Society

The Catalan Secretary of Universities and Research, Arcadi Navarro, and the President of the European Association for International Education (EAIE), Laura Howard, have a meeting next Friday September the 16^th to discuss the candidacy of Barcelona as the venue for EAIE 2020. This annual event is the largest higher education conference in Europe and its 28^th edition is currently taking place in Liverpool. Indeed, the meeting is going to be held within the framework of EAIE 2016. A Catalan delegation has set up a pavilion at the fair to improve the visibility of the Catalan higher education offer, from primary degrees to Master’s degrees and doctorates. 

The first fatal victim of enterovirus has been confirmed this Tuesday in Catalonia. The victim was a baby who had been admitted to Parc Taulí Hospital in Sabadell, suffering from flu and vomiting followed by somnolence and flaccidity, on the 31^st of July and who died on Monday, Catalonia’s Health Department confirmed. “This is the first case in which we have been able to identify the virus, which was A-71”, CatSalut director, Josep Maria Argimon, explained. 110 enterovirus-related cases have been found in Catalonia since April and another baby is currently in the hospital as well. During a press conference this Tuesday, the head of paediatrics at Barcelona Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Carlos Rodrigo, pointed to the fact that only between 3% and 5% of enterovirus cases end up being fatal.

Catalan exports of high-technology industrial products grew by 19.4% in the second trimester of the year in comparison to the same period in 2015. In total, these exports were worth €8 billion, according to a report published by the Catalan Institute of Statistics (Idescat). All the products in this group have increased their figures, starting with computer-related, electronic and optical products (+31.6%) and pharmaceutical products (+15.7%). Also relevant is the increase of the level of exports to the EU, which grew by 27.8% in comparison to the second trimester of 2015 and sales to the rest of the world, which registered a 12.2% increase in the second trimester of 2016 compared to the same period last year.   

Up to 1,750 students from all around the world worked throughout the year on the design and construction of single-seater racing cars that performed on the famous Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. Formula Student Spain was held in Montmeló to allow students to practice all the knowledge they have acquired at university while simulating a real situation. Students had to work as if they were part of a real company, looking for suppliers and sponsors, planning costs as well as designing and constructing the cars. The Minister of Business and Knowledge of Catalonia, Jordi Baiget, described the event as a much-needed activity to enhance interaction between industry and university.

He was the director of the prestigious ophthalmologist clinic Barraquer in Barcelona, founded in 1947 by his father and world-renowned doctor Ignasi Barraquer. Joaquim Barraquer was Professor of Eye Surgery at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Honorary Professor and Doctor Honoris Causa at several other universities. He was a specialist in corneal transplants and eye surgery to treat cataracts, glaucoma and myopia.

Proxima b orbits within what is considered to be a habitable zone of the star Proxima Centauri. The temperature on the surface of the rocky planet could allow the presence of liquid water, according to the research, developed at the Queen Mary University of London. This means that Proxima b, which has 1.3 times the mass of the Earth, could potentially be the first planet to host life outside of the Solar System discovered by humans. The planet takes 11.2 days to travel around its star, Proxima Centauri, covering during its orbit only 5% of the distance that separates the Sun and the Earth. However, scientists argue that this star is smaller and less intense, making the existence of life possible.

Two months after the Greek Police evicted the self-managed refugee camp at Eko Station, which hosted 1,800 people at a motorway petrol station 20 kilometres south of Idomeni, a group of Catalan volunteers aim to reproduce the projects which were carried out there in Vasilika, a military-run refugee camp located in an old warehouse in Central Macedonia, Greece. Most of the people settled in Eko Station, mainly Syrians and Iraqis, were moved to Vasilika, a camp which doesn’t comply with the minimum hygienic, sanitary and alimentary conditions. In order to bring dignity to this facility the volunteers have started to set up a 4,000-square-metre space which will host a school, a communal kitchen, a library and several communal areas to host workshops and activities for people of all ages. The initiative is expected to serve the 1,200 people currently living in Vasilika.

The terrorist attacks in Paris in November last year unleashed a wave of police checks throughout the continent, especially along the French border near Girona. It is suspected that criminals have given up using cars to transport illegal goods across the border and are now using the train network as their preferred means of transport. To battle against this, a strategy had to be designed by both the Spanish and French police agencies that would see them working together to find an effective solution before it became too much of a problem. These teams have been in operation on the high-speed train that operates between Paris and Barcelona for the past three years now.  

Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron Hospital has seen the first birth in Europe of a baby with Zika-linked microcephaly. The new-born was born this Monday with a “low” cranial perimeter and has been hospitalised in a “correct and stable” condition. In May the health authorities reported to the family that the mother was infected and that the pregnancy was risky, but the parents decided to go ahead with the birth. 91 people infected with the Zika virus have been detected in Catalonia since the 1^st of January, 24 man and 67 woman, 21 of which were pregnant at the time of diagnosis. 5 of them have already given birth, to healthy babes. All of the infected reported having been in South or Central America, in those areas where Zika is most active, and confirmed that they were bitten by mosquitoes during their stay. 

The Catalan government has set the maximum alert level for forest fires’ risk in 30 regions, most of them in central Catalonia, due to the high temperatures registered in the last few days, which exceeded 40 degrees in some areas. On Tuesday alone, 86 wild fires hit different regions of Catalonia simultaneously. However, the most important one occurred this Tuesday in Vallbona de les Monges, a small village 40 kilometres west from the city of Lleida. In less than 5 hours, the fire burned nearly 900 hectares, most of them cereal crops. The firefighters sent 55 land resources and 3 aerial’s, which achieved to stabilise the fire by Wednesday morning. However, they continue to water the perimeter to prevent the fire from reviving.

Catalonia will keep the terrorist threat level at 4 out of 5 but extra security measures will be put in place. Thus, ‘Mossos d’Esquadra’ will dedicate 30% of their resources to fighting terrorist threats, as they are currently doing, and increase this to 40% in Barcelona. The Catalan Police will also reinforce the anti-terrorist surveillance, especially in the most touristic places. The Spanish Police have already put in place extra security measures on the French border, at La Junquera, to control the traffic and will be stopping vehicles in random checks, asking for documentation and searching for suspicious materials in the boot. These measures are in response to the terrorist attack which killed 84 people in the French city of Nice this past Thursday night. 

The terrorist attack which killed 84 people on Thursday night in the French coastal city of Nice, while thousands were celebrating Bastille Day on the streets, has been responded to with international condolences. “Today we want to add Catalonia’s voice to those raised in many democratic countries, which respect freedom and religious and cultural diversity”, stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont and referred to Nice’s citizens as “neighbours and brothers”. “France’s mourning is also Catalonia’s”, he added and warned that the terrorists “won’t break [our] cohesion nor dispel the fraternity” towards the victims. Puigdemont’s statement came ahead of the one minute’s silence held on Barcelona’s Plaça Sant Jaume, the square between the Catalan Government’s headquarters and Barcelona’s City Hall.

The European Parliament (EP) approved this Wednesday the assessment presented by a delegation of MEPs who visited the Ebro Delta on the 8^th of February. In their report, the MEPs focused on the “lack of ecological flow” and questioned whether Spain’s Ebro Water Plan (PHE) was in compliance with community law. Catalan MEPs and the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) celebrated the decision but urged the European Commission to act “quickly, clearly and firmly” and stop the plan projected by the Spanish Government. Even so, PDE’s spokesperson Manolo Tomás and Susana Abella considered the EP’s decision to be “an important step toward modifying Spain’s Water Plan” and “recognition” of the social demonstrations of the last years.

The Catalan Police Force ‘Mossos d’Esquadra’, together with the Spanish Police arrested 11 people this Tuesday during an operation against money laundering in Barcelona and the Costa Brava. According to the public prosecutor’s office, ‘Operation Variola’ is aimed at a group of Russian and Ukrainian citizens who have allegedly laundered at least 10m EUR through setting up or buying companies. The individuals arrested allegedly used these businesses to incorporate the earnings they obtained through illegal activities and then used the money to buy properties. Sixteen searches have been carried out, one of the most remarkable was that of ‘Yubari’, an exclusive Japanese restaurant located in the Catalan capital which is a regular hangout of several celebrities.

An operation to discredit politicians who supported Catalonia’s pro-independence process was launched by the Spanish police during the last term of office. This is what Catalan newspaper ‘El Periódico’ has published this Tuesday, supporting its exclusive with a 500-page-long police report which proves the plot. According to the report, smearing pro-independence politicians was indeed one of the main competences that Inspector José Villarejo was entrusted with. It is claimed that Villarejo launched ‘Operation Catalonia’ together with former  police Head of Internal Affairs, Marcelino Martin Blas, in 2012, coinciding with electoral periods. In an interview with ‘Catalunya Ràdio’, Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, said that he considered these plots “repugnant” and that they make him “cringe”.