All posts by Luis Moreno

Moreno Luis - is a business and economics reporter based in Barcelona. Prior to joining the BNE24 he was economics editor of the BBC Spaine and worked as an economics and political reporter for Murcia Tuday.
INTERNATIONAL

Hacker Reveals Bolsonaro’s Alleged Plan to Manipulate Brazilian Elections

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A hacker has confessed this Thursday that the former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, suggested that he invade the networks of the electoral Justice to demonstrate the supposed fragility of the voting system in the last general elections of the country, held in October 2022 and in which imposed by the progressive Lula da Silva.

This was stated before a parliamentary commission by Walter Delgatti, a computer expert. In his speech, he assured that the far-right ex-president even promised him “a pardon” in case he was discovered and arrested for these illegal operations, framed in Bolsonaro’s harsh campaign against electronic voting.

According to Delgatti, the former president and some of his advisers suggested that he create a fake electronic ballot box. The idea was that it would be used as propaganda and show how a voter marked his vote for one candidate but this was registered in favor of another, which would serve as “proof” to demonstrate that the system was fraudulent, as Bolsonaro maintained.

The hacker has also explained that his meetings with the then president were mediated by the ultra-right deputy Carla Zambelli, with whom he worked at that time. Likewise, he has indicated that Bolsonaro even sent him five times to the Ministry of Defense to discuss the matter with computer experts from that department.

As Delgatti has commented, his meetings with Bolsonaro were held at the official residence of the Presidency, where he clarified to the former president that the voting systems could not be violated due to the strong protection mechanisms they have.

For this reason, it was suggested that he create the fake ballot box, which never materialized, and he was also urged to invade other justice networks. He did enter them and even uploaded a false arrest warrant against Judge Alexandre de Moraes, president of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

The computer expert has presented evidence to the Brazilian authorities that for this invasion he received a payment of 40,000 reais, about 7,400 euros. As his own lawyer, Ariovaldo Moreira, has also revealed, he collected about 14,000 reais in bank transfers while the rest of the money was received in cash through an advisor to Deputy Zambelli.

Disabled for 8 years

Bolsonaro was tried precisely last June for carrying out a campaign against electronic ballot boxes, a method that Brazil has used since 1996 and where no fraud has ever been recorded.

The former president was thus stripped of all his political rights for eight years by the TSE. The central point of the accusation was based on a meeting that Bolsonaro called on July 18, 2022 at the official residence of the Presidency with fifty foreign ambassadors and that had been devised to insist on his campaign to discredit the electoral system.

In that meeting, broadcast on public television, he tried to convince diplomats of the alleged fraud that electronic ballot boxes would allow and even suggested that the electoral Justice was conspiring to favor the then presidential candidate, Lula da Silva, who would ultimately end up winning. the elections.

INTERNATIONAL

Cyclone Hilary Strengthens to Category 1 Hurricane, Threatening Mexican Pacific and Southern California

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Cyclone Hilary has intensified this Thursday and is already a category 1 hurricane in the Mexican Pacific, where it will cause “very heavy” rains. In addition, it could make landfall as a tropical storm on the Baja California peninsula and enter California, United States.

Hilary, which emerged on Wednesday as a tropical storm, was 515 kilometers south-southwest of the port of Manzanillo, Colima, and 520 kilometers southwest of Punta San Telmo, Michoacán, when it became a hurricane, according to the National Meteorological Service ( SMN) from Mexico.

In the United States, the National Hurricane Center has also confirmed Hilary’s passage from a storm to a hurricane and says that it is expected to weaken significantly before it reaches southern California and parts of the Southwest, although it could leave heavy rains and flooding in area.

As University of California Los Angeles scientist Daniel Swain told CNN, “precipitation from several years” could fall in some of California’s driest areas.

According to the SMN of Mexico, the phenomenon moves to the west-northwest at 20 kilometers per hour and has sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour with gusts of 150 kilometers per hour.

The forecast calls for Hilary to make landfall on Monday, when it reaches the northern state of Baja California as a tropical storm. For now, the SMN expects the hurricane to cause “very heavy occasional” rains in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero, all in the Mexican Pacific. It has also reported “heavy” rains in Guanajuato, the State of Mexico, Mexico City and Morelos.

Likewise, the report warns of wind with gusts of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour and waves of 4 to 6 meters high in Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán, in addition to gusts of 50 to 70 kilometers per hour and waves of 3 to 5 meters high. height in Guerrero.

Hilary is the eighth named cyclone of the current Pacific hurricane season. In early May, the Government of Mexico forecast the possible formation of up to 38 named cyclones in the 2023 season, of which 5 could affect the country. Of that number, between 16 and 22 systems could occur in the Pacific Ocean and between 10 and 16 in the Atlantic.

INTERNATIONAL

NATO’s Stance on Ukraine Peace Talks and Tensions with Russia

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The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, has assured this Thursday, in a conference in Norway, that it depends on Ukraine when to sit down to negotiate on a possible peace agreement for the war:

“It is the Ukrainians themselves who must decide when they are willing to to sit down and negotiate”.

This clarification comes after Stian Jenssen, director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General, hinted last Tuesday that Ukraine could achieve peace by ceding ground to Russia.

“I think the solution may be for Ukraine to cede territory and receive NATO membership in return.I’m not saying it should be like this, but it’s a possible solution,” he said.

These comments sparked outrage among Ukrainian officials, including adviser to the head of the presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak, who called the comments “ridiculous” and said such a move would only encourage Moscow’s “appalling leniency.” Similarly, from kyiv they described these statements as “unacceptable.”

In this same intervention, Stoltenberg asserted that the NATO allies want peace, and “military support for Ukraine is the solution,” according to the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Tension in the Baltic states

After this controversy, the NATO Secretary General also explained that the “great powers” like Russia do not have the right to possess any type of “spheres of interest”. “Small countries like Latvia and Lithuania cannot accept that (just) because they are small neighboring countries, Russia governs them,” he said.

For this reason, and in view of the presence of the Wagner Group in Belarus (an ally of Russia), Lithuania already announced last Wednesday the temporary suspension of operations along the border of the country commanded by Lukashenko (president of Belarus).

ECONOMY

The downward trend is broken: sugar, oil and fruit trigger inflation

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The shopping cart and a more expensive summer vacation this year torpedoed price stability. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) confirmed this Friday that the Spanish CPI closed July at 2.3%, an increase above the 2% recommended by the European Central Bank.

The blame for this deviation, which comes after two months of positive trends, May and June, is attributable to food, which is 10.8% more expensive, fuel without a discount and expensive tourist packages.

On the opposite side, electricity, gas or clothing and footwear fell in price in July, the latter thanks to sales, although this campaign's savings were lower than last summer's.

Sugar increases its price by 44%

The CPI package corresponding to food and non-alcoholic beverages, the shopping cart, rose five tenths and reached a 10.8% increase in prices in July. This behavior is due, according to the INE, to the fact that the prices of fruits and oils and fats have increased this month, while they fell in July 2022.

Specifically, the increase in fruit prices was +8.8% and, to a lesser extent, rose oils and fats (+3.4%) and fish and shellfish (+1.2%). It should be noted, although in the opposite direction, the drop in the prices of legumes and vegetables (-3.9%) at a monthly level.

In the interannual rate (July 2023 compared to the same month in 2022), the foods that have risen the most in price are sugar (+44.2%); oils and fats (+20.4%); milk (+17.7%); potatoes (+16.7%); pork meat (+15.8%); other food preparations (+13.6%); mineral water, soft drinks and juices (+13.4%), legume and vegetable preparations (+13%) and eggs (+12.8%).

But it doesn't end there, because many other foods registered double-digit year-on-year increases in their prices, such as dairy products (+11.8%); fresh fruits (+11.6%); cereals and derivatives (+11.2%) and other meats (+10.4%).

The fuel, more expensive and without discount

The INE ensures that the increase in transport is due to the rise in the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal vehicles, compared to the decrease in July 2022, because there are no discounts on gasoline.

And the price of gasoline and diesel continue unstoppable. Gasoline and diesel rose for the fifth consecutive week on average by 1.8% and 3.4%, respectively.

Going on vacation is more expensive

Spending on leisure and culture rose 7.2%, two points higher than the previous month. Statistical experts attribute it to the fact that spending the summer in 2023 has become more expensive than it did last year. But also, the tourist packages in July were 17% more expensive than the previous month.

What becomes cheaper: electricity, gas, clothing and footwear

On the opposite side of the scale, the only respite for the pocket in the month of July came from the decrease in the costs of the housing section, which decreased its variation by more than two points, to -14.9%. “This behavior is due to the drop in the prices of electricity and gas, compared to the increase recorded in July of last year,” as explained by the INE.

The other group with a negative monthly impact on the CPI was 'clothing and footwear', with a price drop of -9.7% in the monthly rate, due to the price drops in the summer sales campaign.

INTERNATIONAL

Daniel Sancho's harsh farewell to his friends before going to prison: "Please don't forget me"

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The story of Daniel Sancho continues to make headlines and this Friday the harsh message that the son of actor Rodolfo Sancho sent to his friends in Spain before entering prison in Thailand was known.

According to the heart magazine Semana, the 29-year-old acknowledged the facts, said goodbye to his girlfriend and asked each of them to move on with their lives after confessing to the murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta.

“Please, don't forget me,” Sancho told his friends before going to jail.. “He told us that he was very sorry, not being able to share the moments that were going to enter our lives now, that we please not forget it,” said a person close to the young man, according to Semana.

This source said that the young chef's entourage had a hard time believing the dimension of the news at first, until Rodolfo Sancho contacted them: “You can always think that it could be a risqué piece of news, but the father contacted us.” .

Precisely about the actor, this source says that Daniel “was the child of his eyes, that of his grandmother and the uncles three quarters of the same”.

In addition, they conveyed the fear of what could happen to Daniel in prison, since Edwin Arrieta was very well connected in Colombia due to his work as a plastic surgeon.

INTERNATIONAL

A knife, surveillance cameras, DNA remains… the murder evidence against Daniel Sancho

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It has been a week since Daniel Sancho, son of Rodolfo Sancho, declared himself to the police in Thailand, where he was on vacation, as the perpetrator of the murder and subsequent dismemberment of Edwin Arrieta, a Colombian surgeon with whom he allegedly had a sentimental relationship. .

This confession came two days after he himself denounced the disappearance of the victim. Among the reasons for the murder, Sancho's alleged jealousy towards Arrieta stands out, as well as the fear of being deceived, since the surgeon would have in his possession intimate photos of the Spaniard with which he would have threatened to publish them. But, what are the tests that would justify that this murder has been predetermined?

Purchase of the necessary material

Hours after the news of the murder was released, the Thai media released images where you can see how the young 29-year-old chef went to a supermarket to buy a knife, a saw, several garbage bags, a sack of fertilizer, a tarpaulin, gloves , a sponge and detergent. Materials that he would later use to dismember the body of the surgeon and deposit the remains to dispose of them later.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, black shorts, flip-flops, a backpack on his back, and his hair tied up in a ponytail, this sequence of audiovisual evidence shows the 29-year-old placing the utensils in the store checkout to buy them.

A team from the Cuatro En boca de todos program, which has been sent to Thailand to cover the case from the scene of the events, went to the establishment where Sancho made his purchases. There, the employees confirmed that the knife that the chef bought cost him around seven euros.

A kayak to throw the remains into the sea

Once the crime was committed, Sancho disposed of parts of the remains of the body, taking a total of two days.. One of his ideas for this was to buy a kayak to go into the sea and throw part of it to the bottom of the ocean in a backpack.. “He told me that he was only going to smoke, I told him no because we closed at 8:00 p.m.,” said the woman in charge of the service rental to the aforementioned program.

“He gave me $1,000 (approximately 900 euros), took the kayak and left,” added the witness, who accepted the money as it was a “very high” amount.

The woman who sold the kayak to Daniel Sancho MEDIASET

Thai authorities have taken this vehicle as evidence. The kayak is parked on the beach where Sancho bought it -about 300 meters from the hotel villa where the crime occurred- and the area where it is located is cordoned off by police tape that prohibits approaching it beyond the established perimeter.

island dump

According to the police on the island of Koh Phangan -where they were enjoying their vacation-, most of the remains of Arrieta were thrown into the sea, but there was a part that was not. These first ones were found in a landfill in the region.

In addition, as the Thai authorities have recounted in their report, when Sancho was arrested, he pointed out a couple of garbage containers where he supposedly threw away the remaining evidence.. In those deposits, the experts found DNA evidence of Arrieta's human remains.

The room's hotel

The scene of the crime is always the first focus that is analyzed from top to bottom in terms of the search and collection of evidence. According to local media, the murder was committed in a bungalow at the Haad Salad Villa hotel.

The forensic doctors who are studying the case collected samples of tissue, fat and hair that they have found in the ranch to verify that the DNA present in them corresponds to both Daniel Sancho and Edwin Arrieta.

The room where the most evidence is likely to be found is the bathroom.. It was in this room that Arrieta collapsed to the floor and hit his head on the sink, leaving a pool of blood, after Sancho punched him in the face.

Security cameras

In addition to the supermarket cameras that captured Daniel Sancho buying the material that he allegedly used to dismember Arrieta, there is also graphic evidence on security cameras in various places in the Thai city.

The hotel itself where they were staying is one of those places. The video surveillance cameras captured that the Spaniard was both the last person to leave the room and the last person to have seen the Colombian.

In addition, these cameras also recorded Sancho leaving his room with the corresponding bags in which he supposedly transferred the remains of the surgeon's body to dispose of them in the landfill and in the sea.

scratches on the body

The first evidence with which the Thai police suspected Daniel Sancho for the murder of Edwin Arrieta is neither the utensils used for his dismemberment, nor the DNA found in the garbage containers, nor the images from the security cameras .

There were a series of scratches and cuts on his arms when on the night of Thursday, August 3, he went to report the disappearance of his friend to the police station.

Given all this evidence, next week will be crucial for the case of Daniel Sancho. As of this date, Thai law will start counting a maximum of 84 days for the corresponding trial to take place, so this should take place at the beginning of November. Likewise, this Sunday, August 13, the first results of the DNA analysis of the parts recovered from the body of Edwin Arrieta will be announced, which will determine, among other things, if the victim had consumed any type of drug or substance before his murder.. Once the study is done, the surgeon's remains will be repatriated to Colombia so that his family can say goodbye to him, as they have requested from the Thai authorities.

INTERNATIONAL

Iberdrola will begin to fill the Portugal reservoir, which will generate electricity from March 2024

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The construction of the Alto Tâmega Hydroelectric Plant continues to progress at a good pace. The other two, Gouvães, an 880 MW pumping station, and Daivões, with 118 MW, have been in commercial operation since 2022.

The Alto Tâmega dam is completely finished. It is a large double curvature vault dam 104.5 m high, 220,000 m3 of concrete and 335 m long at the crest.

For construction and thermal reasons, the concreting of the dam has been carried out in 21 blocks, which in turn are divided into two-meter-high layers.. The entire concreting of the dam was carried out in less than two years and was completed at the end of 2022.

During this spring the injection of the construction joints of the dam has been carried out, once the concrete placed has cooled during the winter and the opening between the joints is greater. In this way, when the gaps between the blocks are filled, the dam acquires its monolithic character and it is possible to start filling.

During this month, the river diversion tunnel has been closed and in the next three months approximately a 28-meter-long concrete plug will be built inside the tunnel that will ensure the closure of the diversion tunnel throughout its useful life. of the installation. During these three months, the river flow will continue to flow through the bottom outlets of the dam.

From that moment on, the filling of the Alto Tâmega reservoir will begin, which will have a surface area of 468 ha and a volume of 132 hm3, and will provide the necessary water for the production of renewable electricity at the Alto Tâmega dam foot station. , equipped with two groups with a total power of 160 MW.

interdisciplinary team

The construction of this great dam, with its hydroelectric power station at the foot of the dam, culminates a great work of design and execution by a large interdisciplinary team from Iberdrola, which has been directly in charge of licensing, planning, engineering, construction supervision, commissioning in service, environmental issues, relations with affected entities of the Portuguese State, relations with local communities, execution of affected services and a wide etcetera, all of these issues are necessary to be able to build a facility of this magnitude on time and on time.

During the construction of the Alto Tâmega Hydroelectric Development, a peak of almost 1,000 workers was reached on the site.

Meanwhile, the electromechanical assembly of the plant continues, which is progressing smoothly according to schedule. The turbines of both groups are already fully assembled and the generators are in a very advanced state of assembly. Once the reservoir has been filled this winter, the first synchronization of a group to the grid is scheduled for January 2024 and the plant will come into commercial operation in March 2024.

The Tâmega hydroelectric complex is one of the largest energy initiatives in the history of Portugal, with a total investment of more than 1,500 million euros and an installed capacity of 1,158 MW, 880 of which are reversible.

ECONOMY

Niño Becerra's prediction about Spanish beaches that could affect your pocket

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The economist Santiago Niño Becerra has issued a warning about the future of our country's beaches and the organization that makes their use. His words have set off the alarms of many travelers who choose to enjoy sun and beach tourism.. and they fear that it could affect their portfolio.

As a result of the announcement by some municipalities to impose restrictive measures to prevent bathers from reserving their space in the sand from early in the morning, such as fines that reach €3,000, Niño Becerra has expressed not only his discontent, but also his economic risk that this reality will entail in the future.

The 72-year-old Catalan predicts a scenario very similar to the one he knows in Italy: “For many years in Sorrento, on the Amalfi Coast, you have to pay 20 euros a day for a sun lounger on the beach, and it is compulsory to consume in the concession bar-restaurant”.

“I think that things will end up going that way,” denounced the expert, given the situation of overcrowding that occurs on Spanish beaches. For example, in Alicante the practice is prohibited in the towns of Calpe, Altea, Torrevieja and Denia. In Castellón, it is also not allowed in the municipalities of Oropesa del Mar and Peñíscola. Likewise, in the region of Murcia it is forbidden to do so on the beaches of San Javier.

Niño Becerra's prediction has opened the debate in the networks, especially about the need to “rethink the holiday calendar in companies and the school calendar”, after the continuous extension of heat waves. “It would also be more accessible and cheaper than not 1/2 humanity taking vacations in August,” says a user.

ECONOMY

How much can a person who retires without having contributed for 15 years earn?

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The duration of a person's working life is directly linked to the retirement pension they will receive when they decide to stop working to spend the last stage of their lives resting or enjoying free time with their family or friends.

Although Social Security establishes that workers who want to retire this 2022 will have to be 66 years and two months old and a minimum of 15 years of contributions, the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) also has a benefit for those who do not reach the 15 years quoted.

For these cases, workers can receive a non-contributory retirement pension (PNC), a type of benefit that is made through the Imserso and that is addressed “to all citizens over 65 years of age”, even if “they have not contributed or it has been done insufficiently to be entitled to a contributory pension”, they indicate from the Imserso website.

For this year 2022, the amount of non-contributory pensions “is set at 5,899.60 euros in full per year, which are paid in 12 monthly installments (421.40 euros) plus two extraordinary payments per year,” they explain.

However, the Imserso clarifies that the “updated individual amount for each pensioner is established from the aforementioned amount and based on the number of beneficiaries who live at the same address, their personal income and/or that of their economic unit of cohabitation, the amount cannot be less than the minimum of 25% of that established (1,474.90 euros per year, 105.35 euros per month)”.

In addition to ensuring an economic benefit, the non-contributory pension ensures “free medical-pharmaceutical assistance and complementary social services”.

Requirements

Among the requirements to be able to access a non-contributory pension are being 65 years of age or older, not having sufficient income —when the income is less than 5,899.60 euros per year—, and residing in Spanish territory and having done so for a period of ten years, in the period between the date of completion of sixteen years and the accrual of the pension, of which two must be consecutive and immediately prior to the date of the application.

ECONOMY

What is the limit of cash that can be carried on the street

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More and more people, including our elders, are leaving aside the conventional method of paying in cash and using cards or even mobile phone payments.

This is an advantage when it comes to avoiding carrying a lot of cash with you, in addition to making payments faster and safer. However, there are those who are still using the traditional method to make certain payments.

Thus, it is necessary to know that the regulations establish limits both when paying in cash and when carrying certain amounts of money with you.

These are the current limits

The limit of money that can be carried in cash within Spain is set at 100,000 euros. In the event that you want to move this amount or a higher amount through national territory, it will be necessary to declare this procedure. On the other hand, if it is the “exit or entry into national territory” from abroad, the limit is set at 10,000 euros.

Cash payments also have a limit to deal with fraud and the new regulations have reduced this amount to 1,000 euros. Thus, Law 11/2021, of July 9, details that when purchasing a product or service with a value greater than this figure, another means of payment must be used, such as a credit card or bank transfer.

“From July 11, 2021, operations of an amount equal to or greater than 1,000 euros or its equivalent in foreign currency cannot be paid in cash, in the case of payments in which one of the parties acts as an entrepreneur or professional. This amount rises to 10,000 euros in the event that the payer is a natural person who justifies that he does not have his tax domicile in Spain and does not act as a businessman or professional, “they detail in the Bank of Spain in this regard.