Madrid

With the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Expo '92 in Seville and a host of quincentennial celebrations throughout the land, 1992 is indeed the Year of Spain. Not to be upstaged by these events, the Spanish capital, Madrid, has also planned a rich agenda of events, activities and spectacles to fulfill its role as 1992 European Cultural Capital.In many ways this honor marks Madrid's recent coming of age as a world-class capital. Not since Spain's Golden Age in the 16th and 17th centuries has Madrid been such a hotbed of cultural and commercial activity.

The accusations are swirling through the wine world faster than cabernet in a crystal goblet. A London wine blogger alleges that a Spanish contact for the esteemed Maryland-based publication The Wine Advocate asked wineries for money in exchange for a visit from one of the publication's longtime reviewers. That would be Jay Miller, a noted oenophile and former co-owner of Bin 604 in Harbor East. He stepped down this week from The Wine Advocate, which is run by Robert M. Parker Jr. from his home base in northern Baltimore County.

The calling of the Middle East peace conference for Wednesday in Madrid has already changed facts. That does not, however, insure that it will succeed.In Israel, public opinion polls rallied in favor of Israel's attendance. This suggests that opinion could move in still more conciliatory directions if ever given any reason to believe Arabs were moving similarly. As a result, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's most intransigent politician, claimed for himself the delegation leadership, despite the conference call for foreign ministers.

100 Years Ago H2 Ohhhh! In the classifieds: "For Rent: Blacksmith and Wheelwright Shop and Dwelling House at Cooksville. Best stand in the county. R.H. MERCER. Cooksville, Rd. For Sale: 130 Acre Farm, situated on the Triadelphia Pike, one mile form Frederick Pike. Good Spring close to house, running water in barn. J.S. BROWN, Ellicott City, Md. Route 3. " In the latter ad, it makes sense to have the more efficient watering system for the animal occupants of the barn, who lap it up by the gallons, than for the humans in the home.

Talks between Israelis and a Jordan-Palestinian delegation, scheduled for Madrid tomorrow, hold hope of setting up a meaningful dialogue, perhaps a negotiation, conceivably leading to Palestinian autonomy on the West Bank and Gaza. What other negotiations prescribed by the Baker plan will materialize remain to be seen. Hope is not lost. Bilateral talks (which Israel sought) are the benefit for which the cloud of dust kicked up by the Madrid conference (which Arabs wanted) was the price.Any assessment of the Madrid speeches and rebuttals is more drama review than political analysis.

Boston -- THE CONFLICT between Israelis and Palestinians has been going on for so long that even in its pain there has been, for many, a kind of security. The established pattern of force and bitter words seemed safer than actually negotiating with the other side and lowering the barriers of hate.One achievement of the talks in Madrid -- a singular achievement -- has been to make the idea of negotiation more attractive to both sides. Suddenly they were talking, and living with the other in peace seemed possible.

The Madrid conference changed the politics of the Middle East. Israel is now negotiating with the Palestinians, even talking to the PLO, which instructs the Palestinian delegation. But it is a PLO taking guidance for the first time from its moderates, those very delegates. They redefined the cause as the concerns of people living under Israeli rule, rather than of those in permanent exile whom Yasser Arafat personifies.The conference brought Jordan back into the moderate mainstream of Arab life as the country with which Israel could live in peace if only more militant, distant and wealthy Arab states allowed.

Secret minutes from the opening session:President Bush, speaking as co-host of the Middle East peace conference, welcomed the delegations to Madrid. He said that the people of the United States have always had a ''great desire'' for peace in the Middle East, and he praised the delegates for their willingness to ''sit down at the same table'' to work out their differences.President Gorbachev, speaking as the other co-host of the conference, also welcomed the delegations to Madrid. He said that the people of the Soviet Union were ''too busy starving'' to pay any attention to the Middle East, but pointed out that going to conferences is the ''only fun part'' of his job anymore.

Blame it on Tio Pepe. If Baltimore's first Spanish restaurant weren't so incredibly successful, people wouldn't keep opening new ones. I suspect that's the real reason Rio Lisboa, a Brazilian-Portuguese restaurant, has turned into Rio Madrid, specializing in Brazilian and Spanish cuisine.If it is, the owners are going to be disappointed. People don't flock to Tio Pepe because it's Spanish. They go for the food, yes, but mostly for the promise of a festive evening. To be festive, though, you have to have lots of customers having a good time.

Washington. - Talking can be useful, but the talks among the parties assembled in Madrid cannot bring a comprehensive or lasting peace to the Middle East.One reason is that too many belligerents were left out, including Iraq, Iran and various extremist groups associated with them and with the Palestine Liberation Organization. This is extremely important because Iraq and Iran -- who fought so bitterly for so long -- agree on two things: Their deadly enmity toward Israel and their detestation of the United States.

THURSDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS MLB Washington@St. Louis (T) MASN9:30 a.m. Arizona@Cincinnati MLB12:30 Washington@St. Louis MASN1:30 White Sox at Tampa Bay MLB6:30 Minnesota@Orioles MASN7 Washington@St. Louis (T) MASN11:30 C. base. Mississippi@Auburn ESPNU7:30 NBA Chicago@Indiana: Gm. 3 NBA7 Miami@Philadelphia: Gm. 3 TNT8 Dallas@Portland: Gm. 3 TNT10:30 PGA Euro.

1 City series: Coppin State had its problems with Morgan State, but now the Eagles take on another local foe, at Loyola (7 p.m., MASN). 2 Him again?: Check out Cavaliers-76ers (8 p.m., ESPN) because it has been at least five minutes since you last saw LeBron James (left) on TV. 3 Speaking of which ...: And maybe 10 minutes since you last saw Kobe Bryant (Suns at Lakers, 10:30 p.m., ESPN). 4 Riddle me this: In this afternoon's Champions League soccer match, Real Madrid takes on Zenit (2:30 p.m., ESPN2)

The best value restaurants from Food & Wine magazine's 2008 lists (in alphabetical order): 1. Kau Kee Restaurant, Hong Kong 2. Kefi, New York City 3. Kiosko Universal, Barcelona, Spain 4. Legendary Noodle, Vancouver, Canada 5. Les Cocottes, Paris 6. Love Supreme, Sydney, Australia 7. Open Colonna, Rome 8. Refuel, London 9. Taberna Laredo, Madrid, Spain 10. Tempura Mikawa, Tokyo

Yes, Europe can be expensive, and yes, the dollar is taking a battering against the euro. But, no, that doesn't mean there are not good deals on the Continent. Consider: *A 7-Day Classic Spain & Portugal package from Gate 1 Travel starts at $1,529, including round-trip airfare from select U.S. cities and four-star hotels. The escorted tour visits Madrid, Segovia, Avila and Salamanca in Spain, and Fatima and Lisbon in Portugal. Included are daily breakfasts and one dinner with wine, an air-conditioned coach, tour managers and local guides, two nights' lodging in Madrid, an overnight in Salamanca and two nights in Lisbon.

The date hasn't been set. There is no firm guest list or agreed agenda. A site has been chosen, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, but that decision doesn't offer much assurance that the Bush administration's Middle East peace conference proposed for November is going to take place. There are too many unknowns at this late date, and a stark difference of opinion exists between Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the meeting's expected outcome. Neither Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nor President Bush has offered any clarity on that point.

When my son's Spanish teacher told us that he was not performing to expectations, my wife and I, zealots for foreign travel and languages, began to worry. His grades in algebra, physics, history and English were all good. Only the Spanish reports coming from the high school caused concern. Eight minutes into worry, my wife, Annabelle, announced: "We'd better get Miles to Spain." We queried friends for leads on a Spanish-speaking family with one or more kids in Miles' age bracket. A horse-mad English friend told us about an equine veterinarian named Willie Manley, his wife, Begona, and their three teenage sons living near Madrid.

JERUSALEM -- Now that American arm-twisting has done its work, the Middle East is preparing itself for peace talks next week that will bring together mutually suspicious parties with contradictory goals.The plan announced Friday calls for representatives of Israel, the Palestinians and four Arab nations to show up Oct. 30 in Madrid, Spain. President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev will be the hosts of a diplomatic gala at which the delegates will experiment -- briefly -- with being in one another's presence.

MADRID, Spain - Fernando Gonzalez was apologetic yesterday, partly for his struggle to speak English but mostly for his tears, which he could not stop. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," said the 37-year-old truck driver, who lives in the capital's Atocha neighborhood, less than a mile from the train station of the same name, which took the brunt of 10 bombs that exploded here yesterday. "I'm sorry," he said again, "but today all of Spain cries." Yesterday was a day of tears in a city known for its bright gaiety, a day of trepidation in a city known for its optimism.

MADRID, Spain -- Under heavy guard and shielded by bulletproof glass, 29 men charged in one of Europe's worst attacks faced survivors and the families of the nearly 200 dead for the first time yesterday. The carnage of March 11, 2004, traumatized a nation and upended Spanish politics. But many here hope a trial, which began yesterday, will somehow help heal the scars. Bombs ripped through four commuter trains during Madrid's morning rush hour, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800 others.

Temporary housing had been found last night for most of the 40 people, many of them low-income Salvadoran immigrants, who were displaced by a three-alarm fire at an Annapolis apartment complex yesterday morning. A woman and her infant daughter suffered smoke inhalation in the blaze at the Admiral Farragut Apartments on Hilltop Lane, and firefighters had to rescue eight people from their homes, said Capt. Ed Hadaway, an Annapolis Fire Department spokesman. More than 70 firefighters from Annapolis, Anne Arundel County and the Naval Academy battled the fire, which broke out shortly before 9:30 a.m. It took an hour to bring the fire under control.