From typicallyspanish.com
Spain Papers Review - Wednesday May 7 2008
By h.b.
May 7, 2008 - 9:49 AM
El Mundo leads with a revelation about the points system used to obtain employment in the Basque Health Service.
The paper headlines that knowing Euskara, the Basque language, is worth 16 points while having a doctorate is only worth four.
For some posts the newspaper claims that knowing Euskara is worth 24 points, knowing French or English is worth 1.5 points, and having a master is worth only two.
The Partido Popular continues on the front pages, with El Mundo reporting that many party leaders are calling on Mariano Rajoy to name his new number two right away. It follows the news of the departure of Ángel Acebes at the party congress next month.
El País also reports on the call, while ABC says that Rajoy and Acebes have been seen together following the decision, enjoying lunch in a well-known restaurant. ABC notes a comment from Aznar and his silence on what has been happening in the party – ‘Some think I am still a party leader, even though I’m not’.
El Mundo notes that the Minister for the Economy, Pedro Solbes, has now admitted that unemployment is increasing more than that forecast by the Government. The paper notes the increasing food prices too – lemons up 38% and rice up 12%.
El País says that unemployment increased in April this year for the first time since 1984.
ABC headlines the unemployment and says that the April number is forcing the Government to start ‘social dialogue’ with unions and employers.
In international stories,
El Mundo has a front page photo of Burmese soldiers carrying some of the food aid sent to the country following the cyclone. The United Nations is blaming the military for the slaughter being seen following the cyclone and says that 22,500 people have died because of the lack of a catastrophe alert system. ABC also carries that angle and prints a photo of the Burmese Prime Minister, Thein Sein, with a group of the survivors.
El País says the Burmese military is complicating matters for the international aid workers.
Público says the cyclone swallowed entire towns, and El Periódico reports that the army took 24 hours to respond to the disaster.
El País has a photo of a Nigerian woman, Deborah Rose, who lost three brothers at the end of last month as they tried to reach Spain in an inflatable boat. 33 Sub-Saharans died on the vessel which Deborah says sank when a soldier from a Moroccan patrol vessel punctured the boat with a knife.
El Mundo manages to get the latest round of the Democratic Party Primaries on the front page. The paper says that they are just as interesting with Obama winning in North Carolina and Clinton winning in Indiana.
El Mundo notes that Brussels has called for the ‘health cent’ charge made in some areas on a litre of petrol be abolished. The idea breaks EU laws apparently.
El País also has the story and notes that six of Spain’s 17 regions currently collect the money for health funding from the petrol charge.
Back in Spain,
El Mundo notes that the General Council for Judicial Power gave a warning about the chaos in the system two years ago, saying that 400,000 sentences would not be carried out.
El País leads on the story and says that an inspection has revealed a serious back up in the judiciary across the entire country. The demand is as much as 100% more than the system can cope with, says the paper.
Público has a photo of piles of paper and the headline 269,405 sentences not carried out.
ABC reports that the PSOE Socialists are looking at widening the abortion law as part of the work in the equality commission.
ABC reports that BBVA is to double its investment in banks in China and Hong Kong, and Público notes that the SGAE music copyright organisation in Spain has announced record income, despite all the pirate copies.
And finally,
El Mundo looks ahead to tonight’s Real Madrid – Barcelona clash, and quotes the Barecelona manager. Frank Rijkaard has commented that forming a guard of honour for Real Madrid, as tradition dictates for the new league winners, will be painful, but Real Madrid deserve it.