NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE latest phase of the fighting in Spain has been marked by Government offensives on several fronts, particu- larly at Madrid itself and at Oviedo in the north. At the same time the insurgent advance from Malaga appears to have been stopped. Precisely what is being achieved is hard to discover, for the claims of the two sides continue to be com- pletely irreconcilable. There is no doubt that the Govern- ment forces are gradually getting possession of Oviedo, at the cost of bloody house-to-house fighting, but its capture will have no great effect on the campaign as a whole. Whether the Madrid sorties represent resort to a new and more enterprising form of warfare, or, as one correspondent puts it, despairing attempts to break through the iron ring relent- lessly closing round, the city, is not yet clear. The ring has, in fact, refused to dose, but General Queipo de Llano has fixed the fall of the city for next Monday. (The Daily Mail fixed it for about four months ago.) Meanwhile the inter- national agreement regarding volunteers, which took effect last Saturday, appears to be working as it should, and there have been no reports of last-moment landings. The naval patrol arrangements have been completed and come into operation next week, and Portugal has so far overcome her scruples as to admit 15o British observers. If the whole scheme works as intended it will form a useful model for League of Nations action against an aggressor State in the future. * * * *
