Elections in Spain under way after massive protests

Madrid (CNN) -- Spaniards voted in local and regional elections Sunday after a campaign overshadowed by week-long protests in Madrid and other cities over the nation's deep economic crisis.

Despite a court-approved ban on demonstrations the day before the elections, the demonstrations continued on Saturday.

Polls predict the ruling Socialist Party will suffer deep losses to the conservatives in voting for all 8,000 Spanish city and town mayors and for presidents of 13 out of the 17 regional governments. The outcome is viewed as a bellwether for national elections due no later than March 2012.

The Socialist government did not order the police to disband the peaceful demonstrations on Saturday, despite the electoral board's ban that said the day prior to balloting should be a day of reflection, without politicking.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said earlier that police would not create even more problems than already existed in the streets.

Rubalcaba voted early on Sunday, shortly after polls opened at 9 a.m. Rubalcaba is widely expected to seek the nomination of the Socialist Party as candidate for prime minister in the next general elections.

The current prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, announced last month he would not seek a third term.

His government has been squeezed by Spain's 21% unemployment rate, the highest in Western Europe, and a financial crisis that prompted unpopular austerity measures.

That's what helped start a wave of protests May 15, when Spaniards using social media sites like Facebook convened demonstrations that attracted large crowds.

The protests against the political and financial establishment continued and gained force throughout last week, as demonstrators set up encampments in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol plaza and at emblematic plazas in Barcelona and many other Spanish cities.

Overall, reports indicated that tens of thousands took to the streets across the nation in the past week, and news media attention on the protests quickly overshadowed the campaign.

The sprawling tent city in Madrid's Puerta del Sol plaza includes a kitchen, a painting workshop to churn out protest placards, a communications office to answer media inquiries and even a day care nursery.

Young people dominated the protests on Saturday, but there were also families with young children, senior citizens and many people who have jobs and said they're concerned about the nation's future. Spain has a 42% jobless rate for people ages 16 to 24.

"Everybody here is a volunteer, and everything started very small, but we got organized very fast and it started growing very fast," said Juan Lopez, a protest spokesman and Internet technology manager who is currently unemployed.

"People want to participate," said Sofia de Roa, a spokeswoman for the protesters. "This is a fiesta of democracy."

Protesters decided on Sunday to stay at least another week in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol plaza, said Juan Lopez, a protest spokesman.

"The assembly has just approved that," Lopez told CNN by phone. The protesters have divided themselves into decision-making bodies they call assemblies, which debate and then vote on issues.

Lopez said the decision applies only to the protest in Madrid, which has been the largest in Spain. Barcelona and other cities would make their own decision.

"We are trying to coordinate," but he added that, so far, nationwide collaboration is not in place.

Zapatero, the prime minister, said in an interview with SER radio on Friday that voters ultimately will decide whether and how much change will be made.

"It's just before elections when the Spanish politicians usually hear the voice of the people," Lopez said. "Now on Monday, we have to see how this develops and what the answer is. The best-case scenario, which is the one we would like, is that they will come down here as citizens to hear us, and to make a new and better Spain."

A total of 34 million Spaniards are eligible to vote on Sunday, including 500,000 foreigners, mainly from other European Union nations, who have established residency in Spain.

About 100,000 police officers are on duty to maintain safety. The polls close at 8 p.m., and results are due later Sunday.

Several representatives of the protests told CNN the demonstrations will continue even after the elections. But Spanish media reported that in various cities, the protester assemblies - their decision-making bodies -- had not yet decided how long the protests would continue.

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Japan's TEPCO reports massive losses

TEPCO vice president Sakae Muto bows on May 17 prior to the release of a revised timetable for stabilizing the Fukushima plant.Tokyo Electric says it will decommission four reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plantThe company president and vice president announce their resignationsTokyo Electric hopes to save more than a trillion yen by cutting payroll and salaries, and selling real estateA March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant

Tokyo (CNN) -- Hammered by a nuclear accident at its Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Friday reported a net loss of 1.2 trillion yen ($15.4 billion) for the fiscal year that ended March 31.

Tokyo Electric also announced it will decommission reactors Nos. 1-4 at Fukushima Daiichi. It also has canceled plans to build two other reactors at the site.

In addition to the company's earnings, Tokyo Electric president Masataka Shimizu announced his resignation Friday, which must be approved by the board of directors at a June meeting.

"The accident compromised our confidence in the safety of nuclear power," Shimizu said. "We have caused problems and anxiety to the public."

Managing Director Toshio Nishizawa has been tapped to replace the president.

"We are facing the gravest crisis in the history of the company," Nishizawa said. "I feel the enormous gravity of the responsibility to assume the position of the president ... so I accepted the position."

Vice Presidents Sakae Mutoh and Makio Fujiwara also tendered their resignations, as did Director Tomijirou Morita.

A restructuring plan was announced to boost company finances and help create more than a trillion yen in savings by selling off real estate, cutting pay and reducing staff.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant has faced a series of setbacks since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11. The disasters triggered a glitch in the plant's cooling system, and caused radiation to leak.

As crews work to bring the problems under control, the government said this week it would compensate more than 78,000 displaced by the nuclear disaster.

Tokyo Electric has made a down payment on compensation of 1 million yen (about $12,000) per household to some families.

Some analysts say total compensation could amount to more than 10 trillion yen ($124 billion).

The government has set no ceiling on the compensation and Tokyo Electric will be required to pay back the money spent out of a government-backed fund.

The shadow cast by Fukushima Daiichi has inflicted yet-unknown losses on farmers, fishermen and shopkeepers. And looming compensation costs have darkened the future of Tokyo Electric, a $157 billion company that could still be driven into some form of government receivership by the nuclear disaster.

CNN's Kyung Lah and Yoko Wakatsuki contributed to this report

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Homes burned, threatened by massive fire in Texas

By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTSFire burns more than 71,786 acres in three countiesFire traveled 12 miles in less than four hours, official saidTwo homes burned, 12 others are threatened, according to the Texas Forest Service (CNN) -- A fast-moving fire has charred more than 71,786 acres in three Texas counties, and it's expected to grow, the state's forest service said Friday.

The blaze, which started in Stonewall County, moved quickly into neighboring Knox and King counties, destroying two homes and threatening at least a dozen more, said April Saginor, a Texas Forest Service worker.

According to Saginor, on Thursday, the flames traveled 12 miles in less than four hours, jumping the Brazos River and leaving only charred debris in its path.

Air tankers have dropped at least 58,000 gallons of retardant on the massive fire, and officials said they believe it will take several more days before they get it under control.

"Last night, it looked like it was snowing because there was white ash falling from the sky," Knox County attorney Megan Suarez said.

Despite heavy smoke and zero containment of the fire in Knox County, Suarez said there have been no evacuations so far.

Local officials are handling an unconfirmed number of evacuations in other counties, Saginor said.

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Fossil crowns massive rabbit 'king'

The rabbit skeleton shown in the "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology" is of an animal that stood about 3 feet tall on its hind legs.

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The rabbit skeleton shown in the "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology" is of an animal that stood about 3 feet tall on its hind legs.

It's the largest rabbit discovered to date, according to the study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

"When I found the first bone, I was not aware what this bone represented," says study lead author Josep Quintana of the Institut Català de Paleontologia in Barcelona. "I thought it was a bone of the giant Minorcan turtle."

Minorca is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea off the Spanish coast.

Long extinct, this unusually massive rabbit weighed 26 pounds and was about 3 feet tall when standing on its hind legs. The rabbit, officially called Nuralagus rex, has been nicknamed the "Minorcan King of the Rabbits."

It lived about 3 million to 5 million years ago.

"Nobody knows what might have caused its extinction," though climatic changes are unlikely, says study co-author Meike Kohler, also of the Institut Catala de Paleontologia. He says one possibility is that the rabbit was "outcompeted" by a goat that also inhabited Minorca.

Quintana and his team discovered that this giant rabbit also couldn't hop. The short, stiff spine of the rabbit would have made jumping difficult, he says, unlike the long, springy spine of a rabbit today.

"I think that Nuralagus rex would be a rather clumsy rabbit walking," says Quintana. "Imagine a beaver out of water."

It also had relatively small ears for its size.

The rabbit king may be one of the oldest known cases of the so-called "island rule" in mammals.

This rule states that typically smaller animals evolve to grow much bigger when on islands (and vice versa). This size change on islands may be associated with a lack of predators.

Some of the rabbit's neighbors on the island included a huge bat, a large mouse and a giant tortoise.

"As evolution has shown repeatedly, strange things happen on islands," says paleontologist Brian Kraat of the Western University of Health Science in Pomona, Calif., who was not part of the study.

Quintana is so excited about his discovery, he thinks it might even make a good island mascot. "I would like to use N. rex to lure students and visitors to Minorca," he says.

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