Suddenly, the protesters begin to shout: "Out, police!" Shortly after, two people leave the protest walking and disappear around a corner. Who are they? Normally, a pair of agents from the Mossos d'Esquadra, from the General Information Commissioner's Office, who dress in plain clothes and listen closely to the demonstrations, especially those that may have a violent component. Now, let's assume that the demonstration has ended in riots and the protesters gather in an assembly to decide the next steps. It is also not strange that there are camouflaged Mossos agents to hear what they will do.

Només un mes després d'haver sortit de la presó, l'home que va sortir del centre penitenciari de Ponent amb un alt risc de reincidir ha tornat a actuar. La Guàrdia Urbana de Lleida l'ha detingut aquest divendres a la tarda per intentar atracar un supermercat a la mateixa capital del Segrià, segons fonts consultades per l'ARA. L'arrestat hauria tret una arma —que tot apunta que seria simulada— i ha marxat del local sense haver aconseguit endur-se res. La policia l'ha localitzat una hora després en un altre punt de Lleida.

A single ambiguous phrase from Vladimir Putin was enough for everyone to venture into predicting the proximity of a peace agreement in Ukraine. The Russian president implied that the war “is approaching its end”, opened the door to meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in a third country, and proposed former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as a possible European interlocutor with Russia. But, in reality, the Kremlin has not moved for a long time: its leader is convinced that Kyiv's defeat is a matter of months, he has no intention of meeting with the Ukrainian president unless it is to sign the end of the conflict, and any negotiation with the European Union will have to be done on his terms.If Donald Trump is difficult to decipher because he constantly contradicts himself, the exegeses of Putin's statements tend to overinterpret. During the surprise press conference that the Russian president convened on Victory Day evening, he took advantage of a criticism of Western support for Ukraine to say: “They began to stoke confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day. I believe the matter is approaching its end, but nevertheless, it is a serious matter.” 

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Friday that the number two of the Islamic State and the "most active terrorist on the planet" Abu-Bilal al-Minuki has been eliminated in Nigeria. According to Trump, his death occurred during a "very complex and meticulously planned mission" between the Armed Forces of the United States and those of Nigeria. Trump made the announcement on his social network, Truth Social: "Under my direction, brave American forces and the Nigerian Armed Forces have impeccably executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate from the battlefield the world's most active terrorist, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS (Islamic State)." "He will no longer terrorize the African people nor help plan operations against Americans," the leader added in his publication.

Donald Trump has left China –where he met with Xi Jinping– with kind words, but without having resolved any of his concerns: neither the blockade in Hormuz, nor the Taiwan crisis, nor the trade balance. Manel Ollé, professor of Chinese studies at the UPF and expert in the Asian giant, analyzes the meeting between the two leaders, which has been more marked by gestures than by tangible agreements.

Cuba s'ha convertit en el soroll de fons que se sent per sota dels grans titulars de la guerra de l'Iran. Tot i estar molt enfeinat amenaçant els aiatol·làs dia sí i dia també, Donald Trump ha trobat forats per insinuar una possible acció militar contra l'illa. Ja sigui parlant de fer-hi "una aturada" o bé dient que en prendrà "el control". Fins i tot ha plantejat enviar prop del port de l'Havana el portaavions Abraham Lincoln –que actualment està ocupat amb el bloqueig d'Ormuz– per forçar la capitulació del govern cubà. Uns missatges que, com ja és costum en la diplomàcia trumpiana, s'han contradit amb altres afirmacions sobre un possible diàleg. Aquest dimarts, abans de marxar cap a la Xina, el magnat escrivia a Truth Social que atendria les sol·licituds del govern cubà civilitzadament: "Cuba està demanant ajuda i parlarem". Dijous, el director de la CIA, John Ratcliffe, viatjava a l'Habana per fer una sorprenent reunió amb alts funcionaris del govern cubà. No han transcendit detalls concrets de la trobada.

Given the impossibility of advancing in the short term with the transfer of personal income tax (IRPF), Esquerra had to look for another trophy that would allow it to exhibit some influence in Salvador Illa's government. It has ended up choosing the railway 'fourth ring road', the orbital line that the tripartite had begun to plan and which had been stored away since 2010. And once it has the PSC's commitment, the republicans consider that the time has come to approve the Government's budgets. As reported by RAC1 and confirmed by ARA, next Monday the leadership has convened an extraordinary national council at 6:30 p.m. to validate what the negotiating team has achieved and give the go-ahead to the accounts, which the executive will present imminently. The agenda includes an analysis of the political moment and the state of the budgetary negotiation.

Un dur informe sobre l'estat de l'economia catalana, elaborat per diversos economistes, carrega contra l'estructura productiva del país pel fet que hi ha diversos sectors empresarials que estan, de facto, "altament subvencionats" per la resta del teixit econòmic. Aquest model actual ha representat un "empobriment" de la societat catalana i una pèrdua continuada de productivitat del teixit empresarial en comparació amb Europa en els últims 25 anys. "El país es dessagna", ha resumit el coordinador de l'informe, el directiu i enginyer Xavier Roig.

Much more than an endemic species, the Ibiza wall lizard (Podarcis pityusensis),which has inhabited Ibiza and Formentera and the surrounding islets for millennia, is a living cultural and identity symbol, as well as a key piece of the island ecosystems. And yet, it is being erased from the territory. In fact, the situation it is in is so critical that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has placed it on its red list in the category ofendangered.The reason for this extreme situation is that an invasive snake, the horseshoe snake (Hemorrhois hippocrepis),which arrived hidden in ornamental olive trees imported from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa in the 2000s, has already spread across 90% of Ibiza's territory, and is devouring most specimens of lizards. Now, moreover, and worryingly, the snake has made the leap to Formentera and many of the nearly 40 surrounding islets, where unique populations of this small lizard live.

A large part of the world looks with concern towards the Strait of Hormuz, the passage that connects the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean and through which a fifth of the hydrocarbons that reached the international market passed before the United States and Israel decided to attack Iran. Hydrocarbons are the basis of fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) and, currently, are essential for generating energy and manufacturing plastics. Many European countries fear that if the war continues and the blockade of the strait persists, as well as attacks on refineries and petrochemical plants in the Middle East, oil derivatives such as kerosene, which powers airplanes, may begin to run out. Faced with this situation, in Spain, eyes are not focused far away, but rather on the eight refineries of Repsol, BP, and Moeve that are still operational – among them, the one in the Tarragona petrochemical complex – which have become a breath of fresh air in the face of the threat of hydrocarbon shortages.

Francesc Magrinyà (Barcelona, 1963) és enginyer de camins i el principal expert del país en Ildefons Cerdà. Una figura sobre la qual, diu, s'ha imposat durant anys un relat incomplet. Per mirar de capgirar-lo i coincidint amb la commemoració del 150è aniversari de la seva mort, acaba de publicar el llibre Teoría Cerdà (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), un treball majúscul que acosta l'obra, però també el pensament, l'entorn i la història del creador de l'Eixample. Magrinyà és també el comissari d'una exposició sobre Cerdà que es podrà veure aviat a Centelles, Barcelona i Madrid.

Six years ago, the life of Virginia Torrecilla (Cala Millor, 1994) changed completely. At just 25 years old, and just when she had arrived at Atlètic de Madrid, a brain tumor was detected. A very big impact – even more so in the midst of the covid pandemic – for a footballer who saw how, all of a sudden, she lost everything.

In Sant Bartomeu del Grau, they have the Vic plain at their feet. “We are a borderland,” they say half-jokingly, as the town is within Lluçanès but administratively attached to Osona. One spring weekend, residents arrive at the municipal building where the assembly hall is located. People of all ages. Some children are playing football outside, and inside, tables are being prepared for a fellowship meal where local cured meats are not lacking. The Barça supporters' club is organizing an event, and it seems half the town will be there.

Accept that people might call them hamsters. "We always make the joke too: 'Come on, let's do the hamster'," says Oriol Antolí (Terrassa, 1983). A few days ago, he achieved the Spanish record for Backyard Ultra, a discipline that comes from America. It consists of running a 6.7-kilometer circuit with a start every hour on the hour: the minutes left between reaching the finish line and the next starting gun are used to eat, rest, and even sleep. Whoever lasts the longest wins, like in the Japanese movie Battle Royale. It's a test of endurance, not speed. The discipline is "very successful" and is becoming increasingly popular in Catalonia: the third edition of the Backyard Ultra de Terra Endins brought together 200 participants in Torelló at the beginning of May.

Yesterday we told you in this space that “it would be good for the Minister of the Interior to limit herself to apologizing and saying that it will not happen again”. And in the afternoon, in Parliament, Núria Parlon said: "I do want to apologize, and apologize to the educational union, in this case the CGT, for this feeling of distrust and insecurity that this has generated in relation to your assembly work and in relation to your organization and protest rights".Apologizing is an effective move because it lowers the tone of public controversy and reduces the discomfort of the offended party who is asking for explanations. An apology from a politician always makes for a bigger headline. And everyone understands that those responsible admit a mistake and, furthermore, everyone can imagine that something like this will not happen again. And the truth is that the way political communication is done nowadays, it is quite infrequent: have you ever heard Trump or Ayuso apologize?Therefore, the councilor's apology is correct, but in politics everything has a meaning. Firstly, the Government is in full negotiation with the teachers' unions (today specifically, they are sitting at the negotiation table), and these days, the Government is closing the budget agreement with Esquerra. Parlon had very powerful incentives to lower her head and tone.And now let's get to the facts: some Mossos agents infiltrated in a teachers' assembly and were discovered. The Director General of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, also acknowledges the mistake and even speaks of naivety.Josep Lluís Trapero: "But in the same way that I acknowledge the error or lack of opportunity, I do not acknowledge bad faith or an antidemocratic attitude in that operation. I emphasize again: I acknowledge the error in the lack of opportunity. And, if you wish, even the naivety of the decision".The minister and director spoke of a “poorly planned operational maneuver”. In other words, there was no political order, but rather a usual modus operandi (the minister spoke of “inertias”) that was poorly resolved. And this morning, on TV3, she said that the police had the right to use an “undercover agent”, a figure recognized by law, that the method used the other day is not the appropriate one, that there are “more appropriate police legal figures when you have a risk”.Therefore, what the political leadership of the Mossos says is that the infiltration was a mistake by the uniformed officers (not the politicians), who acted routinely, without anyone with sufficient rank assessing whether or not it was necessary to spy on an assembly from which a mobilization would emerge that is often announced in the media. It must be said: whether it is a mistake by the police officers who execute or by the politicians who rule, the ultimate responsible for anything the police do are the politicians. And, obviously, the Mossos will continue to infiltrate, as all police forces in the world do. Meanwhile, today it's the teachers' strike in Girona and Central Catalonia. And the minister is meeting with teacher unions today. May it go well, because this will be good for everyone.Good morning.

The passage of a polar front has caused a significant cooling, with an atmosphere more typical of March than May. Temperatures have been between 3 and 8 degrees below average for the time of year, and snow has fallen in the Pyrenees below 1,400 m, leaving wintery and postcard-like landscapes at medium and high altitudes. In Montseny, it has also snowed anecdotally at the highest elevations. Yesterday, showers and storms intensified during the afternoon in the center and north of the country. They were locally strong and accompanied by hail, short-lived, and accumulated little water: most left between 2 and 8 l/m². Nevertheless, in some cases these figures were exceeded, notably 18 l/m² at Lac Redon (2,245 m, Vall d'Aran) or 12 at Santa Coloma de Farners (Selva).

Fa temps que el còmic ja no ha de picar a les portes dels museus a la recerca d’un reconeixement i d’una validació cultural. Ser popular i irreverent no ha impedit que s’exposés a les sales d’art de grans museus. El MNAC, per exemple, va col·locar unes vinyetes de Josep Coll sobre la vaga dels tramvies al costat d’un quadre de Joan Miró. Durant molt de temps, però, no es va fusionar en peu d’igualtat amb el que es considerava art en majúscules. I, en conseqüència, no hi havia una política per conservar un patrimoni que a Catalunya és força important.

At the ARA newspaper, we have believed for many years that comics are an art and also a journalistic genre in which there is opinion, information, reflection, and humor. For this reason, coinciding with Comic Barcelona, we are replacing photographs with drawings by cartoonists who give their vision of current events.

El càncer de pàncrees és un dels diagnòstics més greus de la medicina. Hi ha pocs tractaments disponibles, i són de poca ajuda. Durant dècades, els medicaments experimentals van fracassar en els assajos. Molts investigadors van creure que els obstacles biològics no es podien superar.

Alberto Gadel (Santa Cristina d'Aro, 2004) became known on TikTok for creating content in Catalan when almost nobody else was. With a provocative touch and a language that jumps from masculine to feminine and from Catalan to Spanish and English, Gadel presented 3Cat's Espai Eufòria with Aina da Silva, and presents the Loft with Gal·la Castellfort. Like many people of his generation, the beginnings of his relationship with wine have a clear name: Vinya del Mar.Let's start here.

May 18, 2026, will be a date etched in the history of Bizum, the Spanish payment services provider par excellence. This Monday, its BizumPay platform will land in shops, bars, and restaurants to present itself as a payment alternative to conventional debit and credit cards, a universe until now dominated by North American groups like Visa or Mastercard. The news excites banks and European institutions, who are looking for new ways to reduce dependence on the United States in all sectors. However, commerce greets the measure with doubts and a rather limited initial implementation is expected.

Gairebé deu anys després d’haver-los de retornar per ordre judicial, ara la Generalitat reclama a la part aragonesa 791.119,47 euros per les despeses de conservació de 53 objectes i obres d’art del monestir de Sixena que van ser conservats al Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) i al Museu de Lleida. Aquesta quantitat és la suma dels 420.000 euros que el Govern va pagar a les monges pels objectes als anys vuitanta i noranta i de 370.000 euros corresponents a les despeses de conservació i restauració, amb l’actualització de l’IPC. El MNAC, per la seva part, també ha realitzat una reclamació centrada en les obres adquirides pel museu el juny de 1994. Tot i que les compres van ser declarades nul·les, fonts del MNAC asseguren que és la seva "obligació" com a institució pública reclamar les quantitats pagades. La reclamació el MNAC la va presentar el 12 de maig al bisbat de Barbastre-Montsó, a l’orde de Sant Joan de Santa Maria de Sixena, a l’orde de Malta i a la reverenda mare Virginia Calatayud Aleixandre, presidenta federal de la Federació dels Monestirs de l’orde de Sant Joan de Jerusalem.

It is an ordinary spring day. Someone, from their home, is preparing a letter. The envelope also contains a series of illustrations. The ritual is repeated, a gesture that transports us to a past century, when algorithms did not yet exist. The one writing could be Mercè Rodoreda; the one receiving the letter, Joan Sales. But we are not in 1960 nor facing a classic literary correspondence, but rather a trend that emerged on social networks, called mail club, which points to a timid return of postal mail in a scenario of digital saturation and the search for analog alternatives.Through a model we already know, that of the monthly subscription, artists and illustrators from all over the world send letters, stickers, illustrations, photographs, or recipes to a group of subscribers. "Receiving a well-cared-for and beautiful letter in your mailbox every month, in a world saturated with information and mediated by screens, seems like a stroke of luck to me," explains Lorena, a young woman who is subscribed to two mail clubs different, Bunny Mail Club and La Mamarrracha. "I believe that, in addition, it is a way to support artists, because their work is often lost in the immensity of content distributed on social networks," she reflects.A new way to connect

While other digital trends are born and stay in the online universe, the mail club, on the other hand, has managed to make the leap to the offline world, and has gained special strength among generations like Z. “We need community in all areas, and this component is especially important for generations like Z. In Spain, 35% of young people between 18 and 24 years old feel lonely; we have a very significant situation of unwanted loneliness. Initiatives like mail clubs can contribute to creating community and connecting with objects in another way,” reflects Liliana Arroyo Moliner, director of the SoReDI (Chair for Socially Responsible Digital Innovation) at Esade.The phenomenon, which has been operating in the United States for a couple of years through crowdfunding platforms like Patreon, has found its niche in Catalonia thanks to profiles like communicator Berta Aroca or illustrator Irina Torres Conejero, creator of Bon Profit Club, who prepares a surprise content each month, often related to a time of year like Valentine's Day, Christmas, or seasons like spring.“I always include a letter written and signed by me, a sheet of A5 cotton paper, and some small details like a sticker, a postcard, a template for journaling, and other surprises”, explains Irina, who started this project in November 2025 and already has over forty subscribers. As with most of these mailings, her letter is much more than a simple piece of paper: “You don’t just open and read the letter, but you also decide what to do with the materials I send”.Unlike a newsletter, which can go unnoticed among countless emails, a paper letter fills a space and accompanies us. “It can be smelled, framed, and can live in a drawer, in the fridge, on a wall, or in furniture. Besides being more subtle and erotic, it is tangible, and we are short on experiences that involve the use of hands, and not just eyes and ears,” explains Bea Salas, psychologist, illustrator, and creativity teacher.Following this line, the artist Laura García, from León, created in June 2024 Garlic Yaya Club, a monthly mail club that combines unpublished recipes, letters, and various artistic objects designed by herself. “I wanted to create something physical that people could touch, collect, and enjoy beyond the screen.” In Laura's case, each edition revolves around a theme and a recipe that inspires her: “When I discovered the format, I realized it had to be about cooking. It was something I hadn't seen before, so I decided that Garlic Yaya Club would have its own recipes to convey my passion for home cooking, slow processes, and carefully made things,” explains this entrepreneur, co-owner of Antisouvenir®, a bookstore specializing in independent publications that she runs with her partner.This slowness, in contrast with the immediate gratification of algorithms, seems to be the key to these postal deliveries. Even though in 2011, with the creation of the first social networks, users acted as true "internet inhabitants", today networks have become a publicity showcase, both of ourselves and of all kinds of products, as Marta G. Franco explains in the book Les xarxes són nostres. Una història popular d’internet i un mapa per tornar a habitar-la, published in Spanish by the editorial Consonni. We scroll without looking, we accumulate links that we never open and, amidst so much digital chaos, we all seek the feeling of belonging to something more real, especially at a time marked by the generation of images with artificial intelligence.“Faced with empires like ChatGPT, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Apple, phenomena naturally emerge in the opposite direction, in this case, spaces that protect and celebrate our humanity: handmade art, dedicated communication, the use of senses, and face-to-face interaction. Mail clubs seem to be a response to a real need to express ourselves, communicate, and belong without major intermediaries,” explains Salas. mail clubs seem to be a response to a real need to express ourselves, communicate, and belong without major intermediaries,” explains Salas. The value of physical experience

In fact, for Generation Z, the internet is a central element in their daily lives and also their main leisure activity: 90% spend two or more hours a day online, according to the 2023 Youth Survey, collected in the 2024 Report on Youth in Spain. the 2024 Report on Youth in Spain. "I don't know if this model will last as is, but it does respond to a deep need that will probably remain: generations that have grown up with digital find more value in non-virtuality and in what is tangible," confirms Arroyo.Marina, who was subscribed for two months to a mail club from the United States, confirms this theory that we have already seen in trends like Sonny Angels: “I was very excited about opening the letter, not knowing exactly what was coming, discovering the postcards and stickers; more than the letter, it was the whole package that surrounded it. However –she explains–, being in another language, I didn't end up feeling part of the community”.This is not the case for Irina and Laura. They do maintain direct communication with their subscribers: “I always encourage them to write to me whenever they want, even by letter, because I love getting to know them. In fact, I always send a personalized welcome email, encouraging them to tell me who they are, what they like, and what motivates them to cook,” says the creator of Garlic Yaya Club, who, despite not being able to live solely off this format, sees it as a viable alternative. “I always ask in the letter how they are, and I receive quite a few messages replying to me on Instagram, and that’s really cool because I do feel that a different bond is created,” says Irina.Like any trend born on social media, mail clubs cannot be disconnected from their digital component, nor can they foresee the behavior of some users, who will probably limit themselves to photographing the content and posting it on their social networks. Nevertheless, artisanal work and analog creation exist beyond these subscriptions. The format only shows us that, faced with a lack of intimacy and connection, "human beings are more intelligent and creative, and look for ways like these to recover what they miss: connection, contact, and a shared experience," reflects psychologist and illustrator Bea Salas.

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Meetings with children's tutors are the opportunity to know what their life is like in the microcosm where they spend a large part of the day, at least from the age of six to sixteen. If there are no major problems, one or two meetings per academic year are usually scheduled, with meetings lasting around an hour. Although lately, teachers and families also communicate throughout the year, via email, when they deem it appropriate.Both Montse Jiménez, a secondary school teacher at Fundació Vedruna Catalunya Educació, and Núria Sabaté, a primary school teacher at Escola Marià Fortuny in Reus, recommend asking, in addition to academic questions, about your children's personal development. There is life beyond notes

Jiménez considers that most families are mainly concerned about grades, focusing on results even though the reports are qualitative and include tutor observations that assess transversal skills: “It still weighs heavily on 'How is my child doing?', and they refer to how they are doing in terms of results”. Along the same lines, Sabaté recommends that families ask questions to ensure they understand the tutors' perception of how their children are in class, if they participate, are happy, integrated, and get along well with their classmates: “To begin with, families should become aware of how their children are doing at school, and if there is anything that concerns the family, this is the time to discuss it”. In these meetings, parents can be interested in their children's overall development, progress and process, their achievements, and if they are improving. “Knowing their strengths, the difficulties they might have, their level, or if they are happy at school”, suggests the teacher. Therefore, it is the perfect opportunity to learn more about your children, beyond the reports. The use of technology

One of the recurring questions that have been arising lately from families is the use of technology in the center, for what, with which applications or platforms and with what supervision. “It is an issue that increasingly occupies families. These meetings can be a space to discuss it,” says the teacher. Meetings with families are also an opportunity for the center to ask – not to scrutinize, they say – about the uses of technologies and screens. “Sometimes we find primary school children who fall asleep in class or have trouble keeping up with the pace,” says the teacher, and she comments that they usually take the opportunity to share good uses of digital devices with families. Bond of trust

The teachers insist on the importance of weaving a bond of trust between the family and the school, “each of us wants the best for our children and students, we need to find points of convergence, focus more on the possible solution than on the problem”, proposes Jiménez. These spaces are perfect for complicity between the school and the family, for families to ask what they can do at home so that their children improve with what they need, and that these are not always shortcomings related to academic matters, they can also be personal or social skills. “The more fluid the communication, the better. It is worth setting common goals, because when the family and the school work together, the children perceive it quickly and it encourages them to improve. This is what we all want, for children and young people to achieve the best of themselves”, explains Sabaté. The two teachers recall the importance of asking about the person in all their dimensions, “they may have good academic results, but they need to improve personal aspects”, says Jiménez. “In such an individualistic society, it is necessary to form empathetic citizens, capable of weaving complicities, and who work for the common good. All together we must worry about what each student does and how they are”, she concludes.

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Andalusia is the last stop before the municipal elections and the general elections scheduled for 2027. The most populated region of the State ends the regional electoral cycle that began on December 21 in Extremadura and that, five months later, culminates in a key event to measure the forces of the PP, the PSOE, Vox and the alternative left. After the elections in Aragon on February 8 and in Castile and Leon on March 15 drew a panorama practically identical to Extremadura, with PP victories insufficient to govern alone, these elections could mean a change of script for the popular party, under the leadership of the Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno.

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Isabel Díaz Ayuso further tightens the noose with Mexico. The Madrid president doesn't seem to have had enough of the controversy over her trip to the country, in which she claimed the conqueror Hernán Cortés, and this Thursday she made another statement with a clear provocative intent: 'Mexico did not exist until the Spanish arrived,' she said in the plenary session of the Madrid Assembly. 'It was another civilization,' she added in response to criticism from the PSOE over her stay in Mexico.

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4,311 days after Jordi Pujol's confession, the trial against his family has been postponed for sentencing. In between, there has been an arduous judicial investigation that lasted six years, an eight-month stay in prison for the eldest son of the former President of the Generalitat, and a sum of 80,000 pages. On November 24, 2025, the National Court kicked off the trial: 38 sessions, 200 witnesses, 17 defendants defended by the elite of Catalan criminal law, and two accusations. Three judges and one question to answer: was the fortune the Pujol family had in Andorra an inheritance or was it the fruit of corruption? These have been the best moments at the National Court.

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La reunió de la Comissió Bilateral Generalitat-Estat per encarrilar l'acord de pressupostos entre Govern i ERC serà dimecres que ve a Madrid, segons ha pogut saber l'ACN.

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L'elecció del candidat de Junts a l'Ajuntament de Barcelona no només no es resol, sinó que es complica. Segons ha pogut saber l'ARA, el portaveu del partit al consistori, Jordi Martí, ha comunicat a la direcció la seva decisió de presentar-se en unes eventuals primàries i plantar batalla. Una intenció que topa amb la voluntat de la cúpula de Junts de nomenar un candidat sense passar per una disputa interna. De fet, després de rebre el no d'independents com l'empresari Tatxo Benet o l'expresident Artur Mas i l'exconseller Joaquim Forn, l'opció més probable de la direcció era el portaveu, Josep Rius. La mà dreta des que Carles Puigdemont va ser president de la Generalitat.

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In the last decade, the number of people forced to flee their homes and move elsewhere within their own country has doubled. Natural disasters, exacerbated by the climate crisis, used to be the main cause, but last year, for the first time, wars and violence became the factor forcing more people to move, according to the latest annual report from the Internal Displacement Observatory (IDMC), linked to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

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Representatives from Israel and Lebanon agreed this Friday in Washington to extend the ceasefire for 45 more days. The truce was declared on April 16, although it has not been respected. The announcement was made by the United States, which is acting as a mediator. Talks will resume on June 2 and 3, and in a military meeting at the Pentagon on May 29. Israel and Lebanon, which do not have diplomatic relations, had held two previous rounds of contacts in Washington.

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Els nord-americans no són famosos pel seu amor a les verdures. Els plats bàsics de la cuina nord-americana són rics en midó, formatge i carn. Tot i això, hi ha una excepció que es cola en tot: el tomàquet. A les hamburgueses; a la salsa per a pizza; i processat, es transforma en quètxup. Després de les patates, els nord-americans mengen més tomàquets que qualsevol altra verdura. Així i tot, els qui compren tomàquets al supermercat poden experimentar una sensació de déjà vu. Els preus dels tomàquets són gairebé un 25% més alts que fa un any. És com el que va passar amb els ous.

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Donald Trump s'ha acomiadat aquest divendres de la Xina i de Xi Jinping amb aparent satisfacció i paraules grandiloqüents, però amb pocs anuncis concrets. Tots dos líders han volgut destacar la visita com a "històrica" i han assegurat que estableix les bases per estabilitzar les relacions i augmentar la cooperació entre les dues principals potències mundials. Però, tot i la bona sintonia, no s'ha anunciat cap acord concret i s'han evidenciat diferències o ambigüitats en temes com Taiwan i l'Iran.

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A conventional data center and an artificial intelligence gigafactory (or gigafactory, the fashionable Anglicism, adopted by analogy with the name Tesla gives to its automotive factories) share the same exterior appearance: immense industrial warehouses surrounded by ventilation systems and electrical substations. But inside they are completely different. The first is a warehouse of bits: it stores data and serves it when requested. The second is a manufacturing facility, but instead of car parts or cookies, it produces responses generated by artificial intelligence (and the resulting "brain" from training the algorithm with millions of data).

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Salvador Illa ha tornat a creuar l'Atlàntic, però aquesta vegada per visitar els Estats Units –fa uns mesos va visitar Mèxic–. En concret, l'estat de Califòrnia. L'objectiu, segons el Govern, és estrènyer llaços amb el sector tecnològic i audiovisual nord-americà. Illa ha visitat diverses empreses i ha firmat acords de col·laboració amb institucions. I mentre el president signava aquests pactes a Califòrnia, a Catalunya el seu govern deixava encarrilats els pressupostos amb Esquerra, fins al punt que la setmana que ve sembla que s'aprovaran definitivament.

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El mosso acusat d'enganyar la parella del seu fillastre aprofitant-se de la seva discapacitat psíquica greu per violar-la i aconseguir-ne pornografia no ha volgut donar cap explicació. L'acusat –no ha perdut l'actitud despreocupada ni en alguns moments el somriure– ha rebutjat la seva oportunitat de donar una versió exculpatòria al judici on els últims dos dies diferents testimonis l'han incriminat. El tribunal també ha revisat les imatges i els missatges que van intercanviar amb la noia fins a convertir-la en "una esclava sexual", en paraules de les acusacions.

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Jaume Collboni has saved this Friday one of the last hot potatoes he had on his table this term. Junts per Barcelona has announced its favorable vote for the new Ciutat Vella usage plan, the mechanism with which the City Council can influence the commercial fabric of the district. A document that had caused a stir among neighborhood associations and left-wing groups in the council – they consider that it consolidates the tourist monoculture of the area – and that the district councilor, Albert Batlle, has defended once the necessary support has been secured to move it forward.

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La transformació del barri de la Marina de Sants, que ha d'acollir 30.000 veïns en la pròxima dècada, ja està en marxa. L'alcalde de Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, ha anunciat aquest dijous una inversió de 50 milions d'euros per "recosir, vertebrar i connectar" aquesta zona de la ciutat –que lliga la Marina del Prat Vermell i la Marina del Port– i que està en plena expansió. Segons Collboni, aquest barri naixerà dotat dels serveis adequats per tal de prevenir les desigualtats socials que, a la majoria de barris, s'han de pal·liar a posteriori, i ha posat d'exemple que es crearà un passeig verd a la Zona Franca, s'hi farà habitatge protegit i es procurarà la creació de comerços als baixos dels edificis. Tot plegat per garantir el "dret [dels barcelonins] a quedar-se" a la ciutat.

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Els Mossos d'Esquadra han detingut un professor d'un institut de Ciutat Vella de Barcelona per facilitar drogues i alcohol als alumnes, així com presumptament per assetjar sexualment estudiants adolescents del mateix centre, segons ha pogut saber l'ARA. La investigació d'aquest cas es remunta al mes de juny del 2025, just abans que acabés el curs escolar, quan a la policia catalana els arriba la informació que un docent té contactes inadequats amb els seus alumnes. Es diu que hi ha un professor que té molta relació amb els estudiants per les xarxes socials, que fins i tot han mantingut trobades fora del centre i sense l'autorització de l'institut. També que hi podia haver consum d'alcohol i drogues i assetjament.

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The exceptional visit of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to China has ended without a clear path for the geopolitical tensions caused by his administration. The unfounded optimism of the New York executive has not served to calm the market: on the contrary, the end of the trip coincided, this Friday, with the most intense rise in the price of the Brent barrel of the entire week. The European reference for crude oil skyrocketed at half past five in the afternoon, approaching 109 dollars. It is already on its way to the highs since the beginning of the war, close to 115 dollars, set at the beginning of the month.

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Inspecció de Treball de Catalunya (ITC) ha decidit apujar el to. L'any 2025 s'ha convertit en l'exercici amb més activitat sancionadora de la història de l'organisme: ha tancat el balanç amb un total de 53,5 milions d'euros en multes, un 8,2% més que l'any anterior. Aquest increment no és casual, sinó fruit d'una maquinària que, tot i la manca de personal, ha aconseguit detectar 14.447 infraccions, prop d'un 9% més que l'any 2024.

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El crèdit hipotecari continua circulant –de fet, algunes entitats financeres han advertit que d'una forma insostenible– mentre els preus de l'habitatge pugen mes rere mes. En aquest context, ja hi ha qui està notant una dificultat a l'hora de comprar: les llars en què l'habitatge principal està en règim de lloguer tenen una "capacitat financera limitada" per adquirir un primer immoble en propietat mitjançant una hipoteca, segons el Banc d'Espanya. Sigui com sigui, l'escenari no mostra senyals de preocupació a parer de l'organisme supervisor, que des de fa uns mesos analitza si ha d'activar alguna limitació sobre els criteris de concessió de les hipoteques d'alt risc que s'estan donant.

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The Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, has defended the Spanish government's strategy for regulating AI and digital tools. In an intervention at the first Meeting for Digital Rights, held this Thursday at the Llotja de Mar in Barcelona, López assured that the executive's proposals in this regard, such as the prohibition of minors' access to social networks, are "common sense".

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The topic of the week has been the regularization of half a million immigrants. Although you might think it's not an economic issue, it's a topic that comes up in all my economics classes.

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Esther Vera, director of ARA since 2016, has been awarded the National Journalism Award, as announced this morning by the Generalitat. The executive council has agreed to recognize the journalist "for having decisively contributed to consolidating the ARA newspaper as one of the leading publications in the country". The award ceremony will take place on May 19 in Sabadell.

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A group from the ARA Premium Club has enjoyed a day in Calonge. The activity began with a walk through the historic center of the town, just as the numerous bookstores were opening ("Calonge, town of books" is a slogan that has become popular) and when the people of Calonge were going to the outdoor market stalls. The participants stopped for a good while in front of a large mural by Pilarín, and reviewed the main elements of Calonge it contains.

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When you do a Google search related to a current event, it's common for the search engine to highlight a series of news related to what you're looking for. Google chooses which news and which media outlets it highlights according to its own algorithm, and until now there was no way to choose which media it promoted more and which ones it didn't. But this has changed: now the user can choose which media outlets they want to be highlighted more. They do this through the "Source preferences" option, which until recently was only available in English in the United States and which now works in Spanish.

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More games, more original and more adapted to mobile. This summer, the ARA has improved and expanded its hobby website of language with four new games. The popular success of activities such as the ARA website Trobamot and the Crossword, which are among the most viewed content every day, added to the readers that the Saturday game supplement has been cultivating, Capficated, has made the newspaper double down on its games portal with four signature puzzles, which are added to the four we already had.

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The subscriber Joan Talarn sends me a complaint about the conference Green energies: yes, but not in my town, co-organized by the newspaper and the IEC, and covered in a chronicle by Pol Casaponsa published last the 5th, the day I receive the reader's email, which I reproduce: “I thought it was a title to attract an audience and promote debate, because I couldn't believe that ARA would promote anti-renewables. To my surprise and that of some attendees, we found a table of retardist speakers who say “not like this”, but who don't know how to do the math to explain “how”. Luckily, some attendees expressed diverse opinions, because otherwise we would have been very disappointed. Please, have another talk with different points of view to correct this very biased talk”.I take note of the criticism and forward it to the management, which nevertheless specifies that “it is doubtful that the speakers invited by the newspaper should all be considered latecomers” and that the speaker Joan Nogué, a professor at the University of Girona, was simply advocating for a gradual approach: “One should start with urbanized areas, such as industrial estates, reservoirs, or roads”. The majority of comments addressed to me by readers follow this pattern, which, moreover, is the norm in the task of journalistic ombudsmen: a criticism and a request for correction or improvement, suggestions, a comparison with the corresponding section, and possibly an expert commentary from outside the newspaper. In the case of subscriber Talarn, the conventional dynamic is further refined because it appeals precisely to comparison, which is normative in all professional ethics. But I also detect a change in trend. In my two years as Reader's Advocate, I have received quite a few critical comments about the newspaper for having published certain articles. These complaints, added to the comments at the foot of the article, have been exponentially boosted around the publication of Elena García's article on Noelia Castillo's euthanasia. I dealt with this in my chronicle of April 12, titled "Euthanasia, journalism, tolerance". Following this piece, I have received criticism again, which now includes me for having defended its publication. Elena García's article on Noelia Castillo's euthanasia. I dealt with this in my chronicle of April 12, titled "Euthanasia, journalism, tolerance". Following this piece, I have received criticism again, which now includes me for having defended its publication. about the euthanasia of Noelia Castillo. I dealt with it in We live in a world where intolerance has gone viral; you only have to take a stroll through social media, to see day in and day out that society is becoming judgmental, the presumption of innocence has been reduced to ashes, politics lives in the courts and Parliaments in investigatory commissions and summary control sessions. Intolerance is neither created nor destroyed, it transforms, if you allow me to parody Einstein's reformulation of an old physical principle; religious sin has mutated into civil sin, and the spread of the far right urbi et orbi – as evident from last Sunday's ARA poll— is a breeding ground that favors and spreads it environmentally.In this extension, we find intolerances based on the usual reactionary principles – in the case of euthanasia, those vaunted by Abogados Cristianos – and in general the far-right, easily detectable; others that nevertheless express themselves from the progressive side, captured in the unwritten code of the politically correct; and, finally, the contradiction in terminis where defenders of progressive principles, on the other hand, invoke reactionary practices to limit the open expression of opposing positions. A social conquest, however advanced and legitimate it may be, must be open to criticism, and the medium that decides not to publish a criticism will have to resolve whether the non-publication is in accordance with the law or is censorship. Always following the maximalist guarantor principle in dubio pro reo, it is necessary to publish if the argumentative battery for non-publication presents doubts, and removing from the equation that the media have the right to choose whether or not to publish an article or even an advertisement, which is a commercial transaction, which they have not requested.Fortunately, however, the deployment of restrictions on freedom of expression in the journalistic field admits a protective umbrella which is the concept of veracity, which can prevail over other assumptions, and which is set out in Article 20 of the Constitution. Some of the drafters of the Constitution were very sensitive to this issue, because Francoism had eroded, persecuted, and repressed freedom of expression. Jordi Solé Tura, one of those "fathers of the Constitution", an excellent jurist expert in constitutional law, in addition to his knowledge, knew from personal experience what it was like to defy censorship from exile and the clandestinity of Radio Espanya Independent, the famous Radio Pirenaica. I am in this situation, I produced clandestine press very intensely, I dealt as best I could with the risks it entailed and, following Voltaire, Griffith, Todorov... I cherish the right to speak, even if I do not like it or detest it in substance or form. Being the Defender of the Reader a personal institution, I can conjugate this delicate subject in the first person, and I understand that the most honest way I have to exercise this function is by defending freedom of expression at its widest wavelength, even that of readers who will not agree with this article.Subscribers who wish to know my work live are invited next May 13, at half past four, in the Sala de les Sirenes of the Hotel Espanya on La Rambla. The Reader's Advocate takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints about the newspaper's content in its digital and paper editions, and ensures that the treatment of information is in accordance with the deontological codes.To contact the Reader's Advocate you can send an email to eldefensor@ara.cat or record a message of no more than one minute to the WhatsApp number 653784787. In all cases, identification with name, surnames and DNI number is required.

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The Christmas and January holidays represent a peak in household spending. Given this reality, the key is not only to have planned ahead, but also to take advantage of the start of the year to establish a solid monthly budget. We're often told to cut back on "small expenses"—like coffee at the bar—but the goal isn't to deprive ourselves of little pleasures, but rather to better manage the big picture. To improve our financial health, there are only two paths: increase income or reduce expenses.

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There are places that have soul, spirit, and strength, but too often we forget that a good part of that soul is given by people. In the Randa massif - already within the municipality of Llucmajor - under the beauty of the majestic rock, is the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace. A space that for more than half a century has had two faces that define it: the Algaidinians Sebastián Amengual and Francisca Miralles, the lay brothers of Gracia.

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With a t-shirt that reads "Palestinians will be free" and two uppercase tattoos on his forearms that say "SILENCE IS COMPLICITY", the pharmaceutical group Ferrer businessman and patron of the Ferrer Foundations, Sergi Ferrer-Salat, presented this Friday with his kind anti-system vehemence an exceptional project in Barcelona: the only bookstore in the world dedicated to the Palestinian conflict and its ramifications. "The question shouldn't be why we are opening this bookstore, the question is why no one has opened it before —he begins—. The main reason is the lack of awareness of to what extent the cause of the Palestinian people condenses, like no other in terms of virulence, cruelty, cynicism, and dehumanization, the full contemporary validity of the fateful triangle of imperialcolonialism, capitalism, and racism that has led us to today's world, a world eaten away and devastated by an unsustainable and immoral degree of inequality and injustice.

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Quina pel·lícula més valenta i emocionant que ha dirigit el director japonès Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Soudain, que s’ha presentat aquest divendres a la competició oficial del Festival de Canes, té l’audàcia de prendre’s tot el temps i les paraules que necessita per reflexionar sobre un tema tan poc cinematogràfic com les cures a les persones amb malalties neurològiques, i ho fa a través d’una preciosa història d’amistat entre dues dones, la directora d’una residència geriàtrica de París que introdueix una nova filosofia humanitària en el centre (Virginie Efira) i una directora teatral japonesa amb un càncer de pit terminal (Tao Okamoto).

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Per al fotògraf nord-americà Steve McCurry (Filadèlfia, 1950), les imatges han estat el seu "diari" i el "testimoni" de tot el que ha viscut durant els seus viatges per països com l’Índia, l’Afganistan, el Pakistan, Madagascar, Mauritània, el Japó, el Iemen, Kuwait i els mateixos Estats Units. Algunes de les seves imatges han quedat gravades en la memòria col·lectiva, sobretot la nena afganesa, que va ser portada de la revista National Geographic el 1985. Una altra de les imatges de McCurry més conegudes és la dels pous de petroli en flames durant la primera guerra del Golf, que, d’altra banda, va provocar un desastre ecològic. Però també reivindica el valor de la resta de les seves fotografies.

]]> In this chapter, there is not one wise woman. There are two. Two wise women who, like all the food lovers who stroll through Mengem, have set themselves the duty (a most delightful duty) of recovering and disseminating Catalan cuisine. Montse and Julia have an essential blog, Mengem, where they disseminate recipes, so it will be us, this time, who will disseminate the blog. Both of them, jokingly, say, because they have been cooking together for a long time, that they are "half a kilometer each."

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Elena Moya (Tarragona, 1970) és periodista i durant més de trenta anys ha seguit els mercats financers, primer com a professional de la informació a Espanya, els Estats Units i Anglaterra, i després com a professional de la inversió en gestores de fons. Acaba de publicar Chicas, hablemos de dinero (Larousse), un llibre en què es planteja per què moltes dones estalvien, però no inverteixen i com això impacta en la seva llibertat personal. La periodista, que actualment resideix a Irlanda, és una apassionada del futbol, ha escrit quatre novel·les i és la impulsora del Festival Literari Internacional de Morella.

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In 2020, a still unknown Berta Cusó (Barcelona, 1989) was a finalist for the Premi ARA de Còmic. She felt no sadness for not winning, but rather excitement for a career that was just beginning with that short comic strip (Paral·lel) and which now also includes two magnificent long comics: La conca dels àngels (Pagès, 2025), which has just won the first edition of the Vinyeta Ficomic award, and the recent L’extraordinària història del Circ Cric (Andana, 2026), winner of the València graphic novel award.

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The Vega Andújar family founded a project in the sports events sector in 1999. They organized a Coca-Cola Cup and some summer camps. The idea evolved towards the distribution of sportswear, and at the beginning of the 2000s, it grew to have eight multi-brand stores. From this initiative, Gedo (Gestión de Eventos Deportivos y Ocio) was born, founded in May 2002, and it grew to the point of outfitting more than 800 sports clubs throughout the country. In Catalonia, l’Hospitalet, Llagostera, Terrassa, and Reus were part of its client portfolio. But what seemed like a solvent business was not so much in reality. In fact, up to five transactions by brothers Ricard and Jordi Vega to raise funds for the company have ended up in court due to non-payment. Other attempts to capitalize Gedo, which today is a project in limbo, have involved several professional footballers. Most have lost their money and their faith in recovering it.

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In an effort to put names to things, some Barcelona fans have dubbed the season the "Clàssic League," for having won it just against Real Madrid. Others have simply called it Flick's second league. Some wanted to name it by reaching 100 points, but it won't be possible because the team won't reach that figure after the defeat at Alabès' ground (1-0) when there was nothing more at stake than honor. But the title, achieved three matchdays before the end, could be called the "Catalans' League." And it's because it had been half a century since there was a Barça with such participation of players born in Catalonia: almost half of the available minutes.

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Israel Katz, Israeli Defense Minister, has lashed out at Lamine Yamal for , on Monday in Barcelona. In a tweet in Spanish, Katz accused the Barça star of "inciting hatred", and resorted to the mantra that defending Palestinians is supporting terrorism. Katz has asked Barça to distance itself from it.

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After the confirmation of a blank season, with the defeat in the classic against Barça at the Camp Nou, the players, the coach, and the president of Real Madrid had to answer to the fans. And the Bernabéu delivered its verdict. Well, partially, because Madrid's stadium had the lowest attendance of the season in the inconsequential duel against an Oviedo that is already relegated to the Second Division. It didn't help that it was San Isidro's festivities and the poor results of Álvaro Arbeloa's team. But the spectators responded with whistles, especially towards Kylian Mbappé, and also with banners directed at Florentino Pérez, who lately doesn't have a moment's peace.

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Florentino Pérez's press conference on Tuesday was surprising, chaotic and, at times, grotesque. But the fact that the Real Madrid president, visibly nervous, had a sometimes disorganized speech and made off-topic, derogatory or sexist comments, does not mean he did not have some things clear. It was a campaign event, in which he launched the electoral machinery without prior planning and took the opportunity to disqualify the one who, for some time now, he knows is the only rival who can overshadow him.

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None of them are willing to have their real names appear in this report, and most prefer to conduct the interview by telephone. Some are minors, teenagers: their voices and manner of expression give them away. However, their ages are irrelevant because they all tell similar stories. Soraya is 20 years old, of Moroccan origin, and claims that her parents don't let her leave the house alone. She always has to be accompanied by her nine-year-old brother or her fifteen-year-old sister. Sukleen, 16, born in India but raised here, laments that her parents don't let her socialize with boys. And Laila, also 16 but originally from Bangladesh, was beaten by her father simply for wanting to study music.

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Psychologist and writer Jaume Funes and Mari Carmen have been together their entire lives. They met when they were 17 and 21 and married when they were 21 and 26, in 1973, "the same week Carrero Blanco was blown up," Jaume recalls. They were married by Juan Garcia Nieto, "a Jesuit priest and worker who was a leading figure in the social struggle in Cornellà," with whom both Jaume and Mari Carmen had collaborated in more or less clandestine activities since they were teenagers, and through whom they met. "Back then, we didn't have adolescence; we studied and worked. We were children of working-class families, and we both inherited the desire to know more and learn more," explains the psychologist.

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"This building is like a Bach fugue." Anna Bofill means it, and she will explain it later, sitting on one of the benches in one of the four blue courtyards of the building she helped build from the Taller de Arquitectura. We are in Walden 7, this great mass in Sant Just Desvern that stands out from the highway and most people know only from hearing about it or from photographs. It's cold, and the interior is somber and imposing. It's no wonder some compare the building to a cathedral, perhaps Baroque like the musician, because in these ground-floor communal spaces there is a clear—and perhaps too obvious—desire for monumentality. But they achieve their effect. They are imposing, they fascinate. The apartments will be another matter later, which are of different types but in many cases cozy and, surprisingly, bright.

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Artists like Dostoevsky, Kandinsky, Borges, and Frida Kahlo had two things in common: they were creative and suffered from mental illness. And the list of famous names could be even longer: Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Edvard Munch—names that are now part of the universal canon, but who also coexisted with the shadow of disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. How is this possible? Can neuroscience explain this correlation that exists with so many artistic geniuses who have gone down in history?

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When Rosa first opened her eyes the day after her nearsightedness surgery, she couldn't believe she could see the numbers on her alarm clock perfectly clearly. She was 32 at the time, and she hadn't been able to see anything without glasses for 26 years. "When I went to the beach and got into the water, I had to have a visual reference. A red umbrella and a blue one next to it. And when I got out of the water, I had to look for a red spot and a blue one," explains this journalist, illustrating what life is like with ten diopters.

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Fa setmanes, si no mesos, que les famílies miren i remiren el calendari per intentar encaixar les onze setmanes de vacances escolars a l'estiu amb el mes de vacances que, amb sort, tenen mares i pares treballadors. Casals d'estiu, campaments, colònies, vacances per separat en el cas de les parelles, permisos, teletreball, avis o cangurs són algunes de les possibles solucions. Tot plegat també implica planificació, burocràcia, molta càrrega mental i diners.

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These past few weeks, the media have been filled with headlines referring to the reactions and consequences of the announcement made by some groups of teachers, who have expressed their refusal to go on camps as a measure of pressure to improve the conditions of the educational system.Here are a few as an example: “Going on school trips is not our obligation”, “Teachers against children: school trips are a right”, “Students from Valls refuse to attend class due to the cancellation of school trips [...]”, "The end of the educational contract", “Unease among families due to the threat from teachers”, “Families believe that stopping school trips is breaking the rules of the game”, “School trip centers fear the teachers' strike”, “Warning from school trip centers about teachers' protest: we are in COVID numbers”...It is very interesting to be able to interpret the nuances of these reactions: from the article published in this same newspaper by the director of relations at Fundesplai, to Ricard Ustrell's apron on Catalunya Ràdio, you can dip bread everywhere. But what I find truly extraordinary is the ease with which these headlines are twisting the issue. Let's get this straight: the teaching teams are the group that has most believed in the importance of organizing the colony experience for the children in our schools. We have been doing it for decades without receiving any kind of compensation beyond the gratitude of the families and the children themselves. We have done it selflessly with the conviction that this experience is fundamental for many educational aspects.

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When she was a child, without knowing why, she already asked to live in Catalonia. And now, at 57, she knows she will never return to her country of origin. Sandra Monge Palladino was born in 1969 in the Argentine city of Rosario, into a family originally from the Italian Piedmont. Educated in a ideologically very diverse environment, she has always been linked to anti-capitalist left-wing movements. During her childhood, she suffered the blows of the military dictatorship of General Videla (1976-1983), by which she has always remained marked.

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Watching a child is hypnotic. You look at them closely and often see things in them that you recognize yourself in. And when you see something you don't recognize, you marvel, thinking where they must have gotten it from. One day, your young son told you: "Death has entered me and I don't know what's wrong with me, but today it's not leaving me."

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Asking for forgiveness is a gesture that dignifies the one who does it, comforts the one who receives it, and opens the door to restoring damaged bonds. Whoever takes the step learns to empathize with those who have suffered the consequences of their wrongdoing. Afterwards, the relationship between the two will benefit. However, not everything is immediate. Accepting it also costs. Emotions disorient, time is needed, and it is not enough to say it from emptiness. Some refuse to ask for forgiveness because they associate it with the moral repentance of some religions; but, far from it, forgiveness is in tune with essential human values and the idea of virtue. Children and young people, obviously, are not excluded from being able to experience it. All that is needed is good accompaniment.

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Ramon Mirabet (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, 1984) is a musician, singer and producer. He presents Per sempre més (Columna), an autobiographical and musical book that transforms grief into a celebration of life.

Ramon comes from a family of artists. “My maternal grandfather went from town to town with a friend and recited poems. And it was like that for years until he arrived in Tarragona and in the audience he saw a girl (my grandmother) and they fell in love. They followed their passion, which was circus and variety theatre. She sang rancheras and did a number with puppies, and he was the presenter and imitated Cantinflas”.

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Annalisa Massaro

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It might seem that as societies modernize they tend to gradually shed inherited rituals laden with formality. Current times, increasingly oriented towards practicality and immediacy, have refined many social ceremonies that today seem excessively solemn: from the rigor of wearing mourning clothes to the protocols associated with baptisms or communions. However, from time to time, rituals emerge that, like stubborn salmon swimming against the current, not only survive but reappear hypertrophied, clad in a ceremonial that they did not even have in the past. This is the case with graduations. The turn is so unexpected that there are already specialized brands in this festive-academic niche and teenagers capable of patiently waiting five hours in line to get the outfit with which to publicly stage that they have finished the fourth year of ESO.

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In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, the second part of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the character Humpty Dumpty asks Alice how many days there are in a year. She replies 365. Then he asks how many birthdays a person has. And the protagonist says one. And Humpty Dumpty triumphantly concludes that this allows for 364 days a year to celebrate unbirthdays, non-birthdays. From a satirical and literary perspective, the proposal might seem attractive. But it is of absurd logic because the fun lies in celebrating the exception and not the norm. Years later, from Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter character sang A very merry unbirthday to you during the tea party. It was a way of telling us again that any occasion is good for a celebration without giving too much importance to the reason.

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In Andalusia, everything can change in a matter of days. The black, the hoods, and the rosaries – visible expressions of penance, renunciation, and faith – suddenly dissolve into an explosion of patterns, colors, flowers, and bodies that demand prominence at the Feria de Abril. The chest-beating and stark cries of Holy Week processions give way to celebration, excess, and immoderation. If in one case aesthetics impose restraint and anonymity, in the other it demands the exact opposite: to stand out and occupy space under the gaze of others. It is not just a change of atmosphere, but also a deeper displacement: from one emotion to another, from a way of feeling and inhabiting the body marked, with almost ritualistic precision, by the calendar to another. As if faith (or its theatricalization) also had seasons. And this is where one of its most eloquent instruments comes into play. Because, at the Feria, this need to be seen is dressed up. And it does so with a garment that draws all eyes: the flamenco dress.Despite the current perception, this dress was not born as a showpiece, but as clothing for the popular classes of the 19th century. It was worn by peasant women and vendors who attended Andalusian livestock fairs, especially the April Fair, which in its origins was a commercial space and not festive. Its shape responded to the patterns of the time: a fitted bodice and a voluminous skirt, in this case resolved with ruffles. These ruffles, now distinctive of the dress, have been interpreted in various ways. On the one hand, they have been linked to gypsy and Andalusian contexts, where the movement of the body (both in dance and in daily gestures) found its correlate in clothing that not only accompanied it, but also made it visible. On the other hand, they must be placed within the framework of 19th-century women's fashion, dominated by voluminous skirts supported by internal structures such as farthingales or crinolines, which limited mobility. Without evidence that they were conceived as an alternative, the ruffles nevertheless allowed volume to be generated without immobilizing the body.

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Just twenty years ago, Hollywood premiered, without intending to or expecting it, a film that would end up becoming an icon of the fashion world, The Devil Wears Prada. Beneath the appearance of a light comedy, the film hid a much more biting background than it might have seemed at first glance. The story brought to life the homonymous novel by Lauren Weisberger, which stemmed from her own experience as an assistant to Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue and one of the most powerful figures in the industry. But what could have remained a simple chronicle of the fashion world became, in reality, a deeper reflection: not so much about fashion itself as about the forms of power that sustain it and, in particular, about the degree of violence that our society is willing to accept when this power is presented as excellence.Talking about Anna Wintour is not just talking about the magazine Vogue, but about a figure who has redefined the rules of the game of contemporary fashion. Endowed with a particularly keen nose for detecting trends and new talents –like those of John Galliano or Alexander McQueen–, she has also been the architect of one of the traits that define the sector today: the hybridization between haute couture and more everyday aesthetics. And, in parallel, she has decisively contributed to turning the inauguration of a fashion exhibition into a global event, such as the Met Gala, which has just taken place on February 4th. However, following Weisberger's account and the epithet with which she herself christened her –devil–, Wintour also embodies a certain way of understanding power: as an exercise of perfectly normalized violence, both within the sector and in relation to all the people around her. Working for her implies accepting constant humiliation, extreme competition, and renunciation of any form of personal life as natural. After all, as is repeated in The Devil Wears Prada, “a million girls would kill for this job”, even if it means seeing a brilliant resume reduced to tasks as mundane as bringing her coffee, picking up her dry cleaning, or satisfying her daughters' whims.

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An uncontrolled cry. This is how Jorge Aragone remembers the day he discovered Casa Batlló. The same reaction at the MNAC when faced with Duchamp's The Great Glass. One gets goosebumps listening to the emotion that emanates from the memories and erudition of who is undoubtedly one of the greatest stained-glass artists we can find in Barcelona today. He has had his workshop for ten years on Carrer del Peu de la Creu. He offers his services for restoration and also for the creation of new work. It's easy to fall head over heels for one of the stained-glass windows hanging on the walls. Perhaps for a Corto Maltés, perhaps your favorite comic book character. Whenever he makes it, he sells it. And there have been quite a few.

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Catalonia has for decades opted for a model of cultural policy focused on financing the supply. The main instrument has been editorial, audiovisual, and artistic subsidies. The logic of this model is sound. Many cultural activities generate high social value but have insufficient or too uncertain private profitability. Without public support, a part of the cultural production in Catalan would simply not exist.

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You enter a supermarket. First, you head to the candy aisle. On the shelves, there are bags of M&M's, the mythical chocolate pearls coated in colors; Snickers bars, made with peanuts and caramel; Twix, with crunchy cookies; Mars, fluffier and sweeter, and Maltesers, chocolate-covered balls. Now you turn towards the pet product area. The route continues with Pedigree cans for dogs and Whiskas for cats, bags of Catsan litter, and Royal Canin kibble. And when you're about to pay, next to the checkout, rows of little boxes of Orbit gum still catch your eye.At first glance, it might seem like a random assortment of brands you can find at the supermarket, but they all share the same owner. They are owned by Mars, one of the largest family-owned companies in the world: in 2024, it had a turnover of approximately 47 billion euros, according to its annual sustainability report. The figure coexists with another striking piece of data: Forbes placed the Mars family's fortune at around 117 billion dollars in 2024, just behind the Waltons, the heirs of Walmart, among the richest dynasties in the United States. But who are the Mars family and how did they found this empire?The origin: a Washington kitchen

The story begins in 1911 in a kitchen in Tacoma, Washington state. It was there that young Frank C. Mars began to manufacture and sell wholesale butter cream candies. As a child, his mother had taught him to hand-dip chocolates, and little by little, he had been perfecting the technique. The project, however, didn't last long, as local competition and difficulties in increasing production ended up stifling it.The leap came a few years later. In 1920, Frank C. Mars moved to Minneapolis and launched a new candy business, the Mar-O-Bar Company. There he began experimenting with more resistant chocolate bars and fillings, designed to better withstand transport and reach more customers. The first attempt, the Mar-O-Bar, did not quite work out: it was too delicate a product and did not withstand travel well. However, that failure made him realize that to grow, he didn't need a product that was simply good: it also had to be easy to manufacture, package, and distribute.In 1923 he stumbled upon what he was looking for: the Milky Way. The idea arose after a conversation between Frank and his son Forrest. It occurred to them to convert the taste of a malted milk shake, very popular in the United States at the time, into a chocolate bar that could be eaten with one's hands. The result was an immediate success. That bar not only boosted sales, but also changed the scale of the business. Mars went from being a candy maker with few aspirations to a company capable of hiring salespeople, expanding production, and starting to think about expanding.From Snickers to M&M's

The expansion gained momentum in the late twenties. In 1929, Mars moved to Chicago, a better-connected city with greater logistical capacity, and opened a production plant there. That same year, Forrest E. Mars, Frank's only son, officially joined the family business. Shortly after, in 1930, the company launched Snickers, which would eventually become one of its great global icons. In 1932, Forrest moved to the United Kingdom, from where he boosted the group's international expansion and consolidated the idea that would shape Mars' culture for decades: growing the company by thinking not only about the product but also about the relationship with employees, suppliers, and consumers.The new great leap arrived with M&M’s. In 1940, Forrest E. Mars returned to the United States and founded M&M Limited in New Jersey. A year later, the first M&M’s were produced for the U.S. Army, conceived as a sweet that was easy to transport and more resistant than conventional chocolate. In 1945, after World War II, the brand reached the general public. From then on, Mars was no longer just a bar company: it added new candy brands, entered the pet food business with products like Chappie, Whiskas, or Pedigree, and opened the door to other categories, such as rice. Today, Mars remains in the hands of the founding family.

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Another former politician changes jobs. Former PP minister Luis de Guindos will leave the European Central Bank and will begin collaborating with IESE. A week of changes at the top of GSMA Ltd., the company that organizes the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: John Hoffman becomes president and will be replaced as CEO. And the changes also affect the Mobile World Capital Foundation, from which Francesc Fajula departs. Meanwhile, Banco Sabadell begins a new era with the replacement of its CEO.

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A 66.5%. This is the accumulated inflation we have suffered between the years 2000 and 2025. In only two of these years, the value of money has remained or increased. The rest of the time, our savings have been losing purchasing power. And you don't need to look twenty-five years back to notice it: you just have to think about the last five. The price of houses, cars, or even eggs has skyrocketed.

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"If I'm asked, I think the options between merging or not merging Puig Brands with the American Estée Lauder are at 50%.". This is the statement of a person who knows the negotiations between the two family beauty and fashion companies, which became known at the end of March. One of the points that makes it difficult to reach an agreement is the price of the Catalan group, which is worth around 10 billion euros, compared to Estée Lauder's 30 billion dollars (26 billion euros).

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Closing a restaurant is not just about lowering a shutter. It is putting an end to decades of life, of service, of silent sacrifice, and of a way of understanding cuisine. Guillem and his family did so after forty-five years at the helm of Can Castells, in Vidreres. With that gesture, they were not only closing a business: they were leaving behind a legacy built dish by dish, customer by customer, day by day.For two years, Guillem Gubau tried to distance himself from this world. He looked for new motivations, other paths, a life outside of gastronomy and hospitality. But there are professions that are not entirely chosen: they end up finding you. And he didn't find any other that suited him equally. It was then that he accepted the offer to become the maître of the restaurant at Mas Solà, in Santa Coloma de Farners. A space with history, located in a 16th-century Catalan farmhouse, which goes beyond the simple act of eating: it is also a hotel and sports center, a small universe where time seems to move at another pace.“Here what we do is market cuisine, seasonal. We look for the product that is best at each moment”, explains Guillem. This philosophy translates into a proposal that he himself defines as creative, but without ever losing clarity: dishes with a first and last name, recognizable, but worked with precision and with an elaboration that is noticeable in every bite.We attest to this from the very first moment. The croquettes arrive golden and crispy, with a creamy interior that speaks of patience and technique. The fritters, light but full of flavor, confirm that behind every apparent simplicity there is careful work. And it is in this balance, between tradition and intention, where Mas Solà finds its voice. We finish the first ones with some anchovies from L'Escala on focaccia with smoked butter and some artichoke hearts confited with Iberian bacon. “It’s one of the star dishes of the season, we clean the hearts well and chop them. A success!” says Guillem. For the second course, we have two meats and one fish: cod confit with tender garlic mousseline, tomato sofrito, and Santa Pau beans; crispy suckling pig cooked in two ways with red pepper chutney –“We add the sauce during the same cooking process, and that's why it turns out so good”, he says – and Girona veal entrecôte –“We always look for the meat to be from the area”, he recalls.The domain of the room

The desserts, egg flan with toffee, chocolate coulant and three-cheese cake. Today we accompany this meal with a cava from the Oliveda family, a young brut ideal for accompanying any dish. You can tell Guillem enjoys what he does. He commands the dining room and customer interaction with a naturalness that cannot be learned: it's in his blood. With infinite patience, he explains the history of the farmhouse to anyone who asks, almost as if he were part of it himself. “The patriarch of the Solà family is the one who creates everything many, many years ago. He first promotes the swimming pool, the fronton, and the tennis courts. It's not until 1971 that the restaurant is born. Now it is managed by a family that has nothing to do with the Solàs, but they have wanted to keep the name,” he explains. And perhaps it is here where everything fits. Because Mas Solà is not just a place to go to eat: it is a space where stories continue, where each stage adds without erasing the previous one. And in this invisible thread between past and present, Guillem has found his place again. Far from being a final point, his path confirms that, in gastronomy, as in life, there are vocations that never completely close, they only change scenery.

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The Almarí restaurant, located within the Cala del Pi hotel in the town of Platja d'Aro, wants to make lovers of pasta, vegetables, rice dishes, fish, and meat happy. For the former, rigatoni stuffed with oxtail under a langoustine topping. A memorable, decadent dish, generously portioned, that is one of those that brings joy just by arriving at the table. Combine it with a variety of starters, such as fried calamari, prawn carpaccio with extra virgin olive oil, or with lobster salad with red berries.

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In Girona, they will soon change the idiom es ven com xurros to es ven com xuixos. All the pastry shops in the city, especially those in the center, have queues of people wanting to buy the fried sweets made with croissant dough. All means all. It's Flower Time, a top-notch tourist attraction for the city that shows that picturesque architecture can be even more beautiful if you decorate it with flowers. However, the surprise is that creativity or outlandish imagination has also reached xuixos, so you can find them filled with Oreo cookies, mango cream, pistachio cream (a suspicious fluorescent green), Maria cookies, Nocilla... It seems that with xuixos anything goes, but it is not so, because the Guild of Pastry Chefs, the Guild of Bakers, the Girona City Council and the promoter and inventor of the World Xuixo Contest, Salvador Garcia-Arbós, want to create the Xuixo de Girona guarantee mark so that only the one with pastry cream is the authentic one and with puff pastry, fermented and straight.

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What a great discovery. A bar for everyone: recognizable cuisine, popular prices, and a good atmosphere among regular patrons and newcomers alike. Take note because if you go to Tarragona, it's a must-stop for a hearty breakfast or lunch. Welcome to Bar Cortijo.

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There was a day when in La Boqueria they weren't talking about the fried crests sold under the name of potato omelette or chicken paella, nor about the juices nor the squid legs displayed for hours at the fish stalls. There was a day in La Boqueria when everyone was talking about Quim de la Boqueria's fricandó. What a fricandó! The cook Carme Ruscalleda said so, the chefs from Disfrutar (Oriol Castro ate two plates), Albert Adrià and Rafa Zafra. Also all those who passed by his stall on the evening of the 150th anniversary party of Damm, which was celebrated on Sunday, April 26th, between the Liceu and La Boqueria.

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There was great expectation to know what the scientist Ana Gago-Martínez, professor at the University of Vigo, researcher in analytical and food chemistry, and director of the EU reference laboratory for marine biotoxins, would explain. This is because the increase in cases of ciguatera poisoning, which is contracted by ingesting certain fish, has required significant effort from administrations and the scientific community to manage a potential health problem that, until a few years ago, was not unique to us in Europe. In her presentation at the "Encuentro de los Mares" congress in Tenerife, Gago-Martínez asked for the public to be informed, but without causing alarm. We will try to summarize the key points of a potential risk, to comply with what the scientist requests.

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Tot i que hagi d'anar en crosses per culpa d'una caiguda recent, Marta Pessarrodona (Terrassa, 1941) conserva l'energia i l'entusiasme que l'ha acompanyat des de fa dècades. Obre la porta de casa seva a Valldoreix una vegada més a l'ARA amb un doble motiu: ha estat escollida pregonera de la nova edició del festival Barcelona Poesia, que se celebra del 14 al 21 de maig, i presenta nou llibre de poemes, Re(visions), que és a punt d'arribar a llibreries. Publicat per Viena cinc anys després que Tot m'admira (2021), rescata familiars, amics i amors de l'autora, entre els quals hi ha la seva última gossa, la Queta, que va morir a conseqüència d'un accident fa poc més d'un any.

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Writer, illustrator, and professor of synophonic literature, Wu Ming-Yi (Taoyuan, Taiwan, 1971) publishes a collection of six short stories in which humans, nature, and technology invade other worlds and confirm their interdependence. Wu Ming-Yi's literature has been labeled magical realism for the way it seamlessly links human and non-human experiences. In this sense, The Land of Bitter Rain (Chronos) questions anthropocentrism and suggests that humans must learn to communicate through non-human and more effective languages and perspectives. Translated by Mireia Vargas-Urpí, the book features illustrations of animals by the author himself.

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I'm writing this column while hearing a hellish noise. In my building, two renovations are happening at the same time, one on the first floor and another on the third. I live on the second. I work imagining I'm the filling of a construction site sandwich, and in fact, the racket often forces me to wander around bars or libraries. Today, however, I'm staying home, because the noise of drills and hammers, or the strident whistle of the builder who enters and leaves the building and hums dubious tunes on the stairs, is very suitable for the book I've been reading for a few days: Un metre quadrat, by Llucia Ramis (Anagrama, 2026).

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If with Scream horror cinema entered its meta phase, with Teenage sex & death at Camp Miasma, which opened the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, the genre enters a new phase of hyper-reflection and absolute self-awareness. Jane Schoenbrun's film is a love letter to the slasher subgenre of the 80s – that of sagas like Friday the 13th, Halloween, or A Nightmare on Elm Street– and, at the same time, a relentless satire full of cinephile jokes about Hollywood's current obsession with remakes, and reboots. But, above all, it is something unusual in 2026: a vindication of the Dionysian power of horror cinema, which was the audiovisual space in which various generations of teenagers – especially those of the 80s video stores – experienced their sexual awakening amidst predictable stimuli (female motherhood, heteronormative sex) and others less common (psychopathic killers, liters of blood, violent deaths).

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In the first scene of Viva, the opera prima by director Aina Clotet, who also stars in it, the actress appears uncomfortable and naked in the hospital, where the character she plays is undergoing the final test to complete her breast cancer treatment. The close-up of the mastectomy scar is the first sign that Clotet is going all out in this film about the intense desire to live of Nora, a scientific researcher who, after seeing death up close, feels the need to shake up her life and, as one must start somewhere, cheats on her husband with a much younger man with a sculpted physique.

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The playwright Lluïsa Cunillé (Badalona, 1961) wrote the play Dinamarca in 2014 and published it in 2017. The text is, according to director Albert Arribas, "a contemporary classic that has impacted many people" but which, until now, had never premiered in Catalonia. Sala Beckett and the production company Bitò have joined forces to bring it to the stage, in a production starring Pere Arquillué and Imma Colomer under Arribas's direction. The play will be performed from May 15 to June 14 at the Beckett and, from the autumn, will tour Catalonia. "Dinamarca is Lluïsa Cunillé's Hamlet. It revisits the ghosts of two characters marked by resentment and the need for revenge. The world had made them promises that have been broken, and they consider whether to be or not to be, whether to commit suicide or not," explains the director.

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ABT is a German tuner based in the city of Kempten, in the south of the state of Bavaria, not far from the border with Austria. This independent tuner has specialized in radical tuning of Audi and Volkswagen models for many years, and for a few years now has focused on its collaborations with Cupra. In fact, the Cupra team that competed in Formula E between 2022 and 2024 was called ABT Cupra Team, which strengthened the relationship between Cupra and the German tuner. Cupra, for its part, has been evolving for years as an independent brand with magnificent commercial records and with a model, the Formentor, which has elevated the reputation of its products. In a very competitive segment where only the best survive (or those who adapt most quickly to the environment), the Formentor has more than shown its value and versatility.

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The old track of Nürburgring Nordschleife is a special place for the world of motorsport, a unique circuit that has become the cathedral of world motorsport due to its narrow, winding and changing layout. Very present in popular culture and in the world of competition, the major brands also fight to beat the stopwatch of their rivals on the Nürburgring track, in an operation that has become a major challenge for the engineering teams of the major brands. For example, twelve years ago the Seat Cupra León (the Cupra division had not yet separated from Seat) became the fastest front-wheel drive car in the world at Nürburgring, which prepared the immediate reaction of Renault, which spent a lot of money on an evolution of the Mégane RS capable of beating the Catalan compact in the old green hell of Nürburgring. 

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In 1998, the then CEO of the Volkswagen group, the German Ferdinand Piëch, decided to buy the Bugatti brand to integrate it into the Volkswagen group under the umbrella of the Porsche subsidiary. Piëch's idea was to buy the brand to manufacture the fastest and most powerful car ever made and he set about the project of the Bugatti Veyron, the first combustion car to exceed 1,001 hp of power and with a top speed of over 400 km/h. In 2016, Bugatti went a step further with the Chiron, an even more beastly and exclusive model, of which it has made exclusive limited series sold at seven-figure prices. However, the Bugatti brand has been far from profitable for several years, despite selling editions of its models that became the most expensive production car in history at the time, as in the case of the Chiron La Voiture Noire, a special unit sold for a final price of over eleven million euros. Despite selling cars at astronomical prices, Bugatti's development, design, production, and marketing costs were higher than the income obtained, and the brand's existence within the Volkswagen group was only explained by a matter of prestige.Since 2021 and for the last five years, the Volkswagen Group has managed Bugatti through its high-performance subsidiary Porsche and an industrial agreement with the Croatian brand Rimac. Rimac is an electric car manufacturer that controls 55% of Bugatti, while Porsche controlled the remaining 45%. However, in turn, the Volkswagen Group controlled 20% of Rimac's shareholding, thus guaranteeing its decision-making power over Bugatti and leveraging the know-how and electric technologies of the Rimac brand, specialized in high-power electric sports cars.An advertised sale

This week Porsche has confirmed the sale of its 45% stake in Bugatti and 20% in Rimac to the North American investment fund HOF Capital, based in New York, for an undisclosed amount. This is due to Porsche's complicated financial situation (a few days ago it announced that it would have to lay off 500 more employees in Germany to balance its accounts), which has led to the sale of its stake in Bugatti when the first serious offer appeared on the brand's management's table.Porsche's electrification strategy has been a mixed success for the German brand, as it has invested heavily in its electric models, such as the Taycan or the new Macan. However, the brand's customers have not yet decided to make the leap to electrification, which has led to a repositioning of the brand's roadmap, which has just announced that it will develop a Macan with a gasoline engine, in a clear move aimed at regaining presence and sales volume in its segment.

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After six months and 38 sessions, the National Court puts an end to the Pujol case trial. It is time for the lawyers of the last seven businessmen to defend their conclusions and request their acquittal. One of those who has intervened is Carles Monguilod, lawyer for Gustavo Buesa. "During the investigation, at times I had a slight feeling that there was anA por ellos. Due to the actions of a certain police force, it seemed that the predicate offense [of money laundering] was being part of the Pujol family or being Catalan", he said. "I know that is not the case, I know that this court will not allow it and will conclude with an acquittal sentence", he concluded. He also took the opportunity to refute the slogan the prosecutor mentioned: "I have publicly confronted it. Spain has never stolen and this is an offense to Spaniards and cannot be tolerated". The Prosecutor's Office requests five years in prison for eight businessmen for the crimes of money laundering and document forgery.

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Since March 11, there has been an open selection process to choose the next Spanish judge at the European Court of Human Rights. It is a call that has opened a new dispute between the judiciary and the Spanish government, there are about twenty applicants and interviews have already begun. Among those who have applied for this call, according to various sources consulted by ARA, is the Catalan jurist Jordi Nieva-Fenoll (Barcelona, 1970). This well-known professor of procedural law in Catalonia, along with the member of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) Carlos Hugo Preciado (who has challenged the procedure in the National High Court), are the two Catalans of whom this newspaper is aware among the 28 applicants who have submitted credentials to reach Strasbourg. A list that is not public at the moment.

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The annual Nazi gathering returns to Maresme. For the fourth consecutive year, a farmhouse belonging to the Pawnees MC biker group in Santa Susanna will host the Chaos in the Sun music festival, which has been advertised on social media for days. And for the fourth consecutive year, antifascist groups from the region will demonstrate against it. The event is private — only accessible by invitation — and intended, as some of the guests let it be known, "only for those on this side of the street".

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I used to think that the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was the worst in the Taliban regime. The Taliban in this ministry are the ones who yell at women on the street, question our way of dressing, and treat us as if the act of existing and being a woman were a crime. But last Sunday, when the Taliban intelligence service raided the media outlet where I work in Kabul, I realized that they are still worse.

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A regime of Soviet origin that has been in power for more than 25 years is telling us about its rigid and hermetic nature. Vladimir Putin's quarter-century in the Kremlin is one of the longest authoritarian periods in Russian history, and it already surpasses Stalin's. That is why the bleak climate surrounding the Red Army parade –it is still called that– on May 9th in Red Square also spoke volumes: the images say a lot. And, beyond that, messages and comments about a Putin distanced from his usual residences, confined to the Kremlin and surrounded by security devices for fear of an attack. This had not happened since, almost three years ago, Wagner mercenaries, with Yevgeny Prigozhin at the forefront, staged an impromptu march towards Moscow. A logistical and political blunder that sought to impose conditions on Putin regarding the war in Ukraine.

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British politics has been advancing for decades like a Shakespearean comedy of errors: the characters change, but the pattern repeats. Long before Brexit, which will be a decade next month, Westminster was already chaining together cycles of confusion, miscalculated maneuvers, and governments trapped in their own mistakes. From 1974 –with two general elections, the fall of the conservative government, the winter of discontent, and the unions on war footing–, to the parliaments without an absolute majority in the 21st century, passing through the illegal suspension of Parliament in 2019, the British system has shown a recurring fragility that contrasts with an image of impeccable solidity.

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Users of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) were surprised this morning to notice that several trains were making unusual use of their horns. Every time a train met another coming in the opposite direction, an exchange of sounds was heard between the two drivers. The situation kept repeating and, due to its unusual nature, it caught the attention of some users, who joked on social media about whether the drivers were trying to wake them up completely early in the morning.

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Since November 2023, public health specialist Javier Padilla (Madrid, 1983) has been the Secretary of State for Health. Last week he led the unprecedented operation to disembark the ship MV Hondius in the Canary Islands, affected by a hantavirus outbreak that, to date, has caused ten infections and three deaths. He speaks to ARA via video call.

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It was almost nine at night and at the emergency admissions desk of the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, two people were attending to the patients arriving. There was a third desk, but it was closed because the worker there was chatting quietly with two other colleagues. Perhaps they were talking about work, but the feeling that they were ignoring those of us waiting was exasperating: if you go to the emergency room, it's precisely because you need someone to attend to you urgently. I had the misfortune of having to go there last Friday to accompany my partner.

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The reduction in electricity and natural gas bills moderated the increase in the cost of living in April, both in Catalonia and in Spain as a whole. The measures approved by the Spanish government to reduce some taxes on electricity and gas had the desired effect, although, on the other hand, the cost of fuel continued to rise due to uncertainty in international energy markets because of the war in Iran.

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Cycle change in the ranking of the most influential brands on the planet. According to a report published this Thursday by the consumer consultancy Kantar, Zara has achieved what seemed impossible just a decade ago: to surpass the North American giant Nike and become the most valuable fashion brand in the world. The flagship firm of the Inditex group has reached a value of 44 billion dollars, with a growth of 18% in the last year.

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The real estate company Tecnotramit, specializing in managing assets for large holders and investment funds, plans to enter bankruptcy proceedings next week, according to union sources. The company, which at the beginning of the year had a workforce of around 860 employees, communicated the new scenario to labor representatives this Tuesday. The situation has accelerated after it came to light in March that the company allegedly improperly withheld funds from individuals, leading to the withdrawal of its main clients, such as Banco Sabadell, CaixaBank, and Bankinter.

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The comic will once again be the absolute protagonist of ARA's pages next week. To mark the opening of the major sector fair, Còmic Barcelona, on Friday, May 15, the entire newspaper will be illustrated by cartoonists. On this occasion, the bulk of the images are part of the history of Catalan comics through the archive of the Generalitat de Catalunya, which is collaborating on this special edition. In fact, past and present will go hand in hand because, as we have done in the already increasingly long tradition of special comic newspapers, the cover and the day's dossier will be the work of a comic author: Paco Roca, along with Valencian journalist Rodrigo Terrasa, will give their vision of a current topic, and it will be demonstrated once again that comics are also a journalistic genre.

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Paco Roca is busy. On top of his studio desk in Valencia, we find sketches for his latest project: a journalistic comic about the regularization of immigrants, which will be published this Friday by ARA, in an already traditional illustrated newspaper coinciding with Comic Barcelona. Precisely, Roca will visit the multitudinous fair on Thursday to inaugurate an exhibition about his work, one year after receiving the Gran Premi del Cómic. Asked what he believes justifies an ever-growing list of recognitions, Roca speculates about his legacy: having built with other authors "a bridge between the world of comics and the general reader." Roca assures that most of his readers do not usually read comics, and that it is more important to have entered neighborhood bookstores than to have exhibited in museums. Prestige and commercial success have allowed Roca to fulfill the dream of many artists: to make a living from his art, without having to compromise it. That is why, he says, he has the privilege of accepting only the commissions he likes. This is the case of the ARA comic, titled The immigrant in his labyrinth.

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In case it wasn't clear from the title of this review: take note of the name Julie Roset, a young French soprano of only 29 years old who has already done many things in the world of opera (for example, winning the 2023 Operalia edition) and has participated in shows directed by some of the best conductors of the moment.Her debut in Catalonia has been possible thanks to this season's edition of the Lied Festival Life Victoria – which concludes its journey on May 26 with a recital by Simon Keenlyside and Malcolm Martineau – and within the modernist complex of the Hospital de Sant Pau. Alongside the pianistic wisdom of Susan Manoff (extraordinary in La fille aux cheveux de lin by Debussy and in Le banc songeur by Han), the French singer offered a recital that was pure filigree, especially for introducing us to pieces by composers little or not at all showcased among us, such as Charles Koechlin, Manuel Rosenthal, Louis Beydts, Mel Bonis, and, above all, the exquisite Isabelle Aboulker. To these names were added works by much more famous musicians in the style of Poulenc, Enescu, Lili Boulanger, and the already mentioned Han and Debussy.The French mélodie (equivalent to the German Lied) requires a pure singing style, with impeccable phrasing and, above all, chromatic iridescences to adorn each phrase, each word, each syllable, and each letter in order to give expressive emphasis and precise colors to what is being interpreted. In her outrageously young age, Julie Roset demonstrates mastery of all these tools, essential for a successful performance.Roset, moreover, stands out as a communicative, expressive, and even theatrical artist in pieces like the fun La princesse aux petits pois by Alboulker, a composer who makes it very difficult with the staccato notes, and the high notes of Je t’aime, or in the intervallic leaps of L’inconstante. A true discovery is the music of this artist, the only living one (she was born in 1938) among the composers for a difficult and demanding program for the performer, but very well received by the attending audience.It will be necessary to follow Roset's career, to listen to her in larger venues, in operatic performances and with varied repertoires. I would not be at all surprised if we heard from her, a lot and very well. Her presentation in Barcelona could not have been better crafted.

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"Success is never accidental." This is one of the mottos of Barça's medical services, which have made creatine the invisible fuel for a club always attentive to the latest medical innovations. The blaugrana entity uses this supplement in both its youth and professional teams.

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With all he has done for Girona and still had things to do. If the Gerundenses achieve permanence, it is necessary to move forward with the project of the statue of Cristhian Stuani that has been requested for years. The Uruguayan, as in Vallecas, and as so many times in nine years, appeared to draw against Real Sociedad a match that smelled of defeat (1-1). Infiltrated and without training, he has scored two goals and has avoided two defeats four days apart. With this result, the white and red team escapes relegation and is placed fifteenth, with a point's margin. And, most relevantly, it continues to depend on itself.

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If a fan wants to buy the official jersey of the Barça women's goalkeeper, Cata Coll, they won't find it. It doesn't exist in the club shop or on the club's website. Barça, a global benchmark in women's football, fills stadiums and racks up titles, but doesn't sell its goalkeeper's jersey. Even the club's own employees in the official stores are surprised: "We don't have it, I'd never really thought about it."

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Jordi Évole and Eduardo Casanova's new documentary to raise awareness about HIV causes great perplexity. Firstly, because of the title: Sidosa. The actor, who has the virus in an undetectable state due to medical treatment, tells Évole: “I have AIDS. Well, I don't have AIDS. I say «sida» as a reclamation, because I like the word. HIV and AIDS are two different diseases. But, just as gay people have reclaimed the word «maricón», I want to reclaim «Sidosa». I would love to”. The reclamation of words, especially insults, requires decades of shared cultural circulation. They are not an individual decision. Because then one falls into trivialization and the temptation to turn a very serious historical and health stigma into an aesthetic operation. The feminization of the term also deflects the focus. In Spain and Western Europe, the epidemic predominantly affects men, with rates exceeding 80% of cases. Everyone is susceptible to infection, men and women, but giving it a feminine gender is a theatrical transgression that has nothing to do with the epidemiological reality or with HIV education. It is understood that the title seeks queer dissidence, but this is also a way of specifically linking the collective with the disease again, and this reactivates imaginations that for decades contributed to stigmatization.The result of the documentary is a mess. Eduardo Casanova's role dilutes and hinders the educational purpose due to an egocentrism and immaturity that turn the narrative into an at times unbearable loop. The actor's rhetoric confuses and even causes the discourse to regress. He himself, on several occasions, faced with the panic of telling his surroundings that he has undetectable HIV, speculates on when to say it, and repeats "I have AIDS!". In the context of a film festival, he suggests to Évole: "And if I go up and say: “Look, I have HIV! I have AIDS!”", making the two conditions synonymous. In the documentary, phrases like "We've been stuck in the eighties" and "Things haven't changed that much". Unfair statements given the reality, both scientific and human.An activist advises Casanova to always maintain dignity when communicating it, speaking with serenity and firmness. The protagonist contradicts the approach. It is legitimate for the actor to express fear, anguish, or vulnerability. But the imagery he projects to the viewer is too often melodramatic, with hyperbolic emotionality focused on the identity wound and a spiral of suffering. After communicating it to his hairdresser, he asks: “Are you afraid to cut my hair now?” This is going backward and reiterating prejudices. This drama pigeonholes HIV into an inexorable pain that goes against the medical advances that have transformed the lives of seropositive people. The documentary falls very short on positive references, normalization, and prevention education, which is what is needed. Sidosa is organized from a devastated self-perception that reinforces the stigma it seeks to combat.

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Beyond the great historical television battle between Antena 3 and Telecinco, secondary channels also exchange elbows, especially intensely this past year. And with good reason, considering that since La Sexta and Cuatro tied with a 6% market share in 2013, the balance had been tipping year after year in favor of Atresmedia's channel, and to the detriment of Mediaset's. This, however, could change in 2026, because Telecinco's little sister, if we count these almost five months of the year already consumed, already surpasses its direct rival and this May clearly wins 5.9% vs. 6.3%.

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Attention to the headline that is marked OK Diario: “Exclusive images of the Catalan person to whom euthanasia has been authorized: without crutches, shopping and driving at full speed”. Let's overlook the derogatory point that we sense when referring to a person who does not want to live as “the Catalan” and let's focus on stopping for a second and, yes, noting that the newspaper boasts of having filmed a particular citizen who does not want to continue living to demonstrate that, well, he is not as messed up as he says if he can burn rubber and go get tobacco and medicine. It would be good for the media to clarify what state of physical deterioration they accept before allowing a Catalan to exercise a right

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L'ARA suggests some plans around the country for this weekend.

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Why is it so hard for us to stop eating processed foods, scrolling on our phones, or binge-watching series all night? Around the world, there's an epidemic of problems related to mental health and addiction, especially among young people, and they don't seem to be related. But nothing could be further from the truth: it all stems from superstimuli.

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When Sergi arrived, it started to rain. He strategically positioned himself at one of the small round tables and ordered a coffee. It's spring. It rains and it's sunny, and it's as hot as it is cold, but here, leaning against the wall under the awning, Sergi is having a blast, watching the world go by right in front of him. Like a movie. Now it's raining hard and a boy walks quickly, covering his head with his backpack; a stylish couple, with matching trench coats, advance slowly under a black umbrella, a bulldog watches Sergi while a huge drool hangs from its mouth, and a girl in flip-flops types on her phone. Today he'll have a spill.

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Montjuïc mountain was dressed in red tonight with the arrival of almost 800 guests for the People In Red Gala, which celebrated its sixteenth edition this year. As is tradition, the event brought together at the MNAC representatives from sponsoring companies, institutions, and celebrities from the social, cultural, and political world of Barcelona and Catalonia to rally for a common cause: to raise funds to finance the research of the Fundació Lluita contra les Infeccions, an internationally renowned institution in clinical research of infectious diseases. The initiative, whose alma mater is Doctor Bonaventura Clotet, president of the foundation, has once again demonstrated its intact power of attraction and its fundraising capacity, which reached 838,769 euros, a very notable figure that makes this solidarity gala the most powerful in Spain.

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Bilbao has experienced the first comeback concert of La Oreja de Van Gogh with its founding singer, Amaia Montero, and without its guitarist, Pablo Benegas. At the Bizkaia Arena, 15,000 people accompanied the quintet, made up of the historic Xabi San Martín (keyboards), Álvaro Fuentes (bass) and Haritz Garde (drums) and Benegas' replacement, Imanol Goikoetxea. "I thought I would never set foot on a stage again. I was lost, completely lost, to the point of not recognizing myself. There were many dark days, when I thought it was all over. I have been to hell but, with my scars, after fighting a lot, I am here," Amaia Montero admitted this Saturday: "This is much more than a concert," she assured.

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There is nothing worse than success. This would be the summary of what is happening with the Met Gala. When something as niche as this, which until not so long ago only a few fashion enthusiasts knew about, ends up being a topic of interest for people who the rest of the year do not consume any other type of content about this discipline, it means that the end of the genuine version of this event has arrived. A spectacle that the mainstream does not have the tools to understand, because it does not know the references of each aesthetic decision that is produced there – or even because it opines that fashion is not art... – , cannot be the property of the mainstream. At least if the will is for this spectacle to continue being what it has always been.

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Some people think that childhood is just a stage of games and laughter, with no further significance. Or, conversely, there are also those who believe that early childhood should be used to transmit as much knowledge as possible to children, introducing them, for example, to literacy as soon as possible, preferably at three years old rather than four. A team of scientists led by researcher Ángel Barco, an expert in brain epigenetics and director of the Institute of Neurosciences at Miguel Hernández University of Alicante, has published a paper in Nature Communications showing for the first time how early experiences durably shape brain biology, through precise molecular mechanisms. has published a paper in Nature Communications in which it is shown for the first time how early experiences durably shape brain biology, through precise molecular mechanisms.This discovery not only confirms a long-held intuition, but also opens new doors for understanding learning and, potentially, future therapies. As the authors of the study say, "this stage is much more than fun: it is a critical window in which the environment acts as an invisible sculptor of our brain, programming neural circuits that will become crucial for memory and learning."

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Octopuses, cuttlefish, and squids are cephalopods. The name, cephalopods, derives from the union of two Greek words, kefale and pus, which would illustratively indicate that it is an animal whose feet emerge from its head. Despite being grouped within the large group of mollusks, with snails and with mussels and scallops, cephalopods are animals we consider intelligent. Have you never seen a horror movie showing a giant mussel hunting people, but it is likely that you have heard of a giant squid watching us from the ocean depths. In fact, evidence was recently found that, in the age of dinosaurs, giant marine cephalopods almost 20 meters long, predators as large as trucks, existed. It has taken time to find these remains, because, having soft bodies, the trace in the fossil record is difficult to find and confirm.

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In 1980, a couple of North American biologists began studying the cliff swallow in Nebraska, an area where this bird nests on highway overpasses. And as time went by, they realized that their wings were getting shorter and shorter: over 30 years, they shortened by about two millimeters per decade. According to Charles and Mary Brown, authors of the study, this change would have been selected because short wings offer birds more maneuverability, more ability to turn in small spaces, and this would help Petrochelidon pyrrhonota swallows to better avoid vehicles and prevent collisions.

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