Madrid - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called on rich coun

Madrid - Heavy rains sparked flooding Tuesday in northern Spain, while another death increased the number of fatalities claimed by storms to 16, officials and hospital sources said.

A 53-year-old man died at a Tarragona hospital on Monday after a wind gust pulled him down from his balcony on Saturday, hospital sources said.

The death toll thus climbed to 16 since Friday for the entire country.

Madrid - The volatile world economy has begun affecting international tourism, bringing its growth to a standstill in the second half of 2008, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said Tuesday.

Overall, tourist arrivals went up 2 per cent to 924 million in 2008, according to preliminary figures released by the UN agency at its headquarters in the Spanish capital of Madrid.

But that growth was based on good results from the first six months of 2008. In the second half of the year, the financial crisis, oil and commodity price rises, and exchange rate fluctuations made tourism decline by 1 per cent.

Madrid - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged on Monday that the administration of President Barack Obama would seek a new engagement between donors, states, NGOs and the private sector to fight hunger.

Clinton addressed a United Nations conference in the Spanish capital Madrid over a video.

The conference bringing together ministers or other delegates from about 100 countries charted action against the global food crisis aggravated by the economic crash.

Santander, Spain - Spain's Banco Santander is considering legal action against alleged Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff, who caused losses worth 2.3 billion euros (3 billion dollars) to Santander clients, chairman Emilio Botin said Monday.

Santander was "analyzing all aspects related to this subject," Botin said on announcing that shareholders had approved a capital increase to finance the acquisition of nearly 76 per cent of Sovereign Bancorp.

Madrid- Ministers or officials from about 100 countries gathered in the Spanish capital Madrid on Monday for a United Nations conference charting action against the global food crisis aggravated by the economic crash.

There had been little progress in the fight against hunger recently, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on opening the conference, attributing the problems to rising food prices in 2008 and to the international financial crisis.