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Skye Edwards, the lead singer from the British band Morcheeba will be performing tracks from her new solo album at the Figueres Acústica Festival in northern Catalonia. The festival, as part of an initiative to internationalise the event, is also organising a week long holiday for the singer and her family. Edwards will perform her new material at the festival this Saturday and will also talk about her experiences in Catalonia on social media websites.

Answering a letter from the Catalan President, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, stated he would study the proposal voted by the Catalan Parliament which aims to reduce the solidarity contribution from Catalonia to the rest of Spain and have all taxes raised by a Catalan-run agency. However, Rajoy had previously stated this issue was out of discussion, especially in the current economic context. A vast majority of the Catalan Parliament considers that it is precisely due to the financial stress provoked by the crisis that it is urgent to debate the excessive transfer of revenues from Catalonia to the rest of Spain. The Spanish PM also stated he has agreed to meet with the Catalan President to discuss this proposal, but he expects to talk about many other issues.

Catalonia’s Forest Technology Centre has cited that the lack of rain, high temperatures and the wind have slowed down the growth of mushrooms in the Pyrenees. The centre’s mathematical models expect the yields to be lower than in previous years and long term forecasts predict a lack of rain in autumn, which will also cause the yield of mushrooms to be less than average.

Compared to a year ago, the Catalan Healthcare System spent 24.6% less last July than in the same month of 2011. In July 2011, Catalonia spent €143.52 million on pharmaceutical products while it spent €108.10 million last month, when the drug prescription fee began and citizens started to pay a greater share of the cost of prescription drugs. Furthermore, drug prescriptions fell by 20%. In the whole of Spain, pharmaceutical spending also decreased by 24% last July, compared to a year ago.

50.2% of the people travelling between Barcelona and Madrid in the first six months of the year used the High Speed Train (AVE), instead of the car, bus or airplane. 1.4 million people used this AVE line between January and June, a 6.2% increase compared to the same period last year. In addition, the Port of Barcelona had 905,000 passengers in the first half of 2012, making it the first port in Spain in terms of passenger traffic.

Two second half goals from Messi turned around an early strike by Osasuna’s Joseba Llorente to give Barça the points in Pamplona. Real Madrid was defeated by Getafe. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona will play the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup Final next Wednesday.

17 Catalan companies and institutions will be represented at the biennial Internationale Tanzmesse nrw Düsseldorf in Germany from August 29th to September 1st. Also, two Catalan companies will be performing at the event, designed as an international platform for dance professionals to showcase their work and as a networking event for the contemporary dance sector.

The new city government is considering the continuation of a project started by the last Mayor. The venture proposed by the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), the specialist higher education institution co-founded by Paul McCartney, is to open a Barcelona version (BIPA) in the coastal town of Sitges. The previous proposals included a large scale urban development plan, however the new Sitges Town Council would now use existing buildings. A public competition to manage the project could be opened in the upcoming months.

The ‘number two’ of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalists (CiU), Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, immediately replied that the Spanish Government is “the one creating mistrust” because of “its discrepancies” and Mariano Rajoy’s “absenteeism”. He also criticised the Spanish Government for not putting in place an action plan to promote employment, “despite having the tools to do so”. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria, the Spanish Government’s Deputy Prime Minister and Spokesperson, has blamed Catalan and Basque nationalisms for “promoting a climate of instability”. They create “mistrust and insecurity”, which “keeps away foreign investment” and “job creation”, said Sáenz de Santamaria the week Basque elections have been announced.

FC Barcelona, led by an outstanding Iniesta, came back from 1-0 behind to take a one-goal lead into the second leg of the Spanish Supercup. Misfortune struck in the 84th minute, when one chance was squandered and shortly after Real Madrid scored a second goal that leaves plenty left to decide in the return leg.

The Penedès wine appellation is expecting “excellent” wines from this year’s harvest. Catalonia’s most important viticultural area has already started harvesting its chardonnay grapes and is expecting to harvest the other varieties in the next few days. The weather this year has been favourable for the appellation, with a “very healthy” crop that despite a reduction in volume, will be sufficient to fulfil the 22 million bottles normally produced by the wineries.

The Castell de Peralada Festival displayed 19 shows from the June 17th until August 22nd, involving more than 800 people from different companies, orchestras, technical teams and artists. 20,000 people attended the event and with 84% of available tickets sold, the organisers are pleased with this year’s results. The festival’s management has already started planning for next year and confirm the soprano Sonda Radvanosky to perform ‘Norma’.

The trade union UGT has calculated that 478,969 jobs have been destroyed in Catalonia between the June 2007 and June 2012. Furthermore, the union fears a “layoff avalanche” next autumn in the public sector.

Barça and Real Madrid go head to head this Thursday evening (10.30 pm CET) in the Camp Nou for the first trophy of the season. The third match in five days in the Camp Nou could feature Alex Song’s FC Barcelona debut.

Foreign tourism in Catalonia continues to flourish despite the economic crisis. In July, there have been just over two million foreign tourists to Catalonia, 9% more than in the same month of 2011. In the first seven months of 2012, Catalonia hosted 8.4 million foreign tourists, a figure which represents 25.6% of international tourism to Spain. Catalonia has therefore consolidated its position as the most visited tourist destination in Spain.