Sociedad

The Ombudswoman of Greuges, Esther Giménez-Salinas, has initiated an ex officio action following the incidents detected in the PISA 2025 tests in Catalonia. She considers it essential to clarify these incidents, which have led the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to assess that the results obtained are neither representative nor comparable with those of other territories or previous editions.

El Niño is a meteorological phenomenon capable of causing the most powerful natural climate variability on the planet. It produces an abnormal warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean and can have extreme and unpredictable consequences. This phenomenon, which has been anticipated since 1997, generates climate disruptions especially during the second year from its onset. The last episode was recorded between the years 2023 and 2024.

Two men, aged 51 and 42, have been arrested as suspected perpetrators of the fire that started on July 22 in the town of Almorox, Toledo, and later spread to the Madrid municipality of Villa del Prado.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Thursday that the fires affecting the provinces of Ávila and Madrid, which have devastated more than 75,000 hectares, are lowered to level 2, thus ending the national interest emergency.

La contaminación (smoke, particles…) associated with wildfires significantly increases hospital admissions in the areas affected by these events. In this regard, what worries experts the most is ozone pollution, a secondary pollutant, harmful, with a strong oxidizing action mainly on the respiratory system and cardiovascular diseases. This is highlighted in a study published in Science of The Total Environment, and presented by two of its authors, Cristina Linares and Julio Díaz. Both are co-directors of the Reference Unit on Climate Change, Health, and Urban Environment of the ISCIII.

The OECD became aware of the high exemption rate of students in Catalonia in the PISA tests in March 2026, when it received the relevant reports from Spain and its autonomous communities, and immediately communicated the issue to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, according to a spokesperson for the organization speaking to La Vanguardia. The tests were conducted in April 2025 and at that time technicians from the Ministry and the Generalitat already warned of the high rate of students exempted from taking the exams, but, according to the ministry, they did not report it to their superiors, so there was no room for correction nor, supposedly, the capacity to inform the OECD evaluation group.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this afternoon that he has asked the European Commission to locate the European hub for firefighting in the Western Mediterranean on the island of Mallorca. At this time, there is already an operations center of this nature operating in Cyprus that covers the Eastern Mediterranean.

The detainee as the alleged author of negligence that caused the fire in Burgohondo (Ávila), the largest in Spain’s history, with 50,000 hectares burned, is the owner of the machine that started it, whose company was hired by a local livestock association to open a path for the cows.

The human being has an amazing ability to move quickly from one situation to another. From living in sports centers, sleeping next to dozens of people they barely know in military bunk beds, eating whatever was given to them, to returning home and resuming routines as if the previous experience had never happened.

A man was arrested early this morning as the alleged perpetrator of the murder of his partner yesterday afternoon at the home they shared at number 102 Andrade Street, in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona. The crime occurred in the presence of their two minor children, aged 4 and 8 respectively. The woman, 34 years old, was reportedly stabbed.