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’.
A young Catalan architect with no employment opportunities at home opens an office in Paris to work on buildings in Asia.
Barça thrashed Malaga 4-1 after another sublime first half performance and finish the first half of the Championship stronger leaders than ever. Iniesta, Villa (2) and Pedro were on target for Guardiola’s men as they ran up their 13th successive leag.
A Barcelona Commercial Court cancels the clause that penalises Ryanair passengers without printed boarding passes. Judge says the €40 fine is ‘abusive’ and obliges Ryanair to pay 285.55 euros to the passenger who filed the complaint. The reason: a boarding pass is an essential document to travel and paying an extra cost violates the Montreal Convention.
High temperatures of between 7 and 12 degrees are forecasted for the first four days of competition in La Molina, in the Catalan Pyrenees.
Catalan researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona claim the new substance could be used to treat stress, phobias or depression. The drug development was done in cooperation with the Emory University in the US. The new drug still has to go through a long testing process.