• THERESA MAE DULMAN

Twenty-five-year-old Felix Bautista Jr. died early Friday after his motorcycle crashed into a light post along Burgos Extension in Barangay Granada, Bacolod City.* BCPO-TEU photo

Two separate motorcycle accidents in Barangay Granada, Bacolod City, resulted in one fatality and two serious injuries.

In the first incident, a 25-year-old rider, identified as Felix Bautista Jr., was killed early Friday morning after his motorcycle crashed into a light post on Burgos Extension, Barangay Granada.

Initial police investigation suggests Bautista, a resident of Purok Progreso Village, Barangay Vista Alegre, was attempting to overtake another vehicle when he lost control of his Raider 150.

He sustained a fatal head injury and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A day earlier, at around 2 p.m., two female teenagers were injured in a road crash at Charito Heights Subdivision, Barangay Granada.

The 14-year-old is in critical condition and remains unconscious in the intensive care unit of Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center after her Honda Click overshot a curve and hit a concrete post. Her passenger, another 14-year-old, was hospitalized at the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center.

According to Bacolod City Police Office-Traffic Enforcement Unit (TEU) head PMaj. Elmer Bonilla, the driver may have been unfamiliar with the motorcycle. Neither of the teens were wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.*

UD Almería ‘B’ are shaping up the squad for the 2025/26 season and Iker Burgos, a 23-year-old centre-forward from Granada CF’s ‘B’ team, becomes the first signing of the summer transfer window.

The Bilbao-born footballer has a long footballing career despite his age. His first steps were taken with the Andalusian Club, as well as Valencia CF. He later played for CD Santurzi, CF Urritara, UD Alzira, CF Motril and Juventud Torremolinos CF, with whom he won promotion to the Segunda RFEF in the 2023/24 season scoring 20 goals.

Last season, Iker played for KMSK Deinze in Belgium and for Granada CF’s ‘B’ team. He stands out for his mobility, aerial ability and effectiveness inside the box. His signing represents the return of a player who knows the Club perfectly and the demands of wearing the UD Almería shirt. The Club welcomes Iker and wishes him the best of luck in this new spell.

On the other hand, in terms of renewals, Alicante-born goalkeeper Jesús López and Almería centre-back Edu Pla have committed their future to UDA until 2027. Both have shown consistency and a high level of performance throughout the last campaign.

UD Almería head coach Rubi practically chooses the same squad list from the previous match against league leaders Levante UD for this Saturday’s match against Granada CF at the Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium (Matchday 34).

23 players are included in the squad list, which includes UD Almería ‘B’ goalkeeper Bruno Iribarne and UD Almería ‘B’ player Perovic compared to 7 days ago. With no new injuries or suspensions, the rest remain the same. Chumi, Rachad, and Baba remain on the treatment table, as they continue with their respective recovery periods.

After defeating league table-toppers Levante UD, the Rojiblancos are looking to get back to winning ways away from home. In fact, they haven’t won away from home since the first return fixture and since 2025 in Córdoba, where they won comfortably 3-0. They then lost in Albacete, La Coruña, Eibar, and Burgos and shared the spoils in Gijón.

Getting the 3 points in Granada would be crucial to keep their promotion hopes up. The team held a final training session, behind closed doors at the UD Almería Stadium and travel by road to Granada at 5:30pm.

UD Almería squad list: Goalkeepers: Maximiano (1), Fernando (13), and Bruno (31).

Defenders: Edgar (3), Kaiky (4), Radovanovic (16), Pozo (17), Marc Pubill (18), Alex Centelles (20), Bruno Langa (24), and Pedro Fidel (38).

Midfielders: Arnau Puigmal (2), Robertone (5), Lopy (6), Lázaro (7), Melero (8), Nico Melamed (10), Sergio Arribas (11), Leo Baptistao (12), Selvi (23), and Gui Guedes (27).

Forwards: Luis Suárez (9) and Marezi (19).

Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) and Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) have the lowest unemployment rates in Spain, with an estimated average of 5.3% for 2023. They are followed by Las Rozas (Madrid) at 5.7%, and Getxo (Vizcaya) and Majadahonda (Madrid), both at 6%, according to the Urban Indicators 2024 report published by the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE).

Sant Cugat and Pozuelo once again ranked as having the lowest unemployment rates in this edition. However, in the 2022 data released in May 2023, Sant Cugat del Vallès reported a lower unemployment rate than Pozuelo.

On the other hand, Ceuta leads with an unemployment rate of 30.1%, followed by La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz) at 29.2%, Linares (Jaén) at 26.9%, Melilla at 24.6%, Granada at 24.1%, Huelva at 23.5% and Algeciras at 23.3%.

Notably, most of the 15 municipalities with the highest average unemployment rates estimated for 2023 are in Andalusia.

In addition to the municipalities already mentioned, the list includes Jerez de la Frontera (23%), Sanlúcar de Barrameda (21.9%), San Fernando (21.5%), Córdoba (21.1%), and Alcalá de Guadaíra (20.8%).

Outside Andalusia and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the Extremaduran municipality of Mérida and the Toledo municipality of Talavera de la Reina both feature on this list with unemployment rates of 20.9%, as does Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with an estimated rate of 20.8% for 2023.

In contrast, among the 15 municipalities with the lowest unemployment rates, five are in the Community of Madrid (Pozuelo, Las Rozas, Majadahonda, Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes); four are in Catalonia (Sant Cugat, Barcelona, Castelldefels and Cerdanyola del Vallès); three are in the Basque Country (San Sebastián, Getxo and Vitoria); and one each is located in Castile and León (Burgos), Galicia (Santiago de Compostela) and Aragon (Zaragoza).