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‘Castells’ or the traditional human towers originally from Southern Catalonia and generally built during town festivals were included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO last year. An exhibition at the Palau Robert in Barcelona will celebrate this first anniversary. It reflects on the tradition’s cultural and social value, and its role as one of Catalonia’s best known symbols.

The Spanish telecommunications multinational commits to offering a 100 Mbps broadband wireless Internet connection throughout Barcelona city in 2012, which will multiply the current capacity by 14. 4G broadband is already offered in specific spots, such as trade fair venues, conference centres or at Barcelona Airport. However, its potential use throughout the city was one of the conditions for hosting the Mobile World Congress, which chose Barcelona as its organising city until 2018.

Modern day Tarragona was once one of the most important cities of the Roman Empire, Tarraco. The ruins are one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites. Tarragona’s Roman Temple of Augustus, which can be found beneath the foundation of the Gothic Cathedral, is currently being studied. The second archaeological excavation concludes with the discovery of several medieval coins, medals and a twelfth-century lamp.

The Catalan capital secures this global event despite competition from Paris, Milan and Munich. The economic impact for the entire period of 2013-2018 is estimated at a staggering 3459 million.

FC Barcelona have begun their well deserved holidays after celebrating this season’s three titles. The Champions League victory means the team will be playing two more competitions in the new season: The European Super Cup and the World Club Championship.

Visitors can get closer to the centre of the historical Roman stage thanks to a new ramp. Tarraco, Tarragona’s Roman name, was the capital of the Tarraconensis Province and an important city of the Roman Empire. Tarragona’s Roman ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage.

This year’s edition of the world’s leading congress on cell phone technology, which was celebrated in Barcelona for the 6th consecutive year, had 20% more visitors than in 2010. More than 60,000 people attended the congress.

International media focus on the world’s leading congress on mobile phone technology.

From this Monday to the coming Thursday, the Catalan capital is hosting the annual world’s most important cell phone technology event, the Mobile World Congress. About 55,000 people and 1,300 companies will attend the conference, which will generate more than 200 million euros of profit for the local economy. Barcelona needs to do its utmost best this year, as the host city from 2013 onwards is still not decided.

The Mobile World Congress will be held in the Catalan capital for the seventh time. It will take place between 14th and 17th of February and will bring have an economic impact of 200 million euros on the city. Visitors are predicted to occupy 30,000 hotel rooms, 25% higher than last year. However, Barcelona could lose the Mobile World Congress’ organisation contract as the current one ends and other cities put forward their candidature.

The town of Vall de Boí hosted a 10th anniversary celebration of their recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mayor of Vall de Boí, Joan Peralada, hopes to promote more international exposure of the town’s many Romanesque churches.

The UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage declared the Catalan tradition of human castle building, or ‘castells’, as an element of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This recognition was also awarded to the Mallorcan ‘Sibil·la’ chant, the traditional dance Flamenco and the Mediterranean Diet.

Human towers are one of the most unique traditions in Catalonia. This week at the UNESCO meeting in Nairobi (Kenya), "castells" may join the prestigious list of world heritage cultural assets.

The Barcelona World Music Festival will kick off the first week of October, bringing a wide offer of renowned music to the city. The festival will feature African music this year, showcasing artists such as Victor Demé, Nino Galissa, Bino Barros, Lokua Kanza and Don Bigg.

The most important conference on Middle East studies is being held close to Barcelona from today until the 24th of July. In the opening ceremony, Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, uncle of King Abdullah, has denounced the current situation in Gaza