Mission impossible: Escape from Europe

clipped from news.yahoo.com VIENNA – Stranded travelers are piling into buses, trains and high-priced taxis in a frantic scramble to accomplish an increasingly tricky mission: Escape from Europe. Spain was becoming a dream destination not for its beaches and monuments but simply by virtue of the fact it's one of the few European countries unaffected by the ash cloud drifting across the continent. Monstrous lines filled the departure terminals at Madrid's Bajaras Airport as people sought a chance to flee — and tempers were fraying. "I am on the standby list and I am homeless right now," said Roberta Marder, 73, from Tulsa, Oklahoma. "I am here fighting in the line and trying to get a ticket." Doug Hahn, 36, from Portland, Oregon was settling into his seat Thursday on a New York-bound plane in Amsterdam when the flight was canceled. He and three other stranded travelers rented a car and drove to Madrid — a 16 hour road journey.

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Earthquake hits southern Spain; damage said unlikely

clipped from www.cnn.com (CNN) -- A strong earthquake struck near the Spanish city of Granada early Monday, but at a depth that made damage to the medieval Moorish capital unlikely, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck at 12:08 a.m. local time Monday (6:08 p.m. Sunday ET), the USGS reported. It was centered about 24 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Granada and about 370 kilometers (230 miles) south of Madrid, Spain's capital. There was no immediate report of damage or injuries from the temblor. The quake's recorded depth of 616 kilometers -- nearly 400 miles -- means little damage is likely, geophysicist Susan Potter told CNN.

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Spanish Senate approves new abortion law

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clipped from news.yahoo.com MADRID – Spain on Wednesday approved a sweeping new law that eases restrictions on abortion, declaring the practice a woman's right and doing away with the threat of imprisonment, in part of a drive toward liberal policies that has angered conservatives and the Catholic Church. The new law allows the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks and gives 16- and 17-year-olds the right to have abortions without parental consent. The senate's passage of the bill Wednesday gives it final approval. The bill brings the country in line with its more secular neighbors in northern Europe is the latest of a series of bold social reforms undertaken by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who first took office in 2004 and has ruffled feathers among many in the traditionally Catholic country. "The government wants to do away with one of the pillars of Spanish society, which is the family," she said.

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