MADRID (AP) — A Spanish court is investigating former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for alleged influence peddling and other possible crimes tied to a government airline bailout.
The National Court in Madrid is probing possible financial wrongdoing in connection with the Spanish government’s rescue of the Plus Ultra airline, which in 2021 received 53 million euros (now $62 million) in public money as part of COVID-19 recovery funds.
The court said in a statement that the investigation was widened to include Zapatero, who was summoned to answer a judge’s questions on June 2. Police with warrants from the investigating judge searched Zapatero’s office on Tuesday.
Zapatero, 65, was prime minister from 2004 to 2011. He is a member of the Socialist party headed by current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
He denied any wrongdoing related to the bailout in a Senate hearing in March, saying he “never received any commissions from Plus Ultra.”
Plus Ultra is a Spanish-owned airline with investors from Venezuela. It specialized in flights between Spain and Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador.
Since leaving office, Zapatero has focused a large part of his activity on maintaining dialogue with the far-left regime in Venezuela, which was largely isolated from Western countries after it cracked down on the democratic opposition.
Zapatero had been out of public office for a decade when Plus Ultra received the bailout.
The former premier is considered a political ally of Sánchez, whose party has been rocked by other corruption scandals over the past two years.
FILE - Spain's former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero speaks to journalists in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, May 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)
Home Depot got a lift in the first quarter from professionals and also homeowners stocking up on spring supplies.
"The underlying demand in our business was relatively similar to what we saw throughout fiscal 2025, despite greater consumer uncertainty and housing affordability pressure,” CEO Ted Decker said Tuesday.
The housing market has been static as Americans consumers wrestle with rising costs and other economic concerns.
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat in April, another lackluster showing for the housing market during what’s traditionally its busiest time of the year. Existing home sales edged up 0.2% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said a week ago. Sales were unchanged compared to April last year.
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade. American consumers are cautious as gas prices fuel an inflation surge of 3.8% in the U.S. Labor Department figures last week showed that gasoline prices are up more than 28% compared with a year ago.
For the three months ended May 3, Home Depot earned $3.29 billion, or $3.30 per share. A year earlier the Atlanta company earned $3.43 billion, or $3.45 per share.
Removing certain items, earnings were $3.43 per share. That's better than the $3.41 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet were calling for.
Revenue climbed to $41.77 billion from $39.86 billion, which topped Wall Street's expectations for revenue of $41.59 billion.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, rose 0.6%. In the U.S., comparable store sales climbed 0.4%.
Customer transactions declined 1.3% in the quarter, but the amount that shoppers spent increased to $92.76 per average receipt from $90.71 a year ago.
Home Depot still anticipates fiscal 2026 total sales growth of about 2.5% to 4.5% and comparable sales growth to be about flat to up 2%.
Shares rose more than 1% before the opening bell Tuesday.
FILE - A "For Sale" sign is displayed outside a home on Friday, July 11, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
