The Government takes control of Madrid due to the advance of a huge fire (the two fronts, that of Villa del Prado and that of San Martín de Valdeiglesias, joined forces at noon) that threatens the lives of the numerous population living in the western mountains of this region.
The European Central Bank followed the script this Thursday and raised interest rates by a quarter of a point, to 2.50% on the general rate. It is the second increase of the year, reaching highs not seen since March 2025, and the main question in the markets is whether there will be another hike before the end of the year. Affected by the Iran conflict, “inflation will remain well above the target (2%) for a prolonged period,” the entity warned in the decision statement. Higher prices, for longer.
Resisting is everything for people trapped in the wheel of destruction, reconstruction, and destruction again. Resistance determines who they are and what they do. If they want to keep living, they must first resist. Any aspiration they have is secondary. In the Middle East, the most militarized region in the world, millions of people wake up every morning with the goal of resisting. The strongest and best-armed set the level of endurance that the rest must reach. Political, social, and economic relations are determined by this hierarchy of resistance.
No one expected high-altitude guide Hillary Dawa Sherpa to appear alive after he went missing last May 29 above Camp 3 of Everest, at over 7,300 meters of altitude, in the death zone. The best and surprising news arrived this morning when it was confirmed that the Nepalese high-altitude guide “was found crawling towards base camp by a team from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC, in its English acronym),” as confirmed to AFP agency by Pemba Sherpa, from 8K, the company that had started his search this week. The veteran Sherpa, over 50 years old, has been transferred to a hospital in Kathmandu with frostbite, but his life is not believed to be in danger.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned in its latest annual report that last year disinformation campaigns have established themselves as “a prominent vector” of instability for Spain. The body that advises the President of the Government on National Security matters has identified Russia as the main actor from which campaigns aimed at influencing political processes, eroding trust in institutions, shaping public opinion, and weakening international cooperation originated.
The PP asks the Government to act in the face of the avalanche of immigrant arrivals in Ceuta. The secretary general of the PP, Miguel Tellado, has stated that what is happening in Ceuta is a “full-blown migratory crisis” because “200 people are arriving daily over the past few weeks” and, according to the popular leader, it is “evident that the Government must act in the face of this migratory collapse.”
Since 2001, when the UK Labour government decided to establish free universal entry to access the fabulous collections of its national museums (from the National Gallery to the Tate, the Victoria & Albert, or the British Museum), the number of visits increased exponentially in the following decade, reaching increases of more than 250%. For a quarter of a century, this measure has not only been envied by audiences across Europe but the mere possibility of charging an entrance fee has been unimaginable for the British. Until now. The economic difficulties faced by many of these museums have led some to dare to touch what was considered untouchable, and the option of easing their battered finances by charging admission has been put on the table. For now, there is talk of a fee for tourists, but some voices call for a return to order. .
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has referred to Spain as a “ruined country,” in reference to the crisis in Ceuta, after stating that the massive crossing of migrants from Morocco “is sad to see.”
There was a time when eating some meatballs did not make you want to buy a Billy bookshelf. Thirty years, in fact. It was on May 6, 1996, when the Ikea mothership landed among us and the extraordinary shockwave did not take long to arrive. It was easy, clean, young, and cheap. And there were (in theory) many possibilities. Some people went, in those early days, to Ikea to get ideas. They entered the stores and left without buying anything, with their eyes and heads full of ideas. That leaving without buying didn’t last long. One fact. 6% of Catalans born in these three decades were conceived in Ikea beds. If that impresses you, and returning to the topic of the meatballs from the Swedish restaurant inside the facilities, you should also know that 8.7 million meatballs have been served and eaten, so that if you stacked one meatball on top of another (and on top of the other, the one) we could build a tower 60 kilometers high.
The housing market loses momentum after several months of strong activity. Home sales fell by 5.7% between April and June compared to the previous quarter, down to 167,934 transactions, thus marking two consecutive quarters of declines and recording the lowest volume since the third quarter of 2024. Compared to the same quarter last year, the decrease is 2.3%. However, the slowdown in transactions has not yet translated into a moderation of prices, which continue to reach historic highs, nor does it curb the interest of foreign buyers.