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.