A 34-year-old worker at the meat processing company Embutidos Monells, in Sant Miquel de Balenyà (Osona), died on Monday after becoming trapped while operating a machine. It is a company that produces 45% of the bacon sold throughout SpainThe company also specializes in cooked ham, turkey, and cured pork loin. It works with all supermarket chains, and 65% of its products are sold sliced. The company's CEO, Maria Àngels Sebastià, confirmed the accident to the newspaper ARA but declined to provide further information because "it is under investigation by the competent authorities." "We are deeply saddened and deeply regret the loss," she emphasized. The incident occurred around 6:30 a.m. So far, only the worker's age—34—has been released; his nationality has not been specified. The Embutidos Monells factory in Sant Miquel de Balenyà employs approximately 650 people, 55% of whom are foreign nationals from forty different countries. In addition, the company has another production plant in Les Masies de Voltregà, also in Osona, with another 150 workers. Emergency Medical Service (SEM) personnel were dispatched to the factory, but were unable to save the worker's life. Citizen security and investigation patrols from the Vic police station of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) were also dispatched and reported the accident to the duty magistrate in Vic and the Catalan Government's Department of Business and Labor.

It's a village in Osona with little more than four streets and only about 1,200 inhabitants, but it's home to the meat processing plant that produces 45% of the bacon sold in all of Spain. The company employs more than half the village's population, and 55% of those workers are foreigners from forty different countries. The village is called Sant Miquel de Balenyà and belongs to the municipality of Seva; the meat processing plant is Embutidos Monells. They could be considered an example of what's happening throughout the region, but perhaps taken to an extreme.

Fifty-year-old Sylvie remembers almost vomiting on her first day working in a slaughterhouse. She had to cut the pigs' tongues and hearts with a knife in a room so cold her hands nearly froze. They were enormous pigs, weighing between 80 and 100 kilos, unlike anything she'd ever seen. "In my country, pigs are small. Here, they're as big as cows." And endlessly, one pig after another. Like on an assembly line.

Since 2019, the absolute value added (GVA) – an indicator similar to gross domestic product that measures the level of economic activity in a region – of the Osona region has grown by 7.1%. This rate is significantly higher than the Catalan average (2.7%) and is only surpassed by Garrotxa (8.4%) and Gironès (7.3%), according to the latest data.Regional economic yearbookfrom BBVA. This economic progress is largely due to the strength of the meat industry, which boasts giants in the sector. It is estimated that around 30,000 pigs are slaughtered daily in the region's abattoirs, a task that, surprisingly, is still largely done manually. Therefore, there is a strong demand for labor in Osona, primarily supplied by the foreign population, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, while in 2015 three out of every ten workers were foreign, now it is six out of ten.

It's a village in Osona with little more than four streets and only about 1,200 inhabitants, but it's home to the meat processing plant that produces 45% of the bacon sold in all of Spain. The company employs more than half the village's population, and 55% of those workers are foreigners from forty different countries. The village is called Sant Miquel de Balenyà and belongs to the municipality of Seva; the meat processing plant is Embutidos Monells. They could be considered an example of what's happening throughout the region, but perhaps taken to an extreme.

Fifty-year-old Sylvie remembers almost vomiting on her first day working in a slaughterhouse. She had to cut the pigs' tongues and hearts with a knife in a room so cold her hands nearly froze. They were enormous pigs, weighing between 80 and 100 kilos, unlike anything she'd ever seen. "In my country, pigs are small. Here, they're as big as cows." And endlessly, one pig after another. Like on an assembly line.

Fifty kilometers to reach a trial in Manresa: that's the distance that defendants, victims, witnesses, and lawyers from the Osona region have had to travel for more than six years. It wasn't until this week that criminal trials resumed in Vic, with a temporary solution in a basement on Ronda Camprodon, meaning those involved in the proceedings no longer need to travel to the Manresa courthouse, where public transport connections don't always make it easy to arrive on time. "Many lawyers have had to act as taxi drivers for their clients," explains Rogeli Montoliu, dean of the Vic Bar Association. "It's like a doctor who lives in Vic and has to go to the Hospital Clínic to perform surgery and have to take the patient in his car because the patient is also from Vic and has no other way to get there," criticizes Montoliu, who is also president of the Catalan Bar Council (Cicac). The lawyer asserts that over the years it has been "very common" for a hearing to be postponed because someone was unable to attend, and in this regard, he emphasizes that these trials—which deal with crimes such as theft, robbery, or traffic offenses—often involve "people with limited financial resources" who lack the means to attend. The trials now being held in Vic include crimes committed throughout the Osona region, and in fact, hearings have been scheduled in the new courtroom for the past three months to ensure it can be used normally from day one, according to sources at the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). However, they add that for some time there will still be some cases tried in Manresa because they were already scheduled there and because with only one courtroom it would have been impossible to handle all the pending hearings.

The jury has concluded that the man tried last week at the Barcelona Court to kill a minor under 15 years of age in Sant Hipòlit de Voltregà (Osona) in 2023 He is guilty of homicide. This was the majority decision of the jury, who also unanimously ruled that the defendant is guilty of illegal possession of a firearm, as the crime was committed with a pistol. The prosecution and the private prosecution are seeking sentences exceeding 20 years in prison, and the judge must now determine the exact sentence for the defendant.

After winning the Goya for Best New Actor in 2011 for his performance in Black bread, Francesc Colomer (Vic, 1997) has combined his acting career – in films such as Living is easy with your eyes closed, The vampire of Barcelona, Beach House and series like Vintage– with a more earthly passion: the family vineyard.

Joaquim Carandell (Manlleu, 1994) has been president of Unión Deportiva Tona for ten years now. In fact, he took office at just 21 years old, after being offered the position of president of a club that already had the main sponsorship of the family business. Benito Urban, dedicated to manufacturing street furniture: playgrounds, benches, streetlights, railings, and manhole covers, among many other products. "Out of innocence and recklessness," he admits, he accepted the challenge while studying business administration in Barcelona, despite realizing that he had a heavy responsibility ahead of him. However, his involvement with the club and the emotional bond with the town where he's lived since he was ten years old pushed him to take the reins of an organization that was then playing in the First Catalan League. A decade later, Tona has accumulated four seasons in the Third Federation, the fifth tier of Spanish football, and has already established itself as the top club in the Osona region.

The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) are investigating a new crime in Catalonia. The homicide took place this afternoon in an apartment on Calle Santa Llúcia in Torelló, in the Osona region. Catalan police found the lifeless body of a 79-year-old woman with signs of violence. Shortly after, according to sources consulted by ARA, the police arrested her 54-year-old son as the alleged perpetrator of the crime in the same apartment. The Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) has taken over the case to try to clarify the circumstances of the incident.

It's official: Aiguafreda now belongs to the Osona region for all intents and purposes, after the plenary session of the Parliament approved this Wednesday the bill to change the district of the municipality that until now was part of Vallès Oriental. After all the administrative procedures have been completed and the chamber has given the final necessary approval, the municipality sees the will expressed in a referendum in May 2022 fulfilled, which was clear with 60.6% of votes in favor, unlike the 1987 consultation that opted for Serlles. Curiously, this change has broken the PP's bad streak in Osona, where it has not had a single councilor for ten years, while now, suddenly, it has recovered one. The Popular Party (PP) Lydia Remon Aguirre is a councilor in the town of 2,500 inhabitants and leaves behind the total journey through the wilderness in the area due to this administrative change.