The accused, of Chilean nationality, is accused of murdering his Japanese ex-girlfriend in 2016. Life imprisonment is requested against him.
Life imprisonment was requested this Wednesday, December 20 before the Haute-Saône assizes against the Chilean Nicolas Zepeda, tried on appeal for the assassination of his Japanese ex-girlfriend Narumi Kurosaki.
“Everything, I insist, everything leads to Nicolas Zepeda in the death of Narumi Kurosaki,” declared Attorney General Étienne Manteaux.
Despite the absence of the student’s body, which was never found, he underlined the “solidity of the accusations” brought against the accused.
Narumi Kurosaki, victim of Nicolas Zepeda’s “control”, was the victim of “feminicide”, declared the lawyer for the student’s relatives before the Haute-Saône assizes, which is judging the Chilean on appeal for the murder of his Japanese ex-partner.
The day, which should see the Attorney General present his submissions, experienced a new moment of intense emotion when Narumi’s mother and her two sisters burst into tears during the pleadings of their lawyer, Sylvie Galley. They had to leave the crowded courtroom, leading to a suspension of the hearing.
A “wandering soul”
Narumi’s family, whose body will likely “never be found,” is caught in “impossible grief” and “perpetual pain,” Mr. Galley said on the stand. She reads “Tomorrow, from dawn”, the poem by Victor Hugo dedicated to his daughter Léopoldine, who died of drowning.
Narumi’s mother, Taeko Kurosaki, “imagines her daughter’s soul wandering in the forest” where investigators believe Nicolas Zepeda left the body, she explained.
Narumi found herself in a “toxic relationship”, insisted the lawyer, who at length gathered the elements showing, according to her, the responsibility of the accused in the disappearance of the student in Besançon at the end of 2016.
She was “a victim of femicide,” she told jurors. “Victim of control, of an unhealthy jealousy, of a desire for possession, of control and of being too free, too independent” for having gone to study in France and having left Nicolas Zepeda, which he would not have not supported.
He “was her first love,” the lawyer recalls. He is also “the last person to see Narumi alive” and “the first and only person to see her dead since he was the one who murdered her”.
In charge of the prosecution, the Attorney General Étienne Manteaux must immediately take the floor to present his requisitions. Tuesday, December 19, he bombarded the accused with questions, pushing him to his limits, as is often the case in this appeal trial.
Last year, at first instance before the Doubs assizes, he requested life imprisonment but was not completely followed by the jurors who sentenced Nicolas Zepeda to 28 years of imprisonment. The Chilean appealed.
A “morbid jealousy”
According to the prosecution, he came voluntarily from Chile to France at the end of 2016 and killed Narumi, probably by suffocating or strangling her. He then disposed of the body, which was never found, in a wooded area near the town of Dole (Jura).
This Tuesday, December 19, the prosecutor confronted the accused with his authoritarian messages sent to Narumi to order him to delete his male friends from his Facebook account; buy a can of gasoline and matches, potentially to burn a body; or even the Chilean’s rental car trips near Dole.
He also highlighted the “wounded male pride” and the “morbid jealousy” of the Chilean who, according to Mr. Manteaux, could not bear that Narumi left him and erased him from his life by establishing a new relationship with Arthur Del Piccolo, a student from Besançon suspected for a time but quickly exonerated.
Civil party to the trial, he was Narumi’s last boyfriend.
The defense will plead after the attorney general’s arguments. Nicolas Zepeda, who reiterated his innocence on Tuesday, will speak last. He faces life imprisonment. The verdict should fall this Thursday, December 21.
During their deliberations, the jurors will have to answer two questions: Did Nicolas Zepeda kill Narumi Kurosaki? If so, did he premeditate his action?
If they exclude premeditation, the president of the court, François Arnaud, underlined Tuesday that the jurors will then have to answer a particular question: was the couple in cohabitation when Nicolas Zepeda lived in Japan, as the debates actually revealed? watch ? If they answer yes, then it would be a murder committed by an ex-spouse, also punishable by life imprisonment.
In recent years, one of the economic sectors with the best job prospects and good salaries has been the technological. Companies have nudged each other and offered everything they could to bring in programmers, analysts or cybersecurity technicians. But both the available indicators and the experts consulted agree that the party is coming to an end. That there are clear symptoms of cooling in the technology labor market in Spain.
And some advance that in 2024 things could get even worse.
A survey in which 350 Spanish professionals participated carried out by Circular and Joppy, two IT recruitment firms, suggests that we are facing a turning point. Just over half of those consulted do not rule out a salary adjustment in 2024. This country’s IT professionals, who weathered the previous Covid-19 crisis so well, are today unclear about their future.
Today almost 50% of technology employees recognize that they have received fewer job offers That the last year. Recruitment specialists and recruitment firms also believe there is a slowdown in the market. And there are many who predict that this decline will continue next year. Although in the long term they are optimistic and believe that the situation will improve.
The experts consulted by SamaGame for this report make a disturbing assessment: computer scientists are still necessary, but the crazy offer of positions with always rising salaries is coming to an end, at least for the moment. Let’s see the causes.
A ghost called recession
Pedro Montarelo became more than a decade ago and in that time his company has been able to place more than a thousand technology professionals. Montarelo confirms that, although the year started with a lot of movement, a lot of demand for professionals and “skyrocketing salaries”, in spring a slowdown began to be noticed.
“The war (in Ukraine) affects less, but the fact that several European countries have entered into recession, especially Germany, has led many companies to the (English term for freezing hiring) and even layoffs. I confirm this with almost all the managers I speak with. It is only hired in the case of very urgent projects.” Montarelo has European clients and recognizes that its activity has been affected since the beginning of summer. “There are companies that have gone from hiring us for 20 or 30 positions to two or three,” he says.
(Emilio García/Unsplash)
Adecco’s numbers also refer to a cooling of the technological labor market in Spain. According to Óscar Rodríguez, ICT sector director of The Adecco Group, since the second quarter of the year there has been “a significant drop in the number of vacancies.”
In his opinion, it is not a very “worrying” fact because between 20% and 30% of vacancies They are still uncovered. But it does show a slowdown in a sector that continues to be “an inexhaustible source of employment” and that has experienced increases of 10% in the number of positions offered in recent years. “To the economic situation in Europe, we must also add the political situation in our country. This situation of uncertainty also greatly affects the decision-making of companies when making investments,” explains Rodríguez.
Layoffs reach programmers
Xavi Sala, head of SEO and content at Prosperity Digital, a placement firm specialized in technological profiles and based in Barcelona, also speaks of “a certain slowdown.” He remembers that in April and May the bursting of the “bubble” in Silicon Valley was much talked about. The American impasse put a brake on financing plans for new projects in Spain, which spread fears and led to conservatism in the hiring of many non-technological companies.
“It was the first time, that I remember, that programmers were fired in unicorns like Glovo. This had never happened before,” he highlights. Although he assures that the profiles that have suffered the most have been above all the “non-technical” ones, such as those responsible for or in digital marketing, or UX designers. And, due to age, the break has hit the juniors more than the seniors. For Rodríguez, interest in profiles related to CRM (customer management tools), with languages such as PHP or with computer support departments () has dropped a lot.
Montarelo also alludes to the effects of the second round of layoffs that, at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, were announced by large technology companies, such as Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Google or Salesforce, among many others, and which affected in total more than 100,000 professionals, in many cases with long careers and high salaries.
“In Spain, the subsidiaries of these companies have also made layoffs, and the staff has been and is nervous,” he explains. Furthermore, there is the case of Spanish companies that have invested heavily in digitalization processes for which they have needed technicians and programmers, but now They have frozen their plans. And that has also slowed down the IT job market. “There is a general stoppage in hiring, but in IT above all. The sector is also affecting all profiles. Perhaps cybersecurity is suffering a little less,” he emphasizes.
This expert believes that it is difficult to predict how long the hiring halt will last and assures that everything will depend on the evolution of the economy, especially the German economy. But he advances that there will be no good news until the end of the year or the beginning of next year.
(Raj Rana/Unsplash)
Montarelo also points out another trend that is putting pressure on the technology labor market in Spain: “As it is increasingly difficult to find talent in this country, companies are opening development projects in other Eastern European countries. Bulgaria is one that has a lot of buzz.” . In this way, multinationals distribute hiring between Spain and other countries, and avoid being at the expense of what happens in a single labor market.
The evolution of salaries
Regarding the impact of this on salaries, opinions are diverse. Montarelo says that he is not yet having an impact on remuneration. The logic is the following: in a more complicated environment like the current one, the professional who changes jobs “Ask for more money”or else it stays where it is.
At this point, remember that changing jobs in Spain is a risk because if an employee does not pass the trial period in his new company (six months, according to the law), he does not even have the right to collect unemployment: “Today change It represents more risk than before, and that is why those who assume the change ask for even more money.
However, Sala considers that in recent times payrolls have been growing “15% or 20% annually”, and that in some positions they have even increased by 25%. These are true salary bubble figures, according to him. In 2022, remuneration has already suffered a stoppage and the average salary in the sector rose by only 6%. And in 2023 the tone is similar.
In any case, Sala is optimistic and predicts that this turning point for employment in the technology sector it will be little noticeable if the viewing angle is opened and looks to the next ten years: “The growth of job offers in the ICT sector continues to be above that of other sectors because there is still a great need for digitalization, with many industries moving to the data economy.”
This optimism is shared by Rodriguez, from Adecco, who points out that the explosion of generative AI and its application to areas such as customer service, human resources or marketing will increase investments in technology and the demand for professionals.
Teleworking: source of tension
Teleworking was a constant during the pandemic and since then it has been slowly declining in Spain. However, today, and according to data from an InfoJobs macro survey, 22% of employed people still work from home, totally or partially. The computer sector is one of those that offers this possibility the most.
Job offers for an analyst, developer or engineer almost always involve the possibility of remote work. Recruitment companies are clear that teleworking is the benefit most valued by professionals. And they believe that in 2024 it will continue to be key to attracting talent.
(Andrew Neel/Unsplash)
For Pedro Torrecillas, CEO and co-founder of Circular, the perfect work model would be “one that offers a culture but that would give employees the option of going to the office if they wish (…) It is important that companies organize in-person sessions or social events that encourage them to attend in person, but the key is that they feel they can choose and are not forced to move if they do not want to.
However, the preference of workers has begun to clash with the wishes of employers in the last year, which in many cases are asking, more or less explicitly, and at the request of parent companies, such as Apple or Google. , a total or majority return to the offices.
“The companies I speak with want less teleworking, and that is a problem because candidates continue to cling to teleworking. Some processes that we have open are costing us because the company offers one or two days at most of remote work, and the candidates, especially developers, They ask for more, three or four days“says Montarelo.
“With the layoffs and the halt in hiring, companies have regained a bit of control. Before we were in a market where the candidates had all the negotiating power, and now the situation is back to balance,” says Sala. “You still see flexibility in the offers, but there are not so many with remote work all the time,” she adds.
Montarelo assures that the youngest professionals have become accustomed to teleworking and do not conceive of a scheme where there is no flexibility, much less a dynamic of five days in the office, and from 9 to 6. And he clarifies that it is the “more mature” profiles that are who, for fear of losing their jobs, are less demanding in this regard. In any case, the latest Infojobs macro-survey ensures that in Spain still today one in two companies gives their employees the option of teleworking: 38% of them with a hybrid formula, and 13% completely remotely.
One of the advantages of having a smartwatch is that you can change its appearance almost completely by changing the dial (also called dials). In the specific case of Amazfit connected watches, from its application you can install dozens of spheres And that’s not to mention unofficial places with even more designs, like AmazfitWatchfaces.
There is no shortage of watch faces for Amazfit watches, but if you have a specific idea, you will have to roll up your sleeves. Creating watch faces for an Amazfit watch is not difficult, although it does require dedication and patience. Here we will see how to create watch faces for your Amazfit smartwatch in three ways with different levels of difficulty and customization.
From the Amazfit app
If you come you want to put a photo on your watchThe easiest way to do this is to use the official Amazfit app. This is the easiest method to give your smartwatch a unique touch, although it has the downside that the customization is limited to the background image and is not available in a analog version.
To create a personalized sphere, you need to open the Amazfit app on your mobile. In the tab Profile, tap your watch to open its options screen, where you need to tap Watch appearance settings. Then touch Personalize.
Now comes the fun part. Press on change background sphere to choose a background photo, which you can take with the camera or from any gallery app you have installed, such as Google Photos. Before continuing, you can adjust the cropping of the photo.
The app lets you choose three places for the time, which is superimposed on the image you chose previously. Choose the one you like the most and press the button Synchronize, which will send your personalized watch face to the smart watch.
Avec ‘Amazfit Watchface Builder’
If you want to create a totally custom sphere instead of changing the background image, you will have to resort to third-party tools. Amazfit Watchface Builder is a web page for designing watch faces for Amazfit watches with support for watch faces in WFZ format.
This is the case with the Amazfit Pace, Amazfit Stratos and Amazfit Verge, although the Amazfit catalog grows frequently, so the list is not long. WFZ files are basically ZIP with images and XML files, so they are relatively easy to edit even without using any application. However, Amazfit Watchface Builder makes the process infinitely easier.
You will need to create an account, but otherwise you can start creating your sphere right away. The best is that you can clone any sphere from its list to make edits, which will be much faster than creating one entirely from scratch
This tool allows you to create a sphere by changing the settings from the web browser. For this, you have several boxes in which you can adjust position and design of the main elements that make up your sphere. They are as follows:
Info on dial. the name of the sphere and its description.
Digital. Here you can choose the font, size and position to use on the digital watch.
Context. The background image of the sphere.
Analog. The design of the clock hands for the hours, minutes and seconds, as well as the (optional) crown design. In the list, you can choose from several ready-made templates.
Widgets. It is a collection of items ready to be included or not in the design of the dial, such as time, date, distance traveled or battery. You can also choose its position, but not its design.
Creating a custom sphere with Amazfit Watchface Builder takes some time, although with enough patience you can create something very personalized without much effort. When you are finished, press Download to download your sphere in formwato WFZ, which you can install on the smartwatch using specialized tools, such as Amaztools.
With GTR Watch Face Editor
While you can technically create a fully customized sphere with an image editor and notepad, use apps like the GTR Watch Face Editor by SashaCX75Available for Windows makes your job easier. You can download this tool here.
With this app you can create spheres for Amazfit GTR 42 or 47 mm, Amazfit GTS, Amazfit T-Rex and Amazfit Verge Lite. It’s similar to the web app we saw earlier, though it does make your job less easy (it doesn’t help you with typography or include out-of-the-box designs). However, you have more control over the outcome you have to create everything from scratch. Fortunately, you can also open a sphere you already have and edit it by pressing Unpack the bin. So you can open spheres downloaded from AmazfitWatchFaces.
This will unzip the dial to a folder on your hard drive, including the images used in it and the JSON file which includes instructions on what is what and where they are. Now comes the tricky part: modify the files to get the sphere of your dreams. The images are standard PNG files, so you can use them with any graphics editor you have installed.
In the application, all changes must be made in the tab Editing, where there are different groups to configure the appearance of the elements of the sphere. For example, in the sphere that I downloaded, I put the logo where the weather information was displayed before, so in the tab Time can i turn off Activate so that the time is not displayed.
Each tab has its own options, but generally you will have to choose the position of each element and which image is used for it. The images are numbered, so if the minute hand on your dial uses image 26, you will need to edit the file 0026.png to modify it.
I won’t lie to you, creating spheres with this app is not overly easy, although it is easier than it looks at first glance. After struggling with the options for a few days, you need to start figuring out. These are the following sections that you can configure:
Context. the background image of the sphere.
Time. Adjust the appearance of the digital clock. It can be disabled.
Give you. It allows you to add the date on the dial, with different options to display the day of the week, year, etc.
Progression of days. Displays the current day, but in graphical form.
Progress of stages. A graphic to show the steps.
Activity. Here you can add an indicator with steps, distance, heart rate, calories and goals.
Status. Set status icons (bluetooth connection, alarms, lock, do not disturb)
Drums. It allows you to include the clock stack as numbers, icons, and graphics.
Analog clock. Here you set the appearance of the clock hands.
Time. Here you can configure whether the current time and temperature icon is displayed.
Shortcuts. You can include up to four shortcuts to directly open the step-by-step, pulse, time, or power saving display mode when you touch in a specific area.
Animation (beta). Experimental function to add animations in your sphere.
The good thing about this app is that it shows you a real time preview what your sphere looks like with every change you make, so you can play around with the settings to see what changes. In the background, in most cases, you will just change the X or Y coordinates on the location of a specific image.
With a lot of patience, creativity and an image editor, you can create a sphere completely in your image and likeness. Creating spheres is easy, although they are not that beautiful. When you’re happy with your creation, tap Pack and compress the tray to create a file that you can install on your Amazfit.
The app does not install the sphere, but you must use an application to transfer your face to the watch. On Android, a good alternative is Tools & Amazfit. To install a custom watch face with this app, you need to go to the Options tab and touch Custom install, then choosing the file you created with GTR Watch Face Editor.
