For many years, the increase in housing prices has been discussed, especially in the city of Barcelona, but now the data show that this rise has spread like wildfire throughout the territory. In fact, if we analyze the growth in the price per square meter by municipality in the last 10 years, Barcelona is below the average, which is 63%, with 61.5%. And which are the municipalities where it has grown the most? Well, here we find surprises like Badia del Vallès, where prices have soared by 168% due, however, to the entry of many protected housing units into the free market. And then there would be cases like Argentona (120%), Viella (112%), Arenys de Munt (110%), Montmeló (106%), and Sant Cugat (101%).

Slum dwelling became a consolidated reality in the Barcelona of the 60s, with nuclei that became true neighborhoods like Montjuïc or El Somorrostro, but it seemed to have been left behind in the 90s with the major urban development projects that the Olympic Games brought. Instead, homelessness was never completely eradicated, but it was linked to situations of extreme marginality or addiction. Now, with the arrival of new contingents of immigrant population (just as happened in the 60s), both homelessness and a new form of slum dwelling are proliferating again and pose an enormous political challenge to a society that, while it has prospered economically greatly in the last 50 years, maintains significant social differences.

The procedural situation of former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero worsens with each passing day and threatens to become a ordeal for him and also for the PSOE. The episode of the jewels found in a safe in his office, which his entourage initially downplayed and valued at around 50,000 euros, but which have now been appraised at 1.3 million, leaves the former president in a very difficult situation. The judge has decided to open a separate piece of the Plus Ultra case to investigate him for alleged smuggling and tax offense, as he considers that there is no record that they have been declared or that they have a clear origin.

If the papal trip to Spain had an underlying message, it is the one that took place this Thursday at the Arguineguín dock, in Gran Canaria. There, next to two migrant survivors of the crossings from Africa, Leo XIV threw a bouquet of flowers into the sea in memory of the thousands of people who die every year in the Atlantic trying to reach the archipelago. According to data from the NGO Caminando Fronteras, 635 people have already died since the beginning of the year. In this scenario, the pontiff's words were very forceful on the very day the so-called Migration Pact in the European Union comes into force: "Human dignity has no passport and does not lose value when crossing a border – he recalled–. What remains of our humanity?", he asked.

What impact will the Pope's visit leave? Undoubtedly, Leo XIV, from his position as head of state and religious leader, has impacted political and civic life. Both the right and the left have wanted to claim him. But his clear discourse of a purely social nature, in favor of welcoming immigrants, peace, and an economy at the service of people, and therefore antithetical to Trumpism and the Catalan and Spanish far-right, has especially given a boost to Pedro Sánchez's party.

The decision to start a war with Iran, led by Israel on February 28, is proving to be a real trap for Donald Trump, who more than 100 days later has still not found a way out. Far from the speed and military success of the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, the ayatollahs' regime has proven to be a much more formidable adversary, capable of regenerating itself from the blows it has received.

Pope Leo XIV delivered this Monday in the Congress of Deputies a speech that contains the main message of his visit to Spain, where, as a reminder, in addition to Madrid and Catalonia, he plans to visit the Canary Islands. This message has to do with the drama of immigration and how governments and societies manage it, and it is based on a fundamental principle: the defense of human dignity. "Many men, women, and children are forced, by circumstances often dramatic, to abandon their communities and leave behind their loved ones, stories, and ties. This reality transcends any purely demographic or economic reading: it constitutes an eminently moral and legal issue. Wherever a person is discriminated against because of their national, ethnic, religious, or linguistic origin, or because of their economic or social status, the universal principle of the equal dignity of all human beings is gravely violated," stated the Holy Father.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already changing our lives, especially in the labor and educational fields. It has burst onto the scene with a rapid and spectacular penetration capacity. This week, university entrance exams begin: most students will surely have used AI during high school and to prepare for these exams. It is an evolving tool that they already have perfectly incorporated into their daily lives. In our jobs, we adults are noticing the same. In many cases, it is also already part of our routines.

It's time to talk seriously about school. There is a lot of work to be done. In fact, the important task begins now. If, indeed, as the teachers who demonstrated said on Friday, the protests "were not about money", it is time to delve deeply into the problems of the system. Today in the newspaper we give voice to the experts. They all advocate for bold changes. For a new educational pact. To restore hope to school. And it is clear that money doesn't fix everything.

When the impact of the indictment of former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has not yet faded, the Leire case, which investigates an alleged plot to torpedo judicial cases affecting government members or those close to Pedro Sánchez, threatens to become a ticking time bomb against the PSOE. In the last few hours, we have seen how the summary has forced the socialists to qualify or directly rectify previous statements. Now, for example, it can no longer be claimed that Leire Díez was nobody in the PSOE, when we know that she met with Santos Cerdán 22 times; that she entered Ferraz normally; that she spoke with the party president, Cristina Narbona, and that she met up to three times with the director of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González.

Tension cannot be maintained indefinitely. The teachers' vote against the agreement reached by the unions and the Government must give way to a new phase. It is urgent to find a way out that does not involve union confrontation.

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has surprised both allies and adversaries at the Cercle d'Economia by announcing that this very week the order for the elaboration of the 2027 budgets will be published in the BOE. Needless to say, in the midst of a judicial storm against the PSOE and with the legislature about to enter its final year, the possibility of these accounts moving forward is almost non-existent. If it wasn't possible in 2024 and 2025, when there was still half a term left, it's even less so now. What, then, is behind this plot twist from the Spanish President?

The visit of Pope Leo XIV is generating more than notable public expectation. He is a figure who, contrary to what was initially thought when he was elected a year ago – after a papacy as emblematic as that of Francis – has quickly carved out a prominent place in the global public arena. How? With stances in favor of welcoming immigrants, warning against the dangers of artificial intelligence under the control of large corporations (his recent first encyclical emphasizes this), and in favor of a Christian humanism based on dialogue and tolerance with diversity. It is from this doctrinal and ideological basis that the American Prevost has clearly distanced himself from the warmongering and ultranationalist policy of his country's president, Donald Trump, and from the most conservative Church in both the US and other latitudes.

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, is trying again. He will not stop taking advantage of the judicial siege of Pedro Sánchez. He will not stop. His objective is to put maximum pressure on those who hold the key to breaking the socialist president's investiture majority, Junts and the PNB. He needs them to tip the scales or, at least, to unbalance them. He is, of course, fully aware that the presence of the far-right Vox is the factor that most prevents the Catalan and Basque nationalist right-wingers from embracing the end of sanchismo. That is why this time he winks at them with a motion of no confidence that would imply, as he has explained, an ephemeral government without Abascal's party with the sole objective of calling elections immediately. What he is telling them, therefore, is this: give me circumstantial support (without Vox) and let the ballot boxes decide what the next stage will be.

The Beaufort Castle, a fortress from the time of the 12th-century crusades, has become the new symbol of the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon. This Sunday, the Israeli army conquered this castle, which theoretically allows it to control a wide strip of territory largely controlled by Hezbollah, which, despite strong pressure, still launched attacks against Israeli positions again on Saturday. It is still too early to tell, but the gesture of planting the flag there has been seen as a turning point in this conflict, as it has been accompanied by a strong propaganda campaign –photographs of the Israeli flag on the hill and the announcement by Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a "crucial milestone" and urging the continuation of the military incursion– to show how the invasion of Lebanon was progressing beyond the Litani River to establish, in principle, a new "security" border 10 kilometers further north, reaching the Zahrani River.

It is now known that the end of the Spanish legislature will be a judicial ordeal for the PSOE. As we explain today, there are up to seven open judicial fronts against members of the party or the government, and that's if there are no secret cases underway that could appear at any moment. Many things can be said, but the only certainty is that the legislature began with right-wing protests in the streets and demonstrations by judges against the amnesty law, and it ends with a judicial siege on a party as has not been remembered at least since the end of the Francoist era.

In the worrying and complex educational crisis that the country is suffering –inclusion, knowledge level, debate on methods, school dropout, student diversity, risk of segregation, insecurity in some centers, etc.–, a crisis, on the other hand, very general around the world, for weeks the element that has taken on maximum relevance and centrality in Catalonia is the salary issue. It is not a minor element. And it is absolutely a legitimate demand. Any professional group has the right to demand salary improvements, of course. Teachers too, who, in fact, like the bulk of Catalan workers, have lost purchasing power in recent years.

There is no doubt that the PSOE is immersed in a real judicial storm in which new headlines replace the previous ones almost every day and where it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. To begin with, both in the case affecting former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and in this offshoot of the so-called Leire case, the accusations are serious and the indications are worrying. But it is difficult to believe that all this is due to the blind action of justice when this is a government that has directly confronted the judges, for example with the approval of the amnesty, and when it is notorious that cases have been opened against the entourage of President Pedro Sánchez with a notable whiff of lawfare, such as the one affecting his wife.

The Iran war has given President Vladimir Putin a boost. At the very least, it has diverted United States military efforts from Ukraine to the Middle East, to the despair of a Europe (and especially Kyiv) that is struggling to accept the need to take charge of its own defense. But does this mean the Russian leader feels stronger and more at ease? The answer is no. The Russian leader's hand is not that strong. Let's see why.

All recent surveys published in Catalonia, including the one from the ARA newspaper from the beginning of the month, agree in pointing to the growth of Aliança Catalana, an independence party with a xenophobic stance, mainly at the expense of Junts. This phenomenon represents a novelty in the history of Catalanism, which has always been predominantly inclusive and non-essentialist, and has a special capacity to penetrate what we have called the transversal axis of the far-right, an imaginary line that would connect Tortosa with Figueres through the interior of the country. That is why we wanted to visit these cities, along with Balaguer, Manresa, Vic, and Ripoll, to try to understand the factors that explain the growth of this vote.