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For the third time, Barcelona El Prat has been awarded as the best airport in southern Europe at the World Airport Awards 2014. The awards, given by Skytrax, are the result of the assessment of almost 13 million passengers from 110 different countries, and has involved 410 airports all over the world. In the global ranking, Barcelona holds the 38th position. In 2013, the Airport of Barcelona registered a record in the number of travellers, with 35.2 million passengers, August being the one with the greatest number of travellers in Spain for the first time ever.

FC Barcelona has already won the Spanish League Title, being undefeated so far this season, with 27 wins, without drawing or losing a single game. FC Barcelona handball team is on fire, but the league is not. No one knows this better than the Danish player Jesper Noddesbo, who shares the team with stars like Nikola Karabatic, Victor Tomás and Kiril Lazarov. Noddesbo came to the Catalan club in 2007 and has experienced how the sport and the club have changed over the last seven years in both good and bad ways.

The Catalan High Court has confirmed its previous decision to oblige 5 schools to teach "at least 25%" of their mandatory subjects in Spanish if the family of a single pupil asks for it, regardless of the opinion of the other children's families. The measure should be adopted "immediately", but the Catalan Government announced that it will lodge another appeal. Two months ago, the affected schools and the Catalan Executive had already appealed a decision that interpreted a previous judgement from the Spanish Supreme Court on the complaint presented by a dozen families from Catalonia. The measure represents a threat to the knowledge of Catalan language by all Catalan children, as well as a threat to true bilingualism, equal opportunities and social cohesion. The current model follows these principles as children totally master both languages, Spanish and Catalan. In addition, the court decision is a threat against separation of powers and Catalonia's self-government.

According to an opinion poll released by the Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO), run by the Catalan Government, 47.1% of Catalans would vote for independence in the referendum to be held on the 9^th of November 2014. At the same time, 19.3% would vote to keep the current status quo and 8.6% would support the creation of a Catalan state but oppose its independence from Spain, which means that 27.9% would vote against independence. The figures are particularly revealing because they have not been modified using statistical formulas and they reflect direct voting intention. In addition, 11.2% of the citizens do not know or do not answer what they would vote and 11.1% would not go to the polling station. All combined, it means that support for independence would be "around 56%" in the referendum, in line with previous polls, stated CEO's Director, Jordi Argelaguet.

At the end of March there were 840,200 unemployed people in Catalonia, 600 more than in December. This quarterly increase breaks the trend of 3 consecutive quarters with unemployment drops in Catalonia and puts the unemployment rate at 22.10%. However, in annual terms, Catalan unemployment was reduced by 108,800 on March 2013 figures, when the rate reached 24.45%. Unemployment has not decreased in annual terms in the first quarter of the year since 2007. The most negative news is the number of jobs lost between January and March 2014. In the first quarter of the year, 38,100 jobs were lost in Catalonia, 10,000 more than in the same period of 2013. In the whole of Spain, 184,600 jobs were lost between January and March 2014 and the unemployment rate reached 25.93%.

On 8^th of June, thousands of Catalans will simultaneously build their traditional human towers – called castells – in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Paris and Barcelona, carrying a banner reading "Catalans want to vote". This festive demonstration aims to raise international awareness about the aspiration shared by more than 75% of Catalonia's population: to be able to hold a self-determination vote to decide on its independence from Spain. The project 'Catalans want to vote – Human towers for democracy' is a privately-funded initiative organised by the civil society organisation Òmnium Cultural. In fact, this Tuesday it was announced that the project has reached its objective of raising 120,000 euros through Verkami's crowd-funding web site. The money will be used to pay for the trip costs of the castellers, those building the human towers (called castells).

The Japanese tennis player wins his first Godó Trophy in the 62^nd edition of the tournament. Kei Nishikori, ranked 17^th in the world, clinched his first clay court title after beating Columbian sensation Santiago Giraldo in straight sets and ascending five spots on the ATP rankings at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. After just an hour and thirteen minutes of play the fourth seed defeated his opponent 6-2, 6-2, becoming the first Japanese player to win the title. The Asian no. 1 becomes the first non-Spanish tennis player to lift the trophy in twelve years. A surprising turn of events saw several high profile players exit early in both the Men’s Singles and Doubles Championship. The Men’s Doubles surprised the crowd as Dutchman Jesse Huta Galung and French player Stéphane Robert paired up on Friday amazingly clinched their first title.

Girona-based El Celler de Can Roca, the family restaurant run by the 3 Roca Brothers, continues to be considered among the world’s very best places to eat by ‘Restaurant’ magazine, which gives the sector’s main international awards each year at a gala in London. However, the Catalan establishment has not topped the 2014 ranking as it did in 2013 but has been considered the second best in this sort of cuisine Oscars, a recognition it had already obtained in 2012 and 2011. First place was for the Danish Noma - run by René Redzepi – which had already topped the ranking in 2012, 2011 and 2010. In addition, the youngest brother, Jordi, who is in charge of El Celler de Can Roca’s desserts, has been awarded the world’s best pastry chef, a title given for the first time this year. Since 2002, a Catalan restaurant has topped the annual ranking on 6 occasions and has been second best in 6 others.

The Cathedral of Barcelona was at capacity for Tito Vilanova’s memorial service this Monday evening. The former FC Barcelona manager passed away on Friday at the age of 45, after two years fighting against cancer. The Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona Lluís Martínez Sistach officiated the ceremony, which was attended by Vilanova’s family, members of the Catalan Government, former FC Barcelona presidents and players, and the first team, among many others.

The alliance of Liberal parties from throughout the world included a motion supporting Catalans' right to self-determination and to stay within the European Union in its main resolution approved at their international congress that took place in Rotterdam last weekend. "Liberal International will support any decision taken by the Catalan people on their future" reads the text, which also "expresses concern over the lack of real dialogue" between Spanish and Catalan authorities "to discuss a negotiated roadmap over the future of Catalonia". Among the parties backing this statement are the UK's Lib-Dems, the Dutch VVD and Germany's FDP. The resolution also states that "the European Union has to be flexible and strong to offer a viable alternative for those people that want to democratically express themselves within it".

FC Barcelona, full of pride, fought back from a two-goal deficit to claim the three points in Sunday evening's game against Villarreal. Barça are still in content for the Spanish League title. The situation was critical in the Madrigal stadium. Emotionally shattered by the death of Tito Vilanova and the two goals for Villarreal pinned Barça back, but two own goals and a third from Messi proved enough to win the three points.

Francesc ‘Tito’ Vilanova died on Friday in Barcelona after a long struggle against the illness which was first diagnosed two and a half years earlier. He was the manager in FC Barcelona’s record-breaking season of 2012/13, when the team got 100 points in the league, and contributed to the greatest Barça team of all time as assistant coach to Pep Guardiola. He won everybody’s admiration for his achievements in the football world, and later for his immense courage in the final years of his life. FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu spoke on behalf of the Board of Directors today when he said on social networks that “Tito Vilanova was a wonderful person, and will never be forgotten at FC Barcelona. Thank you for everything you taught us. May you rest in peace.”

Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister of Spain, and Artur Mas, President of the Catalan Government, both attended a business forum in Barcelona on Thursday. However, their attendance did not coincide at the event, since Rajoy did not come to hear Mas' speech and the Catalan President did not wait for the arrival of the Spanish PM. Both politicians were making visible the lack of dialogue between them regarding Catalonia's self-determination demands. In recent weeks, Rajoy has been repeating his demand that Mas give up the intention to organise a self-determination vote totally as the sine-qua-non condition for him to start talking. However, Mas considers Rajoy's condition "an imposition" and demonstrating a lack of political will, since Rajoy refuses to discuss the issue a majority of Catalans want to talk about.

On Thursday Universitetet i Oslo (UiO) hosted a round table debate with Norwegian and Catalan academics, journalists and economists to discuss the economic viability of an independent Catalonia and how it would fit into the European framework, whether in the European Union (EU) or the European Free Trade Area (EFTA). This debate was part of the conference 'Self-Determination Processes in the EU: the case of Catalonia', organised by the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) together with the University of Oslo. The Diplocat – an organisation backed by the Catalan Government, universities, business associations, trade unions, FC Barcelona and other public and private institutions – is organising a series of debates in European and Spanish universities on Catalonia's self-determination demands.

Perhaps the most famous holiday in Catalonia, Sant Jordi combines culture with romance as books and roses are exchanged. As we all know by now, the legend of Saint George is a celebration of love epitomized by the brave knight who saved a princess from a terrible dragon thus harvesting a beautiful rose from its blood. So how did that become a day for buying and promoting books? Back in 1928, some Catalan booksellers decided to promote the holiday by setting some bookstalls all over the city to celebrate the anniversary of the death of two of the biggest names in literature, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare. Catalan Book Day was born and it would be declared World Book Day by UNESCO in 1995. The day after the Easter break combined with great weather resulted in a 3% increase in book sales. Swedish author Jonas Jonasson, Spanish authors Almudena Grandes and Pilar Urbano and Catalan writer and athlete Kilian Jornet were the bestsellers for 2014.