A courageous Barça display has seen them into the last four of the Champions League against a powerful Paris Saint-Germain side. Messi made a huge difference when he came on and Pedro’s goal saved the day. PSG was lethal in attack and pushed Barça right to the limit. FC Barcelona are into the Champions League semi finals for the sixth year in a row.
The Catalan Education Minister will appeal the decision to the Spanish Supreme Court and meanwhile will not follow the petition of the Catalan Supreme Court (TSJC). The Minister stressed that “the classroom language cannot change just because a child asks for it”. She emphasised that only 17 families have asked to have their children schooled in Spanish. These kids received individualised attention in Spanish but the TSJC thought it was not enough. In the last few years, the Catalan school model has been put in the spotlight by Spanish nationalism, despite having been in place for the last 30 years. The model has shown that pupils perfectly command both languages by the end of their studies. It has also been praised by international organisations, as it guarantees equal opportunities and social cohesion.
The Catalan clothing company Mango had a €1.69 billion turnover last year, which is a 20% increase on 2011 data. 84% of the company’s revenue comes from outside Spain. During 2012, the Catalonia-based company opened 197 shops or retail corners worldwide, 180 of which were outside Spain. By the end of the year, Mango had 2,600 shops in 107 countries, with more than 12,000 employees all over the world. In 2013, the Catalan company will enter four new markets: Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Mongolia and Zimbabwe. In addition, it has planned to invest €265 million in opening new selling points, reforming shops and improving its logistics and information systems.
IAG, the merger between British Airways and Iberia, improved its offer on Vueling’s shares, increasing from a price of €7 per share to €9.25. The board of the Barcelona-based airline considers the new conditions to be “reasonable” and have decided to recommend that the shareholders accept the offer. In fact, some Board members, such as Vueling’s President Josep Piqué have announced that they will sell their shares to IAG. Iberia already controls 45.85% of Vueling and IAG’s aim is to completely control the Catalan airline. Therefore, the takeover is on the condition that they are able to acquire at least 4.16% of Vueling’s shares, which would mean that IAG would control at least 50.01% of the Barcelona-based airline. The deadline to accept the offer expires on the 19th of April.
The leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, and the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, secretly met on Sunday in Madrid, along with the Secretary General of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), Pere Navarro. Mas urged the PSOE to include the People’s Party (PP) in the debate on the reform of the Spanish Constitution and he warned that including the right to a self-determination vote is a “basic and essential condition” for a large majority of Catalans. The PSC, despite opposing Catalonia’s independence from Spain, backs its right to vote for self-determination, but Rubalcaba is completely opposed to it and considers it to be “impossible” to ever reach an agreement on such a vote. However, Rubalcaba insisted on the need to find a better relationship between Catalonia and Spain, in order to “remain together for centuries to come”.
Barça’s Assistant Manager, Jordi Roura says that Barça will be ambitious against PSG on Wednesday’s second leg game. Roura, who take care of Barça during Tito Vilanova’s absence, notes that only victory would guarantee a spot in the semi-finals of the Champions League. On Messi, Adriano and Pedro's fitness, Barça's assistant manager says that “we have to wait and see how they feel and we especially have to see the results from their latest medical tests”. Nevertheless, Messi trained on Tuesday with the rest of his team-mates, although he has not received the medical all-clear yet.
Dubbing is deeply rooted in Spanish and Catalan television and cinema but it is now dealing with a crisis of demand. At the same time, voices have been raised against dubbing by those defending original language versions of movies. In Catalonia, dubbing is not only a way to access films easier but also to normalise the use of Catalan language. CNA has talked to several members of the dubbing industry in order to understand what it is and to portray how it works.
The ‘Dolmen de Seró’ is a megalith funeral monument dating back to the year 2,800 BC. This megalith tomb is considered a unique piece due to its composition of sedimentary rock and its anthropomorphic motifs. These features make the ‘Dolmen de Seró’ comparable to other European prehistoric monuments. It was discovered accidentally in 2007 during construction work in the western Catalan County of Noguera, near the city of Lleida. Now, the area is being adapted to enable visits.
The Consortium for Advanced Studies of Barcelona (CASB), made up of 9 of the most important universities from the United States and 4 Catalan public universities from Barcelona, is considering implementing international masters degree programmes and summer courses together. 300 American students have already come to Catalonia to study through the CASB. According to the American universities, the Catalan language is not an obstacle but an added value to the cultural and social experience of studying in Barcelona.
Three goals from Cesc Fàbregas and a brace from Alexis gave Barça a 5-0 win over Mallorca in a game that marked the re-appearance of Eric Abidal after being one year out of the pitch due to a liver transplant. Furthermore, Tito Vilanova re-appeared at the Cam Nou bench after returning from New York where he received cancer treatment. The FC Barcelona fans warmly welcomed Vilanova and Abidal, in a true night to remember. So, with Tito back on the bench and Abidal on the pitch, Barça rounded off the perfect preparation for Wednesday night’s Champions League big game against PSG.
The 13th edition of the Festival de Cap Roig will run from the 20th of July until the 16th of August, and it is one of the main milestones of Catalonia’s cultural landscape during the summertime. The music event takes place in the Cap Roig gardens, a green promontory overlooking the sea, located in Calella de Palafrugell, at the centre of the Costa Brava. This year, the budget has been reduced by 20% and the average ticket price will be reduced by 16% due to the economic crisis. The Catalan bands Manel, Gossos, Antònia Font and Blaumut will play at the festival that will be kicked off with a concert by Elton John, making the only stop in Spain of his 'Rocket Man - Greatest Hits Live' tour. Other important artists are Katie Melua, Fito & Fitipaldis, Vicente Amigo, Melendi, Malú, Rosario and Ainhoa Arteta.
The Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) is one of the 3 centres with the highest scientific production internationally in its field. It is directed by Eudald Carbonell, the palaeontologist who has been directing the Atapuerca site since its discovery. Atapuerca was where the oldest human specimens in Europe were found, the so-called Homo Antecessor. The IPHES started its activities in 2006 but due to its increasing relevance it needed more room. Since last June the institute has moved to a new building in the Sescelades Campus of the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in southern Catalonia. On Friday the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, officially unveiled the facilities. The new building cost €6 million and it has 3,000 square metres to host 62 members of staff.
Barcelona’s Liceu Opera Theatre aims to attract philanthropic funds from the United States and establish cultural, social and economic links between the institution and American civil society to strengthen the image of the Liceu, one of Europe’s main opera houses. The Liceu Barcelona Opera House Foundation in New York plans to raise $100,000 in the first year. Other European opera houses and festivals such as the Paris National Opera, the Royal Opera House in London get between $200,000 and $700,000 each year. The project is launched by the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Levante Capital Partners with the participation of Baker & McKenzie.
The firm QNORM, located in the Scientific and Technologic Park of the Girona University (UdG), participates in a European project that aims to transform vegetal biomass into plastic. The project, which is called BioConSepT (bio-conversion and separation technology), has a budget of 13 million euros (MEUR), funded by the European Union. The project wants to use vegetal biomass (such as fats, oils and straw) and turn it into plastic in order to reduce the use of petrol.
The President of the Parisian centre, Alain Seban, compared Albert Serra’s work to that of Salvador Dalí, who he said was “another brilliant Catalan”. The Pompidou Centre will show Serra’s films, including his most recent one: ‘The three little pigs’ (2012), which is an experiment on Goethe, Hitler and Fassbinder and lasts 101 hours. ‘Honor de cavalleria’ (‘Knighthood honour’ in English, from 2006) and ‘El cant dels ocells’ (‘Song of the birds’, from 2008) will also be shown. The exhibition will run in the French capital from the 17th of April to the 12th of May. In addition, the Parisian museum will organise debates, such as the one on bullfighting with Serra and the painter Miquel Barceló.