Society

At least 13 women have been killed after a coach which was carrying foreign students crashed this Sunday on the AP-7 motorway between Barcelona and Valencia. 48 have been injured and 23 are still in hospital, some of them in a critical condition. The accident occurred near Freginals, 150 km south of Barcelona and although it is categorised at an accident blackspot, the investigation into the crash points to human error as the most likely cause of the tragedy. Most of the 57 people on board the bus were students on the Erasmus programme who were returning to Barcelona after a trip to Valencia, where they visited the ‘Fallas’ fireworks festival. Their nationalities have not been made public while the process of identification continues.

Dr. Jaume Pauné of the Universitat Politècninca de Catalunya has devised a new type of progressive contact lens, the first of its kind. These contact lenses actually slow the onset of myopia, or near-sightedness, by as much as 43%. Wearing the lenses, which have already been tested and are available for purchase, brings about a decrease of three to five dioptres in the user. This technology is especially recommended for children and youths, as the progression of myopia manifests itself primarily between the ages of nine and 30. However, wearing the contact lenses would be beneficial to any adults suffering from progressive myopia. These lenses are unique in that they influence one´s peripheral vision as well as their central vision, and they do not function using a bifocal system as conventional lenses do. 

The number of patent applications submitted in Barcelona exceeded those of Madrid, leading Spain in number of applications filed, and registering an increase from 2014. Within the EU, Spain is “at the tail end of the main group”, while Catalonia shows a “certain innovation that possibly doesn’t exist yet in other Spanish regions”. In Barcelona, the Esteve pharmaceutical laboratory is the Catalan business which has submitted the most patent applications, followed by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and the pharmaceutical company Almirall. Spain has not yet decided to join the EU Unitary Patent, which would give it access to the standardised patent system but exclude it from having “any influential capacity” in its regulatory bodies.

“Universal Catalan Contributions” features over 200 illustrated and chronologically organised contributions made by Catalans throughout history, including the blood bank, the submarine, the Christian calendar and the first reaction engine. Other notable characters are also mentioned, among them artists, musicians, doctors, and secret double agents. The author of the book, cultural promoter Joan Amorós, has started a European tour to introduce the English, French and Spanish editions of the book, a collection whose objective is to promote Catalan culture and demonstrate Catalonia’s immaterial heritage. 

Sharing Academy connects students with other peer tutors at different universities. Through the app, students can sort through a marketplace of tutors that can help them in various course subjects. According to Jordi Llonch, the CEO and creator of Sharing Academy, the idea for the app came from a personal struggle with one of his classes. After struggling to pass a course in university, Llonch sought the help of a friend studying the same course at a different school. Since the largest Mobile World Congress (MWC) to date opened its doors on Monday, much of the presenters at the event have focused on a few key topics. By 2020, industry leaders hope lead their users into a new generation of technology that can connect more devices at once, allowing for more advancement in other industry sectors outside of mobile such as health, automotive, and telecommunications technology.

Hotels around Barcelona are starting to fill as the city prepares to host the 11^th edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) from the 22^nd to the 25^th of February at the Gran Via venue of the Fira de Barcelona. With between 95,000 to 100,000 visitors expected to attend, the highest number ever for the MWC, Barcelona’s Hotel Association expects to reach full occupancy on the peak days. Although the average rate for a room has gone down from €278 to €237 per night this year, some hotel rooms in central areas like Passeig de Gracia report rooms going for as much as €800 to €1,100 per night. Although the event blocked 26,300 rooms for the event with the city’s hotel association, the high demand for rooms in Barcelona has pushed some participants to look outside the city for rooms in Sitges, Castelldefels and even as far as Girona. 

The short-distance train network has been interrupted this morning in the centre of Barcelona due to a fire in an abandoned station in the centre of the Catalan capital. Although the fire was extinguished by 7 am CET this Tuesday, the smoke continued to spread throughout the city’s train tunnels for hours, affecting six stations, more than 210 trains, metro line 1 and nearly 100,000 passengers, according to the Catalan Government. An accumulation of waste in the abandoned station is most likely to have been the cause of the fire. Today’s chaos is to be added to a long list of problems which have occurred on the network during the last decade, mainly due to a lack of investment in infrastructure by the Spanish Government.

Six MEPs from the Committee on Petitions visited the Ebro Delta, in Catalonia’s southern region of Tarragona, to meet the several petitioners who have claimed that Spain’s new National Water Plan (NWP) may infringe the EU Water Framework Directive. Environmentalists say one of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat as Spain’s new Plan aims to reduce the river’s flow to 3,000 cubic hectometres per year and add 465,000 new hectares of irrigated lands to an already existing one million hectares, which will also contribute to cutting the sediment level dramatically. Besides the risk to the delta’s survival, the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) are worried that ultimately these waters could be transferred to other, drier regions of Spain. The visit of the EU delegation comes after 50,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Amposta in Catalonia on Sunday to protest against the plans.

The Catalan Ministry for Health has confirmed this Thursday two new cases of Zika virus infection in Catalonia. One of them is a pregnant woman, the first of this type of case detected in Catalonia. The woman is between 13 and 14 weeks pregnant and is said to have contracted the virus on a trip to Colombia. These new cases are to be added to the other four detected on Wednesday and there are thus now already six people, four men and two women, infected with the Zika virus. Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. It is spreading through the Americas and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease linked to the virus a global public health emergency. 

The European body expressed its concerns regarding the use of Catalan and the Spanish State’s other “regional languages” in the administration of justice and in the health service. The Council of Europe called on the Spanish State to “modify the legal frame” and “guarantee that an appropriate proportion of the administration of justice’s workers” has a “practical knowledge” of the Catalan language. The European body, composed by 47 European countries, approved this Thursday “six recommendations” to solve “some important problems” and make sure that the Spanish State respects the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.This is the fourth report of this kind, after similar ones were written in 2005, 2008 and 2012. It states that the situation “has improved considerably” in the last four years, especially due to the Autonomous Communities’ efforts.

Today’s chaos in Catalonia’s railway system, operated by Spanish public train operator Renfe, is to be added to a long list of problems which have occurred on this network during the last decade. On this occasion, 60 short-distance trains and 25,000 passengers were affected by an attempted copper theft in three different train stations in the Barcelona area. This criminal act caused several small fires in the railway installations of Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, La Llagosta and Mollet del Vallès, around 20 kilometres away from Barcelona, which led to 30-minute minimum delays on four different lines. Alternative routes and extra buses have been added to guarantee the mobility of these citizens and according to the Spanish public company in charge of building and maintaining the railway infrastructure, Adif, the consequences will still affect nearly 60,000 people and 200 trains throughout the day.  

Catalan liberal party CDC MEP Ramon Tremosa presented a written question to the European Commission asking if it will allow that those regions with fiscal and legislative power to be able to go beyond their Member States refugees quota. "The pro-independence movement shows with this action it's pro-European and solidarity values" he stated and pointed out that his demand was preceded by the Catalan Parliament's resolution, which agreed to receive refugees over the Spanish quota. Following this, Tremosa criticised the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy for his '"lack of will" in accelerating the reception of refugees and "implementing as quickly as possible the European agreement on distributing the refugee burden". 

The so-called 'Operation Enxaneta' is considered the most important in the fight against drug trafficking carried out in Spain in the last ten years. 35 people have been arrested, 25 of whom have already been sent to prison. 83 kilos of highly pure heroin, 1 kilo of cocaine and 360 grams of marihuana have been intercepted. Several bank accounts have been frozen, and patrimonial assets and more than 1 million euros in cash have been confiscated. The investigation, which started in April, has brought to light heroin's routes and sales channels, starting in Pakistan and finishing in Barcelona and Madrid, amongst other places. 'Operation Enxaneta' was carried out by the Catalan police in collaboration with the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Spanish Police and the Ukrainian Security Service, which intercepted a 71-kilo heroin shipment bound for Catalonia.

A number of different associations met this Wednesday with current Catalan President, Artur Mas, and current Catalan Minister for Social Affairs, Neus Munté, to coordinate on the hosting of refugees. "Catalonia is ready" stated Munté, although she admitted that the Spanish Government haven't told them yet "the number of refugees nor the approximate date of their arrival". In any case, the Catalan institutions and collaborative organisations will be able to host initially between 2,000 and 5,000 people. "These people are living a daily 'Paris'" stated Munté, referring to the refugees escaping military conflicts. She also emphasised that the terrorist attacks in Paris "haven't changed" the government plans in terms of hosting refugees "on the contrary, they have made us more aware of how important it is to work together". 

Current Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, warned that the jihadist threat in Catalonia is "grave" and insisted that the Government is "offering its hand" and is "willing to collaborate with everyone" in order to fight terrorism. Although he called on citizens to "carry on with their normal lives" Jané announced some measures partly due to the terrorist attacks in Paris. In the short term, the controlling of road access to the main Catalan cities is to be reinforced, as is the level of surveillance in public spaces. In the longer term, Jané announced a protocol to "detect in time the Islamic radicalisation phenomenon" at school and "avoid allowing a terrorism that wants to change mind-sets" to spread. The protocol has already been designed and will be launched shortly. The aim is to work closely with the education community to identify which pupils are more likely to radicalise.