The world’s leader chemical company is planning to invest 12 million euros in its Tarragona plant, the largest one in southern Europe. BASF Spain has its headquarters in Tarragona, and concentrates most of its plants and offices in Catalonia.
The European Commission also recognised "a different effort" to the rest of Spain’s Autonomous Communities. Brussels said so when on Tuesday it asked Spain “to strictly control” the public “deficit and debt of regional governments”, the day after Moody’s rating agency warned about Catalonia’s expected deficit for 2011. The Spanish Government took note from this particular recommendation but not the other made by Brussels, which included increasing energy taxes and VAT. The Catalan Government criticised Moody’s for “creating alarm” with assessments that do not take into account the whole situation. In addition, it denounced how the Spanish Government has reduced its own deficit by transferring it to the Autonomous Communities.
Faus: "In two or three years Barça will be the most financially solvent club in the world". FC Barcelona lost 21 million euros this year, although the club’s debt is being reduced.
An International inspection in 2009 issued 14 recommendations to improve security. Two years after, the International Atomic Energy Agency came back to certify that most of the issues had been addressed and the rest were in progress of being fully solved.
The surrealist Catalan painter Joan Miró will have a museum in the country house he spent parts of his childhood and youth, in Mont-Roig del Camp, next to Tarragona. The family, experts and Barcelona’s Miró Foundation will decide on the exact contents, which will be displayed via permanent and temporary exhibitions.
Mowafak Kanfach asks for the Syrian regime to be taken to the International Criminal Court. He is living in Barcelona because he was forced to leave his country because of political reasons.
This summer will be FC Barcelona’s third consecutive visit to the USA as European Champions, following their trips in the summer of 2006 and 2009.
From the 6th through to the 12th of June, thirty movies and a retrospective of filmmaker Ann Hui will be on show in Barcelona. The Casa Àsia Film Week takes over from the Barcelona Asian Film Festival (BAFF) in order to introduce the Catalan audience to the movie industry of one of the most active filmmaking areas in the world.
The President of the Catalan Government detailed his plan to Herman Van Rompuy to balance the Catalan budget and reduce the public deficit. Artur Mas stressed the importance of the Mediterranean Railway Corridor for the European economy and he also outlined the benefits of an effective Union for the Mediterranean, in this moment in particular. Mas was joined by Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, his electoral ally and leader of the Catalan Christian Democrats. They also met with Competition’s Commissioner, Joaquín Almunia.
The factory will increase its output of biological and pharmaceutical products by 40% over 3 years, taking work from closing factories in Europe and the United States. The Catalan plant is specialised in animal health and vaccines for livestock. It was bought in 2009 by the North American pharmaceutical giant, in a small town near Girona.
Researchers from Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic and the University of Oviedo (Asturias) have sequenced Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia’s entire genome for the first time. Mutations in four genes have been identified as one of the illness triggers. The study was published last Sunday in the prestigious journal ‘Nature’.
The prestigious US magazine ‘Newsweek’ features the FC Barcelona football team on the front of next week’s edition, asking the question to its readers –“is this the best team of all time?”
Managers from the 27 airlines forming the world’s leading group meet in Barcelona for two days. They stressed Barcelona El Prat’s “strategic” position and its potential to become a hub linking Europe with the Middle East, Latin America and Southern Africa. Barcelona El Prat is Europe’s 4th airport regarding passenger origin and destination. The Catalan Government reasserted its commitment with Spanair.
It is the second busiest day of the year for cruise ships after August 20th, when nine ships with 31,000 passengers are expected. Barcelona is the first European and Mediterranean cruise port and fourth in the world, after three Florida ports.
Writer Teresa Solana, Brown University Professor Enric Bou, university professor Mary Ann Newman and translator Peter Bush all took part in a debate on Catalan literature and culture at the New York Pen World Voices Festival. The complexity of translating from the Catalan language, the differences between normative Catalan and the 21st century language and the rich tradition of its literature all emerged as key elements of a debate moderated by writer Aleksandar Hemon.