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Thousands of people are expected to visit the 61^st edition of Girona’s ‘Temps de Flors’, which sees the exhibition of a wide range of flower artwork featuring different spots of this medieval city located 80 kilometres from Barcelona. As happens every year, the stairway of Santa Maria’s Cathedral is one of the highlights, but in this edition it has raised even more attention due to the filming of HBO’s series ‘Game of Thrones’. Hundreds of flowers fill other historic sights, patios and ancient neighbourhoods, as well as the fountains in the historical centre, which have also been included in the exhibition in a harmonious mixing of water and flowers. Many cultural activities are also expected over the weekend, from the 14^th and 15^th of May, such as ‘Castellers’, traditional Catalan human towers. 

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont met with former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, during the President’s official trip to London. In a face-to-face interview on the radio programme ‘El Balcó’, from Cadena SER radio, Puigdemont praised “Scotland’s know-how in terms of organising referendums” and assured that Catalonia would like to conduct its pro-independence process “in the Scottish way” but lamented that Spain “is not the United Kingdom” and therefore “it is hard to negotiate if there is no one at the other end of the table”. For his part, Salmond insisted that “it is not for Scotland to instruct Catalonia on the specific techniques to follow” in order to achieve their purposes but emphasised that “ballot boxes and democracy will prevail” and “the opportunity shall arise”. This was Puigdemont’s first event in London, where he will be on an official trip until Friday.

The new Catalan state will be “a citizen and participative republic”, based on a presidential system, without an army but with an “Agency for Security and Defence” which would protect citizens and control the borders. These are some of the points of the first draft that ‘Constituïm’, a group made up of several professionals from different fields that has already put together previous attempts at writing a Catalan Constitution, delivered this Wednesday to the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell. In total, the first proposal presented up to now includes 49 articles. The draft also foresees Catalan and Aranese, a language which is spoken in the northern region of Val d’Aran, in the Catalan Pyrenees, as the only official languages of the republic, with Spanish set to have a “special status”. The text will now be sent to several groups so they can study its constitutive process. Among those reviewing the document are the different political groups in Parliament along with civil society associations such as the National Assembly of Catalonia (ANC), the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and the association promoting Catalan culture, Òmnium Cultural.

Abertis, a multinational company specialised in the management of toll roads and telecommunications infrastructure based in Barcelona, announced on Tuesday that it is to acquire 51.4% of the A4 Brescia-Padua Italian motorway. Spanning 146 km and acting as an important connection between the North of Italy and Central Europe, the route sees a circulation of approximately 91,000 vehicles per day. Abertis has also acquired the Italian motorway A31, which enjoys a strategic position thanks to its potential in becoming the fastest and shortest route to Eastern Europe. The total amount of the acquisition is €594 million, to be paid by January 2023, except for €5 million which will be paid when the transaction is closed in the coming months; the acquisition may bring in revenue of around €610 million for the Catalan company. 

The filming of award-winning director Agustí Villarongas' new movie, a cinematic adaption of the classic novel by Catalan author Joan Sales about the Spanish Civil War, has already started in Aragon in north-eastern Spain. Written in 1956, 'Uncertain Glory' is considered to be one of the most important works in Catalan literature of the twentieth century, and its English translation by Peter Bush was chosen on the list of 10 best novels of 2014 by The Economist. It is the first Catalan novel portraying the Civil War through the losing Republicans’ eyes, and for many it is the greatest depiction of the whole war. The film is scheduled to arrive in cinemas in 2017. 

In their final home game of the season on Sunday, FC Barcelona treated the fans to an enthralling afternoon. With the team inching ever closer to wrapping up the 2015/16 La Liga title and facing cross-town rivals RCDEspanyol in a late-season derby  certified as a must-win  for both sides, the blaugrana eleven gave the Camp Nou crowd an hour and a half of total football. The defence swarmed, the passing was crisp, and the trident was lethal. The only thing standing between FCB and a new piece of hardware is next Saturday's tête-à-tête with Granada, who avoided relegation on Sunday with a rout of their own in a 4–1 thumping of Sevilla.

A record 118,000 visitors attended Barcelona International Comic Fair, 5,000 more than in 2015. One of the main attractions of this edition was he 80th anniversary of Spanish comic book artist Francisco Ibáñez, who created the famous Mort & Phil. Another mayor exhibition, 'Comics on wheels', included some 200 originals works from around the world that showcased the relationship between two realms: comics and vehicles. Many professionals, comic fans and schoolchildren did not want to miss the opportunity to enjoy the opening of the event, which also drew together the video game industry and manga. Barcelona International Comic Fair was held from the May 6^th until the 9^th of May at Fira Barcelona Montjuïc venue. 

2,500 employees of the Chinese multinational conglomerate Tiens were awarded a six-day trip throughout Spain, ending in Catalonia. Recognisable because of their bright turquoise garb with the company logo, the several thousand people had 20 aircraft and over 1,500 hotel rooms reserved for them. The trip was also business related. Indeed, the company expects to sign new “strategic alliances” with Catalan companies, noted Li Zongmin, son of billionaire tycoon, philanthropist, chairman and founder of Tiens, Li Jinyuan. The primary business allegiance is currently with pharmaceutical factory Eladiet Papiol, located east of Barcelona. Li Zongmin also added that Catalonia’s push for independence would not affect future business decisions.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont and former Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, will be interviewed this Thursday on the radio programme ‘El Balcó’ of Cadena SER radio station. The conversation will take place during Puigdemont’s official trip to London, during which the Catalan President will give the talk ‘Mapping a Path Towards Catalan Independence’ at London’s Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. Puigdemont will be in London from Wednesday to Friday, and on the diplomatic trip he will also hold an interview with the BBC and attend business meetings in the financial heart of the city. London will be Puigdemont’s second official trip abroad, after visiting Belgium in the beginning of May.

The Catalan President said that liberal party Convergència Democràtica (CDC) needs to be “renewed” and members should not be afraid of forming a new one, even under a “new name”. “We need new leadership, a new language, new priorities, new ways of governing and to offer new messages to the citizens”, he said in an interview with CNA. The CDC party is celebrating an internal consultation on the 21st of May to decide its own future. Former president Artur Mas and president of CDC said this week that he aims to create a new party, in comments now echoed by his successor in the Government, Carles Puigdemont.

The Ministry of Health of Catalonia has reported the case of a woman infected by the mosquito-borne virus, which her baby has now contracted, according to 8TV. This is the first case of microcephaly confirmed in Catalonia and Spain, and the second in Europe. The woman is not currently in hospital. According to official figures, there are 39 Zika cases in Catalonia: 15 men and 24 women. From those women, 4 are pregnant and are taking part in strict medical controls to follow the development of their embryos. The case of microcephaly has been reported in one of these women who, besides Zika, was also infected by another mosquito-borne virus, dengue.

The port of Palamós on the Costa Brava will receive more luxury cruises this season, but will also lose almost 20,000 passengers compared to 2015. Although the number of cruise liners stopping at the Catalan coastal town will not vary substantially, there will be a decline in the number of passengers due to the fact that the two cruise ships with the greatest capacity, the Thomson Dream and the Island Escape, will not dock this season. The former has changed its route to the Caribbean, while the latter has been sent to the scrapyard. The president of Ports of Catalonia, Ricard Font, says that this decline is not a “major concern” because it responds to “objective reasons” and that the port of Palamós is still highly valued. Proof of this, he points out, is that 59% of the companies that will dock from now until November are luxury cruise liners that carry passengers coming to spend three times more money than conventional cruise travellers. In 2016 the port will also open the maritime station, which has been remodelled and is almost ready for when Palamós becomes an external border within the Schengen zone.

Tourists spent 2.467 billion euros in Catalonia in the first quarter of 2016. This sum is equal to 6.7% more than the same period last year, according to the Tourist Expenditure Survey (Egatur) published by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). In March alone, the amount that foreigners spent in Catalonia was 922 million euros, a decrease of 5.6% compared with March of last year. On a country-wide scale, foreigners spent 12.255 billion euros in all of Spain in the first quarter of 2016, 7.4% more than last year. These figures indicate that Catalonia absorbed 20.1% of foreigners’ expenditure in Spain in the first three months of the year.

Michael Keating, Director of the Edinburgh-based Centre on Constitutional Change, said in an interview with CNA that “Catalans need Scotland more than Scotland needs Catalonia”, because the Scots “have in recent years been doing much better than the Catalan independence people: they got a referendum, they got the right to self-determination and they got more powers”. The President of the SNP-Friends of Catalonia group, David McDonald, said that he sees similarities between Catalonia and Scotland but warned that the Scottish people “wouldn’t have accepted the kind of censorship or approach” from the UK that Spain takes with Catalonia.

The students at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have designed and built a low cost wheelchair for people in developing countries. The chair is made from bicycle wheels, a supermarket trolley and PVC pipes and can be made in fifteen minutes. The cost is approximately 70 euros, half the conventional cost. The two students made the wheelchair as an NGO in project and they also made a video of how to make it. The NGO is going to spread the tutorial to people in developing countries who need a wheelchair and are not able to afford one.