Southeastern Spain, one of the driest areas in Europe, has established itself as one of the continent's main agricultural hubs. Despite having a climate marked by minimal rainfall and long periods of drought, this region has become the heart of the so-called “european vegetable garden.” Thanks to state policies, desalination plants, artificial reservoirs, and complex water transfer systems between river basins have been built, allowing vast previously unproductive areas to be irrigated.

Several people sustained minor injuries this Thursday after a passenger train collided with a crane in Cartagena, Murcia. The accident occurred at 12:04 PM when the train, which has only one carriage and was traveling on the Cartagena-Los Nietos line, struck the crane's arm. Sources from the Murcian Ministry of Health, cited by Europa Press, report that six people were injured and taken to the hospital: two 18-year-old men, two men aged 26 and 50, and two women aged 62 and 74. The impact did not derail or overturn the train, which was carrying 16 people, but it did break windows on one side and caused several cuts to at least one of the injured, according to the EFE news agency, which added that two people were treated for anxiety attacks. Firefighters, Civil Guard officers, and paramedics went to the scene to assist the passengers.

They are best friends. One, Ismael, was born in Morocco; the other, Daniel, is a Spaniard born in Torre Pacheco. Both attended the unauthorized gathering that the extremist groups had held for eight o'clock in the evening in the Murcia town. According to one of the organizers, the agitator posing as a journalist, Vito Quiles, the rally didn't take place because the Civil Guard had informed them they were in danger. A threat also targeted the leader of Desokupa, Daniel Esteve, who didn't even show up in the town. However, police sources did not confirm these threats announced by Quiles. "The Civil Guard forced them to leave the town peacefully," sources from the Murcia government delegation stated. "We have no record of any threats," a local police officer confirmed.

The Superior Prosecutor's Office of the Region of Murcia will open an investigation this Tuesday to study whether there is evidence of a crime in the public statements made by the regional president of Vox, José Ángel Antelo, in relation to the riots in Torre Pacheco. This includes recent media appearances, in which he has linked immigration and crime. "All the violence experienced in Torre Pacheco is the fault of the PP and the PSOE for financing and filling our streets with illegal immigration. With Vox, deportations, security, and peace in our neighborhoods," Antelo told the media last Saturday.

The wave of violence generated by far-right extremists from all over the State against the immigrants in Torre Pacheco has forced the mayor of the Murcian municipality to ask for sanity. Pedro Ángel Roca (PP) has demanded that these movements be stopped: "I ask the people who are being encouraged to come to Torre Pacheco to solve the problem is that they don't come, that we will solve it with the State security forces and bodies, and that they leave us alone, because what the people of the town want is not to have fear and uncertainty when night falls and we have altercations." This is what he told ARA this Monday in a phone call, after four nights. The origin of the clashes is the beating suffered last Wednesday in the street by a 68-year-old man, early in the morning, in which young people of foreign origin are allegedly involved. be the dissemination on social networks of an alleged video of the attack, which the mayor has assured is false, since it corresponds to a case in another part of Spain -BK_SLT_LNA- The alleged perpetrator of the attack has been arrested.

Furthermore, a rumor began to circulate that the attack had been carried out by a group of youths, while the mayor confirmed that there is only one assailant, who has been identified and, according to Efe, was arrested this Monday afternoon in Errenteria (Basque Country), as he was preparing to board a train to Irún. It appears he intended to travel to France. Two people have also been arrested for covering up the attack, and Roca himself has confirmed that they are not residents of the municipality.

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The town of Torre Pacheco, about fifteen kilometers from Cartagena in Murcia, has been making headlines for four days due to riots carried out by far-right extremists from across Spain. On Wednesday, a 68-year-old man was beaten in the street early in the morning, sparking a wave of violence by far-right groups who have traveled to Torre Pacheco with the aim, they say, of "avenging" the attack. They claim it was carried out by three young men, at least one of North African origin, and have targeted immigrants. However, the police have not yet revealed the suspect's nationality. All of this has led to two consecutive nights of racist harassment and street clashes. Below, we explain the key factors behind this escalation of violence.

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The puzzle of the regional budgets in Spain with the pacts between the PP and Vox has followed the same pattern: against the European Green Deal and the migration and distribution policies for foreign minors, and in the Catalan-speaking territories, against Catalan. Despite The messing up of the regional executives by Santiago Abascal's party in June of last year, both parties have already reached a triple regional understanding. In mid-March it was the Valencian Community, chaired by Carlos Mazón; The Balearic Islands followed, on May 30, and Murcia, last Thursday. These regional pacts contrast with the cut-off communications at the state level, according to various sources. But how has the Balearic and Murcian push gone? What were the intrigues of the negotiations like?

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The Murcia Juvenile Court has sentenced a 14-year-old minor to comply with twelve behavioral guidelines for the stabbing death of his father. The events date back to June 2024, when the minor, who is at the minimum age to face legal proceedings, intervened during an argument between his mother and father. The boy has admitted that, in order to defend his mother, he attacked his father with a knife. The sentence reflects these events and the minor's confession following an agreement reached with the Prosecutor's Office.

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When Carlos Mazón announced the pact with Vox to approve the Valencian Community's budget, Génova pointed to two other autonomous communities. The step taken by the Valencian president "could bring the public accounts of Murcia and Aragon closer together," predicted Alberto Núñez Feijóo's team. Ten days later, negotiations in these two autonomous communities, governed in a minority by the PP, have not been unblocked. "There's nothing new," responded the executives of both Fernando López Miras and Jorge Azcón to questions from ARA. Both the Murcian and Aragonese presidents, especially the former, have come close in public statements in recent days to Vox's rhetoric on immigration and against the Green Pact. However, for the far-right party, this is not enough. "There is still a long way to go," warned Vox's general secretary, Ignacio Garriga, this Thursday.

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Since early this morning, rescue teams continued the search for two people who were still missing and were finally found dead after the torrential downpours that hit the southern Peninsula. In the Guadalbarcar stream, in the town of Constantina, they found the lifeless body of a man, who they confirmed was the husband of the woman found dead in the same area on Tuesday afternoon. The couple, in their seventies, were inside an all-terrain vehicle crossing the stream when the sudden rise in water surprised them.

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You grew up between Murcia and Santa Coloma de Gramenet. Where did you start drinking your first glasses of wine?

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Spanish politics is a minefield and Murcia, so often at the forefront of reaction, has been the epicentre of an explosion, the shock wave of which has reached Madrid and we'll see if it also reaches Catalan politics. The casualties are beginning to be counted within Ciudadanos, with an Inés Arrimadas who has committed harakiri due to a lack of internal leadership and an inability to foresee the intensity of the movement in Murcia, where her people have betrayed her unceremoniously.

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Deep maneuvering between the PSOE and Ciudadanos in Murcia with important implications at state level. The two parties have filed a motion of censure against the PP to unseat it from the presidency of the autonomous community, where it is part of a coalition government with Ciudadanos and the external support of Vox. The motion, however, is not limited only to the Regional Assembly, but also to the City Council of Murcia. The aim that the current spokesperson of the executive and regional coordinator of Ciudadanos, Ana Martínez Vidal, become the new president to replace the PP's Fernando López Miras. In turn, it also seeks to end the government of Murcia's mayor, José Ballesta, also supported by Ciudadanos, and that the current deputy mayor, Mario Gomez, become the new mayor.

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