Barecelona’s 97-year-old Plaza de Toros Monumental arena has seen thousands of bull fights over the years and that tradition will come to an end today when the city’s final bullfights will be observed.

Officials in Barcelona voted last year to end the often brutal sport of bull fighting in the region. The ban is the first in mainland Spain although a similar ban went into effect in 1991 on the Canary Islands.

Speaking about the upcoming ban one matador told the BBC:

 ”This is such a beautiful arena, with a lot of tradition both for bullfighters and this national celebration.”

The decision was an easy one to make with attendance considered “very poor” in recent memory however the last day of matches at the 20,000-seat Monumental arena sold out quickly and in some cases they are fetching up to five times their original value on the black market.

While Barcelona officials are believed to have created the ban to distinguish their area from the rest of mainland Spain human rights groups hope they can ride the wave of support for the ban into other parts of the country.

Do you think the ban on bull fighting was the right decision made by Barcelona city officials?

Brutal Sport Of Bull Fighting Ends In Barcelona Today is a post from: The Inquisitr

Microsoft is about to pull an Apple and Google by hoping full force into the phone market, at least that’s the report that recently surfaced from MuyComputer which is reporting that the Zune Phone will appear at MWC in Barcelona this month and will feature a Nvidia Tegra setup.

According to Gizmodo, MuyComputer DirectorJ avier Pérez Cortijo said

“the Zune Phone presentation at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress 2010 is 100% confirmed.”

According to that same report, the Zune Phone will offer a screen resolution of 480 x 272, although no size has been announced, plus HDMI video out and Windows 7.  It will also weight around 2.45 ounces. Just realize that the picture in this post is nothing more than an artists own rendering of what they think the Zune Phone will look like.

The image is a mockup, not the real thing

Zune Phone To Make Official Debut At MWC, Feature NVIDIA Tegra is a post from: The Inquisitr

In group C we’ll see a couple of really interesting matches, as Kaka (Real Madrid) will play his old club AC Milan. Another couple of interesting matches are in group F, where two strikers will meet their old club. Samuel Eto’o (now Inter Milan) switch with Zlatan Ibrahimovich (now Barcelona) during the summer break.

Group G is the most “boring” group with Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart and Urziceni (?!)

The group stages start September 15.

Champions League draw

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: AC MIlan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich
Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Apoel Nicosia
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni
Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Liege

Which match do you look forward to? Which team is your favorite? (Real Madrid here)

Champions League group stage draw is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just last week I posted about the second largest aquarium in the world and how cool it was. Well it turns out that the song by Barcelona used in the video had been pirated. Now in this day and age of YouTube takedowns at the slightest finger wagging by record companies the guys in Barcelona are saying a great big thank you to the person who made the video. The band claims that the video has actually boosted their album sales and concert ticket sales.

So bucking the takedown trend the guys in the band posted a video response to the "Kuroshio Sea" video in which they thanked the uploader of the video and all their new-found friends that came as a result of the posting.

Now that’s the way to handle the times when a fan creates something really cool and actually adds value to your music. Good on ya Barcelona!

Yet another band says thank you for pirating our song is a post from: The Inquisitr

Barcelona did what they could to “warn” Kaka against moving to Real Madrid, but the deal was already sealed at that point. According to Kaka the deal had been in the pipeline for some time.

I wanted this move to be announced sooner. For me it’s a relief that it has been announced now, although I have always be 100 per cent focussed on the national side.

Earlier this year Manchester City offered twice as much for Kaka, but it was mid-season in Italy and Kaka didn’t want to leave mid-season. Now he is moving to Real Madrid to advance his soccer career and save AC Milan’s financial crisis.

Now another chance came up and AC Milan is in a big crisis (financially). For me, the sporting project (at Madrid) is interesting and will be an important boost to continue my career in the highest level.

It doesn’t look like Real Madrid’s shopping spree is stopping with the signing of Kaka. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, David Villa and Franck Ribery have also been linked to the Spanish capital club who appear to have no cap on their summer spending budget.

“The president (newly re-elected Florentino Perez) is already making contact (with potential signings) and is putting together a competitive team,” said Kaka. “One which will try to once again become champions in Spain and Europe. That’s why I chose Madrid.”

Personally I hope Real Madrid will give Barcelona some serious competition next season.

Kaka joins Real Madrid in world record $89 million transfer is a post from: The Inquisitr