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Manos Limpias, a Spanish far-right nationalist trade union, has finally filed a judicial complaint for corruption against the historical leader of Catalan nationalism and President of Catalonia between 1980 and 2003, Jordi Pujol, and his wife, Marta Ferrussola. For the last two years, there has been increasing news that allegedly link Pujol's sons to illegal businesses and hidden fortunes. On top of this, two weeks ago, Pujol confessed that his family had been hiding money from the tax authorities for 35 years. This immediately provoked a political earthquake since Pujol is an essential figure in Catalonia's and Spain's contemporary history: he worked to expand Catalonia's autonomy within Spain but in the last two years he started to support independence. Spanish nationalist forces believe that Pujol's fall will have a fatal effect on the self-determination process. However, there are also many rumours stating that the  Spanish authorities might have been protecting Pujol for decades since he was against independence.

In Catalonia prices fell by 8 decimal points this July compared to a year ago and interanual inflation rate stood at 0%, according to the Spain's Statistical Institute (INE). This is a contrast to Spain as a whole, where prices fell by 9 decimal points in July, placing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in negative figures, as low as -0.3%. This level of negative inflation has not been recorded in the country since September 2010, when the CPI lay at -0.7%. This contrast in inflation rates indicates that the Catalan CPI is able to resist falling into negative numbers, despite what has happened to Spain's economy this year, which already registered negative CPI statistics this March. 

In the last few days, the centre-right pro-Catalan state coalition CiU, which runs the Catalan Government, has sent several messages suggesting that the self-determination vote scheduled for the 9^th of November would not take place on that day if the Spanish authorities managed to declare it illegal, despite that fact that it would be backed by Catalan legislation. At first it was the President of the Catalan Executive, Artur Mas, who stated that "the only plan is to vote", being on the 9^th of November consultation or later through plebiscite elections. The last message was sent this Tuesday by the Catalan Vice President, Joana Ortega, who said that "if the [Spanish] State puts obstacles in front of the vote on the 9^th of November" the vote will be postponed. The rest of parties that support the self-determination vote – ERC, ICV-EUiA and CUP – replied to Ortega, saying that Catalans have to vote on that day. In addition, the two grass-roots organisations behind the pro-independence demonstrations of 2012, 2013 and 2014 have stressed that they "will not give up on voting on the 9^th of November".

Solsona's International Music Academy (AIMS) is a high level international project, which is also the first and only pedagogical music festival in Catalonia. It was created by the German cellist Peter Thiemann in order to bring together classical music students and professors of acknowledged international prestige who play in Europe's main orchestras. It is an intensive education project which takes place in a beautiful rural environment in Solsona, a town near the Pyrenees in Central Catalonia. This year, the 13^th edition of the AIMS festival is held from the 6^th to the 17^th of August, and includes the participation of 65 students from 20 different nationalities. 30 concerts have been scheduled in ten municipalities of Western and Central Catalonia.

A new and surprising temporary restaurant, named El Vol Espai Gastronòmic, has opened in Girona, in north-eastern Catalonia, to host some of the best Catalan chefs, such as Joan Roca, whose establishment was named the world's best restaurant in 2013. El Vol is partly suspended over the Onyar River and is a glass and iron structure, transparent and white, which is 20 meters long, weighs 28 tons and is situated in Girona's historic neighbourhood. After just 10 days running, and despite the fact that it only serves lunch and dinner to small groups of 18 customers, it already has 1,100 reservations and some 20 top chefs confirmed to be working there for a few days each during the next year. The new venue is expected to showcase the best of Girona's cuisine and has already sparked much international interest amongst journalists, culinary experts and tour operators from all over the world.

Thomas Vermaelen is officially a Barça player after signing a five year deal at the Club on Sunday morning. Vermaelen was accompanied at the signing by the Catalan club President Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sporting Vice-Oresident Jordi Mestre. The Belgian defender passed his medical on Saturday and was presented on the Camp Nou pitch on Sunday  morning, with a press conference. Speaking at his presentation, Vermaelen explained: "I feel ready to play here - I think I can offer a lot to this club". "It's up to me to show what I can do here", he added. The cost of the deal with Arsenal is €10 million, with a further €5 million in performance bonuses and €3.8 million if the team win the Champions League. The Belgian defender’s buyout clause is set at €80 million.

FC Barcelona made light work of their fourth preseason friendly. Goals from Munir (2), Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Bartra and Sandro brought a fantastic end to a busy week with games in Nice, Geneva and now Helsinki. The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium couldn’t have been better, but after FCB scored three times in the first fifteen minutes, the game itself was a lop-sided affair.

This July, Barcelona El Prat Airport broke a new record by surpassing 4 million passengers in one month. 4,027,585 travellers passed through the main Catalan airport last month, an increase of 4.9% from July 2013. This makes Barcelona's airport the second busiest in Spain, only just beaten by Madrid Barajas Airport, which registered 37,831 passengers more than El Prat this month, a total of 4,065,416. There has also been good news from Girona Costa Brava Airport, which reported a 5.5% growth in aeroplane capacity utilisation this year, despite the falling passengers numbers overall. The amount of airport passengers in Spain as a whole has now increased for the 9^th consecutive month and represents a 4% rise from this time last year. 

On Friday the Spanish Tax Agency delivered a summons to the historical leader of Catalan nationalism, Jordi Pujol, who confessed two weeks ago that his family had non-declared money from his father's inheritance in fiscal paradises for more than 35 years. Also on Friday, the Barcelona judge investigating the case requested that Pujol hand in his father's last will and the document accepting the inheritance. In addition, the judge sent petitions to Andorra and Switzerland for financial information about Pujol, his wife and his 7 children. Several media outlets have reported that 4 of Pujol's sons could have fortunes abroad, allegedly out of tax control and coming from corrupt activities. Meanwhile, the person who chaired the Catalan Government between 1980 and 2003 and was essential in Spain's democratic transition and modern history, has been cast out of the party he founded (CDC) and has had all his official honours, pension and office taken away from him.

The renowned performing arts festival Temporada Alta has revealed the first big names for its 23^rd edition, which will take place in the cities of Girona and Salt (north-eastern Catalonia), from the 3^rd of October until the 8^th of December. The headliner on the international scene this year is MacbETH, an adaptation by Brett Bailey of Verdi’s opera relocated in the centre of post-colonial Africa and sang by twelve African voices. Pau Miró's adaptation of Angel Guimerà's Catalan classic Terra Baixa (Lowlands) in a solo-performance by the actor Lluís Homar and the play Ruz-Bárcenas, based on the 2013 corruption scandal involving the People's Party (PP), are also amongst the more than 90 shows that will perform in this festival that is a springboard for fresh talent.

The number of Catalans between 15 and 34 who go abroad in search of a "decent" job has increased by 9.24% in the last year, meaning the number of young people living outside Catalonia has increased from 50,640 in 2013, to 55,319 this year, according to a study from the UGT trade union. Between 2009 and 2014, 19,772 youngsters have left Catalonia; a 55.62% increase in 5 years. These statistics were announced in a press conference on Thursday by Afra Blanco, the National Spokesperson for Avalot-Joves section of the UGT in Catalonia. According to Blanco, "the uncertainty, instability, part-time work, underemployment and destruction of jobs" are the factors that have driven young Catalan job-seekers to look for a "respectable life" abroad.

From the 6^th-17^th August, Barcelona hosts the 7^th edition of Circuit Festival, an international event directed towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people. The aim of this edition is to promote the festival as an "international meeting point", since 80% of last year's 71,000 participants came from abroad. Furthermore, Barcelona will profit from the €100 million that Circuit attendees bring to the local economy.  The organisers of the festival have prepared more than 50 events for its audiences to enjoy. The main party will take place on Tuesday 12^th August at the Illa Fantasia waterpark in Vilassar de Dalt, a town around 20km north of Barcelona city.Both the event's organisers and local hotel owners expect even more attendees at the festival this year.

Despite the result, Wednesday’s match was a great test for Luis Enrique’s side against Napoli in Geneva. Claudio Bravo made his Barça debut against the club that finished third in Serie A last year, and although the Italians took the win thanks to the only goal of the night, the Catalans played strong and confident football despite the absence of some of their biggest stars, such as Messi, Neymar and Xavi. Despite posing very little threat in the friendly in Geneva, Napoli edged it thanks to a Dzemaili strike after 80 minutes.

The Catalan Government has issued a provisional list of the companies that might be granted a license to build and run one of the 6 mega-casinos of the $6 billion BCN World resort to be developed next to Port-Aventura theme park. The surprises are that Catalonia-based Grup Peralada -which runs casinos, luxury hotels, an international performing arts festival and vineyards- is one of the contenders and that the offer with Caesars Entertainment has not been initially accepted. Veremonte, which promotes the entire BCN World project, announced that it had initially presented a total of 3 offers to get 3 casino licenses in association with Melco, Hard Rock and Caesars Entertainment. In addition, there were two non-disclosed additional bids: one from Grup Peralada and one presented by Melco by itself. The Veremonte-Hard Rock and Veremonte-Melco offers have also been pre-accepted, but a third offer from Veremonte and Caesars would be out of the tender, although an appeal might be filed.

The Catalan economy grew by 1.3% from July 2013 to June 2014. However, the economic recovery has particularly sped up and got stronger over the second quarter of 2014, when it grew by 0.6% in quarterly terms, according to data released on Wednesday by the Catalan Statistics Institute (Idescat) and the Catalan Finance Ministry. The GDP growth between April and June was higher than the one registered during the first quarter of the year, set at 0.4%. With the 0.6% registered at the end of June, Catalonia has achieved 5 consecutive quarters of posting positive figures, leaving the recession more than a year behind. Regarding economic sectors, services have led the economic recovery, posting a 1.8% annual growth at the end of the first half of 2014.