MADRID, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Spain has decreed an end to subsidies for new generating plants running on renewable energy sources to prevent billions of euros in debts held by utilities from escalating, Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said on Friday.

Speaking after a weekly cabinet meeting, Soria said the decree would be temporary and not prevent eurozone struggler Spain from meeting European Union targets for renewables, which currently provide one-third of the country’s electricity.

“First and foremost there is an unequivocal goal through the government to reduce the deficit and no policy area is apart from that,” Soria said, adding the move would not affect subsidies for plants already installed or under construction.

Spain’s incoming centre-right government has set an ambitious target of cutting back its budget deficit to 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2012 from an estimated 8 percent last year to convince investors its public finances are sustainable.

Soria estimated the debt accrued by utilities for selling electricity at regulated rates – dubbed the “tariff deficit” - stood at 24 billion euros ($32 billion) at the end of 2011.

Of 7.22 billion euros in subsidies earmarked for electricity production in 2012, he added, 71 percent would go to renewables.

“The biggest problem is the rate at which the deficit will grow in coming years. If we do nothing, it’ll be 3-4 billion euros a year, so what is an energy problem could become a financial problem,” Soria said.

ON THE MEKONG RIVER (Reuters) – A thin line divides tourism, trade and terror in the Golden Triangle, where the lawless borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.

In Myanmar, where the jungly banks of the Mekong River vanish into the mist, lies an anarchic realm of drug smugglers, militiamen and pirates on speedboats. “I’m scared to go any further,” says Kan, a 46-year-old boatman, cutting his engine as he drifts just inside Myanmar waters from Thailand. “It’s too dangerous.”

It was here, according to the Thai military, that 13 Chinese sailors on two cargo ships laden with narcotics were murdered in early October. It was the deadliest assault on Chinese nationals overseas in modern times. But a Reuters investigation casts serious doubts on the official account of the attack.

The Thai military says the victims were killed upriver before their ships floated downstream into Thailand. But evidence gleaned from Thai officials and unpublished police and military reports suggests that some, if not all, of the sailors were still alive when their boats crossed into Thailand, and that they were executed and tossed overboard inside Thai territory.

Their assailants remain unknown. Initially, the prime suspect was a heavily armed Mekong pirate who terrorizes shipping in Myanmar. But then the investigation turned to nine members of an elite anti-narcotics taskforce of the Thai military.

New patrols by Chinese gunboats were supposed to restore peace to the region. But a visit to the Golden Triangle also found that attacks on Mekong shipping continue.

Incongruously, just across the river from where the ill-fated ships were found moored, on the Laos side of the triangle, Reuters also discovered a vast casino complex catering to Chinese tourists. Its Chinese owner regards it as a “second homeland”; others worry it could morph into a strategic Chinese outpost.

ON THE MEKONG RIVER (Reuters) – A thin line divides tourism, trade and terror in the Golden Triangle, where the lawless borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.

In Myanmar, where the jungly banks of the Mekong River vanish into the mist, lies an anarchic realm of drug smugglers, militiamen and pirates on speedboats. “I’m scared to go any further,” says Kan, a 46-year-old boatman, cutting his engine as he drifts just inside Myanmar waters from Thailand. “It’s too dangerous.”

It was here, according to the Thai military, that 13 Chinese sailors on two cargo ships laden with narcotics were murdered in early October. It was the deadliest assault on Chinese nationals overseas in modern times. But a Reuters investigation casts serious doubts on the official account of the attack.

The Thai military says the victims were killed upriver before their ships floated downstream into Thailand. But evidence gleaned from Thai officials and unpublished police and military reports suggests that some, if not all, of the sailors were still alive when their boats crossed into Thailand, and that they were executed and tossed overboard inside Thai territory.

Their assailants remain unknown. Initially, the prime suspect was a heavily armed Mekong pirate who terrorizes shipping in Myanmar. But then the investigation turned to nine members of an elite anti-narcotics taskforce of the Thai military.

New patrols by Chinese gunboats were supposed to restore peace to the region. But a visit to the Golden Triangle also found that attacks on Mekong shipping continue.

Incongruously, just across the river from where the ill-fated ships were found moored, on the Laos side of the triangle, Reuters also discovered a vast casino complex catering to Chinese tourists. Its Chinese owner regards it as a “second homeland”; others worry it could morph into a strategic Chinese outpost.

ON THE MEKONG RIVER (Reuters) – A thin line divides tourism, trade and terror in the Golden Triangle, where the lawless borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.

In Myanmar, where the jungly banks of the Mekong River vanish into the mist, lies an anarchic realm of drug smugglers, militiamen and pirates on speedboats. “I’m scared to go any further,” says Kan, a 46-year-old boatman, cutting his engine as he drifts just inside Myanmar waters from Thailand. “It’s too dangerous.”

It was here, according to the Thai military, that 13 Chinese sailors on two cargo ships laden with narcotics were murdered in early October. It was the deadliest assault on Chinese nationals overseas in modern times. But a Reuters investigation casts serious doubts on the official account of the attack.

The Thai military says the victims were killed upriver before their ships floated downstream into Thailand. But evidence gleaned from Thai officials and unpublished police and military reports suggests that some, if not all, of the sailors were still alive when their boats crossed into Thailand, and that they were executed and tossed overboard inside Thai territory.

Their assailants remain unknown. Initially, the prime suspect was a heavily armed Mekong pirate who terrorizes shipping in Myanmar. But then the investigation turned to nine members of an elite anti-narcotics taskforce of the Thai military.

New patrols by Chinese gunboats were supposed to restore peace to the region. But a visit to the Golden Triangle also found that attacks on Mekong shipping continue.

Incongruously, just across the river from where the ill-fated ships were found moored, on the Laos side of the triangle, Reuters also discovered a vast casino complex catering to Chinese tourists. Its Chinese owner regards it as a “second homeland”; others worry it could morph into a strategic Chinese outpost.

ON THE MEKONG RIVER (Reuters) – A thin line divides tourism, trade and terror in the Golden Triangle, where the lawless borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.

In Myanmar, where the jungly banks of the Mekong River vanish into the mist, lies an anarchic realm of drug smugglers, militiamen and pirates on speedboats. “I’m scared to go any further,” says Kan, a 46-year-old boatman, cutting his engine as he drifts just inside Myanmar waters from Thailand. “It’s too dangerous.”

It was here, according to the Thai military, that 13 Chinese sailors on two cargo ships laden with narcotics were murdered in early October. It was the deadliest assault on Chinese nationals overseas in modern times. But a Reuters investigation casts serious doubts on the official account of the attack.

The Thai military says the victims were killed upriver before their ships floated downstream into Thailand. But evidence gleaned from Thai officials and unpublished police and military reports suggests that some, if not all, of the sailors were still alive when their boats crossed into Thailand, and that they were executed and tossed overboard inside Thai territory.

Their assailants remain unknown. Initially, the prime suspect was a heavily armed Mekong pirate who terrorizes shipping in Myanmar. But then the investigation turned to nine members of an elite anti-narcotics taskforce of the Thai military.

New patrols by Chinese gunboats were supposed to restore peace to the region. But a visit to the Golden Triangle also found that attacks on Mekong shipping continue.

Incongruously, just across the river from where the ill-fated ships were found moored, on the Laos side of the triangle, Reuters also discovered a vast casino complex catering to Chinese tourists. Its Chinese owner regards it as a “second homeland”; others worry it could morph into a strategic Chinese outpost.

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s new government said on Friday the public deficit for 2011 would come in at 8 percent of gross domestic product, well above a target of 6 percent, and announced income and property tax hikes and a civil servant wage freeze in response.

Spain has been under market scrutiny about its ability to control public finances, and Madrid has seen risk premiums soar to record highs on contagion fears as the euro zone debt crisis has spread.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria in the new centre-right government outlined public spending cuts worth 8.9 billion euros (6.8 billion pounds) to tackle the deficit.

“We’re facing an extraordinary and unexpected situation, forcing us to take extraordinary and unexpected measures,” Santamaria said.

While Italy debt mountain has been the biggest concern in financial markets in recent months, Spain had been seen as faring somewhat better, although it too has been hit with high borrowing costs.

The previous Socialist government cut the budget shortfall from 11.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, and the conservatives must take up the baton and bring the deficit down to 4.4 percent in 2012 and 3 percent in 2013.

The conservatives, who swept to victory in November amid dissatisfaction over the Socialists’ handling of the crisis, have pledged to turn the economy around while reforming a broken labour market and pulling the country out of a prolonged slump.

MADRID, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Spain’s new government said on Friday the public deficit for 2011 would come in at 8 percent of gross domestic product, well above a target of 6 percent, and announced income and property tax hikes and a civil servant wage freeze in response.

Spain has been under market scrutiny about its ability to control public finances, and Madrid has seen risk premiums soar to record highs on contagion fears as the euro zone debt crisis has spread.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria in the new centre-right government outlined public spending cuts worth 8.9 billion euros ($11.5 billion) to tackle the deficit.

“We’re facing an extraordinary and unexpected situation, forcing us to take extraordinary and unexpected measures,” Santamaria said.

While Italy debt mountain has been the biggest concern in financial markets in recent months, Spain had been seen as faring somewhat better, although it too has been hit with high borrowing costs.

The previous Socialist government cut the budget shortfall from 11.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, and the conservatives must take up the baton and bring the deficit down to 4.4 percent in 2012 and 3 percent in 2013.

The conservatives, who swept to victory in November amid dissatisfaction over the Socialists’ handling of the crisis, have pledged to turn the economy around while reforming a broken labour market and pulling the country out of a prolonged slump.

MADRID, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Spain’s incoming Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took aim at his country’s economic woes on Monday, promising deep spending cuts in public administration while offering tax breaks for companies.

In his first speech to the country’s new Parliament, Rajoy said budget stability, a costly fresh round of bank consolidations and reforms to Spain’s economy, such as its rigid labour law, would be his central objectives.

Rajoy’s centre-right People’s Party was elected by a landslide in November. It faces a near-impossible task to revive an economy sliding into recession as the euro zone debt crisis widens, while meeting harsh European austerity demands.

“We are confronting enormous difficulties and must make very demanding efforts,” Rajoy told Parliament. After a two-day parliamentary debate the self-proclaimed “Mr. Normal” will be sworn in by King Juan Carlos on Wednesday and name his cabinet.

The euro zone’s fourth-largest economy is at the centre of the bloc’s debt crisis and investors have driven up Spain’s borrowing costs to near-unsustainable levels.

But Rajoy’s promises of more austerity has boosted confidence and debt yields have fallen from euro-era highs since the election.

The risk premium on Spanish benchmark bonds over German benchmark debt narrowed on Monday by around 4 basis points to 331 basis points. This compares with 491 for Italy.

LYON, France, Nov 2 (Reuters) – A Cristiano Ronaldo double earned Real Madrid a 2-0 win at Olympique Lyon and a place in the first knockout round of the Champions League with two games to spare on Wednesday.

Ronaldo fired home midway through the first half with a trademark free kick and doubled his tally from the penalty spot after the break as Real maintained their perfect record at the top of Group D after four matches.

The penalty was Ronaldo’s 100th goal for Real in 105 matches since joining from Manchester United in 2009.

Real are the only team in the competition to have a maximum 12 points from four matches and also the only side not to have conceded a goal.

“All the goals are special, all the more so when it helps the team to win,” Ronaldo said. “That’s what I try to do in every game and I am happy for the team and for the goals too.”

Lyon, who were without key players Lisandro Lopez and Michel Bastos, lie third on four points and in danger of not qualifying after they struggled to create clear chances in a one-sided game at Gerland stadium.

“They’re a very balanced team, they press very hard,” said Lyon fullback Anthony Reveillere.