Top 5 news of the week

1.      Earthquake tragedy intensifies in Turkey and Syria

A week after the overwhelming earthquake that wreaked havoc on the Turkish-Syrian border, the death toll is beginning to stabilize, and the true magnitude of the tragedy that occurred in the early hours of Monday morning is beginning to sink in.

Thus, new official figures now put the total number of dead at 33,000 (29,700 in Turkey and 3,500 in Syria, respectively). It seems that the balance has been slightly worse than expected, after the passage of the first hours after the earthquake, which are key to the rescue of survivors trapped under the rubble.

On the other hand, international aid has been key during the first days. The help provided by EU countries, as well as by some Middle Eastern countries, in the rescue tasks and in the construction of temporary residential camps for those who have lost everything, have been key for the situation not to get out of control. Other gestures, such as the relaxation of US economic sanctions against the Al-Assad regime, are intended to help in the medium to long term reconstruction of the areas affected by the earthquake.

Such has been the hecatomb, that it seems that the earthquake has left Syria, even the war in the background. In the area of Turkish Kurdistan, bordering the earthquake, the Kurdish forces have announced a cease-fire, accompanied by a promise not to attack or circulate in the areas affected by the earthquake. At the opposite extreme seems to be the behavior of the jihadist group in Ibid, territory controlled by rebel factions, where Hayat Tahrir al SahmThe Syrian government is threatening not to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, both from international organizations and from the Syrian government of Bashar Al-Assad.

Typical geopolitical tensions also seem to have eased between Turkey and its neighbors, Greece and Armenia, which have facilitated the passage of humanitarian aid across their usually strict borders.

The evolution of the last few days remains to be seen. The earthquake has also caused some new tensions. In Syria, it adds to the misfortunes of a region tormented in recent years by war, besieged in no man's land by government forces, rebels and Turkish militias. In Turkey, some sectors of the opposition are already blaming the government for the poor infrastructure, and some of these construction companies are already being fined or closed down.

2.      US and Canada shoot down up to 4 balloons in its air zone

Last week a news worthy of a movie caught the attention of the presenter. The US authorities had warned of the presence of an unidentified aerial object inside their airspace. After shooting it down, they saw that it was nothing more nor less than an air balloon.

Over the past few days, both U.S. and Canadian authorities have been spotting more of these objects, until this Monday the fourth of these contraptions was shot down in Lake Huron, near Michigan.

While the confusion continues, the intelligence services of Canada and the United States continue to gather information about the devices and their purpose. Let's remember that the authorship of these same balloons was timidly recognized by China, which pointed out that they were devices made for the purpose of collecting meteorological information, an explanation that (evidently) has not convinced the United States.

Another surprising news is how the Chinese government itself has claimed the discovery of another unidentified aerial object over its airspace, this time over the Yellow Sea, near Qingdao.

These mysterious events coincide with the increase in Chinese and Japanese military operations, the latter with the direct support and collaboration of the United States in the South Sea of East Asia, a territory of geopolitical tensions and disputes for decades. We shall see how this escalation of tensions will play out in the coming weeks.

3.      Arms shipment in Ukraine becomes more complicated

A year into the Russo-Ukrainian war, arms support to the country presided over by Volodomir Zelenski seemed to be faltering. After weeks of tense negotiations, and with the push from the Americans, the Germans gave in on their intention to send tanks to the country. LeopardThe company's employees, who are estimated to be key to the development of the conflict in the coming weeks.

But not everything has gone as expected; what was expected to be an avalanche of support for the dispatch of more than 100 tanks, mainly from the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, has been received with a certain coolness. Only Poland, which maintained a resolutely bellicose position throughout the conflict, Portugal and Canada have joined this initiative (and with rather limited contributions).

On the other side, countries such as Sweden, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands indicate that they are willing to help, but do not specify when or how. This attitude has caused some discomfort in the German-speaking countries, which have already asked them for greater resolve.

In view of the situation, and in view of the Russian offensive expected for the end of February, which we mentioned last week, Germany has opted to send also the old Leopard tank models, with a total delivery of about 80 Leopards, shipped during the course of this year.

4.      Economy: Brussels is optimistic: Europe dodges recession and predicts higher growth for Spain

It seems that the storms are abating. From Brussels, yesterday it was confirmed that the specter of recession has been dodged, albeit "just barely". Thus, the GDP rate is not expected to decline, but is expected to increase by 0.9%. Regarding the Spanish economy, it seems that the forecasts also improve, expecting a growth of 1.4% (four tenths above the 1% previously expected). This places Spain among the countries that will grow the most within the EU, ahead of, for example, Italy (0.8%) or France (0.6%).

According to the EU, the reasons behind Spanish growth, in this complicated year marked by the war, have been the recovery of tourism (which had been depressed in previous years by the COVID crisis), an increase in private consumption, the moderation of inflation and the momentum of the recovery plans, which have facilitated investment, both domestic and foreign, in the Iberian territory.

Even so, the EU has pointed out that optimism should not run out of control and result in counterproductive policies, such as excessive wage increases, which could lead to rising prices.

On a more European note, there is also good news. It seems that the EU assumes that we have reached the inflation ceiling, and that inflation is beginning to moderate. In addition, energy prices also seem to have stabilized, facilitated by lower energy use due to a winter that has not been as harsh as expected.

In summary, the new economic forecasts have been received with moderate optimism in Brussels, which notes that "we must be cautious, but we are confident" in the words of Pascal Donohoe, Minister of Finance.

5.    Photovoltaic self-consumption doubles by 2022

Last year, a combination of factors led to an unprecedented increase in the installation of photovoltaic self-consumption systems. The skyrocketing prices due to the war, together with the aid from the Next Generation seem to have accelerated the transition to these new forms of consumption.

Last year alone, there were more than 200,000 installations in Spain in homes and 23,000 in companies. These figures increase the number of homes with this technology to 300,000, as well as 54,000 companies. It is estimated that the capacity to generate energy would reach almost 2% of the national demand.