Barcelona  - The global economic crisis and the resultant cost-cutting measures imposed on Formula One appears to have drawn the competing teams closer together as they began testing this week at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.

"It's a unique moment in the history of Formula One," said Ferrari and Formula One Teams Organisation (FOTA) boss Luca di Montezemolo.

FOTA, which represents the 10 teams in the sport, reached unanimous agreement last week on a series of proposals to help F1 survive the global financial crisis.

Barcelona - Toro Rosso was the final Formula One team to unveil its car for the 2009 season Monday when it presented the new STR4 at the Circuit de Catalunya just outside Barcelona where the team is testing this week.

"Our target has to be that we leave the circuit on Sunday evening conscious that we have done the best possible job," said team boss Franz Tost.

Drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastien Buemi have just under three weeks to get used to the car before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 29.

Barcelona  - Jaime Martinez-Bordiu, 44, grandson of Spain's 1939-75 dictator Francisco Franco, has been sentenced to one year in prison for abusing his girlfriend, a Barcelona court announced Wednesday.

Martinez-Bordiu will not however be jailed, because he did not have a criminal record.

Martinez-Bordiu threw Ruth Martinez onto a chair, hurled her suitcase to the ground and threatened to kill her to prevent her from leaving the hotel where the two were staying in the southern town of Mijas in 2007, the court said.

Barcelona - Toro Rosso will bec

The launch of the new Netbook, a predecessor of the LG-X110 Netbook released last year, was announced this week by LG Electronics at the GSMA Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. It seems that the novel LG-X120 might become a worthy contender in the Netbook market as it offers an integrated 3G HSPA connection and a 160GB hard drive.

LG informed that the latest Netbook is equipped with a 'Smart-On' interface that allows the user to trace most frequently used programs just a few seconds after hitting the power button without waiting for the OS to completely load on the desktop.

Madrid - Andres Iniesta will be out of action for at least two weeks, Spanish leaders Barcelona announced Wednesday.

The Euro 2008 hero pulled a muscle in his left thigh in training on Tuesday, and underwent medical tests on Wednesday morning.

Iniesta, 24, will therefore miss the upcoming Liga matches against Espanyol and Atletico Madrid, the King's Cup semi-final second leg against Mallorca - as well as the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 away to Olympique Lyon.

He will struggle to be fit for the second leg against Lyon on March 11.