All posts by Carmen Gomaro

Carmen Gomaro - leading international news and investigative reporter. Worked at various media outlets in Spain, Argentina and Colombia, including Diario de Cádiz, CNN+, Telemadrid and EFE.
ECONOMY

Collision Between Tanker and Oil Tanker in Suez Canal Amidst Drought

Leave a comment

A tanker and an oil tanker have suffered a slight collision in the Suez Canal, where transit has been interrupted, although the authority that manages it expected navigation to return to normal in a matter of “hours” and, according to Reuters, traffic has already been restored.

The accident coincides with a drought that affects the other major maritime canal, the Panama Canal, where the pace of passage has been reduced due to the scarcity of water.

The crash took place early on Wednesday and affected the BW Lesmes, which transports liquefied natural gas and is 295 meters long, and the Burri, which carries oil and is somewhat smaller, 250 meters.

The first made a “sudden stop” near kilometer 144 of the canal due to a technical failure that caused it to lose its drive, according to the Canal Authority.

The failure coincided with “a strong current” that caused the Burri to have “light contact” with the other boat.

“We have taken care of the breakdowns suffered by an LNG vessel and an oil tanker during their transit through the Canal and navigation will return to normal in both directions in the next few hours,” explained Ossama Rabiee, president and director of operations of the Authority. of the Suez Canal.

Rabiee also stated that the tugboats came to the scene and first moored the Burri to later move the BW Lesmes, which has already been removed from the waterway.

Activity will resume on the channel when the Burri is removed. Initial inspections revealed no significant damage or contamination incidents.

Two years ago, navigation in the Suez Canal was completely paralyzed when the enormous Ever Given, 400 meters long, ran aground transversely.

The accident affected global supply chains. In this case, everything is expected to return to normal in hours, although the shock has coincided with the drought that causes delays of up to 20 days in the Panama Canal, where daily traffic has been reduced to 32 ships, instead of of the normal 38.

The maximum draft of the vessels that pass through the infrastructure has also been limited to reduce water consumption.

ECONOMY

Navigating the Rising Costs of Back-to-School Expenses

Leave a comment

The slope in January is always steep, but the one in September has little to envy. At least for families with school-age children. Textbooks, uniforms or clothes to go to class, school supplies, didactic, electronic devices.

Resuming the academic year always puts a lot of pressure on household economies, but going back to school this year is going to be the most expensive on record.

A normal family is going to spend about 500 euros per child on this return to school, 14% more than two years ago, according to calculations by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU). More or less about 24 euros more.

But that’s just to pay for uniforms, books, and school supplies.. If the usual expenses related to the school year are added (registration, the payment of the annual dining room, buses…) that same cost can skyrocket to 2,186 euros for each student between 3 and 18 years of age.

But let’s go in parts: one of the biggest expenses of each school year is always the acquisition of school books. And in this ranking, Spain is one of the European countries with the most expensive books, with an average price of 22.15 euros per manual, 30% more than, per job than in Germany.

Italy and France, for their part, have prices similar to Spain, 21.54 and 20.94 euros, respectively; and for under €18 you can get textbooks in the UK or Austria, according to an analysis by price comparison company Idealo.

For José Moyano, president of the National Association of Book and Teaching Material Publishers (Anele), Spanish publishers are making an effort to adjust prices as much as possible despite rising costs.

“Most of the purchases of textbooks are made in September, in that month the general inflation of last year was 8.9%,” he points out to Efe.

Although he considers that there is not a very significant difference between the prices that books have in Spain compared to other countries, the president of the publishers points out that our country has a particularity and the fact of having to adapt the contents to the different regional regulations and languages, “reduces the possibility of taking advantage of economies of scale, which influences the final price”.

In any case, adds Moyano, more than 60% of the students receive aid for the total or partial acquisition of school manuals, according to the data provided by the CCAAs themselves. In 2022, the increase in billing for the sector was 2.64%, he says.

In an economic year completely marked by high inflation, the behavior of textbooks in Spain has not been the worst in the EU. According to Eurostat, the increase in the price of books in our country has been 4.6% year-on-year (data from July).

Hungary, for its part, has been the country with the highest increase, 137.7%. And Cyprus, the smallest, with 0.4%.

Although the OCU estimates an average cost of 500 euros per student, others such as the financial comparator Banqmi believe that the cost will be somewhat lower.

According to his calculations, families will pay up to 410 euros on average per student the next academic year, but it will continue to be the most expensive campaign since there are records.

The autonomies with the highest average cost per student, according to Banqmi, are: The Valencian Community (465.55 euros), Catalonia (447.86 euros) and Navarra (447.36 euros), followed by Extremadura (383.38 euros ) and Castilla-La Mancha (387.34 euros).

“Although this year’s rise seems to be small, it comes just one year after the great rise last year and is yet another setback for families,” explains Antonio Gallardo, Banqmi’s financial expert.

How to save

The Facua organization reminds families that schools cannot force them to purchase textbooks, school supplies or possible uniforms in a specific establishment.

“They have complete freedom of choice, according to what best suits their economic capacity.”

Facua also recommends comparing prices to families and “not staying in the first establishment visited”. In addition, it is advisable not to buy all the necessary items in the same place, since the most competitive prices may not all be found in the same place.

In the same way, it also highlights the need to “not get carried away by well-known brands or by the presence of famous people in articles intended for children”, in backpacks or cases, for example, “since they tend to determine the price much more than the own quality of the product”.

For its part, to prevent unnecessary expenses, OCU recommends “purchasing ahead of time to take advantage of offers on clothing and stationery, asking the school for free book programs” and “resorting to collaborative consumption” contribute to spending less.

As one of the options to reduce school expenses, families choose to resort to second-hand textbooks. Its demand, in fact, has shot up 166% in the last month of July compared to June, according to a study carried out by Milanuncios.

Precisely, 73% of the new ads this year have been published between June and July, in a market that reaches a total value of more than 2.3 million euros in the last 12 months, as detailed by the company. Regarding the average price per second-hand textbook, in the first fortnight of August 2023 it was around 20 euros.

Iñigo Vallejo, spokesman for Milanuncios, points out that the causes that have turned the second-hand book market into a more common alternative for students and families are “inflation and greater sustainable awareness in the consumer”.

Demand by CCAA

Madrid and Andalusia are the regions where the most second-hand books are in demand. By level, the most demanded products are high school books and, specifically by year, it is the first year books that have generated the most interest this summer.

Madrid is the region most interested in the acquisition of second-hand books, with 18.4% of the total demand in Spain in the first seven months of the year; followed by Andalusia (17.7%) and Catalonia (11.1%).

However, the regions where demand has grown the most this July compared to last June are La Rioja (+294%) and Galicia (+284%), according to Europa Press.

Regarding the volume of the offer, Madrid is once again the city where more books are put up for sale by users since the beginning of the year, with 18% of the total offer; followed by Valladolid and Seville, which monopolize 6.7% and 6.3% respectively.

On the other hand, digital books represent a saving of 162 euros per student and course, 33% less than printed books, however, paper books continue to be the most in demand and grow more than e-book searches, according to EFE. .

Upload the application for laptops and uniforms

The rise of online classes and teleworking, the demand for laptops, which has grown by almost 13% in July 2023 compared to the month of June.

Likewise, the demand for PCs has increased (almost 12%) while tablets and e-books present an increase of 3% in the same period of time. As for gaming computers, their demand has grown by 6.5%.

Another product that has also experienced growth is men’s school uniforms, whose views have increased by 8.7% in July compared to the previous month.. In the case of women, the demand has grown by 7%.

ECONOMY

Arm’s Listing Premiere on Nasdaq Raises Concerns Amid China Exposure

Leave a comment

Arm, SoftBank’s chip subsidiary, has gone in a few hours from presenting its listing brochure on the Nasdaq in New York as the largest stock market exit since 2021 to putting its premiere on the table due to the doubts that it has aroused among qualified investors due to their exposure to China.

It is the company itself, which has a practically monopolistic business in the chips used by mobile phones, which has recognized in the list of risks – typical of any incorporation document – that a quarter of its sales are generated within the Asian giant.

The bible of the economic press, the Financial Times, echoed yesterday the “alarm” that has unleashed among large American investors the fact that the company itself recognizes that it is “particularly susceptible to economic and political risks due to possible tensions that may arise between the governments of China and the US”.

At the moment and waiting for what may happen, Arm starts from an approximate valuation of 64,000 million dollars (about 59,000 million euros).

If it occurs, it will be a new debut on behalf of artificial intelligence, which has been valued, as denounced by investors on the pages of the FT, also at stratospheric multiples and similar to those of Nvidia, which trades above 190 times its profit.

The president of the company, Masayoshi Son, has managed to double the valuation of Arm in the last seven years since it was acquired in 2016 by SoftBank in an operation that closed at 32,000 million dollars (about 29,400 million euros).

As the company states in its placement brochure, “approximately 70% of the world’s population uses Arm products”. In addition, they point out that “the chips that contain their technology have close to 50% of the market share, with a valuation close to 200,000 million dollars.”

At the end of its 2022 fiscal year, Arm had revenue of $2.7 billion and a profit of $524 million.

“We are working with leading companies such as Alphabet, Cruise LLC, Mercedes-Benz, Meta and Nvidia to implement Arm technology to run AI workloads,” it states in the filing with the SEC.

ECONOMY

Overload Incident at Transformation Center Reveals Illegal Connections in Murillo Neighborhood

Leave a comment

A transformation center located in the Murillo neighborhood in Polígono Sur suffered an overload at dawn on August 19 due to illegal and fraudulent connections to the network.

As Endesa explained in a statement, the area has 10 times more power than contracted, “especially due to marijuana plantations.”

The center had two 1,000 KVA power transformers each, the company points out, and one of them caught fire “due to the conditions endured by this facility.”

Despite the fact that it only had 105 clients with a valid contract, the transformer had the capacity “to supply more than 1,200 clients by itself,” the company continues.

“That is to say, it had ten times more power than the contracted one”, the firm states, which points directly to “the overload derived from illegal couplings” as the cause of the deterioration of the installation.

In fact, the company also highlights that the center was “renovated and reinforced” just two years ago, in mid-2021, when its power was expanded “despite not having registered an increase in clients with a contract in force”.

The idea was to “try to alleviate the problems that were occurring in the area” due to these hook-ups.

After the overload, the company’s technicians managed to normalize the service at 06:00 on Sunday, after replacing the affected transformer.

The operations were carried out in coordination with the Fire Department, since the area had reached temperatures above 60 degrees.

The renovation of the transformation center and replacement of the transformer -also with 220 meters of wiring- has involved “an investment of 29,500 euros”, laments Endesa.

In 2022, the firm allocated 2.5 million euros to “actions to improve the quality and safety of electrical supplies in the Polígono Sur de Sevilla”.

ECONOMY

Catalan Government Designates 140 Municipalities as Stressed Rental Market Areas

Leave a comment

The Department of Territory of the Generalitat sent to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, to give its green light “as soon as possible”, the declaration of 140 Catalan municipalities as areas of stressed residential market in which it will be possible according to the new law to limit rental prices, according to EFE.

The Catalan administration has already published this list of areas in the official newspaper of the Generalitat, but state legislation provides that, once notified, the Ministry must publish a resolution that includes the list of stressed residential market areas declared by the Government, and which are valid for three years.

In the communication to the ministry, the regional executive insists that it “approve the resolution as soon as possible with the aim of being able to apply the measures contained in the law.”

From that moment, in the areas declared tense, the rent of the new contracts may not exceed the price of the last contract in force in the last five years, once the annual update clause of that contract has been applied, the Government recalled in a statement.

In addition, in the case of a large holder, the rent may not exceed the rental price reference index. On the 16th, the Generalitat reduced from 10 to 5 the number of properties that must be owned to be considered a large holder.

With the publication and communication to the ministry, the department of Territori culminates the process that began on June 22, with the start of the processing of the tense areas.

Among these 140 municipalities included in the rental limitation are towns in the Barcelona metropolitan area, the provincial capitals or the regional capitals, where 6.2 million people live and 80.6% of the population of Catalonia is concentrated.

These municipalities meet the requirements established by state law to be declared “stressed areas”, such as that the rent cannot represent more than 30% of the income that families have or that the increase in rental prices in the last five years is 3 percentage points higher than the evolution of the CPI.

The Housing Law establishes differences in setting the rental price of a home depending on whether the owner is a large holder or not:

in the case of properties with a large holder, the rental price will be limited to the reference price index of the Generalitat , while in the case of small holders the price of the new contract will be marked by that of the previous one.

ECONOMY

March Family Expands Stake in Inmobiliaria Colonial Amid European Real Estate Turmoil

Leave a comment

The March family decided last Friday to expand its stake in Inmobiliaria Colonial given the demolition prices at which the Catalan socimi is trading. It did so through its investment arm, Corporación Financiera Alba, until it exceeded a 3% stake, a percentage from which it is mandatory to declare it before the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

But it was not a novel position, but to take advantage of the discount that investors are applying without exception to the entire European real estate sector. “It is a financial participation that already existed and that was slightly below 3% of the capital,” financial sources indicate to the newspaper EL MUNDO.

In any case, the March family has been seeing value in Colonial for years, since the real estate company was already among its investees, these same sources point out.

Corporación Financiera Alba reported over the weekend how last Friday the holding company already had 16.3 million shares of the Catalan socimi in its hands, in what was the first official communication to the regulator about its position within Colonial.

At the close of the session, this participation reached a market value of 85.9 million euros.. The Marches took advantage of the last day of a week that was dyed black for the real estate company to buy more shares of Colonial, with its share at its lowest since November 2022.

Only in the last seven sessions its titles have lost just over 7% of their value, close to 200 million euros when it capitalizes 2,800 million. With that of this Monday, the company accumulates seven consecutive sessions of falling stock. Its national comparable, Merlin Properties, has behaved along the same lines, accumulating losses in the market that exceed 7.3%.

What is happening? The Socimi led by Pere Viñolas is the best example that in times of massive sales the market does not discriminate because its business has nothing to do with what is currently happening with Chinese brick.

Owner of prime offices in the financial districts of Paris, Madrid and Barcelona, the sales are devastating the price of European real estate due to doubts about the liquidity of the sector in China and after the US subsidiary of Evergrande invoked US laws to file for bankruptcy (although now back off and say it’s not bankruptcy). But it’s not the only motive.

In Europe, the sector that brings together the largest real estate companies on the continent has accumulated losses of 12% since January and has completely distanced itself from a year that points to profits.

The Stoxx 600, which is the reference index that averages all the sectors, rises 5% in this 2023, so the distance between the two already exceeds 17 points. Historically, the brick is directly related to the progress of the economy, so if it grows more houses are built and the opposite happens in times of recession, which seems to be the case.

This makes investors prefer to take their money and return to the market, compared to real estate investment, which is undoubtedly less liquid and is going through delicate moments.. The industry itself knows.

Its top managers have been recognizing for a year and a half that, as a result of the economic slowdown, the valuation of their properties was going to fall. and so it has been.

Both Colonial, dedicated exclusively to office rentals, have adjusted the value that their buildings would have today on the market; as Merlin has done, which also includes shopping and logistics centers in this mix.

Be that as it may, the accounts still do not come out. If the valuations of the valuers in June are taken as a reference, Colonial should be trading (if it adjusts to it) at a price of 11.5 euros per share.

It is more than double where it is trading now after the falls. Merlin Properties should have a price of 15.4 euros when trading below 8 euros. And this, if the potential of the two socimis is trusted, means buying at very attractive prices, which is the financial strategy that Corporación Financiera Alba would be following.

In any case, the March family is an expert in real estate investment. At the end of December, it declared that it had 2,885 million invested in the stock market through eight listed firms, all in Spain except the Italian Technoprobe.

This market value has increased by 6%, to over 3,060 million euros, to which must be added the now known stake in Inmobiliaria Colonial, over 85 million. Its most important company continues to be Naturgy, where they hold 5.44% of the capital that today is valued at 1,350 million euros, some 460 million more at the end of 2022.

In fact, thanks to its investment in the gas company chaired by Francisco Reynés, the holding manages to keep its numbers in the green, since most of its investees, companies such as Acerinox (where they hold 18.96%), Viscofan (with 11 % of capital) and CIE Automotive (with 10%) suffered losses on the stock market in the year.

They also have 5% of Global Dominion and 14% of Ebro Foods, world leader in the marketing of pasta and rice.

INTERNATIONAL

Alarming Human Rights Violations: Saudi Guards’ Brutality at Yemen Border

Leave a comment

Hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers, mostly of Ethiopian origin, have been killed by Saudi guards as they tried to cross the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, a Human Rights Watch investigation reveals.

The murders have been committed with shots and explosives, according to what the organization has been able to find out through the forensic analysis of hundreds of videos of the migrants themselves and the testimonies of survivors.

Humanitarian organizations had previously denounced murders of migrants on the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, but the current investigation reflects an alarming increase in this type of practice.

The Saudi authorities have denied the facts. The investigation focuses on abuses committed between March 2022 and June 2023, although this practice could be earlier, according to the organization.

HRW calls on the United Nations to investigate these deaths, which could constitute a crime against humanity.

“Spending billions buying professional golf, soccer clubs and major entertainment events to improve Saudi Arabia’s image should not divert attention from these horrific crimes,” said Nadia Hardman, HRW’s migrant and refugee rights researcher.

Dozens of testimonies reveal that they were attacked with mortar shells and other explosive weapons by Saudi border guards.

“There are some people you can’t identify because their bodies are lying all over the place. Some people were split in half,” describes a witness.

Images taken by migrants and verified by HRW show dead or injured migrants on the border trail.

Geospatial analysis also reveals increased movement of earth, believed to be buried bodies, near migrant camps and border security infrastructure. In some cases, Saudi border guards asked the migrants which member to shoot and then shot them at point-blank range.

In others, they forced the men to rape girls and women at gunpoint, according to various testimonies. They also fired explosive weapons at migrants trying to flee back to Yemen.

Survivors reported that they were sometimes held in detention centers for months, where they were beaten until they paid a supposed fee to get out of the centers.

“The Saudi border guards knew or should have known that they were firing on unarmed civilians,” Hardman said.

HRW calls on the Saudi authorities to “immediately and urgently revoke” any policy of use of lethal force against migrants and asylum seekers, including attacking them with “explosive weapons and point-blank shooting”.

The humanitarian organization also calls for all Saudi security members responsible for the abuse, torture and killings of migrants to be investigated and brought to trial..

On the other hand, they also call for an independent investigation backed by the United Nations, to assess the scope of the abuses and find out if they constitute crimes against humanity.

“If there is no justice for what appear to be serious crimes against Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers, it will only lead to more killings and abuse,” adds Hardman. In 2020, HRW denounced the abuse of hundreds of migrants from Ethiopia and other countries in Saudi deportation centers.

Nearly 750,000 Ethiopians live and work in Saudi Arabia, with the majority surviving by working without a contract and in the country irregularly. Most have left Ethiopia for economic reasons, but many are also fleeing the recent armed conflict in the north of the country.

ECONOMY

The Impact of AI on Workforce: 40% of Global Workers Need Retraining in 3 Years, Says IBM Study

Leave a comment

The implementation of artificial intelligence will mean that in the next three years some 1,400 million people, 40% of the 3,400 million that make up the workforce worldwide, will have to retrain in some competence, according to a study and two surveys conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value.

However, they do not believe that technology will lead to job losses, although it will entail the restructuring of companies and processes, as well as the skills of the workers themselves.

Thus, the executives surveyed by IBM estimate that this percentage of the global workforce will have to retrain or learn new skills due to “the implementation of AI and automation.”

In other words, it will not be so much that workers are replaced because new technologies can carry out their work, according to the study, but that new jobs will be created or existing ones will be reconsidered and for this it will be necessary to acquire new knowledge.

The incidence will be different depending on the position and the sector, but, on average, 87% of managers believe that jobs will increase in functions with generative artificial intelligence.

It will be especially prominent in attorney (97% of those asked believe so), risks and compliance (93%) and finance (also 93%). However, among executives it is expected that by 2025 generative AI will already affect all levels of the company.

It will be especially notable among the lowest positions, from the outset, where the impact will be ‘extreme’ for 18% of those surveyed, ‘significant’ for 29% and ‘moderate’ for 30%. Among those with experience there will be a moderate impact for 48% and it also stands out that 6% believe that there will be an extreme impact among senior managers.

Regarding the traditional debate about whether artificial intelligence will end the jobs of human workers, IBM has a somewhat tangential opinion: the technology will not, but whoever masters it will.

“AI will not replace people, but the people who use AI will replace the people who do not use it,” summarizes the document, which also details that advances in these tools “promise to drastically change traditional business models” and transform “the work employees do every day”.

To carry out the study, two surveys conducted with global leaders (3,000 people in 28 countries) and with workers (21,000 employees from 22 countries) were used.

Interestingly, the study also reflects a drop in the weight of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) career skills, which went from being the most important in 2016 to number 12 in this same ranking in 2023.

The analysis is that, in a certain way, they die of success, because it is assumed that the employee owns them, at least by the management teams.. “Looking ahead, executives are more focused on developing personal skills,” the report highlights.

Time management and priorities, collaboration or communication skills are some of the most prominent. The development of technology itself also helps, which means that less technical knowledge is needed to develop technical jobs, such as programming, which can also be part of the more mundane tasks that are automated.

In this sense, the report highlights that “you cannot run the company of tomorrow with the talent of yesterday”, but neither can you “connect the talent of tomorrow in an operating model of yesterday”.

That is, in part, where artificial intelligence would come in, more intended to optimize processes or provide information to make decisions than to replace workers.

This is illustrated by the section dedicated to salary increases or promotions, which, according to the IBM Institute for Business, will be made with the support of the data provided by AI, but always with the approval of a human being.

Paradigm changes also mean, for example, adopting operating models based on the product or the ways of working: that teams have objectives to achieve, not tasks to perform. One in three of the best performing companies has already opted for this mindset.

Likewise, more is committed to the aforementioned additional training of workers (57%) than to hiring new employees.

“Although it is easy to assume that people are not adopting technology because they do not know how to use it, it may simply be that they are resistant to change and afraid of being replaced,” the report details.

In this scenario, they believe that managers should be able to convey to their employees the message that they want to increase the value of what they do, not simply reduce costs.

And also encourage experimentation and communication, where the figure of intermediate positions becomes important “to help employees better understand their objectives” and to work in an environment of some uncertainty.

“With AI automating many traditional tasks, middle managers can lead more and manage less,” they summarize.

SPAIN

Murcia’s Political Landscape: Complex Relations Between PP and Vox Amid Electoral Uncertainty

Leave a comment

They have known for months in the Region of Murcia that what happens in national politics has an echo in territorial negotiations. That the 28-M outlined a panorama, the 23-J another and the difficult constitutive session in Congress for the right, this Thursday, another. And that all this directly affects the relationship between the Popular Party and Vox in Murcia, where the drums of the electoral repetition sound increasingly close.

The week has been tough for the forces that make up the ideological spectrum of the right. Alberto Núñez Feijóo entered the Lower House for the first time on Thursday as leader of the popular deputies and hoped to achieve a minimum of 171 support to make Cuca Gamarra president of Congress.

By controlling the two chambers, the PP would take a giant step in its objective of being in charge of forming the Government. He came out with just 139 votes after denying Vox a seat on the Board, which resulted in a resounding break with those of Santiago Abascal.

Now, despite the fact that in Vox they rule out that this distancing could affect support for a hypothetical investiture of Feijóo, the complex relationship between both forces can mark the political future of the coming weeks.

Not only at the national level: the Region of Murcia is the only autonomy still mired in the blockade and without forming a government, and precisely the PP and Vox are the leading actors in this delicate situation.

The deadline to extend the negotiations, which are already approaching 90 days with hardly any progress, ends on September 7. However, there are more and more voices that see the situation between the two parties as irresolvable and assume that it will not be necessary to reach that date to assume that the people of Murcia will have to go to the polls again.

Encounter

The clash between Feijóo and Abascal this week, in fact, ended up truncating the little hope that existed in the Murcian negotiating teams of reaching an agreement. In the environment of Fernando López Miras, as the days go by they are closer to the idea of electoral repetition.

Even other territorial barons of the PP advise him to return to the polls. If he does, the leader of the PP will aspire to achieve an absolute majority that on this occasion has been close to. The internal calculations that it manages thus affirm it.

In addition, Genoa’s national strategy involves putting land in the middle with Vox. EL MUNDO told it this Saturday: Feijóo has transferred to his barons the slogan of “not giving up a single one” with those of Abascal to approach positions with the PNV in the coming weeks in the face of a hypothetical investiture.

And the Region of Murcia, as the only point where the negotiations are still in the air, has therefore become a more than important enclave to execute Feijóo’s plan. In other words, the national leadership of the PP is committed to López Miras’s relationship with Vox being more similar to that of his neighbor to the south, Juanma Moreno, than to that of his neighbor to the east, Carlos Mazón.

However, the last word will be the Murcian leader. In Vox they accuse him precisely of being the main architect of the blockade and of taking more than a month without contacting the regional leader of the party, José Ángel Antelo.

This week, Antelo highlighted the outstretched hand of Vox in the face of the formation of a government that puts an end to almost three months of uncertainty, but the PP refuses to allow Vox entry into its Executive and wants to govern alone.

By having 21 of the 45 seats in the regional Chamber, he needs two of the nine Vox parliamentarians, who demand two councils from the future cabinet. An excessive demand for the PP, which is convinced that if it returns to the polls it will achieve the long-awaited absolute majority.

The next few days will be decisive to know the future of Murcia. In Vox they believe that the PP will seek to blame them if the electoral repetition is finally confirmed, but they are aware of the damage they can suffer at the polls given the setback that was evidenced on 23-J.

At the national level, this feeling exists and was confirmed this week by the Vox leadership, which ruled out withdrawing its support for the PP despite the unfair maneuver in Congress and said “not to throw in the towel” in its efforts to form a government of right to stop the “national destruction” led by Pedro Sánchez.

If there is electoral repetition both in Murcia and at a general level -a scenario that cannot be ruled out-, the elections in the Region would arrive before the national ones. This would redouble the pressure on the PP and Vox in this autonomy, which would become the testing ground for two parties destined today to understand each other if they want to govern in Spain, but whose relationship seems increasingly hurt after what happened in recent days in The congress.

SPORTS

Tense Stalemate as Betis and Atlético de Madrid Battle to a Goalless Draw

Leave a comment

A cappella hymn, shirts with an old spirit and a Benito Villamarín with a lot of desire. One minute it took Betis to scare Atlético de Madrid.

Abner shot too cross after the ephemeral architecture of his team. Simeone came out with a withdrawn team, crowded behind, fighting the verdiblanco enthusiasm with patience and containment. The ball was owned by the locals. Borja Iglesias tried some unchecks. Isco asked for the ball and accelerated the game.

In the opposite field, the attempts to build by today’s albiazules died tame on the shores of the Rui Silva area. Only Griezmann tried to demonize the pace by going down to receive, signaling spaces to his teammates, looking for one on one.

In the 20th minute, Memphis scribbled into the area and was close to facing the goal, but Pezzella jumped in with seniority and determination and swiped the ball from the Dutchman’s boots. Ayoze responded a moment later, with a shot from outside the area that almost slipped through Oblak’s squad.

The game opened slowly, mushy, and the athletic corseting of the beginning was giving way to a certain risk, to a faint joy. The possession of the hosts did not translate into danger. Aitor Ruibal was somewhat stubborn, he did not get the dribbles or the associations.

The Panda had to leave the area to touch a ball. The game was encapsulated. Without shots on goal, with an inconsequential groping in midfield, some fans missed Koke, injured, and others missed Canales, in Mexico; two footballers capable of stirring up football. To give depth to the game. To unblock games like this, so self-absorbed and inappetent.

The yellow card for Ruibal on the brink of half-time, after an ugly stomp on Mario Hermoso from behind, was a symptom of his despair after a first half with more stubbornness than brilliance. Neither the corners disturbed the goalkeepers.

The party was confused on the verge of refreshment. An entry by Savic, penalized with a yellow card, heated up the atmosphere. In the absence of football, some clash and the pacification of De Burgos Bengoetxea.

ISCO, THE MOST ACTIVE

A cross from Isco, directly into the small area, was headed high by Ruibal. There were five minutes of extra time where Betis timidly pushed, recovering some balls in the mattress field, distant shots that did not hit the goal and a whistle that ended a few minutes with more intention than fruit, with more tedium than spark.

At the locker room exit, Pablo Barrios entered for Marcos Llorente. Simeone needed fluidity in his, contingency, control. Betis remained impassive. Trusting his attack to the flashes of Ayoze and the struggle of Iglesias. Parapeted with Marc Roca and Guido Rodríguez.

With a hopeful balance for yours. Atlético not only did not command, but began to look fragile, with losses in the temperate zones, with too much precipitation.

Soccer was getting tangled up. The absence of clear chances generated impotence and friction. The public was impatient. Manuel Pellegrini and Cholo Simeone, in the 60th minute, decided to definitively shake up the match.

William José by Borja Iglesias in the premises. Morata, Saúl and Lino inside from the visiting block. On the next play, after the round of substitutions, a header from Hermoso had a feline response from Rui Silva. It was the first stop by a goalkeeper in what was going on in the game.

After the hydration break, Ruibal and Isco stayed on the bench. Rodri and Cruz went out onto the field to regain possession. To wait with the ball at his feet for the foreseeable rush of Atlético de Madrid.

With ten minutes remaining, neither team was in a position to win. The shadow of the tie darkened the green cloak. Morata fought with the Verdiblancos central defenders and Rodri faced with self-confidence. no goldsmith. Nothing sharp. Just a tiring and heated football.

The zero to zero chiseled on the scoreboard. The centrals only enjoyed themselves after ninety minutes without fuss or ideas. Forwards at half mast. Orphaned by a goal, the teams left the pitch celebrating intimately a point that was more sweaty than deserved.