Society

|   Current affairs and social issues  

Spain’s king brother-in-law given six years in prison for corruption scandal

ACN

Palma de Mallorca’s court sentenced Philip VI’s brother-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, for allegedly obtaining no-bid contracts from regional governments in the so-called ‘Nóos Case’. On the other hand, his wife, the sister of Spain’s King, Cristina de Borbón, has been acquitted of tax fraud complicity. However, she will have to pay a 265,000-euros fine for her role in the case. Former president of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Matas, who had held 50% of the shares of the company ‘Nóos’, has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison while Urdangarin’s partner in the company will have to face an 8-year prison sentence. The trial, which generated huge attention from the media, saw a member of the Royal Family brought to court for the first time ever.  

February 17, 2017 02:52 PM

Barcelona will host Europe’s largest hospital specialising in infantile cancer

ACN

Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, the Leo Messi Foundation, the FC Barcelona Foundation and the IESE business school have joined forces to launch a campaign to get companies and the general public to help finance the new SJD Pediatric Cancer Center that is being planned for the city of Barcelona. The hospital, which is set to be Europe’s largest dedicated to infantile cancer and the third-biggest worldwide, will cost 30 MEUR. Once functioning, the centre could care for around 400 patients within its 5,137m2 installation, which will be located next to Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. If the deadlines are met, the construction of the new centre will start in the second half of 2017 and be ready by 2019. The facility will allow the increase of the recovery rate for infantile cancer, which is currently around 80%, help develop new drugs and reduce the side effects of treatments used. 

February 15, 2017 06:24 PM

Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi hosts massive concert in aid of refugees

ACN

More than 15,000 people attended the concert ‘Our home, your home’ which is part of the homonymous campaign aimed to emphasise Catalonia’s willingness to welcome refugees. 50 artists of different origins and musical styles contributed to make the public aware of the humanitarian crisis which has left, according to the UN, more than 200 million people worldwide escaping from war and poverty. The promoters of the campaign, which gathers together more than 200 Catalan associations and NGOs and a hundred cultural companies and citizens, recalled that the Spanish Government has only received 516 refugees of the 10,772 initially established in the scheme of distribution of the European Commission. Next Saturday, Barcelona will host a demonstration to ensure that Catalan institutions act, leaving aside the inaction from Spain, to start hosting refugees in Catalonia.

February 13, 2017 12:37 PM

18 businessmen and former CDC representatives arrested for alleged irregular funding of the party

ACN

The Spanish Guardia Civil searched this Thursday the headquarters of three Catalan companies, the Barcelona Port Authority, Infrastructures.cat and Barcelona Infrastructures (BIMSA) as part of ‘Operation Pika’ which is investigating alleged irregular funding of former CDC, now renamed as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT). Barcelona Port president, Sixte Cambra, was arrested together with former CDC treasurer, Andreu Viloca, who was arrested in 2015 as part of the same investigation, two former representatives from CDC, Antoni Vives and Francesc Sánchez and 14 other businessmen. The operation, which carried out more than 20 searches throughout Catalonia, is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregular financing of the party, to find out whether companies paid a 3% commission to the CDC foundation in exchange for public contracts.

 

February 2, 2017 12:34 PM

Coimbra University professor Domingo Xavier Viegas receives International Wildland Fire Safety Award at international summit in Barcelona

ACN

The International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) from the USA recognised on Tuesday Coimbra University professor Domingo Xavier Viegas’ contribution to wildland firefighter safety and granted him the Wildland Fire Safety Award. Viegas, who is considered one of the most outstanding experts in this field, studied more than 400 wildland fires which had severe consequences for the firefighters involved and has focused on how to identify the causes and improve the safety measures for these professionals. The ceremony closed the 14th International Wildland Fire Safety Summit which took place this past Tuesday in Barcelona and gathered together more than 300 experts and members of the global wildland fire community to discuss best practices in safety and training operations and to explore new approaches.

February 1, 2017 12:53 PM

Catalan firefighters praised as an “international example” at the International Wildland Fire Safety Summit

ACN

The Home Affairs Minister, Jordi Jané, praised on Tuesday the hard work of the brave men and women of the firefighter corps in Catalonia. In his speech at the opening of the 14th edition of the International Wildland Fire Safety Summit, organised for the first time in Barcelona, Jané also promised “more resources and more investment” to fight wildfires. The International Wildland Fire Safety Summit gathers together more than 300 experts and members of the global wildland fire community to discuss best practices in safety and training operations and to explore new approaches. Amongst them, leading members of the emergency services of the United States, Israel, Australia, Portugal, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark and Spain. The event is organised by the Fundació Pau Costa and the International Association of Wildland Fire from the USA, in close collaboration with the Catalan Government and the University of Barcelona.

January 31, 2017 02:53 PM

Catalonia to set recommended rental price to avoid new housing bubble

ACN

Barcelona has the highest rent prices in Spain, with an average of 17.36 euros per square metre in the Catalan capital’s old town. In fact, 6 of the 10 most expensive cities for renting are in Catalonia, including Gavà, Sant Cugat, Sitges, Castelldefels and l’Hospitalet del Llobregat. The Catalan Government wants to put an end to “exaggerated” increases in rent prices and is drafting a new law that will set a recommend rental price for an initial 115 towns. Landlords who respect the recommended price could enjoy property tax cuts or receive grants to renovate flats. Similarly, towns will be able to penalise those that decide to rent their properties above the set price. The councils of Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona welcomed the initiative and are prepared to study the introduction of tax reductions for landlords that rent below the recommended price.

January 20, 2017 02:20 PM

Barcelona has the highest rents in Spain

ACN

The annual report from real estate agency ‘Fotocasa’ revealed that in 2016 Barcelona topped the ranking of rent prices in the whole of Spain. The high levels of tourism and the rotation of those professionals who work for multinational companies and set up temporarily in the Catalan capital contributed to this rise. On average, renting in Barcelona costs 15.16 euros per square metre, which is 13.7% more than last year. Moreover, it is the first time in the historic series that the rent prices exceed those registered before the economic crisis in 2007. Renting in Catalonia was 14.6% more expensive in 2016 than in the previous year, a figure which is higher than the Spanish average. 

January 18, 2017 06:44 PM

Spain announces a “national Erasmus” to “foster territorial cohesion”

ACN

The Spanish Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality, Dolors Montserrat, proposed this Tuesday during her appearance before the Commission of Health of the Spanish Parliament the creation of “Erasmus scholarships at a national level”. The programme will be named Cervantes, in commemoration of the fourth centenary of the death of the writer, and seeks to “promote territorial cohesion in addition to favouring the mobility of students”, Montserrat explained. It is a mobility project for students between 14 and 18 years old so that they can study the last two years of high school and the two pre-university years “in another Spanish city different from their own”. To be launched together with the Ministry for Education, the project “aims to promote knowledge of our cultural diversity, our traditions and languages”, said the Ministry in a statement.

December 20, 2016 06:48 PM

'Nature' includes Catalan astronomer Guillem Anglada-Escudé amongst 10 best scientists of 2016

ACN

‘Nature’s 10’, the annual list which distinguishes the year’s best scientists according to the journal, has included Catalan astronomer, Guillem Anglada-Escudé amongst its names. The researcher at Queen Mary University of London detected the nearest known planet outside the Solar System which he baptised ‘Proxima b’. He put together a team and got observing time on the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the European Southern Observatory as well as other telescopes that could double-check whether any promising evidence that they found was caused by stellar activity, which can mimic the signs of a planet. Within days, they confirmed that the planet was there; within weeks, they submitted a manuscript detailing their discovery. The planet, called Proxima b, has at least 1.3 times the mass of Earth and orbits Proxima every 11.2 days.

December 19, 2016 06:20 PM

Catalan projects receive 42% of European Research Council grants to Spain

ACN

42% of the grants the European Research Council (ERC) gave on Wednesday to researchers in Spain will benefit Catalan academics. Specifically, ten of the 24 scholarship holders are working in Catalonia: three belong to the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), two to the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and one to the University of Barcelona (UB). The four remaining academics are involved in projects from other institutions such as the Centre for Genomic Regulation and the Institute of Photonic Sciences. This year, the ERC allocated a total of €605 million through its funding programme and evaluated 2,274 research proposals, of which 13.8% have been selected. The majority of the research initiatives are devoted to engineering and physics and the winners of the grants are from 39 different nationalities.

December 14, 2016 06:57 PM

Catalan scientists discover that saturated fat fuels the spread of cancer

ACN

A group of scientists from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology have identified a population of oral tumour cells which may feast on fats to spread throughout the body — a process called metastasis. According to the study, published this Wednesday in the prestigious scientific magazine ‘Nature’, some of these cells expressed high levels of a molecule called CD36, which helps cells to take up lipids from their environment. The research shows that applying antibodies that block CD36 and eliminate its interaction with fatty acids resulted in a reduced number of metastatic focus and also reduced their size by around 80% to 90%. “If we cut the lipids supply to those cells which generate metastasis they are practically unable to spread”, the leader of the IRB ‘Cancer and Stem cells’ team, Salvador Aznar Benitah, explained. 

December 8, 2016 06:52 PM

Catalan pupils score above Spain, EU and OECD average in PISA tests

ACN

The latest PISA survey shows that pupils in Catalonia have performed above the Spanish, European Union and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average in all subjects for the first time since the report series was launched in 2000. Catalan students had never reached a score of 500 in the three Pisa tests, always struggling with scientific and mathematical skills, but this time around they passed all of the exams. The average mark in Science is 504 points (12 points more than in the previous edition three years ago), 500 points in maths (7 more) and 500 in reading comprehension, losing a point compared to 2012. The average in Spain, the EU or the OECD is not 500 points or over for any of the three tests. According to the Catalan Minister for Education, Meritxell Ruiz, the results support the “transformation of the educational model” Catalonia has been undergoing since the introduction of the Education Act of Catalonia (LEC, going by its Catalan initials) in 2009.

December 6, 2016 02:59 PM

European Parliament calls for compensation for citizens affected by disasters such as the Castor Project

ACN

The European Parliament passed this Thursday a text, promoted by the Greek MEP Kostas Chrysogonos, which explicitly reports the Castor case and the thousand earthquakes suffered by the locals in Valencia and Catalonia’s Ebro Delta. This business project, consisting of an offshore facility that had to store 1.3 billion cubic metres of reserve gas for Spain, failed after causing over 1,000 small earthquakes. The European Parliament called this Thursday to “include the victims of collateral damage linked to prospecting, surveys and the operation of offshore facilities” in the potential beneficiaries of future compensations. “It is very important that all those affected by offshore oil and gas operations, which are proved to be in detriment of the environment and of the activities of other persons be compensated”, Chrysogonos said to the Catalan News Agency, after slamming the “scandal” which is the Castor case.

December 1, 2016 07:50 PM

More than 200 associations come together to promote Catalonia as 'home' for refugees

ACN

“Catalonia has always been a welcoming land”. This is the leitmotiv of the campaign launched today by 200 Catalan associations and NGOs and a hundred cultural companies and citizens. The initiative ‘Our home, your home’ seeks to promote the reception of refugees in Catalonia through a wide range of activities aimed at raising awareness among society. The movement arose from a group of Catalan volunteers who worked in the informal refugee camps in northern Greece, until the refugees were evicted and moved to premises under military control. “We felt ashamed of being accomplices to the policies of our Government and we promised we would do something to change their [the refugees] situation”, explained Ruben Wagensberg. Although Spain has to receive 10,500 refugees according to the scheme of distribution of the European Commission, it has only welcomed 516 to the date. The main goal of the initiative is to ensure that Catalan institutions act, ignoring the inaction from Spain, and start welcoming refugees. 

November 29, 2016 07:03 PM

Latest updates and breaking news on society, social issues, and current affairs from Barcelona and Catalonia. Keep up to date on protests, the housing crisis, the ongoing drought, the climate crisis and environmental management, urban development and management, the language immersion system, and much more here.