-
BEING the youngest competitor in her group didnt stop
12-year-old Mojacar kitesurfer Osaia Reding from performing
ad-mirably at the world championships in France.
ISSUE NO. 1555 // 23 - 29 APRIL 2015ISSUE NO. 1606 14 - 20 April
2016 WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COMCOSTA DE ALMERA YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE,
YOUR OPINION
A BUSY week saw Guardia Civil officers arrest two suspected
robberswhom they allege are each behind serious incidents, which
saw awoman injured and thousands of euros stolen.
INSPECTORS hoping to solve double crimes
Suspects captured
Pride in the playa KITESURFER does Mojacar proudProdigal
daughterSee page 16
A VITAL initiative has beenimplemented in Albox withthe instal
lat ion of s ix newlampposts incorporating envi-
ronmentally friendly and costeffective LED technology.
Lamppost luminosity
LOCAL school children do their bit for Mojacar
A group of children from aMojacar high school took on ahuge
project as they spent amorning cleaning up an area ofthe beach.
Some 60 children from theIES Rey Alabez School, ac-companied by
three teachers,scoured the beaches of PlayaVillazar, La Rumina
andDescargador for waste.
The students, aged between12 and 16, also catalogued
andidentified various species offlora and fauna found during
the mornings work.Teacher Victor Serrano, told
Euro Weekly News: The chil-dren relish this type of
activity,they take a pride in the beachesof their town and enjoy
gettingout of the classroom.
The project forms part of theJunta de Andalucia coastalcare
educational programmeand official questionnaireswere used to log
all the find-ings.
The captured data will beadded to a central database andwill
contribute to a report, pub-lished annually describing the
state of the beaches throughoutAndalucia.
In the weeks following theinspection and clean-up, thestudents
will study the itemscollected and present theirfindings in a
special class ses-sion.
Serrano said the results ofthe project showed that in gen-eral
the beaches were in apretty good state.
Evidence of algae and Posi-donia sea grass was found, aswell as
the presence of gulls,cormorants and sandpipers.The wealth of
biodiversity in-
dicated a good level of watercleanliness and absence
ofcontamination.
On the flipside, the studentscollected more than 10 bags
ofwaste, with items includingmainly glass and plastic alongwith
shoes, toys and used nap-pies.
Student Liam GagliardiSimpson, aged 12, took part inthe project
and told EuroWeekly News: It was very in-teresting to learn about
thecreatures that live on thebeaches but I was sad to see somuch
litter.
By Adele Land
See page 68
See page 67
ALBOX brings technology to the evening sky
HUNDREDS of elite and amateur bikers are set to arrive in
Mojacarfor the fifth edition of the Sierra Cabrera Xtreme, one of
the mosthotly anticipated events of the cycling calendar.
HUGE mountain biking race to take place
Riding royalty
See page 16
-
Bullying underthe spotlight
GARRUCHA will be viewed by more than two million Scandina-vians
over the next few weeks as Swedish TV channel Meter TV is fi-nally
showing the scenes for its popular Mtarnas Mstare competi-tion,
which were filmed in the area back in September.
The competition puts retired sports personalities to the test,
and isexpected to be screened in Denmark, Norway, Finland and
Sweden.
THE Federation of AMPAS(parents associations) in Alme-ria
Province has decided to findout more about the real situa-tion in
schools where bullyingis concerned, and its membershave been taking
part in a na-tional survey on the subject.
The 285 associations in theprovince, with more than35,000
members, gave familiesand teachers an anonymousquestionnaire
containing 27questions on bullying whichmust be handed in by
Monday,April 18.
The answers, the federationannounced, will be used to
draw up a report on bullyingand how it is dealt with by
soci-ety, as the questions includeparents and tutors reactions toit
and where victims look forhelp.
However although it is aproblem which needs dealingwith, the
federation explained,bullying should not be confusedwith individual
conflictive orviolent incidents betweenequals.
Once differentiated in thisway, there are fewer cases
reg-istered than many believe, asthe majority of incidents
report-ed are one-offs following dis-agreements amongst students
orbetween families and teachers.
NEWS14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera
www.euroweeklynews.comEWN2
REGULAR meetings for suffer-ers of diabetes take place
everyTuesday morning at bar La Plazain Villaricos.
The discussions involve shar-ing personal stories, diet and
well-being. The meetings are notmeant to provide medical
advicebut to share support via literatureand personal
experiences.
For more information, contactMickeila on 666 704 995.
Diabetes meetingsin Villaricos
LOCAL NEWS
Garrucha on screen
WORK has begun on the A-92motorway between Tabernasand
Granada.
Repairs are taking place onthe bridges and viaducts in thearea
around Fiana and Gergal.
The 47,000 project will in-
clude repairing expansion jointson the bridges to ensure
safetyon this stretch of the road.
The programme of work hasbeen scheduled to minimisedisruption
and delays on theroad.
Motorway repairs
FEDERATION will find out more about the real situation in
schools
By Eleanor Hawkins
REPORT: Will cover how bullying is dealt with in society.
-
3NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com
EWN
BIG changes could be on the horizonwith the proposal of a new
timetable inSpain which would exclude the siesta.
Controversial plans to axe the famousthree-hour break in Spain
have been pro-posed by interim Prime Minister Mari-ano Rajoy, who
wants the working dayto end at 6pm and believes Spain shouldcome in
line with its European counter-parts. Not only would the Spanish be
de-nied part of their cultural identity, but inorder to make the
new timetable functionSpain would have to realign with GMTand
British Summer time.
Currently many workers start theirday at 9am and stay in the
office untilabout 8pm - with a three hour siesta atlunchtime.
However, many large shop-ping malls and organisations stay
openthroughout the siesta so for many expatsit isnt always a huge
disruption.
La siesta translates as a short nap and
is usually between 20-45 minutes, andoriginally arose as workers
waited forthe blistering midday heat to pass beforereturning to
outdoor labour.
This definition is far from the three-hour break taken in the
middle of theworking day. Many people believe thatin this day and
age where wielding ascythe or casting a fishing net is nolonger the
norm and air conditioned of-fices are commonplace, a siesta is an
in-dulgent habit that is not relevant anymore.
A recent Spanish study reported that:We need more flexible
working hours,to cut our lunch breaks, to streamlinebusiness
meetings by setting time lim-its for them, and to practise and
de-mand punctuality.
The article also suggested that reduc-ing the length of time of
the siestawould boost the quality of life in Spainand even reduce
marriage breakdowns.
There have also been many studiessuggesting that a midday nap is
benefi-cial to health.
Politically the country remains inturmoil with a new government
farfrom being formed. Some believe thatthe move may be a bid to
attract sup-port ahead of the countrys June elec-tions as the
change would be popularamong numerous Spaniards who wouldlike to
see an end to the long workingday, but for many these changes
wouldbe unthinkable and a change to Spanishculture.
Rajoy said: I will find a consensus
to make sure the working day ends at6pm.
He argues that in order for the newsystem to work and increase
productiv-ity the clocks also need to change toGMT. Spain lies far
to the west of thestandard Central European Time Zoneand has been
running on this time since1942, when Spanish dictator
FranciscoFranco turned the clocks forward insolidarity with his
allies, Nazi Ger-many.
A change to GMT would be a mo-mentary disturbance, but whether
theSpanish are ready for such a drastic re-arrangement of the
working day andthe impact this would have on Spanishvalues is
another matter.
How it would affect Spanish lifesuch as shop opening hours, TV
sched-uling, long lunch breaks and restaurantopening times is not
clear but more sig-nificantly life without the siesta may behard to
comprehend for a countrysteeped in tradition.
FEATURED NEWS
Is it goodnight to thesiesta in Spain?
By Emily Chettle
Your papers,your views
No excuseConsidering that most shopsand offices have air
condition-ing I find it strange that theSpanish people still hold
on tothe siesta break each afternoon. I know it is tradition, but
thisshould have been revised yearsago. There is no excuse forsuch a
thing these days, but theSpanish being what they are Idoubt that
anything willchange. Roy Peters
Their choiceSurely it is the choice of the in-dividual business
as to thehours they work not big brothertelling us (yet again!!)
what todo!!! Who the hell do these bu-reaucrats think they
are???Sean
Wont happenPersonally Id like to see it andthere is no reason
for mostbusinesses not to change, butAlmeria is the garden of
Spainand farming and outside jobsdo need a break in the
summertemps. BUT Spain being Spainit isnt going to happen and
itstheir business. Bill Ruttens
Just outsideIn all these air conditioned of-fices and shops the
staff are notoutside in the heat of the sum-mer. The only people
who needa siesta are people who workoutside in the summer.
Stop-ping the siesta would also givepeople who commute to workan
immediate pay rise as theywould only have to travel eachway once
instead of twice.John Mclean
Rajoy rethinkI can understand why the siestais necessary, the
heat in Spaincan be draining whether youwork inside or not, and
some-times air con breaks down dueto heat. I think Rajoy should
re-think, I cannot see that therewill be anymore productivityby
working 9am to 6pm. AnneMoulay
Our readers have been ex-pressing their views on anarticle
regarding the prosand cons of axing the sies-ta in Spain, which
fea-tured on our website.
Here are just a few of yourcomments and remember welike to hear
from everyone re-gardless of which side of thefence you may
sit.
www.euroweeklynews.com
WILL the Spanish welcome such a dramatic change?
Wik
iped
ia
THE SIESTA: Many people believe that it is an indulgent habit
that is not relevant any more.
Mariano Rajoywants the
working day toend at 6pm and
believes Spainshould come in
line with its European
counterparts
-
INDEXNews 1 - 33
Featured News 3
Finance 35 - 40
Stocks 36
Leapy Lee 41
Our View 50
Colin Bird 50
Daily TV 52
Letters 54
Time Out 56 - 57
Health & Beauty 59 - 61
Social Scene 64 - 65
Albox 67 - 72
Property 74 - 75
Homes & Gardens 76 - 77
Pets 78 - 79
Classifieds 81 - 83
Motoring 84 - 85
Sport 87 - 88
www.euroweeklynews.com NEWS14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
AlmeraEWN4
MOJACAR mayor RosaMaria Cano has been namedas secretary for the
southernbranch of the Los pueblosmas bonitos de Espaa (TheMost
Beautiful Villages inSpain) Association, at an as-sembly held on
Monday(April 11) in Lucainena delas Torres.
During the National Asso-ciation assembly, at whichLucainena
mayor Juan Her-rera was named as presidentof the new branch, a
two-year term was establishedfor the posts , and thebranchs
responsibi l i t ieswere defined. The various
activi t ies planned for thecoming months to continuepromoting
the beaut i fulvillages were discussed, thefirst of which is a
presenta-tion of the 2016 Most Beau-t i ful Vil lages in
Spainguide.
President of the NationalAssociat ion, FranciscoManuel Mestre
Acosta, stat-ed: This guide describesthe 44 marvellous
villageswhich have decided to uniteand work together to protectand
promote every one oftheir charming areas, whichare tenderly cared
for byboth the local residents andthe councils.
By Eleanor Hawkins
Mojacar mayorgiven a new roleMAYOR CANO is given a secretarial
role in promoting beautiful villages
MOJACAR: Certainly deserves its place on the list.
-
A TELEPHONE service willbe launched by Almeria Coun-cil this
year in English, Frenchand German to help non-Span-ish home owners
with theprocess to pay IBI property tax.
In a press release, the trea-sury delegate for the
provincialcouncil, Manuel Alias, ex-plained that it is a trial
projectand the number will be 950 211211. Alias explained that
theproject aims to reach out to ex-
patriates and holiday homeowners, to help them resolveany
property tax problems andqueries in their own language.
The service will be availablefrom August to October, coin-ciding
with the payment periodand the time of year that mostexpats and
holiday home own-ers are in the country.
National Statistics Institutefigures reveal that across the
93Almeria municipalities wherethe provincial council
chargesproperty tax, there are a total of
9,245 expatriates from the Eu-ropean Union and about 60 percent
of these own property,most of which is located in theLevante, Los
Velez and Valledel Almanzora areas. There arealso an estimated
4,000 holidayhome owners who live abroadbut should pay tax on
theirproperty in Spain here.
Aims include making lifeeasier for foreign residents,making the
provincial councilmore approachable and increas-ing income from
taxes.
A MAN was arrested in Huercal-Overa lastweek on suspicion of
eight offences relatingto theft from vehicles.
An investigation began in January whenfive reports were made of
cars being brokeninto, all in the same area of the town.
Three subsequent robberies took place the
following month all with the same modusoperandi.
Items stolen included, handbags, mobilephones and small amounts
of cash.
The man, who has previous convictions forsimilar offences, will
appear in court inHuercal-Overa.
5NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com
EWN
The expat guideto property tax
Car robber is arrested
SERVICE available from August to OctoberBy Eleanor Hawkins
-
NEWS14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera
www.euroweeklynews.comEWN6
A MORE than three-kilometre long under-ground gypsum cave has
been revealed byspeleologists in the Yesos de Sorbas karstlandscape
fol lowing nine years of hardwork.
Inside a natural wonder in the form of theAda chasm, a 54-metre
deep kars t was
found, well believed to be the largest in theworld, the
speleologist team formed by spe-cialists from all over Spain
reported.
The Yesos de Sorbas karst area is consid-ered one of the most
important in the world,which experts have been investigating
formore than 30 years and i ts caves andchasms attract hundreds of
spelunkers everyyear.
By Antonio Melgar
Biggest gypsumwell in the worldFOUND in Sorbas following years
of hard work
GYPSUM CAVE: Has been revealed by speleologists.
Flick
r by
Robe
rto L
umbr
eras
A DANGEROUS crossroads in Garrucha isto be turned into a
roundabout after an eight-year wait.
The La Simona crossing on the Los Gallar-dos to Garrucha bypass
has been the scene ofa number of accidents on the busy road.
The junction has recently become busierwith the opening of the
new access road andtunnel to the port area, and Mayor MariaLopez
insists the change is a priority.
The roundabout is expected to be built bythe end of the
year.
A new roundabout
A BRITISH man and his wifeon holiday in Mojacar are ask-ing EWN
readers whether theymight have witnessed a car ac-cident which took
place onApril 2 near the Pueblo Indalo.
The couple, both in their 70s,became unwillingly involved inan
altercation with a womanwhich resulted in both requiringmedical
attention .
They would like to expresstheir deep gratitude to twoSpanish
men, aged in their 20sor 30s, who stepped in andsaved them. If any
readersknow who these men, or wit-nessed the incident, please
con-tact EWN on +34 952 561 245.
Call forwitnesses
THE University of Almeria (UAL) campuswas due to turn into the
capital of interna-tional cultures today, Thursday 14, for thefirst
edition of its Feria de las Naciones (Fairof the Nations).
The event is running all morning in thecentre of the campus,
uniting a number ofcultures and nations to turn the universityinto
a space to discover more about othercultures.
Head of international promotion adminis-tration department Ana
Fe Gil Serra said: Itis an activity that revolves around
integra-tion and intends to show the differences ofculture that
live together at the university.
The event is also a charitable one, asbracelets will be on sale
carrying the mottoUAL around the world with funds raisedgoing to
Argar, an association for childrenwith cancer.
Fair of the Nations
MAINTENANCE work hasbeen carried out on the threemetallic
pedestrian bridges thatconnect the commercial centreof Pulpi with
the Alameda and
Maquina districts.Work consisted of replacing
the metal flooring, repairingflaws and repainting
thebridges.
An ornamental touch has al-so been added with new flowerbeds and
lighting at the towncentre end, the council report-ed.
Pedestrian bridges get some TLC
-
NEWS14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera
www.euroweeklynews.comEWN8
IN this article, when mentionis made of residents, espe-cially
in the headline, an in-correct and misleading refer-ence is made.
This confusesthe readers and leads them toa conclusion that does
not re-flect the facts.
Whilst saying residents inthe news article, refers to aspecific
person by name, whospends occasional holidays inthe town and is
annoyed bythe inconvenience of the on-going works due to his
wishfor peace and quiet during hisbrief stay.
The opinion of this persondeserves due consideration byMojacar
Town Council, who
fully understand and regretthe circumstances of theirprotest,
however it is not
good journalistic prac-
tice to air this complaint, uni-laterally and without
contrast-ing information from peoplewho actually reside in LaParata
the whole year or atleast most of it.
Given the above, the Mu-nicipality of Mojacar wishesto clarify
that the article andits sensationalist headline andthe information
disclosedtherein, does not represent thetrue feeling of residents
ofLa Parata.
The President of the LaParata Owners Associationhas written a
letter to RosmariCano, mayor of Mojacar,which disagreed with the
in-formation published in edi-tion 1602. The letter reiteratestheir
satisfaction with the pro-ject, which has provided themwith a new
water and sewer-
age network. The mayor hasthanked the Association andits members
for this commu-nication and their show ofsupport.
The Town Council is fullyaware that all works involve adegree of
unavoidable incon-venience, especially given theextensive scale of
those un-dertaken in this upgrade.
Thanks to the efforts of themayor of Mojacar and inten-sive
negotiations with theProvincial Government andthe water company,
Galasa,an agreement has beenreached to solve the watersupply and
drainage problemsthat La Parata has been suf-fering for many
years.
With a budgetof 72,600
euros, the areas networksupply and sanitation hasbeen completely
renovatedthroughout the urbanisationand its 21 streets.
This first phase involvesmore than 2,000 metres oftubing, 49
valves as well asother special parts needed torenovate three
pumping sta-tions. La Parata is locatedabove the level of the
reser-voir that supplies water to therest of the area, pumps
aretherefore essential to deliverthe supply.
Thanks to Rosmari Cano,her government team and herconcern about
the modernisa-tion and development of
municipal services, La Paratanow has fire hydrants, in-stalled
at strategic points ofthe urbaniaation, in placeseasily accessible
to firefight-ers if necessary. This is animprovement only
possibledue to the works to modernisethe system of water pipes
andsanitation.
To facilitate this safetymeasure, meetings have beenheld with
officials of theAlmeriense Levante RegionalFire Service. Several of
its of-ficers have visited the area toassess, on the spot, the
suit-ability and siting of the hy-drants.
The government of An-
dalucia, in collaboration withvarious provincial and nation-al
agencies responsible incase of fire, has made LaParata an area of
specialstudy due to the proximity be-tween the urban developmentand
the countryside.
The last phase of theworks, which could causethe most
disruption, is thereplacement of paving and,asphalt dug up to carry
outthe work.
Once the new pipes arelaid and covered over, thetrenches need a
certainamount of time to settle be-fore being tarmacked.
Theasphalting has already be-gun, albeit a few days latedue to the
recent rains.
Response to articleconcerningLa Parata AN agreement has been
reached to solve water supply
In relation to the information published in the recent edition
of the EWN (March 17-23) with the title Residents rage at endless
saga, which refers to the residents of LaParata, Mojacar Town
Council wishes to clarify the following:
MOJACAR: Town Council is aware of works.
ROSMARICANO:
The mayor.
-
TWELVE secondary schoolsin Almeria Province have beenchosen to
take part in an exper-imental project, analysing theeffectiveness
of giving first-aidtraining to students.
The project, coordinated bythe emergency services, beginsthis
month and will see teach-ers and 1,250 students receive
basic first-aid and cardiovascu-lar reanimation training at
theschools, which include: Sierrade Gador in Berja, San Isidroin
Nijar, Sierra Nevada inFiana, Albaida in AlmeriaCity, Cardenal
Cisneros in Al-box, Albujaira in Huercal-Overa, El Palmeral in Vera
andEl Jaroso in Cuevas del Al-manzora.
The study will be the base ofa possible region-wide educa-tional
programme to bring thetraining into the classroom,following
worldwide recom-mendations from the WorldHealth Organisation
(WHO).The WHO claims that 12 is theideal age for youngsters to
betaught life-saving techniques.
After a heart attack, 061Emergency Services Director
Javier Garcia has explained,the victims chance of surviv-ing
falls by 10 per cent everyminute that goes by, withoutthem
receiving correctly per-
formed reanimation manoeu-vres. This means the morepeople that
know how to reactand help until paramedics canget to the scene, the
better.
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN10
NEWS
PROJECT set to increase students knowledge of first aid
Almeria students tobecome life saversBy Eleanor Hawkins
FIRST AID: Training over 1,000 new life savers.
-
A VIOLENT impersonatorwho allegedly tricked his vic-tims by
flashing a fake policebadge, before beating and rob-bing them, has
been arrested bythe Guardia Civil in Almeria.
The 27-year-old was arrestedafter police followed up on
sixseparate reports that followed asimilar modus operandi.
It is thought that the man,identified in Spanish bureau-cratic
custom only as AHS,would demand to see his vic-tims ID and, if they
were notcarrying one, escort them totheir homes where he wouldthen
assault them.
It is mandatory in Spain tocarry identification and to pro-vide
it upon request to legiti-mate police officers. This oftenleads to
difficulties in dealingswith people from countrieswithout such
totalitarian laws.
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN12
NEWS
A MAN has been reported bythe National Police in Almeriafor
allegedly beating a youngdog repeatedly with its lead.
The attack was caught oncamera and reported by theANUA animal
charity, whichprovided the police with avideo showing the man
beat-ing and kicking the dog on aterrace, after finding it
haddamaged furniture inside thehouse.
The dog, which has beenexamined by a vet, remains atan animal
refuge while a
judge decides whether itshould be returned to its own-er (who
was not the attacker)or put up for adoption.
The police force hasstressed that Article 337 ofthe Penal Code
allows forpunishment of up to 18 monthjail sentences, for those
foundto have seriously mistreatedor abandoned pets or domes-ticated
animals.
TWENTY-SEVEN peoplewere arrested for theft ofcopper cables in
AlmeriaProvince in 2015, and a to-tal of 50 tonnes of stolencopper
were recovered ac-cording to a new report.
Published by the Ministryof the Interior, the reportstated that
altogether 176people were arrested in An-dalucia for
copper-relatedthefts in 2015, and 408,076kilos of the metal were
con-fiscated by the authorities.
By Eleanor Hawkins
Man reported forcruelty to animalDOG was kicked and beaten for
damaging furniture
Copper steal
Fraudulent policeofficer arrested
-
13NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN
THE Infoca pilot who diedin a crash while fighting afire in
Seron in 2014, wasprobably suffering fromstress according to an
inves-tigation.
The civil aviation authori-ty said in the report that thepilots
concentration and
performance could havebeen affected by a decreasein attention
caused by the in-tense nature of the task.
According to the report,the pilot disobeyed an orderto return to
base and decidedto return to the scene of thefire.
No emergency communi-cation took place prior to the
accident, a fact which point-ed to the pilot being intenton his
mission despite thedanger.
The pilot was highly expe-rienced as a firefighting pilotand had
also worked as afl ight instructor, both inSpain and in Chile.
Infoca passed its condo-lences to the pilots family.
PILOT was probably suffering from stress
Report out onfire-plane crashBy Eleanor Hawkins
A MAN has been handedan eight-month suspendedjail sentence by
Almeriasnumber five criminal courtand been banned fromcontacting or
going within500 metres of a woman heissued death threats to for16
months.
The man, who wasfound to have sent a num-ber of text
messagesthreatening to kill thewoman and her children,was arrested
near herhouse with a car full ofdangerous items, includ-ing a
machete, a 12cmknife, a hammer, an axe,and a two-litre
containerfull of petrol, after GuardiaCivil officers were alertedto
his presence by the vic-tim.
Upon his arrest on No-vember 3, 2010, the mansaid: Youve caught
meand told the officers all Ican think about is killingher.
Following events 18days beforehand, details ofwhich have not
been madepublic but which the manblamed his victim for, hesent two
threatening mes-sages and scrawled insult-ing and threatening
graffition her house, car wind-screen and at her place ofwork.
Chargedfor deaththreats
-
MOJACAR kitesurfer, OsaiaReding, finished fifth in theworld
championships inSaint Pierre la Mer, Franceat the weekend.
The 12-year-old schoolgirlfinished seventh in her cate-gory in
last years competi-tion and fourth in the Span-ish championships.
She wasthe youngest competitor inher group.
Osaia began kitesurfing
aged seven under the guid-ance of her father Sebastienwho is
also her coach.
Osaia trains in Mojacarand also spends t ime inBrazil where
conditions forthe sport are excellent.
A pupil at school in Mo-jacar, Osaia has to combineher studies
and homeworkwith training.
Having travelled exten-sively with her French par-ents, Osaia
speaks four lan-guages and said travellingis her university of
life.
She said she enjoyskitesurfing because it allowsher to fly as
high as a bird.
Proud to be a Mojaquerothe young schoolgirls kite isdecorated
with a picture ofthe Indalo man a symbol ofthe area, as well as
Mo-jacars coat of arms.
Although mostly self-funded, Osaia is grateful toher sponsors
which include
F1-Spain, Kitaddict, BarracaDo Spain and MojacarCouncil.
Sports councillor, Em-manuel Aguero, met with hera few hours
before she leftfor France and wished herluck in the competition
onbehalf of the council team.
The young athletes nextdestination is La Mangafor the Spanish
Champi-onships, followed by theEuropean Championshipsin Holland and
the youthworld championships inJune.
Her parents are nostrangers to extremesports. They run a
watersports centre on Mojacarplaya and Mr Reding al-so competes in
kitesurf-ing.
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN16
NEWS
Your Belgian estate agent at the coast!Your Belg
By Adele Land
Young Mojacar girl flyinOSAIA began kitesurfing aged seven
Osaia with sportscouncillor EmmanuelAguero.
-
ONE of the most antici-pated events in the moun-tain-biking
calendar isjust over a week away.
Next Sunday, April 24,hundreds of mountain-bike el i te and
amateurr iders wil l descend onMojacar to take up thechallenge of
the fifth edi-tion of the Sierra CabreraXtreme.
The 67-kilometre racetakes the r iders a longMojacar playa, up
intothe Sierra Cabrera, fol-lowing a route downthrough La Parata
andLas Marinas and finish-ing near the footbal lground near Marina
de laTorre.
Numerous elite ridershave regis tered for therace including last
yearswinner Jose Marquez, Pe-
dro Romero from Ex-tremadura, Juan Trujilloand other top male
riders.
In the female category,Rebeca Bertomeu, placedfirst last year
and Cordo-bas Elena Perez will behoping to make the podi-um.
In addition to the eliteriders, hundreds of localriders will
compete andaim to beat their personalbest.
This year s route ismore diff icul t withclimbs up to 700
metresin alt i tude, ravines andsheer drops.
Around 30 per cent ofthe course is made up ofclimbs and
descents.
Spectators will be ableto cheer on the competi-tors as they
speed alongMojacar playa.
ng high Riders firedup for event
17NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN
-
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN20
NEWS
VERA has been officially de-clared a town of youth.
The title was awarded bythe Andalucian Youth Institute(IAJ),
identifying the town ashaving organised specialevents and
attractions for theyounger residents.
A plaque was unveiled inthe Vera youth informationcentre by IAJ
provincial coor-dinator, Ramon Soto, togetherwith Mayor Felix
Lopez.
Soto described Vera as a
pioneer in improving oppor-tunities for young people.
Other towns in the provincewere also awarded the
title,including, Cuevas del Alman-zora, Pulpi and Nijar.
In addition to the awardingof the title, a number ofyouths were
designatedyouth correspondents. Theyoungsters will collaboratewith
schools, information cen-tres and neighbourhood asso-ciations.
A town forthe young
An interestingtrail for hikers
VERA improving opportunities
WALKERS and cyclists are infor a treat if they take the
trailwhich runs along the track ofthe old railway, part of the
orig-inal Guadix to Almendrosroute.
The route is 13 kilometreslong and takes in numerouspoints of
interest and beautyspots.
There are a number ofbridges along the path, with in-teresting
architectural historybehind each of them.
For younger walkers, there isa childrens playground withgarden
areas.
The route is adapted for theblind and the signs along theway are
written in Spanish,English and also in braille.
-
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14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN22
NEWS
A LOGGERHEAD sea turtle was discov-ered dead on a beach in
Carboneras at theweekend.
The creature, the fourth dead specimenfound in the province in
as many weeks,was spotted by a resident on the El Anconbeach, who
called Civil Protection.
Volunteers from marine rescue organisa-tion, Equinac, were
dispatched to the sceneto inspect the creature and check if it
hadpreviously been fitted with a microchip.
A number of sea turtles have been mi-crochipped by Equinac and
other groups inorder to monitor the creatures.
A necropsy was performed on the turtle,identified as being an
adult between 30 and40 years old. Results from the necropsyshowed
the animal was underweight andhad died recently. Also apparent was
somedamage to the shell.
An inspection of the stomach contents re-vealed the animal had
ingested a large
amount of plastic waste.Equinac coordinator, Eva Moron,
lamented what she described as man-madechanges to the marine
ecosystem.
Moron went on to explain that sea turtles
are in danger and their disappearance is di-rectly linked to the
action of humans.
The coordinator urged people to disposeof plastic waste
responsibly and not to usethe sea as a dumping ground.
THEIR disappearance is directly linked to the action of
humans
Sea turtle stomachwas full of plastic
By Adele Land
SEA TURTLE: Stomach contained plastic waste.
MORE than a dozenbusinesses in Garruchahave been awarded a cer-t
i f icate of excel lencefrom the Junta de An-dalucia tourist
board.
The businesses includeHotel Tika, Garruchatourist office, Luan,
CasaAdriana and Naut icorestaurant.
The certificate recog-nises efforts in offering ahigh quality of
service in
a tourism related busi-ness.
The businesses wil lfeature in numerous on-line campaigns
organisedby the tourist board andother publications.
Tourism Counci l lor,Rocio Galindo, said sheencouraged all
business-es in the tourism sectorto work together to makeGarrucha a
destination ofexcellence.
Garrucha winstourism awards
ALMERIAS Alcazaba willbe at the centre of celebra-tions of the
InternationalMonuments Day.
The theme for this yearsevent is the heritage of
sport,coinciding with the Olympic
Games, which are set to bestaged in Rio de Janeiro
thissummer.
Children, aged betweeneight and 12, have been invit-ed to take
part in a workshopto learn about the commer-
cial history of Almeria City.The children will also be
taken on a tour of the build-ing which will take in thefantastic
views of the portand bay.
On Sunday April 17, an
animated show will be stagedat the Alcazaba aimed at anaudience
of all ages.
The event starts at 12 noonand will showcase how tolive a
healthier lifestyle usingsport.
International monuments day
-
25NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN
THE level of English spoken by Almeria youthswas put to the test
last week, as a businessmanand a tourist hit the streets to ask
them for direc-tions, as part of a study by Active Global
EnglishHouse.
The two walked the streets of Almeria City,stopping
likely-looking teenagers to ask them fordirections every now and
then.
Although all seemed extremely eager to help,they had great
trouble making themselves under-stood in English, and later
admitted that they feltthey needed to learn a lot more of the
language toget by.
The street test was carried out and recordedby the company,
which promotes languagetourism, as a way to show teenagers and
their par-ents how important it is to speak a second lan-guage.
By Eleanor Hawkins
Teens Englishfails street testTHEY had trouble giving directions
in English
Road danger THE list of dangerous roads in Alme-ria has been
increased, following a re-cent study.
The Department of Transport hasadded a number of roads,
includingnon-motorway sections, to the list,based on the number of
accidents hav-ing occurred.
The roads will be monitored bymobile radars which will detect
dri-vers who exceed the speed limit.
Airport figures upMORE than 71,000 passengers passed
throughAlmeria Airport in March.
The number showed an increase of 42 per centcompared with the
same period in 2015.
Some 55,000 passengers flew to and from domes-tic destinations,
while 15,000 passengers travelledinternationally.
In respect of international passengers, the majorityof
travellers were from UK airports and from Bel-gium. In terms of
operations, 876 flights arrived anddeparted from the airport.
-
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN26
NEWS
LOCAL artist Cristina Gomez haslaunched a stunning
exhibitionorganised by Vera Councils Cul-ture department entitled
Los Ojosdel Alma (The Eyes of the Soul)which will be running at the
Con-vento de la Victoria until tomor-row, April 15.
Gomez s tar ted drawing as achi ld and has never s toppedworking
towards her dream of be-coming a great artist. She studiedFine Arts
a t the Universi ty ofGranada and claims to have beeninfluenced by
the works of Gus-tav Klimt, Picasso, Andy Warholand Jackson Pollock
among oth-ers.
The budding artists exhibitionincludes 29 paintings and
etch-ings which some already defineas seductive emotional art.
GOMEZ started drawing as a child
Still time to viewstunning exhibitionBy Eleanor Hawkins
CRISTINA GOMEZ: Poses in front of some of her art.
PleasantlysurprisedTHE Costa de Almeria area providedmany a
pleasant surprise for a group ofIrish travel agents who took part
in afamiliarisation trip at the beginning ofthe month fol lowing
the ProvincialTourism Boards visi t to the DublinHoliday World show
in January.
The agents , who were given thechance to discover what the
destinationhas to offer hol idaymakers , a l l ex-pressed their
surprise at the amount ofat t ract ions in the area,
provincialtourism delegate Javier Aureliano Gar-cia reported, and
said they would beencouraging their customers to visitAlmeria.
In fact, he said, one representativefrom EU Tours had reported
that anumber of bookings were made as soonas he put information on
the agencyswebsite, before he had even returned toIreland.
Irish tourists have a longstandinglove affair with Spain, which
remainsthe main destination for holidays in thesun. In fact 10,478
Irish tourists visitedAlmeria Province between March andOctober
last year, and this figure is ex-pected to increase for the 2016
season.
New marketTHE mayor of Cuevas delAlmanzora, Antonio Fer-nandez,
and a number oflocal councillors paid a vis-it on Friday (April 8)
to thenew Mercado de Guazama-ra market, to be held inPlaza Mayor
every Friday.
Lucky drawLADY luck shone onAlmeria at the weekend.On Friday
(April 8) theONCE draw saw250,000 in prizes land inBerja, and the
SaturdayONCE draw took anoth-er 200,000 to AlmeriaCity.
Youths hurtFOUR youths, three under18, were injured in a
trafficaccident on the A-332 nearCuevas del Almanzora onSaturday
(April 9). Threecars were involved in thecrash and the injured
weretaken to hospital.
NEWS EXTRA
-
THE social services depart-ment in Huercal-Overa hasprovided
assistance to some1,970 residents in the pastyear, equating to
around 10per cent of the towns popu-lation.
The department is respon-sible for providing a serviceto people
with disabilities,elderly residents , women
and immigrants.At the top of the list for
assis tance requested wasfamily counsel l ing, fol-lowed by
assistance to el-derly or disabled people.
In addition to providingadvice and information, thedepartment
also helped byproviding equipment to helpwith mobility, including
ad-justable beds and walkingframes.
Mayor Domingo Fernan-dez, said the scheme was vi-tal in helping
all residentsof the town.
The scheme is to be ex-tended to offer a programmeof active
aging, which en-courages elderly people toretain and improve
theirmental and physical fitness.
Also to be included isfamily classroom sessionsand a summer
school.
27NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN
WORK is underway in Cantoria to restorethe old Alameda.
Some 300 trees will be planted alongthe street, with council
workers andschoolchildren getting involved in theproject.
The motivation behind the idea is to re-
vitalise the area in order that it can be en-joyed by local
people and visitors.
Each tree will be tagged with a numberand the name of the person
who planted it.
Mayor Purificacion Sanchez said thisinitiative is the start of a
long-term envi-ronmental project to beautify the town.
A COURT in Berja hasordered an investigationinto possible
irregulari-ties in voting during thelast Spanish general elec-t
ions fol lowing reportsfrom UPyD political par-ty.
The reports werelodged on the day of theelections, December
20,by UPyD members, whoclaimed that two PPcouncillors have
obtainedpostal vote bal lots forresidents at the old peo-ples home
without theirpresence or permission.
Tree planting in Cantoria
Voting complaints
By Adele Land
Social help inHuercal-OveraFAMILY counselling was top of the
list of requests
-
More information available at: www.oceansrattanfurniture.es, by
phoning: 868 813 094 or sending your email enquiries
to:[email protected] or visit:
www.facebook.com/Oceans.Outdoor.Furniture.
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de AlmeraEWN28 SPECIAL
FEATUREwww.euroweeklynews.com
JUST six weeks ago Oceans Rattan Outdoor Furni-ture opened their
new store in Cartagena, Murcia.Having been selling quality outdoor
garden furni-ture to clients in Spain for more than 12-years,
thecompany chose Cartagena as their new headquar-ters, with the
region being carefully selected toserve the Costa Blanca, Murcia,
Costa Del Sol andCosta Almeria regions. In addition to this they
offera full nationwide delivery service with expansionplans for
further showrooms in Marbella, Malaga,Javea/Denia area, Costa
Blan-ca South, Valencia andBarcelona.
The company has been builton core values which are:quality,
product design andsuperior customer service. Allof their products
have a fiveyear guarantee and are manu-factured to their
exacting,quality control standards witheverything designed in
theirown facilities in Oxfordshire.
One of their main reasonsfor opening a showroom inSpain was
because they were shipping so many oftheir quality items to Spain
because prices on localoutdoor rattan furniture sold in Spain was
more ex-pensive and of inferior quality.
Oceans PE Rattan furniture is manufactured toexceptional
standards using high quality materialsthat requires minimal
year-round maintenance. Eachitem of PE Rattan furniture is hand
crafted by highlyskilled weavers using their own unique weave
tech-nology - Oceana, a synthetic polyethylene resinweave which
offers superior comfort, strength anddurability. Oceana is woven
onto a powder-coatedaluminium frame to ensure maximum strength
anddurability whilst offering lightweight and weatherresistant
garden furniture. Unlike alternative wicker,wood, cast aluminium,
cast iron, texteline and rattangarden furniture, Oceans products
can be left out-side all year round with little or no
maintenance,however, they do advise that upholstery is removedand
stored during wet, damp or humid conditions.
All Oceans garden furniture and accessories con-form and comply
with the latest British and Euro-pean Standards as does the glass
on all their prod-ucts, which is British Safety standard
temperedsafety glass, plus all of their cushion fabrics and
fill-ings once again comply with all British Safety stan-dards.
Oceans is dedicated to continually designing
and developing innovative products, which have in-spired and
delighted their customers for many years.They offer a seamless,
full and professional servicefrom concept to delivery. Your
furniture will be de-livered by their very own experienced delivery
dri-vers who will then install your furniture in your gar-den,
patio or by the pool, and remove all thepacking materials once
installed to your satisfaction.
Along with their superb range of Italian designedRattan
furniture, they offer a full range of acces-
sories from Bermuda BBQ grills, outdoorheaters, parasols, fire
pits, cushions, cov-ers, stoneware, dining sets, sofas,
sunloungers, tables, outdoor coolers, plantersand a whole lot more.
All their rattan furni-ture is available in a choice of four
colours:black, coffee, mocha and latte.
Their new showroom and warehouse inCartagena holds more than
500,000 ofstock at any one time, with weekly deliver-ies to Spain
from their Oxfordshire basewhich holds a further 2,500,000 worth
ofstock. Oceans full range of products isavailable online and they
take all majorcredit cards.
Their new showroom is located at Calle Belgrado10, Espacio
Mediterraneo, 30353, Cartagena and isopen Monday to Friday from
10.00am until 8.00pmand Saturdays from 10.00am until 6.00pm and
theydont close for lunch. Spanish, English, French, Chi-nese and
Swedish is spoken. The store holds the fullOceans range of Outdoor
Rattan Furniture and of-fers same day delivery in the Murcia area
and sevenday delivery nationally across Spain. Oceans offersame day
delivery within 80km of Cartagena oneverything ordered before
noon.
To summarise: why is Oceans better? Twelveyears of experience
developing, distributing and re-tailing PE Rattan Furniture
throughout Europe. Allof their products come in four different
colour varia-tions, with soft-feel cushions and covers washable
at30 degrees. The company has been built on tradi-tional values of
supplying a product which is secondto none and this is backed up
with a service tomatch. All of the products are manufactured in
theirown facilities and all of the designs are created in-house by
their own team of product developers.
All of their staff are fully trained in what they do,whether
that is in one of their outlets, online throughtheir live chat
facility or in their customer servicedepartments.
Rattan Outdoor Furniture comes to Murcia
GARDEN FURNITURE: Exceptional quality.
PRODUCT DESIGN: Everything designed in their own facilities.
Advertising feature
All of theirstaff are
fully trainedin what they
do, in theiroutlets, onlineor in customer
service.
-
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de AlmeraEWN30
NEWSwww.euroweeklynews.com
CUEVAS DEL ALMANZO-RA Councils sports departmenthas announced a
photographycompetition for the four-wheeldrive rally running in the
areafrom April 22-24.
All budding photographerscan take part but the imagesmust be of
motorbikes, quadsand cars taking part in the com-
petition and their drivers, eitheras the main subject of the
photoor the background.
Photos can be sent from April25 to May 15 in digital formatto
[email protected] or
[email protected]. Participantsmust include their
name andsurname, address, telephonenumber, email and a title for
thephoto. Photos can also be
handed in on a CD at theCitizens Attention Point withinthe town
hall building.
First prize will be 250, sec-ond prize 150 and third prize100.
The rally route will beannounced on Thursday April21 on
www.campeonatott.es.
The organisers have stressedit is important not to park
vehi-cles near the route or get tooclose for safety reasons.
ANNOUNCED for the four-wheel drive rally
PhotographycompetitionBy Eleanor Hawkins
HAVING travelled far and wide to promotethe Costa de Almeria,
the councils intrepidtourism department had a gentler journey onthe
weekend of April 9 and 10, travelling toLisbon for a hugely
important fair.
There were more than 130,000 visitors pass-ing through the
doors, encouraging cartoonish
eye-popping from the 200 travel agents on-site.
The event has been increasing in popularityin recent years, and
represents a fine source ofpossible income for Almeria with plenty
ofPortuguese voyaging across the Iberian penin-sula for family
holidays and adventure.
Councils Trans-Iberian travels
-
31NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN
AN event was staged last week to honor Ash-lea, a brave woman
who lost her long struggleto cancer. Maggi Lake kindly hosted the
annu-al event at her home in Bedar.
The afternoon was a musical feast with anarray of talent
including Clive Bowley (Flash-back), Tony Justice, Patti Ross and
Lady EllenSings supported by the MACS bunnies.
The DJ and master of ceremonies was MozMorris.
The volunteer musicians performed formore than five hours and
had the crowd upand dancing.
As always, the success of this event de-pended upon a host of
volunteers including afabulous kitchen crew and wonderful chefswho
donated their food specialties.
Bedar Council donated the use of thechairs. The event raised
almost 1,200 whichwill go to provide a much-needed hospice.
Ashlea memorialMACS fundraiser
MUSICAL FEAST: The MACS bunnies sang back-up to an array of
talent.
-
NEWS14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera
www.euroweeklynews.comEWN32
REPRESENTATIVES from40 businesses in Nijar metlast week to
discuss the com-ing season at an event organ-ised by the
MunicipalTourism Board.
Matters on the agenda in-cluded the creation of a
guide to the area for touriststo be distributed at tourist
in-formation points during thesummer months, lifeguardand cleaning
services for thebeaches, which are expectedto run from June to
Septem-ber, and noise regulation for
concerts and music events.Tourism Councillor Alexis
Pineda stressed: We espe-cially need the sector to col-laborate
with us to help pre-vent accidents on thebeaches by making
suretourists are well informed.
Businesses are preparingfor the coming summer
GARRUCHA is holding its first tapas route fromApril 15 to April
24, the council has announced.
Almost all the bars in town specialising in tapas willbe joining
in, and the council hopes the initiative willhelp attract visitors
to the area over the next few days.
The event, local Mayor Maria Lopez and TourismCouncillor Rocio
Galindo explained at the presenta-tion, is one which they hope will
become a regular fix-ture on the local calendar.
Tapas are a tradition in the province which most ofthe tourists
who visit us love. Garrucha needed its ownroute, the mayor
said.
The first of many
A TOTAL of 1,760 people in AlmeriaProvince sat exams on Saturday
(April9), in an attempt to obtain their Obliga-tory Secondary
Education certificatesfor adults.
The exams, which are held simulta-neously at education centres
all acrossAndalucia, give adults who failed ormissed the exams in
their teens a sec-ond chance to obtain their certificates.
Adults givensecond chance
HUERCAL-OVERA has been given thegreen light to open a
documentation officein conjunction with the National Police.
Following a recent visit from the Chief ofDivision of the
Directorate General of thePolice, Francisco Aranda, approval was
giv-en for the new facility.
Services provided by the new office willinclude residence cer t
i f icates , ident i ty
cards, passports and foreigners documents.The facility will
allow people living in
the northern part of the province to easilyaccess services,
formerly only available inAlmeria.
The office, to be located next to the LocalPolice headquarters,
is scheduled to openwithin the next three or four months and
ini-tially will open two days per week, with aview to the opening
hours extending if thereis a high demand.
FACILITY to initially open two days a week
Get official papersin Huercal-Overa
By Adele Land
DOCUMENTATION OFFICE: Will stop residents having to travel to
Almeria.
MORE than 1,000 enquirieshave been dealt with by theJunta de
Andalucia regionalgovernments Tourism depart-ment in Almeria, since
the ap-proval on February 2 of anew decree regarding holidayrental
properties.
Staff at the office reportedthat they have received 570phone
calls, 360 visits and
143 emails from propertyowners requesting informa-tion on the
new requirements.
The decree, which is due tocome into effect on May 12,will force
holiday rentalproperty owners to meet anumber of quality
require-ments, and they will also beexpected to keep a register
ofcustomers in accordance with
citizens security laws.After registering the prop-
erty, owners will have oneyear to meet all the
require-ments.
Junta sources have ex-plained that a region-wide in-formation
campaign is aboutto be launched to ensure thatowners are made aware
of thedetails of the changes.
Preparing for changes
TWENTY-SIX African migrants, 24 menand two women, were rescued
from the seaon Monday April 11, after being found bySasemar 101
search plane.
The authorities were alerted at about 3pmto the possible
presence of a dinghy, whichhad left the Moroccan coast but failed
to
reach Spanish land, and a search waslaunched.
Eventually the aircraft spotted the five-metre long dinghy, 18
nautical miles north-west of the Isla de Alboran, and
Polimnialifeboat was sent to collect the migrants andcarry them to
safety.
Migrants rescued at sea
THREE Almeria men havebeen arrested suspected of acrime against
public healthafter National Police officersdiscovered a hidden
compart-
ment inside a van they weretravelling in, which contained8.1
kilos of marihuana.
During the operation offi-cers also confiscated 15,145
in cash, a sealing machineand empty plastic bags identi-cal to
those containing thedrugs, 11 mobile phones andtwo vehicles.
Arrests after marihuana discovery
-
ENTRY to the Alcazaba inAlmeria will continue to befree for
citizens of the Euro-pean Union, the RegionalGovernment of
Andaluciahas promised.
Culture, Commerce andTourism delegate for Alme-ria, Alfredo
Valdivia, ex-plained at a press conference
last week that the govern-ment has no intention ofmaking changes
to manage-ment of heritage sites, whichwould result in an entry
feebeing put into place for themonument.
Valdivia stressed thatcharging for entry, such as atthe Real
Alcazar in Sevillaor the Alhambra in Granada,is not part of the
govern-
ments plans, regardless ofhow popular the Alcazababecomes or how
much visi-tor numbers increase.
Regarding plans to illumi-
nate the monument, the dele-gate explained that talks
areunderway with the EndesaFoundation, but gave no fur-ther
details.
33NEWS 14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN
By Eleanor Hawkins
Alcazaba staying freeNO plans to introduce an entry fee for the
monument
HERITAGE SITE: The popular monument will remain free.
-
A CROCODILE mauled aRussian tourist to death whilehe snorkelled
at a diving resorton a remote Indonesian island.Sergey Lykhva, aged
37, wasreported missing before hisbody was found four days lat-er
with missing body parts andtailed by a large
saltwatercrocodile.
Trouble aheadJAILED Ukrainian pilot
Nadiya Savchenko has beguna hunger strike demanding areturn to
her homeland. Shewas recently found guilty ofinvolvement in the
deaths oftwo Russian reporters duringthe war in eastern Ukraine
andsentenced to 22 years inprison, while being lauded asa hero back
home.
Storm brewingINTENSE fighting briefly
flared up on Russias southernborder as the frozen
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict betweenArmenia and Azerbaijanthawed
violently. Dozens ofsoldiers were reported killedon both sides
before order re-sumed. Bitter sentiments havedominated relations
betweenthe two nations since the fallof the Soviet Union.
Paper trailsTHE so-called Panama Pa-
pers saw Vladimir Putincaught in the headlamps of ac-cusations
of financial misplayas various newspapers allegedthat a 1.76
billion trail of si-phoned funds led to his innercircle. The
Kremlin has por-trayed the release of the pa-pers as another tactic
of Wash-ington led propaganda.
Commiecapitalists
COMMUNISTS in Russiawith a lack of irony are look-ing to
trademark their tradi-tional symbol - the five-point-ed red star -
to prevent foreigncompanies using it for adver-
tising. The Communist Partyhas argued it is disgracefulthat an
iconic Russian symbolbe used in countries with an-tipathy towards
Russia.
Dynasty datingRUMOURS have linked
Russian president VladimirPutin with Rupert Murdochsex-wife
Wendi Deng after theChinese-born businesswomanwas seen aboard an
expensiveyacht owned by RomanAbramovich. The claims werereported by
celebrity maga-zine US Weekly and followMurdochs recent marriage
toformer Mick Jagger flame Jer-ry Hall.
RUSSIAN PRESS
Deadly diving TOURIST was snorkelling
Bitter Buddhists A MAN from Dagestan has sparked fury among
locals in the
Russian republic of Kalmykia after filming himself urinatingon a
statue of Buddha and kicking the icon in the face. Authori-ties in
the predominantly Buddhist region have now arrestedthe 22-year-old
wrestler who had flown to Kalmykia for a tour-nament.
BUDDHA:Kicked inthe face.
SALTWATER CROCODILE: Was tailing the body.
14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de AlmeraEWN34
NEWSwww.euroweeklynews.com
-
By John SmithONE of the most successful Spanish-owned fast food
chains, Telepizza, wasfounded in Madrid in 1987 and hasgrown from a
single shop to more than750.
Traditionally, takeaway pizza is ahighly profitable commodity as
basic
investment only requires flour and wa-ter, toppings, ovens,
packaging, and afew low-powered motorbikes. Also,the profit on each
pizza is much higherthan on other foods.
The original owner of Telepizzaraised funds by taking the
companypublic and then selling most of his
shares to a third party, which then hadthe shares delisted.
In a bid to raise funds in order to al-low the business to
continue its expan-sion plans, it is anticipated that a
com-bination of newly-created and existingshares will be relaunched
on the Span-ish stock exchange in the near future.
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS: HRH Pilar De Borbon.
FINANCEbusiness & legal
35Costa de Almera EWN14 - 20 April 20164.8 billion is the amount
of profit South Korean electronics company Samsung is forecasting
for thefirst quarter of 2016, a 10 per cent increase over 2015.
A EURO WEEKLY NEWS 6 PAGE SPECIAL SECTION //
WWW.EWNBUSINESS.COM
LONDON - FTSE 100 DOW JONES NASDAQ-0.33% +0.20% -0.01%CLOSING
PRICES APRIL 11
IBEX 35 -0.09%
THE European Central Bank (ECB)has decided to exclude Catalonia
fromits bond-buying programme to boostthe European Union
economy.
It appears that the bank does notconsider that Catalonia would
be ableto pass solvency proceedings, accord-ing to El Mundo.
ECB rules do not allow the institu-tion to invest in junk bonds
and ratingsagencies Fitch, Standard and Poorsand Moodys have all
declared the re-
THE sister of former KingJuan Carlos and aunt of KingFelipe VI,
Her Royal High-ness Pilar de Borbon, hasbeen revealed as having
aninvestment in Panama fol-lowing the Mossack Fonsecaleaks. She
explained in a let-ter written on April 6 thatthis relationship has
been inexistence for more than 40years.
It appears that her latehusband Luis set up the fund
after Basque terrorist groupETA tried to kidnap both herhusband
and father on thesame day, in an effort to en-sure that their funds
wereone step away from immedi-ate access.
She is quite adamant,however, that all of her fi-nancial affairs
have beenconducted correctly and inaccordance with Spanish lawso
that all necessary taxationhas been paid.
The kings aunt hasPanama investment
FewerunemployedTHE number of people regis-tered as unemployed in
Spainfell by 1.4 per cent from Febru-ary to March 2016, accordingto
data released by the SpanishMinistry of Employment andSocial
Security.
This meant that there were58,216 fewer unemployed peo-ple in
March, giving a total fig-ure of unemployed in Spain of4,094,770,
which means thaton a year-on-year basis unem-ployment fell by
357,169 peo-ple, equivalent to just over 8per cent.
Request fora pay cutTHE Chief Executive of theCo-operative Group
RichardPennycook, has volunteered totake a 40 per cent reduction
onhis salary, which will reducehis basic earnings by 650,000because
he says that the job hasbecome easier. His bonus willalso be
reduced.
DESPITE some negative reports on the Spanisheconomy, there has
been a very positive reportfrom US-based Bloomberg, which says
thatSpanish services and manufacturing expandedat the fastest pace
in two months, basically out-shining all of the other members of
the EU.
While the Eurozone showed limited move-
ment, Spain continued to push ahead, beatingGermany, Italy and
France at their own gamesand recording yet another fall in
unemploy-ment.
With the vague possibility of three politicalparties forming a
government, the economyshould become even stronger.
Some good Spanish news
is the top estimate of the total valueof Telepizza shares that
may be soldwhen it returns to the stock market
Quote of the WeekThere is a lot of hysteria about why Britain
should stay in. There isa lot of subjectivity.
John Caudwell, founder of Phones 4U on the Brexit.
STAT OF WEEK
CLOSING PRICES APRIL 11CLOSING PRICES APRIL 11CLOSING PRICES
APRIL 11
600 million
Catalonianbonds suffer
IN a bid to raise funds as part of its expansion plans
Telepizzas return to stock exchange
BUSINESS EXTRA
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MMM 3M 166.63 -0.53 -0.32% 1.7MAXP American Express 59.50 +0.64
+1.09% 4.6MAAPL Apple 108.66 +0.12 +0.11% 23.6MBA Boeing 127.88
+0.88 +0.69% 3.9MCAT Caterpillar 74.35 +0.18 +0.24% 4.9MCVX Chevron
96.33 +1.54 +1.62% 7.1MCSCO Cisco 27.69 +0.09 +0.33% 14.5MKO
Coca-Cola 46.87 +0.51 +1.10% 12.0MDIS Disney 96.42 +0.26 +0.27%
7.0MDD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co 63.20 +0.39 +0.62% 1.6MXOM
Exxon Mobil 83.21 +0.84 +1.02% 9.4MGE General Electric 30.79 +0.16
+0.52% 26.8MGS Goldman Sachs 150.28 -0.13 -0.09% 3.1MHD Home Depot
133.62 -0.25 -0.19% 2.9MIBM IBM 149.35 +1.10 +0.74% 3.3MINTC Intel
31.63 +0.08 +0.25% 17.0MJNJ Johnson & Johnson 109.10 -0.17
-0.16% 6.3MJPM JPMorgan Chase 57.74 +0.42 +0.73% 13.5MMCD
McDonald's 127.96 -0.18 -0.14% 3.6MMRK Merck 55.36 -0.06 -0.11%
7.0MMSFT Microsoft 54.42 -0.04 -0.07% 22.2MNKE Nike 59.42 -0.88
-1.46% 8.8MPFE Pfizer 32.50 -0.26 -0.79% 52.7MPG Procter &
Gamble 83.20 -0.04 -0.05% 5.5MTRV Travelers Companies Inc 115.23
+0.73 +0.64% 907.0KUTX United Technologies 101.32 +0.43 +0.43%
2.8MUNH UnitedHealth 125.68 -1.19 -0.94% 3.6MVZ Verizon 52.18 +0.18
+0.35% 12.2MV Visa 78.03 +0.45 +0.58% 5.3MWMT Wal-Mart 68.06 -0.16
-0.23% 6.5M
Kleinwort Benson Elite PCC Ltd
Land Securities Group 1,115.50 -5.50 -0.49 8,786.89Legal &
General Group 232.70 -1.10 -0.47 13,501.57Lloyds Banking Group ORD
65.85 -0.05 -0.08 46,400.07London Stock Exchange Grp 2,809.00
-19.00 -0.67 9,815.89Media Corporation 918.50 -3.50 -0.38 N/AMerlin
Entertainments 459.60 -3.10 -0.67 4,666.78Marks & Spencer Group
441.15 -3.05 -0.69 7,101.54Mondi 1,285.00 -9.00 -0.70
6,188.38Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets 200.20 -1.20 -0.60
4,715.72National Grid 992.40 -8.10 -0.81 37,374.73Next 5,427.50
-92.50 -1.68 8,419.51Old Mutual Group 184.45 -0.35 -0.19
9,027.18Provident Financial 2,931.50 -14.50 -0.49 4,311.62Paddy
Power Betfair 9,465.00 -120.00 -1.25 4,245.55Prudential 1,311.25
0.75 0.06 33,024.32Persimmon 2,033.50 -30.50 -1.48 6,411.32Pearson
841.25 7.25 0.87 6,755.07Reckitt Benckiser Group 6,733.00 -45.00
-0.66 48,740.87Royal Bank of Scotland Grp 211.95 0.45 0.21
13,242.18Royal Dutch Shell 1,716.00 -17.00 -0.98 64,864.31Royal
Dutch Shell 1,724.50 -16.00 -0.92 40,835.39RELX 1,293.00 -11.00
-0.84 14,591.73Rexam 612.25 -5.25 -0.85 4,387.35Rio Tinto 2,013.25
25.75 1.30 27,245.49Royal Mail 474.30 -3.30 -0.69
4,719.00Rolls-Royce Group 665.25 -1.75 -0.26 12,065.78Randgold
Resources 6,692.50 57.50 0.87 500,167.17RSA Insurance Group 469.80
-0.30 -0.06 4,775.20SABMiller 4,212.25 -4.75 -0.11
68,175.72Sainsbury (J) 287.70 -0.80 -0.28 5,521.69Schroders
2,501.50 1.50 0.06 5,751.14Sage Group (The) 625.75 -4.25 -0.67
6,752.59Shire 4,244.50 -5.50 -0.13 25,352.28Sky 1,013.50 -4.50
-0.44 17,491.00Standard Life 340.95 1.05 0.31 6,594.80Smith &
Nephew 1,168.50 -6.50 -0.55 10,513.57SSE 1,498.50 -7.50 -0.50
14,900.96Standard Chartered 447.90 4.35 0.98 11,041.31St James's
Place 883.75 -1.25 -0.14 4,611.94Severn Trent 2,218.00 -21.00 -0.94
5,268.58Travis Perkins 1,816.00 -10.00 -0.55 4,523.76Tesco 192.50
1.95 1.02 15,522.82TUI AG 1,037.00 -7.00 -0.67 6,150.54Taylor
Wimpey 183.20 -3.00 -1.61 6,098.61Unilever 3,212.25 -26.25 -0.81
41,648.26United Utilities Group 950.75 -6.75 -0.70 6,445.55Vodafone
Group 224.65 -2.85 -1.25 58,733.59Wolseley 3,911.50 -38.50 -0.97
10,144.82Worldpay Group 278.10 1.40 0.51 5,532.00WPP Group 1,634.00
-5.00 -0.31 21,542.89Whitbread 3,786.50 -11.50 -0.30 6,929.71
Most AdvancedSteadyMed Ltd. $ 4.65 1.19 34.39%Aeglea
BioTherapeutics, Inc. $ 11.99 2.22 22.72%Duluth Holdings Inc. $
21.73 3.91 21.94%Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. $ 18.45 2.99
19.34%Legacy Reserves LP $ 2.84 0.416 17.16%Chiasma, Inc. $ 12.72
1.74 15.85%RetailMeNot, Inc. $ 8.51 1.01 13.47%Depomed, Inc. $
16.95 1.95 13%Marketo, Inc. $ 22.13 2.525 12.88%Vanguard Natural
Resources LLC $ 2.85 0.32 12.65%Mid-Con Energy Partners, LP $ 2.72
0.30 12.40%Most DeclinedSeaChange International, Inc. $ 3.82 1.74
31.29%Clovis Oncology, Inc. $ 15.77 3.40 17.74%Tetraphase
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ 5.06 0.78 13.36%Hansen Medical, Inc. $ 2.85
0.35 10.94%PTC Therapeutics, Inc. $ 6.37 0.71 10.03%Resources
Connection, Inc. $ 13.19 1.42 9.72%Mimecast Limited $ 8.90 0.82
8.44%Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ 15.13 1.29 7.86%MCBC Holdings,
Inc. $ 13.21 1.12 7.82%Relypsa, Inc. $ 22.48 1.84 7.57%Immune
Design Corp. $ 13.96 1.14 7.55%
CCOMPANYOMPANY PPRICERICE((PP)) CCHANGEHANGE((PP)) % C% CHGHG..
NNETET VVOLOL
DOW JONESCLOSING PRICES APRIL 11
Anglo American 561.00 13.80 2.52 7,200.47Associated British
Foods 3,357.50 -10.50 -0.31 26,996.09Admiral Group 1,927.50 -5.50
-0.28 5,433.51Ashtead Group 832.00 -8.00 -0.95 4,184.05Antofagasta
437.40 3.70 0.85 4,261.37ARM Holdings 1,033.50 -12.50 -1.20
14,710.96Aviva 426.65 -2.05 -0.48 17,129.73AstraZeneca 4,097.00
-49.50 -1.19 52,824.57BAE Systems 497.20 -0.90 -0.18
15,654.41Babcock International Group 960.25 -7.25 -0.75
4,817.60Barclays 152.05 1.35 0.90 24,925.84British American Tobacco
4,162.50 -27.50 -0.66 77,343.27Barratt Developments 538.75 -8.25
-1.51 5,540.18Berkeley Group Holdings 3,069.00 -55.00 -1.76
4,353.03British Land Co 704.25 -3.75 -0.53 7,207.65BHP Billiton
762.75 2.25 0.30 15,441.36Bunzl 2,040.00 -11.00 -0.54 6,850.43BP
349.60 -0.75 -0.21 63,187.55Burberry Group 1,289.50 -6.50 -0.50
5,725.40BT Group 436.30 -1.15 -0.26 43,828.79Coca-Cola HBC 1,428.50
-12.50 -0.87 5,231.02Carnival 3,738.00 -26.00 -0.69
8,157.15Centrica 232.60 0.30 0.13 11,517.62Compass Group 1,259.50
-4.50 -0.36 20,852.94Capita Group (The) 1,029.50 -7.50 -0.72
6,828.70CRH 2,014.50 -8.50 -0.42 16,454.26Dixons Carphone 419.50
-2.50 -0.59 4,840.74DCC 6,205.00 -65.00 -1.04 5,467.32Diageo
1,905.50 -6.50 -0.34 48,260.64Direct Line Insurance Group 353.15
-7.55 -2.09 5,407.50Experian 1,234.50 -4.50 -0.36 12,459.12easyJet
1,445.00 -9.00 -0.62 5,793.28Fresnillo 946.00 13.00 1.39
6,875.22GKN 283.70 1.50 0.53 4,576.65Glencore 139.85 3.05 2.23
19,542.59GlaxoSmithKline 1,461.00 -10.50 -0.71 71,474.86Hargreaves
Lansdown 1,292.00 -1.00 -0.08 6,111.60Hammerson 585.50 -4.50 -0.76
4,523.51HSBC Holdings 419.05 1.05 0.25 81,083.26International
Consolidated Air 527.50 0.00 0.00 10,732.00InterContinental Hotels
Group 2,845.00 -7.00 -0.25 6,760.043i Group 449.45 -2.75 -0.61
4,325.02Imperial Brands 3,820.50 -29.50 -0.77 36,865.23Informa
703.75 -6.25 -0.88 4,588.02Intu Properties 313.55 -2.35 -0.74
4,105.64Inmarsat 1,010.00 -2.00 -0.20 4,478.89Intertek Group
3,204.50 -25.50 -0.79 5,158.74ITV 236.15 -2.25 -0.94
9,669.03Johnson Matthey 2,703.00 -17.00 -0.63 5,473.35Kingfisher
376.55 -1.25 -0.33 8,784.30
CCOMPANYOMPANY PPRICERICE((PP)) CCHANGEHANGE((PP)) % C% CHGHG..
NNETET VVOLOL
COMPANY PRICE CHANGE NET / %
US dollar
....................................................................1.13928Japan
yen..................................................................122.951Switzerland
franc
................................................1.08695Denmark
kroner.....................................................7.44191Norway
kroner
.....................................................9.37586
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY WITH US
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currenciesdirect.com/mojacar Tel: +34 950 478 914
FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
AlmeriaEWN36 www.euroweeklynews.com
-
Fast food company eyes ChinaBy John Smith
SEVERAL years ago, the McDon-alds Corporation spent a lot oftime
and money in trying to stop arestaurant in Wimbledon fromcalling
itself McChina, but it lostwhen the judge ruled that no onewould be
likely to confuse the twooperations.
Today, things are different andthe McDonalds group has
an-nounced that i t p lans to open1,250 new restaurants in China,
aswell as a lesser number in HongKong and South Korea to add tothe
2,200 outlets it already has inthat area.
In keeping with a long term pol-icy, the bulk of these new
outletstores will be franchises, purchas-ing all of their products
from Mc-Donalds and thus saving the USgroup significant set up
costs.
When these plans go through,China will become McDonaldslargest
market after the US, al-though it has also seen its Russian
franchises performing very well.The major problems that the
group may face will be the down-turn in the Chinese economy,
andthe fact that there are a number ofcompeti tors a lso expanding
inChina, some such as KFC and Piz-za Hut offering products in
thesame price bracket whilst othersbeing significantly cheaper.
Despite the possible drawbacks,the company does see Asia
gener-ally as a major area of potentialgrowth which would allow it
tosignif icant ly expand i ts prof i tbase.
McDonalds looks to expand its already existing empire
Santander Bank to close morethan 400 branches in Spain
THE red and white of Banco Santanderdraping many a high street
in bothBritain and Spain is under threat, as thefinancial
powerhouse elects to closemore than 400 branches in Spain by theend
of the year.
Deemed a move towards a more at-
tractive digital banking platform, it hasnow been confirmed that
the bank wantsto cut 1,250 jobs, mainly through naturalwastage as
the bank attempts to stream-line its services.
In a lewd example of corporate jar-gon, country head Rami
Aboukhair told
employees: The current economic con-text, greater regulatory
requirements andthe evolution of client behaviour towardnew
technology make it necessary to ac-celerate our commercial
transforma-tion.
There are presently 3,467 Santander
branches in Spain, meaning around 13per cent will be closed,
with the smallerones leading the way. Its not an entirelysurprising
move given that Spain haslong been one of the most
overbankedcountries in Europe, a situation dramati-cally curtailed
by the financial crisis.
The major problems that
the group may face will
be the downturn in theChinese economy andthe fact that a
number
of competitors are also expanding in
China.
MCDONALDS CORPORATION: Plans to open 1,250 new restaurants in
China.
Phot
o Cr
edit
Rob
Cran
dall
Shut
ters
tock
ElectriccarmaniaEVEN the macho Span-ish dr ivers are nowturning
towards electricand hybrid cars, espe-cially as there are
gov-ernment subsidies to en-courage a move awayfrom gas guzzlers,
andalthough sales in Spainare greater for hybrids,as it is easier
than try-ing to plug in your carin the countryside,things are
definitely im-proving.
American companyTesla, which includesthe Chief Minis ter
ofGibral tar amongst i tscl ients , has just an-nounced its new
Model3 which has staggeredeveryone by receiving325,000 advance
ordersworth around 15 bil-lion in just one week.
Cred
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Goo
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HIGH STREET: Santander branches in Britain and Spain are under
threat.
EWN38 FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almera www.euroweeklynews.com
-
By John Smith
WHEN billionaires start investing in anyparticular industry,
wise money followsthem and makes the market even stronger,and the
triumvirate of George Soros, BillGates and Carlos Slim, whilst
acting inde-pendently of each other, all seem to haveinvested in
Spanish building and housingconst ruct ion s ince the
2008crash.
Mexican Slim, said to be oneof the worlds r iches t men,made a b
id for Barcelona-based Fomento de Construc-c iones & Contra tas
SA inMarch through one of his sub-sidiaries, Inversora Carso.
This is the latest of his investments inSpain, which started in
2014 to help sta-bilise the business.
As part of the deal, Carso also made anoffer for Madrid-based
developer RealiaBusiness SA, in which FCC owns a 37 percent stake,
and Bill Gates also has sharesaccording to Bloomberg.
Although no longer a young man at theage of 76, he clearly
continues to enjoy theexcitement of predicting recovering mar-kets,
and is well-known for taking advan-
tage of depressed prices when investing incompanies.
Whilst Spain had a colossal surplus ofproperties, he has gambled
on the fact thatthe underlying economy is strong enoughwhen it adds
overseas property purchases toexpect a definite property boom in
the longrun, and current results seem to suggest thisexpectation is
beginning to see a rise in
prices and purchases.With sales of 5 billion,
Madrid was Europes fifthstrongest real estate marketduring a
recent 12-monthperiod ending in October2015, according to a
PwCreport.
Things arent all rosy in the Spanish fi-nancial sector, but if
the country can attractexpatriates, purchasers and investors whenit
has no long-term government in placeand is constantly criticised by
the EU for itsfiscal policy, rich investors must be confi-dent of
the potential for a decent return ontheir investments.
Even if things dont move too quickly inthe future, these
investments are bound tohelp stabilise the Spanish construction
in-dustry for as long as these investors are pa-tient.
Foreigners investin SpanishconstructionBILLIONAIRE investors
must be confident of adecent return on their investments
CARLOS SLIM: Is said to be one of the worlds richest men.
5billion euros isthe real estatesales figure forthe market
in
Madrid
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39FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL EWN14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de
Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com
-
WELL, Ive just returned from a short breakin Denmark and you
know something? It issimply awash with Muslims. Oh no, I hearyou
groan, here he goes again. Same olsame ol. Well, this time you
couldnt bemore wrong.
You see I truly believe that at long lastDenmark is a Western
community that is ac-tually on the road to getting it right. And
doyou know the secret? Its called give andtake.
The first thing you notice, is that apartfrom the occasional
elderly female, there ishardly a Burka in sight. Even more
impor-tantly, nowhere at all did I observe one per-son clad in the
antagonising full veil.
Instead, the faith of most young womenwas merely defined by an
often quite trendyheadscarf and the occasional pair of leg-
gings (not a bad choice when you considerthe climate!). Quite a
number of these ladieswere also employed at supermarket check-outs
and nowhere did I observe a restrictionon their handling of any
alcohol or porkproducts. The men too were clad in moreacceptable
attire.
After all the Thobe was designed to pro-tect its wearer from
sunlight, flies and mos-quitos, none of which are actually
tooprevalent in those chilly northern climes.Because of this
obvious desire to integrateinto Western society, the whole
atmosphereis different.
As you walk through the shopping centresand street markets, gone
are the feelings ofdistrust and discomfort that hang so heavilyover
the public places of other Europeancountries. People are laughing
together andpolite to each other.
On one afternoon my girlfriends sistertook part in a public
gospel singing event.Among the crowd of observers, I noticedquite a
number of headscarf-covered youngpeople clapping along with the
rest of theaudience. Because of this more open exis-
tence there is no need for Muslimsto form the protective ghettos
thatblight our cities of the West. Conse-quently people in Denmark
are moreintegrated in their home environ-ments as well. Give and
take.
The true answer to peaceful inte-gration. And the first major
step inthe right direction. Banning the Bur-ka. The attire of
hatred and separationhas no place in the future of our
soci-eties.
Keep the faith.Love Leapy
[email protected]
LEAPY LEE SAYS IT
OTHERS THINK IT
OPINION & COMMENT EWN14 - 20 April 2016 / Costa de Almera
41www.euroweeklynews.com
Getting it rightDO you know the secret? Its called give and
take
DENMARK: Apart from the occasional elderly female, there is
hardly a Burka in sight.
-
OPINION & COMMENTEWN42 www.euroweeklynews.com14 - 20 April
2016 / Costa de Almera
A PHONE call came through from the otherside of the world.
Someone I knew that had afortune stashed away in the banks in
Panamahad a major request for me.
It seemed that he could get half a per centmore on his interest
in another bank; it wasright across the street but they wouldnt
givehim a cashiers check. He had to go there,bundle up the 10
million dollars (8,768,500)cash in suitcases, and roll them across
thestreet. Whats in it for me?
An all-expenses-paid trip to Panama forone week, nothing less
than five star. And ifyou want to set up your own Panamaniancompany
I will pay for that too. Hmm I de-bated for a fraction of a
nanosecond beforeaccepting. I left that afternoon.
Panama was the place for real cash. Thestories were magnificent,
well beyond SaudiArabia or any other gilded banking hideouts.
The next day we met. The operation wassimple. He would go to his
bank a day or twoahead. Bundle all the money up in suitcases
that could be rolled across the street, from hiscurrent bank to
his new one. No one was tobe told of the operation other than one
guy inhis own bank, especially not the Panamanianpolice. Want a
gun? He asked.
Let me think on that. Moving day was
Thursday, so I had a few days to get the lie ofthe land and a
feel for the culture.
My first trip was to the Canal Zone, con-trolled then by the
Americans. I was verylucky with my taxi driver, who came from
theslum area of Panama but could speak eight
languages, including Japanese.I negotiated a days outing taking
me to the
best and worst places of Panama. Situationsthat the average
tourist wouldnt see.
So off we drove to the Canal Zone to watchstandard-metal
containers full of $100 bills beunloaded into special trucks, that
wouldwhisk them directly to their designated banks.
It was a slick military operation with some40-50 soldiers all
highly armed with rockets,machine guns and the latest
state-of-the-artcommunications. They had only 22 minutesto
accomplish their work order, before thenext billion dollar
container would be un-loaded by a different drug cartel and his
army.Meanwhile the American flag flew proudlyoverhead. My driver
knew the names of eachcartel by how his men were dressed
andarmed.
When Thursday came around, my friendwith the money was not to be
found. Iscoured the entire area for him. When I didfind him late
that night he announced he hadmoved the money himself on
Wednesdayalone. He felt I had become too chummy withmy taxi-driving
friend!
I am not sure why there is a lot of noise re-cently about the
leaked revelations concern-ing tax havens. The worlds well-heeled
havebeen laundering money there for decades.
Ric Polansky moved to Mojacar in 1969 as a pioneerdeveloper. He
reads extensively and has travelled in SouthAmerica panning gold
and looking for El Dorado.
Ric Polansky
The Panama Papers, 25 years agoPANAMA was the place for real
cash, money has been laundered there for decades
PANAMA: Has been used as a tax haven for decades by Americans
and drug cartels.
-
OPINION & COMMENTEWN47 www.euroweeklynews.com14 - 20 April
2016 / Costa de Almera
A CONTROVERSIAL EU deal to re-turn tens of thousands of
migrantsfrom Greece to Turkey is in chaosamid a last-minute
increase in asylumclaims, reducing the number of thoseeligible for
deportation, new migrantsarriving in Greece faster than they canbe
sent back, and shortages of officialsto carry out deportations!
An EU plan turns out to be a sham-bles. No! Whod have thought
it? TheEU is about to illustrate, again, thatwhenever theres a
crisis it alwaysturns it into a disaster. This half-bakedfiasco is
like declaring war and then re-alising you dont have an army.
Where was the planning for the nec-essary infrastructure, the
personnel forkeeping order and processing these mi-grants?
Schengen relied on the EUs exter-nal borders being secure and
sufficient-ly controlled. They were neither, a factthat became
glaringly obvious agesago when the first illegal migrants be-gan
making for weak spots such asCeuta and Lampedusa.
The strategy, then, should have been
to detain people at their entry point andquickly ascertain their
right to asylumleading to either temporary leave to re-main in a
camp or deportation. Thatdidnt happen and word soon got outthat
Europe had weak, porous borders.
Greeces borders were soon seen asthe weakest, and when migrants
started
arriving on the islands they shouldhave been held there. This is
now hap-pening, albeit slowly, so interest willinevitably return to
Lampedusa. Thestrategy now should be that any peo-ple-trafficking
ships intercepted fromLibya will be returned there, but I holdmy
breath!
Hot on the heels of this ongoingrefugee crisis and the recent
terroristcarnage, we now have the leakedPanama Papers detailing how
tax-evading world leaders, celebrities andassorted tyrants have
been squirrellingaway massive fortunes over the years.Ive said this
before and Ill say itagain, when is all this greed and cor-ruption
going to end?
Finally, on a different note, manythanks to all of you who
purchased mylatest, just-published psychologicalcrime thriller, No
Way Back, followingmy piece about it here recently. Thanksalso for
helping my other novels sell sofantastically well, too. Keep
thosegreat comments coming to my websiteabout my novels, all
profits of whichgo to the Cudeca charity!
Nora Johnsons thrillers No WayBack, Landscape of Lies,
Retribu-tion, Soul Stealer, The De Cleram-bault Code
(www.nora-johnson.com)available from Amazon inpaperback/eBook
(0.89;0.79) andiBookstore.
Nora JohnsonBreaking ViewsNora is the author of popular
psychological suspense andcrime thrillers and a freelance
journalist. To comment on any of the issues raised in her column,
goto www.euroweeklynews.com/3.0.15/nora-johnson
Chaos and confusion in Chios and otherGreek Islands amid
last-minute claimsNEW migrants are arriving in Greece faster than
they can be sent back
EU PLAN: A shambles, illustrating that whenever theres a crisis
it always turns into a disaster.
-
OPINION & COMMENTEWN48 www.euroweeklynews.com14 - 20 April
2016 / Costa de Almera
THE PSOE socia l i s ts have a lwaysfeared that some or many of
their PSC-PSOE brethren inside Catalua couldturn rogue.
More than one favours the right todecide, and PSOE party
headquartersin Madrid are increasingly nervousabout good vibrations
between PSCsecretary general Miquel Iceta and EnComu Podem.
Iceta has been to ld to cool down,back off and banish the R-word
fromthe PSCs vocabulary. Its a pity thatthe Spanish outside Catalua
are soviscerally, knee-jerkingly opposed toan in-out
referendum.
Even now most Catalans would voteto remain ins ide Spain and
whatsmore , Spain would probably haveformed a national government
monthsago.
Something islackingTHROUGHOUT Mariano Rajoys fouryears in
government, he and his minis-ters banged on about the financial
situa-tion they inherited from Jose Luis Ro-driguez Zapatero.
What has Rajoy left behind? A faileddeficit target and the need
for another23.6 million in cuts.
Who could blame Pedro Sanchez andAlbert Rivera for preferring
PSOE andCiudadanos to take a back seat and letRajoy clear up the
mess? Or PabloIglesias who, when still in Venezuelamode before
going straight, promisedthat Podemos would ignore the
deficitanyway.
An inside jobRITA BARBERA, former mayor of Va-lencia City and
now a senator, claims
that a l l the corrupt ion al legat ionsagainst her are
vengeance from herformer right-hand man, AlfonsoGrau and his close
collaborators.
Interestingly, she fails to clar-i fy why they should want
towreak vengeance in the f i rs tplace, but doubtless she has
herreasons.
In, out and shake it all about...ITS a pity that the Spanish
outside Catalua are so opposed to a quick referendum
PABLO IGLESIAS: Gifted communicator.
PABLO IGLESIAS is a gifted com-municator. His impressive
academiccareer apart, he first made a name forhimself with his own
television pro-gramme and on chat shows.
Podemos won its five seats in the Euro-pean Parliament in the
2014 European elec-tions as much through Iglesias media expo-sure
as his message, and he must sometimesask himself why he did not
become a pro-fessional celebrity instead of a politician.
He would have had almost as muchpower and none of the
responsibility.
Media darling
Cassandra NashA weekly look- and not entirely impartial reaction
- to the Spanish political scene
phot
o cr
edit:
flick
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ALL their employees and vehicles are well presented and trained
to the highest standard
SG HAULAGE LTD is a family run busi-ness from Lincoln, England.
They spe-cialise in the movement of general andabnormal loads
across the UK and Eu-rope. Their main movements are Boats,Yachts,
Motorhomes, Caravans, Construc-tion Machinery and agricultural
machin-ery.
They have a roving permit for Spain al-lowing them to move any
boat or marinaequipment up to three metres wide a tshort notic