Euro Weekly News - Mallorca 12 - 18 December 2013 Issue 1484

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No to shopping complex SEVERAL environmentalist groups accessed the area where the Ses Fontanelles Shopping Centre is planned in Playa de Palma carrying plaques with slogans protesting against the project.

Sex plan THE Socialist Party at Palma City Hall has proposed a plan to fight against prostitution and other types of sexual exploitation in the city by introducing fines.

12 - 18 DECEMBER 2013

Christmas Special

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Go to jail, Matas

No pardon for corrupt president

FORMER Balearic President Jaume Matas will go to prison after being sentenced to nine months in the Palma Arena corruption case.

Palma Provincial Court has rejected his appeal in which he asked to be pardoned and once he is officially notified of the sentence, he will have five days to voluntarily present himself at the prison.

However, he can still request that this be delayed while the central government also processes his request for a pardon.

Although normally in Spain anyone sentenced to less than two

years in prison, who has no prior convictions, would not see the inside of a prison cell, Matas showed no

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ISSUE NO. 1484

signs of remorse for what he had done, and will not be granted this privilege.

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Still no sign of missing Malen THE search continues for Malen Zoe Ortiz Rodriguez, a 15-year-old girl who went missing from Calvia last week.

Her father, Alejandro Ortiz, has invited Mallorca citizens to gather at Plaça d’Espanya on Saturday at noon to call for her return.

Ortiz has criticised the latest police theory, which suggests the minor could have run away from her family.

“Time goes by and these theories don’t lead anywhere,” he claimed.

This will be the second time people have gathered since Malen disappeared.

Last Monday around 200 people helped her family distribute some 23,000 leaflets, and 10,000 more are expected to be distributed again soon.

Meanwhile, Malen’s mother, Natalia Rodriguez, made a plea to her daughter to come back home via a video uploaded on the web.

Rodriguez, who is divorced from Malen’s father, asked her daughter to come and live with her if she was ‘tired’ of living with her father.

Malen disappeared when she was

THIS WEEK IN

EWN News 1 - 14

Finance 15 - 20

Letters 21

Daily TV 24

Leapy Lee 26

Time out 46 - 47 MALEN ORTIZ: Disappeared when she was heading to her boyfriend’s home.

Classifieds 58 - 61

reportedly heading to her boyfriend’s home in Son Ferrer. She called her father to let him know, but was unable to locate him and left a message with his secretary.

Sport 63 - 64

NEWS Alcohol trip A MAN from Cordoba was detained last week while driving under the influence of alcohol in Palma. The man stated he came all the way from Cordoba in his car, and when the officers performed an alcohol test, he had four times the amount permitted by law.

Toys collected THE Federal Police Unit of Balears and the Spanish Police Confederation have been participating in solidarity campaigns with toy and food collections for the needy families on the Island.

Fire injuries A FATHER and son were hurt in a fire at their home in Inca.

The fire caused severe damage before Mallorca fire fighters managed to extinguish it. The two victims were taken to Inca Hospital suffering from burns where they are expected to recover.

Biker death A CYCLIST died last week when he was cycling in a Binissalem street. The man, aged 67, is thought to have suffered a heart attack.

Odd haul POLICE arrested a man, aged 48, who was apparently burgling a house. A neighbour in s'Arenal alerted police after hearing noises. The man was carrying a bag containing a hammer, a radio, notebooks and glue sticks.

Gay choir A GAY choir in Mallorca is preparing to release an album showcasing 40 male voices.

The choir will be offering a performance in the Gran Concert Nadalenc a christmas concert in Andratx on December 13.

Tragic fall A MAN, aged 27, has died after falling from the15-metre high Pont de Jesus bridge.

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Raw sewage floods streets RAW sewage flooded the streets of Port d'Andratx when a sewer burst.

A breach in one of the main sewers provoked an uncontrollable discharge of wastewater.

The sewage reached the mouth of es Saluet and it is still unclear if the incident has affected the flora and fauna of the area. This is not the first time there has been a

breach of a pipeline in the port area, many neighbours from Port d’Andratx have complained about the situation before but the same problem keeps happening.

The Environmental Department has registered a numbers of incidents about the water flow below the coastal town.

One of the pipelines parallel to

the es Saluet produced the last failure.

Four days ago, public workers with heavy machinery were fixing a previous incident in the same area, but they still couldn’t prevent the residual liquid from flooding the streets, confirming that the problem needs a faster and permanent solution.

Watching the clock New Year celebrations start early

N

OW we are already in mid-December, the gummy sweets. In fact, it has become so popular that countdown to the New Year has begun, a sweet manufacturer in Madrid has created a bag of but students in Salamanca will be sweets specifically for the occasion with 12 grapeshaped sweets. celebrating tonight (Thursday).

The celebration began by chance when in 1999 a Founded in 1134, Salamanca University is the oldest group of Salamanca University students got together to in Spain to still be in operation.

It is the third oldest European university in celebrate New Year’s Eve early before each of them continuous operation, and the first in Europe to receive went home to a different part of Spain for the Christmas holidays. They drunk cava and ate sweets the formal title of ‘University’.

Salamanca is the top-ranking university in Spain while the clock in the square struck midnight. From then on, more people took part based on the number of students every year and now it is organised coming from other regions. by an events co-ordinator and Thousands of students at supported by the city hall.

Salamanca and other universities Companies have taken gather to celebrate ‘University New advantage of the celebration Year’s Eve’, normally two weeks to distribute before the proper promotional celebrations and on a items, and hotels Thursday, which is CHEERS: Cava is drunk and sweets eaten and discos hold traditionally ‘party’ night special events. for students in while the clock in the square strikes The event is Salamanca. midnight. broadcast on It is held in the Plaza Castilla y Leon Mayor, and instead of 12 regional TV. grapes, people eat 12

Quote of the Week YOU will feel my breath on the back of your necks.’

Jose Maria del Nido, President of Sevilla Football Club until this week, sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of €2.8 million for embezzlement during his term as lawyer for Marbella City Hall.

Number of the week

16.2

per cent less money is earned on average by women in Spain than by men, according to data published by the EU, which shows that the salary difference between women and men is on a par with the rest of Europe, although it is getting smaller.

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ews watch

Night adventure

TWO Swedish women residing in Palma got lost and spent last Saturday night and the early hours of the following day hiking in the Vall de ses Bruixes mountain. The following morning they managed to find their car .

EARLY CELEBRATION: Plaza Mayor in Salamanca hosts University New Year’s Eve.

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No jobless

PRO-INDEPENDENCE political party Mes wants to introduce a pioneering plan against youth unemployment. The party wants to put in place measures to guarantee jobs for people aged 25 or under.

Tragic death A PATHOLOGIST is performing a post mortem examination of a woman who lost her life in an Inca fire.

The investigation is suggesting an accidental spill of 'fire accelerant' on the chimney that caused an explosion.

Social help THE Regional Government has signed financial agreements with 23 town halls from the four Balearic islands to give grants worth €1.3 million.

These grants are destined to improve social integration of immigrants.

Grim find A YOUNG MAN, aged 26, has been found dead in a stream in S’Arenal. Cause of death is yet unknown.

And finally...

How many EWN logos the same as this one can you find in this week’s paper?

Visit www.euroweeklynews.com to enter your answer, for a chance to win €100! All correct answers will also go into a Christmas draw for a gift voucher to spend in local businesses.

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Russian ‘mafia’ gang arrested in Mallorca A BUSINESSMAN is one of eight men who have been arrested accused of being part of the Russian mafia.

Guardia Civil arrested Alexander Ivanovich Romanov and the seven others as part of an operation against organised crime.

The gang is allegedly one of the biggest Russian criminal organisations in Mallorca.

Eight people have been arrested so far including Romanov and his wife, owners of the Mar I Pins hotel, who are accused of money laundering, falsifying documents and breaking workers

ARRESTED: Several Russians arrested for conducting illegal business in Mallorca. rights.

The investigation, coordinated by the Court number 12 of Palma and the anti corruption prosecution, started several months ago.

Guardia Civil set

their sights on Alexander Romanov after discovering he was dealing in large sums of money in Mallorca.

This investigation led them to the Russian ‘Taganskaya’

gang, which police say is one of the biggest and most important mafias in Mallorca. Apparently, Romanov was the head of the criminal organisation, and, police allege, he

coordinated the gang’s drug trafficking and money laundering operations from different ‘businesses’ on the Island.

The anti corruption prosecution department and Guardia Civil launched a massive search operation in several locations, including the hotel and the owner’s home address, where Romanov and his wife, Natalia, were arrested.

Other companies, including a law firm, have been inspected due to their possible relation with the case. The operation is still ongoing.

Low cost weddings MANACOR Town Hall will charge half price for wedding paperwork where one or both of the couple are registered residents of the municipality.

Before the price cut it cost €61.80 and now it

will be €30.90.

Simultaneously, the town hall of Torre dels Enagistes has started a similar plan, with €41.38 charged for registered citizens and €83.65 for people from outside the area.

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NEWS

Plan for better civil servants A PLAN to make sure that future civil servants have a better knowledge of local law and administration has been approved.

Two modules from the Law and Business Administration degrees at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB) Local Law and Public Compatibility - will be financed by the Public Administration Council (PAC) of the regional government,

according to Councillor Nuria Riera and the UIB director, Llorenç Huguet.

The purpose of this measure is to improve the profile of the future civil servants, offering a complete preparation including proper and specific knowledge about the local law and administration matters.

PAC will donate €32,000 over four years between 2014 and 2018

Death crash driver says alcohol to blame A MAN who killed a woman during a car accident while driving over the limit is alleging that his alcohol addiction is an illness which exonerates him from the charges.

The accused, aged 50, stated that he is being charged for crimes he is not responsible for due to his addiction to alcohol, a recognised disease.

That is the defence his attorney is building up while the prosecution is asking for seven years in prison.

“I don’t remember anything.

I’ve been addicted to alcohol and other drugs for 30 years,” explained the accused, who had four times the permitted amount of alcohol in his blood in court.

OVER THE LIMIT: Driver blamed addiction.

The events took place on December 19, 2011, in the evening, when the accused, driving a car crossed into the opposite lane and crashed head-on into the victim’s vehicle.

The 61-year-old woman driver died instantly.

A witness, who was also hit by the accused’s car, stated that the car was moving erratically like there

was no one driving it.

The defence said the accused is incapable of controlling himself due to the abuse of drugs over a long period. He has been left brain-damaged and functions like an 80-yearold. The attorney asked that the accused be moved to a health facility so he can be treated in a controlled environment.

Squatting gone too far POLICE believe that squatters may be responsible for a fire that forced a woman to flee her flat.

She is the only resident owner in the block with most of the other apartments having been repossessed by banks.

An arson attack at the building in the S’Indioteria neighbourhood, Palma,

apparently was carried out with the intention of forcing the owner to abandon her home, said police.

The fire was started in an adjacent abandoned flat. Firefighters arrived shortly after the alarm was raised. Once they extinguished it, they realised that the fire had been started on purpose.

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NEWS EXTRA

The Balearics pay tribute to Mandela THE regional goverment of the Balearic Islands has sent its condolences and celebrated the life and achievements of Nelson Mandela in an official statement following the former South African president’s death.

Islands growing THE Balearic Islands’ population has increased by 0.46 per cent compared to last year. More than 5,000 new people have been registered in the first six months of 2013.

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NEWS EXTRA

Heading abroad SPAIN lost more than 118,230 inhabitants in the first six months of this year, as more people, both Spanish and foreigners, headed to other countries.

More power IF a bill is approved by the Spanish Senate, private security guards will have the power to search and arrest people in public areas.

Births down IN the first six months of this year, 210,778 babies were born in Spain, which is 6.2 per cent fewer than the same period last year.

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Smart move in Calvia A SMARTPHONE app will allow the citizens of Calvia to ask for action from the town hall.

Calvia’s council has inaugurated its ‘Linea Verde’ cyber network that includes the possibility of downloading an app allowing citizens to

report any incidents where action is needed.

They will be able to send photos and give coordinates direct to council workers.

The free service will allow the town hall to receive queries and incidents in a more direct way. Once the

problem has been resolved, the system notifies the user.

Citizens can download the app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

THE APP: Can be downloaded on any iOS or Android smartphone

Highschool Erasmus A SCHOOL in Marratxi is one of the public institutions participating in the Comenius students exchange program.

Miquel Bosch, the Marratxi secondary school, is one of the two centres from Mallorca participating in the ‘Comenius’ project, a student exchange program with schools from other European countries.

It is similar to the Erasmus programme for university students.

At the moment three French students from Mouthe are studying at the Marratxi highschool staying with local foster families.

The three French students, aged 14, explained that it was an enriching and wonderful experience that is allowing them to improve their Spanish as well as Catalan, which they now can understand.

Another thing that has caught their attention is the closer relationship between the students

and their professors. “Much more familiar, we are forced to treat them with high respect, you can’t call them by their names,” stated one of the students.

On the other hand, two Mallorquian students from the Marratxi highschool just arrived home after their exchange in the French country. “It is weird that you have to go to bed before eight or nine in the evenings, but it was a wonderful experience,” said one of the students.

NEWS

Dog held for ransom A DRUG addict, aged 43, has been arrested by National Police after allegedly hitting his mother, aged 68, and holding her dog hostage.

The man had been arrested several times before for similar reasons and his family has a restraining order against him. The events took place one evening on the victim’s doorstep in Palma. The man cornered his mother and demanded money. When she refused he allegedly assaulted her, took her keys, opened the door and kidnapped her dog to hold for ransom.

Police arrived at the building after neighbours complained about the noise. Police arrested the man and captured the dog for the owner.

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Nature set to return THE regional government has started work on the restoration of a beach environmentally damaged by an urbanisation demolished earlier this year.

The Balearic Nature Institute (IBANAT) has started tree planting on the 9,000-square-metre site where the Ses Covetes apartment complex was built in Campos.

Two thousand ‘labiernago’ (local bush), juniper and rosemary plants, as well as pine trees will be planted in the

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SES COVETES: The illegal urbanisation was demolished earlier this year. hope they will help restore the area to its former glory.

The site is expected to host more than 5,000 plants by the end of 2015.

In the meantime, the

IBANAT will check on the state of the plants every two months to make sure this site, next to the white-sand beach of Es Trenc, is environmentally recovered.

SPOTTED: An albino python. shocked at seeing a python in their streets. More than four agents and the environmental unit pursued the snake.

No fine for not finding A COURT in Malaga City, Costa del Sol, has cancelled a speeding fine

NEWS EXTRA

Wheelchair stolen

Snake on loose in San Jordi A TWO-METRE-LONG albino python snake was found last Friday in the town of San Jordi, Ibiza.

Four police officers were needed to retrieve the animal safely.

The nine-kilo brown-spotted snake slithered around Calle Varona before a Local Police patrol arrived after receiving several calls from the locals who were

The 13-apartment-block urbanisation was declared illegal by the Balearic High Court in November 2012.

This decision put an end to more than two decades of legal wrangling in which the apartments remained unfinished.

The high court finally ended the legal battle and ordered the site cleared by ruling it was built on non-urban land, and the work permits should have not been issued.

because the General Traffic Department (DGT) didn’t try hard enough to find the driver.

According to the sentence, the notification regarding the fine was not carried out in person because the DGT failed to investigate where the driver was living.

The court considers that this situation allowed the driver no chance to defend themselves.

The fine was issued in November 2010 when the driver was speeding on

the A-7 motorway. A fine of €900 was set because the driver was not identified.

Letters notifying of the fine were sent but returned and after several attempts, it was published on a notice board.

The court considers it would have been easy for the DGT to find out the driver’s new address.

Two similar cases in the past were taken to the Constitutional Court and set a precedent.

A WOMAN from Granada has reported that her wheelchair was stolen while she and her husband were parking their car in Malaga and now she is housebound.

Try harder THE Foreigners Department has confiscated the Residence Permits of two Moroccan students at Malaga University for failure to pay and not passing any subjects.

ATM attacks THE Guardia Civil have dismantled an organisation which bombed ATMs with explosives. They have arrested six people and solved 18 cases in the provinces of Valladolid, Zaragoza, Murcia and Almeria.

Escalator drives out resident A RESIDENT of Barcelona was forced to move house due to the noise made by an escalator installed by the city hall.

The escalator was installed to make access to the Park Güell easier, and the city council refused to pay him compensation despite him claiming that

the noise prevented him from living in peace.

However, Barcelona Ombudswoman, Maria Assumpcio Vila, said the council was in the wrong. The council, meanwhile, maintains that the man knew about the noise before he moved into the house.

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Soldier arrested A SOLDIER was arrested in San Sebastian for exposing himself and shouting slogans supporting Franco.

He resisted arrest and disobeyed the police, but was released several hours later and a trial against him is pending.

The San Sebastian Government is concerned about the events, in which the man and other soldiers exposed themselves to women on the street, creating alarm in the neighbourhood.

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Malaga baby swap row THE parents of a baby girl born at Malaga Children’s Hospital on the Costa del Sol had a shock when they were given a boy by mistake.

According to a report in local Spanish daily Malaga Hoy, the woman was admitted and had to undergo a Caesarean section. She was with her baby girl for a few seconds before being taken to the recovery room, and the baby was shown to the father and relatives in the ward.

Several hours later, the mother was taken to a room and a baby was brought to her with her name on the identity bracelet.

However, after two hours with the baby, during which she breastfed the infant and took photos to send to friends, the grandmother said it was nothing like anyone in the family and decided to take off its nappy. It was then they found it was a boy.

Scared someone may have stolen their baby,

SWAPPED: The identity bracelets of a newborn baby girl and boy. they demanded an explanation, and after 20 minutes, their daughter was found on the ward with all the other newborn babies.

The baby boy had been born 15 minutes after her and hadn’t been given to his mother because she too had undergone a Caesarean

section and suffered complications.

Staff at the hospital came to apologise and said that the two babies had been in the same room and after having tests carried out, their identity bracelets had been swapped accidentally.

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Ghost airport up for sale THE airport at Ciudad Real, just over 200 kilometres south of Madrid, has been put up for sale only a few years after its completion.

Ciudad Real’s airport has become infamous as an example of financial disaster and overspending since it was finished in 2008.

It cost €1.1 billion to build, funded to a large extent by the Caja Castilla La Mancha savings bank, one of Spain’s first banks to be bailed out in 2010.

The airport’s operator went bankrupt in April 2012, having failed to attract enough traffic, and has been lying empty since.

Administrators have now put it up for sale for €100 million and are accepting offers until December 27.

Car fire A CAR was destroyed after it caught fire outside Miramar Hospital in Palma.

The blaze, the cause of which is believed to be accidental, was put out by Palma firefighters.

Tobacco boat intercepted A BOAT from the surveillance service of the Spanish Tax Agency in the Balearic Islands intercepted a vessel loaded with tobacco to be illegally sold on Mallorca.

Killer of Malaga student jailed for life

RAZOR WIRE: Has been placed on the border fence in Melilla.

Razor wire put on fence to stop illegal immigrants THE Spanish government has placed razor wire on top of the border fence in Melilla to prevent immigrants from trying to enter the autonomous city.

At the same time, the fence has been raised from three to six metres high.

This has led to protests by opposition parties, which have described the decision as “unacceptable.”

Several NGOs, including the Andalucia Pro-Human Rights Association (APDHA), have claimed the razor wire violates

human rights and “could even cause the death of people.”

This type of wire was removed in 2007 due to the injuries it caused to people who tried to climb the border fence.

APDHA has accused the government of trying to “hide the reality of the Melilla border fence.”

“The razor wide is a deterrent element,” said the Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz, who added it is not “aggressive.”

“The aim of the razor wire is to prevent the illegal entrance of people into our country, and I

believe that is our duty,” he claimed.

President Mariano Rajoy said this type of wire will only be removed if an effective alternative is found.

Meanwhile, the company that manufactures the razor wire placed in Melilla claims it is one of the “less aggressive” types.

Cartama-based European Security Fencing (ESF) manager, Antonio Mora, said the aim of his product is not “to cut people,” and said it has a “psychological and visual effect” on them instead.

Bankrupt businessman tries to ‘rob’ bank to evade his creditors lA BANKRUPT entrepreneur from Granada has been sentenced to six months in prison after he tried to ‘rob’ a savings bank with the express intention of being caught and sent to jail.

However, the man will not serve a prison sentence as he does not have a criminal record.

The man, aged 52 and

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the owner of a travel agency, saw no other alternative to escape his creditors than being sent to jail.

The desperate business owner entered the Caja Rural del Sur branch office in Malaga on the Costa del Sol with a knife hidden inside a paper bag.

After explaining to the

bank manager that he didn’t want any money and that he only intended to be sent to prison, he asked him to lock the doors to prevent any clients from coming in.

The man remained locked in the bank for about 10 minutes with the two only remaining bank employees, the branch’s director and the

administrative manager.

During that time, two clients tried to enter the bank, but left after no one opened the door, not imagining what was going on inside.

Shortly after two in the afternoon a Local Police unit arrived at the saving banks branch.

Two officers entered, subdued the entrepreneur

and took his paper bag before handcuffing him.

Inside they found clothes and a 10centimetre-long knife.

The man told the officers he had assaulted the bank employees, but they denied it.

When the officers identified him, they found out he did not have a criminal record.

THE killer of a young man from Coin who was knifed to death before being beheaded and disembowelled has been given a life sentence.

Karl Addo, aged 30 and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter through diminished responsibility of Sergio Retamar in Bournemouth (UK).

He had been charged with murder but the prosecution accepted his plea.

Addo will serve a life sentence at Broadmoor highsecurity psychiatric hospital where he has been for the last year.

He will be detained for a minimum of sixand-a-half-years, but the judge made an order under the Mental Health Act that he not be released until the relevant authority considers it safe.

Addo escaped from the Hutley Centre St Pancras Psychiatric Hospital, where he was a voluntary patient, in 2011, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.

In May 2012 he arrived in Bournemouth, where he would kill flatmate Sergio just two months later.

The 23-year-old victim was a waiter from Coin who had gone to Britain to study English and work.

He was living in a flat with other people, including the murderer, whom Sergio said was “odd.”

NEWS

Rape victim saved from deportation THE Spanish Ombudsman has acted to prevent the deportation of a Russian woman who said she had been raped.

Vera Rodozina, 52, lives in Galicia with her Spanish partner and was facing deportation, but the government halted the process after the ombudsman intervened following a request from an association which defends rape victims.

The deportation order dates from 2010, but she has remained in Spain and moved in with her partner. She reported being raped in March, saying she had been beaten and left naked on a mountain.

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Ryanair ‘sexist’ calendar banned A MALAGA court has ruled against Ryanair for sexist publicity.

The complaint was taken to court by Malaga Consumers Association, over promotion of the Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar 2013 in which female members of the crew appeared in bikinis.

They also complained about the campaign presented in

October 2012 on the airline’s website, which read ‘Red-hot prices. And the crew!’ which they say is illegal and dishonest.

They say that women are used in the publicity simply as a sexual attraction, unrelated to the object of the advertising campaign. They also complain that no men are used in the campaign, despite there being many

male members of cabin crew.

The court has declared the publicity illegal and dishonest, and the airline has been ordered not to repeat this type of advertising campaign. It will also have to publish the judgement in Spain’s two most distributed newspapers. The company can appeal against the sentence.

Fined for looking at a painting BARCELONA City Council has fined a local resident €90.15 for looking at a painting which had been put out and abandoned at a rubbish container in 2011.

The council maintained that the man had broken the law by depositing household goods in the street, despite him saying that he had only been

looking at the painting.

The Barcelona Ombudswoman, Maria Assumpcio Vila, has complained that the four plain-clothes police officers who surrounded him at the time made no effort in their report to explain the exact circumstances in which they ecountered the man.

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Stories making headlines in Europe

GERMAN PRESS Killings investigated

BRITISH PRESS House call DENMARK - Social workers in a wealthy Copenhagen neighbourhood have begun making house calls to wake up students with high rates of absenteeism.

Digital books NORWAY - The National Library of Norway is planning to digitise all its books in Norwegian by the mid 2020s.

Halal reindeer NORWAY - Muslims in Norway will now be able to join in with local Christmas food after a butcher unveiled the country’s first halal reindeer meat.

HIV crime SWEDEN - Sweden’s use of criminal law in HIV cases is being challenged as experts argue that people on effective antiretroviral therapy have an extremely low risk of transmitting the disease.

Poor results SWEDEN - Swedish pupils’ poor results in the latest global PISA education ranking has pushed Sweden below the OECD average in maths, reading and natural sciences.

Least corrupt DENMARK - Denmark and New Zealand tied as the least corrupt countries in the world, according to this year’s Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International.

Arctic claims DENMARK - Denmark and Greenland have submitted a claim for 62,000 square kilometres of Arctic sea floor.

Expensive heating

Worst tree

UK homes are some of the most expensive to heat in Europe because of poor maintenance and insulation, according to figures from the EU.

A 15FT-TALL white Christmas tree erected in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, has been branded the worst in Britain after it became a laughing stock among residents.

Gambling addicts BRITONS spend nearly £46 billion (€55.33 billion) a year on gambling machines with the amount wagered rising by nearly 50 per cent in four years.

Eastern influx AT least 385,000 Romanians and Bulgarians will come to Britain after restrictions are lifted on January 1 experts have warned.

Health emergency THERE are signs of a ‘public health emergency’ in Britain with rising numbers of people needing to use food banks and increased malnutrition, experts warn.

New export

BRITAIN’S biggest Christmas dinner is on offer free to anyone who can eat it in 45 minutes. The Duck Inn, Oakenshaw, Worcs, devised the 5,000calorie meal.

THE head of Tatarstan Airlines was dismissed less than three weeks after a plane crash that killed all 50 people on board, the Ministry of Transport of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan announced.

Polar scare THE number of polar bears in the Arctic could drop by two-thirds by 2050 because of poaching, pollution and global warming, Russia’s natural resources and ecology minister said.

First smartphone THE first Russian-made smartphone, a dualscreen device with an LCD-colour display on one side and an electronic-paper display on the other has gone on sale.

A SOLDIER, 19, was arrested at an army base in Paderborn, Germany on suspicion of terrorism offences after a nail bomb was found at a house in Salford, UK.

Nazi alert

RUSSIAN PRESS

Fatal accident

Soldier arrest

A SALESWOMAN from Baden-Württemberg was named Germany’s most beautiful woman aged over 50. It is the second year the pageant for over 50s has been held.

Biggest dinner

DANCER Pavel Dmitrichenko was sentenced to six years in a high-security prison for ordering an acid attack that nearly blinded the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Sergei Filin.

HUNDREDS of unsolved killings and attempted killings in Germany over the past two decades may have been committed by far-right extremists, police officials have said.

Beautiful 50+

FROM next year Britain is going to begin exporting pig semen to Chinese farmers in a deal worth £45 million (€54.12 million), as China plans to improve the country’s pigs’ genetic make-up.

Acid attack

EUROPEAN PRESS

Strange weapon

DANCER: Pavel Dmitrichenko ordered an acid attack on ballet director.

RUSSIAN TV has come up with an unusual weapon in its offensive against supporters of Ukraine’s integration with the EU - a TV programme designed to help children understand bodily functions.

Official language ACTIVISTS of the European Russian Alliance are to collect signatures for the Russian language to be used as an EU official language. One million signatures are needed for the EU Commission to consider the issue.

Russian desire OPINION polls show that many Swiss people are eager to learn Russian for professional or personal reasons. Russian is a mother tongue for 26,000 Swiss citizens.

GERMAN police have developed a smartphone app that allows them to identify rock songs with neo-Nazi or racist lyrics.

Surgery ban GERMANY’S next government will ban plastic surgery on children and minors unless it can be justified on medical grounds.

Flat-rate sex GERMANY’S biggest political parties have agreed to ban so-called flat-rate sex offered by some brothels in the country in a clampdown on the country’s booming prostitution industry.

Cultural beer GERMAN beer brewers want their five-century-old purity law recognised as world heritage by the United Nations’ cultural agency.

14

E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

COSTA BLANCA NORTH

Pedalling off EMPLOYEES at the Canastell industrial estate in San Vicente would use the tram if there was a link. Only 29 per cent said they would ride a bicycle to work.

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TWO men who posed as electricians to rob the elderly have been arrested in Lorca. The men allegedly committed seven thefts in Almeria City, stealing jewellery and cash worth €1,000.

Raining stars

Keep warm

A JATIVA (Valencia) primary school faces an investigation after pupils barracked Regional President Alberto Fabra when he visited the town. They called for closed regional broadcaster RTVV to reopen.

Revamp due BENISSA plans to spend €635,000 on restoring the Cases de la Purissima, three 19th century properties. They now house the Culture Centre, the municipal library and the Salvador Soria Museum.

AXARQUIA

Churros galore MORE than 1,000 churros were served at €2 each in La Herradura to raise funds for the 2014 Three Wise Men annual parade.

Pervert sentenced AN expatriate living in Almuñecar who had pictures and videos of child pornography on his computer has been sentenced to seven months in prison.

Restraining order A MAN in his 50s has been ordered to stay 200 metres away from a minor he reportedly sexually abused in Almachar. Both the alleged pervert and the victim have a mental disability, according to judicial sources.

Well done VELEZ-MALAGA has paid tribute to 14 council workers who retired this year.

THE mayor of Tolox, Juan Vera, is on trial this week for 14 crimes against urban planning. There are a further eight cases against him pending.

Two arrested

ORBA has a new two-storey civic centre with a roof terrace on the site of the old Guardia Civil post. The provincial government met €784,000 of the €980,956 cost.

Starting young

Mayor on trial

COSTA DE ALMERÍA

Bird’s eye view

THE Lions Club in Benidorm has asked hotels and the general public for donations of blankets and warm clothing. They will be donated to Caritas for distribution amongst needy local families.

NEWS DESK

FUN RUN: Santas turn Torrevieja red for the annual event.

Santa Fun Run in Torrevieja

THE fourth annual Santa Fun Run along Torrevieja promenade raised around €700 for the AECC cancer charity.

Organised by Maria Wilson and her Pink Ladies and Pink Panthers fundraising team, who work for the benefit of the AECC and its early cancer detection programme on the Orihuela Costa and Torrevieja, supporters old and young turned out in force for They have been given a copy of an official document issued by Queen Isabel I in 1499.

Anglers adrift

the five-kilometre walk or run.

Participants also brought items of non-perishable foods to put into the sleigh, which were then handed over to the homeless charity Reach Out Torrevieja. The amount raised will be added to the €400 received the previous day from a charity fun day held at La Fuente Commercial Centre, almost bringing to a close this year’s fundraising activities for the AECC.

Paraguay a winner PARAGUAY was the winner of a mini football league held in Malaga in which 320 players from 15 different countries took part.

THE Casa del Cine Museum in Almeria City through ‘Almeria en corto’ has opened an exhibition by Charles Bignon entitled Mini Hollywood. The exhibition will run for six months.

Cuevas marathon THE 13th half marathon Bajo Almanzora brought together 96 athletes in Cuevas del Almanzora.

More than €1,400 was raised for the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC).

Check mates FIFTY-FIVE youngsters from several chess clubs took part in the Municipal Games under 14 chess tournament in Almeria City. The winner was Salvador Perez from the Indalo Chess Club.

Coming of age THE mayor of Vicar has sent a letter of congratulations containing a copy of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 to the 222 townspeople who reached the age of 18 during 2013.

COSTA BLANCA SOUTH

Unemployed youths

5,000 deliveries

COSTA DEL SOL

ALMOST 70 per cent of people between 16 and 25 in Malaga Province are unemployed, according to the National Institute of Statistics, the third worst rate in Spain.

ELCHE’S Vinalopó Hospital has delivered its 5,000th baby since the facility opened in June 2010. The baby boy was named David and he weighed 3.6 kilos.

Numbers soaring

On the way

Owner arrested

THE number of passengers using Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport in November increased by 12 per cent to 723,000, compared to the same month last year.

THE Malaga Angels of the Night Association has raised €40,000 towards building a social dining room in Malaga where they can serve 2,500 plates of food to the needy every day.

AN Elche shoe factory owner has been arrested after work inspectors discovered that his seven workers were not legal or registered for Social Security.

Fashion finalist

Staff complain

Festive planting

ANTEQUERA-BORN fashion designer Lorena Subires was the only person from Malaga to make it into the finals of the Andalucia Fashion competition with her collection Ixhcel.

STAFF at the Benalmadena Catering School have demanded that the money owed to them by the Junta de Andalucia since term began in November be paid immediately.

MORE than 5,000 festive plants have been planted by Orihuela’s Department of Infrastructure across the city and municipality ahead of the Christmas holidays.

TWO anglers, aged 30 and 34, were rescued adrift in Salobreña after they lost the oars to their 1.5-metre-long boat.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

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12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

business & legal

Lighthouse hotel plans revealed Although the post of lighthouse-keeper is now practically superfluous, resident employees work for the area’s Port Authority.

The remaining buildings are empty and the national Ports Authority hopes to put the plan, which Pastor admitted was “ambitious,” into action as soon as possible. The number of lighthouses involved has yet to be revealed.

Iberia cutbacks hit management IBERIA is eliminating 191 of its management posts.

The present number of 399 managers, assistant managers and unit managers will fall to 208, a reduction of 48 per cent.

The staff cuts follow last July’s 46 per cent cutback when senior positions were reduced from 82 to 44.

Two months earlier, the number of Iberia executives was cut from 11 to nine.

The true figure for the latest reductions is closer to 35 per cent, Iberia claimed, owing to ‘quasi-management positions’ not included in its original

reorganisation plans.

Iberia will study the future of the newlyaffected Iberia employees case by case.

Some could be relocated while others “might be leaving,” the company said.

The new structure responds to present and future needs, Iberia said, and reflects the best market practices.

Iberia, which merged with British Airways to form IAG in 2011, has a redundancy plan affecting 3,141 employees.

Salaries for air and cabin crew wages have been cut by 18 per cent and by 11 per cent for other staff.

B

usiness extra

Healthy figures SPANISH group BUPA Sanitas will buy at least 50 per cent, plus one share, of Chile health provider, Cruz Blanca Salud. Owners, the Said Somavia family, will receive €440 million.

Progress RATINGS’ agency Standard & Poor’s increased BBVA, Caixabank, Ibercaja and Cecabank rankings from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’. The Spanish subsidiaries of Barclays, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas were also rated ‘stable’.

It’s cold comfort...

LAST winter 17.9 per cent of Spanish families cut down on central heating.

This was 4.3 percentage points more than in 2007 when the National Statistics Office (INE) carried out its last survey.

Families on less than €15,000 a year net were the worst affected.

Twenty-five per cent turned their thermostats down in winter

2012 compared with 20.4 per cent in 2007, INE found.

The higher the income, the higher the thermostat as only 16.3 per cent of families earning between €15,000 and €28,000 complained of being cold indoors.

Even so, more of these higher earners economised on central heating last winter, compared with 11.9 per cent in 2007.

15

STAT OF WEEK SPAIN’s consumers are less pessimistic. The Consumer Confidence Index (ICC) increased to 72.3 points last month, following a fall of 4.5 points in October.

creditAurelianusRex/Flikr

Holiday highspots DISUSED lighthouses could soon become private hotels.

The state wants to put them to good and profitable use while respecting their heritage value, announced Minister of Public Works Ana Pastor at a working breakfast with the media.

At last count, between 50 and 60 of Spain’s 387 lighthouses were inhabited.

EWN

PEÑISCOLA: Could be put in priv ate hands?

16

E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

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FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

LONDON - FTSE 100 C H A N G E ( P ) % C H G. 5.90 1.26 7.00 0.58 -11.25 -0.69 0.00 0.00 -11.50 -0.87 -10.00 -1.30 -7.00 -0.69 -7.00 -0.31 -5.00 -0.14 10.60 2.53 -1.00 -0.08 0.64 0.15 0.95 0.36 -3.00 -0.24 -3.50 -0.19 -0.35 -0.07 -7.50 -0.23 0.92 0.15

NET VOLUME 366.90 21.19 35.68 36.18 491.15 100.91 195.67 37.93 63.12 1,253.39 17.72 485.17 2,205.45 221.17 709.74 941.61 245.65 46.44

CU RR EN CI ES

C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 9

C O M PA N Y PRICE(P) Aberdeen Asset Mngmnt 473.15 Admiral Group PLC 1212.50 Aggreko PLC 1610.50 AMEC PLC 1098.00 Anglo American PLC 1313.50 Antofagasta PLC 759.25 ARM Holdings PLC 1011.00 Associated British Foods 2259.50 AstraZeneca PLC 3484.50 Aviva PLC 430.05 Babcock Intnl Group... 1273.00 BAE Systems PLC 416.45 Barclays PLC 266.57 BG Group PLC 1221.75 BHP Billiton PLC 1842.00 BP PLC 477.05 British Amcn Tobacco 3187.50 British Land Co PLC 602.00

0.83807

Units per €

United States $......................................................1.37172 Japan Yen ¥ ...........................................................141.495 Switzerland Francs................................................1.22365 Denmark Kroner ....................................................7.46034 Norway Kroner.......................................................8.43742

C O M PA N Y

PRICE(P)

British Sky Broadcasting BT Group PLC Bunzl PLC Burberry Group PLC Capita PLC Carnival PLC Centrica PLC Coca-Cola HBC AG Compass Group PLC CRH PLC

802.00 372.30 1359.00 1479.50 993.00 2145.00 329.10 1693.00 916.25 1470.00

DOW JONES

NASDAQ

C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 9

C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 9

C O M PA N Y MMM 3M Co AXP American Express Co T AT&T Inc BA Boeing Co CAT Caterpillar Inc CVX Chevron Corp CSCO Cisco Systems Inc DD Dupont E I De Nemours & Co XOM Exxon Mobil Corp GE General Electric Co GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc HD Home Depot Inc INTC Intel Corp IBM International Business Machine...

JNJ Johnson & Johnson JPM JPMorgan Chase and Co MCD McDonald's Corp MRK Merck & Co Inc MSFT Microsoft Corp NKE Nike Inc PFE Pfizer Inc PG Procter & Gamble Co KO The Coca-Cola Co TRV Travelers Companies Inc UTX United Technologies Corp UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc VZ Verizon Communications Inc V Visa Inc

PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME 128.61 85.93 34.53 135.18 85.50 122.29 21.28 61.34 95.65 26.94 167.21 79.84 24.82 177.67 94.44 56.06 96.80 49.39 38.36 79.86 31.54 84.52 40.46 89.01 111.12 73.50 49.48 201.87

+1.78 +1.39 +0.28 +2.45 +1.09 +1.19 +0.37 +1.23 +1.52 +0.49 +1.65 +1.30 +0.56 +1.59 +1.47 +0.24 +1.37 +0.58 +0.36 +0.91 +0.29 +1.83 +0.63 +1.09 +2.07 +0.75 +0.57 +0.16

+1.40% +1.64% +0.82% +1.85% +1.29% +0.98% +1.77% +2.05% +1.61% +1.85% +1.00% +1.66% +2.31% +0.90% +1.58% +0.43% +1.44% +1.19% +0.95% +1.15% +0.93% +2.21% +1.58% +1.24% +1.90% +1.03% +1.17% +0.08%

2.9M 2.7M 19.5M 5.3M 5.8M 4.2M 51.3M 2.7M 12.1M 25.3M 2.7M 5.1M 53.9M 4.7M 7.3M 18.7M 5.8M 7.4M 36.5M 1.9M 18.9M 7.2M 12.6M 1.8M 2.5M 3.9M 11.2M 2.3M

1.19321

C H A N G E ( P ) % C H G. -2.00 1.76 -3.00 -3.00 3.00 3.00 -0.25 -1.00 -0.50 5.00

C O M PA N Y

-0.25 0.47 -0.22 -0.20 0.30 0.14 -0.08 -0.06 -0.05 0.34

NET VOLUME 160.95 1,215.61 12.07 47.26 38.77 18.87 671.11 4.64 140.87 52.39

PRICE

CHANGE NET / %

$ 2.63 $ 3.28 $ 10.35 $ 21.64 $ 4.14 $ 7.25 $ 2.72 $ 14.37 $ 22.49 $ 2.84 $ 23.89

0.52 / +24.64% 0.52 / +18.84% 1.36 / +15.13% 2.31 / +11.95% 0.38 / +10.11% 0.65 / +9.85% 0.24 / +9.68% 1.25 / +9.53% 1.92 / +9.33% 0.24 / +9.23% 1.96 / +8.94%

$ 93.76 $ 12.03 $ 3.76 $ 4.065 $ 64.75 $ 36.47 $ 4.93 $ 92.04 $ 52.63 $ 8.51 $ 9.20

24.24 / -20.54% 2.37 / -16.46% 0.54 / -12.56% 0.505 / -11.05% 6.97 / -9.72% 3.48 / -8.71% 0.46 / -8.53% 7.97 / -7.97% 3.95 / -6.98% 0.62 / -6.79% 0.67 / -6.79%

Most Advanced RadiSys Corporation Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. VisionChina Media, Inc. Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. China Recycling Energy Corporation Intevac, Inc. Double Eagle Petroleum Company Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. Farmer Brothers Company Retail Opportunity Investments Corp.

Wix.com Ltd.

Most Declined Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. SeaChange International, Inc. China Auto Logistics Inc. ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. OSI Systems, Inc. Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Chart Industries, Inc. Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Credit Suisse Group RF Industries, Ltd.

C O M PA N Y PRICE(P) Croda International PLC 2304.50 Diageo PLC 1919.50 easyJet PLC 1435.50 Experian PLC 1111.50 Fresnillo PLC 741.00 G4S PLC 261.85 GKN PLC 366.00 GlaxoSmithKline PLC 1606.00 Glencore Xstrata PLC 304.90 Hammerson PLC 502.50 Hargreaves Lansdown 1219.00 HSBC Holdings PLC 664.40 IMI PLC 1445.00 Imperial Tobacco Group 2280.50 InterContinental Hotels 1882.00 International Consldtd ... 361.95 Intertek Group PLC 2955.50 ITV PLC 182.90 Johnson Matthey PLC 3146.50 Kingfisher PLC 364.55 Land Securities Group 941.25 Legal & General Group 207.70 Lloyds Banking Group 78.59 London Stock Exchange 1616.00 Marks & Spencer Group 471.80 Meggitt PLC 494.00 Melrose Industries PLC 287.30 Mondi PLC 954.00 National Grid PLC 749.75 Next PLC 5442.50 Old Mutual PLC 189.10 Pearson PLC 1288.00 Persimmon PLC 1182.50 Petrofac Ltd 1175.00 Prudential PLC 1264.00 Randgold Resources Ltd 3980.00 Reckitt Benckiser Gr 4756.00 Reed Elsevier PLC 867.50 Resolution Ltd 331.35 REXAM PLC 486.15 Rio Tinto PLC 3277.75 Rolls-Royce Holdings 1197.00 Royal Bank of Scotland 338.55 Royal Dutch Shell PLC 2150.25 RSA Insurance Group 101.60 SABMiller PLC 3066.25 Sage Group (The) PLC 373.70 Sainsbury (J) PLC 389.45 Schroders PLC 2456.50 Severn Trent PLC 1661.00 Shire PLC 2733.50 Smith & Nephew PLC 848.50 Smiths Group PLC 1375.50 Sports Direct Intrntnl...

751.75 SSE PLC 1308.00 Standard Chartered PLC 1330.25 Standard Life PLC 343.15 Tate & Lyle PLC 778.75 Tesco PLC 333.18 Travis Perkins PLC 1729.00 TUI Travel PLC 378.80 Tullow Oil PLC 880.25 Unilever PLC 2460.50 United Utilities Group 646.00 Vedanta Resources PLC 843.00 Vodafone Group PLC 231.70 Weir Group PLC 2066.50 Whitbread PLC 3489.50 William Hill PLC 379.30 Wm Morrison Sprmrkts 260.25 Wolseley PLC 3138.50 WPP PLC 1325.50

CHANGE 5.00 -3.00 8.00 -5.00 -16.50 -0.80 1.60 1.19 -1.55 0.00 10.00 5.18 1.00 -8.00 1.00 4.30 -9.00 0.40 16.00 1.10 0.50 0.30 0.36 -11.00 1.24 -1.56 -1.80 -2.00 -1.00 -5.00 0.40 -2.40 -1.50 -18.72 8.00 -58.00 -16.00 4.00 0.50 0.50 -27.50 2.00 2.92 -6.00 -0.21 -11.00 1.70 0.50 12.00 -2.00 25.00 2.50 4.00 0.00 6.00 -0.50 2.71 -3.50 0.35 2.00 0.60 -19.00 -4.00 0.84 -1.50 0.80 14.00 -3.00 -0.20 0.12 14.00 11.00

% C H G. 0.22 -0.16 0.56 -0.45 -2.18 -0.30 0.44 0.07 -0.51 0.00 0.83 0.79 0.07 -0.35 0.05 1.20 -0.30 0.22 0.51 0.30 0.05 0.14 0.46 -0.68 0.26 -0.31 -0.62 -0.21 -0.13 -0.09 0.21 -0.19 -0.13 -1.57 0.64 -1.44 -0.34 0.46 0.15 0.10 -0.83 0.17 0.87 -0.28 -0.21 -0.36 0.46 0.13 0.49 -0.12 0.92 0.30 0.29 0.00 0.46 -0.04 0.80 -0.45 0.11 0.12 0.16 -2.11 -0.16 0.13 -0.18 0.35 0.68 -0.09 -0.05 0.05 0.45 0.84

VOLUME 18.93 481.95 79.00 174.56 52.87 120.55 119.63 168.34 2,827.89 26.30 23.49 7,836.63 19.10 65.69 30.17 715.62 26.30 300.48 14.35 150.05 45.36 934.86 7,378.38 24.24 156.21 75.36 61.62 53.22 226.71 15.67 676.84 26.58 40.23 114.16 119.99 37.83 49.28 74.86 78.39 132.82 242.88 135.20 1,035.52 273.06 587.48 84.68 303.25 583.11 41.30 65.30 140.81 74.65 44.72 62.92 137.13 576.26 244.26 53.67 638.00 16.05 127.04 251.53 168.54 98.81 27.43 7,811.98 41.82 53.53 157.82 419.09 48.79 115.47

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17

18

E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

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FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

The rise of the humble bicycle A look at finance for females

Jane Plunkett jane.plunkett@euroweeklynews.com

HAVING been a car owner for six years, it was a nice relief when I moved to Spain to change four wheels for two.

Granted, the car did have its perks; it was fast, comfortable and had a radio, but none of those benefits outdo my bicycle, which is also comfortable, easy to park and keeps my legs in good shape!

But most importantly, it’s the money I save not having a car that is the most rewarding.

I remember being petrified every time something was wrong with my car. “How much is it going to cost me this time?” I feared. Whereas

now with the odd puncture or brake tightening needed, I skip down to the local bike shop and never hand over more than a few euros. I don’t know or care about the price of petrol!

Interestingly, a new report reveals that cycling now has the upper hand in Europe with bike sales beating car sales across Europe. More bicycles than cars were sold last year in 26 of the European Union’s 28 members, the exceptions being Belgium and Luxembourg, according to data from the cycle industry body Coliped and the auto industry association ACEA. Car sales have been falling since the start of Europe’s economic crisis, whereas bikes have proved pretty much crisisproof with 19.7 million sold Europe-wide in 2012, according to Coliped.

And while Northern European countries are famously more into their bicycles, nowadays the traditionally more carmad Southern European countries are switching cars for bikes, too.

Here in Spain, 780,000 bikes were sold last year against 700,000 cars, while Madrid is said to be developing a new bike rental scheme with plans for a ‘green ring’ of cycle paths looping 10 kilometres around the city centre.

The number of cyclists in Spain is steadily increasing. Cycle use for everyday journeys has jumped from 17 to 30 per cent, according to Spain’s road traffic agency.

It appears the gasguzzling car may be losing some of its appeal as a status symbol, whereas with a bicycle you won’t be losing anything especially your money!

Union sackings THE UGT and CCOO unions have dismissed more than 1,000 of their employees since 2011.

They blamed reduced state subsidies and the 500,000 members they and other unions have lost since the start of the financial crisis.

Now stable RATINGS agency Moody’s has upgraded Spain’s economic outlook from negative to ‘stable’.

Good news

PEDAL POWER: Sales of bikes are outstripping cars.

THE services sector in Spain expanded by its biggest amount in October since June 2010.

Consultants Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index rose from 49.6 in October to 51.5. The services sector accounts for two-thirds of Spain’s Gross Domestic Product.

Photo courtesy IBM

Loose change

BUSINESS EXTRA

Must we keep going to court?

Q. Our house was burgled last year.

Since then we have had to make three You and the visits to the police and the court in Torremolinos. They have caught the Law in Spain burglar, a young man who is now out on

By David Searl bail. Last week we had to go to the Minors’ Court, where our burglar was to be tried. Apparently, if we don't turn up, we can be subject to a fine.

However, our burglar did not appear and the judge suspended the case so that the police could find him. This is costing us transport and taxis and time and frustration. Do we have to go back every time we are summoned or does the thief get off because he doesn't appear? It seems that we, the victims, are threatened with a fine for not appearing but it’s OK for the thief.

JA (Torremolinos) A. It is infuriating and it is unfair. I am afraid that you must indeed attend the court when you are called. And, yes, you can be fined for failing to appear.

However, even if you fail to appear, as long as the police officers who apprehended your burglar do appear, the

young man will probably not get off.

There is one thing you can do, both to ensure that you are not fined and to aid the prosecution. That is to put a plea into the court, stating your reasons for not appearing, declaring that you wish to proceed with the case, and

confirming your charges.

You probably need a lawyer to do this for you.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana & Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952-667090

PARTNERS: Bajo Bidasoa region has teamed up with IBM.

Becoming a Smarter City with the help of IBM THE Bajo Bidasoa area in the Basque region of Spain is working with computer giants IBM to use real-time data to make accurate predictions and use data in new ways to become a Smarter City The area, with a population of 78,000 people, is leading the way in mining patterns in vast quantities of diverse data, using real-time data to make accurate predictions and helping locals make the area a better place to live and work.

At the foundation of the project, IBM’s Intelligent Operations Centre software provides real-time insight into all city operations. It also powers the Smart City Centre, an integrated command centre where data is analysed and shared.

For example, city leaders can see the

correlation between water consumption and waste generation, monitor and predict the effect of bad weather on incidents within the area, or visualise the amount of resources used across water, waste management, transportation, energy and public works departments.

City leaders from the towns of Irun and Hondarribia set out to work together to improve sustainability, encourage more citizen participation and provide greater transparency.

They did this by working with technology partners IBM, Servicios de Txingudi, the local water and waste water management and street cleaning agency, and Smartland Technologies, a group of six companies including IBM Business Partner BuntPlanet.

OPINION & COMMENT

West to blame for much Third World poverty I TOO read D Blanchette’s comments on Third World poverty.

My reaction, however, in contrast to that of your correspondent Keith Hannan, (Letters, Issue 1483) was that D Blanchette was not only ill informed, but also guilty of blaming the oppressed for being oppressed.

It is the greed of the West as well as its own political elites which collude to keep much of the world’s poor in poverty.

The US in particular spends huge sums subsidising its own farmers who then flood world markets with cheap grain thus undercutting indigenous farmers and forcing them into poverty.

As long ago as 2006, the National Center For Policy Analysis reported that ‘Subsidised agriculture in the developed world is one of the greatest obstacles to economic growth in the developing world.’

Also education is indeed the quickest solution to poverty.

Here is an extract from Goal No. 3 of the UN’s 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): ‘Equal schooling for both boys and girls is the foundation for development.

‘No other policy intervention is likely to have a more positive multiplier effect on progress across all the MDGs than the education of women and girls.

‘Evidence shows a strong correlation between educating women and girls and an increase in women’s earnings, improved child and family health and nutrition, an increase in school enrolment, protection against HIV infection, higher maternal and child life expectancy, reduced fertility rates and delayed marriage.’

What looks like common sense is in fact more often than not nonsense.

Information gained from empirical evidence is a far more useful tool.

Helena McGinty, Alhaurin El Grande (Malaga)

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12 - 18 December 2013 /Mallorca

Letters YOURSAY@EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

Letters for Your Say should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com, posted to Euro Weekly News, C/Moscatel 10, P-62, Polígono Industrial, Arroyo de la Miel, 29631 Benalmadena, Málaga, Spain or faxed to 0034 952 440 887

Photographs for possible publication should be sent by email with a full caption to: photonews@euroweeklynews.com

The ‘enjoy’ tabs in the postboxes pictured are part of a promotional leaflet. So now any local criminals just need to wait a couple of weeks to see which ones are not removed to get an indication of which houses might be vacant. Thank goodness our house is always occupied. But absent owners should be worried. The product being promoted might be very good. But, come on, this must be one of the most crass bits of advertising ever. Unless you know better, of course!

Andrew Johnson (by email)

Pen to paper I HAVE watched with interest the petitions objecting to the proposed cessation of the winter fuel allowance.

However, when we lived in the UK we were advised by a civil servant that a petition is treated by the authorities as one complainant as many people sign petitions without reading them.

Far the best way is to write to your old constituency MP; any expatriate living in Spain for less than 15 years will if they apply, be returned to their last constituency for voting purposes. Point this out as well as any objections you may have.

MPs are obliged to reply to letters from constituents and if they receive large numbers it will, if nothing else, be a nuisance.

In marginal constituencies it may well be seen as a threat to their parliamentary seat.

Nothing moves an MP’s feelings more than the chance of being voted out.

You could also ask friends and relatives still resident in

WHEN YOU WRITE All letters, whether by email or post, should carry the writer’s postal address, NIE and contact number though only the name and town will be published.

Letters may also be edited.

Readers who have missed earlier correspondence can see all letters posted on:

www.euroweeklynews.com

the post office and bought a couple of packs of oblong envelopes for about €1 and transferred all my 22 little square cards into the oblong envelopes and sent them for 75 cents each.

What a saving, but how stupid! And once again it only affects foreigners.

Merry Christmas, ho ho ho.

Trilby (by email)

Not a good idea the UK to write also.

The address for all MPs is: Care of The House of Commons, SW1, London.

Lewis Rudge, Bellreguard (Valencia)

Ho, ho, ho POSTING a square Christmas card or a card in a red envelope to Europe costs €1.45.

Send the same card in a white oblong envelope and it costs 75 cents or nearly half the price.

Angry about this stupidity, I went to the shop next door to

LICENSING dogs ( Letters, Issue 1482) will mean that irresponsible owners will simply dump their dogs so only responsible owners will pay the price.

This will mean even more abandoned ones being neglected.

Many Spanish don’t have their dogs micro-chipped or neutered so how are they going to be licensed?

I have limited money but my dogs are my loyal companions and I feed them as I would any family member.

Licences would punish me even though my dogs stay in

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21

my grounds and are not a problem to anyone.

Janet Hayden, La Vinuela, (Malaga)

Movistar woes WE have been customers of Movistar/Telefonica since we came to Spain some six years ago.

It was not until we had a problem with our bank account that things went amiss.

We received a text message from them. After four days of trying we eventually spoke to them but the amount owed went from €24 up to €176 then down to €157.

When we asked for details we were told we had a dongle (a mobile internet connection). We do not have one other than the items we got with our phone.

After telling them we do not use the internet connection via our phone, still no joy.

We have tried to get more information from the internet with again no joy.

If you had a meal and got a highly inflated bill, you would want to check the bill before paying, but we can only wait and see.

Cherry Atkinson ( Letters, Issue 1482) who suggested the text message route of getting help must have the advantage of either being a fluent Spanish speaker or have access to a fluent Spanish speaker.

Unfortunately, in this respect, we are not lucky, we are just ordinary expatriates.

Linda C Walton (by email)

Second helpings YET another downside of living above a bar.

The health department, the town hall and the administrator of our urbanisation all think that there is no problem when all the cooking smells from the bar below me are pumped into my apartment through a faulty chimney.

Nobody will take any responsibility.

Any advice?

Raymond Langhorn, Vera Playa (Almeria)

The views expressed and opinions given in Letters are not necessarily those of the EWN publishers. They accept no responsibility for accuracy of information, errors, omissions or statements, and reject claims arising out of any action that a company or individual may take on the basis of information contained therein.

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E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

E

XACTLY who will feel safer when the Public Safety Act becomes law early next year?

Politicians, principally. Unauthorised demonstrations outside the national or regional parliaments could cost protesters €30,000.

They should consider themselves lucky that Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz, deafened but not chastened by roars of outrage, backtracked on the proposed €600,000.

The reduction is academic, because finding €30,000 is as impossible for most protesters as stumping up €600,000.

Public safety is the least of the public’s concerns and was placed 10th amongst Spain’s principal worries by an official CIS survey last October. Nevertheless, Fernandez Diaz’s law seeks to protect them from the dangers of ‘offences to Spain’ and its institutions.

The government, which must ride out next year’s European elections, followed by local, regional and finally general elections in 2015 might feel safer, believing itself buttressed against protest.

Instead it will be more vulnerable.

Nothing breeds protest like trying to eradicate it.

No-brainer WHATEVER trades union UGT says in Andalucia will sound like excuses, not explanations.

It is already up to its neck in the ERE scandal and now the regional government

www.euroweeklynews.com

Protecting protesters from themselves Cassandra Nash

A weekly look and not entirely impartial reaction - to the Spanish political scene

is reclaiming €1.8 million for false invoices from 2009.

The regional secretary has resigned and UGT is in the throes of an internal debate.

Should it break with the past and come clean or keep quiet and let matters continue as they are?

Merely needing to ask these questions must have father of Spanish Socialism Pablo Iglesias (and Keir Hardie) turning in their graves.

Short memories GENERAL

ALFONSO

ARMADA

died

OPINION & COMMENT Juan Carlos, whom he later named his successor.

Armada became the then prince’s secretary in 1965 but resigned or was dismissed - there are conflicting versions in 1977 as democracy galloped through Spain. Armada always wanted to be president of Spain and thought his day had come with the February 1981 coup d’état.

The coup failed, entirely thanks to the king, a man now in his 70s whose popularity has gradually waned in the intervening years.

The next time Juan Carlos is booed by the public - assuming they dare to under Fernandez Diaz’s new law - they should remember the hero’s role he played almost 33 years ago.

Better together

BACKTRACKED: Jorge Fernandez Diaz. recently, aged 93.

He was a wily monarchist, one of the teachers appointed by Franco to tutor

COVERGENCIA I UNIO needs Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya’s support to retain control of Cataluña’s regional government.

CiU now wants a joint ticket with ERC for the European elections in the belief that it will get better results if the two parties go hand in hand.

Trouble is, CiU is already two parties and Convergencia must persuade Unio less sold on separatism and none too fond of ERC - that this is a good idea.

Nor does it help that CiU wants independence only if the price is right but ERC wants it at any price.

FINANCE

EUROPEAN PRESS

www.euroweeklynews.com

12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

EWN

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New Tax Information Exchange Agreements

The UK Crown Dependencies have signed their new agreements with the UK to automatically exchange tax information. Agreements are also in progress with Spain. Spain and Portugal have agreed to strengthen automatic exchange of information on tax matters.

These types of agreements are becoming more and more common, with countries globally starting to automatically share information bilaterally and unilaterally. This kind of information sharing leaves little room for tax evasion or concealed offshore funds going forward.

Around 1,100 new Tax Information Exchange Agreements were signed from 2009.

They tend to cover exchange of information on request.

Today we are seeing new intergovernmental agreements signed where financial information on taxpayers’ assets will be automatically reported each year, regardless of whether the individual’s home country suspects tax evasion or not.

On 10th October, the Isle of Man became the first UK Crown Dependency to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the UK on automatic exchange of

By Bill Blevins, Financial Correspondent, Blevins Franks tax information. This was closely followed by Jersey and Guernsey.

Gibraltar signed an intergovernmental agreement on 21st November to improve international tax compliance with the UK. Once in effect, a wide range of financial information on UK taxpayers will be automatically shared with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) every year.

This will significantly enhance HMRC’s ability to close in on those who fail to declare offshore assets.

Often referred to as ‘UK FACTA

agreements’ or ‘son of FATCA’, these agreements are modelled on the requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), introduced by the US to ensure tax compliance of its citizens with international interests.

The Isle of Man and Guernsey already automatically share information on personal savings income with the UK and EU, under the Savings Tax Directive. Jersey has committed to start in 2015.

The new intergovernmental agreements extend the scope of automatic disclosure to include, for example, trusts and companies.

When the agreement was signed with the Isle of Man, UK Chancellor George Osborne said it was “a momentous step forward in tax transparency,” and warned: “For anyone attempting to hide their money offshore our message is clear: our resolve is stronger than ever, the net is closing in and the

world is becoming a smaller place to evade paying the taxes which are owed.”

Under the agreements, financial information on UK resident taxpayers will start to be forwarded to HMRC from January 2015. Under the reporting schedule, information for the 2014 and 2015 calendar years must be reported by 30th September 2016. Going forward, reporting will take place within nine months of the end of the year.

Disclosure facilities are available until September 2016 for UK taxpayers who have undisclosed assets and income in the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey to disclose unpaid tax liabilities to HMRC under protection from the normal penalties.

Spain and exchange of information A press release from the Spanish government on 22nd November confirmed that exchange of information agreements with the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey are in

progress. It is also working on one with Monaco.

New Spain/Portugal agreement In October, Spain and Portugal signed agreements to improve automatic exchange of information and mutual assistance on tax matters.

They target tax evasion and fraud, and focus on self-employed Spanish tax residents who work in and receive income from Portugal, fictitious tax residency in Spain, ‘phantom’ entities in Spain.

International tax planning is becoming increasingly complex. It is essential to keep up to date and only use approved and legitimate tax planning arrangements. To avoid being caught out, and ensure your assets are in the right place, seek specialist professional advice.

To keep in touch with the latest developments in the offshore world, check out the latest news on our website www.blevinsfranks.com

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Thursday BBC1/ 4:45pm Christmas Kitchen with James Martin 5:30pm Flog It! 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Keeping Britain Safe 24/7 10:00pm Christmas Supermarket Secrets 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm Question Time

BBC2/ 4:15pm Orangutan Diary 4:45pm Cagney and Lacey 5:30pm Are You Being Served?

6:05pm 'Allo, 'Allo!

6:30pm Priceless Antiques Roadshow 7:00pm Celebrity Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Great British Garden Revival 9:00pm MasterChef: The Professionals 10:00pm The Silent War 11:00pm The Best of the Sarah 11:30pm Newsnight

ITV/ 4:00pm Dickinson's Real Deal 5:00pm Show Me the Telly 6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Tonight 9:00pm Emmerdale 9:30pm You've Been Framed!

10:00pm There's Something About Susan 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:35pm The Jonathan Ross Show

CH4/ 4:10pm Countdown 5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Four in a Bed 6:30pm Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 8:55pm 4thought.tv 9:00pm George Clarke's Amazing Spaces 10:00pm British Comedy Awards 2013 12:05am Gogglebox

Friday

SATELLITE CHANNELS - SkyMoviesAction/

BBC1/ 4:45pm Christmas Kitchen with James Martin 5:30pm Flog It! 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm A Question of Sport 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Miranda 10:00pm Have I Got News for You 10:30pm Live at the Apollo 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm The Graham Norton Show

BBC2/ 4:45pm Cagney and Lacey 5:30pm Are You Being Served?

6:05pm 'Allo, 'Allo!

6:30pm Priceless Antiques Roadshow 7:00pm Celebrity Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Great British Garden Revival 9:00pm Mastermind 9:30pm Kangaroo Dundee 10:00pm Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom 11:00pm QI 11:30pm Newsnight

ITV/ 5:00pm Show Me the Telly 6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Off the Beaten Track 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm Boyzone at 20: No Matter What 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:35pm The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

CH4/ 5:15pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Four in a Bed 6:30pm Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 8:55pm 4thought.tv 9:00pm Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 10:00pm Derren Brown 11:35pm Alan Carr: Chatty Man

ITV2/

ITV2/

4:00pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:05pm The Real Housewives of New Jersey 7:00pm Dinner Date 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here Now! Crown Jewels 10:00pm The Big Christmas Reunion 11:00pm Celebrity Juice

4:00pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:05pm The Real Housewives of New Jersey 6:00pm The Real Housewives of New Jersey 7:00pm Dinner Date 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! Coming Out 10:00pm The Holiday

TV LISTING

www.euroweeklynews.com

5:20pm Sunday •Bill Murray •Dan Aykroyd •Sigourney Weaver •Harold Ramis •Rick Moranis

Saturday BBC1/ 6:30pm BBC News 6:40pm BBC London News 6:50pm Pointless 7:40pm Strictly Come Dancing 9:20pm Atlantis 10:05pm Casualty 10:55pm The National Lottery Live 11:05pm BBC News 11:25pm Match of the Day

BBC2/ 4:10pm Doctor Who Mastermind 4:40pm The Weakest Link 5:30pm Flog It! 6:30pm Tron 8:00pm A Culture Show Special 9:00pm Tron Legacy 10:55pm The Science of Doctor Who 11:55pm The Wrong Mans

ITV/ 6:05pm The Big Christmas Reunion 7:05pm ITV News London 7:15pm ITV News and Weather 7:30pm You've Been Framed!

8:00pm The Chase: Celebrity Special 9:00pm The X Factor 11:05pm The Jonathan Ross Show

CH4/ 5:00pm Come Dine with Me 7:35pm Channel 4 News 8:05pm Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 9:00pm Cornwall: Walking Through History 10:00pm Psychopath Night 11:55pm Clear and Present Danger

ITV2/ 4:00pm The Only Way is Essexmas 5:05pm I'm a Celebrity...

Get Me Out of Here Now! Trials and Tribulations 6:10pm You've Been Framed! Christmas Special 6:40pm Johnny English 8:25pm The Perfect Storm 11:05pm The Xtra Factor

Ghostbusters II (Film, 1989) Five years on from their spectacular victory over the ghoulies, the supernatural sleuths have fallen on hard times, reduced to performing at children's parties.

Sunday BBC1/ 4:45pm Christmas Supermarket Secrets 5:45pm Lifeline 5:55pm Songs of Praise 6:30pm BBC News 6:50pm BBC London News 7:00pm Countryfile 8:00pm Strictly Come Dancing 8:40pm Sports Personality of the Year 2013 11:00pm BBC News 11:15pm BBC London News 11:25pm Match of the Day 2

BBC2/ 6:05pm Flog It! 6:55pm Ski Sunday 7:40pm Sports Personality of the Year at 60 8:40pm The Great British Sewing Bee 9:40pm The Duchess 11:20pm QI XL

ITV/ 4:35pm The X Factor 6:40pm You've Been Framed!

7:05pm ITV News London 7:15pm ITV News and Weather 7:30pm The Chase: Celebrity Special 8:30pm The X Factor Results Show 10:30pm Through the Keyhole 11:30pm ITV News and Weather 11:45pm Hellboy II: The Golden Army

CH4/ 4:05pm Diary of a Wimpy Kid 6:00pm Channel 4 News 6:20pm Fred Claus 8:30pm Brtain's Killer Storms 10:00pm Homeland 11:00pm Your Highness

ITV2/ 4:30pm I'm a Celebrity...

Get Me Out of Here Now! Crown Jewels 5:30pm You've Been Framed!

6:30pm Two Weeks Notice 8:30pm Land of the Lost 10:30pm The Xtra Factor 11:30pm 2 Fast 2 Furious

Monday

Tuesday BBC1/

BBC1/

4:30pm Christmas Kitchen with James Martin 5:15pm Flog It! 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Holby City 10:00pm Last Tango in Halifax 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm The Matt Lucas Christmas Awards 12:15am Film 2013

4:30pm Christmas Kitchen with James Martin 5:15pm Flog It! 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 9:00pm The First Great Train Robbery 10:30pm Mrs. Brown's Boys 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm A Question of Sport 12:05am The League Cup Show

BBC1/

BBC2/

6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm Fight Back Britain 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Panorama 10:00pm Ripper Street 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News

4:45pm Cagney and Lacey 5:30pm Are You Being Served?

6:00pm 'Allo, 'Allo!

6:30pm Priceless Antiques Roadshow 7:00pm Celebrity Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm The Great British Sewing Bee 9:00pm The Great British Bake Off 10:00pm Pilgrimage with Simon Reeve 11:00pm Hebburn 11:30pm Newsnight

BBC2/ 6:00pm 'Allo, 'Allo!

6:30pm Priceless Antiques Roadshow 7:00pm Celebrity Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Nigellissima 9:00pm University Challenge 9:30pm Tom Kerridge Cooks Christmas 10:00pm The Choir: Sing While You Work 11:00pm Never Mind the Buzzcocks

ITV/ 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Tales From 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm A Night of Heroes: The Sun Military Awards

CH4/ 6:00pm Four in a Bed 6:30pm Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 8:55pm 4thought.tv 9:00pm Kirstie's Crafty Christmas 10:00pm Liberty of London 11:00pm Fresh Meat

ITV2/ 7:00pm Dinner Date 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm The Xtra Factor Brand new for 2013. The Xtra 10:00pm Peter Andre: My Life 11:00pm Celebrity Juice

Wednesday

ITV/ 4:00pm Dickinson's Real Deal 5:00pm Show Me the Telly 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 11:25pm ITV News and Weather 12:00am The Lockerbie Bombing

BBC2/ 4:45pm Cagney and Lacey 5:30pm Are You Being Served?

6:00pm 'Allo, 'Allo!

6:30pm Priceless Antiques Roadshow 7:00pm Celebrity Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Wartime Farm 9:00pm Food and Drink 10:00pm Tudor Monastery Farm 11:00pm The Sarah Millican Television Programme 11:30pm Newsnight 12:20am The Silent War 1:20am See Hear

ITV/ 4:00pm Dickinson's Real Deal 5:00pm Show Me the Telly 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Surprise Surprise 10:00pm Lucan 11:30pm ITV News and Weather

CH4/

CH4/

4:10pm Countdown 5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Four in a Bed 6:30pm Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 8:55pm 4thought.tv 9:00pm Location, Location, Location 10:00pm Heston's Great British Food 11:00pm Masters of Sex 12:10am Masters of Sex

4:10pm Countdown 5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Four in a Bed 6:30pm Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 8:55pm 4thought.tv 9:00pm Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners 10:00pm 24 Hours in A and E 11:00pm Gogglebox 11:45pm Jimmy Carr: Being Funny

ITV2/ 4:00pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:05pm The Xtra Factor 6:05pm The ITV2 Panto 7:45pm Funniest Ever You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm The Xtra Factor 10:00pm The Vampire Diaries 11:00pm American Pie: The Wedding

ITV2/ 4:05pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:10pm The Xtra Factor 6:15pm The ITV2 Panto 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm The Xtra Factor 10:00pm Miss Congeniality 12:15am The Only Way is Essexmas

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www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

I’m brainy, and that’s official!

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT

W

ELL, for the first time in something over 15 years, I feel somewhat overqualified to scribble this blurb. Last week, in the light of Boris Johnson’s dismal IQ test result on local radio, I completed a similar test that appeared in my favourite national paper. The result? Wait for it. I scored 22 out of 32.

The paper’s verdict for this score was as follows: ‘Congratulations superbrain - your IQ is off the charts. You’re among the chosen few, destined for a stellar career and blessed with stellar intellect.’

Obviously, with a result like that, I should be writing political comments in The Times, or perhaps ‘How to run the world’ pieces in The Guardian! Give us a break! If the test was intended to determine superbrain status or the intellect of future leaders, then we truly are in trouble. The dumbing down of our schools is now obviously manifesting itself in the adult population and frankly I find it all a bit scary.

I’ll run a couple by you; see what you think.

Q. ‘If you rearrange the letters CIFAIPC you get a kind of what? A. Country B. Animal C. Ocean.

Q. People climb me and burn me. My rings

aren’t made of gold, but do tell my age. What am I? Q. Which word is always spelt wrong?

Q. Which members of the family are defined by the crossword clue LAINWS? Get the picture? I really do despair of it all.

Ah well, it’s all a bit late for me to line up with the likes of Einstein and Socrates. I’m afraid you’ll just have to put up with my scribbling here for a while longer.

A couple of personal views this week.

Firstly, I think the 10-year prison sentence handed down to Royal Marine Alexander Blackman was a disgrace. I’m not saying that some form of retribution shouldn’t IQ TEST have been ordered, but RESULTS: to deliver a ‘Congratulations, punishment more severe than those superbrain.’ received by many rapists and civilians who murder in cold blood, is beyond belief. By this yardstick, Blair and Bush should be banged up for 1,000 years or more. Let’s hope some form of sanity prevails at his hopefully early appeal.

My second view is that if I hear of any more presents offered up to us by Ed Miliband, I’ll be looking out for him to arrive at The Commons

LEAPY LETTERS

Vote Lee I ENJOY your comments every week. Then when I have finished reading, I keep thinking why can this guy not become Prime Minister. Like most folk here in Spain I would hate to go back to the UK which has become a cesspit. UKIP must surely gain from the present unacceptable mess we are in. May my God always be with you.

Tom (By email)

More praise on a sleigh. When is this desperate party of political dinosaurs going to realise their policies are never going to work, and opposition is the very best they can expect for many a year to come? And as for Ed Balls...

Answers to the ‘Intellectual Quiz’ 1. PACIFIC 2. TREE 3. WRONG 4. INLAWS. Keep the Faith, Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com

EVERYTHING you say is true. It is a pity the UK papers don’t print your articles. Why do you not go into politics? You would make a good Prime Minister. The UK press aren’t man enough to print the truth about these people. Keep up the good work! All the best.

EI (By email)

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

Advertising Feature

Investors take the euro higher Commentary by Moneycorp

EUR The euro put in a decent week, rising by a cent against the US dollar and by a cent and a half against sterling. The economic data from Euroland were no great shakes but the European Central Bank president reassured investors that it would only introduce a negative deposit rate ‘in extreme circumstances’. Investors decided that circumstances were far from extreme and they took the euro higher.

USD Although the dollar managed to add half a cent against sterling it had to give up one cent to the euro. The

Clarisse Musselwhite is Moneycorp’s Account Manager for Mallorca

She can be contacted on Tel: +34 902 887 243 Mobile: +34 687 932 472 Email:mallorca@moneycorp.com

902887243 mallorca@moneycorp.com US economic data were healthy enough in general, showing continued growth in manufacturing and services and faster expansion for the economy as a whole. But the employment data, though good, were not as punchy as

investors had hoped and they weighed on the dollar at the end of the week.

CAD The Loonie was virtually unchanged on the week against sterling and it lost a quarter of a cent to the US dollar. The Canadian economic data showed a small trade surplus in October and unemployment was steady at 6.9% with a net gain of 22k

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jobs. The only real disappointment was the Ivey purchasing managers’ index, which was five points lower than investors had expected and down by nine points from the previous month.

AUD The Aussie had a slightly better week, losing half a cent to sterling and the US dollar. The economic data delivered a mixed bag, with retail sales rising and overall economic performance falling short of expectations. The real problem came when the Reserve Bank of Australia said: “The Australian dollar... is still uncomfortably high.” It was not the first such comment from the RBA but it could not be ignored.

NZD The NZ dollar more than recovered the losses it had incurred the previous week, strengthening by one cent against the US dollar and by three against sterling. A combination of factors contributed to its performance; the 4.7% quarterly increase in New Zealand manufacturing sales, the disappointing US employment report and China’s biggest monthly trade surplus in nearly five years.

When China’s economy does well investors assume New Zealand's will too.

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www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

Confusing holiday rentals Vicki Mcleod

Family Matters

I

t is one of our favourite pastimes: moaning about governments and people in power, sometimes with good reason. And sometimes we’re complaining about something which we’ve actually completely misunderstood and that can make us look a tad silly.

Depending on your point of view, the most recent EPORE meeting was a complete revelation or another reason to have a pop at the government: we were talking about the very confused subject of Holiday Rentals. EPORE had gathered together a representative from the Ministry of Tourism, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a journalist and a lawyer. I doubt that the lawyer, Javier Blas, is ever short of work as he completely blew me away with his clear explanation

of the current laws (note the plural) and how they can be interpreted.

So, is it legal or not to rent out your apartment to a holiday maker? According to Sr. Blas from Illeslex Abogados, it can be legal, if you follow a few pointers. If you choose to use a Seasonal Rental contract you will see that all property owners have the right to rent out their properties doing so in full compliance of the law. You can rent for a short period: a week, or a longer period: a couple of

months, or longer even than that. As the landlord you can advertise the property for rent through local estate agents or online through European intermediary websites such as Homelidays or Homeway, but you can’t market your property through tour operators offering touristic services. As the landlord you don’t have to have civil liability insurance if you rent with a Seasonal Rental Contract, and you should be declaring your rental income but you don’t have to charge or

include a clause stating that no tourist services are provided.

And this is how to protect HOLIDAY yourself as a property owner, RENTALS: the legal presumption is that Property tourist rental exists when it owners are cannot be proved that the advised to look contract has been made in into the various accordance to the Law of Urban laws before Rents. As soon as you step renting to outside of these parameters holidaymakers. you are into the territory of the hated and despised Tourist/Holiday Rental contract and that falls under the General Tourism Law, and you will need to comply with that law. pay IVA on it.

It’s much less of a grey issue But, and here’s the big “but”, you cannot offer any “services” when you hear Sr Blas and by that they mean, speaking, (I have to admit to a cleaning, reception, shopping bit of crush on him by the end etc: nothing, zip zero, nada. of the evening). Well done to And what do you do in this EPORE for yet another excellent with very good circumstance? You can leave a event list of recommended cleaners information. They are the etc. and let the tenant make organisation to thank for the their own mind up about it. recent capitulation on the Javier says that it in each case Foreign Residents’ card. If you of a rental the landlord and the haven’t already joined up then I tenant must sign a Seasonal would urge you to do it, pop Rental Contract and that within over to http://epore.org and that contract it is important to get in touch with them.

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

Getting ready for a bigger Xmas spend SPANIARDS will spend more this Christmas, a study carried out by professional services company Deloitte has revealed.

The average Spanish family is to spend €671 in Christmas shopping this year, as opposed to the €659 spent in 2012.

The study claims that Spanish people have become practical consumers who look for good value products at competitive prices.

Half the people surveyed said they will buy presents taking into account the price, with clothes, books and perfumes top of the shopping list, closely followed by high tech items, which are especially popular amongst young people.

Most of the people, six out of 10, will buy their presents before December 15, whereas only 7 per cent claimed they would wait until the sales in January.

Of those who claim they will spend more this Christmas, 40 per cent will do so to “take the financial crisis out of their heads.”

Meanwhile, 59 per cent of the people who will spend less this Christmas claim it’s because their income has dropped.

Department stores and specialised groups are the favourite options for Spaniards to buy their Christmas presents from, with 61 per cent of people choosing them.

As for food, supermarkets remain the favourite places to buy food for Christmas, being the choice of 67 per cent of Spanish consumers.

The study showed up rise in the use of the Internet to search and compare prices.

However, most of the people will buy in actual shops in order to 'feel' the product and receive professional advice.

In addition, the study claims Spanish consumers will use social networking websites not only to get information, but also to share their own experiences.

12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

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CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Gift-bringers in Europe other than Santa and Three Kings THE Christkind is the traditional Christmas giftbringer in regions of Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, parts of Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, France, and parts of Poland.

The Christkind is a sprite-like child, usually depicted with blond hair and angelic wings. Sometimes the Christ Child is interpreted as a specific angel bringing the presents, as it appears in some processions together with an image of little Jesus Christ.

A tomte or nisse is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore believed to take care of a farmer’s home and children and protect them from misfortune. The tomte was often imagined as a small, elderly man with a full beard, dressed in the everyday clothing of a farmer.

In the 1840s the farm’s nisse became the bearer of Christmas presents in Denmark. In 1881, a Swedish magazine published Viktor Rydberg’s poem ‘Tomten’, which featured a painting by Jenny Nyström of this traditional Swedish mythical character which she turned into the white-bearded, red-capped friendly figure associated with Christmas ever since.

Joulupukki is a Finnish Christmas figure, the name literally means Christmas goat. The Joulupukki is said to wear red leather pants and a fur-trimmed red

leather coat and is very much like Santa Claus.

However, instead of sneaking in through the chimney Joulupukki knocks on the front door and asks: “Onko täällä kilttejä lapsia?” (Are there any well-behaved children here?)

In Italian folklore, Befana is an old woman who visits children on January 5 and fills their socks with sweets and presents if they are good or a lump of coal if they are bad.

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A warm welcome at Bar Rosita’s As we come to the end of 2013, it's been another successful year for us here at Bar Rosita's! We like to think every night at Rosita's is a bit special, but some of the highlights have been: Nit De Foc – an amazing night in Calvia village and Rosita's partied till the early hours; a fantastic charity night for Schools for Kenya raising €500; the Spooktacular Halloween fancy dress party saw the bar turned into a dungeon of frightful fun; the best fish, chip and mushy peas on the Island, served every Friday; BBQ nights throughout the summer with live music on the terrace, these nights welcomed The Mandrills to Rosita's; and Sally's amazing Sunday Roast, a winter favourite, especially with an open fire and heated terrace to make for lovely cosy winter days and nights.

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Tony and Ann at Bar Rosita’s And the best part of it: 2013 is not over yet! The Island may quieten down during the festive period, but over at Rosita's, the fun just keeps coming...

December 14 is our infamous Rosita's Christmas Party with live music from Tony Paris and the Mandrills with a free amazing

buffet and much more.

On Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, we'll party like we always do, with live music, Christmas nibbles and a Christmas shot!

And we've already started planning some treats for 2014.

We'll continue with all our old

favourites and we've got some new additions to the menu, including Saturday night Tapaoke! For all you Brits, this isn't the pudding you had with your school dinner, we're bringing Karaoke back to Rosita's! Join Tony Paris and try our tantalising tapas...

So come and join us at Rosita's, and whether it's for a quick coffee, a cheeky beer, or a hearty Sunday roast, we promise you a great atmosphere where the fire, and the welcome, is always warm.

Tony and Ann would like to thank all of their regulars for helping to make Rosita's such a great place to eat, drink, dance (and work!) during 2013, and look forward to seeing all their customers, old and new, over the festive period and well into 2014.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all.

To find out more call 662 204 859, see their Facebook page www.facebook.com/rositas.calvia or follow them on Twitter, BarRosita’sCalvia@BarRositaCalvia

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

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CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Other Christmas figures in Spain IN Spain, gifts are traditionally brought for children by the Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings or Three Magi); however, in different regions of Spain there are other figures.

In Cantabria, the Esteru is a friendly woodcutter who brings gifts on Christmas Day. In the Basque Country and Navarra, the Olentzero is a coal merchant who comes down from the mountains with a sack full of gifts. Children write to him asking for gifts which appear in their homes on Christmas morning. There are also parades with the figures of the Olentzero; in many cases those who dress as the character ask for money for charity.

In Cataluña, the Tio de Nadal is a large log which is put in the house and ‘fed’ from December 8. When Christmas comes, children are allowed to beat the log, which then ‘poops’ gifts and sweets.

TETEGIL FLICKR

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TIO DE NADAL: Logs are brought into homes and ‘fed’.

The Anguleru in Asturias, introduced in 2008, is an eel catcher as this is one of the traditional trades of the area. In Galicia, the Apalpador, also a coal merchant, comes into town on December 24 or 31 to touch children’s bellies to see if they have eaten enough during the year. He leaves them chestnuts, gifts

and wishes them a year full of happiness and food.

In Ecija, Sevilla, there is a similar character the ‘tientapanzas’. In this case, the character comes to check children’s bellies to make sure they have eaten and informs the Three Kings, so they can decide whether or not they get any gifts.

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

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Advertising Feature

Tease your taste buds at Savannah SAVANNAH CAFE-BAR, located in Puerto Portals, is one of the best restaurants and chill out cafes you can find on the Island.

They have a great terrace where clients can enjoy the best sunset views with an excellent music and ambiance that really represents the essence of the island.

There is a great variety of meals for everyone and for every time of the day.

Savannah offers breakfasts, tapas, Mediterranean special meals, cocktails, sangria and champagne.

Traditional home cooked daily winter warmer specials are in this season, such as steak pie with mashed potatoes, vegetables and gravy, Hungarian goulash or their Friday fish specials. On Sundays, lunch comes with a choice of two meats with the main course for €8.50 or an additional starter or dessert for €12.50.

TASTY TREATS at Savannah Cafe Bar Take away available. Booking is always recommended.Come visit and enjoy one of the best café-bars on the island!

Opening times: Mon-Sat: 8am to 9pm Sun: 9.30am to 5pm

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CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

What’s a good present to get your loved one this year?

• PlayStation 4 PlayStation 4 is the desired gift. It has sold out in every country. It comes with a new generation of graphics, online community, and a new controller with a tactile panel built-in, at a recommended price of €399.

As Christmas fast approaches the big question is what to get for your loved ones. Here the Euro Weekly News takes a look at the top 10 gift ideas...

• iPhone 5S It is no surprise to see an iPhone as one of gifts written on many Christmas wish lists. Apple’s recent entry in their phone family comes with an upgraded rear camera able to record videos at 120fps and the newest fingerprint

security system button.

Prices start at €699 for the 16GB model.

• iPad Air Making a powerful processor and packing it in the thinnest and lightest tablet on the market seemed impossible right now, but Apple has done it in the fifth generation of the iPad. iPad Air comes with the powerful A7 chip

capable of multitasking and the best video games graphics for a starting price of €479 for the 16GB model.

• Kindle Paper White E-Books have revolutionised the world of literature thanks to products like Amazon’s Kindle. The newest Kindle Paper White offers a clear ink technology that allows users to read it as if it were a paper book, with Amazon claims, much less eyestrain than on a tablet PC. Storing more than 1,000 books and a battery that can go eight weeks between charges, users can take their Kindle anywhere. Kindle Paper White is available for €129.

• Nespresso One of the most desired gifts for coffee lovers.

Nespresso offers different models like Pixie, U, Essenza, Maestria, Citiz and Lallisima+ at the starting price of €100.

• Bluetooth Showerhead If you like to sing in the shower then this Bluetooth enabled showerhead and loudspeaker is the gadget

WISHED FOR: Everyone wants a PlayStation 4. for you. The Moxie showerhead + wireless speaker delivers up to seven hours of music, news and more by pairing wirelessly with your device enabled with Bluetooth technology. Kohler offers it for €150.

• USB Led Beverage cooler The USB Mini Fridge can keep a cool beverage ready to drink at all times.

It holds a single 330ml can, and is illuminated from the blue LED inside the fridge. A built-in cooling plate quickly drops to its lowest operating temperature within five minutes after being plugged in. It does not require batteries. Several brands offer similar items for about €20.

• Man of Steel DVD/Blu-ray Superman’s latest movie, is the perfect gift for children and superhero lovers. Now available on DVD and Blu-ray for €10/€20 each.

• Alex Ferguson’s Biography A great choice for football fans. Recommended price €15.

• Nintendo 3DS XL Not forgetting the youngest members of the family, thanks to classic video games for all ages like Super Mario, Pokemon X & Y, The Legend of Zelda or Donkey Kong, the Nintendo 3DS in its three available models (3DS €149, 3DS XL €199 and 2DS for €129) it’s the right choice for the children this Christmas.

FOR COFFEE LOVERS: Nespresso offers a range of models.

RISTMAS SPECIAL

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Christmas lottery in Spain PREPARE to see people glued to television screens on December 22 for Spain often comes to a standstill as the Christmas lottery draw results are announced.

As children from the San Ildefonso school, Madrid’s oldest, draw numbers starting at 8.30am at the Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) in the capital, the nation will watch and listen.

There will be 24,486,400 prizes, from the ‘vuelta’ where people get their money back for having a FESTIVE DRAW: People will be glued to their TV screens on December 22 as the certain number, to the big prize, Christmas lottery results are announced.

El Gordo.

Each ticket (individual number) economic downturn, costs €200, and each ‘decimo’ syndicates are Christmas (10th of a ticket) €20, these being common with families, lottery than women. the most popular. friends - even villages - buying According to the same study, Since July, punters ranging tickets, splitting the cost and from wealthy businessmen to sharing the winnings. sales outlets, tickets are sold while women prefer even work syndicates, from This year the total prize money in the street and online, with numbers, men prefer odd.

Madrid, Cataluña and Andalucia housewives keen for a change of will be €2.24 billion out of a total prices charged often slightly luck, to ardent gamblers, have revenue of €3.2 billion. higher than €20 once are the regions were more tickets have been sold as of October 23, been investing in Christmas The lottery organisation pays commissions have been added. lottery tickets. back 70 per cent in prize money, A study of the gambling habits according to the National With ticket prices high, given with a €4 million prize for El of Spaniards carried out by lottery Lotteries Authority (Loterias y the state of most people’s Gordo. website Ventura24 has revealed Apuestas del Estado).

Meanwhile, Castilla Leon, La finances, especially in the present As well as at the official lottery men spend more money on the

Rioja and Asturias are the regions where people have spent the most on Christmas lottery tickets.

The first draw under the ‘Christmas lottery’ name was officially held on December 23, 1982.

But 80 years earlier, in 1812, the current Spanish lottery was introduced by the Cortes de Cadiz, the country’s legislative body, to increase state income.

El Gordo prize money has touched people from all walks of life. In 1930, as the world sank deeper into the Great Depression, part of the year’s main 30million-peseta prize went to a garage owner and his mechanics, who had each chipped in 22 cents to gain today’s equivalent of about €1,200 each.

In 2008, a bar in Soria, north of Madrid, sold all 1,950 of the third prize tickets, spreading €97 million among customers, family and friends.

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CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Rute in Cordoba - a sugar and chocolate wonderland NEMOMEMINI FLICKR

A WINTER chocolate wonderland awaits visitors to the small town of Rute, in Cordoba on the mainland.

With fewer than 11,000 inhabitants, the town is famous for making traditional Spanish cakes and sweets and the anise liqueur which is often given to visitors at Christmas along with the cakes.

More importantly, it has something which is unique in Spain: a Nativity scene (Belen) made entirely of chocolate. Made by the Galleros cake and chocolate factory, it can be visited until January 5. This year it is a replica of the city of Jaen,

NATIVITY SCENE: made entirely of chocolate

with streets, temples, characters and scenes of life in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus. It uses 1,400 kilos of white and dark chocolate and took four months to complete

by seven master confectioners.

Also at Galleros, is a museum of chocolate figures, which includes famous personalities like the Spanish Royal Family.

For more information visit www.galleros artesanos.com or call 957 538 072.

While in the town, also plan a visit to the Anise Museum, where you can learn about the history of the liqueur and how it is made. Try also the Mantecado Museum, to see how the traditional Spanish Christmas shortbread ‘mantecado’ is made.

In addition, it is well worth visiting an exhibition of the most famous monuments in Andalucia and the rest of the world, all made in sugar and chocolate, as well as life-size figures of Spanish and worldwide celebrities.

For more information visit www.laflorderute.es

OPINION & COMMENT

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Forget the Xmas gifts - it’s all about me!

Nora Johnson

Breaking Views A Costa del Sol resident for a number of years, Nora is the author of psychological suspense and crime thrillers. To comment on any of the issues raised in her column, go to www.euroweeklynews.com/columnists/ norajohnson

ACCORDING to recent press reports about Amazon UK sales records being broken both on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we’re maybe shopping more for ourselves than for others when we’re out Christmas gift-buying! But is this really such a recent phenomenon?

There was this kid I read about whose dad bought his wife a spade one Christmas. Worse, he wrapped it up and left it under the tree for weeks prior to the big day, without making any effort to disguise the fact that he’d put some flash wrapping paper on a gardening tool.

It sat there until Christmas morning.

He then explained to her: “You really need to do something about the garden and at least this way you don’t have to buy your own spade - after all, I’m only thinking of you, dear!” At least she had something to bury him with after he’d eaten the poisoned prawn cocktail.

nt one for gardening?

GARDEN SPADE: Do you wa

Which reminds me of other times past.

One friend’s dad once got his wife an electric saw. To this day I’m amazed they didn’t have a repeat of the Texas chainsaw massacre. Another friend’s dad bought his wife a rolling pin as a hint.

Mistake, in more ways than one.

Although I’m not sure that tops the time my own father came home with a Dyson for Mum on her birthday. Or these Dear Santa letters from hopeful kids: “Please give me a big fat bank account and a slim body. And please, don’t mix those two up like you did last year!”

Or perhaps an electric saw?

“Please text my dad - he has my whole list.” “And if you bring presents, bring batteries!”

Or the case of my best friend’s motherin-law who once gave her a blouse that she’d bought much earlier that year on holiday in Spain. The blouse itself was OK, although neither her style nor size, and had evidently come from a range of clothing for the much fuller-figured lady.

I don’t recall what the name of the original Spanish range was but the label read ‘Fat Beauty’. She’s received M&S vouchers ever since.

PS Just heard on the radio this morning about the husband who’s bought his Mrs a set of windscreen wipers! Oh, err!

Nora Johnson’s thrillers Retribution, Soul Stealer, The De Clerambault Code (www.nora-johnson.com) available from Amazon (€0.89;£0.77) and iBookstore.

Profits to Cudeca.

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Looking after a new baby UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has unveiled a plan for new parents to share leave. After spending the first two weeks off work, a mother could then split up to 50 weeks’ leave between herself and her partner.

RETIRED Bob and Angela Davie, who lived on the Costa Blanca for nine years but have now moved back to Somerset, welcomed the plans.

Bob recalled he had to take two weeks of his annual leave when his sons were born. He said: “I think parents should be able to split it.” His wife was happy to stay at home with the children but said nowadays in a lot of families the women have a better job so it would be better financially for women to go

OPINION & COMMENT

ANN: Up to parents to decide.

We asked people in the street if they thought it old fashioned that only mothers stayed at home to look after babies and what benefits or drawbacks they saw in the plan.

STREET TALK

back to work. “I think as long as the child has one parent at home it is fine and fathers have a much more active role,” she remarked.

Costa Blanca airport worker Kara Blackstone, aged 28, doesn’t have children but would welcome the move. “I think it would help stop workplace discrimination against women of childbearing age. I have previously worked in HR departments and, although they say it doesn’t happen, I have seen women’s applications not taken as far as they should for concern they’ll be off having kids,” she said.

Jill Austin, retired, who lives in Rambla de Oria, Almeria, could see the benefits and drawbacks of the plan. She said: “It is not old fashioned that mothers stay at home. The benefits are that it gives both parents the chance to bond with the child and they are free to make a choice of when to take the leave.

BOB & ANGELA: Would welcome flexible maternity leave.

The drawback would be the problems it could cause for employers.”

And Ann Corry, also retired, who lives in Saliente, Almeria, agreed about the benefits. She said: “No, it is not old fashioned for a mother to stay at home. But it is up to the parents to decide.

The benefit is the father can stay at home, as my son is doing. I can’t see any real drawbacks to the plan.”

JILL: Not old fashioned.

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OPINION & COMMENT

The Macchiaioli group of artists Peter Fieldman London-born journalist and author, Peter spends his time between Paris and Madrid. His novel ‘1066 The Conquest’ available on Amazon or www.1066TheConquest.com

www.pfieldman.blogspot.com

THE MACCHIAIOLI: Died before their art became recognised.

I

N the mid 19th century while Giuseppe Garibaldi was engaged in military campaigns to unite the Italian states as a single nation, a group of young Florentine artists began meeting in the Café Michelangiolo in Florence.

Among them were Giovanni Fattori, Telemaco Signorini, Giuseppe Abbati, Vincenzo Cabianca, Giovanni Boldini, Odoardo Borrani, Cristiano Banti, Silvestro Lega and Raffaello Sernesi.

They spent their time debating art and politics, as passionate about their art as the social and political events at a turbulent moment in Italy’s history.

They introduced a new style of painting - impressionist realism - and became known as the Macchiaioli, a name derived from the Italian word macchia, which referred to the way they used patches of colour and sketchy

brushwork in their compositions. Many of their works are in small horizontal formats using wood rather than canvas support, reflecting the Florentine art of the renaissance period.

They were often invited to stay at the estate at Castiglioncello, owned by the critic and collector Diego Martelli, where they were able to take advantage of the sunshine and clear skies of Tuscany, painting landscapes and rural scenes in the villages, the hillsides lined with poplar trees and along the coast.

Several of the Macchiaioli artists

volunteered to fight in the wars of independence at a time when military service and sacrifice were glorified. They took part in military campaigns and important battles at Magenta, Palermo, Volturno, Varese and Solferino. Their personal experience gave the artists the opportunity to record battle scenes vividly with panoramic views and portraits of soldiers in action.

Solferino found its place in history as the last battle where monarchs led their armies, and which led a Swiss observer, Jean Henri Dunant, shocked by the

suffering of the wounded, to campaign for the establishment of the International Red Cross and the Geneva Convention.

The Café Michelangiolo opened in Florence in 1848 in a street now called Via Cavour. The original café no longer exists but today a plaque on the wall of 21 Via Cavour commemorates the site as the birthplace of the Macchiaioli movement. Despite their influence during the latter part of the 19th century, most of the Macchiaioli died in relative obscurity before their art became recognised. ©peterfieldman

OPINION & COMMENT

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Orwell’s life lessons in Spain Bruce Walbran AMERICANA Bruce - a former UK career linguist - has studied national history and culture for years. A Spanish resident for two decades, he lives in Alfaz del Pi, near Benidorm.

AS far as 20th Century writers go George Orwell is easily one of the most influential.

This is mainly due to his determination to take on social injustices. To do this he realised he had to fully immerse himself in the lives and lifestyles of those who were being unjustly treated .

In his late 20s he spent months living on the roads and in doss houses to better acquaint himself with the lot of the poor and the dispossessed, recounting his experiences in ‘Down and out in Paris and London.’

In the industrial north he lodged with mining families and factory workers in order to graphically document the squalor in which the working classes lived during the 1930’s.

He recounted his experiences in the book, 'The Road to Wigan Pier', a clearly written political discourse on the futile nature of life on the bottom tier of an industrial society.

But it was his bitter-sweet experiences in Spain which probably had the greatest effect on the then 33-year-old writer.

Orwell arrived in Barcelona five months after the civil war had started. He had intended to write newspaper articles but was swept up by the revolutionary atmosphere and joined the militia.

In his book, ‘Homage to Catalonia’ published two years later, he wrote of his first impressions; the contented and hopeful nature of the people of Barcelona who had effectively socialised their city. But it went tragically awry. Orwell had joined the newly-formed POUM which was a Marxist faction of the republican army. Its ideology was one of

TOUGH TIMES: Orwell saw it all. socialist revolution for all the workers of the world, not just Spain; and its appeal in the primary stages of the war spread quickly.

Unfortunately for the POUM the main foreign, financial backer of the republican cause was Uncle Joe Stalin and worldwide social revolution was the last thing on his mind. The Soviet Union needed investment and trade deals from the western capitalist democracies to industrialise. It had to distance itself from any idea of Marxist-based revolution, anathema to capitalism. It could not be seen to be providing financial and material aid to the Republic while the Republic contained ‘troublesome’ elements within its ranks.

So it wasn’t long before the POUM, along with anarchist groups, was denounced. This led to in-fighting, especially in Barcelona, where supposed republican comrades spent weeks shooting at each other.

Orwell saw it all. From the heady days of workers’ equality to the tragedy of betrayal brought on by pressure from the Soviet Union, the so-called socialist utopia that was, despite its initial ideals, more interested in capitalist trade than communist revolution.

He satirised this beautifully in ‘Animal Farm’ but it was in ‘1984’ where he most powerfully exposed the criminality in communism, creating a chilling dystopia where even thinking thoughts that were contrary to the interests of the Party was a crime; where everybody was watched; where war was continual, and where a tiny, ruling elite controlled all aspects of life.

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FEATURE

The dark side of the English Channel Mike Walsh Mike Walsh. Based in Mediterranean Spain, is an international journalist, author and professional writer.

I

HAVE long suspected that Europeans and the British are far more than fish and chips apart.

Are those who retire to Europe better Europeans than those we leave behind? Are we returning to our roots? Most of England’s people can trace their lineage back to European ancestors.

However, many keep their Anglo-Saxon roots firmly fixed in what was once Celtic soil. As far as mainland Europe is concerned there is an ‘us and them’ detachment about Little Englanders.

To them, Spain appears to be a holiday theme park along the lines of the other one in Florida. Most British visitors enjoy their holidays then add, ‘but I couldn’t live here.’

Was it ever thus? During Queen Victoria’s reign it was commonly thought civilisation stopped at the English Channel. Any illfated person born on the far side of Dover’s lapping shoreline was regarded as ‘Johnny Foreigner.’ An oft repeated phrase was: “He’s a foreigner, ‘eave ‘alf a brick at him.”

My Great Grandmother would be as

EUROPEANS: Far more than fish and chips apart from the British. familiar with the Napoleonic Wars as we are to World War Two. Legend has it that a monkey on board a passing French ship, for entertainment purposes dressed in military uniform, survived the ship’s sinking on England’s east coast.

Soon afterwards Hartlepool’s alarmed citizenry discovered the shivering creature.

These worthy folk had been forewarned about the diabolical intentions of the French. Having little desire to speak in such lingo the beachcombers decided the hapless monkey to be a French spy.

The doomed monkey was duly questioned and its fate decided. At the close of the improvised trial, the hapless

creature was hanged from the cobble mast of a nearby fishing smack.

Such anti-European prejudice was set to continue. The beastly Germans, it was said, passed poisoned sweets to children during the Great War. Dachshund dogs were stoned and in 1939, the Press depicted the same breed of dog with swastikas crudely drawn on their backs.

Is mainstream media responsible for antiEuropeanism? On November 21 the worst imaginable human tragedy in Northern Europe struck. Fifty-four shoppers were crushed to death when a Canadian designed, German built supermarket collapsed in Latvia’s capital. Riga is roughly the length of Britain away from England.

The indifference displayed by British media was grotesque, its disdain for all things European laid bare. It was day two before many papers reported the story. I first heard of the scale of the calamity on Facebook and Russian media.

A comparatively minor event in America, a storm, a mall shooting or unusual murder is given far greater coverage. The UK media hangs on every word stemming from Congress whilst Europe remains the dark side of the channel. Neither European nor American, has Britain lost its identity and if so where lies its future?

HEALTH & BEAUTY

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ealth & beauty H TO READ MORE VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.EWNLIFESTYLE.COM

Ask the Optician: How does diabetes affect the eyesight?

By Andrés Román Romero, Store Director from Specsavers Opticas Santa Ponça THERE are 171 million diabetes sufferers worldwide.

Unfortunately, due to the increase in obesity, this is a growing problem throughout Europe and diabetic retinopathy is a common cause of blindness and partial sight.

Q. How can diabetes affect my eyes?

A. Diabetes affects the small blood vessels and capillaries of the body. The walls of these vessels can develop small bulges (microaneurysms) and become ‘leaky’.

Diabetic changes can occur in the

blood vessels at the back of the eye; when diabetes results in these changes, it is referred to as diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes can also have other ocular pathological effects including cataracts and retinal detachments. Severe changes, if left untreated, can result in blindness.

Q. How can these changes be identified?

A. A symptom of diabetic retinopathy developing is blurry vision which can often come and go throughout the day. If you experience this issue get an eye test right away.

Haemorrhages (blood leaking out of the vessels) and leaking fluid (oedema) can sometimes be detected by an eye examination.

Spanish company works on mattress to reduce baby cot death DIFFERENT organisations from Spain, England and Belgium are working together on a new research project with European funding, focused on developing a smart cot mattress, in a bid to reduce sudden infant death.

The project ‘Baby Sleep Care’ is working on an active prevention mattress that is able to predict respiratory problems in the baby while sleeping and act accordingly.

The European Sleep Institute (ESCI), the

Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia (IBV), the Paediatric Unit of Chiron Hospital of Valencia and Mattresses Delax are

leading Europe’s largest investment in innovation applied to the reduction of sudden infant death.

The project also involves British technology companies, Belgian advanced PROJECT: To reduce cot death.

fabrics companies and paediatric research associations.

Q. How can I reduce my risk of suffering vision loss?

A. The better the diabetes is controlled, the less likely vision issues will occur. However, the longer the patient has been diabetic, the greater the chances of eye disease.

Q. Can the damage be treated?

A. The sooner the problem is identified, the easier it can be treated. However, even if it has progressed often the affected vessels can be cauterised by laser to reduce the damage.

To book an eye test or find your nearest store visit specsavers.es

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

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Advertising feature

EVER felt in need of a change, a new challenge or the desire to embrace that mid life crisis that suddenly presents itself? Well, any of the above applies to Howard and Vanessa of the new state of the art Santa Ponsa Dental Practice!

Having run a very successful practice in the South West of the UK for the last ten years, they felt that they could bring their skills, enthusiasm, honesty and friendly outgoing personalities to benefit the oral health of Mallorca.

“Good oral health care plays a big part in your overall health,” she says.

“Research shows that bacteria from the mouth can travel widely throughout the body so regular dental examinations and professional cleaning are not only helping to keep your teeth and gums healthy but having a positive influence on your general wellbeing. In addition, anyone who has been unlucky to experience toothache once, would

PHOTO: Warwick Upton.

The value of a smile… priceless

ALWAYS WELCOME at the Santa Ponsa Dental Practise surely be keen to avoid a further episode!”

In addition to preventive procedures,

the practice offers all the latest cosmetic and aesthetic dentistry techniques such as dental implants, white fillings, tooth

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The whole practice team is dedicated to making its patients feel as comfortable as possible. “We are very aware that its nobody’s favourite place to come so we do our utmost to make sure that your visit is a pleasant, positive and almost, dare we say it, enjoyable experience!”

Looking forward to the dentist?

Imagine that.

For a limited period, the practice is offering a fantastic discount for new patients. An extensive new patient examination including x-rays for just €40. www.santaponsadental.com Contact on 971 694 071.

Four of the best ways to stay healthy over Christmas and the New Year

New calculator can reveal ‘real’ age

CHRISTMAS and New Year celebrations for many mean mince pies, turkey and maybe a bit too much to drink.

News about people gaining weight during the holidays is a recurrent theme at this time of the year. A recent study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that

A NEW calculator claims to reveal how ‘old’ people’s bodies really are by taking into account their lifestyle, diet and even mood.

The ‘Vitality Age Calculator’ developed by PruHealth, also reveals the measures that could reduce ‘body age.’ It was created as part of the Britain’s Healthiest Company survey which looked at employee health of nearly 10,000 people.

The survey found that one in five UK workers were found to have a Vitality Age more than eight years

people who overdo the turkey, puddings and mince pies are (surprise surprise) likely to gain two kilos during the holidays. Not surprisingly the more obese are likely to put on the most weight.

Here are four steps to

TURKEY: Don’t eat too much.

avoid gaining weight by counter-acting it with exercise, plus a few extra tips. While people should enjoy the food during the holiday they should return to their normal routine the next day with an easy run or gym work-out.

A recent review by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that the longer it takes people to get back to their normal

exercise routines, the more their enthusiasm for workouts is dulled.

Instead of putting their exercise programme on hold during the holidays people should get their training out of the way in the morning, so they don’t feel tired and drained in the evenings.

A study by Appalachian State University showed that vigorous morning workouts helped average people burn an extra 190 calories over the next 14 hours on top of the 500 calories burned during the workout.

People should set themselves up for party time by having the right food while waiting for the main event. They should consume ‘smart’ snacks like fruit and nuts which are at least good for you by having fibre, vitamins and proteins, and keep away from chocolates and sweets which are filled with ‘empty calories.’

older than their actual age with many having seven years added to their age for not exercising.

For example, a 30-yearold woman who is 5’4” tall, weighs a healthy 9st (57 kilos), exercises four times a week, eats a good diet and drinks seven units of alcohol a week, has a body age of 30.

Take out the exercise and this jumps to 32.

Add 10 cigarettes a day and 20 units of alcohol a week (around two bottles of wine) and this rises again to 35.

BODY AGE: Depends on your lifestyle, diet and mood

46

E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 /Mallorca

CROSSWORDS

www.euroweeklynews.com

Time Out EURO WEEKLY’S SPACE FOR YOU TO TAKE A BREAK, BE INFORMED AND ENJOY A CHALLENGE

Mallorca weather

British Olympic Diver Tom Daley has revealed he is in a relationship with a man.

NEW ON DVD

MADDOCKS’ VIEW ON LIFE

for next 7 days

The Conjuring The Conjuring tells the true story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, world renowned paranormal investigators.

When the Perron family experience strange goings-on and are terrorised by a dark presence in their secluded farmhouse, they enlist the help of paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine. As they investigate, however, the couple begin to realise that, despite their expertise, they may not be equipped to deal with such a violent and foreboding evil.

Starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson.

Directed by James Wan. Runtime 112 minutes. Rated 15.

TODAY

ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA

CALA MILLOR

INCA

CALVIA

CALA d’OR

PALMA ANDRATX

LLUCMAJOR MAGALLUF

ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA

TOMORROW CALA MILLOR

INCA

CALVIA

CALA d’OR

PALMA ANDRATX

LLUCMAJOR

A chance lost in the past presents itself again but wonʼt be too easy. Holding back just a little makes you more desirable.

AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) You realise this week how liberating it is to share your thoughts and feelings with someone close. It is not always easy to do this, until you realise everyone has them.

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) After a relaxed weekend, it might prove difficult to take up the reins of work again. When a challenge is issued, your natural stubbornness comes to the fore.

PISCES (February 20 - March 20) Time is precious this week because you are in demand.

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) With a mind as sharp as a needle, you spin through the week, weaving your own charming

10-Star Quiz

IF ONLY 1. For which 1981 film did actor Henry Fonda win his only Oscar?

2. Only You was which British a cappella vocal group’s only UK number one hit single?

3. What was the title of Anna Sewell’s only published novel?

4. Which British jockey won his only Epsom Derby, on Pinza, in 1953?

5. Which French composer’s only opera was Pelleas and Melisande, which premiered in 1902?

6. Which is the only letter of the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the states of the US? 7. Which is the only play by William Shakespeare with an animal in its title?

8. Which is the only word in the English language that ends with the letters HTH? 9. Who is the only woman to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes (Physics 1903 and Chemistry 1911)?

45

December 18: Alejandro Sanz is a Spanish singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Madrid, Sanz originally intended to become a flamenco singer, however, he decided to focus on pop music. This change paid off because Sanz became one of the most successful Spanish singers in history, winning 15 Latin Grammy and three

spell. A bit of extra confidence works wonders for your mood.

adventure may mean an absence from someone close.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) Although energy is not high, there is the need to have some kind of challenge. With the brain active, it is an ideal time to plot and plan your next moves.

LEO (July 24 - August 23) Reading the small print or being sure what is offered in a personal encounter is most important this week. Leave nothing to chance or you could be out of pocket.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23) The imagination stirs and the heart races at a suggestion this week. Your strong intuition tells you it is the right thing to do. You are a constant friend, but such an

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) Being over-generous with cash midweek could see you making a poor move. Perhaps someone needs to be more hardworking or perhaps less of a spendthrift.

LIBRA (September 24 October 23) A suggestion made by you recently did not seem to be taken seriously. This week, however, negotiations could be opened. Circumstances change and it may seem someone gave up too early.

Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3X3 box contains the digits 1-9. There’s no maths involved. You solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

SCORPIO (October 24 November 22) Confidence in a close relationship should be maintained.

Possibly someone who envies your position would like to see discord. A matter of spiritual or religious faith is questioned, but the answer comes more clearly and sharply than you would have thought.

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

UK THUNDERBALL

IRISH LOTTO

EURO MILLIONS

Saturday December 7

Saturday December 7

Saturday December 7

Friday December 6

17

28

30

42

2

11 13

12 22

12

20

21

33

35

44

BONUS BALL

THUNDERBALL

BONUS BALL

25

9

31

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

1

2 31

36

10

LA PRIMITIVA

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

SUNNY

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mon - 15 9 C Tues - 14 8 C Wed - 14 8 C

MAX MIN

Mon - 16 11 C Tues - 16 11 C Wed - 15 11 C

17 10 C 16 10 C 15 11 C

Madrid

Malaga TODAY:

CLOUDY

Fri Sat Sun -

18 10 C 17 19 C 17 10 C

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mon - 17 10 C Tues - 17 9 Sh Wed - 17 9 Sh

Mallorca SUNNY

CLOUDY MAX 12C, MIN -1C

TODAY:

MAX 17C, MIN 9C

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

13 1 C 15 0 Cl 12 1 C

Mon - 13 1 C Tues - 12 1 C Wed - 13 1 C

Murcia MAX 17C, MIN 6C

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

CLOUDY MAX 16C, MIN 10C

TODAY:

MAX 15C, MIN 7C

14 7 C 14 7 C 14 8 C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 18 12 C Tues - 17 12 Sh Wed - 17 11 C

19 12 C 18 12 C 18 11 C

Benidorm

Barcelona TODAY:

CLOUDY MAX 19C, MIN 11C MAX MIN

Mon - 17 10 C Tues - 16 9 C Wed - 16 9 C

17 9 C 17 9 C 17 9 Cl

17 7 C 17 7 C 16 8 C S Sun,

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 16 9 C Tues - 16 9 C Wed - 14 9 C Cl Clear,

CLOUD

MAX 17C, MIN 8C

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun Fog,

Sn Snow,

MAX MIN

17 7 C 17 8 C 16 9 F

Mon - 17 8 C Tues - 16 8 Sh Wed - 16 7 Sh

C Cloud,

Sh Showers,

Th Thunder

Nonagram How many English words of four letters or more can you make from the nine letters in our Nonagram puzzle? Each letter may be used only once (unless the letter appears twice). Each word MUST CONTAIN THE CENTRE LETTER (in this case P) and there must be AT LEAST ONE NINE LETTER WORD. Plurals, vulgarities or proper nouns are not allowed.

TARGET:

Average: 8

Very good: 14

Good: 10

Excellent: 18

vamid, amir, dame, dime, dram, emir, emit, idem, item, lame, lime, made, maid, mail, male, mall, malt, mare, marl, mart, mate, mead, meal, meat, meld, melt, mild, mile, mill, milt, mire, mite, ream, rime, tame, team, term, time, tram, trim, admit, aimed, aimer, amide, armed, demit, derma, dimer, dream, lamed, lamer, limed, mated, mater, medal, media, merit, metal, miler, mired, miter, mitre, ramie, realm, remit, rimed, tamed, tamer, timed, timer, admire, armlet, dermal, dreamt, mailed, mailer, mallet, malted, marled, matier, medial, medlar, milder, milled, miller, millet, mitral, mitred, readmit, TREADMILL

12

15

16

19

20

39

REINTEGRO 30

0

EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA

LEAF

Sunday December 8

Saturday December 7

18

LUCKY STARS 7

TODAY:

Word Ladder

LOTTERY 12

Almeria

CLOUDY MAX 17C, MIN 9C

MAX MIN

Sudoku

10

Alicante TODAY:

26

33 38

35

Move from the start word (LEAF) to the end word (BUDS) in the same number of steps as there are rungs on the Word Ladder. You must only change one letter at a time.

49

REINTEGRO 6

BUDS

BEDS BUDS

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20) An investment made recently is built upon and brings peace of mind. Finances do need consideration but more in the long than the short-term.

Your Stars

IF ITʼS YOUR BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK: Make this a year to build on friendships.

Busy as you are, your well-being is tied up with those close to you. Money is not everything.

LEAF LEAS LETS BETS

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 December 21) An emotional cut-off from the past is not as bad as anticipated. Indeed, it confirms in your mind who you are and what your place in the world is.

MAGALLUF

1. ON GOLDEN POND, 2. FLYING PICKETS, 3. BLACK BEAUTY 4.

GORDON RICHARDS, 5. CLAUDE DEBUSSY, 6. Q, 7. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, 8. EIGHTH, 9. MARIE CURIE

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CROSSWORDS

Crosswords

12 - 18 December 2013 /Mallorca

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47

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For more information about the sponsor go to www.lineadirecta.com

Cryptic

Quick

Across 1 Having had enough, was unhappy about note (5) 4 A bird has swallowed her cigar (7) 7 African president to supply workforce with New Deal? (7) 8 Rub tea with iron (5) 10 Inflexible outfit I associated with duke (5) 11 Stone thatʼs great in building (7) 12 Hiding in bushes to attack an animal (5) 14 Pass laws about a cent (5) 19 Provokes with sharp points (7) 21 Long story without direction (5) 22 Cast worth altering (5) 23 Stuck with tot holding present (7) 24 Reds die, but revolutionary lived (7) 25 Boss around from border control (5) Down 2 Thing to alter between today and tomorrow (7) 3 Fear right in the dead centre (5) 4 Transform some money (6) 5 Limit each innʼs brawling (7) 6 A wild animal but itʼs all right, a quiet one (5) 7 Grade old German money (4) 9 Farm producers put to some purpose, we hear (4)

Across 1 Old manuscript copier (6) 4 Bonbons (6) 9 Element from sea water (7) 10 Royal rule (5) 11 Distressed (5) 12 Make good (7) 13 Carpenterʼs tool (11) 18 Pasta pockets (7) 20 Lacking freshness (5) 22 Large wading bird (5) 23 Stir up (7) 24 Avoids (6) 25 Inflamed (6)

13 Everyone was in debt, thatʼs permitted (7) 15 Like badly cooked food getting woman in house embarrassed (7) 16 Oddly, I got tuna without a single thing (4)

Code Breaker Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 10 represents P and 25 represents X, so fill in P every time the figure 10 appears and X every time the figure 25 appears. Now, using your knowledge of the English language, work out which letters should go in the missing squares. As you discover the letters, fill in other squares with the same number in the main grid and the control grid.

17 No man is one, but Man is (6) 18 The girl to have a meal upside down (4) 20 Features about 50 members of the House of Lords (5) 21 Brute in agency, a hooligan (5)

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS CRYPTIC Across: 1 Tedium, 3 Lambda, 8 Montana, 10 Otter, 11 Torso, 12 State, 13 Kites, 15 Tarns, 20 Ensue, 22 Plant, 24 Total, 25 Swear by, 26 Guards, 27 Ostend.

Down: 1 Tomato, 2 Dinar, 4 Aroma, 5 Bittern, 6 Arrest, 7 Pause, 9 Adore, 14 Inertia, 16 Apple, 17 Dog tag, 18 Feast, 19 Stayed, 21 Salad, 23 Agree.

QUICK Across: 1 Barracks, 5/24 Word game, 9 Outcome, 10 Lingo, 11 Surge, 12 Literal, 13 Sedate, 15 Shares, 18 Purpose, 20 Recap, 22 Irate, 23 Diaries, 25 Restless.

Down: 1 Boots, 2 Retired, 3 Adore, 4 Keenly, 6 Owner, 7 Doodles, 8 Glitch, 13 Sapling, 14 Trowel, 16 Recline, 17 Meddle, 19 Realm, 20 React, 21 Pests.

ENGLISH-SPANISH Across: 1 Loser, 4 Add up, 7 Too, 8 Battery, 9 Stew, 10 Evitar, 14 Applaud, 16 Uso, 17 Oveja, 18 Debts.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION Down: 1 Latas, 2 Smoke, 3 Rabo, 4 Actividad, 5 Dye, 6 Pay, 11 Thumb, 12 Rooms, 13 Baya, 14 Ajo, 15 Pie.

Funagram

Play on Words

English - Spanish The clues are mixed, some clues are in Spanish and some are in English.

Across 1 Luck (6) 4 Esperar (4) 8 Clear (meaning, explanation) (5) 9 Corderos (5) 10 Grape (3) 11 Estrellas (5) 12 Tuberculosis (5) 15 Like that (3) 16 Otra vez (5) 18 Key (door) (5) 19 Train (railway) (4) 20 Cuello (6) Down 1 Calcetines (5) 2 Stage (of a journey) (5) 3 Mil (8) 5 Brazo (de persona) (3) 6 Cough (3) 7 Saucer (8) 13 Caracol (5) 14 Jurar (5) 16 Hormiga (3) 17 Bird (large) (3)

Hexagram The purpose of the Hexagram puzzle is to place the 19 six-letter words into the 19 cells. The letters at the edges of interlocking cells MUST BE THE SAME. The letters in the words must be written CLOCKWISE. The word in cell 10 (MENDER) and one letter in four other cells are given as clues.

BALLOT

OCEANS

BARELY

RENDER

CHEERS

RESENT

ENTERS

RESORT

HOLDER

RUMOUR

LUSTER

SPEARS

MENDER (10)

STEADY

METEOR

TESTED

MOULDY

UPPERS

MUSTER

Unscramble the name of a famous English film, television, and theatre actor: FLINT CHOIR

DOFTOR

Answers: A foot in the door, Hit below the belt

Unscramble the name of a famous James Bond novel/film (two words): A SCARY LOONIE

Down 1 Conquer (6) 2 Origins (5) 3 Easily broken (7) 5 Does a job (5) 6 Instalment (7) 7 Verse form (6) 8 Naval officer (4,7) 14 Overlaid (7) 15 Fill with enthusiasm (7) 16 Type of flower (6) 17 Hinge on (6) 19 Unit of weight (5) 21 Separate (5)

BELT HIT

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 1 Nights, 2 Gander, 3 Thorns, 4 Barred, 5 Swords, 6 Leered, 7 Wearer, 8 Owners, 9 Neatly, 10 Wooded, 11 Breast, 12 Tilted, 13 Boards, 14 Volley, 15 Bitter, 16 Rotund, 17 Either, 18 Barren, 19 Shines

FUNAGRAM SOLUTION: COLIN FIRTH, CASINO ROYALE

48

E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

COMMENT/BOATING

www.euroweeklynews.com

All I want for Christmas is…?

Ulrica Marshall

Expat Strife

Swedish-born Ulrica is a freelance journalist living in Mallorca with her family. Her debut novel $Expat Wives is available on Amazon and iBooks.

To comment go to www.euroweeklynews.com/columnists/ulrica-marshall ulrica@euroweeklynews.com

I

F you are foresightful enough to have ‘wrapped up’ the Christmas present duties already then feel free to skip forward to another article.

Still with me? Fear not. Years of yuletide hysteria have left me with the definitive gift guide and rule number one is that the best present is creating or evoking memories. Unless you are a Russian Oligarch, of course, in which case your assistant would already have secured Buckingham Palace for the wife and lower Manhattan for your kids.

For parents or grandparents, a memorable gift could mean a tailored photo book of some recent event or a summary of the previous year.

Professional-looking productions are available to upload your photos via Apple or other online providers, such as Snapfish. Alternatively, a gift card for an activity you could both do together will do nicely - a day golfing,

ALL WRAPPED UP: The best present is creating or evoking memories. at the spa or lunch in their favourite restaurant.

For your partner, wife or husband: Nothing excites as much as a weekend away from it all that someone else has organised.

Depending on their schedules an ‘IOU’ outlining the weekend’s schedule may have to suffice pending actual fixing of the date, or make the booking

with option to change the dates. Make sure you pick a destination that they would choose. If you buy tickets to the Monaco Grand Prix weekend for your wife, there is a possibility she may not be as excited as you are. Short of funds? Lock the door and create a ‘staycation’ of their dreams.

Your children may have lists as long as their arms of ‘things’ they want, but

chances are what they will really treasure is a day spent with you doing something they love; perhaps a ‘day of ice’ - starting at the local ice rink followed by the ice cream parlour and ending up watching wintery movie (Disney’s ‘Frozen’ for example) along with lashings of popcorn at the cinema.

And no, you can’t check your mobile during the day and yes, you have to get your skates on, too.

Presents for friends and relatives may not require your direct participation, but that doesn’t mean you cannot follow the same guidelines.

The key is to really think about what they like and want. Often socks and bath salts don’t figure on the list, however harmless they may be.

A niece that loves One Direction?

Find the next concert dates in your area and give her two tickets.

An uncle that has turned into a couch potato but used to love the outdoors? Find an activity gift day in his area and buy a voucher - be it introduction to fly fishing or a tennis lesson. Still stuck for ideas?

Then a subscription to a magazine is the gift that keeps on giving. Failing that I hear that Upper Manhattan is still available.

GERMAN SAILOR Deike Bornemann was the winner of the Optimist Class and Elias Aretz and Heleion Hoyos took the first spots in 420 and Laser Radial while Swedish David Biedermann won Laser 4.7 in the 63th Ciutat de Palma.

Its 63rd edition ended with a bittersweet taste due to the anticyclone that hit the island during the two trials in the Optimist, 420 and Laser Radial classes.

Manu Fraga, technical

director of the RCNP, explains how rare these weather conditions have been for this national holiday in the Bay of Palma. Normally super sailing conditions have predominated throughout the trophy’s history. It is the oldest sailing competition in the Balearic Islands.

“We have suffered an anti cyclonic totally unusual for these times of the year. We have sailed the minimum races required to validate the championship but we certainly would have liked to have more wind and sail more races - the nine ones programmed for each class.

“I would like to specially thank the coaches and the sailors for their patience, throughout the event. Unfortunately this

PHOTO FROM: WWW.RCNP.ES

German takes the 63rd Ciutat de Palma trophy the oldest sailing competition in the islands

THE WINNER: Deike Bornemann got the best punctuation in the Optimist. sport depends a lot on the weather conditions, this is what sailing is all about.”

He added: “This regatta is a big challenge for our yacht club as our dry dock space is very limited, but the staff on land has made

it possible.” He also pointed out that an event of this quality on these dates is an important competition that helps create tourism all year round. “I also think we have to be very proud to

be the organisers of an event which is 63 years old.”

The first racing day saw just one race for the Optis.

The Finnish sailor, Elias Odrischinsky, the French sailor Tim Carpentier and

the Swiss, Morgan Lauber proved to be the fastest with light wind conditions.

The second day the event experienced the same forecast, with the first light of the day the sun came up with a cold morning.

Deike Bornemann took first place overall, followed by the Spanish sailor from Jávea, Enrique Luján and the Swiss, Nicolas Rolaz.

Bornemann is part of the group of Germans who have been training in the Bay of Palma before the event.

A lull hit the 63 Ciutat de Palma on its’ last competition day. The breeze wasn’t able to build up enough, event with the sunshine warming up and the Opti fleet (367 boats from 14 countries) finally did not compete.

Photo: APEGA/FLICKR

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E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

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& DRINKS

ood F

FOOD & DRINK

Costa de Almeria’s best guide to local sport

Mallorca’s best guide for local restaurants

TO READ MORE VISIT: WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM/FEATURES/RESTAURANTS

Japanese traditional cuisine a declared a ‘national WASHOKU, or traditional Japanese cuisine, has been declared of intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

This decision is expected to give a boost to Japanese tourism and food exports.

The UN specialised agency valued the spirit and the respect for nature traditionally associated with Washoku.

According to the UNESCO report, Washoku is “a social practice based on a set of skills, knowledge, practice and traditions related to the production, processing, preparation and consumption of food.”

These characteristics can be seen during the New Year celebrations.

The Japanese prepare several dishes to welcome the incoming year, each with a different

symbolic meaning and served on special plates.

The recipes followed to prepare these dishes are passed down to new generations at homes and schools, and favour the consumption of locally sourced ingredients while respecting nature.

WASHOKU: Locally sourced, environmental-friendly food.

Seven Michelin stars for Carme Ruscalleda A SPANISH woman has become the world’s only seven-Michelin starred female chef.

Catalan Carme Ruscalleda earned this distinction after her restaurant in Tokyo (Japan) was awarded two of the coveted stars this year.

Ruscalleda already had three Michelin stars for her restaurant Sant Pau in San Pol de Mar (Barcelona) and two more for her Barcelona restaurant

MULTI-AWARDED: Ruscalleda has won more Michelin stars than any other woman in the world.

Moments, with her son Raul Balam as head chef.

The 61-year-old has thus surpassed fellow chef and competitor Frenchwoman Anne Sophie Pic, who has been awarded a total of six Michelin stars.

Her success matches that of Basque chef Martin Berasategui, who holds seven stars as well.

“We’re very happy.

There’s a huge and solid work behind this recognition,” the sevenstarred chef said.

FOOD & DRINK

A healthy November SUPERMARKETS are reporting a rise in the sale of healthy, low calorie foods in the lead-up to Christmas.

It is being put down to people trying to trim down for the festive party season.

Superfoods and green smoothie ingredients, both touted as miracle cures for bad skin, lacklustre hair and low energy, are as popular during November as in the summer months, with British store M&S reporting sales of their healthy eating ranges up 25 per cent on last month, while Waitrose said sales of fruit and vegetables are soaring with chard and kale up 32 per cent on this time last year.

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12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

Most expensive Champagne is not always the best THE price of Champagne is not always linked to its quality, a study by the universities of Oxford and London has revealed.

Instead, scientists argue there is a placebo effect with cost that makes us believe the more expensive a Champagne is, the better it is.

Scientists carried out blind tastings with experts asking them to choose from six Champagnes and an English sparkling wine with prices going from £18 (€21.50) to £400 (€477) The results, published Flavour Journal , in indicate that these

people ranked the £40 (€47.70) bottle with most points.

The participants were four people who work in the Champagne industry, six who work in the wine industry but are not experts in Champagne, and five social drinkers.

They wore black glasses to disguise both the bottles and the colour of the drink.

Only the most expert tasters were able to appreciate the most expensive drinks.

According to scientists, that doesn’t mean expensive Champagne is not worth its price.

PLACEBO EFFECT: The price of Champagne.

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E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

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omes&gardens

H

HOMES & GARDEN

SPONSORED BY

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM

Use herbs and colourful containers for an attractive apartment terrace

By Dick Handscombe SINCE the publication of Apartment Gar-dening Mediterranean Style three years ago, it has been encouraging to see more

and more apartment dwellers make their terraces and balconies greener, more colourful and perfumed, and more productive. The latter by setting up useful herb,

vegetable and fruit gardens in containers.

The wide range of styles, sizes and colours of containers, and the offer of better compost ranges by many garden centres, has

simplified doing so especially if awnings and blinds are installed to protect plants from the hottest summer and low winter suns.

As your 2014 New Year resolution, how about considering growing herbs in a window box, living well from one square metre, or planting a fantastic petunia display for next summer?

It is such a pity that so many apartment blocks look cold and unattractive to residents, passers-by and potential buyers.

Although still few and far

between it is gratifying to see that some architects are now building ‘green’ apartment blocks so that every owner has prebuilt planters and in some cases all planted up before they move in.

Your own efforts could be an enthralling and interesting hobby and add value to your apartment.

In addition, if residents’ associations encouraged such actions, the attractiveness and value of the entire block would improve as well as the environment of the area.

The carbon footprint of the block would be reduced with the right plantings and trees to cut pollution from traffic and microwaves.

It is not too late for you to brighten up your own terraces and balconies.

If you need inspiration and are in London over Christmas visit the Spanish Garden on top of the Virgin Building in Kensington.

How come an Englishman constructed a 5,000square-metre Spanish garden on a rooftop with a metre and more of topsoil in the 1930s?

There are hundreds of other ideas in our book Apartment Gardening Mediterranean Style, which is easily obtainable from Santana or Amazon Books.

Happy Christmas plantings! (c)Dick Handscombe www.gardeninginspain. com December 2013

FEATURE Jack Gaioni

Consider This US citizen Jack is spending the first years of his retirement in Almeria. His articles have been published in Spain and the US.

L

AST month, the Spanish government summoned the American ambassador to answer allegations that the US had collected data on more than 60 million Spanish phone calls. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy responded by saying: “Spying activities are not proper among partner countries and allies.”

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel GarciaMargallo followed that: “If true, these allegations threaten the climate of trust between Spain and its close ties to the United States.” James Costos, the American Ambassador, responded by saying that the electronic spying was originally collected by Spanish intelligence officials and then was ‘shared’ with the US. Espionage and spying is not something one usually associates when assessing the friendly relationship between the Spain and the US. Yet cloak and dagger spying between the two nations does indeed have a history. Consider the late 18th century saga of Kentucky Governor James Wilkerson and Spanish colonial Governor Esteban Rodriquez Miro...

In the late 1700s, in an area now known as Kentucky, lie the wild, western-most

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12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

Spying amongst friends? extremes of the US. The infant nation had just wrested independence from mother country England.

As a result, British influence was greatly diminished as had French influence only a few decades earlier. Spain’s presence in the area, albeit weakened and decentralised, was restricted to Florida, Louisiana and control of the strategic Mississippi River.

The river, then as now, was a vital system of transportation, especially river-boat commerce. Geographically, Kentucky has a strategic position at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. However, Kentucky was either blocked from using the river or required to pay the extremely heavy tariffs required by Spanish authorities.

In May of 1785, the Kentucky territorial governor, James Wilkerson, took a trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans to meet the Spanish governor, Esteban Rodriquez Miro. The meeting was clandestine in nature. In what was to become known as ‘The Spanish Conspiracy’, Wilkerson managed to convince Miro to allow Kentucky a favourable trading monopoly on the

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LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Ohio River and Louisville skyline, KY, circa 1990.

Clock Tower in the centre of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Mississippi. In return, Wilkerson promised to promote Spanish interests in America’s westward expansion. Wilkerson swore allegiance to Spain and promised to actively lobby to make Kentucky a possession of Spain.

Furthermore, he was to inform Miro of any possible American land acquisitions that would affect Spanish influence in the area.

He swore to commit his life “to seek union under the protective vassal of Spain and to promote her interests.” Kentucky not only received favourable trade monopolies but Wilkerson was to personally receive a generous Spanish pension (read: kickback) of $3,000 per year. Wilkerson, it should be noted, had personal connections with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Wilkerson covertly provided intelligence

to American officials on Spanish military and shipping activities on the Mississippi. Wilkerson had, in effect, become a bona-fide double agent.

He used his considerable influence within the American government to warn Miro of any plans for westward expansion plans.

Simultaneously, he informed the American government of Spanish military vulnerabilities on the Mississippi River. For 12 years, the Wilkerson/Miro scheme worked perfectly. By 1796, Spain dispensed over $36,000 to Wilkerson while being totally unaware that he was a double agent.

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PROPERTY

roperty P TO READ MORE VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

MARKET BOOST: Houses bought by foreign people have doubled in five years.

A foreign boost to property market in the Balearic Islands FOREIGN buyers have boosted the property market in the Balearic Islands since the beginning of the financial crisis, according to the General Council of Public Notaries.

Figures have doubled in five years, with German, Nordic and Russian people buying the most.

In 2008, with the first signs of economic crisis, a total of 1,642 houses were sold to foreign buyers on the islands.

Sales have increased ever since and reached a total of 3,571 houses sold in 2012.

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This tendency started when the financial crisis arrived in the Balearic Islands and has been present in statistics ever since.

In fact, in 2008 the buying and selling of houses fell by 41 per cent in relation to 2007 but from that moment on sales have not stopped increasing.

Thus, in 2009 foreign buyers bought 2,279 houses on the islands, a 38.8 per cent increase in

relation to 2008.

Foreign buyers bought another 2,721 houses in 2010, 3,045 in 2011 and 3,571 in 2012.

The most important tourist market in the Balearic Islands, the German, is the one responsible for the biggest number of buying and selling operations over those years, according to the General Council for Public Notaries.

More than a third of the apartments sold on the

islands have been to a German buyer.

In 2008 German buyers only bought 396 houses, whereas in 2012 they bought 1,303.

A similar situation can be seen in relation to Swedish buyers.

In 2012 Swedish buyers bought six times more houses than in 2008 - from 28 to 168.

So far this year these buyers have bought 75 houses, a figure which confirms this tendency.

Price of second-hand homes down SECOND-HAND property prices in Spain registered a year-on-year decrease of 8.3 per cent in the month of November, property website hogaria.net claims.

The average price of second-hand homes in Spain was of â‚Ź1,659 per m2 in November, 0.6 per cent less in relation to October and 8.3 per cent less in comparison with the same month last year. By regions, the five Spanish provinces where prices dropped the most in November were Toledo and Almeria (both with a decrease of 1.3 per cent), La Rioja (1.1 per cent), and Navarra and Guadalajara (1 per cent each).

On the other hand, Orense ranks as the region where prices increased the most in November with a 0.5 per cent rise.

This province is followed by Cuenca, Teruel and Castellon with prices increasing 0.3 per cent each, and Lugo with a 0.2 per cent price increase.

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RS E S T I ER R V E RN D A CO

SPOTLIGHT

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Advertising feature

Wet weather, boats and bilges PHOTO: Clarke Beek Sailfeed.

By Pete Woodall

T

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In recent years based on their sensible attention to detail and good service, Edward William Marine Services have constantly made healthy in-roads into the insurance market for Spanish-owned boats. It is a progressive company that looks after its customers.

Remember if you’re in any boat business yourself, quality ‘introducers’ with integrity are welcome and remunerated for their efforts.

If you are a boat owner, visit their website www.edwardwilliam.com or give them a call on 952476090 before your next renewal is due and ask for a insurance quote for your boat.

Any boat, any waters, any use, anywhere.

Happy Christmas!

Advertising Feature

Don’t take a risk by skimping on travel cover David Deverson

GLOBELINK INTERNATIONAL Insurance correspondent david@globelink.co.uk

H

olidays are sacred, not least to us Brits. A recent travel industry survey showed that most of us would sooner economise on gadgets, home improvements or eating out, than cut back on our well-earned breaks. We’re taking longer holidays, even if that means cutting back on the number of trips we make.

What’s more, we don’t mind splashing out on the extras that help turn a ‘ho-hum’ holiday into the stuff of memories.

Travel companies have woken up to that fact, and many now let you tailor your trip with special add-ons. A mini-cruise here, a scenic train journey there, and it can soon add up to a sizeable splurge. Whether you’re travelling under your own steam or on a package, the chances are you’ll be paying upfront... with more at stake if anything goes wrong. Suppose you’re injured and have to cancel your trip

OUT OF THE BLUE: Check your policy to make sure you are covered. because you’re unfit to travel? What if your flight from Spain is delayed, and you miss your connecting flight out of the UK? Or a relative back home falls seriously ill and you have to cut your holiday short to be there?

It’s human nature to think “it won’t happen to me” but if it does, you’ll certainly be glad you took out decent travel cover to shield you against the kinds

of things that can and do happen out of the blue. Do check your policy to make sure it fits the trip you’re planning, and consider taking out top-up cover if appropriate.

Cancellation costs can be peanuts compared to the head-spinning financial risks involved if you run into health problems without proper cover. People generally underestimate the cost of

medical treatment abroad, which has rocketed in recent years. That’s especially true of Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Japan and the US, where hospital stays alone can cost around £2,500 per day. Even then, medical bills are often only the tip of the iceberg. At Globelink, we recently paid over £45,000 to repatriate one of our clients back to UK following heart surgery in USA! One last thing I must stress: don’t wait until the last minute to book your travel cover - it’s just asking to be caught out.

Remember, too, that single trip holiday insurance must cover the whole of your return trip, from the date you leave your country of residence to the date you return.

Don’t be tempted to book it from a friend’s address in the UK. Declaring you’re a UK resident when you live in Spain is fraud. If you do make a claim, it won’t wash, but you could find yourself in pretty hot water!

For an instant travel insurance quote and to arrange cover securely visit www.globelink.co.uk, or call (UK) +44 1353 699 082 or our Spanish link lines on 96 626 5000 or 95 124 2434

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E W N 12 - 18 December 2013 / Mallorca

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otoring M TO READ MORE VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

Next Lexus GS model

LEXUS is adding a fourth model to the GS range, the GS 300h to be launched this month.

The GS 300h is expected to account for more than 55 per cent of all GS sales, a significant part of the percentage representing fleet customers.

The car will also be available as an F SPORT version, featuring bespoke design elements and model-specific technologies.

The new front engined, rear-wheel drive GS 300h’s second generation Lexus Hybrid Drive system is similar to that installed in the IS 300h.

Featuring an L4 Atkinson cycle petrol engine with D4S direct injection technology and two electric motors, it offers significant reductions in fuel consumption and CO2.

The full hybrid drive system combines a powerful 105 kW/143 DIN hp electric motor with a 2.5 litre, four-cylinder, 16 valve, and DOHC Atkinson cycle petrol engine.

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Porsche launches a special edition Cayenne

P

ORSCHE is upgrading the Cayenne sixcylinder model via a special series known as the Platinum Edition.

The Platinum Edition Cayenne and Cayenne Diesel models feature some especially highquality equipment and offers many of the mostrequested options as standard.

The German manufacturer only assigns the Platinum Edition designation to its exclusive, elegant vehicle ranges that are available for a limited period only.

Painted in Platinum Silver Metallic, the lateral and central air intake grill fins, the side window strips, the rear spoiler lip and the trim strip on the tailgate create a shimmering effect.

The standard colour range includes monotone paint finishes in Black and

HIGH QUALITY: Offers many of the most requested options as standard.

White, and Meteor Grey Metallic, Basalt Black Metallic and Mahogany Metallic are available as further colour options.

The Carrara White Metallic paint finish is also an option available for this Cayenne edition. The look is rounded off by the 19-inch Cayenne Design II wheels with coloured crest.

The vehicles, available from January 2014 from €75,569, come with a partial leather interior as

standard, but a full leather interior is also available.

The floor mats, with Luxor Beige edging and Porsche logo, and the front door entry guards with the ‘Platinum Edition’ logo, are further highlights.

The Porsche Communication Management (PCM) system, including a navigation module, is also a standard feature.

The PCM includes a high-resolution seveninch touchscreen and a sound system with 11 loudspeakers and total power of 235 watt.

The Cayenne Platinum Edition offers an output of 300 hp (220 kW).

In combination with the Tiptronic S, the vehicle's NEDC fuel consumption is

The special Platinum Edition

9.9 litres/100 km.

The three litre V6 engine in the Cayenne Diesel Platinum Edition offers an output of 245 hp (180 kW) and a fuel consumption level of 7.2 litres of diesel over 100 kilometres.

www.euroweeklynews.com

SPORT Tony Matthews

International Sports A former football player and the world’s most prolific author of football books (more than 100 published), Tony is also the sports reporter for Spectrum Radio and lives in the Cabrera mountains.

Costa de Almeria

WE’LL start with the 2014 World Cup, and by now every England supporter knows that Roy Hodgson’s team has been drawn in a tough group along with Italy and Uruguay plus Costa Rica. Spain will meet Australia, Chile and Holland.

In Tuesday’s final Champions League group games, Bayern Munich played Manchester City, FC Copenhagen faced Real Madrid and Manchester United met Shakhtar Donetsk, and last night it was Barcelona-Celtic, Chelsea (needing a point to progress) v Steau Bucharest and NapoliArsenal. This evening, in the Europa League, it’s WiganMaribor, Swansea (requiring a point to make the last 32) v FC Gallen and TottenhamAnzhi.

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Tough for English football, cricket and even snooker! week, Manchester United suffered successive home defeats for the first time in over a decade, losing to 10 Everton and 1-0 to Newcastle. In fact, it was Newcastle’s first win at Old Trafford for 41 years.

Stoke beat Chelsea (3rd) for the first time since 1975, Oussama Assaidi’s superb last minute goal giving the Potters a 3-2 victory.

Having won 4-3 at Sunderland a few days earlier, this was the first time Jose Mourinho’s side had conceded three goals in successive PL games for 14 years.

Elsewhere, Arsenal are now five points clear at the top after a 1-1 draw with Everton (5th); Liverpool (2nd)

DID YOU KNOW? LAST week, Blackpool had FIVE players sentoff in two Championship matches in four days, and in snooker, the Davis brothers, Joe and Fred, won 23 World titles between them over a period of 29 years: 1927-56.

walloped Norwich 5-1 and West Ham 4-1. Luis Suarez hit a four-timer against the Canaries, making it 11 goals in four PL games against the Carrow Road club.

Manchester City (4th) won 3-2 win at WBA and drew 1-1 at Southampton to remain with the leaders... Sunderland, five points adrift at the foot of the table following two home defeats, have three London clubs

above them, Fulham, Crystal Palace (winners of their last two matches) and West Ham. Manchester United stand 9th place, yet manager David Moyes says: “We can still win the title!”

Top two PL matches this weekend are Manchester City-Arsenal and SpursLiverpool.

Burnley, Leyton Orient, Oxford and Celtic are top of the Championship, FL1, FL2 and the SPL

JOSE MOURINHO: Manager of Chelsea football club.

2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil

By Tony Matthews ENGLAND have been drawn with Uruguay (Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan & Co), Italy (with Fabio Balotelli) and Costa Rica in group D of next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

“It will be tough but it’s not a disaster” said Wayne Rooney, “we have to beat the best if we are to become champions. Get out of the group and who knows.”

Midfielder Jack Wilshere admitted: “Okay, it’s a tough group, but so what? If we want to win the World Cup, we will have to play the top teams anyway!”

For former manager Glenn Hoddle, the draw is excellent. “The tougher the opposition the better

respect of match-fixing.

He’s admitted deliberately getting sent-off playing respectively. The latter are for Portsmouth against seven points ahead of Oldham in a FL1 match Inverness in Scotland. last February.

The draw for the 3rd CRICKET - Poor England round of the FA Cup has are now two-nil down in thrown up some the five-match Ashes terrific ties, series, having including crashed to a Arsenal are Arsenal218 run defeat now five Spurs, in the second points clear at Test Blackburnin the top of the Adelaide.

Manchester table City, DerbyGeoffrey Chelsea, Boycott described Everton-QPR, some of England’s Liverpoolbatting as absolute Oldham/Mansfield, garbage... and I totally Manchester United- agree. The third Test Swansea, Newcastle- starts to tomorrow in Cardiff, Stoke-Leicester Perth. and holders Wigan-MK Over 1,400 runs were Dons.

Non-Leaguers scored in the recent Kidderminster play drawn Test between New Peterborough and Zealand and the West Macclesfield meet Indies. And it has been Sheffield Wednesday. revealed that three former FIFA member Michel New Zealand players are Platini has called for the being investigated for yellow card to be replaced match-fixing. by a sin bin penalty, ROUND-UP - England’s perhaps 10 or 15 minutes, Mark Selby was beaten by like in rugby. And he has world number one Neil the backing of several Robertson of Australia in clubs, managers and the UK snooker final in players. It could be a York...

Christine good thing and I agree Ohuruogu has been with the former French named British international.

Sportswoman of the Former Nigerian Year... and Britain’s Rugby defender Sam Sodje, ex- Union clubs have ALL Brentford, WBA, Charlton reiterated that they will and Leeds, has been not compete in next year’s arrested by police in Heineken Cup.

WORLD NUMBER ONE: Neil Robertson of Australia snooker.

The full World Cup draw Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon.

Group B: Spain, Holland, Chile, Australia.

Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan.

Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy.

Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras.

Group F: Argentina, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Iran, Nigeria.

Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA. Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea.

England play. We know that both Italy and Uruguay are good sides and don’t give too much away - but there’s a lot worse out there and we are better when we are up against

it,” he said.

Ex-England striker Alan Shearer also agrees: “It will be a tough challenge, knowing that their first game against Italy will take place in the Amazon rain forest with 99 per cent humidity.”

Another former skipper, Ray Wilkins, said: “Suarez is going to have a tough end to the season. I might have a word with John Terry - Chelsea face Liverpool on April 26.

For experienced midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, this for sure, is going to be their last major tournament and they’ll be determined to do well in Brazil. Let’s hope so. The competition starts in earnest in mid-June.

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SPORT

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Sport Mallorca’s best guide to local sport

Mark Selby beaten in UK snooker final.

To read more turn to Page 63 TO READ MORE VISIT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

Clash between top League teams in busy rugby weekend IN almost perfect weather conditions El Toro RC, leaders of the Baleares Regional League, met second place Bahia RC in Son Caliu on Saturday.

In front of a large crowd the two teams played a competitive but good-tempered match which both were keen to win to maintain their unbeaten run. The home team got off to a flying start with a try in the first few minutes. Kicking to convert against the bright sun proved difficult and the score remained at 5 - 0.

Both teams were evenly matched with a good mix of older, experienced players and some younger, faster players. Bahia RC gave away several penalties which El Toro took as kicks, scoring easy points.

By half time the score was 28 to 5. During the second half the speed of the young three-quarters proved invaluable and although Bahia RC made some good advances the superiority of the El Toro RC defence prevented them from scoring more than once more.

PHOTOS: BALEARES RUGBY FEDERATION. MALLORCA BOCS

By Lynda Demangeat

Victorious U14 Agora Portals Team Towards the end of the match mistakes crept in for the visiting team as they tired and the inexperience of their substitutes began to show. The victorious home team's total points score of 50 to Bahia RC's 16 gave them another bonus point and keeps them well ahead in the League table as the second round of matches

(left) FUN DAY: U14 competition in Inca (bottom) EYE ON BALL: Action from the U14 competition

Rugby Day In glorious sunshine in Son Caliu the younger rugby players around the island enjoyed a great day of matches watched by appreciative spectators.

In the U12 category Agora Portals won over RC Ponent and El Toro RC. RC Ponent was victorious against Agora Portals followed by El Toro RC in the U10 and U8 category.

Coming up next weekend begin.

In other matches in the League Corsaris RFC played neighbours Dimonis RC in a tight match. The final score of 16 – 14 gives a good indication of how closely matched the teams were. In the end it was the Corsaris defence and a penalty kick which gave them the edge and the win.

RC Ponent played Ibiza RC in Palma. After their defeat at the hands of Bahia RC the previous week RC Ponent had been working hard on various set moves and this proved valuable against tough Ibiza RC. Their first try came within five minutes of

play, followed by a penalty kick.

This inspired the visitors into action and they scored from a penalty kick. By half time the score was 13 points to 10 and it was during the second half that the Ponent players applied the pressure with a final try in the last few minutes giving them the win of 36 points to Ibiza RC's 17.

In the remaining match in this league Pollença RC suffered at the hands of home team Truc Menorca by 95 to 3.

In the U18 Baleares League El Toro RC met a mixed Pollença RC and Dimonis RC team in an

even game which was only won in the final minutes by the persistence of the home team.

The visitors' defence worked hard to prevent El Toro RC from scoring however the local youngsters proved the stronger and faster team with a final score of 39 – 32.

In the U14 League played in Inca on Sunday Agora Portals were victorious against teams from RC Ponent, El Toro RC and Mallorca Bocs.

The girls teams played in their next leg of the Regional League with RC Ponent victorious followed by l Toro RC and Dimonis RC.

The second half of the Baleares Regional League begins over the weekend of 14th and 15th December with El Toro RC at home to RC Ponent.

Corsaris RFC meet second place Bahia RC and Dimonis RC travel to play Truc Menorca.

Last placed Pollença RC are hosts to Ibiza RC. In other matches the U18 teams of El Toro RC play RC Ponent and El Toro RC will host the next leg in the U16 Michel Rodier Trophy.

In the National League RC Ponent meet RC Fenix in Principes d España Stadium in Palma.