Society

During the last few winters, snow and ice have paralysed Central Europe for days and sometimes weeks. Lorries from all over Europe transport up to 60,000 tons of salt a month from Súria (Bages County) to spread on roads throughout the continent. The mines have tripled production in the last 2 years and are the largest of Southern Europe.

Two bar owners have publically declared their resistance to the new smoking ban after having lost many clients, they said. So they have decided to let customers smoke again and hope that other bars will do the same.

After the Pope’s visit last November, the Sagrada Família will be open 4 Saturdays in a row along January. The measure seems to be a success among Barcelonans. The figure is four times the number of visits recorded on a normal Saturday.

Smoking is banned in all restaurants and clubs in Spain from the 2nd January 2011. The new law aims to put the state on the same level as other European countries such as the UK

Spain’s Highest Court sentences on a case about 3 parents who wanted their children to be taught in Spanish at Catalan public schools. The decision breaks the principle of using Catalan as the language of instruction in Catalan schools. This model has been in place for the last 30 years and guarantees knowledge of both the Catalan and Spanish languages by all pupils, as exam records have been proving. Now, Spain’s Supreme Court is interpreting the Spanish Constitutional Court’s sentence from last June, which stated that Catalan was a teaching language but that Spanish should also be. The fear in Catalonia is that the country will split into 2 separated language communities and social groups will not understand Catalan.

The puntCAT Foundation attended the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) meeting in Cartagena, Colombia last week. Proposals for similar domains such as ‘.scot’ and .quebec’ were put aside for future discussion.

A team at the University of Girona and the firm Easy Innova design a new application that helps people find car rides quickly and easily.

A year ago, the Barcelona City Council made the decision to convert pet kiosks on Les Rambles into souvenir kiosks. Now, they have changed their minds, claiming that their decision led to overcrowding and lack of public space.

In the Northern town of Catalonia, close to Girona, Pere Puig killed his employer and his employer’s son at a bar with a hunting riffle. Puig then left the bar and shot and killed 2 bank employees. The police arrested the man, who immediately confessed to the crimes. Puig had not been paid since May and was scheduled to be fired in the next few days. The Town Council met urgently and declared 3 days of mourning.

“Our people have nothing to do with that activity and mentality”, affirmed the president of the Islamic community. WikiLeaks’ articles were picturing Catalonia as the main Yihadist area in Spain and were focusing on Badalona and the Pakistani community.

A Catalan inventor has created a brand new system that transforms humidity into water, Hydromatch. It acts like a giant air conditioning system, able to produce 500,000 liters an hour. According to its inventor, the machinery can work almost everywhere with at least 20% of humidity, which includes many deserts.

Lleida began applying the new municipal regulation yesterday, becoming the first Spanish city to do so. The city’s Socialist mayor Àngel Ros says the new rule is a “pedagogical” tool rather than a punishment.

Theatre group 'La Careta-Teatre' tried its best to get to the United Kingdom during the air traffic controllers strike. They had four shows scheduled in London and did not want to miss them.

Secondary school pupils in Catalonia are doing better in reading, math and science. Catalonia ranks 15th in reading skills, at the same level as Sweden and the United States

The Spanish government sends military personnel to force air controllers back to work. Passengers are now facing further delays as airports try to clear the backlog