Valls has once again become the center of the world of human towers with the Diada de Santa Úrsula. The Plaça del Blat, considered the kilometer zero of 'castells', was packed to the rafters to witness the great duel between the Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls and the Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls. Both groups arrived at the event eager to make history and push their limits a little further. However, on a day that lasted nearly four hours and ended around four in the afternoon, ambition clashed with the difficulty of the structures and physical exhaustion, which ended up defining the outcome of the event.

The third episode of the podcast Tocar sostre addresses the difficulties of access to housing and the challenges they pose for emancipation. Participants include Pol Casellas, architect and digital communicator; Jose Téllez, representative of Sostre Cívic; and Anna Puigdevall, general director of Som Habitatge. Moderated by Laura Casserres, ARA journalist specializing in housing.

Brussels has opened an investigation into Booking, which allegedly failed to combat fraudulent ads, identity theft scams, and published featured ads without labeling them as advertising. The European Commission believes there are indications that the actions of the tourist accommodation platform constitute breaches of the Digital Services Act.

Valls will once again become the epicenter of the world of castells. From October 16th to 25th, the Santa Úrsula Fair will fill the city with popular culture, music, heritage, fire, and activities, but it will be on Sunday when all the focus will once again point toward a single place: the Plaça del Blat. There, the Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls and the Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls will star in a new battle with the precedent of one of the most extraordinary and tumultuous Santa Úrsula festivals in recent years.

The second episode of the podcast Tocar sostre revolves around how we should understand housing: is it a basic necessity, an investment asset, or a social right? Participants include urban anthropologist Manuel Delgado, economist Josep Oliver, and economist and president of the Hàbitat3 Foundation, Carme Trilla. Moderated by journalist Carla Turró.

Still with the hangover from the Concurs de Castells and with the season already heading towards its end, the Santa Teresa festival had all the ingredients to be one of the most interesting events of the final stretch of the year. The Nens del Vendrell wanted to repeat, in the year of their centenary, the great performance they had signed a week earlier at the Tarraco Arena Plaça. The Jove de Tarragona arrived in El Vendrell after having climbed the podium of the Concurs and with some casualties caused by the fall of the four of ten with folre and manilles, but also with the will to keep their ambition intact. And the Minyons de Terrassa wanted to give continuity to their best moment of the season.

Until the Barcelona Olympic Games, the city lived with its back to the sea. This changed in 1992. One of the legacies of the transformation that Barcelona experienced on the occasion of the world's greatest sporting event is the Olympic Port. In this space, sailing is the protagonist. A few members of the ARA Premium Club have been able to sail on very well-equipped sailboats, piloted by expert skippers, on a sunny afternoon with good temperatures and strong wind: yes, the blue sea had a few whitecaps. It is about the free activity Windy Thursdays, organized by the Olympic Port. When they left the port and set out to sea, the participants verified that the wind is an excellent engine for a sailboat. All the sailboats not only acquired a remarkable speed but also heeled over immediately. The members of the Premium Club were not passive participants, but on the contrary. They even learned how to tack, which is one of the most complicated operations on any sailboat.

The first episode of the podcast Tocar sostre deals with the issue of housing rentals. Participants include businesswoman Joana Amat, notary and member of the Board of Directors of the Cercle d'Economia Camino Quiroga and writer Llucia Ramis. Moderated by journalist Antoni Bassas.

Messy conversations about love (in all its forms), entanglements, and pop culture with cultural analyst and communicator Estela Ortiz and psychologist and sexologist Beti Badia.

With the arrival of October, the streets begin to lose the colors of summer. The trees have already shed their first leaves, ocher and earthy tones gain space, and routines return to occupy the days. Autumn has something of a premiere and a pause at the same time: while we resume our course, perhaps we also look back a little.

“The West will only take an interest in Afghanistan again if it sees our physical integrity in danger,” stressed ARA journalist Mònica Bernabé in a talk for subscribers at the Sala de les Sirenes in Barcelona's Hotel Espanya. Bernabé criticized “the cynicism and hypocrisy with which the international community acts in Afghanistan”.

Martí Gironell returns to bookstores with Malaveïna, a new historical novel published by Columna that aims very high. The author from La Garrotxa leaves behind the adventures of the monks and choirboys of Montserrat from his last book to now immerse himself in the history of the gardens of the majestic Peralada castle, in the Empordà, which counts Antoni and Tomàs de Rocabertí had built in 1877. The novel, maintaining the thread of nature as a common denominator, connects the counts' gardens with the legendary character of the Malaveïna, a healer from the fields of Garriguella, a symbol of atavistic wisdom, who used flowers and plants to cure the sick of the region.

Two years of waiting. Twelve of the best groups in the country. And a Tarraco Arena Plaça ready to once again become the epicenter of the casteller world. After a Saturday marked by mobility restrictions and warning messages, the Competition ended up starting at four in the afternoon to ensure safety. The wait, however, only made the anticipation grow. And when the groups entered the square, everything was left behind. What was foreseen as one of the best Competitions in history ended up becoming an afternoon difficult to forget. More than four hours of human towers, nerves, falls, overflowing joys, and feats that are already part of history.

The Saturday session of the Concurs de Castells always has something special and this year was no exception. The rain gradually gained presence as the afternoon progressed and ended up conditioning the final stretch of a day that, much earlier, had already left moments to remember at the Tarraco Arena.

"Picasso arrived in Barcelona in 1895 from Malaga, when he was a child. He was 13 years old," explains historian Daniel Venteo to the members of the Premium Club who have signed up for the tour of Picasso's Barcelona.

The Castellers d’Esparreguera won the first day of the XXX Castells Competition in Torredembarra with 1,940 points, in a day that was decided practically at the last moment. The team in the burgundy shirts surpassed the Castellers de Figueres by only fifteen points, while the Castellers de Cerdanyola completed the podium with 1,735 points. In total, 44 human towers were seen in less than three hours, and notably, there were only two falls.

The Catalan Book Week closed this Sunday its 44th edition with more than 130,000 visitors, 8,000 more than last year, and a turnover that will reach one million euros, 12% more than a year ago, pending the final figures. The organization assures that, taking into account the absolute sales data, the 2026 edition has been the best in the history of the Week. "We have experienced the best edition of the Week in its entire history, a fact that demonstrates the good work done in previous years and reaffirms the vitality of the book in Catalan, and we are already starting to think about the 45th edition so that it can once again be a great celebration of books and culture," asserted the presidentof Editors.cat, Oriol Magrinyà.

The Plaça de la Font became this Sunday the setting for the first Sunday of the Santa Tecla festivities, on a day that promised strong emotions and arrived with high expectations. With the four groups having ambitious goals and the Castells Competition ever closer, Tarragona was expecting a great day. And it has been, although not for everyone. The Castellers de Vilafranca fulfilled their program without problems and the Xiquets de Tarragona recovered the 'tripleta màgica', while the Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls and the Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona left the square with some of their most important goals still pending.

"Literature serves to say that, for the racist and unsympathetic piece of shit country that we are being left with, demographic replacement is welcome. It's already late!", said Biel Mesquida this Saturday during the inauguration of the 44th Catalan Book Week.The poet and writer, born in Castelló de la Plana in 1947, has spent decades defending freedom in all its nuances, and today his message has also claimed “insurrection”: "I have not come to bring you peace, but struggle; I have not come to bring you well-being, but insurrection. Literature has always been on the front line of humanizing struggles, against the trampling of rights, against ignorance, for wisdom, and for the practice of people's happiness", asserted the poet, who also sang a cappella the first stanza of Bella Ciao.

Little by little, the battle over consumption is shifting to the field of electric vehicles. An efficient electric car represents an absolutely undeniable competitive advantage in terms of range and ease of use, and in a market dominated by Chinese brands, Volkswagen has wanted to strike a blow on the table with its new electric prototype.