The magnitude of the fires these days in the Valencian Community, in Spain and in France is making headlines in newspapers worldwide, accompanied by reflections of the type of whether it is reasonable to go on vacation in July in Western Europe, with these heat waves that turn a simple walk between the Sagrada Família and Casa Batlló into something akin to a painful trek across the asphalt desert.The phenomenon is not just European, of course. Hours before the World Cup final, smoke from fires in Canada was noticeable in New York City, just as they are now breathing in Madrid the smoke from fires in Castilla. The planet speaks and says that if we continue with the business as usual there will be no individual salvation.If you go to appliance stores or large retailers, they will explain that for weeks, apart from air conditioning units, they have been selling nothing but ceiling fans that, due to their price and consumption, have become the star element of the kit for summer survival for poorly ventilated rooms and generally torrid nights.The contrast between the damage that climate change is already doing to us and the slowness of the response is as scandalous as the economic interests strongly infiltrated in politics that aspire to plunder the planet until they take the last euro. That summer chronicles about the anxieties of thousands of people evacuated from their homes due to fires are now commonplace, and that devastating fires have become a kind of reverse annual lottery, is the end of an era, in which even clichés are up for discussion. Let's see how we maintain that in summer everything is alive and well.

FIFA will open an investigation against Argentina for the incidents that occurred after the final whistle, as reported by Sky Sports. The highest football body will investigate the violent conduct of several Argentine players – and some members of Lionel Scaloni's coaching staff.

27,000 people, according to police sources, gathered on the marine platform of Barcelona's Fòrum to experience the World Cup final together. The majority were fans of the Spanish national team, but there was also a large representation of Argentinians. Like Mariella and Laura, two Argentinians who have been living in Catalonia for a long time. "The sea inspires us. We've come here with a couple of guts. Until the end with the national team," they confided.

Sixteen years later, Spain has once again been proclaimed world champion. A goal from Ferran Torres in the second half of extra time was enough for the Spanish team to defeat Leo Messi's Argentina, who were left with one less player after Enzo Fernández's expulsion. The match was highly anticipated: Messi versus Lamine Yamal, and two teams with completely opposite styles. The political aspect of the confrontation is also significant. The final was played in the United States of America, and Donald Trump was present at the MetLife Stadium. Spain and the United States currently have a tense relationship, while Javier Milei's Argentina is much closer to the American magnate.

When this Sunday the ball starts rolling in the World Cup final at the MetLife stadium on the outskirts of New York, the city that never sleeps, all eyes will be on two players trained in Barcelona, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal. The leaders of Argentina and Spain, the two finalist teams. It will be special for a group of people who, searching through old photos on their mobile phones, find some that show these two players when they were much younger: the coaches from La Masia who, in some way, helped them on both their paths to MetLife stadium.

In the stands of the Dallas stadium, Miquel Olmo continued to bite his lip and wring his hands as if he were praying. Dani Olmo's father suffers greatly every time he sees his son playing an important match live. All the hours they spent together, the games, the advice, and when his son was young and used to go to the fields where he coached, flash through his mind. In Terrassa, Figueres, Sabadell, or Girona. Miquel sat on the benches of some of the most important Catalan football clubs. He left a good human impression wherever he went. Now he no longer coaches and follows Dani, always attentive to everyone. You see him traveling with Barça in the Champions League and now, at the World Cup, watching his son's exhibition against France live.

Sixteen years later, Spain will play the final of a World Cup again. The 2-0 victory against France unleashed euphoria among Spanish fans and also among some of the country's best-known faces. From the royal family to political leaders, including the 2010 world champions, who watched the semi-final in Dallas, celebrations were not long in coming.

The invitation from the French embassy to the national celebration of July 14 in Madrid already included watching the World Cup semi-final in the program. What they didn't know a month ago when they sent it was that the match would be between France and Spain. And even less so that it would be the same week that a former Spanish government president – Mariano Rajoy i Brey – would make a racist comment about the French players. This has undoubtedly been one of the most discussed topics this Tuesday at the small palace on Calle Serrano 124 in Madrid, where the ambassador, Kareen Rispal, resides, and where the commemoration of the storming of the Bastille has been celebrated with hundreds of guests in the Spanish capital.

A goal from Oyarzabal, a penalty, and another from Pedro Porro, allowed the Spanish team to defeat France and reach the World Cup final. For the second time in its history, La Roja will play the title match, and will do so after demonstrating, like in 2010, that a great generation of footballers is not enough, but that the key to success is for all the stars to play for the team. A very young generation of fearless players who are not afraid of anything, not even what, on paper, was the deadliest attack of all. It turns out that France was unable to score and it is Spain who reaches the title match with immaculate defensive statistics: they have only conceded one goal in the entire competition.

Tomorrow at 9 the Spain-France game will be played, and banal Spanish nationalism is infiltrating everywhere, including the mobile screens of Movistar customers, which, instead of saying “Movistar” says “with the selection”, regardless of whether the client completely ignores it of the World Cup or the selection bothers them. The performance that states and companies derive from their sports selections explains to what extent sport is also politics and identity is also business. A cruel paradox for so many Catalans who have at some point shouted "neither Spain, nor France, Catalan Countries", and it turns out that tomorrow, it will be one or the other. About M. Rajoy and his comment that France plays without French saying that: first, following their reasoning, Spain plays without Spaniards, and second, that Republican France has felt very offended, but it would be good for them to consider whether the indignation they feel about the racist comment is consistent with the absence of racism in everyday life. Contrary to what this article says, it is not that people like Rajoy bring the World Cup into the realm of identity, but rather that the entire World Cup is a competition of identities (one only needs to look at the anthems, the flags, and the heads of state in the stands). Another matter is what is understood by national identity in each country. But this week there is another important appointment, which is on Thursday, the day on which the Court of Justice of the European Union must rule on the amnesty, specifically on whether the crime of embezzlement is amnestible or not. It is another episode in this judicial quarrel that the Spanish judiciary's refusal to apply the amnesty law as approved by the legislative power more than two years ago, in May 2024, has become. Remember that, to prevent its application, the Supreme Court ruled that, since the referendum was paid for with public money, the leaders of the Process personally enriched themselves because they saved themselves from putting money from their own pockets, like someone who pays for their daughter's wedding with public money (the example is from the Supreme Court). Well, on Thursday the CJEU will rule, but even if the ruling says that the amnesty is in accordance with European law, it will not be automatically applied, but rather then, the Constitutional Court must decide whether the Supreme Court's interpretation is correct or not, presumably it will say no, but this ruling will not arrive until the autumn, practically when Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Lluís Puig will have been in exile for 9 years.  

The Spanish team is back in the World Cup semi-finals after defeating Belgium 2-1. Sixteen years later, the national team is among the four best countries in the world and will face France on Tuesday, July 14 (9 p.m.) in Dallas. A match in which Luis de la Fuente will have to decide whether to stick with Fabián Ruiz – who scored in the quarter-finals – in midfield or to bring Pedri back into the starting lineup. "The important thing is the collective, everyone has their responsibility and it is just as important to start the match as it is to play the last five minutes," the coach assured after qualifying.

Since the Football World Cup began, former Spanish President Mariano Rajoy has returned to his commentator persona and regularly publishes his opinion pieces in The Debate about the Spanish national team. Well, send audio messages and from The Debate transcribe them and give them shape. In the article published this Friday night, Mariano Rajoy valued the performance of the French team, Spain's next opponent in the World Cup. He highlighted their high level, but added a racist comment: "They also have a very high-level squad. That said, without Frenchmen." The French government has already censured the words of the former Spanish president and the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, has described them as "absolutely unacceptable".

When it comes to Donald Trump, it is very difficult to discern what is true and what is pure bluster in his words, but the reality is that it is becoming increasingly evident that Europe must go it alone in the field of security. The latest NATO summit, held in Ankara, has been the clearest example that these United States are not a reliable ally. Trump has once again staged his particular show, in which he has insulted political leaders like Giorgia Meloni, has threatened countries like Spain, has insisted that he wants to keep Greenland, and has made it clear that, if it were up to him, he would dismantle the Atlantic Alliance because he sees no use for it. His press conferences are a collection of absurdities that serve both to provide sensationalist headlines and to cause confusions that quickly go viral on social networks, such as referring to Iran as the Islamic Republic of Japan.

With Catalonia at 40 degrees and the historic record of 40.5°C at the Fabra Observatory, it's not that Trump's threats don't matter, but rather that they can't be hotter (or so we hope). When in less than 24 hours, Trump threatens Denmark over Greenland, Iran with a ceasefire, and Spain with a trade cut, it's clear we're facing a new operation to "flood the zone" with short, blunt, and provocative headlines that set the agenda, as the sinister Steve Bannon advised him during the 2016 campaign.

Mikel Merino has once again become Spain's hero. The Navarrese player scored in the 91st minute the goal that gave the Spanish team qualification for the quarterfinals of the World Cup after an in extremis victory against Portugal (0-1). But he wasn't just the protagonist of the night on the pitch. After the match, the 30-year-old player, currently at Arsenal and trained at Osasuna before playing for Borussia Dortmund and Real Sociedad, explained the difficulties he has had to overcome to reach this point.

Only Pelé had managed to score the first goal of a World Cup match at eighteen years old or younger. Until Lamine Yamal arrived. The Rocafonda genius was in charge of scoring the first goal in Spain's thrashing of Saudi Arabia in Atlanta (4-0), a match where Luis de la Fuente's team shook off the bad feelings from their weak debut against Cape Verde. If against the Africans Spain couldn't even score a single goal, against the Saudis they already had three in 25 minutes. Between Lamine Yamal and a brilliant Mikel Oyarzabal, Spain thrashed in a match that became increasingly disjointed as the minutes passed, as Luis De la Fuente's team had quickly finished the job. In fact, he substituted Lamine Yamal at halftime to protect him, because the future of the national team in the World Cup depends heavily on him.

It was supposed to be Spain's and Lamine Yamal's day, but it was Josimar Dias Vozinha's, a nickname that in Portuguese sounds very similar to "grandmother". It was a fairy tale. One of those stories that, if a screenwriter invented it to make a television series, many would say it's impossible to believe. Sometimes it seems that in this modern football full of money where the rich get richer and richer, it's not possible for a 40-year-old man without a team to shine against Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, Pedri, and company. But at the Football World Cup, luckily, these things still happen. No 40-year-old goalkeeper had ever managed to finish a World Cup match without conceding goals. Vozinhaachieved it.

The papal visit has left a lot of headlines and striking images, and at a superficial glance it can be said that it has come as a balm for Pedro Sánchez. But the real headline left by this visit is that, once again, it has become clear that the supposed non-confessionality of the State is more apparent than real, and that the weight and influence of the Catholic Church are of such magnitude that even civil powers bow before it.

Seven days. Madrid, Catalonia and the Canary Islands. About twenty events and some 2,500 kilometers. This is the summary of the visit of Leo XIV, the third pontiff to travel to the State – the first was John Paul II and the second, Benedict XVI–. His journey began this Saturday in Madrid, where thousands of believers were waiting for him, many of them pilgrims, among whom he took a recurring crowd bath, after his first institutional event at the Royal Palace, some of the most central streets of the Spanish capital with the popemobile. His will be a religious and symbolic journey, but also with a high political content, as has already become evident in his first public speech: "I come among you to confirm, encourage and inspire a renewed fidelity of believers to the Gospel, as well as a deeper reconciliation and cooperation between the different forces" in the State, the pontiff expressed from the Hall of Columns of the Royal Palace and under the watchful eye of 250 people including institutional authorities and representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps.To call for "reconciliation" in Spanish politics, where for years confrontation has reigned, Leo XIV has even looked to the past: "Its own history suggests that it is not the culture of confrontation, but that of encounter, that generates stability and prosperity," he expressed in what was understood as an implicit reference to the Spanish Civil War. The kings, Pedro Sánchez, the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, listened from the front rows. Before them, Leo XIV defended rowing against those who "gain popularity by feeding the fire of polarization." But he also looked to Pope Francis, his predecessor, whom he paraphrased to defend the "constant dialogue" between ideas and reality. Francis never visited Spain, unlike John Paul II and Benedict XVI, considered conservatives or traditionalists and whom Leo XIV has not cited. However, the popularity and influence of the former has always been higher in the State.

The first quarters are traditionally not good for employment, as they are heavily marked by the end of the Christmas campaign. This year, Catalonia added 84,400 unemployed in absolute terms between January and March, 24% more than the previous quarter, the worst quarter-on-quarter increase since 2009. It is the second autonomous community with the highest increase, only behind the Balearic Islands, where the number of unemployed people soared by 76.55%.According to the active population survey (EPA) published this Tuesday, the Catalan unemployment rate in the first quarter stood at 10.12%. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) estimates that in Catalonia there were 435,600 people who wanted to join the labor market and could not. At the end of last year, however, unemployment stood at 8.24%.If we compare it to the first quarter of 2025, then the number of unemployed in Catalonia increased to a lesser extent – by 15.71% –, but it also grew because the beginning of the year is complicated in terms of employment. Last year Catalonia already experienced the worst start to the year since 2012, adding 47,200 new unemployed people, but this year it has broken new records and surpassed that threshold. The professor of labor law at the University of Barcelona (UB), Jordi Garcia, assured l?ARA that these EPA results show a "change in trend" regarding the dynamism of the labor market observed since 2011. "What is happening is no longer a slowdown in growth, but rather a decrease, a drop," he explained, and he contextualized it within a loss of dynamism in the economy in general.More employment

Despite the increase in the unemployment rate, in Catalonia this first quarter there were 16,900 more workers than in the same period last year, an increase of 0.44%. The explanation is that the volume of the active population – that is, of people who work or want to work – grew more than that of the employed population – people with a paid job –. Therefore, in proportion, those who entered to form part of the unemployed grew more than the group of workers, who represented a smaller percentage of the total.Between January and March, 46,300 jobs were destroyed, causing a 1.18% decrease in employment. In absolute numbers, this means that in Catalonia there were 3.87 million employed people, fewer than the almost four million in the last quarter of last year.Concern among social agents

Social agents have made a negative reading of the data. While Catalan UGT has opined that they show a "worrying evolution" of the Catalan labor market, CCOO de Catalunya has lamented that "they cannot be explained solely by the weight of seasonality". From the employers' associations, Foment has opined that the data are "especially negative" and Pimec has argued that the rise in unemployment "is not explained by a change in economic expectations".For their part, the Minister of Business and Labor, Miquel Sàmper, has committed to studying the data with "diligence". "In the registered unemployment so far, the trend is not this", stated the Secretary of Labor, Paco Ramos. They will analyze "whether trade or the tourism sector has had an impact" or if, on the other hand, the de-seasonalization strategy needs to be "strengthened". In parallel, however, Sàmper has not wanted to fail to highlight that the increase in the active population to record figures is "positive news because it shows that more people want to work in Catalonia", where there is "a dynamic market that works".Unemployment rises by 9.34% across the State

In the State as a whole, the unemployment rate was 10.83%, the lowest level in a first quarter since 2008. The number of employed people broke a new record, exceeding the threshold of 22.5 million people for the first time, after adding 532,300 workers in the last year. In contrast, Spain counted 2.7 million unemployed, 9.34% more than last quarter, but 2.89% less than in the same period last year.In absolute terms, however, between January and March, 170,300 jobs were destroyed in the State compared to the last quarter of last year. In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance was positive, showing a net incorporation of 96,800 people into the labor market, a 0.43% growth in the employment rate. Professor Jordi Garcia has warned that, "whenever someone looks for an excuse, they use the concept of seasonally adjusted", and finds it "difficult to understand that there are very different trends in Catalonia compared to the State". He recalled that Catalonia is a territory "with a lot of economic activity, and that means that if there is a general slowdown, it will probably be felt even more in Catalonia".The year-on-year increase in employment advanced in parallel with the active population, which in the State also reached a new historic high, standing above 25 million people. In the last year, Spain added 447,000 people capable of entering the labor market.

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