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The Fumanya palaeontological site, located in the northern Catalan County of Berguerà, has one of the most important collections of dinosaur fossils in Europe. The remains of more than 3,500 footprints, as well as bones, eggs, and other remains were discovered accidentally in 1985. Between the years 2000 and 2008, the palaeontological site was analysed and tourist visits have since been organised. Furthermore, in 2012, the site’s new information centre will open its doors to the public and will explain dinosaurs in great detail.

The FC Barcelona travelling squad has arrived in Milan where they will face AC Milan in a battle to top their UEFA Champions League group. The injured Iniesta is the main absentee, with Adriano and Afellay also out through injury and Alves suspended. Barça’s assistant coach Tito Vilanova stays home for surgery.

In an international conference taking place in Barcelona of Ombudsmen from Europe, America and Africa, the Catalan Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, has warned that the institution has “less influence”. Furthermore, in some areas of Europe there is a threat that they will “disappear”. The Ombudsmen have been discussing their role in the face of the privatisation of basic services. The conference has been organised with the ‘Cercle d’Economia’, which is mainly an economic forum, open to businesspeople, academics and economic professionals.

The conservative People’s Party (PP) has won the Spanish General Election with an absolute majority. The PP obtained 186 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament, its best ever result. The Socialist Party (PSOE), who are the current Spanish Government, obtained the worst results in its history, winning just 110 MPs. In Catalonia, another historical change has taken place: the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalists (CiU) have won in the Spanish elections for the first time. The Socialists lose 44% of their MPs in Catalonia, and their main candidate Carme Chacón, is in a bad position to lead the PSOE after Zapatero. The PP continues as Catalonia’s third party, despite an improvement in its results.

Catalonia is the only autonomous community where the Socialist Party has clearly won, but has lost around 35% of its MPs, according to the exit poll released by TV3. The People’s Party (PP) will remain Catalonia’s third biggest force, behind the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalists (CiU), who will increase their share by some 40%. The exit polls released at 20.00 CET, when the polls closed, indicate an absolute majority for the PP and an historical defeat for the Socialists throughout Spain. The PP will get between 181 and 185 MPs, when the absolute majority is 176 seats. The election day has been calm, with a lower turnout than in the 2008 elections, particularly in Catalonia.

FC Barcelona cruised past Zaragoza at the Camp Nou, with four goals from Piqué, Messi, Puyol and Villa to round off another brilliant exhibition of football.

Catalonia and the Basque Country might be the only Autonomous Communities in Spain without a victory for the People’s Party (PP). The Socialists are likely to win once again in Catalonia, but they risk loosing 40% of their seats. If they slump even further then they risk being overtaken by the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) or even the PP. A quiet electoral campaign has come to an end, with three main unknown answers: if the Socialist party will get its worst results over the past few decades, if they will also lose in their stronghold of Catalonia, and how the international financial markets will react in the coming days.

Given the flood of questions asking about a possible rest for the Argentinian star, Pep Guardiol, FC Barcelona’s Manager, insisted that he is in perfect condition to play the full Spanish League game against Zaragoza on Saturday.

Students have protested against the Catalan Government’s measures intended to adjust university budgets. Protesters have criticised “privatisation”, with budget cuts and university tax increases. However, the Catalan Government denied these claims and said it had no intention of laying off 4,000 lecturers and researchers. As with other strikes, the figures presented by both sides are contradictory. Organisers talk about a “success” and stress that in some faculties classes were completely suspended. Nevertheless, official information states the uneven support of students for the strike action, ranging from 25% to 40% depending on the faculty.

The Barcelona-based airline’s operational benefit reached almost €61 million, which represents a 2% increase compared to the same period last year. Despite the oil price increases, the company maintains its benefits thanks to the high occupancy rate of its flights (more than 80%) and the activity at its international bases.

‘Castells’ or the traditional human towers originally from Southern Catalonia and generally built during town festivals were included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO last year. An exhibition at the Palau Robert in Barcelona will celebrate this first anniversary. It reflects on the tradition’s cultural and social value, and its role as one of Catalonia’s best known symbols.

The Spanish IT multinational company Intel and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center will create a joint research and development lab to calculate speeds on the exaFLOP scale, which are a thousand times quicker than the current fastest computers in the world. The lab will be created in Barcelona over the coming years, at the BSC facilities. Intel hopes to reach Exascale performance within the next ten years.

The Catalan Government and the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair have put an end to their dispute and have announced an agreement to operate from Girona-Costa Brava and Reus for the next five years starting in April 2012. Ryanair has guaranteed that in the first twelve months more than 3 million passengers will pass through Girona Airport and 500,000 through Reus Airport. However, it has one condition: the Spanish public airport operator AENA cannot increase taxes at neither Girona nor Reus airports. If that happens the agreement will become null and void. Ten days ago, Ryanair had completely abandoned Reus. Flights through Girona had been significantly reduced in the summer and they had cut the number of flights operating in the winter months.

The trade union organising the protest has said that 70% of doctors took part in the strike, while the Catalan Ministry of Health reduced the figure to only 20%. Doctors are protesting at the budget cuts in the Catalan healthcare system in order to decrease the public deficit, which included a 5% salary reduction. The doctor’s union called for a strike on November 15th and 16th, coinciding with the negotiations on the 2012 budget and the Spanish elections. The Catalan Government stated that the strike asks for unrealistic salary increases and considered it has “failed”. 20,000 medical consultations have to be postponed.

China, Japan, Philippines and Malaysia are some of the countries that will host the exhibition ‘The Turn of the Century in Spanish Contemporary Art’, formed by works from the Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA) and the foundation of the Catalan savings bank ‘La Caixa’. The collection of both entities consists of 5.500 artworks and is considered one of the most important compilations in Southern Europe. The exhibition touring in Asia will include artworks from Spanish sculptors and painters like Antoni Tàpies, Eduardo Chillida or Miquel Barceló, from the last 50 years.