FC Barcelona won their first trophy of the new season last night, their fourth in 2009, the Spanish Supercopa (article in Castilian, El Periodico). Having achieved an important lead against their opponents Athletic de Bilbao in the first leg of the competition, winning 1-2 last Sunday at the Bilbao team's stadium, the Catalan team were in a strong position at the start of the match at the Camp Nou yesterday. Although they dominated in the first half, no goals were forthcoming until after the half-time break; Messi scored in the 49th minute, later converted a penalty and finally Bojan scored just minutes after coming on the pitch, substituting new signing Ibramovich.
Taxi drivers have earned 30 percent less this August compared to the same period last year (article in Castilian, La Vanguardia). This is a signficantly larger decrease than has been seen in the earlier months of the year, and has been more notable during the day, when the amount earned by taxi drivers fell by 40 percent, while at night it only went down by 20 percent. As well as blaming the crisis, the Federació Catalana del Taxi, which released the figures, said that it was also caused by the growing presence of unofficial taxis in Barcelona, who are taking fares from the black and yellow cabs. According to a spokesperson for the Federation, these are both illegal drivers operating without a taxi licence and private hire companies who run ‘pirate taxis’.
Also in the news: Spanish athelete disqualified at Berlin world championships (La Vanguardia); Three women die of swine flu-related causes in Andalucia in two days (El Periodico); Bank sector will take five years to adjust to effects of crisis (La Vanguardia)