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On Sunday 18^th of May, the Port of Barcelona will register its highest passenger record in a single day this year with 31,600 people travelling in 1 of the 7 cruise ships docked in the city's harbour. "The city of Barcelona is, economically speaking, the great beneficiary from the arrival of cruise ships" in its harbour, stated Sixte Cambra, President of the Barcelona Port Authority.  According to the organisation’s calculations, in a single day these tourists will spend €3.5 million in the city's local economy. Five of the seven cruise ships offer a turn-around service from Barcelona, which means that passengers start or end their sea journey in the Catalan capital. The two other boats are making a layover in the city.

Barcelona's Sagrada Familía Basilica and Museum and Figueres' Salvador Dalí Theatre-Museum topped Catalonia's visitor rankings with 3.18 million and 1.58 million respectively.  In total, 21,593,992 people visited Catalonia's museums and collections during last year. FC Barcelona's Museum came in third place with 1.51 million people, followed by the science museum CosmoCaixa (1.25 million) and the temporary exhibitions' centre CaixaForum Barcelona (979,000 people). The last two are owned and managed by the Catalan savings bank La Caixa. The Art-Nouveau buildings designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí La Pedrera and Casa Batlló are also among the highlights, with 973,000 and 796,000 visitors respectively. Barcelona's Picasso Museum (915,000) and the Joan Miró Foundation (911,000) are also among the most popular art centres.

The FC Barcelona Captain bowed out at an emotional event at the Camp Nou this Thursday afternoon, surrounded by Barça heroes, past and present. "It’s the end of an era, but there will be more and I hope to enjoy them as much as this one. Thank you all very much and visca el Barça!", stated Carles Puyol. The team's greatest captain leaves FC Barcelona after a fifteen year career in the first team that has brought him 21 titles. Recalling his time as a boy, playing football in the street with his brother and his friend Javi Perez, Puyol commented:"I came here as a boy and I’m leaving with a family who I’m really proud of".

The Spanish telecommunications multinational Telefónica will open a new call centre to take care of consumer queries in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, a city literally attached to Barcelona's municipality. The new facilities will be operational from the 26^th of May. It will initially start with 50 workers but by November it will already employ 310 people. According to Kim Faura, Telefónica's Director for Catalonia, the company's strategy is to relocate call centres and place them near the areas where consumers live.  This new call centre will be Telefónica's fourth one in Catalonia and will focus on helping clients going through digital environments. Faura's aim is to make this centre Spain's flagship for this sort of issues.

Atletico Madrid and Barça will fight it out for this season’s league title at the Camp Nou next weekend after both of them drew this Sunday evening and Real Madrid bid farewell to any hopes of challenging when they went down to Celta. Barça’s goalless draw at Elche was enough to keep them in with one last chance next week, with Atletico unable to get the win that would have give them the title, drawing 1-1 at home to Malaga.Barça dominated possession and territory against Elche, but were unable to convert that into goals.

28 employers’ associations, chambers of commerce and business organisations have signed a manifesto that explicitly backs Catalonia's right to self-determination. They presented the initiative on Thursday, in a lighthouse on the Costa Brava. The document is based on a previous agreement reached among employers and business associations just from Girona Province (north-east), but now it has been shared with organisations from throughout Catalonia. Some media, mostly edited in Madrid and abroad, are portraying the business community as against the self-determination process, but there are many employers that are backing it, even among the larger companies. A few weeks ago, the President and co-owner of the pharmaceutical Grífols – which is one of the world leaders for blood-derivate products – backed the Catalan President and his efforts to organise a self-determination vote.

If Barça win the remaining six points this season, the Blaugrana will retain the Spanish League crown! La Liga, just like life itself, presents us with a multitude of situations. When it looked as though the title was impossible for Barça after this weekend’s draw with Getafe, the Blaugrana were given a new chance to defend the title they won under the tutelage of Tito Vilanova. This Wednesday evening Real Madrid drew with Valladolid at the Nuevo Zorrilla (1-1), thus leaving the La Liga title in Barça’s hands. The fact that the Blaugrana host Atlético Madrid at the Camp Nou in the last game of the season means that Barça will have the chance to claim the title in front of the Camp Nou faithful.

Nine people were arrested on Monday in an operation run by the Guardia Civil, which is investigating an alleged misappropriation of public funds regarding work on the construction of the Madrid-Barcelona-France High-Speed Train line in the Catalan capital. The Anti-corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office suspects that €6 million could have been diverted. The Guardia Civil has searched the Madrid and Barcelona offices of Adif, the public company run by the Spanish Government which is in charge of building and maintaining train infrastructure in Spain. In addition, they have also searched the headquarters of private construction companies, such as Isolux Corsan, which has its headquarters in Barcelona. The details of the investigation are secret and cannot be disclosed yet, following a judicial order.

The Japanese car manufacturer started production of its new e-NV200 van, the electric version of the existing NV200, on Monday. The new model will be Nissan’s first van to be 100% electric. The vehicle will be exclusively built in the company’s plant located in Barcelona’s Zona Franca industrial district, which is very close to the city’s sea port, one of Europe’s main gateways for imports and exports. The production of the new e-NV200 has meant the creation of 700 new jobs, according to Nissan’s CEO and Vice President for Industrial Operations in Spain, Frank Torres. Barcelona’s City Council has reached an agreement with the car manufacturer to promote the use of this van among the Catalan capital’s taxi fleet and distributors operating in Mercabarna, the city’s wholesale market.

The Camp Nou was witness to a game that produced a bitter twist right at the end. Lafita scored for Getafe in injury time and the draw leaves FC Barcelona with practically no hope whatsoever of winning their fifth league title in six years. Both Messi and Alexis had put Barça ahead, but the visitors found a reply both times, scoring with their only two serious attempts on goal.

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.

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.

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.