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Manresa, a small city 50 kilometres away from Barcelona, will host this week host the 18th edition of 'Fira Mediterrània' ('Mediterranean Fair') a professional meeting oriented toward analysinge and improvinge the cultural sector in Catalonia. This year’s' edition will focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Throughout the 10 sessions programmed from the 15th to the 17th of October the potentiality of culture in the social, economic, urban and communitarian areas will be discussed and the relationship between popular cultural and social actions will be analysed. The venue 'La Llotja' will also host meetings between artists and programmers, national and international companies' showcases and 200 'speed datesings', quick meetings between professionals.

From January to September this year, Barcelona's port transported 100,666 UTI, the transport unit which equals a lorry, a platform or a trailer. The highest increase was registered in those services connecting the Catalan capital with Italian destinations, in particular Genoa, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Savona and Porto Torres. The rest of the goods transportation corresponded to short sea shippings, which are the connections between Barcelona and the North of Africa, mainly Tangier. Exports from January to September were higher than imports, and grew by 9% in comparison to the same period last year.Vehicle transportation continued to grow and registered 18% growth in the first nine months of the year, and 10,000 lorries have been diverted from road to maritime routes, according to data published this Thursday by Port de Barcelona for January to September.

Catalan President, Artur Mas, appeared this Thursday before the court, after being summonsed by Catalonia's Supreme Court for organising the 9-N symbolic vote in 2014. "The success and international impact of the 9-N consultation is what motivated this lawsuit" he stated "this summons responds to the Spanish Government's anger rather than legal reasons". Mas arrived at Barcelona's Courthouse by foot and was joined by the 400 Catalan mayors from the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and the entire Catalan Government. Right in front of the Court, thousands of people displaying Catalan flags rallied around the President and openly showed their opposition to Catalonia's Supreme Court's decision to summons Mas, which has been regarded as a political decision. Mas appeared before the court two days after Catalan Minister for Education Irene Rigau and former vice-president Joana Ortega and right after attending the commemorative events for the 75^th anniversary of President Companys' execution. 

Catalonia posts a -0.5% annual inflation rate in September, the second consecutive negative figure this year. This decline is mainly caused by the fall in electricity and fuel prices, which has led to an annual decrease in housing (-3.5%) and transportation (-6.6%) prices. However, the sector which registered the highest drop in monthly terms was leisure, -3% in comparison to last September. On the other side, the price of clothing, education and medicine has increased this month, while food and non-alcoholic beverage prices remained steady. All the Autonomous Communities have seen a decrease in the annual inflation rate and in Spain as a whole prices have dropped by 0.9%. Catalonia is, together with the Basque Country, the Community with the second-smallest decrease in the annual inflation rate. 

From the 14^th to the 18^th of October, Barcelona will host a new edition of the International Boat Show. 260 exhibitors from all over the world will present their wares in sports and recreational boats, distributed throughout the 50,000-square metre exhibition, with the biggest being displayed afloat and the floor hosting smaller boats and components. The Fair's President, Luis Conde, forecasts a "spectacular edition" this year, as the nautical sector "is recovering, in line with the rest of the economy". In fact, the number of boats registered this year has increased by 10%. According to Conde, the Barcelona International Boat Show "is the main platform of the nautical sector in Spain" and a must in any boat lover's agenda.

Citizens all across Catalonia expressed their opposition to Catalonia's Supreme Court's decision to summons President Artur Mas, Catalan Minister for Education Irene Rigau and former vice-president Joana Ortega for organising the 9-N symbolic vote. This Tuesday, after Rigau and Ortega appeared before the court, thousands of people gathered together in front of their respective town halls, showing their support for the summonsed and declaring themselves guilty for participating in the 9-N consultation. The protests were organised by Alliance for the Right to Self-Determination of Catalonia ('Pacte Nacional pel Dret a Decidir'), a group of 1,500 institutions, political parties, trade unions, business organisations, professional associations, NGOs, cultural organisations and political pressure groups that support the celebration of a referendum in Catalonia. 

The first two public figures summonsed by Catalonia's Supreme Court for organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014, Catalan Minister for Education, Irene Rigau, and former vice-president Joana Ortega, have appeared before the court today. Outside Barcelona Courthouse, around 500 citizens, brought together by civil society associations such as pro-independence Catalan National Assembly, showed their support for both of the summonsed and openly expressed their opposition to Catalonia's Supreme Court's decision, which has been regarded as a political judgment against Catalonia's right to decide its political future. Members of pro-independence unitary list 'Junts Pel Sí', liberal party CDC, left wing pro-independence party ERC, radical left CUP, Christian-democrat 'Unió' and alternative left coalition 'Catalunya Sí que es Pot' also took part in the protests, which are considered "a direct attack on justice's independence" by Catalonia's Supreme Court. 

Porcine Sanitation Group (GSP) in Lleida region, together with the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, has launched 'Portal de Casos Clínics' ('Portal of Clinique Cases'), an innovative website to help veterinary tasks in the porcine sector. The application, a first in Europe, enables the professionals to do a follow up of the state and evolution of porcine illnesses in real time. The aim is to help veterinarians to diagnose as well as anticipate problems and optimise the resources and time used for treatment. This sanitary tool has already 7,000 cases indexed. The launching of the website is another step forward for GSP, a non-profit association which aims to improve the sanitary standard and profitability of porcine companies in Catalonia.  

3,974,609 passengers used Barcelona El Prat airport in September, which represents a 4.6% growth in comparison to the same month last year. Moreover, this figure sets a new record for a month of September, according to Spanish public airport operator and air navigation service provider AENA, and pushes the total number of passengers using Barcelona El Prat airport to30,695,805 since the beginning of the year. However, El Prat was not the busiest airport in Spain; in September Madrid Barajas registered the highest number of passengers, 4,331,642, which is 11.7% higher than for the same month last year. The situation in Girona and Reus airports in Catalonia contrast with El Prat, as both continue to lose nearly 20% of their total number of passengers. 

Nearly 4,000 Spanish unity supporters and extreme-right forces gathered this Monday in Barcelona’s ‘Plaça de Catalunya’to celebrate Spain’s National Day. Although this time neither the Spanish People’s Party (PP) nor anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans confirmed their attendance, the PP’s leader in Catalonia, Xavier Garcia Albiol, in the end took part in the rally, together with other PP members. With the slogan ‘Barcelona, capital city of Spanishness’, members of Falange –the fascist party of Franco, which is still legal in today’s Spain, groups opposing Catalonia’s independence and retired soldiers displayed Spanish flags, shouted ‘Catalonia is Spain’ and burnt pro-independence flags in the centre of the square. Spain’s National Day commemorates the day Columbus landed in America, in 1492. In Madrid there is a big army exhibition but in the last years the day has been regarded as opposition to Catalonia’s push for independence and other regions of Spain’s exaltation of Spanish nationalism and the denial of other regions autonomy, especially Catalonia and Basque Country.   

A painting of Picasso’s ‘blue period’ with a hidden portrait at the back of the canvas of Picasso’s friend and patron Peter Mañach, has been presented this Friday in London for the first time in 30 years. ‘La Gommeuse’ is a portrait of a naked Parisian woman made in 1901 and the image of Mañach on the reverse was discovered only 15 years ago. Now the canvas will be auctioned at Sotheby's New York with a starting price of $60 million. The painting dates back to Picasso’s ‘blue period’ while living in Paris with Mañach. Artworks of Andy Warhol, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh also will go under the hammer.

The Commission for Dignity, an NGO that aims to return the documents confiscated by Franco’s troops at the end of the Spanish Civil War to their rightful owners in Catalonia,“urged” the Spanish state and the army to condemn the court-martial that executed Catalan President, Lluís Companys in 1940. The Commission also invited Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and commanding officer of the Spanish military forces stationed in Catalonia, General Boyero Delgado, to attend the commemoration events “as an action of normality”. One of its initiatives to fight for the preservation of historical memory is to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of Companys’ execution. As a tribute, the Commission is also preparing a concert on the 11^th of October, performed by the School of Music of Catalonia (ESMUC) and to be held at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC).

Two weeks after the 27-S Catalan elections, the debate on who will be the next President is still bogged down. Pro-independence unitary list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ (‘Together For Yes’), which won the elections but didn’t get an absolute majority, confirmed that Artur Mas was their candidate to run for President. However, radical left CUP have repeatedly stated that they won’t instate Mas as President, as an independent Catalonia needs a leader “who can’t be identified with cuts, corruption and privatisations”. “Now we are extremely focused on the content, the what, when, and how” stated CUP’s leader Antonio Baños, in an interview with 'Catalunya Ràdio'. Simultaneously, in another radio interview, ‘Junts Pel Sí’ lead member Raül Romeva assured that he “agrees with almost everything” regarding CUP’s roadmap towards independence and insisted that choosing a candidate to be President “is now secondary”.

The 59^th BFI London Film Festival 2015 includes six Catalan signature productions. Hèctor Fernández’s ‘The corpse of Anna Fritz’, Esteve Soler’s ‘Interior. Family’ and Cesc Gay’s ‘Truman’ are the titles directed by Catalans and three more are Catalan co-productions, Fernando León de Aranoa’s ‘A Perfect Day’, Eugenio Canevari’s ‘Paula’ and Patricio Guzmán’s ‘The Pearl Button’. A total of 240 films from 72 different countries will be shown in different theatres in the British capital, amongst them the work of internationally renowned directors Terence Davis, Cary Fukunaga and Jonas Cuarón, to name a few. 

Almost 200 fantastic and terror genre films will be projected, from the 9^th to the 18^th of October, in the 48th edition of Catalonia’s International Fantastic Film Festival, in Sitges. The opening film this Friday will be the lauded “The Witch”, whose director Robert Eggers won the best director award in Sundance Festival. Sitges 2015 will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of David Fincher’s ‘Seven’ and tribute north-American director Oliver Stone, who will be awarded the Honorific Prize. The Festival, in partnership with Mobile World Capital Barcelona, have launched ‘Phonetastic’ a novelty of this year which aims to power all the potential of new generation mobile devices as movie-making tools.  According to his director, Àngel Sala the pace of tickets sales is similar to last years but a new venue has been added to the seven existing, Cinema Tramuntana.