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"Although there is a very high standard in Barcelona, the clients are not the same”, this is the opinion of a Catalan web developer who is currently based in Manhattan. This is his story.

In Paris, back in 2005, the death of young boys fleeing from police, spread violence and unrest across the outer suburbs. Now, in Catalonia, the accident of a 16 year-old who fell from a building while escaping police, has sent a wave of violence and vandalism across the town of Salt, forcing the deployment of more security officers in the area.

After 50 years of performing, the Catalan opera soprano Montserrat Caballé said she will step down in two years with a farewell tour. The Catalan diva is considered one of the world’s greatest sopranos of the 20th century. Her popularity increased while singing with Freddy Mercury the song “Barcelona”.

In the last few days, a series of declarations by Spanish leaders put some dark clouds over the future of the Autonomous Communities model, a cornerstone of the current Spanish Constitution. The People’s Party (PP) shot first, claiming for more centralism, and the Spanish Socialist Party did not want to be left behind. Today, Prime Minister Zapatero showed up by surprise at the Senate to defend the current model.

Barça’s supremacy is made patently clear in the all star eleven named on the UEFA official website, where users have picked six Barça players in Piqué, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, and Villa.

Half the job done, half the job left to do. FC Barcelona, following the 5-0 first leg win, are off to Seville tonight (22.00, La Sexta and R@dio Barça) to settle qualification for the cup semi finals. Alves and Puyol are the only players missing.

For the first time in the post Franco era, Catalan, Basque and Galician will be spoken at the Spanish Territorial High Chamber’s plenary sessions. Although the languages will still be banned in the Government’s control sessions at the Senate, from now on they will be allowed in the Senate’s regular plenary sessions. Although these languages are official in many parts of Spain, up till now, only the Spanish language was permitted to be used in the Senate. Using these other official languages in Spanish-level institutions like the Senate is an historic claim from a wide range of Catalan society.

Two Catalans opened a guided tour business in Berlin making the most of the economic crisis and the fact that the city was ‘fashionable’. They set up ‘Cultourberlin’, a project that would offer Spanish and Catalan tourists guided tours of Berlin

In an interview with the Financial Times this weekend, the Prime Minister Zapatero threatened to intervene in some Autonomous Communities’ budgets. Today the Spanish Secretary for Economic Affairs reiterated this threat. However the Catalan Government has stressed that Catalonia has in fact no problem with its public deficit. Catalan political parties reminded the Spanish State that the Autonomous Communities only have one sixth of the entire public debt throughout Spain.

A Catalan travel company will provide a rail route through the lakes and the Romanesque Art from the Boí Valley. The travel agency plans to benefit from the airport Alguaire and Pyrenair airline, which brings flights from Madrid and Vigo, and attract numerous people to the region, not just skiers

The Japanese company has finally chosen to manufacture the new van in a factory in the Catalan capital. The decision comes after workers agreed to a change in their labour conditions including a freeze on salaries until 2014.

Eduard Fernández won Best Actor while 'Heroes' finished empty handed despite being nominated in ten categories.

The USA Perpignan team visited the Camp Nou and exchanged photos, good wishes and shirts with the Barça players. They were all clearly impressed later on when they visited the Nou Camp installations.

The average price per square meter was 2681 euros at the end of last year. Catalonia has the third most expensive property market within Spain, after the Basque Country and Madrid.

The Gaudí Awards, which are the equivalent to the Catalan Oscars are taking place tonight for the 3rd consecutive time. The movie ‘Pa Negre’(Black Bread), which was nominated this year for the Spanish Goya Awards, is tipped to win with no less than 15 nominations followed by ‘Herois’ (Heroes) and ‘Buried’.