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Twenty artists from Beijing’s National Circus o present ‘The Dream of a Journey to the East’ at the Porta Ferrada Festival, in the Costa Brava's town of Sant Felíu de Guíxols. The show, with a mix of entertainment and acrobatics choreographed to music, is directed by a showman who leads the narrative in close proximity to the spectators. Beijing’s National Circus has visited over 60 countries in the past 40 years and has won several international competitions.

With 5.13 billion in foreign sales in June, Catalan exports have grown by 6.6% over the same period in 2011. Amongst the Autonomous Communities, Catalonia ranks first for its export economy, in the first six months of this year Catalan companies sold up to €29.1 billion abroad. The increase in foreign exports and the fall in imports have reduced the trade deficit by 31% in the first six months of this year.

The City Council’s ban, totally prohibiting street prostitution, comes into force this Friday. The highest fines will be for clients, having to pay between €1,000 and €3,000. The fine for prostitutes will be significantly less, between €100 and €750, and might be exchanged for a labour integration course. In August, police will start with informing people about the new regulation, but in September fines will be enforced. The modification of the city’s regulation was approved last July with the votes of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which runs the city government, and the People’s Party (PP). Left-wing parties criticised the decision, emphasising it condemns prostitutes to further marginalisation.

The Catalan Government’s drug prescription fee and the Spanish Executive’s decision to make citizens pay for a greater share of prescribed drugs have had an effect on inflation. The price of pharmaceutical products has had its highest increase since at least 2003.

Barça players face a hectic opening of the season, with five games in the first fifteen days - three league matches and the two Spanish Super Cup games against Real Madrid. In addition, next Monday’s Joan Gamper Estrella Damm Trophy pits them against Sampdoria.

Ivan Tibau, the Catalan Government’s Secretary of Sport, emphasises the “great effort” made by the Catalan Excutive to help the High Performance Sports Centre (CAR) and Catalan athletes compete in London 2012. The elite training centre did not receive funding from the Spanish Government for the last two years, amounting to €10.7 million. The Catalan Executive advanced the payment to keep the CAR running. Athletes trained at CAR made up 65% of medals won by the Spanish team at the London 2012 Olympics. Despite this, the Spanish Olympic Committee “closed the door” to the Catalan Government in regards to London 2012.

Catalonia’s most known wine and cava appellation is Penedès and now it is possible to ride through its vineyards. This is a new activity to experience wine tourism called ‘burricleta’. The ‘burricleta’ is a rental service of electric bicycles with GPS to explore the vineyards in a sustainable way. Moreover, it allows visitors to discover the landscape of Penedès without too much physical effort. The ‘burricleta’ can be rented to do one of the determined routes or even a customised journey. The entrepreneurs who have brought the ‘burricleta’ to the area are working hard on a joint offer with restaurants and wineries to give visitors more information about the Penedès area, apart from the territory itself.

Sis Barça players are flying to Puerto Rico to play for Spain. Valdés, Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Iniesta, Pedro and Cesc have all been called up by Vicente Del Bosque.Afellay has been picked in Louis van Gaal’s first squad, while Mano Menezes is taking Alves to the friendly between Sweden and Brazil. Messi and Mascherano are also in Sabella’s squad for a game with Germany, and Alexis Sánchez will be crossing the Atlantic for Chile’s game with Ecuador.

The Catalan bank, which leads the Spanish market, increases its share in the Portuguese Investment Bank by 7 percentage points increasing its stake from 39.5% to 46.22%. CaixaBank purchased just over 251 million shares in the capital increase offered by the Portuguese financial entity, at a cost of €125 million. Caixabank had already said it would extend its share in the BPI.

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Catalonia’s National Museum of Art) is considering changing its name to include ‘Barcelona’. The Museum Director, Pepe Serra, wants to better explain the Museum to a global audience and considers using the “Barcelona brand” as a superior way of raising the gallery’s status. Also he believes the collections of Romanesque art, which are considered exceptional, have not been sufficiently exploited on an international level. The Museum Director also announced that despite the crisis, they will open up “many more areas for free”.

The Director General of the Catalan fashion retailer, Enric Casi, had already warned that the MANGO's profits in 2011 would be lower than usual due to its extensive investments and expansions abroad. In 2012, the company expects a profit of €200 million due to the investments and has already seen positive results for the first months of this year. The successful multinational was founded in Barcelona in 1984 and has over 2,400 outlets in 107 countries and over 11,000 employees.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, also talked about the delays of August payments to social care organisations, and he “hoped to be in a better situation” next month. However Mas could not give “a total guarantee” as it depends on whether the Spanish Government activates the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomies. In fact, Mas urged the Spanish Government to do so at the end of this month and said it is “illogical” to make a grand announcement about the measure and then not implement it.

The Catalan savings bank, which the Bank of Spain intervened in last September, is selling part of its real estate stock. During the first seven months of 2012, the bank has commercialised 6,700 housing units, 40% more than last year’s same period. Around 90% were sold and the rest were rented. 56% were newly built houses and 44% were second hand properties. Regarding the location, 54% were in Catalonia, 12% in Valencia, 12% in Andalusia and 8% in Madrid.

House sales maintain a decline as results show that sales have fallen by 19% in first half of 2012. Despite the negative overall trend, Lleida and Tarragona saw a boost in sales last month, making up for the reduction in sales experienced in Barcelona and Girona, culminating in a 2.7% overall increase in sales this June for Catalonia. In Spain, the fall in the first half of the year was 21% and in June, in contrast to the increase Catalonia, there was a fall of 11.2% compared with June 2011.

The information centre at Ascó Nuclear Power Plant in Catalonia has won one of the prestigious International Architecture Awards, organised by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Arquitecture and Design. Ascó’s building, located in Southern Catalonia and designed by the Catalan architects Olga Felip and Josep Camps, was one of 81 projects from 21 countries to receive the prize. The jury highlighted the incorporation of the centre with the nuclear power plant, and its harmony with the surrounding landscape. The materials selected by the architects are designed to emulate day and night.