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The night of January 5th is the most important and magical nights of the year for thousands of children in Catalonia. It is when the Three Wise Men –or the Three Kings in Catalan– bring presents. Traditionally in Catalonia, presents are not delivered by Santa Claus on the evening of December 24th, but instead on the evening of January 5th by the Three Kings who arrive in all Catalan towns. Parades are organised to welcome them. Afterwards, when the children are sleeping, they enter through the window or balcony and leave presents for every family member.

Barça clearly defeated Osasuna in the first game of the new year, thanks to 2 goals each from Cesc and Messi. FC Barcelona are well on their way to going through to the quarter-finals of the Spanish Cup.

The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, whose headquarters are based in Barcelona, has resigned to become Morocco’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. King Mohamed VI appointed Youssef Amrani to counterweight the actual Foreign Affairs Minister, from the moderate Islamists. Amrani’s resignation means that the UfM has once again been left without a figure head in the past year, after Massadeh’s resignation in early 2011.

The Catalan opera diva, acclaimed worldwide, gave a concert at the Gran Teatre del Liceu surrounded by her friends, colleagues, pupils and a grateful audience. Only three days away from reaching half a century of performances at Barcelona’s opera house, Montserrat Caballé also celebrated this special anniversary by unveiling an exhibition on her career in the same venue.

Artur Mas, President of the Catalan Government, has reflected on his first year in office. Mas justified the budget cuts his government has made in order to avoid “a collapse” in public services. He also criticised the recent trend of patronising the Autonomous Communities and claiming that they are responsible for Spain’s financial problems. That, he believes, has made them scapegoats. “The Autonomies are a very important part of the State”, “they provide almost all public services to citizens”, he stressed. In addition, Mas insisted that Spain’s debt and deficit is mainly due to the Spanish Government’s overspending over many years and not the fault of the Autonomies or the municipalities.

At the end of 2011 there were 614,244 people registered as unemployed in Catalonia, 9.17% more than a year ago. However, unemployment dropped in December by 1,425 people, after it stabilised in November, leaving September and October as the worst months of the year. In stark contrast to Catalonia, the rest of Spain experienced an increase in unemployment in December and 2011 ended with 4,422,359 people signing on the register, 7.86% more than at the end of 2010.

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics has named the FC Barcelona midfielder the best playmaker in the world for the fourth year in a row. Leo Messi and Andrés Iniesta are second and third behind Xavi.

Car sales drastically decreased last year, with the only exception being luxury vehicles. Less than 120,000 cars were sold in Catalonia, a figure similar to that of 1993. In Spain as a whole, car sales fell by 17.7%.

In a radio interview, Luis de Guindos, said he is supportive of the budget austerity measures put in place by the Catalan Government over the last 12 months. In addition, the new Spanish Minister for the Economy stated that the drug prescription fee proposed by the Catalan Government is Catalonia’s responsibility, contrary to that said by the previous Spanish Government. In addition, the Catalan Health Minister explained that the drug prescription fee would include exceptions “basically” based on personal “economic reasons”.

2011 has been a year marked by the austerity measures undertaken by the new Catalan Government, who took office just one year ago; budget cuts to reduce the public deficit and fight the financial crisis, which sparked protests. Socially, 2011 has been a tense year, with the highest unemployment figures in a decade, strikes, and the ‘indignados’. It has also been a year of political changes: the Catalan Nationalists (CiU) have consolidated their position as Catalonia’s hegemonic party and the PP won in the whole of Spain except in Catalonia and the Basque Country. International opportunities have arrived: the Mediterranean Railway Corridor has been declared a European Union priority, Barcelona has been confirmed the Mobile World Capital and ‘Pa Negre’ will represent Spain at the Oscars. And FC Barcelona is the best team in the world!

Ten businessmen in the coastal town of Sant Carles de la Ràpita want to open a new aquatic base in the Trabucador, an area frequently visited by kite surfers and windsurfers

The porch, from the XII century, is usually described as a “bible on stone” and it is one of the main examples of European Romanesque sculpture. The town of Ripoll, in northern Catalonia, hopes to be included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites, although its mayor admits the process will be “very difficult”.

The current authority of five cruise ship terminals at the Port of Barcelona will manage the Asian terminal from 2012. The new Singapore terminal will handle the biggest cruises in Southeast Asia, with ships up to 300 metres long and with a capacity of 6,000 passengers

For the first time since 1979, the Spanish Royal family has published how it spends the public money that it receives every year. In 2011, the household was given €8.4 million. The transparency of the monarchy comes at a time when the king’s son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarín, and his business partners are the subject of a fraud investigation involving millions of euro of taxpayers’ money

The Catalan executive changes its foreign policy and urges its representatives to focus on the promotion of business and other economic issues abroad