June, 20/02 - Many shops closed and hundreds of flights were canceled Thursday as workers staged Spain´s first general strike in eight years. The unions are protesting cuts in unemployment benefits. Their one-day nationwide protest aims to embarrass conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as he prepares to host a European Union summit Friday in Seville. It poses the stiffest challenge to Aznar from unions since he took power in 1996 /a>