The Trump administration will impose new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on Friday on 60 trading partners, including the European Union, due to accusations of lax enforcement of forced labor bans, just as a temporary global tariff of 10% expires, senior government officials said Thursday.
The simultaneous advance of wildfires in central Spain has unleashed a new political confrontation between the Community of Madrid and the central government. While the regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has requested the declaration of operational situation 3 of national interest, the Government Delegation questions the measure and demands documentation to support it.
The Plenary Session of the Congress of Deputies approved this Thursday, with 175 votes in favor (140 abstentions and 33 against), the validation of the royal decree of measures in response to the war in the Middle East. This regulation, approved by the Council of Ministers on June 29, includes fuel discounts that will be progressively withdrawn for families until their elimination in October, while they are maintained for farmers, transporters, and fishermen. In addition, the progressive elimination of the tax on energy production will be carried out, a measure that has been demanded by PP and Junts, and applauded by CEOE.
Pedro Sánchez’s Government has emerged from the last extraordinary plenary session of the political year with a bittersweet taste: it has saved three initiatives with the force of law, but has suffered a new defeat on the deficit path, which has been the most significant political vote of the day because it is the preliminary step to be able to present the State’s general budgets. This is the second time in two weeks that the Government has seen Congress reject, with votes from PP, Vox, and Junts, the stability path, a sign that it will have difficulty processing the accounts.
Railway sinkholes in the districts of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Nou Barris, and a gas deflagration with more than 12 hours of flames in the main square of Sants-Montjuïc. In recent days, Barcelona has seen a series of disturbing incidents linked to public works that have generated a certain distrust among citizens. Technicians say there is nothing to fear, that it is just a coincidence and that one must have faith that things are done well. In the case of Sants square, the accessibility works for the metro station caused the perforation of a gas pipe this Wednesday, turning the street into an immense brazier two days before the anniversary of the inauguration of the 1992 Games at the Olympic Stadium, not far from here.
The streets of Gràcia are preparing for a new edition of their main festival, which will offer more than 900 free activities from August 15 to 21.
The simultaneity of fires in the vicinity of Madrid complicates extinction efforts, with four active fires close to each other and the added difficulty of being very close to each other and in three different autonomous communities.
The mother investigated along with her partner for alleged serious injuries and sexual assault with penetration to her six-week-old baby in Barcelona has assured the judge today that she never saw any signs of ill-treatment from her partner towards the little one and has reaffirmed her innocence: “If I had seen it, I would have reported it,” according to judicial sources.
The European Central Bank (ECB) presented on Wednesday the ten finalist designs for the next generation of euro banknotes and has opened a public consultation so that citizens of the eurozone can express their preferences before the final decision.
After twelve consecutive nights of US bombings on Iranian territory, which have blown up the ceasefire agreement signed last month by Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian, the US House of Representatives rejected the return of hostilities this Thursday. In a resolution approved with 214 votes in favor and 208 against, this is the second time the lower house reaffirms Congress’s authority over war.