Society

The ‘Viquipèdia’, the Wikipedia version in Catalan language, is currently ranked 10th out of the 272 languages used in this encyclopaedia quality rankings.

The monument was unveiled after a controversy that provoked a location change; catholic organisations did not want it in the surroundings of the Sagrada Família Basilica. The monument honours the victims of the sexual orientation discrimination: lesbian, gay, and transsexual people.

FC Barcelona President, Sandro Rosell, accompanied by the Catalan President Artur Mas and the President of the ‘Fundació Banc dels Aliments’, Antoni Sansalvadó presented today the campaign “Enviem la fam a la porra” – “Sweep Away Hunger with the Sweepstake”.

A study has found that the Catalan language is used less than Spanish in Catalonia. In addition, only 40% of foreigners are able to speak Catalan. In total 95% of Catalan residents understand the language, 77% know how to speak it and 60% can write in it. When it comes to Spanish almost 100% of residents can both read and write in it.

Among Barcelona’s biomedical cluster, a project is comparing the genomes of great apes in order to identify the common structures and differences with human DNA. The aim of the project is to use genomic science to find a cure for human illnesses.

The ‘Taksee’ application, available for Android and iPhone, uses Internet connection to call a cab.

Discovering the optic properties of ‘graphene’, a new material for which the 2010 Physics Nobel Prize was awarded, is one of the institute’s projects. Frank Koopens came from Harvard to Catalonia to work on this project, together with other scientists.

The Catalan Government announced that knowledge of the Catalan language will be a “very determining” factor in proving integration in Catalonia in order to renew residency certificates or family grouping.

The project, sponsored by three Catalan universities, focuses on the academic community but it can be used by everyone. The initiative is unprecedented in Europe, especially as regards self-learning systems.

Catalan Juan Ferrando is the personal trainer of the Arsenal’s captain. Ferrando is training up some of the best football players in the English league. He left Catalonia looking for greater working experiences.

The new drug, called ‘Eribulin’, improves the survival rate of patients with a metastasis from breast cancer by 20%. The drug has been developed by a multinational team lead by staff from Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron Hospital. The study has been published in the reference medical journal ‘The Lancet’.

The Catalan Health Minister, Boi Ruiz, announced today that waiting lists will increase - with the exception of “life or death” situations. Hospitals will see their budget in health treatments and explorations decrease by 2%. In addition, the construction of new hospitals and health centres will also be put on stand by.

Maria Busqué decided to move to Berlin so that she could live off a musician's income, something she found almost impossible in Catalonia. This is a story from the new Catalan emigration.

With the aim of fostering vocational training in Catalonia, the Catalan Government approved a decree to modify it today. All students will have to learn foreign languages. Combining studies and a job will be easier. Programmes’ curriculum will be adapted to sector needs and student requirements.

More than 30 years after the end of the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco, some towns have yet to remove the symbols that celebrated the victory of the general back in 1939. In Tortosa, the council is following procedures to change the name of a neighbourhood that refers to the day that the fascists conquered the town.