Japan, between pacifism and rearmament
“Trust in peace.” The message printed on Keiko Ogura’s t-shirt, a survivor of the atomic bomb, summarizes the identity that Japan built after the United States’ nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Netanyahu rejects Trump’s plan for Gaza accepted by Hamas
The Government of Israel has rejected the fifteen-point plan established by Donald Trump for Gaza that Hamas had accepted and which involved the disarmament of this group that has governed the Strip since 2006. Benjamin Netanyahu had expressed in recent days his disagreement with the plan. He has now formalized it and postponed its implementation, and the partial withdrawal of the Israeli army from part of the strip, until the complete disarmament of Hamas. In reality, Netanyahu will not make a move until the elections in Israel have been held, in October.
Trump finds no solution in Hormuz as oil spikes in the U.S.
When the European members of NATO decided not to come to Donald Trump’s rescue when he asked for help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the president said it no longer mattered, that the United States did not depend on the oil coming from the Gulf and that its blockade by Iran would have no consequences in Washington. “I have a suggestion for you: buy it from the U.S., we have plenty, and arm yourselves with the courage you lack, go to the strait and simply take the oil,” he urged the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and other European allies.
Has China taken control of the most important machine in the world?
The Dutch have historically played a much more significant role than one would expect given the size of their country in the technological transfers that have shaped the modern world. In the 17th century, their financial and agricultural innovations spread to Great Britain, driving the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of the British Empire. In the 18th century, the Russian tsar Peter the Great studied Dutch shipbuilding techniques to create the fleet that would turn Russia into a maritime power. And in the 1970s, the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan stole blueprints from a Dutch laboratory to launch his country’s nuclear weapons program and later contribute to the development of similar initiatives in North Korea, Iran, and Libya.
French politics, including the far right, censors Rajoy’s comment about ‘les bleus’
Reagrupement National, party of the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, labeled former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as “racist” this Monday for his comments that the French national football team has “a very high level, that is true, without French players,” emphasizing that these are comments that “everyone should condemn.”
Good weather and a weekday: A record-breaking Sant Jordi
An old saying goes that “the eve tells the tale of the day,” and judging by how crowded the hall and garden of the Alma hotel were, the crystal ball predicted a magnificent Sant Jordi last night. Patrici Tixis, communications director of Grupo Planeta, predicted a “spectacular” Diada, giving voice to a unanimous premonition among the publishers, agents, and booksellers who attended La Vanguardia’s party, a “glorious” Book Day due to the convergence of two factors: a working day and benign weather.
Lego launches its largest set with a Sagrada Familia of 12.060 pieces
While Barcelona finalizes preparations to receive the imminent visit of Pope Leo XIV and a few days before the Pontiff officiates a mass in the Sagrada Familia basilica, the Lego Group presented this Thursday the largest set in its history by volume of pieces: an exact replica of the expiatory temple, the city’s most emblematic building, composed of 12,060 pieces.
Iran and the U.S., closer to a peace agreement
Iran and the U.S. recognized this Saturday “encouraging progress” in their indirect negotiation to end the war. An extension of the sixty-day truce and a preliminary agreement would be within reach, according to the Pakistani mediators, who see a second meeting in Islamabad between the contenders possible within a week.
L1 is cut off for six weeks between Florida and Plaça de Sants: alternative bus and affected stations
They will have an alternative bus and, when the metro starts working again, they will have a more reliable and efficient infrastructure. But no one takes away from the regulars of metro L1 the six weeks starting today of closure between the stations of la Florida (l’Hospitalet de Llobregat) and Plaça de Sants. The service will be restored on August 28. And, unlike what often happens on the surface, the underground deadline is usually met.
The most unexpected literary success of the summer
Laura Autonell (Taradell, 1963) had been writing all her life, like many people, without many pretensions. But six years ago her husband passed away and her priorities changed: “The hours I would have spent with him I have dedicated to writing, I have filled his absence with stories. It’s as if I had remarried, but to literature,” she says, because from that loss first came a self-published novel, Un polsim de sal, and recently a novel that in a few weeks has established itself among the bestsellers thanks to word of mouth, La Llibreria de les Hores Mortes (Columna), alongside authors like Regina Rodríguez Sirvent, Gil Pratsobrerroca, Siri Hustvedt or even Homer himself with the new Catalan translation of his Odyssey.