King Juan Carlos made the news all over the world after his public humiliation of Hugo Chavez. Aznar called up Zap to thank him for defending him against Chavez's attacks. Rajoy blamed Zap's "dangerous liasons" with Latin American populists for the whole scene. As one might expect, the Communists and the Cataloonies have criticized Juan Carlos; Pepelu Carod-Rovira accused him of having bad manners, and the Chavez-loving Commies called the King's attitude "unacceptable." Convergence and Union, the moderate Catalanists, congratulated the King for defending Spain's "democratic integrity."

Looks like all the reports are in regarding the Madrid stabbing: The skinheads were on their way to their demonstration "against immigration and anti-Spanish racism," and a bunch of squatters were on their way to break it up. The two groups found themselves in the same subway car and the gang fight broke out; each side accuses the other of starting it. The skinhead demo wound up being broken up by the cops, who charged them with nightsticks several times, and the squatters put on a riot last night in downtown Madrid, burning garbage skips and looking for trouble.

Spain's largest corporation, Telefonica, earned a profit of €7.85 billion (with a B) over the first nine months of the year.

According to El Mundo's latest electoral survey, the PSOE leads the PP by three points, 42.2%-39.1%. That is 1) within the poll's margin of error but 2) pretty much what all the polls have been saying. The Commies got the support of 4.8%.