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The world’s main event showcasing cell phone and mobile technology, the Mobile World Congress, is starting the final countdown to open its doors in one month’s time in Barcelona, as it has been doing each year since 2006. In its 8th year in the Catalan capital, the MWC, which is organised by GSMA, will move from Montjuic to the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona, in order to increase its space by 30%. Between, the 25th and 28th of February, this trade fair, expert conference and industry meeting point will host more than 70,000 visitors from 200 different countries, 300 speakers and 1,500 companies, 70 of which are Catalan. The congress will bring in more than €300 million to Barcelona’s economy and will create 6,500 temporary jobs.

The Parliament of Catalonia has approved an historical declaration of sovereignty claiming the right to self-determination by the Catalan people. The full text is included in this news item. The declaration paves the way for the organisation of a self-determination referendum on Catalonia’s future within Spain and its hypothetical independence. It was supported by 66.4% of the MPs who voted, representing 63% of the total parliament. These supporters came from 4 different groups. 2 MPs abstained because the declaration does not include other Catalan-speaking territories and five Socialist MPs did not vote as a protest because their party is officially opposed to the declaration. Those opposing the declaration included 32% of the MPs who voted, representing 30.4% of the total chamber.

Barça players Gerard Piqué and Carles Puyol were congratulated by their team-mates before this morning's training session to prepare for the Spanish Cup quarter final game to be played tomorrow. Piqué was congratulated for becoming a father, while Puyol was congratulated for extending his contract with the FC Barcelona.

The association’s People’s Rights Commission defends the celebration of a referendum and the unilateral independence declaration if the Spanish Government insists in not allowing a citizen vote on the issue. While is it true that the current Spanish Constitution does not allow for a self-determination referendum, the Barcelona lawyers' association argues that “in a democratic society, the law should be the expression of the people’s choice”, and therefore it should be modified accordingly to allow the referendum. It also highlights that 20 of these states are the result of secession, such as Norway, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia or Montenegro.

A research group led by Catalan doctor Joaquim Bellmunt at the Hospital del Mar has shown in a study how important the time between two chemotherapy treatments is in increasing the curing rates of bladder cancer. The study was published by the journal ‘European Urology’ and has encouraged the researchers to develop new drugs for treating this type of tumour.

Out of the 57.7 million foreign tourists who visited Spain last year, 25% of them went to Catalonia, which was the most visited destination. 14,447,814 foreign visitors travelled to Catalonia in 2012, a 9.9% increase compared to the 2011 figures. This figure is particularly relevant compared to the Spanish average: the total number of foreigners visiting Spain only increased by 2.7% last year. The largest market sending tourists to Catalonia continues to be France. Regarding the data for December, the number of foreign tourists visiting Catalonia only that month was 622,258 people, a 7% increase compared to data from December 2011.

If the Spanish Government had honoured its legal commitments and did not “centrifuge the deficit” towards the Autonomous Communities, the Catalan Government would have ended 2012 with a deficit of 1.53%, according to the Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell. Instead, the Catalan Government had a deficit of 2.3%, 0.8 percentage points higher than the 1.5% deficit target. In any case, Catalonia’s deficit still decreased from 3.99% in 2011 to 2.3% last year, a reduction representing €3.48 billion, despite the recession, the consequent drop in tax collection and paying €1.72 billion in debt interest. In the last 2 years, the Catalan Government has reduced its expenditure by €4.2 billion, representing a daily reduction of €5.7 million.

The Barça striker will be available for the Spanish Cup quarter final’s second leg to be payed on Thursday against Málaga. Villa has been given the medical all clear to play on Tuesday, following his recovery from a calf injury.

The Barcelona-based brand, which is part of the Volkswagen group, had announced an 8.3% drop of car sales in 2012, compared to 2011, due to the recession in Spain, which is Seat’s main market. The increase of sales in foreign markets could not balance out last year’s results. In order to recover from this drop in sales, the company has decided to slow down the production of new cars and 400 workers are to be made redundant. Seat hired 600 temporary workers a few months ago due to positive results in 2011, two thirds of which will be laid off. The company will discuss its plans with the trade unions.

The 50th anniversary of the prestigious international competition of opera and oratorio-lied singing, named in honour of the Catalan tenor Francesc Viñas, awarded the joint first prize to Katerina Tretyakova, from Lithuania, and Michal Jakub Partyka, from Poland. The second prize went to Amartuvshin, from Mongolia, and the third prize was for Valeriu Caradja, from Moldova. The first junior prize was for Marina Nachkebiya, from Georgia. The final stage of the competition took place on Friday with 15 singers taking part in Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. The award ceremony was on Sunday and the winners showed the audience their talent. Besides, the Liceu Theatre organised an exhibition and published a book to showcase Francesc Viñas’ career and the history of the competition named after him.

The 188th edition of the traditional ‘Tres Tombs’ animal parade, in honour of Saint Anthony the Abbot, took place in Barcelona last weekend. In Catalonia, he is the patron saint of the animals. The parade includes a blessing of pets ceremony. Traffic was stopped in the main streets of the Catalan capital’s Ciutat Vella district and in the Sant Antoni neighbourhood to give way to another kind of vehicles: donkeys, ponies, horses and old carriages. Although a popular festivity, this year’s 'Tres Tombs' couldn’t keep a hold on its audience as the cloudy morning became a very rainy day.

An injury time winner for Real Sociedad put an end to Barça’s unbeaten league season, with Tito’s team going down 3-2 despite having been 0-2 up in the first half.

Trade unions refused to sign the Japanese company’s final offer to increase the competitiveness of Barcelona’s plant by reducing salaries and changing working conditions, so Nissan announced the end of the talks after 6 months of negotiation and meditation by the Catalan Government. Before Christmas, the Japanese company had already warned the unions that talks were coming to an end as the production of the new sedan car needed to be allocated. Back then Nissan presented a final offer, which has however been modified in the last few days. Once the agreement seemed to be imminent, Nissan floated the idea of a two-day reduction in holiday days, which the unions immediately rejected. Nissan warned that its Barcelona plant might now face “a slow-death scenario”.

The main Catalan airport is increasing the number of intercontinental flights in terms of both destination and frequency, one of the strategic drives implementing its expansion plan. Barcelona’s Airport already has 31% of the intercontinental traffic in Spain, despite the fact that the partially state-owned Iberia’s international flights abandoned the Catalan airport years ago in favour of Madrid Barajas. Barcelona Airport has attracted other airlines, such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, and has specialised in connections to the Middle East and Asia, although it also has flights to the Americas. Last week, there was a press release that stated that 35.15 million passengers went through Barcelona Airport in 2012.

Barça Manager has admitted that he was surprised by Víctor Valdés’ announcement today that he will not be extending his contract with FC Barcelona any further than June 30, 2014. However, Vilanova insisted that “he did not ask to leave, he just said he’s not renewing his contract”. Vilanova has confirmed that Valdés will continue to be the first choice keeper, saying that “as long as he is with us, he’ll be our goalkeeper and we have to help him as he would help us”.