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.
SPORTS

Mbappé, with a penalty in injury time, avoids the PSG catastrophe

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A penalty goal from Kylian Mbappé in the seventh minute of added time prevented the catastrophe for PSG, at the mercy of Newcastle for many minutes at the Parc des Princes. After looking over the precipice, Luis Enrique was able to celebrate a draw that leaves his place in the round of 16 pending a victory in Dortmund on the last day. In the event of a tie, a victory for the English team against Milan would trigger another premature goodbye to the Champions League for the Parisians.. [Narrative and statistics (1-1)]

PSG does not learn, which persisted in some of the errors that had led to its debacles at St James' Park and San Siro. With one more day of rest, Luis Enrique introduced three new additions to the team that destroyed Monaco (5-2) on Friday: Danilo, in the center of defense alongside Milan Skriniar, Kang-in Lee, as a link with the attack, plus Kolo Muani as '9'. To the logical expectation we had to add the unanimous applause for Sergio Rico during his first public appearance after the accident in El Rocío.

The local fans wanted to be excited by the resounding performance of their team, supported by the depth of Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembélé on the right.. A ride by the side should have made it 1-0, but Mbappé's superb backheel was neutralized by Nick Pope. The French champion's push, with various approaches, was fruitless and Newcastle, step by step, began to regroup around Bruno Guimaraes.

Soft hands by Donnarumma

The Portuguese, well escorted by Joelinton, was winning every meter against Manuel Ugarte and Fabián Ruiz, also distributing in a more than neat way.. As if that were not enough, the incisive Tino Livramento, from the left-footed profile, wreaked havoc on the French defense. An incorporation by the winger, added to the weak clearance by Gianluigi Donnarumma, facilitated the 0-1 for Alexander Isak, who only had to push into the net.

At that time, the only good news for the Parisian fans came from San Siro, where Dortmund beat Milan. Mbappé's excessive nerve, not at all fine from the left, illustrated the mood of PSG, whose pressure barely made a dent. With poise and exquisite manners, Newcastle strengthened every minute, confident of victory.

Cornet and front six

Forced by circumstances, Luis Enrique turned to Marco Asensio, Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos to refresh his attacking front. Mbappé began to produce inside, making Kolo Muani's previous ineffectiveness more evident. At the bugle call, the Parisians redoubled their siege, ending the night with 31 shots. And after knocking on the door so much, fortune smiled in the seventh minute of added time..

It was a more than doubtful action, by Livramento, reviewed by the VAR. After going to the monitor, Szymon Marciniak awarded the penalty and Mbappé rarely trembles from the eleven meters. The celebration of Luis Enrique in the technical area and the jumps in the box of Nasser Al-Khelaifi summed up the relief of PSG, who still had one last chance in the head of Barcola, who a quarter of an hour earlier had missed another clamorous opportunity against to Pope.

INTERNATIONAL

The Parthenon marbles enter the British political struggle

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has delved into the perennial dispute between the United Kingdom and Greece over the Parthenon marbles, alleging “bad faith” on the part of his counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his three-day visit to London..

The head of the Greek Government shortened his stay in the city on the Thames by a few hours after the cancellation by the British side of a meeting in Downing Street, agreed for this Tuesday. The office of the conservative president justified the sit-in by failing to comply with guarantees and promises offered by his European allies until now.

“The Greek Government provided assurances that they would not use the visit as a public platform to re-litigate already resolved issues relating to the ownership of the Parthenon sculptures,” Sunak's spokesman argued.. These promises were not kept, according to Downing Street, and were never offered, according to Mitsotakis' team.

The diplomatic imbroglio exploded following statements that the head of Government and leader of New Democracy made on the BBC to explain the situation of the marble pieces that the Earl of Elgin, Thomas Bruce, sold to the British Parliament in 1816.. For the Greeks it was a looting and theft of more than half of the marbles that are preserved from the ancient temple of Athena. “It's like we cut the Mona Lisa in half and one part stays in the Louvre and the other in the British Museum,” he compared.

The graphic comment, according to conservative circles, made it “impossible” to maintain the planned agenda between both leaders. Mitsotakis was offered the opportunity to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, which the Greek rejected without publicly ignoring his anger or frustration.. “Those who believe in the correctness and justice of their positions never fear the confrontation of arguments,” he communicated on the social network. Immigration, the conflict between Israel and Hamas or the war in Ukraine were mentioned among the current issues that were going to be addressed at the canceled meeting.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. DANIEL LEAL AFP

Sunak's rude gesture clashes with the desire of former Conservative minister and chairman of the board of the British Museum, George Osborne, to find a “practical, pragmatic and rational” solution to the fate of the pieces in negotiations with the Greek government.. “We are seeking a partnership with our Greek friends that requires no one to abandon their claims,” the old ally of current Foreign Secretary David Cameron said recently.

The leader of the opposition, Labor Keir Starmer, has aligned himself with this current of open understanding between London and Athens, without committing to modify the legal text that prohibits the restitution of the pieces of the Acropolis of Athens. The center-left leader met with Mitsotakis having previously indicated that he would not interfere in an agreement mutually accepted by both parties that allows the temporary departure of the marbles housed in the Británico.

The conversation took place minutes before Sunak canceled his appointment with the Greek visitor. Some commentators interpreted the snub as a move by the Tories to bring the 'Elgin marbles' into the electoral battle, promoting Sunak as protector of the national artistic heritage against a Labor rival willing to lose the relics.

Compared to his Greek counterpart, Sunak is in a completely different situation. Mitsotakis renewed his position in June, strengthening his mandate with another five years to sign an agreement with the British Museum. Sunak will close two decades of conservative governments, without validating his leadership at the polls, if the forecasts of opinion polls that give victory to Labor under Starmer come true..

INTERNATIONAL

Argentine justice reopens the investigation against Cristina Kirchner for money laundering while acquitting Mauricio Macri

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With less than two weeks left until she leaves power, Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner received very bad news this Tuesday: the justice system reviewed a previous decision and reopened a case against her for money laundering.

The case is popularly known as “the K money route”, a money laundering worth 55 million dollars. In June, the two-time president had been acquitted, but the Federal Chamber of Buenos Aires decided to reopen the investigation and return it to the judge who had closed it, Sebastián Casanello.

Lázaro Báez was sentenced to ten years in prison for this case. Báez received a large part of the public works contracts during the Kirchnerist governments and is designated by the justice system as a front man for the former president and her husband and former president Néstor, who died in 2010.

“Without accusation there is no criminal process possible,” the judge had argued in June in response to the decision of the prosecutor in the case, Guillermo Marijuan, not to accuse the former president.. The prosecutor's abstention and the judge's decision derived from the fact that two plaintiffs representing the State, the Financial Information Unit (UIF) and the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP), had withdrawn from the case.

The UIF and AFIP had presented themselves as plaintiffs during the government of Mauricio Macri, but withdrew during that of the Peronist Alberto Fernández.

The reopening of the case known this Tuesday occurred from the presentation of the Republican Bases Civil Association, an NGO close to PRO, Mauricio Macri's party, which asked to be accepted as a complainant and demanded that the case be reopened.. By two votes to one, the Federal Chamber advanced in the reopening.

“The incorporation of this new actor also enables the substantive issue of this case to be re-examined,” the court held.

Fernández de Kirchner, who faces other judicial problems in addition to today's, claims to be a victim of “lawfare”, an alleged conspiracy of the political, judicial and media powers against her.

The former president (2007-2015) will leave the vice presidency this December 10, when the government of the ultra-liberal populist Javier Milei takes office.. Fernández de Kirchner recently assured that, without holding any position or privileges to protect her, she will continue doing politics from the grassroots.

On the same day, Macri was dismissed in a case opened for espionage against relatives of the sailors killed in the sinking of the submarine ARA San Juan during his mandate.. The former president did not let the issue go, and also referred to Macri's candidacy for vice president in the Boca Juniors soccer club elections.

“Postcards from an Argentine morning: Macri confirmed his impunity in the case for the death of the 44 crew members of the ARA San Juan, he revoked my dismissal in the “K money” case and, since it seems that he does not win, he got the judiciary suspend the elections in Boca five days before they are held,” said the former president in X.

ECONOMY

70% of the Spanish economy will be exposed to the risk of droughts and fires in less than 30 years

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One day before the COP28 Summit held by the United Nations on Climate Change in Dubai begins, the rating agency Standard & Poor's has put figures on the consequences that this will have on the economy in the medium term. According to their calculations, if global warming does not remain well below the 2 degrees Celsius committed in the Paris Agreement for the year 2050, the world economy will suffer losses of 4.4% annually due to the risks posed by changing the temperature of the world at these levels that experts consider extreme. In fact, according to the latest report published by the UN, the world is already late in its commitments, since it understands that even if it meets the reduction of emissions, the temperature will rise between 2.5 and 2.9 degrees at some point this year. century and the repercussions will be incalculable.

Looking back, the natural tragedies that occurred between 1992 and 2022 have caused an average loss of between 5% and 7% per year in global growth, according to calculations by Swiss Re, one of the largest insurers in the world.. “By 2030, if emissions are not sufficiently mitigated, the number of natural disasters could be 40% than in 2015, with about 250 events per year,” notes S&P, echoing the latest UN report on natural disasters of the year. past. And this will also mean that half of the population will reside in areas “highly vulnerable” to climate change by the year 2050, double that of today.

This situation, translated into countries and specific figures, means that Europe will be the least affected region in the world, although it will not be immune to climate change.. South Asia, on the other hand, is where the worst sufferers are found.. S&P estimates that by 2020 these adverse phenomena will already affect more than 8% of its GDP, in 2050 it will be 12% and by 2090 the forecast is that it could subtract up to just over 14%.. In the European case, the impact on the economy does not exceed 2% in any scenario.. This is followed by North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific area, while the worst scenario will fall on the poorest regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa.

In Europe there are two common risks that would affect the entire population in general: extreme heat and possible flooding resulting from abundant rain or storms.. In addition to these two shared phenomena, in the specific case of Spain the risk of extreme drought and fires will be especially relevant to which, according to S&P calculations, close to 70% of the national economy will be exposed.. Above Spain are neighbors on the Mediterranean Sea such as Greece, mainly, where the risk of drought would affect 95% of its GDP, although the possibility of increasing fires is more limited; while in Portugal 85% of its economy would be exposed to the possible lack of water and more than 70% to forest fires.

September, a black month

Recently, Mapfre, the country's largest insurer, acknowledged that during two months, from mid-September to mid-November, it had to deal with 75,000 claims caused by weather phenomena such as DANA or storms that occurred between the 14th and the 20th. September, three more storms in October and two at the beginning of November. In total, the economic impact for Mapfre was 35 million euros, mainly due to damage caused to homes and, above all, in the Community of Madrid, where 23,000 accidents have been recorded.

In recent months, the insurance sector has debated the need to expand the coverage of the Insurance Compensation Consortium, a public body dependent on the Ministry of Economy, which is a unique case in Europe.. The Consortium is funded annually with money from policyholders to reduce the specific impact on each company of this type of natural catastrophes and to mutualize, in some way, the risks.. It is estimated that in recent years the Consortium has assumed approximately 30% of the economic impact of natural catastrophes that occur in Spain compared to the 70% that insurance companies have covered..

ECONOMY

Those over 65 buy online eight times more than a decade ago

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The use of the internet is so integrated into our lives that acquiring products and services through a device with a connection is increasingly common among Spaniards regardless of age range.. The latest Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Homes shows that 1,218,571 people between 65 and 74 years old have made purchases online in the last three months, representing 6% of the total number of consumers. Nacional level.

The imperative use of physical money has been left behind, figures from the statistical institute show that in the last decade the interest of the elderly population in online transactions has grown strongly.. In 2023, those over 65 years of age will buy eight times more online (24.8%) than they did in 2003, when the percentage barely reached 3.7%.. A significant increase considering that in the same period young people, between 16 and 24 years old, increased the percentage of virtual purchases only three times, going from 26.9% to 63.4%.

As it could not be otherwise, the year of the pandemic has been a turning point in the increase in people using digital media to satisfy their needs.. In 2019, only 46.9% of Spain's population resorted to purchases through web channels, but a year later this value rose seven percentage points; the same points that increased the operations of the population over 65 years of age in that period.

Furthermore, the data reveal that without distinction of age, about 30% of Spaniards who purchase their products online spend between 100 to 300 euros.

Leaving aside the acquisition of products in physical format, which the INE does not disaggregate, online subscriptions are the most acclaimed in the country with 15,058,777 million buyers. Catalonia, Madrid, Andalusia and the Valencian Community are the communities where the largest population invested their money in this item. And, consequently, in the national panorama, subscriptions are also the category most purchased by different age groups: 67.9% for the population. 65 and 74 years old and 84.4% for the youngest in the survey.

Other items that stand out in both groups are payments for cultural events, streaming movies or series, downloading software and online games.

What those over 65 do have the lead in is the number of times they make purchase transactions per month.. Although the bulk of buyers without age bias resort to online shopping once or twice a month, 13.7% of older adults do so between 6 and 10 times, compared to 11% of young people who resort to this frequency..

SPAIN

Feijóo appoints Bendodo deputy secretary of Autonomous and Municipal Policy and Alicia García, spokesperson in the Senate

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Alberto Núñez Feijóo will propose to the National Executive Committee the appointment of Elías Bendodo as the new vice-secretary of Regional and Municipal Policy and Electoral Analysis. Bendodo will thus assume the functions of the vice-secretary that until now was directed by Pedro Rollán and will maintain the areas of Electoral Evolution and Trends, in addition to those of Analysis and Strategic Planning that depended directly on him..

Feijóo thus groups the area secretariats of two departments around Bendodo. The Andalusian leader is no longer the general coordinator of the party and drops two hierarchical steps, but rises one in terms of competences,

In addition, Feijóo will propose Alicia García as spokesperson in the Senate. García has been a councilor in Ávila, a councilor in Castilla y León, a deputy in Congress and, since the last elections, a senator.

García is close to Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who was the one who named her candidate in the Avila elections. “The weight of Castilla y León is noticeable” in the leadership of the PP, sources from the Board emphasize.

Not in vain, that of Castilla y León is the largest subgroup of the Senate. From his position as spokesperson in the Upper House, where the PP has an absolute majority, García will pilot the offensive against the Government. In addition, he joins Feijóo's Management Committee with stripes.

Tellado and Fúnez

This Monday Feijóo completed his first and most important change in the leadership of the Popular Party: he elected Miguel Tellado as spokesperson for the Popular Party in Congress, replacing Cuca Gamarra. It thus becomes the cornerstone of the new opposition work that the PP wants to do: tougher, but with a willingness to negotiate, to try to divide the parliamentary majority that Pedro Sánchez saved for his inauguration.

Tellado's appointment precipitated another: Carmen Fúnez will become deputy secretary of Organization, a position previously held by Tellado.. In addition, she will be number three in the party's organic hierarchy, only below Feijóo and Gamarra themselves, who has been ratified as general secretary, but “full time.”

These two appointments, which will be confirmed in the PP Executive Committee on Thursday, have also meant that Bendodo will be relegated, but “with expanded functions” and “with reinforced powers.”

In this way, the tricephaly of power that Gamarra, Tellado and Bendodo were the protagonists of until now is broken.. The lieutenant of the Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno, will undoubtedly lose hierarchical stripes in the ranks. But not so much prominence, they have an impact once again in Genoa, since Feijóo does not want to demote anyone from the team with which the PP won the Andalusian, municipal, regional and general elections.

Until now, Tellado had been serving as Deputy Secretary General of Organization and Fúnez has served as Deputy Secretary of Social Policy and Demographic Challenge.. The first is Feijóo's trusted man, his operational right-hand man, with bomb-proof loyalty – forged in the PP of Galicia – and with such closeness and harmony with the president of the party that they confer on him by themselves. a huge power. Above all, in the face of the territorial leaders, who see in him an extension of the president of the party himself.. Also to the deputies.

Tellado was general secretary of the Popular Party of Galicia between 2016 and 2022, and director of the last two electoral campaigns in that community, in which Feijóo obtained absolute majorities. Tellado has also been spokesperson for the PP in Galicia, regional deputy from 2012 to 2022, and senator, in the previous legislature.. In this he is a national deputy.

“Parliamentary life will be very relevant in this legislature, the first in which the first party in Spain, the one that won the general elections on July 23, does not preside over the Government of the nation,” PP sources point out.

Carmen Fúnez, with extensive political experience in the PP, where she has held positions of responsibility and has been a parliamentarian in the Senate, will replace Tellado in the party structure, assuming the important deputy secretary of Organization.

She will be in charge, therefore, “of energizing and improving the structure of the party both in Spain and abroad,” and “of implementing the electoral strategy throughout the territory,” they add.

Castilian-La Mancha is the policy in which Feijóo symbolizes the change he wants to make. Listed as a Sorayista and former president of Nuevas Generaciones, the vice-secretary has been in the party for more than a quarter of a century, where she has held various positions in her community and in Madrid.

And there will be more changes.

SPAIN

The 'Tsunami' judge offers the wife of the deceased in El Prat to act as a victim in the National Court

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The judge of the National Court investigating Tsunami Democràtic has agreed this Monday to take a statement from the wife of the French citizen who died during the blockade of the El Prat airport as a protest against the sentences of the process, as well as to offer her the possibility of appearing as a victim.

That death is one of the elements that Judge Manuel García-Castellón has taken into account to assess the seriousness of the Tsunami actions and support their terrorist nature.. The instructor highlights that the forensic diagnosis of the cause of death – a heart attack – referred to a previous pathology, but also to the “circumstances” surrounding the death.. “Precisely, those circumstances were the collapse of the airport,” indicates the judge.

“The impact that [the situation at the Barcelona airport] had on the lives and integrity of people cannot be minimized, and it must be emphasized that within the framework of this action the death of a person occurred[…] The deceased His name was Jean Claude Scherzinger, he was 64 years old and of French nationality.

To know more
process. The daughter of the Frenchman who died during the Prat Tsunami blockade: “Under normal circumstances my father would not have died”
  • Editor: ÁNGELES ESCRIVÁ
  • Editor: RAQUEL VILLAÉCIJA

The daughter of the Frenchman who died during the Prat Tsunami blockade: “Under normal circumstances my father would not have died”

The deceased's own family has maintained in a conversation with Crónica that the circumstances were decisive for the death. «Of course yes, of course they influenced his heart condition, of course his death was because of that; the heat, the stress…. It is not the same to arrive by car, without nerves, as that way. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have happened,” says one of his daughters.

Air traffic

Last week, García-Castellón proposed to the Supreme Court that it take over the investigation in the presence of two authorized persons, one of them former president Carles Puigdemont.. In this Monday's order, he indicates that this step does not prevent him from continuing to carry out proceedings while the High Court resolves, the result of which, in any case, must be communicated to the Supreme Court.

The list of procedures ordered in this Monday's car is very extensive. Regarding the death, the judge issues a European Investigation Order (OEI) to the French authorities to locate the relatives of the deceased and offer them the possibility of appearing at the National Court. Also to convey to the French Justice “the need to obtain the statement of Francine Scherzinger [wife of the deceased, whom she accompanied in El Prat], to know, first-hand, what happened, and to obtain a witness statement about the circumstances of the death, with “all the data that may serve to clarify to what extent the events that took place on 10/14/2019 could have affected the fatal outcome.”

To this he adds requests for information about the incidents of that day to Service 112, to the airport and to the hospital that certified the death, from which he requests all the medical documentation.. The deceased had to be taken to the hospital by helicopter, since at that time the airport was blocked by the crowd gathered by Democratic Tsunami.

The order includes a description of the incidents and proposes measures to verify their impact on air traffic, particularly on the diversion of aircraft.. The magistrate requests data from the Spanish authorities competent in aviation (Enaire, dependent on the Ministry of Transport), but also from the European ones (Aesa, European Union Agency for Aviation Safety) and even from the NATO Combined Air Operations Center .

A third block of proceedings is focused on Tsunami's alleged attempts to influence the electoral result of the general elections held on November 10, 2019.. The instructor asks the investigators, the Barcelona Police, the City Council and the Generalitat for data on concentrations that occurred during the day of reflection and that could involve breaches of the Electoral Law. The judge also requests the Electoral Board to report on the actions carried out on November 9. “The report must include if any request was made to prevent these acts from taking place, to whom and the result,” says García-Castellón.