From typicallyspanish.com
Spain Papers Review - Thursday May 8 2008
By h.b.
May 8, 2008 - 9:46 AM
El País leads with the headline that Zapatero is to revise the electoral law and has promised a more lay state. The paper describes the measures as the large reforms of the legislature, and reports that the Socialists will again try to bring new changes to the Constitution.
El Mundo says that the Government has given the green light to the reform of the Electoral Law and to the law which will ‘impulse laity’.
ABC highlights the government’s intentions and notes also the new plan for human rights.
ABC headlines that the Prime Minister has set a date to meet with the lendakari Juan José Ibarretxe. The paper notes that while the Basque leader has his appointment, Mariano Rajoy, the PP leader is still waiting.
El Mundo notes that the PP leader Mariano Rajoy has admitted that the party is going through a ‘difficult moment’. The paper says Rajoy thinks another party congress should be held in 2011, and that is where the candidate for the 2012 general election will emerge.
Público uses its front page to highlight the admission by Rajoy of a crisis in the Partido Popular. The paper notes he has called for patience and has promised a new congress in 2011.
El Mundo leads again with the Basque health service and says that the Basque Government has spent 41 million € over the past four years in teaching Euskara and paying to substitute those who are learning the Basque language. The paper headlines that 3,983 health workers are being paid to go to the ‘ikastola’ (school) instead of the hospital. The paper says the most popular option allows people to leave their jobs for a period of between six months and two years.
El País prints revelations from the court statement made by Santiago del Valle, the man accused of killing the Huelva five year old, Mari Luz Cortés. The paper headlines ‘I threw down a teddy bear. Mari Luz picked it up and came in the door’.
In international stories,
El País considers that Barack Obama now has triumph over Hillary Clinton within his reach – almost in the bag says the paper. It follows his large win in North Carolina and close loss in Indiana.
Of the six primaries left, Obama is favourite in three.
La Vanguardia has a photo of Hillary on its front page and says that Clinton is insisting on continuing despite Obama’s advantage.
El País considers that the EU has failed with its new regulations on the forced expulsion of illegal immigrants. The EU failed to set a period during which an immigrant can be held ahead of deportation, but ten countries, headed by Italy, France and Germany who said the new regulation is not harsh enough.
El País has a photo of Yoani Sanchez, the Cuban writer who has own this year’s Ortega y Gasset journalism prize, awarded by the paper. She has said the changes in Cuba are coming from the people.
Back in Spain,
EL Mundo tells us that the associations of banks and savings banks in Spain have called on the Government to finance the real estate crisis by using the pensions fund from Social Security.
El Mundo reports that a judge has declared the holding of a foreigner at Barajas airport in Madrid illegal. Magistrate Santiago Torres considers that he should be freed as the condition of the holding facilities at the airport does not meet the legal requirements.
In sport,
El Mundo shows a photo of the Barcelona players forming a guard of honour for the Real Madrid players ahead of the league game last night. Madrid thrashed the visitors 4-1 to confirm their success and the dreadful end to the season for the Catalan side.
ABC also has a front page photo of the Barça guard of honour.
El Mundo notes that the Davis Cup tennis players have split from the President of the Spanish Tennis Federation for his ‘dictatorial ways’.