people

Investigation hopes to provide data that will help decision-making when reopening schools

Figure still insufficient to account for stark rise in gross mortality from last year

Body found in the Francolí river over the weekend not that of any of the four missing people

Catalan NGO awaits authorization to dock with 147 people on board after 14-day standoff

The weather wasn't on their side but their commitment to the climate was clear

Activists claim new rule fails to address “housing crisis" and demand measures against “abusive rental prices”

Apartments for disabled patients give second life to old hospital where institution was born 53 years ago

The Mayor of the Catalan capital, Ada Colau, is the fifth-most influential person in Europe for 2017, according to ‘Politico’. “The future of Spain could well rest on [Colau’s] shoulders”, foresees this renowned publication and notes that “with a referendum on Catalonia’s independence on the cards for next year”, Colau’s condition as a “popular, outspoken and independent leader gives her a powerful voice”. However, ‘Politico’ emphasises that Colau’s “vague” position regarding Catalonia’s independence, which according to the publication is “the hottest issue in the region”, “may be hard to maintain” and predicts that “she will not be able to avoid choosing sides as the debate heats up”. The ranking of the 28 most influential people for 2017 also include London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who tops the ranking, and other personalities such as Turkey’s President, Recept Tayyip Erdogan and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.

The Catalan Government will invest €240 million until 2020 in a project to help 300,000 young people find work.  The aim of the programme is to provide a work placement, professional training or an internship for all young people aged between 16 and 24 who have not worked or received any training in the last 30 days, nor participated in any education program in the last 90 days. The programme will also target those under 30 who have a disability of at least 33%. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig, has estimated that there are 110,000 young Catalans who are currently eligible for the programme, and has promised to make the fight against youth unemployment a priority within his department.  

Pere Pubill i Calaf, better known as Peret, died at noon on Wednesday in a Barcelonan hospital, aged 79. The singer, guitar player and composer Peret was considered to be the 'father' of the so-called Catalan rumba, a fusion music style mixing Afro-Cuban mambo with flamenco and rock and roll. This rhythm was born in the 1950s within Barcelona's Gipsy community and became increasingly popular in the 1960s thanks to some of Peret's hits. Soon it became part of Catalonia's culture and common heritage, being extremely popular and receiving institutional recognition. Peret started his musical career extremely young in the 1940s. He published a total of 27 albums, and he was about to release his first disc entirely in Catalan. In his last years, he became particularly active in social and political movements, criticising poverty and supporting Catalan self-determination. A few weeks ago, he issued a press release announcing he was undergoing anti-cancer treatment.

Like many major European cities, Barcelona is ageing fast. In the years ahead the city must grapple with many of the problems associated with an increasingly top heavy demographic: as the over-65 population burgeons, health and social services are stretched, the financing of pensions is challenged, and a growing number of frail and vulnerable people face competing over declining resources. Today’s elderly cohort constitutes a greater proportion of Barcelona’s population than ever before, and, perhaps most worryingly, face an increased likelihood of living alone.  But all is not doom and gloom, as the city enjoys an active, dynamic and engaged elderly population, the health and social sector rises to meet the challenges, and the labour market benefits from what are known as the ‘super-grandmothers.’

The number of Catalans between 15 and 34 who go abroad in search of a "decent" job has increased by 9.24% in the last year, meaning the number of young people living outside Catalonia has increased from 50,640 in 2013, to 55,319 this year, according to a study from the UGT trade union. Between 2009 and 2014, 19,772 youngsters have left Catalonia; a 55.62% increase in 5 years. These statistics were announced in a press conference on Thursday by Afra Blanco, the National Spokesperson for Avalot-Joves section of the UGT in Catalonia. According to Blanco, "the uncertainty, instability, part-time work, underemployment and destruction of jobs" are the factors that have driven young Catalan job-seekers to look for a "respectable life" abroad.

Sixty Catalans travelled to Poland to honour the victims of the Romani genocide in Auschwitz concentration camp which coincides with the 70^th anniversary of the horrific crime. The delegation consisted of members of the Federation of Gypsy Associations of Catalonia (FAGIC), the Nakeramos Intercultural Association, formed by young people from Barcelona, and the women's group, Veus Gitanes. The five-day commemoration was organised by the International Roma Youth Network, ternYpe, which remembered that on the night of the 2^nd to the 3^rd  of August 1944, the Nazi regime killed 2,897 Romani people in the so-called ‘Gypsy Family Camp’ in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Conferences, thematic history workshops and meetings with Roma survivors from the death camps were held on the 2^nd of August to pay tribute to the Roma Genocide victims at a ceremony in Auschwitz. Delegations from 20 other countries gathered to attend the commemorative events.

Catalan Rumba is part of the Catalan cultural heritage as much as the traditional folk dance Sardana or the famous human towers known as Castellers. This musical genre, born on the streets of Barcelona during the Sixties, is often mistaken for flamenco or other popular Latin sounds. Musicians such as Peret, Antonio González ‘El Pescaílla’ or Gato Pérez were pioneers of this style and contributed to its institutional and social recognition. Different waves of groups and artists have left their footprint on the Catalan Rumba, which is experiencing a third new age defined by a more eclectic sound that reflects Barcelona’s multicultural and cosmopolitan lifestyle.

On Tuesday, the Catalan Government approved the International Protection Plan of Catalonia, which aims to protect people forced to leave their country for being persecuted. It is the first time Catalonia has its own legal instrument to face the issue of asylum seekers, displaced people and human trafficking victims. This new tool establishes the principles, measures and funding schemes to host and offer protection to people who fled their country due to a grounded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, membership of a social group, gender or sexual orientation. Among other things, the Plan encourages issuing new proposals to improve the legal status of these people, offer them better training, improve their reception, integration and participation.