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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.

Centering on the artist’s iconic image, the Dalí Theatre-Museum hosts a temporary exhibition of 23 portraits of Salvador Dalí by photographer Philippe Halsman. Showing a less known selection of Dalí’s moustache editorial project, Halsman’s photography can be seen from April 18th to December 31st in the Loggias Room of the museum. The exhibition titled Variants from Dalí’s moustache shows how the artist´s moustache is a key part of the unmistakable image of the genius of surrealism. Presented by Monste Aguer, the Museum’s director, it is the first time that Dalí becomes part of the museum through its own portrait. Now the Dalí Theatre-Museum's collection allows the visitors to capture the artistic journey of Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) through a spectrum of works and at the end of the tour see Dalí himself with different pictures. Latvian photographer Philippe Halsman, did not hesitate to immortalize Dali’s presence in the cultural center by this selection of 23 photographs, included in the book ‘Dalí´s Moustache’ released in 1954 with the help of New York publisher Simon and Shuster.

The Catalan President Carles Puigdemont announced that the Government will prepare new legislation to protect the core policies of the social emergency law suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). The new law will include “practical tools with legal security” that will “reformulate” the suspended articles of the legislation but “keep its spirit”. Drafting a new law was the main compromise of the social emergency summit organised on Tuesday by the Catalan Government, the local authorities and the main political parties in Catalonia following the Spanish Government’s legal challenge against the social emergency law. Puigdemont described the negotiations as “long, intense and very useful” and said that the new law is needed “to restore everything the Constitutional Court has suspended”. The meeting, he said, “wasn’t about political discrepancies but about showing that this issue concerns us all”.

From the 6th until the 9th of October, Barcelona will host the main annual video game fair in Spain, which until now has been held in Madrid. This was announced by the Spanish Video Games Association (AEVI), which will host the event along with Fira de Barcelona. The video game-centred fair is called ‘Barcelona World Games’, which will replace the original name ‘Madrid Games Week’. The event will take place at the Montjuïc exhibition centre, and will gather together the leading companies in the industry, which are to present the new products to be expected for the Christmas season. The general director of AEVI, José María Moreno, released a statement saying that that the fair will be "an opportunity to find new audiences and markets, generate synergy between industry professionals and discover the potential of gaming in the fields of economy, culture and education".

On the 3rd of May, the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, spoke at the inauguration of the International Forum on the Reception and Integration of Refugees in the EU. The forum centred on what was described as “the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII”, focusing on its long-term and short-term solutions as well as its “challenges and opportunities”, according to DIPLOCAT, the organising entity. Barcelona’s “willingness” to accept 4,500 asylum seekers, 1,800 of which could be helped immediately, was spoken of by both Colau and Puigdemont. Puigdemont accused the Spanish Government of “ineffectiveness”, having not yet carried out its compromise of accepting 17,000 refugees, while Ada Colau stated that it “isn’t right” that Barcelona doesn’t have more power in deciding its own immigration policies.

The NGO ‘Plataforma per la Llengua’, which aims to promote the use of Catalan as a tool for social cohesion, warned on Tuesday that the language is “going backwards” in the field of Justice. Only 3% of trials in Catalonia are in Catalan and up to 75% of lawyers that use it have been asked to use Spanish instead on at least one occasion, regretted the president of the NGO, Òscar Escuder. A new report from the organisation, however, also includes some positive figures: Catalan is now spoken by more than 10 million people, and up to 13.4 million understand it. Outside Catalonia, it is in the Balearic Islands where Catalan is most widely spoken: up to 80.5% of citizens there know the language. In French-Catalonia, however, only 35.5% of inhabitants speak the language.

The Spanish King has signed this Tuesday the decree calling an early election in Spain. The main political parties have been unable to reach an agreement to form a stable government and so for the first time since the restoration of democracy, the Spanish Congress will be dissolved only five months after a general election. The calling of early elections has been an open secret since last week, when the King already said that he was not going to offer the leader of any political party the task of trying to form a government. Neither conservative Mariano Rajoy nor socialist Pedro Sánchez have the necessary support to win an investiture debate. Sánchez tried to achieve the support of Congress for a government led by him and C’s but was defeated. Rajoy, the current president, did not even try.

The Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, the mayors of Barcelona and other major cities in the country and local associations will meet this Tuesday to discuss a united response to the legal attack against the Catalan Social Emergency Law. The Spanish Government has asked the Constitutional Court (TC) to suspend parts of Law 25/2015, one of the more important legislative initiatives in Catalonia, which aims to protect the most vulnerable against energy cuts and other housing-related causes of poverty. The Catalan Government and the local representatives are expected to find a common strategy to deal with this legal challenge, which they consider a “serious attack” on the Catalan people and its institutions.

London is the chosen destination for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to continue his official visits abroad. He will be in the British capital from the 11th to the 13th of May. There, he will give the talk ‘Mapping a Path Towards Catalan Independence’ at Chatham House, one of the most important think tanks in the world. The Catalan President “will argue that the majority of Catalans now want independence” and “his government’s timeline for increased autonomy and, ultimately, independence”, according to Chatham House. Puigdemont will hold “informal and discrete” meetings with representatives from the City. London will be Puigdemont’s second official trip abroad, after having visited several cities in Belgium this past weekend.

Visitors can finally see the sacristy on the west side of Gaudí’s cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. The construction of Barcelona’s most iconic building began in 1882 and aims to be finished in 2026. Recently architects removed the framework and scaffolding from the sacristy where visitors can see symbols on the obelisks on the corner of two famous streets in Barcelona, Provença and Sardenya. The sacristy contains several items for the celebration of liturgical acts, some of which are original designs and others are reproductions of the famous Catalan architect. In two years’ time, the six central towers will already be visible and by 2023 they will be complete, making it the tallest religious building in Europe.

Less than 24 hours after meeting with her Catalan counterpart, current Spanish Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría announced that some articles of the Catalan law against energy poverty will be taken before the Constitutional Court (TC). Thus, Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras’ demands for the Spanish executive to “reconsider” this procedure haven’t been listened to. However, Santamaría nuanced that those precepts which are in relation to guaranteeing the energy supply to those who may be at social risk are not affected by the suspension. On the other hand, some measures oriented toward avoiding evictions have been suspended. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, responded by saying that this measure leaves “in the open” the most vulnerable families.  

The creation of a joint pro-independence candidature in Catalonia to run for the upcoming Spanish elections on the 26^th of June would show that “sovereignism has won in the world’s eyes”. This is what former Catalan President, Artur Mas, stated in an interview with 8TV. He also admitted to being “willing” to do “whatever it takes” including leading this potential list, as “an act of service”. However, the Catalan pro-independence parties in the Spanish Parliament have different opinions regarding the possibility of running together on the 26-J. While former CDC ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’ consider the joint candidature as “the best formula”, left wing pro-independence ERC have insisted that “ideological diversity gets better results”.

After the 2016 celebrations for Sant Jordi’s festival came to a close, Catalan Minister of Culture Santi Vila announced that the Catalan Government will offer its full support to an initiative to recognise the feast day as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). As opposed to UNESCO World Heritage, ICH safeguarding works to promote and protect traditions, practices, and other living expressions of culture beyond physical sites, objects, and monuments. Until now, the Catalan Booksellers Guild and the Catalan Publishers Guild have discussed the initiative with the House of Books — the same institute that worked to have the 23^rd of April recognised as UNESCO World Book Day. 

Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras met this Thursday with his Spanish counterpart Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría in what Junqueras described as a “very cordial but very difficult” encounter. One of the main subjects laid on the table revolved around the recent suspension of several Catalan laws by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). In reference to this, Junqueras accused the TC of acting according to “political interests” rather than considering those of the citizens and asked Sáenz de Santamaría to reconsider the suspension of the Catalan law against energy poverty, as they announced a few weeks ago. Junqueras regretted that the Spanish executive is only temporary “when it is in their interest”. Junqueras, who is also Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, also referred to Catalonia’s deficit target set by the Spanish government and described it as “unfair, arbitrary and far from what citizens deserve”.

Unemployment in Catalonia at the end of the first trimester of 2016 totalled 660,000 people, 98,100 fewer than in the same period last year. Thus, the unemployment rate was 17.42%, the lowest since the third trimestre of 2010, according to the latest Active Population Survey (EPA). Between January and March 2016, 25,700 joined the labour market and occupation grew in the industry sector. However, it decreased in the services, construction and agricultural sector. In the whole of Spain, unemployment rose by 0.25% this past trimester, setting the unemployment rate at 21% and totalling 4,791,400 people without a job.