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☆ Regional elections deal blow to governing socialists in Spain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailRegional elections deal blow to governing socialists in SpainPrime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist party suffers heavy defeat at local elections, ahead of general vote later this year.

☆ Morning Bid: Too soon to drink to the US debt deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

More detail and clarity are expected around the tentative agreement in Washington to suspend the $31.4 trillion federal debt ceiling until January 2025 in exchange for caps on spending and cuts in government programmes. In the first trades in U.S. debt markets since the debt ceiling deal, longer-term Treasuries rallied in Asia, driving benchmark 10-year yields down 6 basis points to 3.76%. Asian stocks are up, and futures indicate mild gains for stocks in Europe and the United States, too. Besides the debt deal, there is little else on investors' minds. Earnings : Manchester United, Hewlett-PackardReporting by Vidya Ranganathan; Editing by Edmund KlamannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Dollar nudges lower as U.S. debt ceiling deal dents safe-haven appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Dhara Ranasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Summary Dollar edges down following U.S. debt ceiling dealRisk currencies rallyTurkish lira touches new record lowLONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - The dollar nudged lower on Monday, pulling back from six-month peaks against the yen as a U.S. debt ceiling deal lifted risk appetite across world markets and dented the greenback's safe-haven appeal. Having briefly touched a six-month high of 140.91 yen during Asia trade, the dollar drifted lower and was last down 0.25% at 140.25 yen. "We've got a risk-positive response so far to the debt deal news," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank. "Obviously there's still the need to get this debt deal over the line, but I think markets are happy to travel on the presumption that it will get done before the new X-date." Talk that the U.S. rate hiking cycle may not be over as soon as hoped given signs of economic strength have bolstered the dollar this month and could support the currency even as U.S. debt ceiling worries abate.

☆ Spain's Sanchez gambles on snap election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Reuters Editorial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PoliticsSpain's Sanchez gambles on snap electionPostedSpain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez unexpectedly called a snap national election on Monday and his main rival spelled out the aim of becoming the country's next leader. Edward Baran has more.

[1/4] Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appears after he casts his vote at a polling station during Regional elections, in Madrid, Spain, May 28, 2023. he said in a televised speech that took even some of his political allies by surprise. "...I believe it is necessary to respond and submit our democratic mandate to the will of the people." But it is highly unusual for a Spanish government to call a snap ballot after a poor performance in a regional vote. The PP potentially took as many as eight regional governments from the Socialists, depending on how successful the opposition party is in negotiating alliances with Vox.

☆ Spanish prime minister calls for early general election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

"I took this decision in light of the results of the elections held yesterday," Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised press briefing, according to a CNBC translation. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for the Spanish Parliament to be dissolved and for an early general election to be held on July 23. General elections were previously set to be held in December, but were brought forward by the heavy losses sustained by Sanchez's ruling Socialist party in the May 28 vote. The results showed that the Socialist party narrowly retained just three of the 12 regions that held elections, while the conservative People's Party and its coalitions claimed the rest. "I took this decision in light of the results of the elections held yesterday," Sanchez said in a televised press briefing on Monday, according to a CNBC translation.

☆ Spanish Prime Minister Calls Snap Election for July
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Emma Bubola | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said Monday that he would dissolve Parliament and called a snap election for July after his Socialist Workers’ Party suffered several defeats in regional and local elections over the weekend. “I took this decision after looking at the results of the elections of yesterday,” Mr. Sánchez said in a speech in front of Spain’s presidential palace. The elections will take place on July 23, he said. The conservative Popular Party made substantial gains in regional and local elections held across Spain on Sunday. “Spain was dyed blue,” Cuca Gamarra, the secretary of the Popular Party, wrote on Twitter, referring to the party’s color, describing a “strong, clear and resounding result.”

☆ Pedro Sanchez: Spanish PM calls snap elections after setbacks in local polls
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Al Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Madrid CNN —Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced snap parliamentary elections in July, hours after his ruling Socialists suffered major setbacks in regional and local elections. Sanchez, 51, became prime minister in 2018 after winning a vote of no confidence in parliament against then-conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. He formed a coalition government with the leftist Podemos party, which also suffered setbacks in Sunday’s local elections. The prime minister is making “a complex chess move,” Andres Villena, a professor at Madrid’s Complutense University, told CNN. “Sanchez’s decision to move up the elections could neutralize the honeymoon for the incoming conservative leaders” in the local elections, Villena said.

☆ Spain holds regional elections ahead of year-end national vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appears after he casts his vote at a polling station during Regional elections, in Madrid, Spain, May 28, 2023. REUTERS/Juan MedinaMADRID, May 27 (Reuters) - Spanish voters head to the polls on Sunday in regional and municipal elections, the results of which will serve as a barometer for an end-of-year general election. Voting is taking place in 12 regions and 8,000 towns and cities, most currently run by the governing Socialist Party (PSOE). Polls are predicting gains for the conservative People's Party (PP), which if replicated later in the year could unseat the current left-wing coalition. Voting opened at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and will close at 8 p.m. Over 35 million people are eligible to vote.

CNN —As the Colombian military frantically searches for four children missing after a jungle plane crash over two weeks ago, new details are emerging about the plane’s history – and local concerns over the safety of air travel in that part of the Amazon. Colombian Military Forces/ReutersIndigenous activists who mourned the deaths in a statement earlier this week said the crash was no surprise, accusing airline companies operating in the Amazon of chasing profits and the Colombian government of failing to uphold safety standards. Speaking to CNN, OPIAC president Julio Cesar Lopez pointed out that the ill-fated plane had previously crashed in the same region, on July 25, 2021. The report states that the plane was built in 1982 and, prior to the 2021 crash, had accumulated over 10 thousand flight hours. Relatives say the children knew the jungle well, and are holding out hope that they will be found alive.

☆ Villagers evacuated as wildfire ravages woodlands in western Spain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, May 19 (Reuters) - Emergency crews evacuated around 600 villagers in western Spain overnight as a wildfire blamed on arsonists ravaged up to 8,000 hectares (19,800 acres) near the border with Portugal, officials said. "The are very strong gusts of wind ... that make efforts to extinguish it difficult," Military Emergency Unit commander David Barona told state TV channel 24H. "It's a very large attack on vegetation and the area," the head of Extremadura emergency services Nieves Villar told reporters, referring to the suspicions of arson. An unusually dry winter across parts of southern Europe coming after three years of below-average rainfall in Spain have raised the risk of wildfires. A total of 493 fires destroyed a record 307,000 hectares in Spain last year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

☆ Spain to launch app to find out if men shun household chores
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Spain’s equality ministry says it will launch an app designed to monitor the sharing of chores between members of a household, as part of a drive to improve gender equality. “What surveys tell us is that women spend a lot more time on household chores than men do,” said Rodríguez, who added that the app will allow each member of the household to input the time they spend on chores. According to a survey from Spain’s national statistics institute, published in December, 45.9% of female respondents said they carried out the majority of household chores, compared to just 14.9% of men. Rodríguez emphasized that all sorts of different tasks should be considered household chores. “All of those who are offended by the household chores app are really offended by the possibility that they will have to start doing their bit at home,” she wrote.

☆ Spain to invest 1.3 billion euros in vocational training
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MADRID, April 29 (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday announced the government would invest 1.3 billion euros ($1.43 billion) in vocational training. The measure will be approved at next week's cabinet meeting and will create 45,000 bilingual vocational training places, 824 new training centres and more than 1,500 classrooms for applied technology and entrepreneurship. "It is the biggest commitment to vocational training that any government has ever made," Sanchez said during a Socialist Party event in Pamplona. "We are creating more and better jobs... and the best tool is to bet on quality vocational training, like the most advanced countries in Europe," he said. The new investment joins the 6.6 billion the government has already invested, Sanchez said.

The remarks brought a strong retort from Washington, where a White House spokesman accused Lula of "parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda." Lula is a pragmatic politician," one of the diplomats told Reuters, requesting anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Lula has suggested Ukraine needs to make concessions to end the war and Russia could return recently invaded territory but keep Crimea. The European Union has also rejected Lula's suggestion that both Ukraine and Russia are to blame for the war. Earlier this year, Lula turned down a reported German request to supply artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

☆ Spanish PM apologises over sexual consent law reform loophole
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 16 (Reuters) - Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez apologised in an interview published on Sunday to victims of sexual abuse over a sexual violence law that included a loophole enabling at least 978 imprisoned offenders to get their sentences reduced or ended early. The "Only Yes Is Yes" law, which arose partly as a result of public outrage over the so-called Wolf Pack case, centred on consent and was meant to resolve cases where defendants were convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse because victims had not resisted out of fear. But because the new law carries a lower minimum sentence - the result of merging the crimes of sexual abuse and aggression - it has enabled some perpetrators convicted before it took effect to successfully seek reduced sentences or early release. "If we have to apologise to the victims, I apologise to the victims." The issue has split the three-year-old coalition, with the Socialists keen to reform the law but their ruling partners Unidas Podemos resisting their suggestions.

☆ World leaders are lining up to meet Xi Jinping. Should the US be worried?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Hong Kong CNN —Xi Jinping has had a busy couple of weeks. “(Chinese leaders) believe it’s time now for China to make its strategic plans,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Beijing has watched uneasily as the war in Ukraine has driven the US and its European allies closer. When French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing last week, Xi drew comparisons between China and France: both “major countries with a tradition of independence,” Xi said, and “firm advocates for a multi-polar world” – or a world without a dominant superpower. But how Beijing navigates these initiatives, observers say, comes down to a bottom line that’s integrally related to Xi’s global ambitions and world view.

☆ Xi is trying to humiliate Biden by driving a wedge between him and his European allies as part of a global power play
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China's president is seeking to exploit differences among Western allies, analysts say. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Grand Hall in Beijing in 2022. Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, and Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor, are among the European leaders Xi has hosted. Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping make a toast following their talks in Moscow on March 21, 2023. But Freudenstein cautioned European leaders against the belief that Xi can act as a mediator with Putin.

☆ France’s Macron starts tough talks with China’s Xi Jinping on state visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Two of Europe's heaviest weights in politics are holding talks with China's President Xi Jinping at a time when the EU-Sino relationship is at a serious crossroads. With President Xi Jinping, we will also talk about our businesses, the climate and biodiversity, and food security," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter, moments before meeting the Chinese leader. This is particularly relevant when EU economic growth is vulnerable to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met China's President Xi Jinping last week. Europe's top foreign affairs diplomat, Josep Borrell, is also heading to China next week.

☆ Europe's relationship with China reaches critical juncture after Xi-Putin meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

European officials are traveling to China in the hope of persuading Beijing to denounce Russia's invasion of Ukraine and cool its recent kinship with the Kremlin. The 27-member bloc walks a tightrope, looking to develop economic ties with China but also reaffirming a close political and cultural relationship with the United States. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met China's President Xi Jinping last week. Europe's top foreign affairs diplomat, Josep Borrell, is heading to China next week. In a visit to Moscow in March, China's leader Xi Jinping referred to his Russian counterpart as a dear friend.

Macron last visited China in 2019 while it will be von der Leyen's first trip since becoming European Commission president that year. However, some analysts said ostentatious deal-signing would appear opportunistic at a time of heightened frictions between the United States and China. "Both (Macron and von der Leyen) have not only business in mind but also Ukraine," said Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. Macron and von der Leyen are expected to echo the message that Xi should also talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. China and EU decoupling will only serve U.S. interests, but make both China and Europe suffer," it said.

☆ EU's von der Leyen is in the running to be new NATO head -The Sun
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 31 (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in the running to be the new head of NATO, The Sun newspaper reported on Friday, citing a diplomatic source. A number of NATO member states have suggested von der Leyen would take over the alliance this October, the report said. The Sun report, citing UK sources, also said Britain would likely veto von der Leyen, who was the former German defense minister, citing her poor track record in charge of Germany's Armed Forces. German newspaper Welt am Sonntag has reported that Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace were among the leading candidates to succeed Stoltenberg. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ In Beijing, Spanish PM urges Xi to speak with Ukraine's Zelenskiy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Eduardo Baptista | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sanchez told a news conference in Beijing he had informed Xi, who visited Moscow on March 20-21, that Spain supported the proposals made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. They include a demand to restore Ukraine's territory to the status quo before Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. "I transmitted our concern over the illegal invasion of Ukraine," Sanchez said, adding that he "encouraged Xi to talk to President Zelenskiy". Last month, Beijing put forward its own 12-point peace plan and called for a comprehensive ceasefire in the conflict. Sanchez urged China to seek a more balanced economic relationship with Spain and called for greater transparency.

☆ Boao Forum: Li Qiang says China 'confident and capable' of hitting 2023 growth targets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The forum often promotes itself as “Asian Davos” and Li is tasked with reviving the world’s second largest economy at a time of sluggish growth. China, he said, will roll out new measures to boost domestic consumption and increase market access for foreign business while ensuring the stability of the financial sector. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images) Stringer/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Boao Forum for Asia has been held annually since 2001, but was suspended in 2020 because of the pandemic. But the problems have been exacerbated by the Communist Party’s erratic and draconian zero-Covid policy, which ended late last year, and a sweeping crackdown on private business. To boost business confidence, China’s new economic leadership is trying to reassure both foreign business and the domestic private sector.

☆ Morning Bid: World markets leaving March like a lamb
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike DolanIn like a lion, out like a lamb. Farmers' almanacs suggest a stormy and turbulent start to March means it's likely to end calm and serene - and so it appears with world financial markets this year. The evidence is sketchy so far and the impact on lending and credit generally will be examined forensically from here. That U-turn in thinking during the month saw wild swings in the bond and rates markets, where key volatility gauges (.MOVE) hit their highest since the 2008 crash. (.CESIUSD)Elsewhere, European markets continued to advance on Thursday, with banking stocks (.SX7P) up another 2% and credit default swaps on many banks lower too.

☆ Spain's conservatives seen winning general election, poll shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Spain's opposition People's Party (PP) leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo listens to Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speak during a session at the Spanish Senate in Madrid, Spain, September 6, 2022. The conservative PP would win 32.4% of the vote, or between 139 and 143 seats in the 350-seat lower house, largely in line with where it stood in the previous GAD3 poll in November. PP head Alberto Nunez Feijoo has said he would rather not ally with Vox in parliament, but may have no other option. In May, Spain will hold municipal and regional elections that will help gauge support for the main political parties in the general election to be held in December. Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Andrei Khalip and Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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