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Barcelona’s Metropolitan Taxi Institute (IMET) will apply a flat rate from next year, which could be set at €15 for trips from or to El Prat Airport. The measure would only apply to taxis belonging to Barcelona and its metropolitan area. Beyond searching for “short term” measures to adapt the taxi sector to a drop of about 40% in demand because of the crisis, the IMET, along with the taxi organisations, are working to get back into the market.

Researchers in Barcelona have discovered a new molecule in order to create a new medicine in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Unlike others, the discovery works at several damaged places of the brain at the same time. The molecule inhibits the secretion of the B-amiloide protein, which is a contributory factor in the disease.

An architectural project drawn up by teachers, ex-teachers and students at the University of Girona (UdG) got the third prize in the ‘Living Aleutian Design Competition’, one of the most prestigious sustainability competitions of the world. The test consisted in making a house of 150 square meters which was 100% sustainable in Alaska, a place that must stand extreme weather.

Catalan-singing band Antònia Font is preparing a new album. According to band sources, the group has all the material ready and is aiming to record it before the end of 2012. Antònia Font is continuing to tour with their last album, Lamparetes, but they are currently combining stage-shows with the task of creating another outstanding album.

Up to 200 enterprises and 3.000 video-game professionals are attending the Gamelab Fair, an international event specialized in this sector. The main videogame companies in Catalonia have announced during the occasion that they are uniting to grow internationally and attract foreign investment.

A new poll by the Centre of Opinion Studies shows that, for the first time in history, Catalans prefer independence to any other political arrangement with Spain.

The tribunal declares null and void the 2008 Catalan government decree which stated that Catalan “should be used as the language of instruction” for pupils between 3 and 6 years old. The Supreme Court also overturned the article that banned the separation of pupils for linguistic reasons and the one that established that teachers should guarantee that foreign pupils learn Catalan in order to achieve “rapid integration”. The Catalan minister for Education, Irene Rigau, says “all stays the same” because the education law is newer than the decree affected by the ruling and also states that Catalan is the language of instruction in Catalonia.

FC Barcelona Alusport has won the Liga after beating El Pozo Murcia (3-6). El Pozo took charge until the final minutes of the game when Barça then tied. In the 5 minutes of extra time, the blaugrana team demonstrated its best side and scored the winning goals.

Choosing between these two rival cities to build the macro complex of hotels, casinos and business centres is “very difficult”, according to the Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Michael Leven, who visited Barcelona on Monday and Madrid on Tuesday

The Catalan company has promoted its presence in BRIC countries and has achieved two consecutive years of profits therefore recovering from the effects of the explosion of the property bubble

The cork corresponds to a jar from a sunken ship at Port de la Selva, on Catalonia’s Costa Brava. The Catalan Center for Underwater Archaeology (CASC) and the Catalan Cork Institute (ICSURO) have carried out a research project that has compared the composition of the old cork with a current one. The cellular structure of the old cork remains, despite erosion by water over 2000 years.

Catalan citizens will have to pay €1 for every medical prescription, with a maximum of €61 per year. 127,000 people will not have to pay the tax for social reasons. This measure approved by the Catalan Government aims to reduce healthcare spending by moderating the purchase of medicines, the final goal being reducing the public deficit.

From October 15th to 17th, Barcelona will host Seafood, the largest show in southern Europe in the field of marketing fishing products. In its first edition, the show will feature nearly 300 exhibitors, 40% of them international, as well as many representatives of exhibiting companies and processors of seafood.

This year’s ‘Grec ‘Festival offers 68 plays, dancing, music and circus performances from July 1st to the 31st, 30 of them from international artists. Ramón Simó, the new director of the event, considers that this year’s Grec is more international, contemporany and multidisciplinary than ever before and its objective is to bring to Barcelona the best shows from Europe and the world.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, travelled to Massachusetts and New York to promote Catalan businesses and present Catalonia as one of the main biotechnological clusters and tourist destinations in Europe. In addition, Ernst & Young presented their report on life sciences companies and research centres in Catalonia, which indicates that almost 30% of this sector’s turnover in Spain comes from Catalan businesses.