Snap election proposal rejected, man in Valencia arrested on suspicion of murdering son’s speech therapist, students in Bilbao protest low score in Basque exam and more news from Spain this Wednesday June 17th.
A man in Valencia has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing son’s speech therapist to death
National Police have arrested a 24-year-old man in the Valencian town of Burjassot for allegedly killing his son’s speech therapist.
According to Valencian newspapers, the suspect believed the therapist was abusing the two-year-old child.
The arrest occurred on Monday evening when the alleged perpetrator appeared at the National Police Station in Burjassot with blood on his hands, confessing that he had killed another man.
Students in Bilbao protest low score in Basque language exam
Students who received a zero in Basque language for their university entrance exams have gathered in Bilbao to protest their grades.
Dozens of students are unhappy with their score and, along with their families, are demanding a solution, as they believe the marks are inconsistent with their academic performance. Receiving a zero could prevent many students from getting onto their chosen university degree course.
An unusually high number of students discovered that they had received the lowest possible grade possible in their Basque Language and Literature exam. At first, they thought it might be due to a system error, but this is reportedly not the case.
Spanish banks investigated for anti-competitive practices
The National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) recently announced they had started an investigation into six major Spanish banks including Bankinter, Banco Santander, BBVA, Unicaja, CaixaBank and Sabadell for possible anti-competitive practices that could lead to sanctions.
The issue lies in public statements of “some of its directors” regarding the banks’ future commercial policy in relation to fixed-rate mortgage interest rates, according to the supervisory body’s press release.
Such public comments “would have allowed entities in the sector to anticipate the future behaviour of their competitors”, which would be contrary to Article 1 of the Competition Act and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The Spanish Congress Bureau rejected Catalan pro-independence party Junts’ proposal to force a vote in Congress calling for snap elections. The party had justified its proposal by citing the government’s parliamentary weakness and saying that it had “broken agreements”.
The amendment urged Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to “propose the dissolution of the Spanish Parliament and call elections”.
PSOE spokesperson in Congress, Patxi López questioned whether Junts’ amendment was “in parallel” with the no-confidence motion recently proposed by the PP.
Spain must put Cape Verde World Cup ‘grief’ behind them, says Merino
Spain midfielder Mikel Merino said Spain have to react to the “grief” of failing to beat debutants Cape Verde in their World Cup opener, but is confident the European champions are still contenders to win the competition.
It was a familiar story of World Cup frustration for La Roja in Atlanta as they failed to break down the African archipelago of just over 500,000 people despite dominating possession in a 0-0 draw.
Since winning the competition for the first time in 2010, Spain have won just three of their last 12 World Cup games.
“As in every match, things don’t always go the way one would like. Every player has their own way of dealing with grief,” Merino told a press conference on Tuesday.
“No one has died; it’s not mourning in the literal sense. But defeats can often feel that way. When we’re so competitive, when we always want to win and always want to bring our best selves, and we don’t manage to do it.”
With additional reporting by AFP.
