Torrijas

The "torrijas" is a traditional sweet, typical of Easter.

Ingredients:

a loaf of bread (wider than the baguette)

4 to 5 eggs

½ litre of milk

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/2 kilo of sugar

1/2 litre of sunflower oil

 
Preparation:

• Heat some milk with about 4 tablespoons of sugar and add a teaspoon of cinnamon. Cut bread into slices half an inch thick. Dip the slices in milk and leave in a table or tray about half an hour.
• Beat the eggs and put plenty of oil to boil in a pan (to float the toast). Pass the bread slices in egg and go frying in oil until golden brown but soft inside. Prepare a bowl with the cinnamon sugar mix (the ratio should be so that the sugar is light brown), and pass the bread in the mix as we taking them out of the pan, so that they are impregnated with sugar cinnamon. If you do not like cinnamon, are also good without it.
• Place the toast on a tray and wait to eat them when they are warm. Can be made in advance because they are very good too cold and they release the juice of sugar.
• The "torrijas" is a traditional dessert Easter in Spain and there are people who like to accompany them with a syrup made with honey and water that is served over the French toast when you are eating. In this case, do not pass through the cinnamon (black) sugar.
• Tip: The is soaked in milk for the creamy interior, but we must beware of the time and temperature of the hot milk, as if they are too soft, we will have trouble breaking when fried. (Imsol)

EU bans sale of all animal-tested cosmetics

People in Europe will no longer be able to buy cosmetics that were tested on animals. The European Union has banned all cosmetics that were developed using animal testing. The EU is also asking other countries to do the same. The total ban follows an earlier one from 2009, when companies could test on animals for serious human health issues. Tonio Borg, the EU's commissioner for health, said the ban, "gives an important signal on the value that Europe attaches to animal welfare". Mr Borg said the EU would help the industry find different ways of developing new cosmetics. He said this would, "set an example of responsible innovation in cosmetics without any compromise on consumer safety".

Animal rights campaigners say the ban is an important victory. They have campaigned for decades against animal testing. A spokesman from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals charity said: "Animal testing in the name of beauty has never been acceptable." He added the work for animal rights activists was not over. "This is a great day for animals but…there are still many animals being used across the world to develop cosmetics," he said. Cosmetics companies were very angry over the new law. A Cosmetics Europe spokesman said European companies would fall behind in developing new products. He added that, "that consumers in Europe won't have access to new products". (Breaking News)
 

The King's Secret

Daily routines

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Around Town1

Who will be chosen as the next Pope?

All 115 cardinals have arrived in Rome to decide who will be the next leader of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world when he resigned from the role and no one is sure who the new pope will be.
In fact the special robes he'll wear have been made in three different sizes to make sure they fit whoever is chosen.
The voting process will start on Tuesday 12 March.
A new Pope is picked by the Catholic Church's most senior priests, called cardinals.
They have travelled from all over the world to the Vatican in Rome - the home of the Catholic Church - where they'll begin the Papal election - known as the Conclave.
One hundred and fifteen cardinals will take part. A cardinal needs more than two thirds of votes to become Pope. If that doesn't happen on the first vote, the cardinals will vote again and again until there's a clear winner.
During the vote special smoke signals are used to tell people outside what is happening.
Black smoke means the cardinals are still making up their minds, but when white smoke is seen - a new Pope has been chosen. (CBBC Newsround) 

What is the Eurovision Song Contest?

Hundreds of millions of people tune in every year for a live extravaganza of multi-cultural entertainment - the Eurovision Song Contest.

Every year countries from all over Europe - and some from outside Europe - send a song and performers to entertain a worldwide audience.
The contest is hosted by the country that won competition the year before. The 2013 show will be held in Sweden.

When did it start?
Eurovision started in 1956 when just 14 countries took part. In 2008, there were a record 43 countries.
The contest was created by the European Broadcasting Union - an organisation of TV companies in and around Europe.
The idea originally came from an Italian song contest and it was also a chance to test out early live TV technology.

How does it work?
Many countries hold a national competition to select their entry. In the UK, the BBC chooses an act to send.

Most competitors then sing in a semi-final to win a place in the grand final - but some countries go straight into the final.
Last year's winner always gets a place in the final - along with the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. They give the most money to the EBU and get a guaranteed place.

How's the winner decided?
A combination of viewer phone votes and the opinions of an expert jury are used to score the countries.
Each country that enters gives points to their favourite song. The song with the most points wins!
Sometimes countries end up scoring nothing and getting the dreaded "nul points".

Political voting?
Some people think some countries just vote for their neighbours and friends instead of voting for the best song.
For example, Greece and Cyprus usually give each other points, while the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland) often exchange votes.
Organisers reintroduced the expert juries in 2009 to try and combat this. (CBBC Newsround)

Nadal thrashes Ferrer and regains fourth spot in Mexico final

Rafa Nadal steamrollered fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 in the final of the Mexican Open in Acapulco to win his second trophy in only his third tournament since returning from seven months out with a left-knee injury.
It was the first time the Mallorcan had faced a top-10 player since his comeback and the result at the ATP 500 clay-court competition also allowed him to steal back the number four spot in the world ranking from the Valencian.
“Today I played as if these seven months hadn’t existed, but they did exist and you have to keep them in mind, and that all the negative stuff could turn into something positive if everything progresses well,” explained Nadal.
“I didn’t do anything badly; I had an almost perfect match. Perfection doesn’t exist, but for me it was almost perfect. I could never have imagined playing at the level I played today.” (El País in English)

Asia has most of the world's billionaires

A newly-published report on global wealth says that for the first time, Asia has more dollar billionaires than the USA. According to the Global Rich List 2013 from the research institute Hurun, there were 1,453 people whose personal worth was $1 billion or more at the end of January. Asia had 608 billionaires, compared with 440 in the USA and 324 in Europe. Moscow came top of the list of billionaire capitals of the world with 76 of the world's mega-rich; New York, Hong Kong, Beijing and London followed. The world's wealthiest person is Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, who has $66 billion. He is followed by US investor Warren Buffett and Amancio Ortega, boss of the fashion brand Zara.

The report's author, Luxembourg accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, believes there are a lot more billionaires in the world. He said that for every billionaire he found, he probably missed another two. This means it might be more accurate to say there are 4,000 billionaires living a life of luxury. Mr Hoogewerf also believes that the number of wealthy Chinese will continue to rise as more business leaders target worldwide markets. He said: "Chinese entrepreneurs are preparing their international expansion plans. It is a very new concept but growing very fast." The report says the youngest billionaire is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 28, who is 42nd on the list and has a personal fortune of $17 billion. (Breaking News English)