Daniel Lacalle: Presentación de ThinkMadrid

'We Don't Want to Be German Colony' - Spain Gears Up for Mass Protest

Struggling to live below the poverty line in Spain is seeing tens of thousands of protesters prepare to take action in Madrid. They're calling it a 'Dignity March' - and are demanding the government provide social guarantees and basics such as bread, work and housing.

Des milliers de manifestants à Madrid contre la privatisation de la santé

LE MONDE: Des milliers de personnes, dont de nombreux médecins et infirmières, ont manifesté dimanche 19 mai à Madrid contre les coupes dans le secteur de la santé et la privatisation de la gestion de plusieurs hôpitaux madrilènes. Les manifestants, au nombre de 6 000, selon la police, ont défilé dans le centre de la capitale, précédés par une banderole sur laquelle on pouvait lire : "La santé ne se vend pas, elle se défend". » | Le Monde.fr avec AFP | dimanche 19 mai 2013

Spain Police Clash with Austerity Protesters
Eurozone ministers are expected to give their final approval of a huge bailout of Spanish banks on Friday.But in Madrid, police fired rubber-coated bullets to disperse protesters. They are angry at the latest budget cuts and tax hikes as demonstrations were held in 80 cities. Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports from the capital, Madrid.

Spain's Indignados Distribute Food to Madrid's Poor
Indignado activists have become volunteers in the Spanish city of Madrid, distributing food to those who cannot afford it. In this direct action initiative, shopkeepers donate the food and volunteers deliver it to the people who need it most. Al Jazeera's Tim Friend reports

Spain Cries for Help: Is Berlin Listening?
REUTERS.COM: Crisis is the watchword in Madrid. Take your pick - liquidity crisis, debt crisis, banking crisis, economic crisis, confidence crisis, investor crisis, jobless crisis. Spain, the ailing euro zone's latest problem child, has them all.

As the problems pile up, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's five-month-old conservative administration feels like a government under siege. Nervy top officials are reluctant to speak on the record for fear of slipping up. Policymakers contradict one another. Plans keep changing. Financial markets reel amid the uncertainty. The gloom in ministry corridors is palpable.

The latest gaffe: after weeks insisting that one of the country's biggest banks, Bankia, did not need fresh funds, ministers dropped the bombshell last Friday that there was a 23-billion-euro hole in the accounts. They have yet to explain clearly how they will find the money when they are already struggling to finance a spiraling national debt.

The effect of the Bankia news on fragile financial markets was devastating. Spanish shares dived to 9-year lows, the euro sank and investors fled Spanish government debt, pushing the yield towards the 7 per cent level at which fellow eurozone members Ireland and Portugal were forced to seek national bailouts from Brussels. » | Michael Stott | Reuters | Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Greece Suffers Fifth General Strike as Metro Blockaded in Madrid
Violence erupted in Bilbao during a one-day general strike. Photo: The Times
THE TIMES: Violence broke out during Greece’s fifth general strike of the year, while in Madrid the Metro was blockaded in a foretaste of a summer of industrial unrest.

As Mediterranean governments push through austerity measures, masked youths took part in running battles with police in Athens, with domestic flights and many ferry sailings from the port of Piraeus cancelled.

Public and private sector unions in the country announced that there would be a sixth all-out stoppage next week, when the package of pay and pension reforms comes to a final vote.

“These measures will not help. They will only lead to deeper recession and poverty,” said Despina Spanou, a board member of the Adedy civil servants’ union, which helped to organise the marches. “We are resisting the slaughtering of our rights.”

The governments of Greece and Spain are increasingly worried about the impact of unrest on tourism — which is a mainstay of both economies. >>> Philip Pangalos in Athens, William Bond in Madrid, David Charter in Brussels | Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Les bourses dégringolent
LE FIGARO: Le CAC 40 chute de plus de 5% vers 12h00. Les investisseurs intègrent la baisse de Wall Street vendredi, et les nouvelles alertes dans le système financier.

Après une clôture dans le vert (+2,76%) vendredi soir, le marché parisien intègre la tendance négative dictée à la fermeture de Wall Street. Les investisseurs restent par ailleurs inquiets de la situation des banques. Vers 12h00, le CAC 40 plonge de 6,09% à 3832,43 points.

Les autres bourses européennes évoluent également dans le rouge vif. Francfort perd 5,5%, Madrid 4,74%, Londres 5,86%. L'indice Eurostoxx dévisse de 5,62%, à 2938,69 points. Les bourses dégringolent >>> Perrine Créquy | 06.10.2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Relié) >>>