First ruling in Catalonia justified by the European Court of Justice's decision on linguistic immersion. If in June the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) dismissed the lawsuit by families from the Turó del Drac school in Canet de Mar against the 25% of Spanish, now another school in Maresme is affected by this same decision. The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has used the Strasbourg decision for the first time among its arguments to resolve a dispute about the language of instruction, and has done so to rule in favor of a family from the Institut Escola El Pi Gros in Sant Cebrià de Vallalta, who were requesting more hours of Castilian Spanish.

Illegalities in waste management do not always involve an international trafficking like the one uncovered last week coming from France. Often the route is much shorter and offenders do not even need to change counties to achieve economic benefits at the expense of endangering the environment and human health. This is the case of the network that operated between two companies in Badia del Vallès, a landfill thirty kilometers away, and land in Cerdanyola del Vallès, now owned by the Consorci del Parc de l'Alba. The defendants are awaiting trial.

A Barcelona social court has validated the dismissal of Carmen Macías, the former compliance officer of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) who reported that she was fired in retaliation for an internal investigation into mobbing that involved three executives. The ruling, which ARA has consulted, declares the dismissal to be procedent and states that it occurred after a subordinate of Macías reported her for harassment. This ruling validates the dismissal in terms of labor law, but does not resolve the criminal proceedings, with three senior officials under investigation, which was opened following Macías's complaint of workplace harassment.

The woman investigated for allegedly abusing her baby, who was admitted to the ICU at five weeks of age, has once again explained herself to the judge this Thursday. The woman has denied at all times that she intervened in any aggression and has also maintained that she never saw her husband abuse him. Although her internet history shows that she was worried about the man's attitude, with searches like "my partner doesn't like the baby" or "my partner doesn't treat my baby well", his defense insists on distinguishing between having detected mistreatment and having noticed that the man was mistreating the child due to lack of skill or affection. During her statement, the woman affirmed that, "if I had seen it, I would obviously have gone to the police", according to legal sources.

New incident with metro works in Barcelona. This Wednesday night, an explosion followed by a fire occurred at the metro works in Plaça de Sants, leaving eight people injured, all men. Two of the affected are in serious condition, three in less serious condition, and three in mild condition. Nine units from the Barcelona Firefighters and eight ambulances from the Emergency Medical System (SEM) were dispatched to the scene of the accident. This Thursday morning, a large flare-up continues to burn in the area while emergency teams work to control the gas leak.

The Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested a second person presumably related to the fatal shooting of a minor in Parc de la Pegaso in Barcelona. This was announced by the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, during an appearance in Parliament. Specifically, the minister assured that this Tuesday the "alleged hitman" of the victim, a fifteen-year-old adolescent, was arrested.

The same day that the ban on smoking on bar terraces takes a step forward, Barcelona has made public two pioneering judicial rulings that will disqualify for one year establishments that do not comply with municipal regulations on tables that bars and restaurants have in public spaces. Specifically, two terraces on La Rambla that had a license but have repeatedly failed to comply with the regulations have had their licenses revoked and will not have the option to recover them for a period of one year.

The pediatrician from the Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona who raised the alarm about child abuse in the newborn who was later admitted to the Vall d'Hebron ICU has testified before the judge that the child's anal injuries are not the result of a single action. Legal sources indicate that this doctor also traveled to Vall d'Hebron to treat the child when he was transferred there, as it is the reference center for child abuse and sexual violence. The pediatrician's testimony coincides with that of the pediatric surgeon who already testified in court in June.

The pediatrician of CAP Roger de Flor in Barcelona who attended the baby who was hospitalized for mistreatment at only five weeks old has stated before the judge that three days before being admitted to the ICU, the infant did not have the severe anal lesions that were detected at Vall d'Hebron. The doctor and the nurse from this CAP who were attending the child explained that they saw him on March 13, just three days before he was admitted to Vall d'Hebron Hospital, which ended up activating the child abuse protocol.

The figure of 46,000 tons of waste from France illegally dumped in Catalonia that came to light this Monday could end up being anecdotal compared to the total number of kilos of garbage that could be revealed when the investigation is over, according to sources close to the case. The dumpings of the so-called Franger case, which the Guardia Civil has explained so far, mainly affected the municipality of Sant Esteve Sesrovires, in Baix Llobregat. However, sources close to the investigation consulted by ARA add Rubí (Vallès Occidental), Riba-roja d'Ebre (Ribera d'Ebre), and Pujalt (Anoia) to the provisional list of affected municipalities.

The Prosecutor's Office has withdrawn at the last moment the accusations against the former health officials who were accused of "discriminating" against National Police and Civil Guard officers in the covid vaccination plan. The accusation affected former ministers Alba Vergés and Josep Maria Argimon, former Secretary General of Health Marc Ramentol, former CatSalut director Adrià Comella, and former services director Xavier Rodríguez Guasch.

Court-appointed lawyers are receiving more attention, but precariousness means fewer and fewer professionals are willing to participate in this service. Across Catalonia, the exodus has been halved, coinciding with an agreement to improve remuneration, but the figures have not improved in the Barcelona demarcation, where the Bar Association of Barcelona (Icab) warns that the loss of professionals is 20% in the last decade. Xavier Batlle and Núria Astorgas are two of the professionals who have not wanted to abandon this task. Despite having the same job, they are court-appointed lawyers in two completely different specialities: minors, whose activity in Barcelona has increased by 10% in the last semester, and second chance, a mechanism that allows good-faith debtors to cancel their debts and which has grown by 23% in the last six months.

The Barcelona Court of Appeal has sentenced a mossos d'esquadra (Catalan police officer) to 21 years in prison for sexually assaulting and humiliating a young woman with a severe disability, whom he met because she was his stepson's girlfriend. The two young people had met in a center for people with disabilities, and they used to spend time with each other's families to the point where the victim and the accused lived together approximately half the week. The court convicts the officer for a crime of pornography by taking advantage of the girl's trust and for a crime of continued sexual assault by abusing the girl's mental disability.

It is the turn of the former Minister of Health Alba Vergés to explain herself at the trial for the vaccination against covid of the National Police and Civil Guard officers stationed in Catalonia. In her statement, she focused on explaining that they always followed the criteria set by the Interterritorial Council of Health on the vaccination strategy, even when it was decided to prioritize AstraZeneca doses for people between 55 and 65 years old. This, she clarified, did not prevent essential worker groups – such as police officers, healthcare personnel, or teachers – from continuing to receive doses, but it had to be done "as vaccines became available." In fact, when directly asked, she denied giving any order to delay vaccination for the officers.

Catalonia is experiencing a tragic script that repeats itself every day. While the Generalitat Firefighters fight throughout the night and morning against fires that started the day before, new fires break out at midday, coinciding with the hottest time of day. It happened on Monday, it happened on Tuesday, and it happened this Wednesday. The extinguishing corps was working to stabilize the Sentmenat fire after controlling those in Baix Empordà and Anoia, and three new fires have broken out: in Gavà, Alt Camp, and Bages, which were managed to be stabilized despite the fact that the latter two had caused great concern initially.

The former Minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, testified early in the trial for the COVID vaccination of national police and civil guards stationed in Catalonia. The then director of the Catalan Health Institute and Secretary of Public Health assured that the decision to limit the AstraZeneca vaccine to the 60 to 65 age group – whether or not they were essential workers – was a decision of the Interterritorial Health Council and "did not pose any ethical conflict" nor in the epidemiological field, because it prioritized people most vulnerable to the virus. Nevertheless, he was in favor of continuing to vaccinate all officers, because the logistics were already in place, and he communicated this to the minister Alba Vergés.

Judicial proceedings are piling up in Altafulla. In addition to the case concerning the awards to former minister Joan Ignasi Elena and former leader of Iniciativa Joan Herrera, which also involves the Commons deputy Félix Alonso and former minister Salvador Milà, now another case directly implicates the mayor, Jordi Molinera (ERC), and councilor Tomàs Serra, who was elected by Junts and remains in government as an independent after his former party left the coalition government last year. In fact, this move is what is now in the sights of the courts of El Vendrell, where an investigation has been opened following a complaint by the president of Junts in Altafulla for the alleged crimes of bribery and prevarication. In an order to which el ARA has had access, the judge summons Serra and Molinera to testify as investigated parties in this case on January 2, 2027.

New round of witnesses in the trial for allegedly "discriminating" against national police and civil guards with covid vaccines. After the commanders of both forces cleared the defendants, among whom are former ministers Josep Maria Argimon and Alba Vergés, this Monday it was the turn of other former Health directors to explain themselves. Among them, Vergés's advisor who sent a key message in the investigation of the case, in which she said: "Once again, the minister asks to stop Civil Guard and National Police. We cannot justify it. We should stop it".

The strategies of lawyers to convince popular juries, with judges who are in contact with the courts for the first time, do not only take into account how to choose the profile of the person who suits them best in each case. In large trials, they also have advisors who advise them on which evidence can best support their defense and how to present it to the jury. Sometimes they also surround themselves with investigators who work in parallel with the police so that the defense can anticipate the evidence that will be against the accused. Although the jurists consulted agree that this model is becoming increasingly widespread, it is by no means common and is used in a very small part of judicial proceedings in Catalonia. In large part, because it entails a much higher cost than a defense with a single lawyer, or a free one by appointment. "The defense in a trial works one way if you have money; if not, it works another way," summarizes the specialist in legal and forensic psychology Miquel Àngel Soria.

Just over 12 hours ago, emergency services were attending to the teenager who ended up dying from a gunshot wound to the stomach, now nothing would suggest it is the scene of a murder. As described by Loli, who has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years, Parc de la Pegaso is "an institution" of La Sagrera. Her children used to have their carnival parades in the park, "when there were boats and fish in the lake." Now, she and her neighbor Àngels – who has also lived here for five decades – comment that last night a group of young people opened fire on others in this very park, near the sports courts.