MEANWHILE, in the real world:

The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) yesterday withdrew an amendment backing prime minister Zapatero's proposed "Alliance of Civilizations" before the European Parliament in order to prevent its being voted down on the floor. After the amendment passed the Europarliament's foreign affairs committee over the opposition of the Spanish People's Party (PP), the PSOE's soundings indicated that it would be defeated by the body as a whole.

In the text, the Euro MPs would have declared their satisfaction at UN secretary general Kofi Annan's support for Zapatero's project, as he called it "an important instrument for world peace."

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