Hotel terraces

By Génesis Mendoza

People who live in Barcelona value hotel terraces less than tourists. "Una Vista d’Hotel" was a new initiative which consisted of opening 36 hotel terraces in the city to the local population freely for five days, from 3rd to 7th May. "A Vista Hotel" was the first which began this experience because they think that it is a good way to collect money. This only was for a limited time, because it costs a lot of money. The hotels which participated in it were: the Mandarin Oriental, W Barcelona, ME Barcelona, Casa Fuster, Pulitzer, and the new Barceló Raval Hotel OHLA, among many others.

Apart from enjoying the view or the fresh air, each terrace of Barcelona also has a cultural environment because they offer events and activities, for example, films, book presentations,… Many hotels offered Mediterranean drinks, the most exotic and healthy fruit drinks or cocktails without alcohol. Drinks were different each day and in each terrace. Apart from the different drinks, also people had the pleasure of enjoying a variety of snacks, lunches and dinners accompanied by fine wines, drinks and evening cocktails prepared especially for the occasion. Furthermore, a photo competition was organised for people who took part in these activities. They could win technological gadgets and some nights in a hotel. There were three categories: one for the picture which best illustrates the city from a terrace, another for the best picture of one of the terraces and the third for the picture which best captures the atmosphere of the terrace.

Lorca earthquake

By Andrea Bertrán

Eight people were killed and dozens injured after two earthquakes shook the Murcia town of Lorca on 11th May 2011. Hundreds of people couldn’t come back to their houses and they had to stay at the camps.

Some churches and the castle of the town were affected by the earthquake.

The first, at 5.05pm, measured 4.4 on the Richter scale. It was followed by a stronger one of 5.2 shortly before 7pm.

It hadn't happened an event like that in 30 years time.

All the schools remained closed in Murcia in the following days.

The government will take care of the rebuilding of the affected buildings.

After this tragedy, several entities are arranging positive events to raise money to help the victims.

Osama Bin Laden’s murder

By Pere Cases

Usāma bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Lādin (Osama Bin Laden) was the world’s most searched terrorist, creator of Al-Qaeda terrorist group, the most powerful terrorist group. Bin Laden was responsible for many attacks against the USA and other western countries, including attacks in U.S.A., embassies of Kenya and Tanzania. Before his murder, there was a reward of fifty millions dollars.

On May 1st 2011, it was reported that Osama bin Laden died during a military action. The identity of Bin Laden was confirmed by comparing DNA samples of his lifeless body to his sister's DNA. The body was taken by members of U.S.A. army after the attack and they kept it. That same day President Obama spoke to the nation, after the confirmation from U.S.A. officials that Osama bin Laden had died in a secret operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a city 50 kilometers northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometers east of Peshawar. Obama said the operation was done by a small group who acted under his orders.

Another volcano

By Joana Roig

The clouds of ashes of the Grimsvötn volcano (Island) might arrive today or tomorrow in Ireland and in UK if the metorological conditions don't change.

Nowadays it is possible to do reliable predictions in 48 hours time and know if this cloud will affect other places in Europe, because meteorological conditions are changing all over the day, and because they haven't got a lot of information about the volume and denseness of the ash. There was a meeting of the group of crisis: the airports, the airlines, the national aviation authorities and the Europe Agency for the security in the Aereal navigation.

These advices will establish three zones (red, blue or black) depending on the cloud level. With this information they will decide if it's safe to fly.

The volcano can change the trip of Barça to Wembley if the aerial space is affected by the cloud.

Top Ten

By Alex Santomà

Music: (2nd week of May)

1--> E.T., by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West

2--> Rolling in the deep, by Adele

3--> Just can't get enough, by The Black Eyed Peas

4--> S&M, by Rihanna

5--> Down on me, by Jeremih featuring 50 Cent

6--> The lazy song, by Bruno Mars

7--> On the floor, by Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull

8--> Look at me now, by Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes

9--> Blow, by Ke$ha

10--> Fuck you (Forget you), by Cee Lo Green

Films: (3/5/11)

1--> Fast Five. Income: $33,200,000

2--> Rio. Income: $92,800,000

3--> Maddea's Big Happy Family. Income: $34,100,000

4--> Water for Elephants. Income $26,000,000

5--> Prom. Income: $1,900,000

6--> Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. Income: $1,100,000

7--> Insidious. Income: $46,600,000

8--> Soul Surfer. Income: $31,500,000

9--> African Cats. Income: $9,200,000

10--> Scream 4. Income: $34,100,000

Books: (3/5/11)

1--> The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles Series #2), by Rick Riordan

2--> Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #11), by Charlaine Harris

3--> The Dukan Diet, by Pierre Dukan

4--> Get Rich Click!, by Marc Ostrofsky

5--> No Fear of Failure, by Gary Burnison

6--> 10th Anniversary (Women's Murder Club Series #10), by James Patterson

7--> Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, by Steven Tyler

8--> STEAL Team Six, by Howard E. Wasdin

9--> Stories I Only Tell My Friends, by Rob Lowe

10--> Heaven Is for Real, by Todd Burpo

The Royal wedding

By Carlota Pérez

A lot of people in the world watched the wedding of the prince William (son of Diana and Charles of England) with Katherine Middleton. It was he most watched event in United Kingdom and the rest of the world on TV.

It is estimated the event cost between £20milions and £46millions. This is a huge amount of money for a country which is living an economic crisis, but the people accepted this price and celebrated the big royal wedding.

Before the wedding, the dealers of souvenirs in London (and the rest of the world) worked to make profits of the wedding. We could find tradicional dishes made in China and teatowels. Ticket transports for the tourists of the capital : the "Oyster card", but you could only buy them in a limited edition. The famous cups from the Chinese brand Guandong, where you can see Kate Middleton besides her boyfriend's brother, the prince Harry.

Furthermore, there were strange "creations ": the royal bag recommended for vomiting.

The girl in the photo is Grace, the litle princess, the best commentaries in the royal wedding were for her.

La Vanguardia in Catalan

By Joana Roig

On 3rd May, the first Catalan edition of “La Vanguardia“ was published. “La Vanguardia” is the most read and most bought newspaper in Catalonia and it has the third highest circulation of all Spanish newspapers. It is one hundred and thirty years old and is published by Javier Godó's company. The new Catalan edition is very important for the normalization of the Catalan press. The Catalan edition of La Vanguardia was the newspaper with most subscribers (more than 20,000) before it even appeared on the newsstands.

A cocodrile scapes from the zoo

By Rubén Encinas

A half-ton crocodile escaped from a zoo in Alabama (United States) after Hurricane Ivan struck. It could not be found, and the authorities feared for the safety of the inhabitants in the area. "Chucky", the 4.2-m-long crocodile, had lived in the zoo on the Alabama Gulf Coast for 15 years until Hurricane Ivan destroyed the fence around the pond where he lived. The crocodile left the pond while the zookeeper was busy trying to rescue some stags.

The history of Cacaolat

By Joana Roig

The firm that owns the Cacaolat brand has economic problems and we don't know if this product will disappear. This is why consumers have created a movement with the slogan "Salvem el Cacaolat".

Cacaolat is a drink made with milk and cocoa, pre-prepared by the Letona company. It was created in 1913 and was the first industrial cocoa milkshake in the world. In 1933 the first returnable bottles were produced and Cacaolat became a big success.

Production stopped from 1936 to 1950 because there was not enough quality cocoa in the postwar period.

The mascot for Cacaolat has been the same throughout its history: Pepi (a child carrying a big bottle). Nowadays, Cacaolat is very popular in Catalonia and all over Spain and today there are also Cacaolat strawberry and vanilla milkshakes.

One half of secondary teachers feel stressed at work

By Salomón Díaz

In Seville a study showed that half the teachers in secondary school in Spain suffer from stress at work, most of them women. In all, 1,125 teachers from public and private schools participated in this study. Teachers have a higher stress level than workers in other jobs. The main cause is the behaviour of students. According to the study, 28.80% give this reason, 23.47% mentioned lack of consideration and 25.78% are victims of the school atmosphere, especially when they see students fighting among themselves. Moreover, they also mention the lack of support of the students’ families.

JAPAN: A fragile country at the mercy of nature

By Marson Mesa

The world was shocked to hear the news of the huge earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, but people there have learnt to expect natural disasters. Hundreds of beer glasses on wooden shelves, shook from side to side, then knocked into each other. The conversation suddenly dimmed, then stopped completely. The faces looked from one to another across the plates of tempura and sushi. It is no coincidence that tsunami is a Japanese word. The native religion, Shinto, is animist - it tells of the divine nature of trees and mountains, of goddesses who emerged from deep clefts in the rocks. The very earth can seem to be alive.

For images visit this page: Japan's Tsunami Images

Josep Pla school on fire

By Silvia Muela

On April 20th 2011, early in the morning, a neighbor called the firemen because the Josep Pla School, at 24-34 Valle de Ordesa street was on fire. The fire burnt a third of the school (600 square meters). The rest of the building was damaged by water and dust. Since Tuesday the school’s 400 students have been going to another school, and will do so until the next academic year. According to Irene Rigau, the Education Minister, the fire came from the outside. The fire service is investigating the causes. The firemen put out the fire in three hours. The building was empty and nobody was injured.

Photos and cancer

By Joana Roig Borrell

In the Vanguardia I found an interesting article about teenagers who had cancer or had suffered this from illness and took photos about their world. A group of experienced monitors, aged over eighteen, helped these teenagers in photography workshops, where they shared a lot of experiences and interacted with them. The teenagers talked about their experiences in hospital or the beginning of their current life after the illness. These photographs are collected in the book called "A través de mi cámara", presented a day before the International Children’s Cancer Day. The photos are accompanied by short texts about the sick teenagers’ thoughts, questions and hopes, and those of their parents and the professionals who treated them. The book shows real pictures of the pain, but also of the joy and hope, with the objective of communicating emotions, as the workshop co-ordinator Mario Rodríguez said. We think that these initiatives are useful in order for society to become aware of this illness, and they also they show that a lot of teenager and childhood cancers can be cured.