Sociedad

It is 11 in the morning on a working day in mid-July in Barcelona and the humidity and heat are starting to be difficult to manage. Stephany Hijar, a 25-year-old student, walks with both hands occupied: in one, the mobile phone; in the other, a handheld fan. Her sister-in-law gave it to her this year and she admits that it is now a must-have for going out on the street. Until last summer, it was the fan that helped her to mitigate the heat, but she has grown tired of fanning herself.

Since its beginnings in 2005 in Mataró, the Cruïlla Festival has always done things differently, a spirit that has been amplified since it moved to the Parc del Fòrum venue. The motto of the 2026 edition, “Cruïlla is home,” reflected its intention from several perspectives: welcoming an audience that feels comfortable with the social and environmental values promoted by the often-called most Barcelonan festival.

Old age is changing rapidly as citizens (tens of thousands, being part of the so-called baby boom) who dominate, or at least use technology daily and fluently, enter this stage of life, having had direct contact with it in their work and personal environment.

The forest fire declared in Orés, in the Cinco Villas region (Zaragoza), remains active and the provisional affected area has already reached 14,000 hectares. During the early hours of Friday, ground efforts intensified, although the fire remains very active.

The data from this year’s campaigns, up to July 15, indicate that 59,961.48 hectares of forest have already burned in Spain, in 18 large fires (over 500 ha), tripling the balance compared to the same period last year. In 2025, up to July 15, the data indicated that 20,466.25 hectares had burned, with 6 large fires, according to data provided by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, based on information collected by the autonomous communities.

The master’s program Global Challenges for Sustainability, designed by nine European universities led by the University of Barcelona (UB), has received the quality label created by the European Commission to highlight degree programs born from European university alliances. In addition to the UB alliance, the master’s program of the alliance in which the Catholic University of Valencia participates has also received this distinction.

The Guardia Civil has arrested a man for sexually assaulting a woman on a bus near Baamonde, in the municipality of Begonte (Lugo), on a regular route between Viveiro and A Coruña.

El Síndic de Greuges has issued a resolution urging the guarantee of school colonies for their pedagogical value, essential in the right to education, and calls on the Govern to establish a framework that allows their implementation with guarantees for the workers.

The Congress of Deputies gave the green light last Tuesday to the royal decree that establishes an extra financing of 6.2 billion euros this year and 2027 to the dependency system managed by the autonomous communities. But what does this increase in funding mean for dependents, their families, and workers?

The forest fire in Orés, in the Cinco Villas region of Zaragoza, remains active and, although work intensified during the night, the flames have practically doubled the level of affected hectares, which have increased from 7,600 last night to 12,000, according to initial estimates this Friday.