Euro Weekly News - Mallorca 2 - 8 January 2014 Issue 1487

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ISSUE NO. 1487

Language barriers BALEARIC health centres will have ‘cultural mediators’ for Spanish, Catalan, Arabic, Berber, English, French and Chinese speakers, to help communication with doctors.

Most wanted PALMA DE MALLORCA was the most searched for Spanish destination amongst British internet users on Google in 2013, followed by Magaluf.

Death fall A WOMAN, 57, died after falling from a building in Porta des Camp, Palma, where she was reportedly visiting a neighbour.

Police are investigating.

Biker hurt A MOTORCYCLIST was found unconscious and injured on a pavement in Palma after crashing into a building. Police are investigating if any other vehicles were involved.

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Spending spree to get ready for Three Kings RESIDENTS of the Balearic Islands will have spent an average €475 each over the Christmas period this year.

The average expenditure in Spain is expected to have been around €455, according to a study by the Federation of Independent Users and Consumers.

Most of this amount was spent on food, especially for the meals which were served on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The remaining sum has been spent on gifts, party clothes, entertainment and lottery tickets.

Despite less being spent this year by residents in the Balearic Island, traders in Mallorca, and especially in Palma, reported a busy last Sunday of the year, in

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EWN FRONT EXTRA

2 - 8 JANUARY 2014

which shoppers showed interest in all sectors, but mainly purchased last-minute

items for their New Year meal.

The other top purchases of the day were - in small shops,

franchises and large shopping centres - toys, ready for the visit from the Three Kings on Sunday, when most Spaniards exchange gifts.

On trial for attacking transsexual A MAN is facing eight years in prison for raping a transsexual in Palma and attacking him when he realised he wasn’t a woman.

In June 2013, the victim, dressed as a woman, offered to perform a

sex attack on a German man, 24, for €30, in Playa de Palma.

The accused raped the transsexual without realising he was a man but when he attempted another rape, the victim realised

that his attacker was not aware he was not a woman and attempted to escape. The accused went after him and punched him in the head.

Police witnessed the attack and arrested him.

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NEWS

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Search goes on for missing girl GUARDIA CIVIL are searching the coast of Calvia for evidence in the disappearance of 15-year-old Malen Zoe Ortiz Rodriguez, who went missing on December 2.

They are focusing on the Playa del Mago, Cala Figuera, and the cliffs of Portals Vells, where the search will continue when the weather improves.

Guardia Civil, Local Police, firemen and Civil Protection volunteers have searched wells and the lakes of the Poniente golf course in Son Ferrer, as well as woods and surrounding areas.

The police searched abandoned houses in the Cami de Sa Porrassa area where there are often vagrants or youths drinking or smoking, and which Malen passed every day.

Dogs are being used in the search and several pieces of clothing, which are not necessarily significant, have been taken for testing. This could take several weeks.

Police have not ruled out any theories in her disappearance, which may have been voluntary.

THIS WEEK IN

EWN News 1 - 12

Finance 15 - 20

Letters 21

Daily TV 24

Leapy Lee 26

Time out 32 - 33 MISSING: Malen Zoe Ortiz Rodriguez.

She was last seen at a bus stop in Son Ferrer, she was wearing pink shoes, a checked shirt, blue denim jacket, torn trousers and carrying a bright green skateboard.

Classifieds 43 - 45

Sport 48

NEWS Search on POLICE are searching for three people who set fire to a Renault Laguna parked in Son Forteza, Palma, on Christmas Eve, totally destroying the vehicle.

Man treated A MAN, 69, had to be treated for smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in his home in Palma. He was taken to a local clinic.

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Man stabbed by stranger A MAN, 23, was seriously injured when he was stabbed in the back in Palma.

He claims he was with his girlfriend waiting for a Red Cross van to bring methadone for heroin addicts like her, who are in treatment.

A man between 26 and 34, walking a dog, knocked him as he passed by, and they began to fight,

but the victim allegedly told the man to go away. He did so, but shouted threats and minutes later, came back with a knife.

The victim grabbed a piece of wood to protect himself, they began fighting and both fell to the floor. It was then he was stabbed twice. When he shouted, the other man reportedly fled.

When an ambulance arrived he was semi-conscious and was taken to Son Espases Hospital, where he was reported to be stable although he had sustained a deep wound and lost a lot of blood.

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watch

Warehouse fire A FIRE destroyed a warehouse in Son Ferriol in which plumbing materials and equipment were stored.

It took four hours to extinguish.

Councillor quits THE councillor for Tourism and Sports in the Balearic Government, Carlos Delgado, has resigned for ‘personal reasons’ and will retire from politics.

Child neglect

Tram running THE tram route between Soller and the port is once again operating after service was suspended for two weeks to carry out renovation works.

Torn ear A MAN was arrested in Inca for starting a fight and pulling off part of the ear of another who was wearing an earring. He also damaged a police patrol car.

N

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THE Federation of Residents’ Associations in Manacor has accused the mayor, Antoni Pastor, of ‘offending’ them.

Strong winds STRONG winds tore off the railings of a top floor apartment of Coll d’en Rebassa, Palma, which fell on the pavement below. Noone was injured.

Better signal THE Balearic Government has announced that it will invest more than €767,620 in 2014 to improve Digital Terrestrial Television signals in rural areas.

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Angry locals

Burning robe A WOMAN was taken to Son Espases Hospital with severe burns to her back after her dressing gown accidentally caught fire when she was in the kitchen of her home in Palma.

Food donations THE Red Cross in Soller obtained more than a tonne of basic food products thanks to the ‘Charity Sport’ campaign.

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MALLORCA Social Services report that complaints regarding child neglect have risen to 1,800 this year.

THREE KINGS: The ‘Roscon de Reyes’ (below) represents the kings’ jewelled crowns.

Seeing New Year in, Spanish style...

Y

OUNG and old throughout Spain will flock to see the Three Kings parade on Sunday evening.

This is the highlight of festive celebrations in Spain as the Three Kings, Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar, better known as the Three Wise Men in UK Christian tradition, parade the streets on floats, accompanied by music, their pages and cartoon characters. The kings throw thousands of sweets to onlookers, with some youngsters even holding opened umbrellas to catch them as the floats pass.

Spanish children believe that the kings deliver presents on January 5, leaving their shoes on window sills that night to be filled with gifts which they have asked for.

Those who have not behaved might expect to find a sack of ‘coal’, represented by black, sugary sweets.

Quote of the Week 2014 will be the year of recovery’ Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, at a press conference to look back over the year. Socialist Secretary General Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba reproached him for saying this on the day the minimum wage was frozen and electricity prices rose.

On January 6, when the children receive their presents, many families enjoy the traditional ‘Roscon de Reyes,’ a ring-shaped cake, filled and covered with colourful candied fruit, representing the kings’ crowns and the jewels upon them. The Roscon traditionally has two items inside. One is a toy or trinket, which makes the finder ‘King for the Day’. He or she gets to wear the crown which is normally included with shop-sold cakes of this variety. In some parts of Spain, money is also put in the Roscon.

Meanwhile, the person who gets the other item, a bean, will be the one who pays for the Roscon the following year.

Number of the week

2.3

per cent is how much electricity prices will go up in the first three months of this year. The government pointed out that it was a ‘transitory mechanism’. Families will notice an average rise in their bills of around 0.2 per cent in January.

Helping out THANKS to staff and supermarkets, the Emaya water company in Palma has obtained more than 3,000 kilos of food for needy families.

Storm damage STRONG winds brought down trees, branches, signs, awnings and flower pots in Palma and in Portocolom, a sailing ship was dashed against the rocks.

Several small boats sank or were washed out to sea along the coast.

And finally...

A WOMAN was arrested in Madrid for allegedly throwing her newborn baby out of the window of an apartment block. Her parents didn’t know she was pregnant and took her to hospital because she lost a lot of blood. Her grandmother found the baby alive.

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RETROSPECTIVE

Balearics high on list of corruption scandals THE Balearic Islands and Valencia are top of the list when it comes to

corruption cases.

Out of 300 politicians implicated in corruption scandals nationwide, there are nearly 100 instances in the Balearic region alone involving current and former government employees.

Most of the cases happened during the last term of former Balearic President Jaume Matas, himself involved in a dozen cases of corruption and irregular financing of the Balearic Popular Party (PP) during his rule.

RY A NU JA

January 10 Issue 1436 Other high-profile cases are those of Iñaki Urdangarin, Princess Cristina’s husband, who, as President of the Noos

Institute, carried out alleged irregular activities, and Pere Rotger, who recently resigned from his position as Balearic President but has kept his seat in the regional parliament.

In some instances, corruption carried on at the very core of a political party like the former Unio Mallorquina, a regional party which disappeared after its leaders, headed

by Maria Antonia Munar, were implicated in up to nine corruption scandals.

Charity donations scam TWO men have been accused of keeping donations put in charity boxes in shops they managed in Mallorca.

The Guardia Civil claim that the men in Inca also pocketed proceeds from the sale of second hand goods in the charity’s name.

The alleged crimes were uncovered when the Fibromyalgia Association of Inca (AFIC) president noticed a car with an association logo on it.

However, neither the him when he discovered driver nor vehicle had any he was using the associaconnection with the AFIC. tion to gain money for his The Guardia Civil were own use. then contacted.

The men managed shops in Inca where RY A U donation boxes had been R installed but kept the FEB money, amounting to more than €500, it is alleged.

One who refused to answer charges has been bailed but his expartner said he had Februar y 7 Is sue 1440 stopped working with

RETROSPECTIVE

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Graffiti mural for local church GRAFFITI adorns the apse of a Santa Eulalia church in Hospitalet, Barcelona.

But it is intentional because Rudi, an ‘urban artist,’ was asked to do so by Santa Eulalia’s parish priest, Fr Ramon Mor. The priest wanted a mural of the Virgin and Child, together with a family representing the congregation of his working class parish.

He was at first perplexed by the request but accepted immediately the challenging commission, said

38-year-old Rudi, who for the mural, he did not was best to let them to roped in artist friend, reveal it would be decide House, to assist painted by graffiti whether it him. artists. was Not only would “It good they have to adapt their RCH A urban technique M to the Catalan Romanesque style stipulated by Fr Mor, but decorating the semidome over Marc h 7 Issue 1444 the apse would be ‘complicated.’

Although Fr Mor had asked the diocesan authorities’ permission ARTISTIC: An urban artist created a modern mural.

or not when they saw it,” he explained.

Nevertheless, the Santa Eulalia mural is not graffiti, said Rudi.

“Graffiti is a style. This is a mural done with spray paint,” he

explained.

Not only is he is delighted with the mural, Fr Mor said, but other local churches have been in touch with him and are interested in following suit.

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Princess charged in Noos corruption case PRINCESS Cristina has been charged in the Noos corruption case.

Judge Jose Castro will testify in court in Palma on April 27 as part of the case in which her husband is accused of diverting €6 million of public funds from the

Noos Institute.

The royal son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin and his associate Diego Torres are accused of creating a network of companies to embezzle funds.

The Noos Institute was a non-profit

consultancy which billed regional governments more than €5 million for events to promote sport and tourism.

E-mails revealed in court by Torres suggest that Cristina was involved in its management.

Documents of interest were found in the safe of the headquarters of Aizoon, the promoter’s office shared by the Duke and Duchess of Palma.

One email from Iñaki to Cristina’s work address at La Caixa Foundation in February 2003 reads: “As you’re online, I’ll send you a letter I have to send for Noos. There are two versions.

Clients, collaborators and friends, and the other for Octagon. Read it and tell me what you think…”

In other emails Iñaki reportedly explains to her how Noos works and what business is being carried out.

There are emails to the ‘Noos Clients’ RIL P A mailing list, TEMPERATURES RAISED: Former landmark brothel caught fire. in which the king and queen are also included.

There are also April 4 Issue 1448 messages TEMPERATURES were As police started getting use breathing apparatus. regarding Noos between raised once again at a numerous calls from locals Police sealed off the the Urdangarin and former landmark brothel saying they could see street as a precaution to Royal Household Advisor when fire took hold. smoke rising from the allow the fire trucks to Carlos Garcia Revenga, Firemen are investigating building in Almancer in move. some of which reveal he the cause of the blaze in Palma they dispatched fire The blaze was located in was seeking celebrities the old Mustang Ranch in engines and police to the an annex to the building to take part in Palma. Drivers on the city’s scene. where a large amount of conferences, including Via Cintura called police as The smoke was so wood was stored.

Bob Geldof and Neil It took over an hour to Armstrong. a thick plume of black intense that as the smoke smoke drifted across the drifted in the wind it made bring the blaze under A member of Noos road obscuring visibility. visibility difficult on the Via control. Some of the staff also asked Garcia The building which has Cintura. Several units from firemen remained in case to contact the Principe since been converted into a the Palma fire station the fire re-kindled. An de Asturias Foundation investigation has been to update his CV. restaurant offering menus rushed to the scene. at €5, was on fire at about Because of the density of launched to determine the Iñaki was charged in the smoke firemen had to cause of the fire.

2pm on Tuesday.

December 2011.

Temperatures raised in former brothel fire

Scammer warning as shop owner is conned

By EWN Mallorca reporter Darren Smith

A BRITISH shop owner in Portals Nous, Calvia has sent out a warning after being scammed by a man who ‘bought’ two items.

The man showed the owner a €50 note but did not hand it over. The value of the items came to an odd amount, and as she was counting out the change, the man deliberately distracted her and found the odd amount of change in his pocket.

Before the owner handed the man his change, he again distracted her by asking for one €20 note and two €10 notes in his change.

The man took the change and picked up his items, but never handed over the €50 note.

RETROSPECTIVE

Attacked for picking up free newspaper another A BRITISH attack. expatriate “The was left Y bar owner bruised A M followed and scared me, and after she grabbed was me when I ‘attacked’ entered a by a bar nearby owner bar.” while Mrs picking up May 9 Issue 1453 Glenn has a copy of been left with serious The Euro Weekly News.

Mrs Angela Glenn, bruising on her arm after aged 65, who has lived the alleged attack.

“I was really scared and alone in Port de Soller for two years, claims the bar shaken, and someone told owner came from behind me ‘just give him the the counter and tried to paper’ which I did as he take the paper from her was being so aggressive.

“I have taken a copy of after telling her, “Unless you are prepared to buy a the newspaper from there drink you cannot have a before and I have been a customer of the bar, so I copy.”

The British lady says was surprised that he she told him: “It’s a free screamed at me never to newspaper,” and that she enter his bar again.

“I am very upset to be was taking a copy and left the premises. The owner treated this way,” Mrs then came outside and Glenn added.

The bar is NOT an tried to wrestle the paper out of her hand, said Mrs official outlet for EWN, which weekly distriGlen.

She walked off to butes 10,000 copies another bar where she from official outlets says she was subjected to across the island.

Shark hauled in from deep water A SLEEPER shark about five metres long was found dead in waters off the Port d’Andratx.

Everything indicates the specimen was caught in some fishing nets. The discovery occurred when a man was working on one of the boats in the port. The shark was dragged into an area where a crane could remove it from the sea.

As soon as the shark was lifted a part of the tail fell off which suggests it had been dead for a few days and was decomposing.

The Guardia Civil, Local Police and environmental technicians were informed of the discovery and deployed to the Port d’Andratx.

Experts believe the current had dragged it to the area. Two years ago, another specimen of this species was found dead in the waters of sa Dragonera. Despite their large size (they can grow to more than seven metres), they are harmless to bathers and are common around the Mallorcan coasts especially in deep water.

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RETROSPECTIVE

Iñaki ‘cheated’ on qualification

Y JUL

NATURSPORTS / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

THE thesis which got Iñaki Urdangarin his degree in business administration at the Esade School was allegedly written by one of his employees.

According to emails given to the court trying the Noos corruption case by his former business associate, Diego Torres, the royal son-in-law got one of the staff at the Noos Institute to write it for him.

Urdangarin met Torres, a professor, at the school, NE and in 2003 they set up U J the Noos Institute.

In 2005, he was writing his thesis, but an email reveals that it was in fact written by Ivan Carballido, who complained about the amount of work he was having to do at the institute. ne 6 Issue 1457 Other emails reveal that Ju Urdangarin also used him for different personal matters.

URDANGARIN: Charged in Noos case.

Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma, is charged in the Noos corruption case for However, he is allowed to travel and the alleged embezzlement of €6 million live abroad, although he would have to of public funds. return to Spain for a trial.

July 4 Issu e 1461

ALARO: The small Mallorcan municipality was the scene of a brutal murder.

Millionaire killed in video-game horror

ANDREU COLL JUNIOR, 19, has allegedly confessed to killing his millionaire father after imitating violent video-games.

Together with friend Francisco Abas Rodriguez, they are alleged to have killed businessman Andreu Coll Senior.

The teenagers have been remanded in custody after allegedly confessing to the crime.

The brutal murder took place in the small Mallorcan municipality of Alaro on Saturday June 29.

Police said the friends admitted to heavily drugging Mr Coll. Then they allegedly bludgeoned him with several objects including a vase, a speaker and a medieval-style spiked bat designed to mimic weapons often seen in violent video-games like

Dead Rising 2.The pair met on the internet whilst playing the popular online game, Call of Duty.

Both were said to be obsessed with violent video-games.

The multi-millionaire’s son and heir to his €50 million fortune, claimed to have committed the crime due to constant humiliation as a result of his father’s behaviour, said police.

Look back on 2013

FIREFIGHTING: Almost 30 aircraft deployed. Inset: Charred remains of the fire.

Fire-raiser charged

THE man allegedly responsible for aged 44, allegedly threw the remains of causing the massive forest fire west of a barbecue he had had the previous day the Tramuntana Mountains has been into an area with trees while it still released with charges. contained hot coals.

A judge in Palma The fire was declared charged him with starting under control on Tuesday a forest fire through after 730 residents in the T S severe negligence and area and clients from U G ordered him to report to hotels had been AU the court once a week and evacuated.

Almost 30 aircraft and surrender his passport. some 400 firefighters took The public prosecutor was part in putting out the asking for the man, who blaze. Two other people admitted to causing the fire who were with the which destroyed more than accused at the time the 2,000 hectares, to be 65 14 e fire started have also remanded in custody. su Is August 1 The resident of Andratx, been charged.

PHOTO BY MATTHEW CLARK

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PHOTO BY VINCENT HOONINGS

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RETROSPECTIVE

Discrimination order is ‘illegal and racist’ GUARDIA CIVIL officers in Calvia have complained that they have been ordered to treat African detainees differently.

The United Guardia Civil Association (AUGC) has claimed that the Lieutenant Commander of the Calvia station has banned officers from keeping records or alerting relatives of black people who are ER B arrested.

Instead, they have TEM P orders to read them SE their rights and call the Investigation Area Chief, regardless of their nationality or why they have been arrested.

If the arrest takes place in the early hours, September 5 Issue 1470 the call to the police chief should wait until against the law, 8am. illegal, racist and AUGC has said this is xenophobic and goes

TREAT AFRICANS DIFFERENTLY: Guardia Civil officers not happy with order. against their human rights, as well as leading to serious consequences for the officers if they fail to obey the orders of their superiors.

RETROSPECTIVE

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Man admits to killing brother A RELIGIOUS Studies teacher has been remanded in custody after confessing to killing his younger brother and keeping his dismembered body at home.

The accused, aged 39, confessed his crime in the early hours of Monday, police claim. They added he told them the remains of his brother were being kept in two freezers in the house they both shared.

The man had previously tried to hand himself in to police, but always turned back.

R BE O T OC

October 3 Issue 14 74

Man not ‘refused’ A SENEGALESE man whose death from tuberculosis became a cause célèbre after claims he was refused medical care WAS treated, but for the wrong thing.

That is according to relatives of Alpha Pam, an illegal immigrant, some of whom have denied he was turned away from hospital.

The case is being investigated by two courts.

In one, his father has appeared to make a private accusation. In the second court, a public accusation is being brought by the Mallorca Human Rights Association, the Mallorca Senegalese Association and unions CGT and UGT, with his family also present for the private accusation, against the will of the public accusers.

HIDDEN: The dismembered body was kept in a freezer.

It was after he told his ex-wife about the crime that he finally surrendered.

Police sources said the killing could have taken place on September 11, although the arrested claimed he didn’t remember when it happened.

Forensic Police officers suspect the accused could have been helped as the remains showed clean cuts.

According to police, the arrested and his brother had numerous arguments since they started living together a year ago. It was during one of these fights the victim, for unknown reasons, tried to attack his brother with a hammer.

But the arrested man snatched it and hit him several times in the head, causing his death.

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RETROSPECTIVE

Pervert arrested AN exhibitionist has been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Inca for committing obscene acts in front of young girls.

The suspect is a married man, in his 30s and father of two sons who lived in Binissalem and targeted girls between the ages of 12 and 15.

The arrest came as a result of several reports to the Inca Guardia Civil from

ER B EM V NO

sue 1479 November 7 Is

parents who said their daughters were accosted by a mentally disturbed person.

The four recorded reports stated that the perpetrator followed the girls and when they were in a quieter part of the city or alleyway he called them over by asking for information about a street or the time.

When the young girls approached the vehicle the

man flashed at them and on occasion asked them to get into the car.

The Guardia Civil say they suspect that the number of young girls approached by the exhibitionist is much higher than those that have been officially reported, but that either because of fear or embarrassment they haven’t wanted to tell their families or file a report.

ER B CEM DE

December 5 Issue 148 3

Too shy to report.

Tourism future assured!

TOUR operators from around the world are looking at Mallorca as the next top holiday destination.

British, Nordic and German companies have signed contracts to bring up to 100 million tourists to the island in the years up to 2020.

Tourism business owners and hoteliers have received the news with

open arms. Long-term agreements with tour operators allow them to undertake refurbishment works at their premises and increase prices as a consequence.

They recognise, however, they might earn less money as business, though steady, will leave little room for profit margins.

Representatives from hotel chains including Melia, Viva, Hipotels, HM and Marina Hotels have said these agreements pay off.

They claim financing is easier with the endorsement from tour operators.

Meanwhile, tour operators claim Mallorca is a destination they can trust in.

Islanders feeling just as Spanish FIFTY-FIVE per cent of the population of the Balearic Islands claims to feel as Spanish as they do Balearic.

Data revealed from a survey carried out by Gadeso shows that the feeling of duality continues to exist amongst the population and remains the same as when the last survey was carried out in February.

However, while the number of people who feel more Balearic than Spanish has risen to 20 per cent, those who feel more Spanish than Balearic has fallen to 12 per cent.

Causes for this, the survey shows, may be perception of a degree of ‘abuse’ from central government, especially when it comes to the amount of money assigned to the area.

On the other hand, it could be partly due to the continuous attacks against the local language from the president of the Balearic Government, Jose Ramon Bauza.

Results are similar on the four islands and also amongst different age groups.

Fewer than 1 per cent of the population in the Balearic Islands identifies with the Catalans, and most say they feel that they belong to their own island.

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S CANDINAVIAN P RESS

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Stories making headlines in Europe

NORWAY - Hospital officials in Bergen said they plan on giving out heroin to addicts in an effort to reduce overdoses and health complications.

Mild winter NORWAY - A large part of Norway saw unusually mild weather this Christmas.

Icy Somalis SWEDEN - A Swedishbased team of Somalians are preparing to represent the African nation at the world championships of Bandy, similar to ice hockey.

Food aversion SWEDEN - A survey by Finnish communications corporation Nokia found that half of Swedes are irritated by pictures of food on Instagram and Facebook pages.

Taxing time

David Attenborough, 87, climbing trees, he revealed.

MORE than 1,500 people found time on Christmas Day to submit their online tax returns, HM Revenue and Customs said.

Clowning around BRITAIN’S clowning community fears its good name has been tarnished after police around the country revealed incidents of people in costume scaring members of the public.

Keep ban EIGHT out of 10 people believe foxhunting should remain illegal, an animal welfare charity has revealed, with support equally strong in both rural and urban areas.

A SANTA CLAUS was told to stop entertaining children in a town centre over fears they would be ‘traumatised’ by the sight of two Father Christmases in the same street.

FESTIVE BAN: One Santa too many.

RUSSIAN PRESS

Best politician A RUSSIAN opinion research centre has named Vladimir Putin the Best Politician of the Year. According to the VTSIOM survey, 44 per cent of the population supported Putin.

Under fire

Not bothered OLYMPICS: Obama will not attend.

THE organising committee for Russia’s Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics said it was

GERMANY is short of doctors with its lack of GPs increasing by 30 per cent in one year. Rural areas are the worst affected. A report suggests 4,600 more doctors are needed.

Investing country IN 2013 German companies spent €54 billion on research and development, strengthening the country as a business location in the international competition.

Pensioner charged

HAVING knee replacement surgery and a pacemaker fitted has not stopped veteran wildlife broadcaster Sir

A RUSSIAN cargo plane crashed into warehouses at a military facility in Siberia, killing all nine people on board. There were no casualties on the ground.

DENMARK - A far-right Danish party has withdrawn its anti-Muslim comments saying they were ‘not welcome’ following criticism.

Santa trauma

Forever young

NORWAY - Prime Minister Erna Solberg will make it easier for migrant workers with higher education to come to Norway and make it more attractive to them.

DENMARK - Nagging your partner could significantly increase the risk of them suffering angina, according to a study at the University of Copenhagen.

MARKS & SPENCER apologised after a Muslim member of staff refused to sell alcohol to a customer and asked her to wait until someone else was available to serve them.

MRS BROWN’S BOYS became this year’s mostwatched programme on Christmas Day. The show created by Irish comic Brendan O’Carroll had an average audience of 9.4 million.

Plane crash

Nagging alert

Religious grounds

Most watched

Staff wanted

GERMAN PRESS Doctors needed

BRITISH PRESS Heroin available

EUROPEAN PRESS

‘not really concerned’ that President Barack Obama would not be attending the event.

Natural causes YASSER ARAFAT died of natural causes, not radiation poisoning, Russian scientists said.

Their findings were dismissed by Swiss experts as politically motivated.

Import restrictions RUSSIA plans to impose import restrictions on the dairy products from five Estonian companies and on products from six Estonian fishery industries.

Banned beef RUSSIAN authorities have advised that residues of a growth hormone were detected in several consignments of Australian beef.

Paid in full THE Russian crew of 20 on a Belize-flagged cargo ship ended their strike at a South Korean port after being paid their full salaries.

AN 87-year-old pensioner was sent to prison by a Wuppertal court after she was unable to pay a fine of €474 for persistent faredodging on public transport.

Strike continues WORKERS at Amazon.com Inc’s German operations plan to continue their strikes, in a dispute over pay that has been raging for several months.

Gold returns GERMANY’S Bundesbank plans to store half the national gold reserves in its own vaults by 2020. It will mean the return of 700 tons from the US and France.

Naked biker GERMAN police are looking for a motorcyclist who rode through Münster’s Christmas market wearing only gloves and a helmet.

Legal action AUSTRIA is considering legal action against Germany to prevent the country from introducing a charge on foreign drivers on its motorways.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

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2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

business & legal

SIXTY-FOUR per cent of Spaniards felt stressed by the expense of the Christmas holidays, compared with 69 per in 2012. They complained of insomnia, headaches, muscular pain and stomach aches.

NANISIMOVA / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Just 8 state-owned airports make money profitable airports were less so after paying amortisations or taxes. This was the case with Madrid-Barajas, which despite its €407.1m EBITDA, had an after-tax shortfall of €13.1m.

Malaga and Alicante were also excluded from the money-makers after having met all their obligations, unlike Palma and El Prat, which both made a profit of almost €74m.

Is it too soon to declare victory?

SPAIN could be declaring economic victory too soon.

So believes Gilles Moec, Co-head of European Economics Research at Deutsche Bank.

Gilles Moec has been studying Spain’s economy since 1993 and feels ‘moderately optimistic’ regarding its recovery, he recently told a Spanish national newspaper El Pais interviewer.

There is certainly a flow of foreign money towards Spain, conceded Moec when asked if investors’ enthusiasm was justified.

“But the message I try to transmit to my clients is that it was neither that bad before, nor is it that good now,” he explained.

“The private sector has carried out necessary adjustments.

Spanish firms are now in a net lending position and that means they do not need to reduce employment to meet their financial commitments,” Moec said.

In contrast, homework is pending for the public sector. Spain still had a high public debt with a deficit of 6.5 per cent of this year’s GDP, the economist pointed out.

“My impression is that in 2014 the European Commission will give Spain some margin to adjust the deficit. But it will have to come up with some credible plans in the following years,” he warned.

B

usiness extra

Mini-job boost SPAIN’S government wants to increase parttime jobs. Only 14.6 per cent of Spanish employees work parttime, compared with 20.9 per cent in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

Home birds FIFTY-FOUR per cent of Spanish women worked outside the home in 2012. This was the fourth lowest after Italy (50.5 per cent), Croatia (50.2 per cent) and Greece (45.2 per cent).

Copper-bottomed industry ATLANTIC COPPER is the biggest copper foundry in Spain and Europe’s second most important.

The Huelva company was taken over in 1993 by the US-owned Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s largest producer of gold, molybdenum and copper.

At the time of the takeover, Atlantic Copper had a turnover of

around €211m. By 2012 this had multiplied almost tenfold to €1.98bn. The Huelva plant now produces twice as much copper, three times as much gold and three times the amount of sulphuric acid as it did in the past.

It has ridden out the economic crisis, said CEO Javier Targhetta, thanks to the emerging markets.

15

STAT OF WEEK

Airport profits dwindle JUST eight of state-owned AENA’s 47 airports made after-tax profits in 2012.

This falls far short of the predicted 18 on the grounds of their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).

The profit-makers were Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona-El Prat, Gran Canaria, Tenerife Sur, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Sevilla and Bilbao. Apparently

EWN

PALMA’S AIRPORT: One of few to make a profit.

16

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

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C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 30

C O M PA N Y PRICE(P) Aberdeen Asset Mngmnt 486.35 Admiral Group PLC 1304.50 Aggreko PLC 1732.50 AMEC PLC 1086.50 Anglo American PLC 1329.75 Antofagasta PLC 839.75 ARM Holdings PLC 1105.00 Ashtead Group PLC 774.75 Associated British Foods 2495.00 AstraZeneca PLC 3619.00 Aviva PLC 449.40 Babcock Intrntnl Gr...

1341.00 BAE Systems PLC 439.80 Barclays PLC 272.50 BG Group PLC 1299.50 BHP Billiton PLC 1879.50 BP PLC 489.72 British Am Tobacco 3246.50 British Land Co PLC 625.50

C H A N G E ( P ) % C H G. 1.00 0.21 1.00 0.08 10.00 0.58 8.00 0.74 20.50 1.57 8.66 1.04 0.00 0.00 1.90 0.25 0.00 0.00 13.50 0.37 0.90 0.20 6.77 0.51 -1.10 -0.25 2.80 1.04 2.12 0.16 11.50 0.62 1.00 0.20 -4.50 -0.14 0.00 0.00

NET VOLUME 59.61 6.03 22.97 166.63 159.71 36.26 119.00 21.82 7.70 59.10 147.29 6.10 73.31 2,837.92 93.61 166.07 617.97 46.47 137.53

COME DIRECT TO US AND START SAVING MONEY NOW- See our advert on page 19

0.83310

1.20033 Units per €

United States $......................................................1.37411 Japan Yen ¥ ...........................................................144.796 Switzerland Francs................................................1.22618 Denmark Kroner ....................................................7.45990 Norway Kroner.......................................................8.45222

currenciesdirect.com/mallorca • Tel: +34 687 906 226 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

846.50 380.95 1441.00 1509.00 1030.00 2498.50 349.60

C H A N G E ( P ) % C H G.

DOW JONES

NASDAQ

C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 30

C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 30

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 WMT Wal-Mart Stores Inc DIS Walt Disney Co

PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME 139.35 89.19 35.18 136.90 90.87 125.23 22.02 64.25 101.51 27.83 176.35 81.64 25.60 185.08 92.35 58.14 96.91 49.79 37.29 78.16 30.64 82.01 40.66 89.85 112.80 74.69 49.17 219.67 78.47 74.35

+1.06 +0.19 +0.02 -1.37 -0.28 +0.42 +0.22 0.00 +0.61 0.00 -0.10 +0.09 -0.10 -0.27 -0.19 -0.06 +0.07 +0.07 -0.15 -0.03 +0.09 +0.25 +0.17 -0.16 +0.11 -0.16 -0.01 -0.53 +0.08 -0.27

+0.77% +0.21% +0.06% -0.99% -0.31% +0.34% +1.01% 0.00% +0.60% 0.00% -0.06% +0.11% -0.39% -0.15% -0.21% -0.10% +0.07% +0.14% -0.40% -0.04% +0.29% +0.31% +0.42% -0.18% +0.10% -0.21% -0.02% -0.24% +0.10% -0.36%

1.9M 1.8M 14.1M 2.2M 3.4M 3.5M 24.1M 2.0M 10.2M 19.0M 1.7M 4.0M 13.0M 3.4M 3.5M 8.9M 2.0M 4.2M 14.6M 2.3M 12.0M 4.0M 6.8M 758.2K 1.6M 2.9M 5.4M 1.3M 3.1M 3.8M

C O M PA N Y

2.00 0.40 0.00 14.00 -1.00 1.00 2.02

0.24 0.11 0.00 0.94 -0.10 0.04 0.58

NET VOLUME 114.98 229.53 10.04 31.44 27.37 10.29 178.50

PRICE

CHANGE NET / %

VisionChina Media, Inc. $ 31.20 Kandi Technologies Group, Inc. $ 10.34 ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ 19.89 Amyris, Inc. $ 5.23 Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. $ 5.44 O2Micro International Limited $ 2.99 Sky-mobi Limited $ 3.62 Solazyme, Inc. $ 10.61 Supertel Hospitality, Inc. $ 15.25 UBIC, Inc. $ 5.21 Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation $ 72.14

6.90 28.40% 2.13 25.94% 2.77 16.18% 0.72 15.96% 0.47 9.46% 0.24 8.73% 0.28 8.38% 0.78 7.93% 0.96 6.72% 0.30 6.11% 3.86 5.65%

Most Advanced

Most Declined Willdan Group, Inc. $ 4.91 RetailMeNot, Inc. $ 28.51 Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. $ 20.93 China Recycling Energy Corporation $ 3.57 Ambit Biosciences Corporation $ 9.51 Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. $ 5.36 Supertel Hospitality, Inc. $ 2.35 Camtek Ltd. $ 3.93 Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ 6.55 United Community Bancorp $ 10.731 Global-Tech Advanced Innovations Inc. $ 6.16

0.42 1.99 1.44 0.24 0.60 0.33 0.14 0.23 0.38 0.619 0.3535

7.88% 6.52% 6.44% 6.30% 5.93% 5.80% 5.62% 5.53% 5.48% 5.45% 5.43%

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

C O M PA N Y PRICE(P) CHANGE Coca-Cola HBC AG 1758.50 6.00 Compass Group PLC 961.25 2.00 CRH PLC 1544.00 1.00 Diageo PLC 1995.50 3.50 easyJet PLC 1533.00 -2.72 Experian PLC 1128.50 9.00 Fresnillo PLC 749.75 14.19 G4S PLC 261.90 2.00 GKN PLC 375.00 0.35 GlaxoSmithKline PLC 1602.25 -1.85 Glencore Xstrata PLC 320.62 5.00 Hammerson PLC 501.75 2.00 Hargreaves Lansdown 1358.50 9.00 HSBC Holdings PLC 659.95 -2.40 IMI PLC 1540.50 9.00 Imperial Tobacco Group 2335.50 -7.00 InterContinental Hotels . 2033.50 6.00 International Cnsldtd ... 401.05 -1.20 Intertek Group PLC 3117.00 6.00 ITV PLC 194.10 0.90 Johnson Matthey PLC 3260.00 14.00 Kingfisher PLC 387.00 1.90 Land Securities Group 956.50 1.50 Legal & General Group 223.20 0.10 Lloyds Banking Group 79.03 0.21 London Stock Exchange 1718.50 -3.00 Marks & Spencer Group 449.35 -0.70 Meggitt PLC 531.00 1.50 Melrose Industries PLC 301.30 1.50 Mondi PLC 1036.50 11.00 National Grid PLC 795.50 4.68 Next PLC 5457.50 -14.28 Old Mutual PLC 192.10 0.70 Pearson PLC 1348.50 4.00 Persimmon PLC 1228.00 9.00 Petrofac Ltd 1211.00 8.28 Prudential PLC 1347.00 6.00 Randgold Resources Ltd 3842.00 29.00 Reckitt Benckiser Group 4815.50 26.00 Reed Elsevier PLC 896.50 1.00 Resolution Ltd 350.10 0.80 REXAM PLC 524.00 1.50 Rio Tinto PLC 3411.00 32.00 Rolls-Royce Holdings 1275.00 5.00 Royal Bank of Scotland 341.15 1.10 Royal Dutch Shell PLC 2268.75 -5.50 Royal Mail PLC 579.75 -0.39 RSA Insurance Group PLC 92.45 0.25 SABMiller PLC 3091.75 12.50 Sage Group (The) PLC 407.55 1.60 Sainsbury (J) PLC 379.10 0.60 Schroders PLC 2586.00 3.00 Severn Trent PLC 1716.50 7.00 Shire PLC 2849.00 -4.00 Smith & Nephew PLC 867.25 1.50 Smiths Group PLC 1492.50 0.72 Sports Direct Intrntional... 729.25 1.00 SSE PLC 1380.00 6.28 Standard Chartered PLC 1355.50 -4.50 Standard Life PLC 359.20 1.80 Tate & Lyle PLC 814.75 1.50 Tesco PLC 340.43 0.39 Travis Perkins PLC 1838.00 4.61 TUI Travel PLC 409.30 0.20 Tullow Oil PLC 854.00 4.20 Unilever PLC 2481.00 7.00 United Utilities Group 675.50 6.00 Vodafone Group PLC 239.18 1.25 Weir Group PLC 2161.00 18.00 Whitbread PLC 3740.00 8.00 William Hill PLC 396.35 0.94 Wm Morrison Sprmrkts 267.95 0.30 Wolseley PLC 3430.00 19.00 WPP PLC 1383.00 0.64

% C H G. 0.34 0.21 0.06 0.18 -0.18 0.80 1.93 0.77 0.09 -0.12 1.58 0.40 0.67 -0.36 0.59 -0.30 0.30 -0.30 0.19 0.47 0.43 0.49 0.16 0.04 0.27 -0.17 -0.16 0.28 0.50 1.07 0.59 -0.26 0.37 0.30 0.74 0.69 0.45 0.76 0.54 0.11 0.23 0.29 0.95 0.39 0.32 -0.24 -0.07 0.27 0.41 0.39 0.16 0.12 0.41 -0.14 0.17 0.05 0.14 0.46 -0.33 0.50 0.18 0.11 0.25 0.05 0.49 0.28 0.90 0.53 0.84 0.21 0.24 0.11 0.56 0.05

VOLUME 4.12 60.27 51.63 43.63 30.17 48.69 44.95 126.20 133.50 69.46 1,228.00 4.36 26.83 1,135.66 11.41 58.58 10.04 242.27 4.72 272.80 4.69 106.80 22.00 156.85 3,458.82 9.22 85.19 13.49 23.35 69.27 171.06 12.50 120.40 6.66 23.64 47.78 47.99 28.48 15.50 54.23 77.64 33.88 204.81 54.19 438.79 83.77 33.96 452.47 63.94 39.93 213.47 1.09 14.74 31.46 18.55 20.46 12.41 55.33 295.35 66.56 21.08 250.31 20.05 34.23 34.87 75.25 139.15 1,829.39 14.30 17.28 93.72 113.03 7.38 58.36

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

EWN

17

NITO

MORE foreign tourists than ever holidayed in Spain last year.

Their numbers increased by 5 per cent to 57.6 million between January and November 2013, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism announced.

This already overtook 2012’s total without including last December’s figures.

Continuing unrest in the Middle East worked in Spain’s favour, with many preferring the safety of the Canary Islands.

This was especially noticeable last November when the islands received 17.9 per cent more foreign tourists than in November 2012.

All visitors, including the comparatively new Russian market and the traditional Northern European

/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Sun and sand tempt foreign A sad farewell tourists to Spanish beaches

TEMPTED: Beaches attracted foreigners. markets, were attracted by Spain’s sun and sand offer. Reductions in accommodation prices to offset the fall in Spanish visitors were a further draw.

The fastest-growing tourist markets were comparatively new Russia as well as the perennial Northern European countries but UK visitors were still the most numerous.

Staying on at work rather than retiring EARLY retirements in Spain fell by 40 per cent to fewer than 120,000 last year.

This enabled the central government to make savings in the region of €870 million.

EURO WEEKLY NEWS finance columnist Jim Collins has died.

Many readers will remember his well-thought out and readable column that appeared weekly until early in 2013 when he returned to England for hospital treatment.

His articles were always thought provoking and often controversial.

Away from the world of finance he was well known in the Torrevieja (Costa Blanca) area, especially for his role in the Torrevieja Barbershop Harmonisers. In a statement the singers said: “We mourn the loss of one of our longest standing members.

“He had been a member of the chorus for some 18 years and was one of the most committed members we had.

“He was the bass section leader devoting his time to improving the quality of the section’s singing - his enthusiasm was an inspiration to us all.”

Jim died peacefully in his sleep in hospital in England at the age of 83.

PIVE could be a possibility for 2014 THE PIVE plan could continue during 2014, the government has hinted.

Car sales would rise 7.5 per cent if the €2,000 grants are retained for writing-off old cars and buying energy-efficient vehicles.

18

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

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FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

Why 1960s babies losing the love RG-VC / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Loose change A look at finance for females

Jane Plunkett jane.plunkett@euroweeklynews.com

OK, so you may have had Beatle mania, long hair, flower-power images and flared jeans, but a new fiscal report from the UK concludes that many people born in the 1960s and 1970s will be poorer overall than their parents, ending the post-war trend for each generation being richer than the last.

A lack of a pay rise, insufficient pension savings, falling home ownership and no saving means that many may need to rely on inheritance from their parents to see them comfortably through the remainder of their lives.

According to a report from the UK, those born in the 1960s and 70s have taken a serious hit over the past decade, as the average income has not risen significantly. Since 2002 incomes have only grown by 0.1 per cent, while the parents of 60s and 70s children enjoyed decent income growth throughout their 30s, 40s and 50s.

BUSINESS EXTRA

Foreign owners HONG KONG-based Shuanghui and Mexico’s Sigma reached agreement to take over Spain’s Campofrio Food Group.

They will pay €6.9 per share, giving the Spanish company a value of €705 million.

Big buy

WORSE OFF: Flower power children losing out.

It appears that those born in the 60s and 70s also suffer from an inability to save, preferring to spend money rather than put it away. In comparison, the consumer habits of the parents of these spendthrifts was quite the contrary - 60s’ and 70s’ mums and dads were more inclined to save money than splash the cash as young adults.

A gleaming goal on the horizon for many young adults in

the 60s and 70s was to get on the property ladder and that was exactly what they did. Statistics show that 80 per cent of people at that time were homeowners by the age of 50.

In contrast, while the report reveals that those born in the 60s have managed somewhat better to acquire a home, unfortunately for those born in the 70s, falling incomes, saving less and the boom in property

prices in the 1990s and up to the mid-2000s, has made it very difficult to buy a home.

That’s not to say that all is lost in the world and you had better hope that an inheritance will see you through!

No, it’s just a reminder of how important it is in this day and age to make correct financial decisions in order to make the most of your money and future.

AMANCIO ORTEGA, Inditex owner and founder of Zara, bought Devonshire House in London’s Mayfair. He acquired the office block from the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc for €480 million.

Even-handed EIGHTY per cent of the Eroski cooperative’s 8,500 members backed the board’s proposal to assume 30 per cent of the group’s losses. This was coherent with past profitsharing, Eroski sources said.

Gas tapped

What goes up sometimes comes down ONE basic service in crisisweary Spain now costs less.

Mobile telephone bills fell by 22 per cent in the period between the third quarter of 2012 and the third quarter of 2013.

This was the steepest year-on-year reduction in recent years, overtaking 2012’s 18 per cent reduction and the 9.6 per cent fall recorded in 2011, said Spain’s National Markets and Competition

Lower tax on way AN overhaul of the Spanish tax system is on the way with low earners set to be the winners and big business the losers.

Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro said in an interview with Spanish newspaper Expansion that income tax will be gradually lowered, with low earners getting the biggest cuts before higher income brackets between 2015 and 2017.

The government will hope to pay for the reform by boosting corporate tax takes, which at the moment are around 8 per cent of company profits - one of the lowest rates in Europe.

But no details have been finalised yet, and there is no indication of by how much income tax may be cut.

Commission (CNMC).

Mobile companies’ tariffs based on average earnings per minute have fallen by half since 2005.

In contrast Iberdrola, Endesa and Gas Natural Fenosa, which account for 90 per cent of the domestic power market, have increased their bills by 70 per cent since then.

Competition amongst telecommunications companies and their pitched battles in the war to poach each others’ business have benefited clients.

This has improved Spain’s EU rankings, as only two years ago the country’s mobile-to-mobile calls were amongst the most expensive in Europe.

The three companies that originally dominated

REPSOL started production at Bolivia’s Margarita 6 field. This is the most productive in the country and the subAndean basin, producing 6 million cubic metres of gas each day.

Time out

GOOD NEWS: Mobile charges fall.

the mobile market - Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange - no longer have it in their clutches following the ascent of Yoigo as the country’s fourth-largest operator.

Yoigo changed the mobile landscape and so did the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO in English and OMV in

Spanish). These do not own networks but instead buy bulk access at wholesale rates which they then resell.

Movistar, which once had 46.6 per cent of the market, now has 33.6 per cent; Vodafone has lost 6 per cent of its share while Yoigo and the MVNOs have 18.6 per cent more.

THERE were 1,141 strikes between January and November 2013, involving 553,836 workers. The 14 million lost working hours were 63 per cent fewer than during the same period in 2012.

Metro lay-offs A TOTAL of 587 Madrid Metro employees accepted a voluntary redundancy offer of 20 days’ pay for every year worked.

Those aged between 58 and 63 will receive more.

OPINION & COMMENT

Voters get what they deserve!

I REFER to the letter from Bob Mitchell calling for a democratic Marxist state (Letters, Issue 1483) and the reply from Paul Whitfield last week in which he refers to the ever-increasing disparity between the rich and the poor.

He then asks why can we not have a government with integrity acting in the best interests of the majority since this is what democracy should be all about. However, he then asks why can we not have the kind of government we deserve.

I would remind him that in a democracy with one man one vote, you always get the government that you deserve, whether you like it or not!

The Gil party that ran Marbella Town Hall between 1991 and 2005 is a very good example of this polarisation of public opinion.

Peter Sanderson, Estepona (Malaga) Editor’s note: Many members of the Gil party that ran Marbella under Mayor Jesus Gil have been convicted of criminal offences related to their terms in office.

Open your eyes I WOULD like to suggest a New Year’s resolution for many expats living in Spain.

Over the years, the Euro Weekly News has printed many letters about the importance of learning the language, and I totally agree. However, this is hard for some people, often through no fault of their own.

What is also important and does not require great knowledge of the language, is getting to know places and going further than the shops, the post office, the bars and the beach.

I know dozens of people who have lived here for years and have seen nothing of the country.

Wherever you live in Spain, you will find that within just a few hours’ drive, there is a

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2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

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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

This spider was fished out of the bottom of our swimming pool by a young boy who was staying with us.

The fact that it had sunk indicates that it had been in water for quite some time.

About an hour later despite appearing to be truly dead, surprise surprise it revived and set off across the table!

Can anyone identify it?

Point missed WITH regard to the letter from Ken Bethell ‘Where is the loss?’

(Issue 1485).

Mr Bethell misses the point completely when he states that buying fake goods, purportedly supposed to be designer brands, doesn’t hurt big companies like Gucci, Prada, et al.

While obviously it does hurt these companies, the greater loss is to local traders who pay taxes, rents, lighting, staff, etc, while the purloiners of fake goods pay nothing.

21

our lack of commitment.

Looking for good value places is legitimate, but there are more important things in this life than just saving some euros.

Maybe if we had made a little effort and helped our local bars, many of them would have not closed because of the financial crisis.

Pedro Rodriguez, Benalmadena (Malaga)

Party politics

By Sonia Longman (By email)

world completely different to what you have become accustomed to. Spain is full of both natural and manmade monuments from all eras, natural parks, mountains, reservoirs and much more; some are well-known, others less so, but all worth a visit.

So even if you can only spare one day a month to do so, get in your car, on public transport or with an organised tour, and get out there!

Joan Bainbridge (By email)

EWN

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

Does he not read the press or watch television news? Where does he think these goods come from? Much of the merchandise peddled by the fake goods sellers is funded by mafias who use the profits for illegal enterprises. How many people who buy from these illegal sellers realise that they are contributing to illegal activities?

The loss, while probably minimal to the giant conglomerates, is felt much more by the legal traders in all towns and cities and it is from protests by these traders that the authorities have clamped down on the illegal sellers of

fake goods. And rightly so.

R G Waugh, Fuengirola (Malaga)

Support your own A COUPLE of days ago, I went for a walk to Los Boliches, in Fuengirola, after literally years without visiting the neighbourhood.

To my surprise, I found most of the restaurants and bars I used to go to some 20 years ago were closed.

Well, not all of them. Oddly enough, I noticed that some of the places that are still open are managed by British people.

I’ve always criticised the fact that most visitors and foreign residents go to these places, but now I see why they do so.

Having the support of the local community is crucial to keeping your business open, and what these expatriates have been doing for so long was just supporting their people.

I think we, Spanish people, could learn from that. Too many Spanish restaurants and pubs have closed simply because of

WITH news that another censure motion is trying to be pushed through by the PP party in Orihuela, it really does make you wonder why you bother voting.

The PP lost the last election and the right to rule with it, in a fair and democratic vote, so what makes them think they can just jump into bed with various other political parties; the very same parties they were fighting against when they were in power, in a bid to get back in charge?

The voting public do not want them in power otherwise they’d have voted for them.

It makes a mockery of the election system and of Orihuela’s politics when the only ones to suffer are residents.

A S Williams, Orihuela Costa (Alicante)

Big thanks I WOULD like to say thank you for my wonderful experience of the Spanish healthcare system.

As a foreign resident of 75 years, I have recently had two stents fitted in my heart. This was after a road accident when a medical examination revealed a defect. This was followed by a consultation at Foietes, an MRI at Benidorm Clinic, and an operation at St Juan, all within seven weeks. Now I have a new lease of life.

Viva España! I am sure that in the UK I would have been put on the scrapheap.

Tony Nicholls, Benidorm (Alicante)

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.

22

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014/ Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

Take a trip abroad and deal with it Cassandra Nash

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

S

AY hello to your friendly back-street abortionist.

She or he, thanks to Justice Minister Alberto RuizGallardon, is back in town. RuizGallardon has given Spain or, rather, Spanish women, a law even more restrictive than the 1985 legislation and light years away from 2010’s.

A woman will have to be raped or find two doctors willing to certify that her health or sanity are at risk before she will be allowed a termination.

Religious beliefs have been made law in a country without a state religion.

A woman who does not want a baby will always find a way to get rid of it, regardless of the law.

Those with enough money will take a trip to France or Britain and abort in non-judgemental surroundings.

ABORTION: Alberto Ruiz Gallardon’s new law.

That was once a favourite solution for the pregnant but unmarried daughters of ministers, leading politicians and pious churchgoers. Doubtless it will be again. At least the airlines will do well out of it.

Free-for-all EVERY autonomous region complains about the way it is

financed by the central government.

There are the predictable grumbles not only from go-italone Cataluña and socialist Andalucia but also the Valencian Community and Murcia, which both have PP governments.

Not long ago Angel de la Fuente, an investigator at the Institute of Economic Analysis (CSIC), was asked why.

“Communities are not complaining about the system,” De la Fuente said. “What they want is more free money.”

When they needed cash in the past they went to Madrid and got it, forgetting that spending more should be paid for with higher taxes, he continued.

What De la Fuente omitted to say was that many wanted that free money for Pharaonic undertakings to the greater glory not of voters or the community but the politicians themselves. Perfect opportunities for pocket-lining.

Watch it!

WOMEN might be reduced by this government to baby-incubators, but the public of all genders are now regarded as potentially criminal.

Those foolhardy enough to demonstrate when and where they shouldn’t, risk enormous fines thanks to Jorge Fernandez Diaz’s new law.

He’s thought up a new one too: the Ley de Seguridad Privada. This allows security guards to frisk, question and detain the public before calling in the police although Fernandez Diaz insists this will occur only in ‘exceptional circumstances.’ If Ley de Seguridad Ciudadana threatens to make Spain a controlled democracy, the minister’s latest novelty will turn it into a cut-price police state.

On the ball OUTSIDE Cataluña, the Spanish tend not to understand the philosophy behind the region’s need for independence. But what about Barcelona FC? The proindependence faction rebuts any suggestion of a problem, as Barça will remain in Spain’s football league. A classic case of having their cake and eating it too.

24

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

Thursday

Friday

SATELLITE CHANNELS - SkyMoviesChristmas/

BBC1/

BBC1/

4:25pm Escape to the Country 5:10pm Flog It! 6:10pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Dolphins: Spy in the Pod 10:00pm Silent Witness 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News

4:15pm Escape to the Country 5:15pm Flog It! 6:10pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:30pm A Question of Sport 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Miranda 10:00pm Silent Witness 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm The Graham Norton Show

BBC2/

BBC2/

5:05pm The Queen's Palaces 6:05pm Antiques Roadshow 7:00pm Celebrity Eggheads 7:30pm Glasgow Big Night Out 8:30pm University Challenge 9:00pm Top Gear 10:00pm PQ 17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster 11:00pm Rab C. Nesbitt 11:45pm John Sergeant Meets Rab C Nesbitt

5:05pm The Queen's Palaces 6:05pm Antiques Roadshow 7:00pm Celebrity Eggheads 7:30pm Coast 8:00pm Nature's Weirdest Events 9:00pm Kangaroo Dundee 9:30pm University Challenge 10:00pm James May's Toy Stories

ITV/ 4:00pm Secrets From the Workhouse 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Tonight 9:00pm Emmerdale 9:30pm Birds of a Feather 10:00pm Benidorm 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:35pm The Americans

ITV/ 4:00pm Secrets From the Workhouse 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm The Martin Lewis Money Show 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm Piers Morgan's Life Stories 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:35pm The Americans

CH4/

CH4/

5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Celebrity Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm The Restoration Man 10:00pm My Big Fat Gypsy Holiday 11:00pm Secrets of the Scammers 11:55pm Aliens

5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Celebrity Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking 10:00pm 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 11:00pm Rude Tube

ITV2/ 4:00pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:00pm You've Been Framed Rides Again!

6:00pm Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm Two and a Half Men 9:30pm Two and a Half Men 10:00pm Tricked 11:00pm Fake Reaction

ITV2/ 4:05pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:10pm You've Been Framed!

5:45pm Junior 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm Two and a Half Men 9:30pm Two and a Half Men 10:00pm GoldenEye 12:40am Two and a Half Men 1:10am Two and a Half Men

TV LISTING

www.euroweeklynews.com

1:10pm Sunday •Keira Knightley •Matthew Macfadyen •Aaron TaylorJohnson •Jude Law

Saturday

Anna Karenina (Film, 2012) St Petersburg beauty Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley) is married to government official Alexei Karenin (Jude Law), but despite their enviable standing in late-19th century society, she feels no passion for her stuffy, older husband.

When Anna travels to Moscow to persuade the wife (Kelly Macdonald) of her cheating brother (Matthew Macfadyen) to forgive him, she catches the eye of dashing young Count Alexei Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

Sunday

Monday

BBC1/

BBC1/

BBC1/

5:30pm Final Score 6:10pm Frozen Planet 7:10pm BBC News 7:20pm BBC London News 7:30pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:00pm Pointless 8:50pm The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins 9:40pm Casualty 10:30pm Catherine Tate's Nan 11:05pm BBC News 11:25pm Little Fockers

4:15pm That Puppet Game Show 5:00pm Songs of Praise 5:35pm Dolphins: Spy in the Pod 6:35pm BBC News 6:50pm BBC London News 7:00pm Countryfile 8:00pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:30pm Antiques Roadshow 9:30pm Sherlock 11:00pm BBC News

6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm Inside Out 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm A Question of Sport 10:00pm The 7.39 11:00pm BBC News at Ten

BBC2/

BBC2/

5:10pm Coast 5:30pm Darts 6:30pm James May's Toy Stories 7:30pm Flog It! 8:30pm Dad's Army 9:00pm Morecambe and Wise in Pieces 10:00pm Dave Allen: God's Own Comedian 11:00pm Dave Allen: the Immaculate Selection

ITV/ 4:45pm You've Been Framed!

5:15pm ITV News London 5:30pm ITV News and Weather 5:45pm F.A. Cup Live 8:20pm Splash!

9:50pm Take Me Out 10:50pm The Jonathan Ross Show 11:50pm ITV News and Weather

CH4/ 5:00pm Come Dine with Me 5:30pm Come Dine with Me 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 6:35pm Come Dine with Me 7:05pm Come Dine with Me 7:35pm Channel 4 News 8:00pm Speed with Guy Martin 9:00pm Secrets of the Terracotta Warriors - Secret History 10:00pm Robin Hood

ITV2/ 4:20pm Junior 6:30pm Beethoven's 2nd 8:15pm Mr Bean's Holiday 10:00pm The 40 Year Old Virgin

6:00pm Ski Sunday 6:45pm Catch Me If You Can 9:00pm Nature's Weirdest Events 10:00pm Operation Grand Canyon with Dan Snow 11:00pm Charlie Brooker's 2013 Wipe

ITV/ 4:15pm Splash!

5:45pm Celebrity Chase 6:45pm ITV News London 7:00pm ITV News and Weather 7:15pm Dancing on Ice 8:45pm All Star Family Fortunes 9:30pm Dancing on Ice 10:00pm All New It'll be Alright on the Night 11:00pm ITV News and Weather 11:15pm Birds of a Feather

CH4/ 4:00pm The Simpsons 4:30pm Edward Scissorhands 6:35pm Channel 4 News 7:05pm Deal or No Deal 8:00pm Shipping Wars 9:00pm Speed with Guy Martin 10:00pm Bad Teacher 11:50pm Rude Tube

ITV2/ 7:05pm Evan Almighty 9:00pm You've Been Framed!

10:00pm The Magaluf Weekender 11:00pm I Am Britney Jean: Britney Spears' Road to Las Vegas

BBC2/ 6:15pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Great British Railway Journeys 8:00pm Great British Garden Revival 9:00pm University Challenge 9:30pm Sacred Wonders of Britain 10:30pm PQ 17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster 11:30pm Newsnight

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 A Great Welsh Adventure with Griff Rhys Jones 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm The Bletchley Circle 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather

CH4/ 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm Food Unwrapped Diet Special 10:00pm Benefits Street 11:00pm Secrets of the Living Dolls

ITV2/ 6:05pm The Millionaire Matchmaker 7:00pm Dinner Date 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm Two and a Half Men 9:30pm Two and a Half Men 10:00pm Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Tuesday

Wednesday

BBC1/

BBC1/

4:00pm Perfection 4:45pm Escape to the Country 5:30pm Antiques Road Trip 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 The 7.39 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm Secrets of the Body Clock with Terry Wogan

4:00pm Perfection 4:45pm Escape to the Country 5:30pm Antiques Road Trip 6:15pm Pointlessmore) 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Waterloo Road 10:30pm Live at the Apollo 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm A Question of Sport

BBC2/ 5:15pm The Great British Winter 6:15pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Great British Railway Journeys 8:00pm Great British Garden Revival 9:00pm Stargazing Live 10:00pm Stargazing Live 10:30pm The Truth About Immigration 11:30pm Newsnight

ITV/ 4:00pm Dickinson's Real Deal 5:00pm Britain's Best Bakery 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm River Monsters 9:00pm Weight Loss Ward 10:00pm The Lying Game: Crimes That Fooled Britain 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:35pm Keane and Vieira: The Best of Enemies

CH4/ 4:10pm Countdown 5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm Location, Location, Location 10:00pm The Taste 11:00pm Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA

ITV2/ 4:05pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:10pm The Real Housewives of Orange County 6:05pm The Millionaire Matchmaker 7:00pm Dinner Date 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm Two and a Half Men 9:30pm Two and a Half Men 10:00pm GoldenEye

BBC2/ 5:15pm The Great British Winter 6:15pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Great British Railway Journeys 8:00pm Great British Garden Revival 9:00pm Stargazing Live 10:00pm Stargazing Live 10:30pm The Hidden World of Britain's Immigrants 11:30pm Newsnight

ITV/ 4:00pm Dickinson's Real Deal 5:00pm Britain's Best Bakery 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Midsomer Murders 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 Come Dine with Me 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm The Restoration Man 10:00pm 24 Hours in A and E 11:00pm Benefits Street

ITV2/ 4:05pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 5:10pm The Real Housewives of Orange County 6:05pm The Millionaire Matchmaker 7:00pm Dinner Date 8:00pm You've Been Framed!

8:30pm You've Been Framed!

9:00pm Two and a Half Men 9:30pm Two and a Half Men 10:00pm Benidorm 11:00pm The Magaluf Weekender

26

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

A perfect gift to bring in the New Year LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT

w

ELL, that’s it for another year. Just when I thought Santa had forgotten me (again) my lovely daughter Charlene presented me with the greatest gift you can have, the two week premature birth of my beautiful grandson Julian.

Heaven knows what kind of a world this brand new little manifestation will have to contend with, but rest assured he will be strengthened by the love of many. Welcome my little one and a very happy new life to you.

I think this year the TV programmers finally managed to top all previous festive programming by turning out the biggest load of garbage ever.

White Christmas. At least three times. South Pacific. Twice. The Wizard of Oz. The Dirty Dozen.

Hogan’s Heroes. The Great

EARLY ARRIVAL: Leapy’s new grandson.

Escape. Ben Hur. Spartacus.

They were all in there. I see Lawrence of Arabia managed to elbow its way in this year, but only because dear old Peter O’Toole kicked the bucket. What I did enjoy, however, was the revival of such wonderful comedies as Steptoe and Son and Dad’s Army. Wonderful comedy offerings and not an ‘F’ word, or indeed anything stronger than a ‘bloody’ in sight.

How must these so-called comics of today feel when they

compare their pathetic offerings to these marvellous classics of old. How would anyone feel when they realise that the only way they can get a laugh is to use the ‘F’ word, or now, in an even new low, the ‘C’ word.

You’re all an arrogant bunch of untalented, extremely lucky, inadequates and shame on the BBC, as usual, the main culprit for giving airspace to this bunch of ‘plonkers’. The Comic Relief BBC hypocrisy has also done a U-turn and decided to drop its

investments in arms and tobacco. ’Course they would still be continuing arrogantly on had they not been caught out. I don’t know why we put up with this insufferable bunch of traitorous lefties. I’d sack the lot of ’em and start again from scratch.

And that’s about it. Apart from the crucifixion of Nigella, but I think there’s been enough writer’s cramp connected to that particular subject! I’m still having to endure all this darn sunshine on the Canary Islands! Ah, well, someone has to do it!

I wish you all a prosperous happy and healthy and as PCfree a New Year as possible.

Many thanks for all your wonderful correspondence and comments. I know I can’t reply to them all, but I assure you every one is read and noted. Keep ’em coming. Stay positive. Spring is just around the corner.

So, whatever ya do, always keep the faith.

Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com

LEAPY LETTERS

Not literate LEAPY Lee says it. Others think it. Really?

Over the past seven years, I have read at least a dozen of his contributions and have found nothing he has written that has not been been discussed intelligently somewhere in the media. The difference is that the general media will have presented their arguments in a more mature, literate manner than the ranting and raving of ‘yer Leapy’.

David R Worboys, Nerja (Malaga)

Keep ranting RANT away, Leapy.

Someone who tells it as he sees it is a rare commodity in the media these days. Don’t let anyone ever stop you.

Happy New Year!

Andrew Steele, Palma (Mallorca)

The biggest bank heist in history Mike Walsh Mike Walsh. Based in Mediterranean Spain, is an international journalist, author and professional writer.

W

ESTERN economies have been hijacked by fraudulent banking cartels aided by corrupt political accomplices.

The downturn is neither a cyclical blip nor a global downturn. It is a bank raid in reverse.

The wealth of many Western nations has been vacuumed up by harsh interest rates and billions in tax-funded government bailouts. Accumulative bank interest adds 40 per cent to the cost of everything we and the government buy.

A rebellious Greek PM decided on a referendum to choose between Icelandic financial independence or Federal Reserve Bank slavery.

He was immediately ousted by a Goldman Sachs director who

was parachuted in. That bank was largely responsible for the Greek and Italian collapse.

Latvia was near bankrupted when its government plundered tax revenue to bail out a bank. It did so to access IMF, ECB and EBRD loans which robbed taxpayers who are now paying interest on it.

Eager to access Ukraine’s mineral wealth the EU invited the government to sign a trade deal.

Offering nothing in return the agreement would bring dreadful penury similar to that experienced by Greece.

American threats of sanctions and EU backed demonstrations failed to topple the mutinous president and his prime minister.

The EU thought it had Ukraine over a barrel when its credit rating was slashed by the banks.

EU Foreign Affairs Minister Baroness Catherine Ashton was grinning from ear to ear. Without a single concession made she declared the president was to do a U-turn. Her smirk disappeared when the craftier Russian

WESTERN WEALTH: Affected by harsh interest rates.

President Vladimir Putin stepped in and offered Europe’s largest country a lifeline.

Similarly intimidated by the IMF and European Central Bank (ECB) the Icelandic government held its ground. In early December four former bosses of Icelandic bank Kaupthing were sentenced to between three

and five years in jail.

These crooks had operated a Ponzi scheme in which Qatar was given credit by the bank to buy shares in the same bank and so artificially bloat share values.

The Russian Federation, Iran and others operating independent banking services prosecute such frauds. Western govern-

ments approve and are complicit in banking swindles.

Today, Icelanders are on their way to becoming among the richest people in the world just five years after experiencing one of the most dramatic financial meltdowns in history. It now enjoys Europe’s highest standard of living.

Iceland’s President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson says: “The government bailed out the people and imprisoned the banksters, the opposite of what America and the rest of Europe did.”

The Hungarians expelled the IMF and ECB. Costa Rica’s four public owned banks resisted IMF threats. The Costa Rican economy is by far the richest in Latin America. Poverty has been abolished, there are no shanty towns.

Rodney Shakespeare, Professor of Binary Economics says: “Global finance capitalism is a fraud and its time is up. And it is also time that we recognise that and start to go for a new system.”

28

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

Never one of the smart kids PHOENIX MEDIA

Vicki Mcleod

Family Matters

W

HEN I was at school I didn’t consider myself to be one of the smart kids.

Neither did the teachers. I went to two different primary schools and then went to the local grammar school. I didn’t get in on the strength of my academic promise, or on any sort of recommendations from my teachers.

No, I got in because my mum wrote an essay in the application form which seemed to sway the admissions secretary. To this day I don’t know what it said.

I didn’t like school, and school didn’t like me either.

I left school with a good enough haul of O levels, but a very poor result in my A levels,

MY RESOLUTION: Don’t let anyone ever tell me I can’t! so I went into the world and started from the bottom.

I worked my way up through a variety of theatre jobs until I hit the West End and international theatre tours as a

Company Manager. I did the same with disability and community work. Then I started again and did the same with holistic therapies and health. I then moved to Mallorca and did

it all over again. I like change, and I like challenges.

My best friend at school, Catherine, was destined to be a writer. She was the clever one of our partnership - things came extraordinarily easily to Catherine, whilst I had to work for it. And in order to work for it I had to be convinced that it was going to be worth the effort. So often enough I didn’t bother. Becoming a writer didn’t look as if it would ever be within my reach, I decided that only the most intelligent people could possibly do that.

But as I worked my way through jobs my confidence grew, and with that my voice and my opinions developed. I took a night school course in journalism at the London School of Economics and as I developed so did the opportunities.

Writing is now the thing which I earn the majority of my living from: copywriting for businesses, doing their brochures,

emails, websites, and teaching them how to express themselves in the written form in social media.

When I heard that I had won the Expat Blog Gold Award for my blog www.familymattersmallorca. com and for my article ‘The Mallorca Expat Commandments,’ I felt an incredible sense of achievement. It’s a wonderful end to a brilliant 2013 for me.

My article, about the ‘Dos and Don’ts’ for anyone moving to the island, was the most commented on article in the entire competition and beat the other 170 entries from around the world to top spot.

Thanks to everyone who supported me and commented on the article. And thanks to Mrs McClaire, my careers advisor at school in 1987: she told me not to bother trying to work in the theatre as I’d never do it. Well I did it and many more things as well. And that’s my New Year’s Resolution for 2014: Don’t let anyone ever tell me I can’t.

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

EWN

29

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

Just five minutes for perfect skin WE know the theory: we must remove our make-up each night and cleanse in the morning, but many of us skip the morning cleanse.

So why is it so important to spend five minutes on this simple beauty regime?

Overnight skin secretes more oil, so it is advisable to cleanse every morning to remove it, returning freshness and youthfulness to the skin, as this routine is not a question of age but of skin quality.

Without clean skin, even the best treatments may be in vain.

If the pores are clogged, the active ingredients in creams will hardly be absorbed on the surface in order to reach the deeper layers of the skin.

Therefore, facial cleansing is essential for radiant skin without impurities.

An apple a day keeps heart attacks at bay AN apple a day may not just help keep the doctor away, but could also prevent people from having a heart attack.

Researchers said healthy over-50s who added a daily apple to their diet could benefit as much as those who started taking a tablet. They

believe the health benefits are similar to giving statins to everyone over 50 who is not already taking cholesterollowering drugs.

Researchers said people should not replace prescribed statins with apples but could benefit by eating more fruit.

DIET BOOST: A daily apple is beneficial for healthy over-50s.

Healthy brain for a healthy body SOMETIMES people have habits that they consider normal, but unknowingly they may begin to cause damage to general health and the brain.

People should never forget breakfast; it is vital and necessary for the energy of the day.

The nutrients provided in breakfast are essential for the brain to keep working.

Bad habits can trigger irritability, a high level of stress and premature

VITAL: The nutrients provided in breakfast. aging. Avoid accumulating stress and concerns because the arteries of the brain could be affected.

Smoking or drinking alcohol can reduce brain mass, so limit intake of both to ensure a healthy brain.

Too much sugar can cause diabetes and impair the absorption of proteins, which in turn can cause the brain to minimise its functions for feeling underfed.

Resting is important, and sleeping eight hours is essential. If the brain does not recover its

Five tips for helping detox your body THE liver is the organ that contributes the most to detoxing the body.

It operates best between 1-3am, but after heavy meals and alcohol at night it will not be at its most efficient, so more toxins are released into our bodies in the party season.

The New Year is the perfect time to think about

detoxing and to help restore your natural wellness after overindulging over the festive period. Try these few top tips to get you started: 1. Think about what you eat: look at your daily diet and raise awareness in your health and well-being.

2. Check your cupboards and refrigerator and throw

away all food loaded with sugar and fat to reduce temptation. Reduce fried and processed foods. Store natural products, small portions of lean meats and organic products.

3. Eat daily at least five portions of fruit and vegetables.

4. Decrease your meat intake. Men should eat no

Put an extra spring in your step WALKING 2,000 extra steps a day could help people at risk of heart attack and stroke cut their risk factors by 8 per cent.

Researchers at University of Leicester

(UK) looked at 9,306 adults from 40 countries for the study.

They said the exercise required is equivalent to walking 20 minutes a day at a moderate pace.

more than 100g daily and women 90g.

5. Fasting may help to clean the body’s toxins collected over the holidays.

There is no need to starve, but drinking just fruit and veg juices for one day may help the body recover.

energy over the necessary time, the process of brain-cell loss may be accelerated.

Cancer death rate falls DEATHS from cancer in the UK have dropped by more than 20 per cent in the last 20 years.

According to new figures from the charity Cancer Research UK, death rates have dropped by more than a fifth since the 1990s.

In 1990, the disease killed 220 out of every 100,000 people, but by 2011 the figure had fallen by 22 per cent to 170 people per 100,000.

Improvements in surgical techniques and drug treatments are believed to have played a part in reducing the number of deaths.

30

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

PETS/BOATING

www.euroweeklynews.com

Photo by FelixGP on Flickr

GAES Christmas Race SAILORS from Mallorca, Paula Barcelo and Margarita Alba, came second in the 420 category in the 38th GAES Christmas Race held in Palamos (Gerona).

Barcelo and Alba, from the Club Nautic Arenal, were only beaten by Britons Max Clapp and Joseph Burns, who won the 420 category.

Polish sailors Ewa Romaniuk and Kaarzyna Goralska ended up in third position.

Twice Olympic medallist Vasilij Zbogar, from Slovenia, was the overall winner and was handed the Manuel Albalat Trophy.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians Anna Kyselova and Anastasiya Krasko were the overall winners in the youth category, and were given the Miguel Company trophy.

The last day of competition was marked by southwest winds of between 15 and 18 knots, which allowed the races to be completed.

Alicante-based Jesus Rogel won the Laser Standard category four points ahead of Briton Martin Evans, and five ahead of Joaquin Blanco from the Real Club Nautico Gran Canaria (RCNGC).

In the Laser Radial male category, Mon Cañellas beat Hector Dominguez at the very last moment, only one point ahead.

Pole Jerzy Bajzo came third.

VENUE: The race took place in Palamos (Gerona).

Photo by Ignacio Baixauli

RUNNERS-UP: Paula Barcelo and Margarita Alba.

Meanwhile, the Laser Radial female category was won by world number two Tatiana Drozdovskaya, who regained the title this year. Second and third came Agata Barwinska and Monica Azon, who beat Irene Miras in the last race.

Vasilij Zbogar won the Finn category after beating Estonian Deniss Karkak, who ended up second. Last year’s overall winner, Alex Muscat, was third.

A tighter final was expected in the 470 male category as two vessels were even

in points.

Experience was on the side of Olympic sailor Onan Barreiros and Juan Curbelo, who finally won.

Jordi Xammar and Joan Herp came second.

Current world runners-up, French pair Pierre Leboucher and Nicolas Le Berre could only come third despite their best efforts.

The 470 female category was won with no problems by Anna Kyselova and Anastasiya Krasko.

Polish pair Agnieska Skrzypulec and Naalia Wojcik, and French couple Meëlen Lemaitre and Aloïse Retornaz were tied in points.

However, the Polish couple eventually ended up in second place as they had better results in individual racers.

Photo by Laura G Guerra with the permission of RCNP

Feeding directions for dogs HAPPY FACES: Prizes given at RCNP premises.

Pinyol Vermell and Tearal take trophy TWENTY-SEVEN boats took part in the 2013 Christmas Trophy, an event that put an end to the regatta season in the Balearic Islands.

The winner of the

ORC 0-2 category was the Pinyol Vermell, owned by Felix Comas, followed by Juan Cabrer’s Airlan Aermec.

Histolab, owned by Juan Jose Torres, came third.

The ORC 3-4 category was won by Toni Piza with his boat Tearal, followed by Jose Matheu’s Sirpy and Gabi Catala’s Janyary Sails coming second and third respectively.

The prizes were given in an awards ceremony Real Club Nautico Palma (RCNP), which organised the trophy.

ALL pet foods are required to provide feeding directions on the label.

Unfortunately, feeding directions can be misleading. They are guidelines and should only be used as such.

Dogs generally eat enough food to meet their energy needs. If the food is nutrient dense, providing a high number of kilocalories (KC) per cup, the dog will need to eat less.

One of the main problems is that most dogs’ feeding directions are calculated based on an average dog or puppy.

Since these are average figures, and since no two dogs are the same, it is apparent why feeding directions can be so misleading. Your dog is unlikely to fit the average.

The best method of determining the proper feeding amount for your dog is to start with the recommended level on the package.

Increase or decrease the amount by the way the dog should look. As an example if you have a 20lb dog, eating one-and-a-half cups per day of a new food, and he starts gaining weight, decrease the feeding level to one cup. Conversely, if the dog begins to lose weight you should

SPONSORED BY For all dog treats please email:

briangatcombe@hotmail.co.uk

David THE Dogman Listen to David on TRE every Saturday 10am to 11am Costa del Sol (Gibraltar/Sotogrande) 98.7fm (San Roque to Calahonda) 91.9fm (Calahonda to Motril) 88.9, Costa Calida 92.7fm Costa Blanca (Torrevieja to Elche) 105.1fm (Elche to Calpe) 88.2fm, (Calpe to Gandia & Ibiza) 104.6fm, (Denia to Valencia) 95.3fm Mallorca 103.9fm

increase his daily intake to two cups.

All puppies and young dogs up to the age of 12 months should be fed three meals a day. Adult dogs from 12 months to eight DINNER TIME: Adjust food accordingly. years should be fed two meals a day. Dogs from the age what your dog’s ideal weight should of eight years should be fed three be, ask your vet to help you. small meals a day.

For your local radio frequency log onto www.talkradioeurope.com If you have any problem as to

NEWS

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A GIFT: Dom Miles (left) with Gwyneth Smith at Mood Beach.

Hamper of good cheer CHRISTMAS spirit was in the air last week when Dom Miles won a hamper of food and fine wines in a local charity raffle for the school of one of his co-workers.

Rather than take the hamper for himself Dom, who works for Mood Beach Bar and Restaurant in Costa D’en Blanes and Son Amar, decided to re-donate it to charity. “I already get plenty of treats at Christmas, so I decided I wanted to give it to the poor and homeless in Mallorca. A lot of people still don’t realise there is a problem with poverty here on the island, so I wanted to highlight that as well.”

Gwyneth Smith, representing the NGO Mediterranea was delighted to accept the hamper on the organisation’s behalf.

“We’re working very hard here in Mallorca to support children whose families are below the breadline. Mediterranea is always looking for people to help them raise awareness and money or to lend a hand at our volunteer centres.”

The hamper will be raffled on January 25 to make sure they can raise as much money as possible. Tickets are €2 and can be bought at Dr Stoma’s surgery in Portals Nous. Visit http://mediterraneaong.com.

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CROSSWORDS

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

Mallorca weather

NEW ON DVD

MADDOCKS’ VIEW ON LIFE

for next 7 days

The Way, Way Back FOURTEEN-year-old Duncan spends his summer vacation with his mother, Pam, her overbearing boyfriend, Trent, and his daughter, Steph.

Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, the gregarious manager of the Water Wizz Water Park. Through his friendship with Owen, Duncan opens up and begins to find his place in the world.

TODAY

LLUCMAJOR MAGALLUF

The names of which products complete these famous advertising slogans?

1. Have a break. Have a -- --2. A ---- a day helps you work, rest and play 3.

Lipsmackin’ thirstquenchin’ acetastin’ motivatin’ goodbuzzin’ cooltalkin’ highwalkin’ fastlivin’ evergivin’ coolfizzin’ ----4. You can be sure of ----5. The car in front is a ----6. You’re never alone with a -----7. Don’t just book it, --------- it 8. Hello tosh, got a -------?

9. Eveninks and morninks I drink -------10. What we want is -----

CALA d’OR

PALMA ANDRATX

LLUCMAJOR MAGALLUF

Your Stars

34

Alexandra Jimenez, born January 4, 1980. Jimenez is a Spanish actress who gained fame with her portrayal of Africa Sanz on Spanish soap opera Los Serrano. As a young girl she started studying ballet, and became a professional dancer aged 15. An injury took her away from the dancing stages, and she started pursuing her career as an actress.

LEO (July 24 - August 23) Consider what is the most important thing to you at the moment? Is it wealth or social position? Your work, or how it may be possible to afford that new conservatory are minor considerations compared with your greatest asset which is your health.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23) When we have long-standing friendships, these are often taken for granted and yet often we could make so much more of them.

How long is it since you had a really deep conversation with your closest friends?

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) As the saying goes, ʻno one ever said it would be easyʼ. In the past few months you have found this to be true. Hard work is not alien to you, but there is a point where you want to shout ʻenoughʼ.

LIBRA (September 24 October 23) As a home-loving Libran, you are torn between making changes to your surroundings and getting some cash in on the business side.

Apparently, it is not possible to do both because energy levels fluctuate.

Sudoku 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.

SCORPIO (October 24 November 22) There is so much in you that is determined and looking forward to a fresh start, but something that you are trying to get rid of, or give up, may be giving you more trouble than anticipated.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 December 21) Is playing the waiting game really to your advantage? Your Sagittarian character naturally leads you to be optimistic, and why not?

LOTTERY UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

UK THUNDERBALL

IRISH LOTTO

EURO MILLIONS

Saturday December 28

Saturday December 28

Saturday December 28

Friday December 27

16

24

25

30

34

45

16

17 24

23 35

6

7

16

22

40

45

BONUS BALL

THUNDERBALL

BONUS BALL

49

5

23

Almeria

SHOWERS MAX 16C, MIN 10C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

1

6 22

LUCKY STARS 5

Saturday December 28

13 28

10

LA PRIMITIVA

1

19

33

38

43

47

REINTEGRO 3

3

EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA 17 26

Fri Sat Sun -

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mon - 13 8 C Tues - 13 9 Cl Wed - 14 10 C

CLOUDY

Fri Sat Sun -

19 15 C 21 15 C 17 12 C

Mon - 15 11 Cl Tues - 14 11 S Wed - 16 12 Cl

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mon - 17 11 C Tues - 18 12 S Wed - 20 13 C

Mallorca MAX MIN

S Sun,

11 1 Cl 12 5 C 7 0 C

MAX MIN

Mon - 8 0 Sh Tues - 8 2 C Wed - 10 2 C

Murcia

CLOUDY MAX 15C, MIN 12C 15 19 C 18 15 Cl 15 12 S

SHOWERS MAX 12C, MIN 5C

TODAY:

MAX 18C, MIN 13C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 15 12 Cl Tues - 15 12 S Wed - 15 13 Cl Cl Clear,

CLOUDY MAX 16C, MIN 6C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun Fog,

Sn Snow,

MAX MIN

20 6 Cl 20 14 C 15 9 Cl

Mon - 16 9 Cl Tues - 16 10 S Wed - 18 11 Cl

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 C) and there must be AT LEAST ONE NINE LETTER WORD. Plurals, vulgarities or proper nouns are not allowed.

TARGET:

Average: 16

Very good: 30

Good: 21

Excellent: 37

dame, dram, kame, made, make, mare, mark, mart, mate, mead, meat, ream, tame, team, term, tram, armed, derma, drama, dream, karma, maker, mated, mater, rearm, tamed, tamer, demark, dreamt, marked, marker, market, marred, remark, earmark, TRADEMARK

Word Ladder LEFT

21

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

47

REINTEGRO 5

MAX MIN

17 14 C 19 16 C 14 11 Cl

Madrid

Malaga TODAY:

Fri Sat Sun -

Mon - 18 12 C Tues - 18 11 S Wed - 20 14 Cl

SHOWERS MAX 16C, MIN 14C

TODAY:

CLOUDY MAX 15C, MIN 8C 15 8 C 16 13 Sh 13 9 Sh

TODAY:

MAX MIN

20 14 Cl 22 17 C 17 14 S

Benidorm

Barcelona TODAY:

CLOUDY MAX 19C, MIN 12C MAX MIN

Mon - 16 11 S Tues - 16 11 S Wed - 17 12 S

19 11 C 20 16 C 16 11 S

Sunday December 29

11

TODAY:

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) When it isn't possible to change something, often it is just as effective to rearrange it. That is the solution which comes to you this week. Instead of being frustrated at a delay, try changing the conditions or times.

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) For all of the things that you want to do, there are three others that you wish to do. Maybe they are waiting for their own time to come. During the course of this week you will be thinking of what the future could hold, even though dealing with practical issues.

Alicante TODAY:

BANK

LANK BANK

... PART TWO

TOMORROW CALA MILLOR

INCA

CALVIA

LEFT LIFT LINT LINK

10-Star Quiz

ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) Rarely has your mind been as sharp as it is at the moment.

There have been some awkward and downright bad periods in the recent past, but this week everything falls into place.

PISCES (February 20 - March 20) Pat yourself on the back for all of your efforts of recent weeks. Looking back just a few months, would you have thought so much progress could be made?

CALA d’OR

PALMA ANDRATX

IF ITʼS YOUR BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK: Expecting too much help from others has held you back in the recent past. It makes sense to be part of a team only when everyone is pulling their weight. Some things are best done alone for real progress.

AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) When you are at home this week I would like you to consider how you view your surroundings. This is a good week to make changes and have discussions about future directions. It is assumed that those close are happy with the status quo, but this may not be the case.

CALA MILLOR

INCA

CALVIA

Starring Liam James, Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Allison Janney. Directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Runtime 103 minutes. Rated 12.

CAPRICORN (December 22 January 20) The enthusiasm of your bright Capricorn mind is also capable of making you restless.

There are mixed feelings about being at or near home this week, with thoughts of more progress being possible elsewhere.

ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA

1. KIT KAT, 2. MARS, 3. PEPSI, 4. SHELL, 5. TOYOTA, 6.

STRAND, 7. THOMAS COOK, 8.

TOSHIBA, 9. WARNINKS, 10.

WATNEYS

www.euroweeklynews.com

CROSSWORDS

Crosswords

2 - 8 January 2014/ Mallorca

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33

SPONSORED BY

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

Cryptic

Quick

Across 1 A girl from the Channel Islands taking everything back (5) 4 Flowers Lisa had arranged (7) 7 Clergymen dance so awkwardly (7) 8 Sheʼs just the cup of tea for a Cockney (5) 10 Version of amen, I state (5) 11 Denies judge place back after unpopular initiation (7) 12 A bird regrets losing its wings (5) 14 Phosphorus is put on many bits of land (5) 19 Keep, to look at (7) 21 Bother! Itʼs Henry in the snack bar (5) 22 Some careless language (5) 23 Sea-lord arranging trials (7) 24 Got better after the morning was over (7) 25 Essential to claw back capital only (5) Down 2 Badly aligned in front (7) 3 An advance, we hear, on its own (5) 4 Run away from pudding, say (6) 5 A half rum can be injurious (7) 6 Picture at home with the television on (5) 7 Panto character made to change (4) 9 Part of her striptease act is simplicity

itself (4) 13 Angered? Awfully! (7) 15 Laborious effort of a few inside track (7) 16 Reasons not to take a bite from a bacon sandwich (4)

Code Breaker Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 16 represents R and 14 represents J, so fill in R every time the figure 16 appears and J every time the figure 14 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 Soldiers with rope and log (6) 18 Aircraft for Black Sabbath (4) 20 Builder nears trap (5) 21 Trainee soldier from America detained (5)

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS CRYPTIC Across: 1 Rumba, 4 Arctic, 9 Sultana, 10 Donor, 11 Ring, 12 Assuage, 13 Can, 14 Ball, 16 Esau, 18 Sis, 20 Abreast, 21 Tsar, 24 Merge, 25 Airsick, 26 Newest, 27 Elton.

Down: 1 Resort, 2 Melon, 3 Away, 5 Radishes, 6 Tantara, 7 Carmel, 8 Pagan, 13 Cleavers, 15 Aircrew, 17 Carmen, 18 Straw, 19 Broken, 22 Saint, 23 Erse.

QUICK Across: 1 Easy, 3 Consider, 9 Elegant, 10 Linen, 11 Crept, 12 Indian, 14 Secret, 16 Cuckoo, 19 Beasts, 21 Later, 24 Alike, 25 Insults, 26 Estimate, 27 Asks.

Down: 1 Exercise, 2 Scene, 4 Obtain, 5 Solid, 6 Denmark, 7 Rent, 8 Battle, 13 Tourists, 15 Chemist, 17 Unless, 18 Assist, 20 Steam, 22 Tales, 23 Bare.

ENGLISH-SPANISH Across: 1 Racha, 4 Scabs, 7 Dandelion, 8 All, 10 Boo, 15 Demasiado, 17 Owner, 18 Etapa.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION Down: 1 Rabo, 2 Cod, 3 Asno, 4 Seed, 5 Aviso, 6 Send, 9 Lemon, 11 Odio, 12 Asar, 13 Gale, 14 Luna, 16 Ola.

Funagram

Play on Words

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

Across 1 Puppies (of dog) (9) 6 Sour (f) (5) 7 Near (in place) (5) 13 Carreteras (5) 14 Acordar (5) 15 Pulseras (9) Down 1 Which (in questions and reported speech) (4) 2 Match (for lighting) (7) 3 Buttonhole (of garment) (4) 4 Carrera (competición) (4) 5 Abbot (4) 8 Árbitro (boxeo, fútbol) (7) 9 Cross (sign, decoration) (4) 10 Island (4) 11 Puerta (de jardín, ciudad) (4) 12 Camas (muebles) (4)

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 (BESTED) and one letter in four other cells are given as clues.

ASTERS

RAILED

BELTED

REELED

BESTED (10)

RESENT

CARTER

RIVERS

DARTED

SETTLE

DESERT

STEEDS

ENTERS

TALKED

ESTATE

TESTED

KISSES

TRAMPS

NEARBY

Unscramble the name of a famous England cricketer: INSPIRE KEEN VET

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

POPIGKE

Answers: A pig in a poke, Quite right

Unscramble the name of a large city in the US (three words): ATTACK SLY LIE

Across 1 Scratch (6) 4 Tears with the teeth (5) 9 Weather conditions (7) 10 Garden gastropod (5) 11 Pitcher (4) 12 Certain (8) 14 Announced (6) 16 Happening lately (6) 19 One of the Great Lakes (8) 20 Cab (4) 23 Ascend (5) 24 Malady (7) 25 Alternate (5) 26 Expensive (6) Down 1 Confidences (7) 2 Lift up (5) 3 Summit (4) 5 Motivated (8) 6 Look at closely (7) 7 Flat (5) 8 Adhesive (4) 13 Awful (8) 15 Assign to a role (7) 17 In need of a drink (7) 18 Film (5) 19 Religious order (4) 21 Attentive (5) 22 As well (4)

QUITE

1 Tangle, 2 Neatly, 3 Estate, 4 Tramps, 5 Astute, 6 Scared, 7 Rather, 8 Enters, 9 Darted, 10 Hunter, 11 Adorns, 12 Luster, 13 Tended, 14 Resort, 15 Titled, 16 Dreams, 17 Shouts, 18 Tested, 19 Siding

FUNAGRAM SOLUTION: KEVIN PIETERSEN, SALT LAKE CITY

34

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www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

Time for a fresh start in 2014?

As we enter the New Year it is the traditional time to make a fresh start with resolutions to improve your life. We asked what pledges people were making to themselves, if any, for 2014.

CLEANER Karen McKenna from Lo Crispin (Alicante) has no plans or intentions to make a New Year’s resolution: “I haven’t even thought about it this year, it is a bit of a pointless exercise really.

“The only time I kept one was around 20 years ago when my resolution was to stop smoking and I lasted HOME: Carolina until the April.”

Student Craig Johnston, aged Garcia wants to 23, on holiday in the Alicante be closer to her area from London to visit family, family and said he intends to friends make a resolution next he can keep this year. year: “Eat more, drink more, exercise less!

I should be able to do that, I think!”

STREET TALK Carolina Garcia, aged 32, from Pego, has made a New Year resolution: “I want to exceed last year’s expectations and to make true all my new projects.”

She added: “I also want to spend next Christmas with my family and friends, because I have been far away from them this year.” She explained that this is the second time she has made a resolution and last year it was achieved successfully so she expects to succeed this New Year.

POINTLESS: Karen McKenna has no plans for any resolutions.

Francisco Cabrera from Teulada, aged 61, said he has not made any New Year’s resolutions. He did one a few years ago when he stopped smoking and he is still not smoking, but this year he has “nothing to change” about his life.

Deborah Eagland a market stallholder who lives in Arboleas (Almeria) is looking forward to a healthy New Year. “My resolution is to eat more healthily, no more churros at the market. I hope to last all year.”

But Leigh Hill, 48, on holiday in Almeria from Sheffield, does not do resolutions. The lorry driver said: “I stopped making New Year’s resolutions years ago but, like a lot of people I could do with losing a bit of weight. With my job I spend a lot of time behind the wheel and need to exercise CHURROS: Deborah has more.” knocked the Spanish breakfast treat off the menu.

www.euroweeklynews.com

FEATURE

2 - 8 January 2014/ Mallorca

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35

China’s unique cultural heritage: 2,000-year-old Terracotta Army Peter Fieldman

Preserving the past

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

I

The huge building housing the Terracotta Army. Left: A kneeling warrior.

TONYV3112

T was 1974 when local peasant farmers came across fragments of clay while digging a well on a hillside in Lintong Province, about 35 kilometres east of the Chinese city of Xi’an in the Shaanxi region.

They had no idea that it would lead to one of the major archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. After more pieces began to appear news spread and it was not long before archaeologists moved in to investigate.

To their astonishment the initial excavations uncovered not just broken clay objects, but life-size figures standing in trenches in symmetrical formation.

Since work began on the site, over 8,000 soldiers as well as more than 500 horses together with weapons and chariots have appeared out of the ground to become one of the wonders of the world.

The origins of what has become known universally as the Terracotta Army date back more than 2,000 years. After defeating the warlords of the Seven Kingdoms at the end of a period known as the Warring States, which lasted from 475-221BC, Qin Shi Huang-di became the first emperor of a united China. Under his rule, which only lasted for 15 years, China developed a centralised administration, established land ownership with a tax system, built a network of roads to expand economic links, and created

a standardised written language which became the pillar of Chinese culture.

The emperor died in 210BC and was buried in a mausoleum near his capital city, Xi’an. Today the only sign of his burial place is a large hill, visible from far away, but although it has not yet been excavated, experts believe it covers a vast hidden city complete with buildings, the emperor’s tomb and bronze and ceramic objects.

It had been the tradition for emperors to take their administrators, government officials and workers with them into the next life as well as valuable objects and be buried in tombs together whether they wished to die or not. But it seems Qin Shi Huang decided he would rather be accompanied by terracotta or baked clay models instead of real people.

According to historians, there may have been a change of mentality in Chinese society, but they believe the emperor may have also considered that terracotta figures would be immortal whereas human bodies would decay. Whatever the reasons, Qin Shi Huang decided that he wanted to be with his soldiers in the next life.

He set in motion a monumental project to build an army out of clay, a material which was abundant in the region, within the space of a year.

This posed a considerable logistics’ problem as two weeks were required to mould each warrior.

However, one of the most significant discoveries by archaeologists was that no warrior was the same. Each had its own physical appearance.

Forty years after the first excavations, work is still continuing. Construction of the first buildings began in 1976. It is one of China’s most visited museum complexes complete with a shopping and restaurant village and extensive parking facilities. Lucky visitors might have the chance to see the now elderly farmer who discovered the site, in one

of the museum shops where he often makes a personal appearance.

The Terracotta Army has travelled the world with copies exhibited in many

cities. The latest temporary exhibition is in the Fernan Gomes cultural centre in the Plaza de Colon in Madrid and lasts until March 2014. It comprises

Apart from creating 8,000 individual warriors another mystery was how the terracotta soldiers and bronze weapons could have remained in such perfect condition after being buried for over 2,000 years. Experts found that the Chinese had developed a method of mixing oxide of chrome with salt to seal surfaces, a technique only patented in Europe in 1938.

150 exhibits including fullsize soldiers and horses. ©Peter Fieldman

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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

CINNAMON ROLLS: A traditional and seasonal dish.

Danish pastries under EU threat

TRADITIONAL Danish pastries are under threat in Denmark.

Their ‘kanelsnegler,’ or cinnamon rolls, could be banned after the EU proposed limiting the use of the spice in an effort to limit the amount of coumarin

consumed. Coumarin is a naturally occurring toxic chemical found in cassia, the most common type of cinnamon.

Denmark’s food safety agency plans to implement the EU regulations which limit the amount of coumarin used to 15mg a kilo on everyday baked goods.

However, in Sweden, the Government has got around the ruling by calling the cinnamon pastries a ‘traditional and and stuffing sushi, seasonal dish’ as they are turkey, stuffing and mainly enjoyed around cranberry sauce kebab Christmas and New Year. and even a brussel This allows them to use sprout curry. up to 50mg per kilo.

They say more than Ceylon cinnamon 8,500 takeaway orders contains lower levels of were made on coumarin than cassia cinnamon.

Previous Christmas Day in 2012, studies have linked high with over 500,000 coumarin intake to liver orders made between damage in a small number December 23 and 31. of sensitive people, All four festive takeaway dishes are although some people have argued you would available in limited quantities from Just Eat have to eat a considerable on special request. amount of cinnamon rolls to be affected.

Favourite festive takeaway dishes FOR those who were looking for something different to traditional Christmas fayre, a takeaway service created a festive twist on customers’ favourite dishes.

Just Eat asked 2,000 British customers to name the Christmas takeaway dish they would most like to see and, as a result, they created four special meals including a mince pie pizza, pork

38

E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

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omes&gardens

H

HOMES & GARDENS

SPONSORED BY

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

New Year gardening resolutions

Dick Handscombe

Gardening Corner

By Dick Handscombe Spain’s best known expat gardening author about to start his 26th winter cut back.

W

OW, it’s 2014 already and time for setting some New Year gardening resolutions to ensure that your garden enables you to enjoy: • the sunny, open-air lifestyle that you expected when you came to Spain • daily harvests of fresh, chemically-free herbs, fruit and vegetables • a great garden that needs little maintenance for most of the year.

Naturally we all have

different visions of how we want to develop our gardens but how about the following for starters?

Ensure your ambitions for 2014 are realistic for the microclimate and soil of your garden and the time you will have for gardening.

1. Make the garden into a chemical-free zone for the benefit of family, visitors, pets and wildlife without increasing the exposure to the possibility of major insect and fungal attacks. Luckily the growth of the organic vegetable and fruit industries has led to the availability of products for the amateur gardener as well as the major growers.

If you have trouble finding them in your local

ENJOY: The sunny, open-air lifestyle that you came to Spain for. garden centres, horticultural shops and agricultural co-operatives, buy by mail order via www.trabe.net or tel 968 572 004, asking for Fransisco Ibanez who speaks excellent English.

2. Invest in guttering and storage tanks to collect rainwater.

3. Start or extend the growing of ecological or organic vegetables in order

to be able to harvest seasonal varieties 365 days a year. Our comprehensive books ‘Growing Healthy Vegetables in Spain’ and ‘Living well from our garden - Mediterranean style’ were written to help you do this whether you have a garden or merely a small townhouse patio or apartment terrace.

With the abandonment of orchards in many areas

WATER STORAGE: Gather and store rainwater. and the practice of harvesting and selling unripe fruits, more and more expatriates are planning to grow a wider variety of fruit and to do so organically. Our book ‘Growing Healthy Fruit in Spain’ is written to help you with this. It includes advice on some 70 varieties from citrus fruits to grapevines.

4. Reduce the cost of plants by only planting

those appropriate for your garden’s microclimate.

There are descriptions of some 400 plants most likely to be successful in coastal or inland gardens in ‘Your Garden in Spain’.

5. Reduce maintenance by decreasing the size of lawns, increasing the area covered by terraces and paths and planting nonobtrusive plants.

6. Eat outdoors more frequently by establishing a variety of ways of cooking alfresco, and cosy, colourful perfumed areas.

Such New Year resolutions can help you enjoy your garden and life in Spain to the full.

©Dick Handscombe www.gardeninginspain. com January 2014

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E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

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PROPERTY

roperty P TO READ MORE VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

Has rock bottom been reached at last?

OPTIMISTS who predicted a rise in property prices were proved right, but only by the narrowest margin.

For the first time since 2010 there was a yearon-year increase, albeit of just 0.7 per cent, according to Spain’s National Institute of

Statistics (INE).

The time has not yet come to rejoice, warned Carlos Ferrer-Bonsoms, of Jones Lang LaSalle, an international real estate firm specialising in commercial property management, leasing and investment management.

It is still necessary to tread carefully although he was ‘confident’ that prices would stabilise in 2014, Ferrer-Bonsoms said. But buyers will only carry through deals if they can be sure that prices will not continue to fall, he warned.

Bankinter’s Jesus Amador was also confident that prices would level out.

“Spain’s residential property sector has hit rock bottom and is at the start of a stabilisation phase,” Amador declared.

This, he predicted will produce a recovery that will be

LEVELLING OUT: Property prices. rather slower than during previous cycles.

Once they have bottomed out, prices are likely to remain stable for

several reasons, principally the high unemployment rate, families’ reduced purchasing power and

the continuing lack of credit extended by Spain’s banks, said Ferrer-Bonsoms.

Postcodes will also play a part, added Julio Rodriguez, former president of the Banco Hipotecario.

Recovery will be selective, starting in tourist zones and areas where economic activity is most developed.

There are areas where real estate supply outstrips demand but in others with more demand and less housing prices could even begin to rise, he foresaw.

The commercial real estate investment market takes off A LEADING real estate valuation company, TINSA, is looking forward to 2014 with optimism, for the commercial property investment market.

Despite office vacancy figures staying at around 13.5 per cent and rents continuing to fall, the company in its report for 2013 predicts a stabilisation of the market for prime developments, and welcomes back core fund investors to the Spanish property market.

The twice yearly report

CALLE LARIOS: Malaga street has maintained high rents.

gives an overview of the real estate investment market, the behaviour and strategy of the investors in Spain for the coming months based on the forecast of 15 main market analysts from Ahorro Corporación, Bankia Inmobiliario FII, CBRE Global Investors, Corio, Generali Real Estate, GMP, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, Inver-seguros, Invesco Real Estate, Metrovacesa, Mutua Inmobiliaria, Realia,

Reyal Urbis, Santander Banif and Testa.

Six months after the release of the last ‘Barometer’, the outlook on the economic situation is relatively more optimistic.

The last bulletin by the Bank of Spain stated that the country had left behind the recession.

Overall the report’s authors say that in Spain commercial property vacancy will continue to increase, and rents fall.

But that will be counterbalanced in prime city centre sites which have a shortage of quality office space. There the decline in rents has slowed considerably.

And the report authors expect opportunistic funds to be the most active in the investment market as they snap up bargain basement commercial properties with an eye to a future property recovery.

Until now investment activity has been dominated by national private investors, but improving economic prospects, the decreasing perception of risk and the adjustment of prices are encouraging foreign investors.

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FOR RESULTS EVERY WEEK

BOATS / CARS / JOBS / SERVICES / PETS / BIKES / FURNITURE / PROPERTY / MOTORING / FOR SALES

ADMINISTRATION SERVICES

BOATS

CAR HIRE

FOR SALE/WANTED FULL SIZE snooker table.

Beautiful condition. Tel 971 267 248 / 649 127 321 (216860)

FRIENDSHIP FIND LOVE IN THE SUN www.iwant2meetyou.com.

Browse for free Spain’s No 1 online dating site. Bringing ex-pats together. (219566)

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

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MOTORING

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SPONSORED BY For best rates in motor insurance call: 952 89 33 80

Lamborghini Huracan, the easy-to-drive successor of the iconic Gallardo A

UTOMOBILI Lamborghini aims at redefining the benchmark for luxury super sports cars with the brand new Huracan Lamborghini.

A successor to the iconic Gallardo, the Huracan combines absolute performance with easy-to-drive road behaviour.

The new Huracan is pure in its lines, featuring sharp edges, monolithic and sculptured panels and precise surfaces, the Italian manufacturer says.

The silhouette of the vehicle is defined by only one line that merges the front with the cockpit and the rear of the car.

The lateral windows come together to create a hexagonal form inserted in the car’s profile.

The headlamps and other light functions are equipped with full LED illumination, setting this technology as a standard feature for the first time in the segment.

The interior of the Huracan, to be launched in spring 2014 at an estimated

DESIGN: Pure in its lines featuring sharp edges.

starting price of €180,000, is dominated by a 12.3-inch, full-colour TFT instrument panel which delivers all car information to the driver.

Nappa leather and Alcantara distinguish the interior, with several colour combinations offered.

The new Huracan’s hybrid chassis is made of carbon and aluminium elements.

With a dry weight of 1,422kg, it enables a power-to-weight ratio of 2.33kg per horse power, while guaranteeing race-car precision.

Second member of the Qoros family for 2014 THE second production model from the Chinese car brand Qoros will be launched at the 84th Geneva Motor Show in March.

With elegance and simplicity as the key design language, the debutant will echo the high specification and European quality standards of the Qoros 3 Sedan.

The car has been designed to appeal to the young, modern, ‘always connected’ metropolitan customer, with state-ofthe-art features including the QorosCloud infotainment system accessed via an eight-

inch touchscreen.

The second member of the Qoros family is based on the same modular platform as the Qoros 3 Sedan, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Geneva and Shanghai Motor Shows.

In September, the Qoros 3 Sedan became the first car developed in China to be awarded five stars in Euro NCAP crash tests.

With appropriate proportion and balance, featuring rich and delicate details, Qoros 3 Sedan illustrates the elegance and simplicity of Qoros cars and presents a low-key

luxury.

This meets the values of metropolitan consumers perfectly, the manufacturer claims.

Following Qoros’s commitment to introduce a new model every sixto-12 months, its second model will go on sale in China in 2014.

The rapid sequence of model introductions is possible thanks to an innovative modular platform and flexible development processes.

These have been led by experienced European senior engineers and supported by engineering and systems partners.

The new 5.2 litre V10 engine delivers a maximum power of 448 kW/610 HP at 8,250 rpm, and a maximum torque of 560 Nm at 6,500 rpm.

In the new ‘Iniezione Diretta Stratificata’ (IDS), direct and indirect petrol injections are combined, resulting in more power and torque with lower fuel consumption.

The Huracan reaches a top speed of more than 325km/h, with acceleration from 0 to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds.

The different driving modes of the Huracan can be selected via a driving dynamics selector switch in the steering wheel.

The different modes ensure extensive modification in road behaviour of the car.

HURACAN: Successor to Gallardo.

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E W N 2 - 8 January 2014 / Mallorca

SPORT

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Sport

Leigh Halfpenny

Tennis ace Andy Murray was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, receiving 51 per cent of the vote. Welsh Rugby Union star Leigh Halfpenny came second and jockey Tony McCoy third.

TO READ MORE VISIT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

Costa Blanca’s best guide to local sport

€100m Bale stole the headlines as Tendulkar retired and Aussies triumphed 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

Tony Matthews concludes his review of the sporting year...

Durham clinched cricket’s County Championship for the second time.

In football, Liverpool Ladies won the WSL Premier League.

GB’s Liam Phillips was confirmed as the World BMX champion.

Swansea-born Non Stanford won the women’s World triathlon title.

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER Gareth Bale became Wigan Warriors won the world’s most Rugby League’s Grand expensive footballer by final. joining Real Madrid from Vettel came first in the Tottenham for £85.3m Indian, Japanese and (€100m).

Korean Grand Prix.

Sunderland sacked Djokovic won the manager Paolo Shanghai Di Canio.

Masters tennis Lorenzo Lorenzo title and won the Serena wins the British and Williams Valencian San Marino won her MotoGP MotoGPs 11th singles while Marquez title of 2013. triumphed on his Motor cyclist home track in Spain.

Lorenzo was victorious Oracle Team USA with in the Australian and the world’s greatest Japanese GPs while sailor, Sir Ben Ainslie, on Pedrosa won in Malaysia. board, came back from 8The FA celebrated its 1 down to beat New 150th anniversary Zealand 9-8 and so (formed on October 26, complete one of the 1863). greatest comebacks of all-time to win the oldest NOVEMBER trophy in world sport, The world’s third The Americas Cup. greatest batsman, India’s German F1 star Vettel Sachin Tendulkar, retired triumphed in the after scoring 81,742 runs in 1,524 matches Singapore Grand Prix.

BALE: Joined Real Madrid.

15,921 in 200 Tests.

Four-time F1 world champion Vettel won in Abu Dhabi, Brazil and USA to make it nine victories in succession and 13 in 2013. Red Bull colleague Mark Webber retired from F1.

Djokovic added the ATP World title to his CV while the Czech Republic won the Davis Cup. Fulham dismissed Dutch manager Martin Jol as Martin O’Neill took charge of the Republic of Ireland.

A record crowd of almost 75,000 saw Australia demolish New Zealand 34-2 to win Rugby League’s World Cup at Old Trafford.

Lorenzo took the

Omnium gold while Becky James took the World sprint and keirin titles.

GB boxer Carl Froch stopped George Groves at Manchester’s O2 Arena to retain his IBF and WBA supermiddleweight titles.

Scot Stewart Anderson won the World Indoor Bowls tournament.

Kawasaki rider Tom Sykes (England) was crowned World Superbike Champion.

Valencian MotoGP but it was his fellow countryman Marquez who was subsequently crowned DECEMBER the youngest-ever world Australia’s cricketers champion. won the third Test Eighteenin Perth to time National regain The Australia Hunt Ashes. regained champion The draw jockey Tony for the 2014 the McCoy rode World Cup in Ashes his 4,000th Brazil saw winner.

The England being Irishman has had matched with 15,000 rides, 1,000 falls Italy, Costa Rica and and suffered 40 Uruguay. Spain drew breaks/fractures.

Holland.

GB cyclists Laura Trott, Blackpool had five Jo Rowsell, Dani King and players sent off in four Elinor Barker broke the days; Manchester City women’s world pursuit thrashed Arsenal 6-3 record TWICE in a week. and after losing 5-0 at Trott also won the home to Arsenal, Spurs

sacked manager Andre Villas-Boas. WBA also fired their boss Steve Clarke.

The Champions League draw paired Barcelona with Manchester City, Arsenal with holders Bayern Munich, Manchester United with Olympiacos and Chelsea with Galatasaray.

And Manchester fans learned they could be attending a City-United League Cup final when the clubs were kept apart after reaching the semi-finals.

Aussie Neil Robertson won the UK Snooker tournament.

GB’s London 2012 gold medal winner Charlotte Dujardin added three separate world dressage titles to her collection.

The British and Irish Lions won the Team of the Year award; Lions’ boss Warren Gatland was voted Coach of the Year; female shooter Amber Hill (15) was Young Sports Personality of the Year, Sebastian Vettel claimed the ‘overseas’ prize and Sir Alex Ferguson received a Lifetime Achievement award.

This was the 60th anniversary of the programme.

A sad farewell for the sports world THE following sports people also passed away in 2013: England cricketers Mike Denness, Tony Greig and Reg Simpson; racehorse trainer Sir Henry Cecil (25 Classic winners including Frankel); rugby

stars Cliff Morgan and Steve Prescott; athletes McDonald Bailey, Todd Bennett and Stan Vickers; golfers Bernard Hunt and Ken Venturi; boxer Ken Norton; wrestler Mick McManus; super-biker Andrea

Simoncelli; darts champion Phil Nixon; sailor Andrew Simpson; US grid-iron stars Joe Black Hayes and Ace Parker; basketball legend Vivian Kellogg and Spanish F1 test driver Maria de Villota.