Hello good morning!
Seven deputies from Junts and five from Podemos yesterday put their partisan interests first to stop measures that favor the common good, such as the arrival of European funds and the social shield. The Government could have foreseen it, but it did not. Short-term tactics prevail in the absence of medium-term strategies on the issues that sustain Spanish society.
Policy. The Government gave in yesterday in the fight that Junts put before it. The Catalan independentists facilitated the passage of two of the three decrees in exchange for important compensation. The PP was scandalized by this market on the horn.
Economy. The European Central Bank (ECB) predicts some very complicated months for the euro zone. He even talks about tactical recession. The World Bank has reduced the growth forecast for this year from 1.3% to 0.4%. Pressure is growing to reduce interest rates, now at 4.5%. Luis de Guindos, vice president of the ECB, asks Spain to control spending.
Company. Grifols will file a complaint against the Gotham City vulture fund, which this week caused it to lose 2,200 in capitalization by betting in the short term against it. The company maintains that its accounts are transparent and that they are not disguised to mask its debt. Shares rose yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, but have not yet recovered their pre-attack price.
Ecuador. The country is dominated by drug mafias, infiltrated in public powers. The president has declared war on them after violence has escalated following the escape of Fito, leader of Los Choneros, the country’s main cartel. This escape from prison demonstrates the dominance of drug traffickers over the prison system.
Middle East. Qatar insists on negotiating a truce that would allow the release of all the hostages in exchange for the departure of the Hamas leaders from Gaza, an offer that Israel does not accept. Meanwhile, the Houthis are forcing the navies of the United Kingdom and the United States to work hard to stop attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea.
Sexist violence. Fathers who murder their children in order to kill the mothers from whom they have separated are still alive do not usually act on impulse but rather plan their crimes in cold blood. In the last ten years, 52 children have been murdered in Spain at the hands of their fathers or their mothers’ partners.
Barcelona. The rain that fell yesterday and that will surely continue to fall today is not enough to avoid the emergency that will force the use of water to be restricted. The City Council is working against the clock to save the city’s 250,000 trees. The priority is the 35,000 that are on the large avenues.
Wim Wenders, filmmaker. “I’m trying to be happy by owning very little, but I haven’t achieved it yet.” Read it here.
History. The first Spain that read Don Quixote at the beginning of the 17th century was a country in decline. The empire was beginning to be lost, the economic crisis was very serious and the monarchy of Philip III lived with its back to reality, in a fantasy of luxury and corruption.
Telephone. César Alierta died yesterday in Zaragoza at the age of 78. He directed Telefónica between 2000 and 2016, a period in which the company became a telecommunications heavyweight, with interests in numerous countries, especially in Latin America, but also in the United Kingdom and Germany. This expansion was at the cost of a debt that has not yet been cleared.
Cinema. Relationships are one of the main fuels of dramatic art, literature and cinema. The screen is filled these days with films that explain the universe that opens up within each relationship.
Assi Azar, Israeli television star. “If Israel’s song is halfway good, she will win Eurovision.” Read it here.
Amela