According to health chiefs looking into the outbreak that took place at the Piers View Care Home on Millum Terrace, Roker, resulted in the deaths of Myra Robinson, 72, and Sam Kiu Chan Shek,
86 at Sunderland Royal Hospital after the outbreak.

An inquest into the deaths of both women has been opened for establishing a specific cause of death.

Spanish police overnight detained 36 suspected supporters of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, police sources said Tuesday. The suspected members of the illegal youth organization Segi were held in the northern Basque region and neighbouring Navarre.

The detainees included several suspected leaders of Segi. Police searched 34 addresses, and were looking for three more suspects.

The Spanish judiciary has increased pressure on organizations linked to ETA, which has killed more than 820 people since 1968.

The meeting between the Portuguese and Spanish business leaders took place to discuss partnership opportunities and joint actions in sub-Saharan Africa.

The two-day meeting organized in Seville was sponsored by the Luso-Spanish Foundation, which targets to capitalize on the growing political and business attention paid to Africa by Spain.

According to the data revealed by the Paris-based economic adviser Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Spain's economy will shrink in both 2009 and 2010, but it will make recovery in 2011.

As per the OECD's semi-annual report, Spain will record a reduction of 3.6 percent in 2009 and 0.3 percent in 2010 and will see an increase of 0.9 percent in 2011.

The OECD also predicted that Spain's unemployment rate would top other OECD member nations in 2010, hitting 19.3 percent from 18.1 percent in 2009.

The European Commission urged Spain to stick to a court judgment requiring the country to recover the illegal state aid provided by certain Basque regions.

Talking to reporters, the European Union antitrust body said, "If Spain continues to fail to comply with the European Court of Justice Decision, the commission may refer it to the Court for a second time and request the ECJ to impose fines until the aid has been fully recovered."

Spain's recession-hit economy is showing slight signs of recovery, according to figures released Thursday. The Bank of Spain said gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.4 per cent in the third quarter, the lowest quarterly drop since the recession began in 2008.

The economy shrank 4.1 per cent at the annual rate, down from 4.2 per cent in the second quarter.

The decline of consumer prices also slowed down in October.

Spanish Liga club Villarreal announced on Saturday the signing of Brazilian striker Nilmar da Silva from Porto Alegre club Internacional.

It is believed Villarreal paid around 11 million euros (15.65 million dollars) for the 25 year-old international, which makes him the most expensive signing in the club's history.

Wildfires continued raging Thursday around Spain, with thousands of hectares of vegetation burned down and hundreds of people evacuated from their homes, Spanish National Radio reported.

Fires devastated more than 8,000 hectares in the northern region of Aragon, where 1,500 people were evacuated from six villages.