Society

According to the Catalan Government, the High-Speed Train service linking the Catalan capital with the French border has been delayed one more year, this time until the end of 2013. The reason is that work on two sections of the railway, managed by the Spanish Government, is still pending to be allocated. They are the Barcelona exit and the section through Girona; both total €33 million according to the Catalan Government. The rest is already built and the service between the northern city of Figueres and the French city of Perpignan is already in operation. However, this strategic railway is not fully completed between Figueres and Barcelona due to a long list of delays.

Rasquera, with less than one-thousand residents and located in southern Catalonia, approved on April 10th planting cannabis as part of their local economic reactivation plan through a citizen vote. The day after, Rasquera’s Mayor announced he will resign as his proposal did not reach 75% of the popular support. However, he said the plan will carry on. The Catalan Minister for Home Affairs affirmed that the police will report to the public attorney on any cannabis plantation, since they continue being illegal despite Rasquera’s vote. The Spanish Justice Minister thought that the initiative could have “more negative consequences in the long run” than “positive in the short term”.

The Fundació Arrels (Arrels Foundation) works to assist Barcelona homeless people. Just in the Catalan capital there are more than 2,000 homeless people. The foundation receives 65% of their funds from private citizens and companies.

The former President of Brazil has been awarded this prestigious International prize that recognises individuals who have decisively contributed with their work to the development of cultural, scientific and human values around the world. Last year’s winner was the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Other winners are Jimmy Carter, Aung San Suu Kyi, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Harold Bloom, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Karl Popper, Amartya Sen, Václav Havel, or Jacques Delors. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been honoured with the prize for “his policies at the service of fair economic growth”, significantly reducing poverty in Brazil.

Research conducted on genetically modified mice opens a new field of study to prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by removing the spread of the Tau protein. This protein is a cause of disease which accumulates in the entorhinal cortex, moving from one region to another.

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in collaboration with a team from Slovakia’s Science Academy, have developed a cylinder that is invisible to magnetic fields and any object put inside cannot be detected. No one had ever achieved such results in such a simple manner, with much precision in the theoretical calculations and conclusive results in the laboratory. They believe this scientific discovery might be a first step towards light’s invisibility. Their research has been published in the prestigious journal ‘Science’.

The Catalan Government has modified the work schedule and funds for Barcelona’s metro lines L9 and L10 in order to connect the Catalan capital with Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of El Prat Airport by 2014. Once finished, L9 will be the longest metro line in Europe.

Catalonia loses 1,802 inhabitants in 2011. Last year’s figures represent the first decrease in population since the Spanish Civil War. There has been a natural growth of 2.9% but the migratory growth has been -3.2%, due to the economic slowdown.

Over 140,000 people in Catalonia depend on the distribution of food by the Red Cross. The number of beneficiaries who have been strongly hit by the economic crisis increased by more than 2,000 people compared to the last trimester of 2011.

Around 4,000 Catalan families are waiting to complete an adoption process. International child adoptions in Catalonia have fallen by 30% over the last five years in Catalonia whereas local adoption rates have risen.

A medical team from the Catalan capital’s Hospital Clínic and the Sant Joan de Déu Children’s Hospital, in Greater Barcelona, cured a foetus with a lung malformation in a world pioneer intervention. The baby girl is currently 16 months old, has a normal life, and no further surgery is expected. The malformation was diagnosed in the 20th week of pregnancy, surgery took place in the 26th, and Alaitz was born in the 38th week.

The highest Catalan court has clarified how to execute the sentence of the Spanish Supreme Court that had recognised the right of 3 families to school their children in Spanish and not in Catalan. These families will have their individual rights respected, but the current school model will not be changed. Catalonia’s education model has been validated twice by the Spanish Constitutional Court and has been in place over the last 30 years, guaranteeing full knowledge of both official languages –Catalan and Spanish– by all its pupils. Experts advise that the current school model prioritises the weakest official language –Catalan- following the principles of equal opportunities and social cohesion. The model has been praised by UNESCO, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Catalan university staff and students protested against the budget cuts, temporary worker lay offs and an increase in university fees. Peaceful demonstrations with thousands of participants were organised in Barcelona, Tarragona, Girona, and Lleida. However, the Barcelona demonstration did not stick to the schedule and split into different protests. A group of students became violent and broke the glass at a bank branch, threw eggs at the stock exchange, burned three containers and one vehicle, and occupied the rectorate at Barcelona University. 500 students concentrated in front of the Mobile World Congress, which is taking place in Barcelona, and police prevented them from breaking in.

On World Rare Disease Day the FC Barcelona Foundation showed solidarity with all patients who have any of these conditions, and their families. Both in the Palau Blaugrana, with the collaboration of Barça Regal players, and social networks, the Foundation raised its voice about these diseases.

Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic has coordinated a world pioneer medical study with 60,000 patients. The study has compared the effectiveness of early detection of colon cancer by using a colonoscopy or a specific analysis searching blood in the patients’ faeces. The findings have proven that both diagnostic tests are equally reliable. Considering the differences between the financial costs of both tests, health risks, and comfort, colonoscopy might only be used for confirmation or treatment purposes. In addition, from now on all people older than 50 might be regularly checked in an easier and cheaper manner.