jueves, 25 abril 2013

Actualizado 21:19 CET

Última hora

RECESSION

Unemployment in Spain passes six-million mark for the first time

El País Madrid 2

Jobless rate moves above 27 percent despite slowing recession; homes in which nobody has work increase to almost two million

Recession eases in first quarter, Bank of Spain says

business

Judge fires Pescanova chairman amid insider-trading suspicions

Elisa Lois Pontevedra

Security supervisor to take over the reins of the stricken seafood-processing company

Securities supervisor files insider-trading report on Pescanova boss

BUSINESS

Banco Santander’s earnings fall as margins weaken

El País Madrid

Net income declined 26 percent to 1.2 billion euros in first quarter

OPERATION PITIUSA

Head of Unilever Spain arrested in sprawling data theft case

El País Madrid

Jaime Aguilera detained along with other businessmen, detectives and law-enforcement officers

property

Russian travel agents visit Torrevieja in Alicante province.

Money talks, but the ruble roars

Alicante's sluggish real estate market is finding salvation in Russian investors

FISCAL PARADISES

Spanish tax office starts monitoring The Rock around the clock

Jesús Sérvulo González Madrid 1

Authorities to keep a closer eye on the British territory of Gibraltar

Electoral reform

PP wants open-list electoral system for Madrid

José Marcos / Vicente G. Olaya Madrid

Ruling party proposes first-past-the post representation with proportional top-up system

ROYAL TRANSPARENCY

King’s accounts to be published under new law

Natalia Junquera / Jesús García Madrid / Barcelona

Palace agrees to detail every cent of spending on royal website

Nóos corruption case

Urdangarin tried to take advantage of king’s friendship with Calderón

Jesús García / Andreu Manresa Barcelona / Palma de Mallorca

Royal son-in-law sought business opportunities in Mexico, Nóos case notes reveal

Princess Cristina “was concerned” over €6m mansion purchase

Andreu Manresa Palma de Mallorca

Notary describes Infanta’s doubts and how Urdangarin’s financial advisor pressured for duchess’s signature

Subpoena of Princess Cristina on Urdangarin case suspended

Treasury ordered to turn over Princess Cristina’s tax returns

El País Madrid

Judge wants to determine if King Juan Carlos’s daughter may have profited from Nóos funds

José Ortega Cano, pictured at an earlier date during his trial in Seville. / julián rojas

Matador Ortega Cano sentenced to jail for fatal car crash

Javier Martín-Arroyo Seville

Judge throws out blood sample as evidence; defense lawyers seek annulment of verdict

education

Government advisory body takes red pen to education bill

El País Madrid 1

State Council objects to imposition of Spanish language and removal of Socialists’ civics course

Council of Europe raps police violence in Portugal

El País Madrid

Inspectors also found conditions in prisons wanting and restriction of rights after arrest

PUBLIC FINANCES

Retirement age may be raised beyond 67 in the future

El País Madrid

Labor Ministry report also recommends raising the number of years of Social Security contributions for entitlement to a full pension

debt market

Spain’s risk premium falls below 300 for the first time in over a year

Agencies Madrid

Treasury sells three-month bills at record low yield

economy

EC to give Spain two extra years on deficit as austerity loses its shine

Claudi Pérez / Alejandro Bolaños Brussels / Madrid

Bank bailout pushed up shortfall to EU-topping 10.6 percent of GDP while minister predicts economy could contract by 1.5 percent in 2013. Portugal also looking for some leeway in meeting target

Lagarde: Spain needs more time to cut public deficit

Argentinean lawyers want former Franco ministers to face charges

EFE Madrid

Buenos Aires judge will hear testimony from Civil War victims in Spain

Portugal

Speculative derivative contracts leave €3bn hole in finances

Antonio Jiménez Barca Lisbon 1

Two secretaries of state dismissed after discovery

Portugal announces spending cuts of 800 million euros

Police arrest Nou Mediouni in Zaragoza on Tuesday. / Javier Cebollada (EFE)

Two men arrested on terrorism charges in Zaragoza and Murcia

Fernando J. Pérez / Jesús Duva Madrid

Police believe Algerian and Moroccan had links to Al Qaeda

PP agrees cooperation deal with Chinese Communist Party

Francesco Manetto Madrid 1

The conservatives and Beijing’s government grouping sign “memorandum for understanding and exchange”

EVICTIONS CRISIS

Canary Islands join Andalusia in expropriation plan for empty homes

Pedro Murillo Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Companies will be forced to put up vacant properties for rental

Banks in Catalonia will face taxes for holding empty homes

El País Madrid

Move comes in wake of Andalusia's similar effort to solve the nation's housing crisis

Andalusia may embargo some family homes subject to eviction orders

Top judges to seek accord on defunct mortgage law

Mónica Ceberio Belaza Madrid

EU court shot down Spain's "unfair" existing legislation

PP enrages Mortgage Platform after ditching measures from legislation

No action over German royal's claim to have spied for Spain

Francesco Manetto Madrid

The king's personal friend Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein said she carried out "classified" work

POLITICAL CRISIS

The secretary of the Socialist parliamentary group Eduardo Madina speaks to reporters at party headquarters in Madrid on Tuesday. / Fernando Alvarado (EFE)

Galician Socialists defy central party with plans for primaries

El País Santiago de Compostela

PSdeG leader Pachi Vázquez says system gives greater voice to the grassroots

PP'S HIDDEN FINANCES

PP alleged to have used ghost firms to funnel donations in 1980s

Francisco Mercado Madrid

Five ex-officials confirm details outlined in ex-treasurer’s documents

Popular Party paid Aznar bonuses as entertainment allowances

María Fernández / Fernando J. Pérez

Monthly payments also made to other top PP officials were subject to tax

Bárcenas ‘cleaned up’ illegal PP donations in official accounts

Supreme Court annuls first mass lay-off plan since labor reform

El País Madrid

Tribunal rules company failed to demonstrate economic reasons for sackings and did not negotiate in good faith

An Apple Store in Chicago. / John Gress (REUTERS)

Apple, 10 problems and a single solution

Javier Martín Madrid 1

Tim Cook takes the technology empire into a price war, an unthinkable notion under Steve Jobs

The new headache of informing the taxman of overseas assets

Jesús Sérvulo González Madrid 3

Spanish residents have until the end of this month to declare holdings

HSBC WHISTLEBLOWER

Falciani’s list includes tycoons, ex-soccer player and doping doctor

El País Madrid

Spanish prosecutors file scores of tax evasion cases based on documents taken from HSBC

“The US told me I was in danger and that Spain would be safe”

Manuel Altozano Madrid

Former HSBC employee said "everything was carefully planned" for his escape

Javier Bardem teams up with the Robert F. Kennedy Center

El País / Flor Gragera de León Madrid

Actor joins Speak Truth to Power initiative in support of Sahrawi people

rising Poverty

Andalusia to guarantee three meals a day for poor schoolchildren

Manuel Planelles Seville 1

Socialist-led regional administration includes help for seniors in 16-million-euro "food solidarity" budget for 2013

GAMING LAWS

Bingo winners should keep a receipt and declare their winnings to the tax authorities, like with all games of chance. / CARLES RIBAS (EL PAÍS)

"Impossible to implement"

Flor Gragera de León / Cristina Delgado

The gambling industry says that new Kafkaesque rules for declaring winnings to the taxman are unworkable

Más información

Police fear violent elements at planned siege of Congress

Among those arrested in hours before demonstration are students armed with flammable material

Police line up their defenses outside Congress with the first protestors in the background at Neptuno square. / Zipi (EFE)

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE REVIEW

Mannschaft against boys

Rob Train Madrid

Bundesliga provides Spain with a wake-up call in Champions League semis

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Follow EL PAÍS in English on Twitter, Facebook and Eskup

Connect with us to get all the latest Spanish news in English

LATIN AMERICA

Argentina passes judicial reforms amid controversy

Alejandro Rebossio Buenos Aires

Thousands protest outside Congress over plan to “democratize” the judiciary

Pact for Mexico crisis is far from over, says chief of staff

Salvador Camarena Mexico City

Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong says PRI will continue to work with opposition

Capriles accuses Maduro of stealing elections

Ewald Scharfenberg Caracas

Government orders TV and radio stations not to carry opposition leader’s address

The Colombian Senate says no to gay marriage

Elizabeth Reyes L. Bogotá

Lawmakers used religious and legal arguments in speeches

Bolivia takes Chile to The Hague over sea access

Isabel Ferrer The Hague

La Paz promises to accept court’s ruling

Mexico university chiefs unsure on police raid on rebel students

Sonia Corona Mexico City

Protestors want colleagues reinstated

FEATURES

RETAIL INDUSTRY

Inditex fabrics sewn in Pakistan. / BLOOMBERG

How Inditex rules the weaves, and plans to carry on doing so

Charo Nogueira

The Galicia-based firm behind the Zara brand combines a complex global supply system with the sharp commercial instincts of a successful local business

CINEMA

An original-version movie being projected in one of Alta Films' Renoir cinemas. / LUIS SEVILLANO (EL PAÍS)

Is there an audience left for independent film in Spain?

Rosario G. Gómez / Rocío García

The demise of distributor Alta Films will mean considerably less choice for moviegoers, with Hollywood taking an ever-larger share of the market

The end of Alta Films?

ABORTION

Rift grows in Spanish Catholic Church over “right to life” debate

Juan G. Bedoya

As bishops lobby the government over hard-to-repeal Socialist legislation covering terminations, other members of the clergy point out that “what is a sin for some should not become a crime for others”

the sex trade

A sex worker waits for clients in a brothel in Girona. / PERE DURAN (EL PAÍS)

Prisoners of the brothel

Jerónimo Andreu

Of the thousands of women who are trafficked into virtual slavery, only a fortunate few manage to find a way back to normal society

COAST UNDER THREAT

New fears for Spain’s shoreline

Juana Viúdez Madrid

Amendments planned by the Popular Party government for legislation protecting coastal areas could pave the way for further construction, say environmentalists

PP government paves way for Coast Law amnesty

soccer's burst bubble

The debt of Liga clubs with the tax agency alone stands at 690 million euros. / TOMÁS ONDARRA (EL PAÍS)

"A diabolical business"

Rafael Méndez

The administrators tasked with bringing football clubs' rampant overspending to heel speak about what is to be found in the sordid underbelly of La Liga

Linguistic debate

No end in sight to Catalan classroom conflict

Ivanna Vallespín / Ania Elorza Barcelona / Bilbao

Catalonia government dismisses court ruling that would shift balance in favor of Castilian, vowing to maintain dominance of region's tongue

MOTOGP

‘El Niño’ shows them how it’s done

Nadia Tronchoni / El País Del Valle (Austin) / Madrid

Marc Márquez rides to a record-breaking MotoGP win

Última hora

CINEMA

Racing for the box office

El País / G. BELINCHÓN Madrid / Málaga

Set in the world of illegal car races, ‘Combustión’ is a slickly commercial Spanish thriller

Alfredo Guevara, Castro’s moviemaking comrade

Mauricio Vicent Madrid

Founder of revolutionary cinema institute dies at age of 87

This week’s movie releases

El País Madrid

Robert Downey, Jr meets The Mandarin in Iron Man 3

OPINION AND EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL

Confrontation in Caracas

Maduro must clear up doubts about the legitimacy of Venezuela’s presidential elections

OPINION

Just for the record

Diego A. Manrique

No one seems to have mentioned that Cervantes Prize-winner José Manuel Caballero Bonald once ran a record company - and it was one of the best in Spain

EDITORIAL