Society

From the 27th of February to the 2nd of March, the Catalan capital will host the 12th edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s largest event of the mobile and cell phone-related industries. Last year’s edition surpassed its record and registered 101,000 visitors, which passed through the 2,200 stands distributed across two different venues, L’Hospitalet Gran Via and Fira de Montjuic. This year due to the international terrorist alert, the security measures will be strongly increased. For the first time ever, some of the access will be protected with bollards and concrete fences to prevent vehicles from bursting in the facilities. The security measures will go beyond the MWC’s venues and extend to the neighbouring areas and those aimed at holding parallel activities. The number of security officers in the public transport will also be increased during the MWC’s week.

Former Duke of Mallorca and the Spanish King’s brother-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarín, won’t go to prison for perversion of justice, fraud and money laundering. Less than a week after being sentenced to six years, this Thursday Palma de Mallorca’s court has ultimately acquitted him. Thus, Urdangarín is now free to return to Switzerland, were he currently lives, and will have to appear before the court in that country once per month while he waits for the Supreme Court's final verdict. His business partner Diego Torres, also sentenced to eight years and six months in prison for his role in the ‘Nóos case’ eluded prison as well. However, the court ordered the confiscation of his passport. The ‘Nóos case’ operation investigated how Urdangarín’s non-profit foundation, the Nóos Institute, obtained no-bid contracts from regional governments, mainly in the Balearic Islands.

Catalonia’s oldest prison, ‘Model’, will finally close its doors this summer, the Catalan Ministry for Justice announced on Monday. The inmates, currently more than 900, will be first relocated to Brians 1 prison, about 40 kilometres south of Barcelona and Mas Enric, in the Tarragona region. “Not closing the prison would have implied 25 MEUR worth of repairs”, Catalan Minister for Justice, Carles Bundó, explained. However, closing ‘Model’ doesn’t only respond to the need for reforms but to a historic vindication from both neighbours and associations. Since its opening in 1904, the prison has been the scene of almost 1,000 executions and is regarded as a symbol of the darkest episodes in Spain’s history. Once the facility is finally emptied Barcelona City Council will put a reform plan into effect to reform and give a new function to this historic building located in the centre of the city.

More than 160,000 people hit the streets this Saturday in Barcelona to demand that the Spanish Government host more refugees from war-hit areas such as Syria. Demonstrators carried banners with mottos such as ‘Refugees Welcome’ and ‘Enough Excuses, welcome them now’. The protest comes after Spain pledged to take in about 16,000 asylum seekers from other EU countries under a quota system agreed in 2015. However, so far it has only received 516 refugees of the 10,772 initially established in the scheme of distribution of the European Commission. The mobilisation was organised by the campaign ‘Our home, your home’, which gathers together more than 200 Catalan associations and NGOs and a hundred cultural companies and citizens. 2016 will go down in history as one of the most death-filled years in the Mediterranean: at least 4,700 people, according to the official record, passed away trying to reach safety in Europe. 

A clinical trial of a vaccine has proved, for the first time ever, that the immune system of those infected with AIDS can be re-educated in order to control the virus for long periods of time and without taking anti-retroviral drugs. In particular, 5 of the 13 patients whom participated in the trial and stopped their treatment achieved control of the virus for 5, 13, 17, 20 and 27 weeks respectively. The research, which is still ongoing, is being developed in different hospitals in Barcelona and Badalona and is directed by the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute, a leading centre for research into the eradication of HIV/AIDS and related diseases, and the Fight AIDS Foundation, a non-profit organisation that is dedicated to healthcare, research and education in the field of HIV/AIDS, created by Doctor Bonaventura Clotet in 1992.

Palma de Mallorca’s court sentenced Philip VI’s brother-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, for allegedly obtaining no-bid contracts from regional governments in the so-called ‘Nóos Case’. On the other hand, his wife, the sister of Spain’s King, Cristina de Borbón, has been acquitted of tax fraud complicity. However, she will have to pay a 265,000-euros fine for her role in the case. Former president of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Matas, who had held 50% of the shares of the company ‘Nóos’, has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison while Urdangarin’s partner in the company will have to face an 8-year prison sentence. The trial, which generated huge attention from the media, saw a member of the Royal Family brought to court for the first time ever.  

Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, the Leo Messi Foundation, the FC Barcelona Foundation and the IESE business school have joined forces to launch a campaign to get companies and the general public to help finance the new SJD Pediatric Cancer Center that is being planned for the city of Barcelona. The hospital, which is set to be Europe’s largest dedicated to infantile cancer and the third-biggest worldwide, will cost 30 MEUR. Once functioning, the centre could care for around 400 patients within its 5,137m² installation, which will be located next to Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. If the deadlines are met, the construction of the new centre will start in the second half of 2017 and be ready by 2019. The facility will allow the increase of the recovery rate for infantile cancer, which is currently around 80%, help develop new drugs and reduce the side effects of treatments used. 

More than 15,000 people attended the concert ‘Our home, your home’ which is part of the homonymous campaign aimed to emphasise Catalonia’s willingness to welcome refugees. 50 artists of different origins and musical styles contributed to make the public aware of the humanitarian crisis which has left, according to the UN, more than 200 million people worldwide escaping from war and poverty. The promoters of the campaign, which gathers together more than 200 Catalan associations and NGOs and a hundred cultural companies and citizens, recalled that the Spanish Government has only received 516 refugees of the 10,772 initially established in the scheme of distribution of the European Commission. Next Saturday, Barcelona will host a demonstration to ensure that Catalan institutions act, leaving aside the inaction from Spain, to start hosting refugees in Catalonia.

The Spanish Guardia Civil searched this Thursday the headquarters of three Catalan companies, the Barcelona Port Authority, Infrastructures.cat and Barcelona Infrastructures (BIMSA) as part of ‘Operation Pika’ which is investigating alleged irregular funding of former CDC, now renamed as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT). Barcelona Port president, Sixte Cambra, was arrested together with former CDC treasurer, Andreu Viloca, who was arrested in 2015 as part of the same investigation, two former representatives from CDC, Antoni Vives and Francesc Sánchez and 14 other businessmen. The operation, which carried out more than 20 searches throughout Catalonia, is part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregular financing of the party, to find out whether companies paid a 3% commission to the CDC foundation in exchange for public contracts.

The International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) from the USA recognised on Tuesday Coimbra University professor Domingo Xavier Viegas’ contribution to wildland firefighter safety and granted him the Wildland Fire Safety Award. Viegas, who is considered one of the most outstanding experts in this field, studied more than 400 wildland fires which had severe consequences for the firefighters involved and has focused on how to identify the causes and improve the safety measures for these professionals. The ceremony closed the 14^th International Wildland Fire Safety Summit which took place this past Tuesday in Barcelona and gathered together more than 300 experts and members of the global wildland fire community to discuss best practices in safety and training operations and to explore new approaches.

The Home Affairs Minister, Jordi Jané, praised on Tuesday the hard work of the brave men and women of the firefighter corps in Catalonia. In his speech at the opening of the 14th edition of the International Wildland Fire Safety Summit, organised for the first time in Barcelona, Jané also promised “more resources and more investment” to fight wildfires. The International Wildland Fire Safety Summit gathers together more than 300 experts and members of the global wildland fire community to discuss best practices in safety and training operations and to explore new approaches. Amongst them, leading members of the emergency services of the United States, Israel, Australia, Portugal, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark and Spain. The event is organised by the Fundació Pau Costa and the International Association of Wildland Fire from the USA, in close collaboration with the Catalan Government and the University of Barcelona.

Barcelona has the highest rent prices in Spain, with an average of 17.36 euros per square metre in the Catalan capital’s old town. In fact, 6 of the 10 most expensive cities for renting are in Catalonia, including Gavà, Sant Cugat, Sitges, Castelldefels and l’Hospitalet del Llobregat. The Catalan Government wants to put an end to “exaggerated” increases in rent prices and is drafting a new law that will set a recommend rental price for an initial 115 towns. Landlords who respect the recommended price could enjoy property tax cuts or receive grants to renovate flats. Similarly, towns will be able to penalise those that decide to rent their properties above the set price. The councils of Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona welcomed the initiative and are prepared to study the introduction of tax reductions for landlords that rent below the recommended price.

The annual report from real estate agency ‘Fotocasa’ revealed that in 2016 Barcelona topped the ranking of rent prices in the whole of Spain. The high levels of tourism and the rotation of those professionals who work for multinational companies and set up temporarily in the Catalan capital contributed to this rise. On average, renting in Barcelona costs 15.16 euros per square metre, which is 13.7% more than last year. Moreover, it is the first time in the historic series that the rent prices exceed those registered before the economic crisis in 2007. Renting in Catalonia was 14.6% more expensive in 2016 than in the previous year, a figure which is higher than the Spanish average. 

The Spanish Minister for Health, Social Services and Equality, Dolors Montserrat, proposed this Tuesday during her appearance before the Commission of Health of the Spanish Parliament the creation of “Erasmus scholarships at a national level”. The programme will be named Cervantes, in commemoration of the fourth centenary of the death of the writer, and seeks to “promote territorial cohesion in addition to favouring the mobility of students”, Montserrat explained. It is a mobility project for students between 14 and 18 years old so that they can study the last two years of high school and the two pre-university years “in another Spanish city different from their own”. To be launched together with the Ministry for Education, the project “aims to promote knowledge of our cultural diversity, our traditions and languages”, said the Ministry in a statement.

‘Nature’s 10’, the annual list which distinguishes the year’s best scientists according to the journal, has included Catalan astronomer, Guillem Anglada-Escudé amongst its names. The researcher at Queen Mary University of London detected the nearest known planet outside the Solar System which he baptised ‘Proxima b’. He put together a team and got observing time on the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the European Southern Observatory as well as other telescopes that could double-check whether any promising evidence that they found was caused by stellar activity, which can mimic the signs of a planet. Within days, they confirmed that the planet was there; within weeks, they submitted a manuscript detailing their discovery. The planet, called Proxima b, has at least 1.3 times the mass of Earth and orbits Proxima every 11.2 days.