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Police estimate that 150 pickpockets operate daily in the Catalan capital’s underground, smart phones being the main target. The way the pickpockets target their victims has changed, no longer operating in large groups meaning that they are more “discreet and difficult to stop”. The police report that pickpockets are mainly “recurrent” and mainly come from South America, North Africa and Romania. The situation is evolving in a positive way, with crime rates in Barcelona’s metro decreasing for the second consecutive year.

The Catalan multinational company will provide Gail, the largest gas distributor in India, around 3 bcm of liquefied natural gas for three years. This quantity represents 10% of Spain’s annual gas consumption. Gas Natural Fenosa refused to disclose the value of the contract, but sources from the sector estimate it would be worth more than €1 billion. This would be the largest contract in Asia for this Barcelona-based company, which has a significant presence in South America.

The Circuit de Catalunya hosts the Formula Student Spain 2012 competition with over 700 participants from nine countries. The competition is designed to test the student’s knowledge and engineering skills over four days, in a competition judged by experts from the automotive industry. The competition is valued by the participants as a valuable experience with the chance to work as an engineer with a Formula 1 team.

The increase of tourism from Russia contrasts with last minute bookings and the drop of the average spending. Hotels on the Central Catalan coast had a 95% occupation rate in August, the same as those on the Costa Daurada. Hotels on the Costa Brava had a 90% occupation rate. The increase of foreign tourism compensated for the drop of local visitors. Camping sites and rural cottages had a bad season, since they are more dependant on local tourism.

The Damm Group, manufacturer of the popular Catalan beer brand Estrella, had a turnover of 421 million in the first six months of 2012, a 8.5% increase in relation to the same period last year. The company is not making any predictions for the second half of the year due to the uncertainty over the VAT increase but has stated that sales over the past weeks have “evolved satisfactorily”.

Barça were placed in Group G in the the Champions League Group Stage along with Benfica from Lisbon, Spartak Moscow and Celtic from Glasgow. Benfica and Barça will face off once again after the 1960/61 Champions League final.

FC Barcelona’s midfielder edged out team-mate Leo Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo for the award that distinguishes him as the best player in Europe.

Until now, the EU was refusing to openly discuss the issue and was stating it was strictly an internal matter to be solved within Spain. The President of the European Commission, José Durao Barroso, admitted that “in the hypothetical case of a secession” of Catalonia “the solution should be found and negotiated within the international legal framework”. In this new scenario, Catalonia would not automatically be a member of the EU but this would be part of the negotiations. Barroso was ambiguous about the future of the European citizenship Catalan citizens currently have and said that “EU citizenship is additional”.

The decision by Spanish Government to restrict access to the public healthcare system could leave 600,000 people in Catalonia (8% of the population) without primary and specialised medical attention. 180,000 of these people would be foreigners. The Catalan Minister for Health, Boi Ruiz, explained that the measure aims to guarantee the universal access to healthcare to all the population, independent of their legal status, but at the same time avoid healthcare tourism.

The 10th edition of the Barcelona International Music Documentary Film Festival will run from October 25th to November 4th this year. To celebrate, the festival will screen the six best films from the last ten years chosen by a public vote in a section named ‘Your 10 Years’. Other initiatives this year include the introduction of the ‘Fan’ ticket which includes extra benefits and the launch of its online platform ‘In-Edit TV’ where it is possible to pay to watch the documentaries online. Alongside this year’s festival is the 3rd edition of the Barcelona International Music Documentary Film Market.

The expansion to Brazil is part of the company’s international development plan, which aims to start operations in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. The company hopes to replicate its successful European business model overseas and has started with the opening of new offices in São Paulo. Galenicum, a developer of generic medicines, is based in Barcelona and produced a turnover of €77 million in 2011, a 542% increase in just two years.

46 shows will be performed by 45 companies in the official section of FiraTàrrega 2012. The 2012 edition starts on September 6th until September 9th. The festival is covering the majority of the VAT increase affecting ticket prices and advance sales have been doing better than in previous years.

After taking it for the last three years, Barça lost their Spanish Super Cup title on Wednesday night, going down narrowly in Madrid and losing the tie on the away goals rule. Higuaín and Cristiano Ronaldo put Real Madrid ahead early on and Barça played with 10 men for more than an hour after Adriano was sent off. Messi brought Barça back into the tie with a superb free kick just before the break. Pedro, Alba, Montoya and Messi all came close to getting the goal that would have meant Barça retained their title.