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Leo Messi’s 50 league goals this season have made him the highest ever ‘Pichichi’ (top scorer) in the Spanish League and catapulted him to the head of the ranking of ‘Golden Boots’ of all time.

The Icelandic singer had cancelled her Saturday concert due to health reasons. Björk headlined Saturday’s programme, and the organisation offered the return of the tickets for that day to those requesting it. This year’s Primavera Sound Festival has showcases starting on Monday May 28th and outdoor concerts starting on Wednesday at the Arc de Triomf venue. However, the core festival, being held at the Forum, kicks off on Thursday May 31st and runs until Saturday June 2nd.

An injury time equaliser from Keita saved a point for Barça, who had gone ahead in the first half through Sergio Busquets, before losing Alves to a second yellow just after the break. With this match, FC Barcelona end the Spanish League season in the second place, on 91 points and having scored 114 goals. Valdes is the League’s best keeper and Messi, the best scorer. Next step: the Spanish Cup Final with Bilbao’s Athletic Club.

Considering the “exceptional” crisis Spain’s banking system is going through, the Cercle d’Economia, a Catalan economic forum open to businesspeople and academics, recommends “drastic” measures in order to face a “systemic” problem at European level. The Chairman of Cercle d’Economia, former Spanish Minister Josep Piqué, stated that Spain “will not succeed on its own”.

The initiative aims to strengthen the Costa Brava brand. ‘Costa Brava Hotels de Luxe’ is looking to create synergies between gastronomy, culture and leisure. The association includes sixteen four and five stars establishments.

The Girona A Capella Festival, held this year for the first time, wants to become “a reference in Southern Europe”. The new music festival will be held from May 12th to May 19th. The largest part of the program will take place during the first weekend of the floral exhibition, when it will combine performances in enclosed theaters and outdoors making the Mercat del Lleó a performance space.

The BBVA bank rewards La Fageda with the 4th Integra Prize for offering quality employment for people with intellectual disabilities and mental disorders. Moreover, La Fageda carries out some care activities, like an occupational therapy service, assisted apartments for the workers, and different leisure activities. Nowadays, of the 287 people who work in La Fageda, 157 have some disability. The Catalan brand is famous for its quality dairy products.

The number of international tourists who have visited Catalonia over the first three months of 2012 reached 2,162,337 people. This figure is a 9.9% increase over last year and represents 23.5% of the total number of foreigners visiting Spain.

This weekend, Catalonia’s Formula 1 track, located in Montmeló, in Greater Barcelona, will once again organise the Spanish Grand Prix. As from next season however, the race will combine its venue between Catalonia and Valencia. In 2013 the race will be held in Montmeló, but in 2014 Catalonia will leave its place to Valencia. The decision to alternate venues was taken by racing mogul Bernie Ecclestone some weeks ago as a solution to both circuits’ financial problems. CNA investigates whether the local economy could suffer losses due to this decision.

The British pop festival ‘The Great Escape’ is probably Europe’s leading event for showcasing new music bands and artists. Catalonia and the Balearic Islands have a special place in this year’s edition, with the unique category ‘Catalan Sounds’. Bands such as Mujeres, Me and The Bees, Amics del Bosc, or Seward will display their music in front of music critics, lovers and concert promoters. “It is a unique opportunity to promote Catalan music bands” one of the people behind this initiative told ACN.

The Catalan Parliament has approved Catalonia’s Law of Budget Stability, which is more restrictive than its Spanish equivalent. The Catalan law reduces the adaptation time set in Spanish law by 2 years. Furthermore, it sets a 0% deficit for 2020. The law has been approved with the votes of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which runs the Catalan Government, and the Conservative People’s Party (PP), which runs the Spanish Executive. Left-Wing parties have voted against the measure; according to them it follows the “0% deficit dogma” and forgets about “necessary” social spending.

La Bomba Navarro is suffering from a recurrence of the plantar fasciitis that has been bothering the Catalan basketball player in recent months. Developments over the next few hours will determine whether Juan Carlos Navarro is able to play in the Euroleague semi final on Friday against Olympiakos. Boniface Ndong is receiving treatment for an intestinal virus.

The volume of freight and liquids transported through Tarragona Port in the first 3 months of the year reached more than 9 million tonnes. The movement of liquids increased significantly, notably oil derivate products, after last year’s technical halt at Repsol’s refinery.

The Catalan Government has rejected the Spanish Executive’s initiative to limit public healthcare to foreign nationals without a legalised residence status. The Spanish Government proposed that irregular immigrants would only have access to emergency rooms and obstetrics services, but not to regular treatments and consultations. The Catalan Health Minister, Boi Ruiz, confirmed on Friday that in Catalonia, all foreign residents, independent of their legal status, would have free access to the public health system for “solidarity” principles but also “for public health reasons”. Besides the ethical issue, experts had warned about infectious diseases that could have increased because of having groups of people excluded from the health system.

Punto Blanco has its own network to distribute and sell in 37 countries. The Catalan socks and underwear manufacturer has 16 shops, 15 of them in Spain and another in Portugal. Exports might represent 15% of the companies turnover.