‘Free Software Desktop’ meeting to be held in Gran Canaria

The GNOME Foundation and KDE e.V. today announced that they will hold their yearly conferences, GUADEC and Akademy in 2009 in Gran Canaria. The conferences will be separate events, but co-located and hosted by the same organizers, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and its Secretary of Tourism, Technological Innovation and Foreign Trade in the famous Alfredo Kraus Auditórium.

"The GNOME community is very excited about the co-hosted GUADEC and Akademy" says Behdad Esfahbod, president at the GNOME foundation, "GUADEC has traditionally been a very important chance for our community to meet in person, build great working relationships and make new friends. We're looking forward to having the opportunity to extend those relationships to our KDE colleagues at Akademy/GUADEC."
KDE e.V.'s vice-president Adriaan de Groot adds "KDE e.V. is looking forward to a co-located conference, where the GNOME and KDE communities can mingle and cooperate as never before in one location. Gran Canaria is uniquely located at the junction of Europe and Africa, close to the Americas and is a fitting place for a historic 'meet-your-neighbours' conference."
GUADEC and Akademy 2009 will be held on Gran Canaria, an island of the Canary Islands archipelago. The tentative schedule plans the event from Friday, July, 3rd until Saturday, July 11th 2009 in the Alfredo Kraus auditorium and the adjacent Congress Palace in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
This co-located event will turn Gran Canaria into the capital of Freedesktop.org development for a whole week next summer.

Congress on CO2 emissions in Gran Canaria

All across the world scientific experts are working hard at ways to limit CO2 emissions, and Spain is doing its part. This year, the 12 th annual Congress of Spanish Geologists is meeting in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to look at ways to make a difference.

The congress runs from July 14 to 18 and will be based at the Alfredo Krauss auditorium, where 500 delegates will pool their knowledge and ideas. Representatives and speakers will not only be from Spain, Holland, Italy and several other European countries will be taking an active interest.As well as using the auditorium, some of the experts will be going out around the Canary Islands. Visits have been arranged to Roque Nublo and the Maspalomas sand dunes in Gran Canaria and even further afield to Tenerife, Fuerteventura and El Hierro.

Destination Spain – Holidaymakers choose Spain

The number of British holidaymakers in Spain is set to increase this year according to a tourist official. Ignacio Vasallo of the Turespana Spanish Tourist Board in London said the country will continue to attract people from the UK, despite the impact of ongoing economic problems. Speaking to the Majorca Daily Bulletin, he was so optimistic that he forecast a 2 % increase in visitor number. Despite the relative cost of the Euro Mr Vallasco said property prices in Spain still compare favourably with many other European countries. He commented ‘Spain is still one of the cheapest eurozone destinations so the slight increase in a bottle of beer for example is not going to turn people away.’ Meanwhile Reuters has cited official figures showing that during the first quarter of the year, Spain attracted 10.6 million holidaymakers.

Spanish Lifestyle – a safe and affordable investment

British people are increasingly buying homes in Spain in order to take advantage of its lifestyle, an expert has said. According to Paul Bradley of the Spanish Property Owners Guild, the country is a safe and affordable place in which to live or own a holiday home. Spain was described as an easily accessible destination where people can enjoy an outdoors lifestyle and a rich culture.
Mr Bradley added that the country appeals to older people in particular, as it is similar to how Britain used to be, only with better weather. He commented: "It reminds many baby boomers of how the UK was in their childhood: few rules, no cameras, little street violence and no binge drinkers."

According to the Association of International Property Professionals, Spain is still the most popular foreign market among British property buyers. The country was said to account for more than a quarter of the overseas property market in 2007.

Cities managed by FCC are the cleanest in Spain

The cities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Bilbao, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Oviedo, Vigo, Castellón de la Plana, Laredo (Cantabria) and the Ribera grouping of municipalities (Navarra), all of which are cleaned by Spanish construction firm FCC, have received the Platinum Broom awards as the cleanest cities in Spain.

The Platinum Broom is the highest award granted every two years by ATEGRUS (Technical Association for the Management of Waste and the Environment) in order to disseminate best practices in waste management and city cleaning, project design and the development of technologies for sustainable management of our environment; it also awards Silver and Gold Brooms and Special Mentions.

FCC first began working in urban sanitation in 1915 with a waste collection contract in Barcelona; today it is a leader in the sector. Other urban sanitation contracts in Spain followed and, at the end of 1980, it began to expand abroad. FCC operates in over 5,000 municipalities in Europe, Africa and Latin America.