Society

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Foreign nationals are leaving Catalonia as amount of job opportunities dries up

Julian Scully

Following a decade of significant increases in the amount of foreign nationals in Catalonia, it appears that many are beginning to leave as job opportunities dry up. In 2000, the percentage of foreign nationals living in Catalonia was 2.9%, while just over a decade later in 2011 this figure had increased to 15.73%. However, in the past couple of years the amount is beginning to reduce: between 2009 and 2013, 44,000 foreign nationals left Catalonia. According to the Spokesperson of non-governmental organisation SOS Racisme, Jose Peñín, immigrants are leaving as “they have less stable contracts and work in more abusive conditions”.

September 20, 2013 05:47 PM

Children born by assisted reproduction have a higher cardiovascular risk according to a Catalan study

ACN

According to a medical study developed in Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic, fetuses conceived by assisted reproduction have changes in their heart and arteries, which begin even before birth and persist in the postnatal period. These changes represent a significant increase in cardiovascular risk in adulthood. However, the researchers point out that this situation is reversible from the beginning of life through a diet rich in omega3 and other factors. In addition, they strongly emphasised that this is only a risk factor and not a disease. The study leader, Eduard Gratacós, said that “it's a message of opportunity, not alarm”. Furthermore, they also recommend monitoring the blood pressure of these babies.

September 18, 2013 10:48 PM

Catalan and Aragonese Pyrenees may contain the footsteps of Europe’s last ever dinosaurs

ACN

An investigation in the Pyrenees in the areas of Lleida (western Catalonia) and Huesca (northern Aragon) may have found the footprints of the last dinosaurs that inhabited Europe. The footprints are said to come from the Hadrosaurid family of dinosaurs and roughly be 65.5 million years old. The amount of fossils and footprints of dinosaurs that exist from the era just before their extinction - 65 million years ago - is scarce and limited to just a few places worldwide. Now one of those placed is in the Pyrenees.

September 13, 2013 05:56 PM

Ambulance workers go on strike in Catalonia for four days but essential services are guaranteed

ACN

The ambulance service has gone on strike from Monday to Thursday because of a 9.2% drop in staff wages. However, the provision of basic services is guaranteed, such as emergencies – including accidents and intra-hospital journeys – and the transportation of oncology and haemodialysis patients with scheduled treatments. The Catalan Health Ministry and the trade union CCOO showed a disagreement on the strike’s success. According to the Catalan Government, the demonstration was only followed by 8% of the workers on its first day, while the CCOO stated that 90% of the non-essential services have not been provided. The owners of the ambulance providers announced significant salary reductions in July. After talks with unions and the mediation of the Catalan Labour Court, an agreement has not been reached to avoid the strike.

September 9, 2013 09:21 PM

Mayor of Barcelona states that the city is using new technology to improve citizens’ quality of life

ACN

This Thursday, the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, said that the Catalan capital is increasingly “using mobile technologies to meet the needs of citizens”. “This is one of our main priorities”, he added. Trias made a speech at the GSMA Mobile 360 Conference in Brussels, and highlighted how Barcelona’s status as being the Mobile World Capital “is helping the city to develop a new economic framework for the future”. Barcelona has hosted the Mobile World Congress for the past eight years, and is the world’s largest event dedicated to mobile technology with last year’s event attracting 70,000 people.

September 5, 2013 07:08 PM

The amount of young Catalans working abroad has increased by 42.46% in the past four years

Julian Scully

Young people are increasingly abandoning Catalonia in order to find employment abroad. During the past four years, the amount of Catalans between the ages of 15 and 34 that are working abroad has increased by 42.46%, according to a study released by the youth trade union Avalot. This figure represents an increase of 35,547 in 2009 to 50,640 in 2013 – a rise of 15,093 people. The National Coordinator of Youth Action of Spain’s largest trade union (Comisiones Obreras – CCOO), Aina Vidal, spoke with the CNA and highlighted how this emigration “is by no means a choice”, and that “these are young, highly qualified graduates that are leaving because they have no future here”.

September 4, 2013 08:18 PM

Barcelona to introduce ground-breaking parking payment system

ACN

From the 1st of September a new parking payment system will be introduced in Barcelona that allows customers to pay via their mobile devices. The Councillor responsible for Economy, Enterprise and Employment, Sònia Recasens, stated that it illustrates Barcelona’s “commitment to being a Smart City”. According to Recasens, the function of the application, called ApparkB, is to make it more convenient, cheaper and quicker for the public to park their vehicles. The service is completely free, and lets users to pay for the exact time they are parked. It will be available on Android and iPhone devices.

August 29, 2013 06:38 PM

Neanderthal’s period of greater expansion to be discovered at Catalan archaeological site Abric Romaní

ACN / Laura Fíguls / Laura Busquets

The archaeological site known as Abric Romaní is currently being excavated for the 31st year in order to continue documenting and understanding how Neanderthals lived and organised communities in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula. The archaeologist, palaeontologist and Director of excavations, Eudald Carbonell, has explained to the CNA that this campaign will be “very interesting” as the dig will be in the level corresponding to the time when the Neanderthals lived “their maximum expansion period”. Carbonell, who is one of the directors of Atapuerca site (where the Homo Antecessor was discovered), leads a team of 20 including research staff and doctoral students. The site is located some 50 kilometres west of Barcelona city and is open for the public to visit.

August 19, 2013 10:08 PM

The Catalan Society of Paediatrics denies that children in Catalonia suffer from food deprivation due to economic reasons

ACN

Last week, the Catalan Ombudsman issued a report stating that 4% of children in Catalonia under the age of 16 suffer from food deprivation (50,000 children) and he linked it to the current economic crisis. The Primary Care section of the Catalan Society of Paediatrics refutes the Ombudsman’s report warning that the known cases of undernourished children in Catalonia are due to illness and not to financial problems. They stated there are 750 children with food deprivation and most of whom have chronic diseases that cause malnutrition, such as metabolic disorders, neoplasia or anorexia nervosa. They emphasise that nowadays it is incorrect to talk about children with food deprivation in Catalonia for economic reasons, but they are concerned about the future.

August 12, 2013 09:40 PM

Barcelona’s Institute of Photonic Sciences is ranked first in the world in the fields of physics and astronomy

ACN

The Catalan Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), based in Greater Barcelona, is the highest ranked centre in the world in the fields of physics and astronomy, according to a survey carried out by Excellence Mapping. This ranking sorts the world’s leading research centres according to 17 different areas of academia. The ICFO was ranked first in physics and astronomy, while the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) was placed third in this category. Other Catalonia-based institutions that were included in the list were: the Institute for High Energy Physics, IFAE (18th place), the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (UAB) and the Polytechnic University of Barcelona (UPC). The Director of the ICFO, Lluís Torner, told the CNA that the Catalan model of research is “highly competitive”.

August 9, 2013 09:09 PM

50,000 children suffer from food deprivation in Catalonia, according to the Catalan Ombudsman

ACN

The Catalan Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, announced on Monday that 4% of children under the age of 16 suffer from food deprivation. Almost 50,000 children are not eating meat or fish at least once every two days, meaning they do not have a sufficient intake of protein. However, Ribó rejected there was a structural problem of malnutrition and linked the phenomenon to the economic crisis’ effects. Ribó asked the Catalan Government to act immediately to ensure that all children have access to enough food. The Ombudsman proposed 33 recommendations to reduce the child poverty rate, which currently stands at 28%, with approximately 345,000 children under the age of 16 living in poverty. The rate of extreme poverty has also increased in recent years and affects a tenth of Catalan children (130,000).

August 5, 2013 09:14 PM

The two Spanish MSF workers kidnapped in Kenya 21 months ago are released

ACN

The family of Montserrat Serra has confirmed to CNA the release of the two aid workers. The Catalan Montserrat Serra and Blanca Thiebaut, from Madrid, were working for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and they were captured in the Ifo2 refugee camp of Dadaab in Kenya on the 13th of October 2011. MSF has ensured the two workers are “in good health conditions and they are waiting to join their loved ones as soon as possible”. An MSF team is already assisting the two aid workers. It is believed that immediately after the capture Serra and Thiebault were moved to Somalia, where they have been kept prisoners since. During the 645-day ordeal, silence and caution has been imposed by the negotiators.

July 18, 2013 09:17 PM

Catalan schools to provide part of their curriculum in English and to teach a second foreign language

ACN

Plans have been made by the Catalan Ministry of Education that will adjust the curricula of primary, secondary and vocational training schools to provide part of them in English. In addition, pupils will be taught a second foreign language, prioritising the mother tongues of new-comers. The changes will prioritise the improvement and expanding of foreign language learning by Catalan pupils. A pilot program will be run by 50 schools starting next September and by 2018 all Catalan schools should follow the plan. The new model will ensure that by the end of their studies students will have mastered both Catalan and Spanish, be proficient in English, and 75% of them will understand a second foreign language.

July 16, 2013 09:17 PM

Olympic Gymnastic champion Gervasio Deferr teaches children in Barcelona’s La Mina suburb

Carla Giné Vázquez

Gervasio Deferr is a two-time pommel horse Olympic champion. The former Catalan gymnast won gold in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) and one silver medal in Beijing (2008) in the Floor category. He retired in 2011 after more than twenty years in the world of gymnastics. He currently trains gymnasts at the High Performance Centre (Centre d'alt Rendiment, CAR) in Sant Cugat del Vallès and instructs children and teenagers at the Gervasio Deferr La Mina Club in the La Mina suburb of Barcelona. CNA interviewed him.

July 16, 2013 05:52 PM

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