Three commuter rail lines are not running through Barcelona city center due to a fire near the tracks. According to Renfe sources consulted by ARA, the incident occurred when some cables burned, affecting the signaling system between Plaça Catalunya and Sants stations. Lines R1 and RG1 are not running between El Clot and Sants. On line R4, service is interrupted from Montcada Bifurcació to Barcelona Sants. Adif, the railway infrastructure manager, says there is no estimate for when service will be restored. While the signaling system is being repaired, R1 trains are starting and ending their journeys in Badalona. R4 trains are being rerouted through the Passeig de Gràcia tunnel, stopping at Barcelona Sant Andreu, El Clot, and Passeig de Gràcia stations. Adif has explained that the fire lasted approximately fifteen minutes, from 6:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. The origin and causes of the fire are under investigation, and Adif has sent personnel to the site to resolve the incident. Line 10 was evacuated for a few hours.

This Tuesday morning, another fire disrupted service on the Barcelona metro. Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) has restored service on lines L9 South and L10 South of the Barcelona metro, which had been affected since early morning by smoke on the tracks, after the Catalan Fire Service inspected the area and confirmed that there was no risk to passengers or staff. The presence of smoke in one of the tunnel areas of Collblanc station triggered fire alarms, and the Catalan Civil Protection Agency activated a pre-alert under the Ferrocat plan at approximately 7:15 a.m. Up to nine fire crews were dispatched to the scene, assisting with the complete evacuation of the station and conducting a thorough inspection of the tunnels in the area. TMB explained to ARA that the evacuation was a preventative safety measure. Firefighters cut the power to the overhead lines and investigated the source of the smoke, working in two separate teams. "We are inspecting the line with a thermal camera, from Collblanc towards the University Zone and from Camp Nou to Collblanc," explained the firefighters in a message on social media. Despite the inspection, "the source of the smoke could not be located, but it was decided to reopen the service because it has dissipated," said firefighter Dani Garcés. Due to the incident, there was partial service from the Airport to Europa Feria on Line 9 South and from ZAL to Provenzana on Line 10 South. Meanwhile, service on Line 5 – which also crosses Collblanc – operated normally.

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Rosalía smokes a cigarette during an interview in an enclosed space and ends up reported. The Catalan singer went to the podcast of the youtuber Esty Quesada, better known as Soy una Pringada. During the recording, the artist decided to interrupt the conversation to smoke and invited the presenter to share the cigarette. Quesada, despite saying she was not a smoker, decided to accept because she "likes to talk between puffs". But this scene of both of them smoking has had consequences: the Nofumadores.org platform has decided to file a formal complaint.

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Gemma has been living permanently connected to a machine for two years now, without which she couldn't breathe. She is 69 years old and has always been very athletic, passionate about hiking, and has always traveled with her husband in a camper van. Now she can no longer go mushroom picking or swimming in the sea, and she must monitor her altitude when she is in the mountains because of the respiratory failure she suffers from, called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)which is closely linked to smoking. She had been smoke-free for ten years when she was diagnosed with this chronic illness, but before quitting, she smoked a pack a day for over 30 years. "I went to the doctor for pneumonia when I was 50, and he told me, 'Either you quit, or you won't make it to Christmas,'" she recalls from her dining room.

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The Spanish government is taking another step toward tightening the anti-smoking law. The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the draft law that expands smoke-free zones, including bar and restaurant terraces, cars, and public parks. The future legislation also includes new forms of smoking, such as heated tobacco and vaping, which until now were unregulated, and bans disposable e-cigarettes. This is not the final text of the new anti-smoking law, which must undergo a final review by Pedro Sánchez's administration before reaching the Congress of Deputies, where the different parliamentary groups will debate whether and how it will ultimately be approved. Therefore, there is still a long way to go to achieve one of the priority objectives of the Ministry of Health in this term: increasing restrictions on smoking, preventing new generations from falling into this addictive habit, and reducing the number of smokers, which has stagnated for years. Plain packaging, one of the flagship measures outlined by Health Minister Mónica García, has finally been dropped from the text. The goal was for all brands to have the same appearance and thus be less attractive to buyers, as in other countries, but the draft bill approved this Tuesday does not include this measure.

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Aside from those of world champion Argentina, the most iconic jerseys of the 2022 World Cup were those of the Danish national team; not because of the sporting achievements of the Nordic team, which was eliminated in the group stage, but because of the message their kits sought to convey. Hummel, the technical sponsor of the Danes, designed minimalist jerseys with its logo and the national team crest toned down, practically blurred, as a protest against "Qatar and its human rights record".

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Last year, 21.4% of the Catalan population over the age of 15 smoked, or one in five, a figure that has remained stable since 2017. The fight against smoking, a serious public health problem, has stagnated, as policies to reduce the number of smokers have not been entirely effective for years. In fact, around 10,000 people die each year in Catalonia from diseases associated with tobacco and secondhand smoke. The Secretary of Public Health, Esteve Fernández, claimed that the figures are much better than in recent decades, but admitted that there is still room for improvement, especially in two key areas: preventing young people from starting this addictive habit and helping those already hooked quit.

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Black. This has been the color of the smoke that at 9:00 p.m., almost two hours behind schedule, has emerged from the chimney installed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, a few meters from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. A long-awaited smoke that certifies that the first vote of the conclave that will elect Francis's successor The meeting ended without an agreement among the cardinals called to designate the future leader of 1.4 billion Catholics. No candidate obtained the 89 votes needed to sit on the chair of St. Peter. With 30,000 pilgrims, tourists, and curious onlookers who gathered since early afternoon in a sealed-off Piazza Sant'Pere (not just physically, since the Vatican has deactivated mobile phone networks throughout the country), the black smoke was no surprise. Subsequent ballots are usually conclusive. John Paul II needed eight votes. His successor, Benedict XVI, was elected in 2005 on the second day, in the fourth ballot.

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The tobacco epidemic is a public health threat that claims about 10,000 lives in Catalonia every year. Different strategies are being implemented to combat it, such as the smoking cessation drugs that have been partially funded by Social Security for the past five years. These are drugs that multiply the chances of success by two or three of smokers who want to quit this addictive habit. Until now, if someone wanted to quit, they had to go to the primary care centre (CAP) and the family doctor could prescribe them a medication. As the ARA Catalunya has been able to find out, it modified its protocols at the end of 2024 and, since last December, nurses can also prescribe medications to help people quit smoking.

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