As more than a million people prepare to celebrate the National Day of Catalonia on Monday, the Spanish government continues to sweat over the schism facing the country.
The day-long festival, known as the Diada, sees nationalists lay flowers at monuments of their heroes and patriotic demonstrations are held throughout the area’s cities, towns and villages.
Last year, an estimated 1.2m people flooded their local streets to proudly wave their senyeres and estelades and show support.
This year, these demonstrations will come just days after pro-independence groups protested outside the offices of the few mayors across Catalonia who have announced they will not allow municipal spaces to be used for the upcoming referendum.
This injection of Catalonian pride could not be coming at a worse time for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who is in the process of trying to quash a vote which some fear could enflame public discord to mirror those seen at the start of the Ukrainian revolution in 2014.
On Wednesday, Catalonia’s parliament voted to hold an independence referendum on October 1st. Madrid has since declared the referendum - which could see the wealthy autonomous community separate from the rest of Spain - illegal.
Voters will be asked: “Do you want Catalonia to be an independent country in the form of a republic?”
Although polls suggest the referendum result will play in the Spanish government’s favour, the majority of Catalans want the opportunity to vote on the matter.
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Spotlight on Catalonia's independence vote as Spain grapples with terrorist attacks
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Despite the legal block on the vote, many of the region’s 1,000 mayors have pledged to facilitate the vote and Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau has sought assurances that municipal staff will not face legal action or lose their jobs if they help to organise the vote.
Having originally offered to allow premises across the city to be used as polling stations, Ms Colau has asked the Catalan government for further reassurances that civil servants involved would be protected, her office said.
“We support the right to participate and protest completely but we will repeat what we have said many times before: we will not put at risk institutions or civil servants,” Barcelona’s deputy mayor, Gerardo Pisarello, said on Friday.
In a video posted on Twitter, the mayor of the Cerdanyola municipality tore in half a letter from the Constitutional Court warning of the legal repercussions of participating in the referendum to applause from the crowd watching.
This is not the first time such a vote has been attempted in the autonomous region.
Artur Mas, the former leader of Catalonia, was banned earlier this year from holding public office for two years, after being found guilty of disobeying a Spanish court when his government staged a non-binding independence vote in Catalonia in 2014. He was fined 36,500 euros (Dh161,350)
The non-binding 2014 vote saw just under 40% turn out, but of those who voted, 80% did so in favour of independence. Despite being declared illegal, Catalonia’s government has promised that the referendum will be binding.
Ballot papers are reportedly hidden across Catalonia and today Spanish police searched the offices of a weekly newspaper in the town of Valls in search of ballot papers, according to local press. Yesterday, the Civil Guard police searched a printing company near Tarragona, reportedly in search of materials to be used in the independence vote, reports Reuters.
Spain’s Civil Guard police was unavailable for comment but a court statement said the searches were related to charges brought by the public prosecutor in relation to the referendum.
“This has gotten out of control,” Javier Solana, Spain’s former foreign minister and a former secretary-general of NATO said to The New York Times. “We’re no longer in a normal situation of political conflict, where the politicians fight but at least respect the rules of the game.”
Adding to the uncertainty of the situation, experts and politicians seem unable to judge what impact, if any, the terror attacks which struck the Catalonia capital of Barcelona and nearby Cambrils in August.
The senseless violence initially united those who are strongly pro-independence, pro-unity and everything in between. But as life began to return to normal, the tensions rose to the surface once again as politicians on either side began to squabble and point fingers of blame over security weak spots.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
On racial profiling at airports
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Day 1, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Sadeera Samarawickrama set pulses racing with his strokeplay on his introduction to Test cricket. It reached a feverish peak when he stepped down the wicket and launched Yasir Shah, who many regard as the world’s leading spinner, back over his head for six. No matter that he was out soon after: it felt as though the future had arrived.
Stat of the day - 5 The last time Sri Lanka played a Test in Dubai – they won here in 2013 – they had four players in their XI who were known as wicketkeepers. This time they have gone one better. Each of Dinesh Chandimal, Kaushal Silva, Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, and Niroshan Dickwella – the nominated gloveman here – can keep wicket.
The verdict Sri Lanka want to make history by becoming the first team to beat Pakistan in a full Test series in the UAE. They could not have made a better start, first by winning the toss, then by scoring freely on an easy-paced pitch. The fact Yasir Shah found some turn on Day 1, too, will have interested their own spin bowlers.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Fights start from 6pm Friday, January 31
Catchweight 82kg
Piotr Kuberski (POL) v Ahmed Saeb (IRQ)
Women’s bantamweight
Cornelia Holm (SWE) v Corinne Laframboise (CAN)
Welterweight
Omar Hussein (JOR) v Vitalii Stoian (UKR)
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Josh Togo (LEB) v Ali Dyusenov (UZB)
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Isaac Pimentel (BRA) v Delfin Nawen (PHI)
Catchweight 80kg
Seb Eubank (GBR) v Mohamed El Mokadem (EGY)
Lightweight
Mohammad Yahya (UAE) v Ramadan Noaman (EGY)
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) v Reydon Romero (PHI)
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Ahmed Labban (LEB) v Juho Valamaa (FIN)
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Meydan racecard:
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (PA) Group 1 | US$75,000 (Dirt) | 2,200 metres
7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas (TB) Listed | $250,000 (D) | 1,600m
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9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (T) | 2,000m
10pm: Handicap (TB) | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Rock in a Hard Place: Music and Mayhem in the Middle East
Orlando Crowcroft
Zed Books
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
Scoreline:
Barcelona 2
Suarez 85', Messi 86'
Atletico Madrid 0
Red card: Diego Costa 28' (Atletico)