Euro Weekly News - Axarquia 30 October - 5 November 2014 Issue 1530 by Euro Weekly News Media S.A.

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Silver seniors LAST Tuesday (October 28) marked the 25th anniversary of Almuñecar Senior Citizen Association. Mayor Trinidad Herrera, who presided over the event, emphasised the effort made by the council to improve senior citizens’ quality of life and said new services would be launched shortly.

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NERJA continues to grab the attention of TV and production companies to record shows and advertisements. Canal Sur recorded a new piece for the TV show ‘Salud al dia’, a public service programme, which aims to

promote a healthy lifestyle. On this occasion, the advert was filmed by the Chillar River and Nerja coast. In previous episodes chosen themes were Nerja Caves, Maro and its surroundings, and area bike trips.

Furthermore, the variety show ‘El Gran Queo’ was recorded at the town’s cultural centre. The previous week, another episode of the TV show was filmed with guest stars from the area including Nuria Fergo (pictured), who hit the headlines after starring in music reality show Operacion Triunfo, Antonio Cortes and Miguel Joven. Isabel Nestares, a journalist from Granada, was in charge of covering these stories with the cooperation of Nerja Council and the local Civil Protection unit. Other events that are putting Nerja on the map include a fashion shoot by Serranía de Ronda (154 photographer Simone and 147) and the last one Schneider for a German through the Montes de company in the streets of Málaga (246). the town centre.

Motorbiking through Malaga

THE latest scheme to boost tourism in the Axarquia is hoping to attract bikers. Malaga Provincial Council has designed the 1,700-kilometre-long motorcycle route through 70 municipalities in nine stages to promote tourism in the area. Councillor Jacobo Florido said it was the motorcycle version of the ‘Gran Senda’ (The Great Trail of Malaga), as it shared the philosophy of unifying the province through its paths and trails. The first stage is Malaga-Frigiliana (63 kilometres); the second goes through the Axarquia (219); the third passes through the Sierra

ÁLVARO CANIVELL FLICKR

TEN immigrants were spotted in a dinghy off Nerja on October 26. The Moroccan authorities had issued an alert and the dinghy was found 60 miles away off the Nerja coast.

30 OCTOBER - 5 NOVEMBER 2014

TV magnet Nerja

THREE women and two men were injured in a collision between their cars on the A-356 in Velez-Malaga. The accident took place at about 8pm and the injured were taken to Hospital Comarcal in the Axarquia.

Boat people

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Norte (193); the fourth, through Antequera region (215), the fifth joins Guadalteba with Valle del

Guadalhorce (207); the sixth crosses Sierra de las Nieves (266), seventh and eighth through the

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INDEX News 1 - 21 News Desk 22 European News 24 Finance 33 - 38 Letters 39 Leapy Lee 40 Time Out 42 - 43 Daily TV 44 Health & Beauty 46-47 Homes & Gardens 49 Services 51 Classifieds 52 - 53 Motoring 54 Sport 55 - 56

Ashya King has undergone 30 irradiation treatments in a bid to cure his rare cancer.

Ashya doing well and back in Spain

BRAIN tumour patient Ashya King is back in Spain after receiving his final dose of proton beam therapy in Prague. The five-year-old has had 30 irradiation treatments in a bid to cure his rare form of cancer. Ashya’s case hit the headlines when his parents took him out of a hospital in Southampton, UK, and went to Spain. They had consistently said they wanted to have him treated abroad as the UK did not offer the therapy they wanted on the NHS. Ashya was declared a ward of court and an international arrest warrant was

issued for his parents. The family was finally tracked down to a hostel in the Axarquia. His parents were arrested and taken to Madrid for an extradition hearing while Ashya was taken into hospital in Malaga. After a public outcry the warrant was withdrawn, Ashya’s parents Brett and Naghemeh King released, and the family flew to the Czech Republic for the course of treatment. Now, Ashya is receiving further treatment at the HC Marbella Hospital. Editor says... Page 4

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Getting fit SALOBREÑA has a new park filled with fitness equipment. It is located on Avenida de Andalucia near Casa de la Cultura. The equipment was reportedly financed by Caja Granada.

A TOTAL of €1.8 million is to be spent on trying to prevent flooding in Almuñecar’s Plaza Madrid. Paid for by the Commonwealth of Costa del Sol-Axarquia municipalities, the works will be carried out in different phases to cause the minimum disruption to local businesses.

Five different streets will be affected in what has been described as major renovation work with the purpose of solving the problems caused by rain and sewage. The first phase has already concluded with works carried out at Plaza Madrid and Avenida de Andalucia up to Calle Granada. The works along the

rest of the avenue, as well as Calle Manila and Hurtado de Mendoza, are now being done. A sewage system is to be installed at Calle Manila to avoid flooding and to separate rain from waste water. The renovation works will also solve bad smells in Las Gondolas and make use of better materials with a higher capacity.

New bins SALOBREÑA Council began installing more than 100 new litter bins around town last week. The council says the new bins have not cost residents a single cent.

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International artists meet

PAINTERS, sculptors and photographers from seven different nations participated in the second International meet in Almuñecar Casa de la Culture.

Car accident THREE women and two men were injured as a result of a collisions on the A-356 at Velez-Malaga. The injured were taken to the Hospital Comarcal in the Axarquia.

TEN immigrants were spotted in a dinghy off the Axarquia. Moroccan authorities alerted the Ministry of Development and the dinghy was found 60 miles from the Nerja coast.

Tourism fair

Insurance scam CLIENTS of an insurance company in Motril filed lawsuits after discovering that they had not been insured. The company would allegedly charge the insurance fee but fail to register them.

Solidarity fair THE 9th Partnership and NGOs fair of Motril was held last Friday (October 24). Town mayor Luisa Garcia expressed her pride and emphasised the importance of the work of the 35 institutions in the town.

Ten immigrants

Extended hours THE Municipal Cemetery in Nerja is to remain open all day until Sunday (November 2) as long as there are people visiting. On Saturday and Sunday police officers will patrol the cemetery to ensure the safety of all visitors.

Food donated MOTORCYCLE CLUB ‘El Incerso’ in Almuñecar donated 600 kilos of food to the Caritas Almuñecar. The president of the club said members are excited to help the community.

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Town centre renovation works

Photo by Miquel Bohigas Costabella

Top photographer THE November issue of National Geographic is to include some of the photographic work of Almuñecar-born Francisco Mingorance featuring Barbary apes in the Atlas mountains of Morocco.

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Stunning pyrotechnics at Sant Narcis festival

NE of the most visually spectacular Spanish festivals of the year takes place in Girona this week. In a country renowned for its weird and wacky festivals - where people will do anything from pelt each other with tomatoes to build dangerously unstable 10-storey human towers - the Fires de Sant Narcis is probably the most striking, and loudest, festival on the Spanish holiday calendar. The highlight of the week’s festivities is the ‘correfoc’ - Catalan for ‘fire-run’ - a celebration featuring a cacophony of drum beats and exploding fireworks set off by revellers dressed as devils and demons. Fire crackers and stunning light

Quote of the Week ‘I know biting appals a lot of people, but it’s relatively harmless,’ says Barcelona player Luis Suarez in his new book ‘Crossing the Line: My Story’ which is published this week.

shows fill the Girona skies and streets all in the name of Sant Narcis, the patron saint of the city. Sant Narcis is celebrated each year with traditional Catalan customs, food, music and culture. Market stalls attract families, revellers and visitors keen to enjoy the biggest festival of the year in Girona. Malaga flamenco-electro band Chambao has already played as part of the Sant Narcis festivities this year, and more top name acts are pencilled in to keep the party going until Sunday. While some aspects of the festival are definitely not for those who enjoy their peace and quiet, it is nevertheless an unrivalled pyrotechnic spectacular.

CREDITlev radin / Shutterstock.com

Number of the week

€250

million is the sum involved in a mass corruption case involving local government construction contracts in Spain. Fifty one people have been arrested in the operation codenamed ‘Punica.’

ALMUÑECAR’S tourist attractions were advertised at Tourism Fair ‘Tierra Adentro’ in Jaen. There were more than 400 exhibitors, and 10,000 visitors, 20 international buyers and 40 national buyers.

Traffic delays AN accident involving a car and a motorbike caused delays and four kilometre tailbacks early on Wednesday, October 29, between El Palo and Rincon de la Victoria on the A7 motorway.

Fighting crime NATIONAL POLICE broke up an organised gang that would reportedly commit robberies in Malaga Province. The detained are believed to have stolen €600 from a man in VelezMalaga.

And finally... Nearly one in three flights from the UK to Spanish sun spots are delayed. So far this year a total of 8,826 flights from UK airports to Tenerife, Palma, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura have been delayed. UK passengers are eligible for compensation if their flight is delayed by more than three hours.

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Roundabout works set to solve floods WORK is set to start in November on a roundabout and drainage system to help sort out flooding problems in Almuñecar. The town hall has decided to build a roundabout near the Chinasol building to reorganise traffic and solve the problems

caused by rain. The works will be carried out by local company Atalaya Tropical and will cost €142,981.19. The roundabout will display a tribute to local seamen, and the council will also improve street lighting, road signage, and the drainage system.

Business plan MALAGA PROVINCIAL COUNCIL will design a strategic plan to improve the performance of Axarquia companies. The plan is supported by the Industrial Organisation School (EOI) and it is included in the seven initiatives of the Plan for Innovation and Tourism Excellence of Costa del Sol, a €4 million programme paid for by Feder funds, the Provincial Council and the Ministry. Elias Bendodo, president of the Provincial Council, said: “It will allow us to design an economic, tourism and infrastructure model of great quality.” The plan aims at boosting employment and wealth, improving the quality of the rural areas and will cost €300,000.

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Welcome to Maroween MAROWEEN, a unique festivity for the inhabitants of Maro (Nerja) will be held over three days this year. The activities will start on Friday October 31, at 6pm with the inauguration of a themed horror market in calle Real, which will include magic workshops and competitions. The first day will also open a tapas route around the local bars and restaurants with prizes for those who finish the itinerary. The music band Electroduende will perform in Plaza de Maro square at 11pm and a costume contest will also be held. On Saturday the market will open

SPOOKY ACTIVITIES: Maro will hold a three-day Halloween festival. its doors at 11am with several activities. In the Municipal Hall, a parapsychology conference titled Life After Life, will take place from 5pm

and radio programme The Other Reality will be recorded. Entrance is free. Other activities include sculpture, beekeeping, pumpkin carving, recycled materials workshops and others. A bus service from Nerja will run between 6pm and 2.30am on Friday and from noon to 2.30am on Saturday. The bus will stop at Hotel Monica, Hotel Jimesol, Clinica Rincon, Ermita, Kiosco Cerica y Mara, every hour. Finally, pumpkins have been placed at the doors in Malaga. Thankfully, common of those houses which will sense prevailed and they were welcome children with released without charge. sweets. His parents then took Ashya to Prague in the Czech Republic for proton beam treatment and he is now back in Spain where his condition is said to have improved. Cancer is a disease that affects so many families across the globe, and it is particularly upsetting when ANDALUCIAN companies diagnosed in someone so young. recently participated in a Ashya has known little of a normal conference on logistics childhood to date and everyone and connections with following this heartbreaking tale can Moroccan ports. only hope that everything goes well The conference was for Ashya and the King family. inaugurated at the Motril Too afraid to return to the UK at port facilities and revolved the moment, they have decided to around themes such as rest up in the quaint village of the internation work of Casares where they have a home. Motril logistic companies We wish the Kings all the best and the need to improve during their stay – and beyond – connections between and extend a genuine ‘bienvenidos Motril port and the north to Andalucia’ once again. of Morocco.

A note from the

Editor

Bienvenido little Ashya

E’D like to extend a warm Spanish welcome to the brave five-yearold cancer sufferer Ashya King and his parents, who arrived in Marbella this week. Little Ashya is undergoing further treatment at the HC Marbella Hospital in Andalucia, following an incredible story that has gripped both Spain and the UK. Brett and Naghemeh King triggered an international manhunt in August when they took their son from Southampton Hospital without the consent of his doctors, and brought him to Spain for treatment. Believing that proton beam treatment would be more effective than the radiotherapy offered in Britain, they came to Marbella but Brett and Naghemeh were arrested and held in a Madrid prison for three days, while Ashya was hospitalised

Motril port logistics

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PSOE complains of unfair competition THE socialist PSOE political party has accused the government of investing at least €24 million in the ports of Malaga and Almeria to the detriment of Motril. PSOE Councillor Elvira

Ramon expressed her outrage for what she called the discriminatory treatment against the town. She is worried that the spending will boost Malaga and Almeria ports to the

‘Cold’ swimmer pulled from sea MEMBERS of the Sea Rescue team saved a 27-yearold swimmer at a Torre del Mar beach. At about 6pm last Thursday (October 23) one of the man’s friends called the emergency services to report that he had been in the water for an hour and appeared to be having difficulties. Sea Rescue, Local Police, Guardia Civil and medical personnel rushed to the scene to rescue the swimmer - who was unable to swim to safety and later transported him to Axarquia regional hospital as he was showing signs of hypothermia but otherwise in relatively good condition.

disadvantage of Motril. The PSOE’s spokesperson for the Committee of Development, Juan Manuel Fernandez, said that the PP government, “increases the funds for other provinces so that they can compete unfairly against Motril. We think it is unjust that the government favours some areas over the others.” Fernandez has also mentioned the three-year delay in the launching of the stretch of the A-7 motorway between Gorgoracha-Puntalon and concluded: “The PP wants to inaugurate this connection one month before the elections, which proves that they want to turn the state resources and citizens’ interests into an electoral strategy.”

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Fright fiesta for Halloween THE YOUTH DEPARTMENT of Rincon de la Victoria Council has organised a Halloween mystery night. The celebrations will feature a 120 metre ‘Passage of Terror’ as well

as costume competitions and a variety of other activities. From 7pm on Friday October 31 at the Plaza de la Constitucion, visitors will be able to

find potions and spells workshops, horror films, a photocall, gifts and prices for the winners of the costume competition, as well as being able to enjoy the square, which will be decorated for the occasion. Rincon de la Victoria

Mayor Francisco Salado said that the success of the celebration is already a part of the leisure activities of the town and it is aimed at young audiences and families. He thanked the Provincial Council for funding the event and has encouraged

inhabitants to participate and wear a costume. Last year, more than 100 people of all ages dressed up for the occasion. From 5.30pm, a Halloween party for children will be held at the Public Municipal Library Antonio de Hilaria in the town.

Car burns in Almuñecar THIS dramatic picture shows Almuñecar firemen tackling a car fire on Calle Tenis. The car burst into flames for no apparent reason as it was being driven. No one was hurt in the incident, but the flames spread and burned around 40 square metres of vegetation.

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Safety upgrade complete RINCON DE LA VICTORIA Town Hall has completed work to improve road and pedestrian safety in Arroyo Pajaritos and Calle Divisoria. In Arroyo Pajaritos the bridge at the crossroads with Camino Viejo de Velez has been widened, new railings and signs placed and paving improved. Town Planning and Infrastructure councillor Antonio Manuel Randos explained that one side of the bridge did not have pavements which caused problems for pedestrians which should now be solved. In Calle Divisoria pavements were worked on, architectural barriers removed, new streetlighting installed and the parking area was also improved.

Best foot forward in Rincon RUNNING fever is set to take over Rincon de la Victoria when close to 800 participants gather to take part in a half marathon on Sunday (November 2). The event is an initiative created by independent local sports body OAL de Deportes together with the Triatlon Club of Rincon de la Victoria and it attracts participants from all over the province. The town continues to support sports events and it has become one of the points of reference for these kinds of competitions throughout the region. The competition will start at 10am at Rincon de La Victoria Tourism Office, then go through the El Cantal tunnels and along the promenade, the N-340 towards Torre de Begalbon and will finish back at the Tourism Office. The half marathon will cover 21,097 metres and the N-340 will be closed from 9.30am to noon for the run.

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Nerja Caves launch a new tourist guide app A NEW mobile phone application designed both for iOS and Android will provide information about Nerja Caves. A representative of the provincial government office said the new app includes general information about the caves in four different languages Spanish, English, French and German as well as descriptions of the different spaces, schedules, prices, facilities, information about the Nerja Museum, cultural heritage and a link to buy tickets directly from the app. It also contains a virtual guide which completes the information provided by the person in charge of the tour and can be useful for those visitors who suffer from hearing impairment. The representative also said that a new free wifi connection has been made available in Plaza de los Descubridores, where the entrance to the cave can be found, with the purpose of allowing visitors to download the app before accessing the caves.

Marta Diarra Flickr

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TOURIST ATTRACTION: The Nerja Caves app will be available in four languages. The application was created by Vloo Solutions, the same company that developed the audio guides for the caves

and it is included in the initiatives related to promoting the 55th anniversary of the discovery of Nerja Caves.

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Multiple assets, multiple identities, multiple frauds - abuse of the system THE Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has just released a new campaign in the UK targeting benefit thieves in their local areas and reinforcing an ongoing effort to get back the millions that are taken from the tax payer - 82 million for last year alone for abroad fraud cases. There is no one ‘type’ of benefit thief, but the one thing they have in common is that they are all taking advantage and abusing the system. For example, Peter Fischer claimed over £85,000 (€107,885) in benefits using multiple identities. Not only was Mr Fischer claiming benefits while living abroad, he was also working in both the UK and Spain, where he had tried to operate a business, without informing the DWP. He also owned undeclared property in Spain. In July of this year Mr Fischer’s case went to court and he was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and suspended for 15 months. In another recent case, 74-year-old Dennis Troubridge, who was living in Murcia while claiming benefits, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, in

BENEFIT FRAUD: New and improved methods are in place to target thieves. September of this year. Mr Troubridge had been living in Spain from 2009, and had claimed over £135,000 (€171,347) in benefits with the assistance of his daughter, Poppy Bowling. Ms Bowling

was sentenced to a Community Order for 12 months after providing her address in Dagenham as a benefit claim address for her father. She also dealt with benefit mail at her address and had

control of one of her father’s bank accounts allowing her to withdraw cash from one account and transfer it to an account he had control over. In both cases, the benefit thieves had been claiming Income Support, Pension Credit, Disability Living Allowance and Housing Benefits, all of which are not exportable when living abroad. New and improved methods are in place to target benefit thieves wherever they are and government departments are working together to catch anyone abusing the system. This also includes the traditional benefit fraud hotline, where DWP receives allegations from the public. The Spanish hotline [900 55 44 40] is free and confidential, and members of the public can call to report suspected benefit thieves in Spain. The line is open from 8am-4pm Spanish time.

For further information on benefits you can receive while living abroad please visit https://www.gov.uk/living-inspain#state-pensions

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Officers learn about Ebola OFFICERS and public employees at Motril Port who could potentially come into contact with Ebola victims are to get training in how to handle the deadly disease. Special emphasis will be placed on the process of putting on and taking off protective clothing and using equipment, according to Regional Government Deputy,

Santiago Perez. Perez has recently chaired a meeting aimed at organising and coordinating proceedings in the case of another Ebola infection. Motril Port is considered a high-risk area due to the amount of immigrants who arrive daily on its shores. Other potentially dangerous areas are

Granada Airport and the marina, which also receive immigrants. The protocol will be subject to modification depending on decisions made at national level in meetings to be held in the near future. The training sessions will also include information about clinical and epidemiological patterns.

New shopping park in Motril ANDALUCIA Regional Government has given the green light to a massive new shopping park in the south of Motril. Motril Council has gone through a series of meetings to obtain the permission of the Regional Government (Junta de Andalucia) but the plans still have to undergo several

bureaucratic and administrative processes. The project is to be finished by the Christmas season of 2015, since sportswear and equipment company Decathlon has threatened to take its business elsewhere if this deadline is not met.

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Almuñecar improves monument signage ALMUÑECAR Council has started to install informative signposts beside its most important monuments. The Culture Department said it was supporting the town’s cultural and historical heritage with the installation of bilingual informative signposts which are a follow-up to the maintenance and conservation works carried out by the council.

“The first ones were installed at the remains of the Roman aqueduct and thermal baths located beside La Carrera and Plaza Mayor urbanisation and will continue in the fish-salting factory at the El Majuelo park and the ceramics factory,” Councillor Olga Ruano explained. According to Ruano, the information was made accessible to everyone by keeping the language simple but historically accurate and emphasised the importance of Almuñecar’s heritage. Other initiatives A DOOR-TO-DOOR campaign has increased glass which aim to promote recycling in Almuñecar by 20 per cent. heritage are educaThe scheme helped to recycle 22 tonnes of glass tional movements during the summer season, according to recycling including ‘Un mar de company Ecovidrio. historias’ (A sea of Environment Councillor Luis Aragon said the Stories) for students discarded glass would previously have gone directly into and the next ‘Archaelandfill and was not recycled. Head of Resur Granada, ology and History Jesus Martinez, added that the initiative not only Conference of the generated employment but also saved public money Tropical Coast’, due to and had environmental benefits. take place next month.

Glass recycling is up by 20 per cent

October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical WE 30DO!

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Fan club opens MALAGA Football Club representatives and local authorities have inaugurated the first Malaguista supporters’ club in Almuñecar. Local Mayor Trinidad Herrera and representatives of Malaga CF attended the event and emphasised the good relations between the council and the club following promotional agreements reached last year. Herrera thanked the

CLUB LOYALTY: Malaga players attend event. football club for their support in bringing the project to life. He noted that the

Vampires take Motril A MYSTERY Convention brought a taste of the dark arts to Motril. A large number of participants joined in the conference organised by the Masip association at the Fina Arts School in the town. Motril historian Manuel Dominguez Garcia conducted events, which featured a real coffin. The historian spoke about vampires, explaining that an amalgamation of historical pitfalls have contributed to the legend of the creature, for instance, accidental premature burials during the Middle Ages.

town had several football club supporters’ associations but that this was the first dedicated to Malaga, despite the large number of local fans. Malaga players who attended the event included Jose Manuel Casado, Juanpi Añor and Samu Castillejo. The players signed lots of autographs, took pictures with any fans who asked and showed their gratitude for the support of both enthusiasts and the local authorities.

NEWS 550 rubbish bills dumped HIDDEN in the bushes, packed in bundles wrapped with rubber bands, 550 unpaid rubbish bills were found by police on wasteland in Salobreña. The bills are part of the solid residue treatment fee created by the Provincial Government of Granada. The fee was intended to restructure the debt that different municipalities had built up over the past few years. But these bills never found their way to the intended recipients. Salobreña mayor, Gonzalo Fernandez said that anybody could have taken personal information from the documents. He asked the Provincial Government to find the person responsible for what he called negligence.

Council ups security at cemeteries CITIZEN Safety department will launch a security deployment on October 31 in the cemeteries of Almuñecar and Herradura for All Saints Day. The council's Juan Jose Ruiz Joya said that the operation will involve Local Police and Civil Protection, together with the bus service, which will increase the number of services throughout the municipality. The councillor explained that the deployment will take place at Almuñecar Cemetery from October 31 at 8am and will finish at 10.30pm on November 1. In addition, the same operation will be carried out in the La Herradura Cemetery. Bus services will be increased between La Carrera and the cemetery on November 1, from 9am to 2pm and from 4pm to 8pm, with a service every 15 minutes’.

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30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

New park for Velez VELEZ-MALAGA Council has spent €2.7 million on a new park. Residents and visitors to Velez-Malaga have been able to enjoy the new green space since Saturday October 26, after two years of construction works. More than 3,000 visitors went to see Cerro de los Remedios Park for themselves, and the icon of the patron saint, the Virgen de los Remedios Coronada, was carried in procession from San Juan Bautista church to the hermitage. Velez Mayor Francisco Delgado Bonilla explained that the park was built in response to the demands of some residents. The works covered an area of 26,032 square metres, 60 per cent of which were landscaped into green areas with more than 25,000 plants of several species. The space includes pedestrian pathways, viewing points, a coffee house and a small theatre.

GENEROUS ARTIST: Donates painting to Motril.

Pepe Baena show opens in Motril MOTRIL’S Casa de la Condesa de Torre Isabel hosts an exhibition including 80 paintings and sculptures by artist Pepe Baena titled El Sueño Plastico (The Plastic Dream), opening on Friday October 31. The artist’s evolution is apparent in this collection which includes works from the 1960s - showing a lot of Matisse style red - to his latest works

which emphasise light and joy. The exhibition will be open to the public until November 29 and includes a painting the artist has donated to the town of Motril called Realidad y Sueño (Reality and Dream). Opening hours are Tuesdays to Fridays from 10am to 2pm and 5pm to 8pm and Saturdays from 10am to 2pm.

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JOURNEY’S END: Cyclists reach EWN offices. Inset: Tomas with Paul and Steven.

Thank you to EWN

MY wife Jill and I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the Euro Weekly News owners, Michel and Steven Euesden, and all of your staff especially Dilip Kuner and Jenni Leighfield. We are so very grateful for all your support over the years and appreciate all that you have done for us in helping publicise and report on events in aid of Tomas Leighton Care, and keeping your readers up to date with Tomas’s ongoing challenges and progress.

Tomas could not have progressed so well and come so far without your help. It was very emotional for us all at the finish line in front of the Euro Weekly News offices on Friday October 17. It was a fabulous welcome for the cyclists finishing ‘From Rain to Spain’ and really wonderful to have everyone come out and greet Tomas and the cyclists. Once again, thank you to you all. With best regards, Jon and Jill Leighton

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All Saints Day preparations

Sign Language Music Festival THE fourth edition of the Sign Malaga Velez Language Music festival on place take will November 29 at the Teatro del Carmen. Social Services Councillor Inmaculada Matamoros gave details of the event, which will include 12 performances by soloists, duos and bands. Matamoros said: “The initiative aims to create sign of awareness language and help the deaf community integrate.” Those interested in participating can download the registration form at website apsicss.wix.com/ apsicss, through Facebook until November 5. Prizes will be given to the winners. Tickets cost €6 and can be requested via email: apsicss@hotmail.com or on the door.

30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

ON STAGE: Wind quintet Ethos.

Wind Quintet ‘Ethos’ inaugurates season WIND quintet ‘Ethos’ inaugurated the new season of the Musical Youth of Almuñecar programme last Monday (October 27). The performance was held at Casa de la Cultura and started with the interpretation of a piece by Reicha and continued with another one by Samuel Barber. After the break, pieces by Karl Pilss and Henri Tomasi were performed.

MOTRIL council workers have been busy over the last month preparing the local cemetery for All Saints Day, its busiest day of the year. Paintwork and garden areas have been improved for the celebrations, which will include a concert on Saturday November 1 at midday and a

VISIT: Mayor Luisa Garcia Chamorro went to see how work was going.

remembrance mass November 2 at 10am.

Sunday

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Marbella winner A TICKET-HOLDER won €68,459.35 in the Bonoloto lottery drawn on Monday, October 27. The ticket was stamped at the Number 13 lottery office in Marbella and was one of three winning tickets.

Police training SAN ROQUE Local Police officers have completed a two-day training course to improve response times to the 112 emergency services.

Navy visit THE Castilla Spanish navy ship with capacity for up to six helicopters and a special operations unit including an extensive medical centre docked at Malaga Port on Monday, October 27, for a two-day visit after taking part in NATO operations in the Mediterranean.

Coin helps out LUNA NUEVA charity sent its sixth delivery of items including medical supplies, food, toys and an ambulance to Senegal on Tuesday, October 28, and will help to build installations for children in need.

Health education MIJAS secondary schools received visits from the Cancer Prevention Caravan on Monday, October 27, and Tuesday, October 28, with informative talks on healthy living and disease prevention.

COSTA BLANCA SOUTH

Brit house fire A BRITISH couple and their two children, aged four and five, were treated at Torrevieja Hospital for smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at their home in El Galan, San Miguel de Salinas

Roman ruin ONE HUNDRED demonstrators gathered around Cartagena’s old Roman amphitheatre to protest about its state of disrepair. Improvement work has stalled due to the economic situation.

Winning tickets TICKETS for the Loteria Nacional sold in Petrer and Sax have won prizes totalling €7.2million.

Camino improvements ROJALES is to pave the roads around the Camino de los Huertos to improve safety for farmers and upgrade infrastructure. The work has an investment of €60,000; half will be funded by the town hall.

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La Alfoquia community fair is a great success LA ALFOQUIA’S Renfe building was the venue for the town’s first annual Community Fair. Hundreds of people visited the fair on October 25, and a large number of them entered the competitions as an opportunity to show off their skills or their home-grown produce. Euro Weekly News (EWN) sponsored the paper craft section, and it was with pleasure that Ruth Reily from EWN’s Albox branch presented Gill Kelly with her trophy for that section. This really was a community event, with both English and Spanish residents and businesses coming together to support the day with prize donations for the tombola and raffle, as well as corporate sponsorship for various competitions. Neptune Insurance, Storage Solutions, Voss Homes, Cat Services and Avalon were among the many businesses keen to support the event with sponsorship and to show La Alfoquia how much they backed this event. There were other events and presentations in addition to the craft competitions. Four-legged pals pranced proudly with their owners during the dog show, and children loved getting their faces painted. Car enthusiasts were enthralled by the number of classic cars on display from Amigos Classic Car Club. There was

Pest control REDOVAN has set aside €10,000 to treat and eradicate the Tomicus pest that is killing pine trees in the Vega Baja.

COSTA BLANCA NORTH

Good payers DENIA Town Hall settles suppliers’ bills within 56 days instead of the obligatory 60, compared with 120 days in the past. It now intends to reduce this to 20 days.

Road rage A PETREL motorist needed hospital treatment after being confronted and attacked by the father of a boy he had

NEWS DESK Clean-up VOLUNTEERS cleared one ton of rubbish from the River Serpis in Alcoy. Environment councillor Paco Agullo criticised residents lacking in public spirit who debased the area’s outstanding fauna.

MALLORCA

Animal cruelty A GERMAN SHEPHERD dog was shot dead with a shotgun in Can Rullan, Soller. Councillor Joan Ruiz said the council would get to the bottom of the dog’s death.

Burnt-out vehicle A FIRE that broke out at around 2.30am on Sunday, October 26, on Calle Joan Burgues Zaforteza gutted a car and caused serious damage to another. Police suspect an arsonist could be behind the blaze.

Classical concert TEATRE PRINCIPAL in Palma is hosting a concert dedicated to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is taking place on Saturday, November 1, at 7pm. Tickets are €55, €45, €30 and €20. More information at www.teatreprincipal.com.

Tapas route TOP ATTRACTION: Face painting. entertainment from Appassionata and Dave Sharp, a hog roast and a bar to help visitors keep cool in the heat. The Renfe building was perfect for the event, with stalls and displays adorning the historic building, inside and out. Aside from demonstrating the amazing community spirit so prevalent in La Alfoquia, the day was also about raising funds for local charities and community support. At the time of going to press, €800 had been counted, although the final figure is yet to be confirmed. almost hit. The father has a record, police sources later revealed.

Port compromise ALTEA Town Hall and the regional government are discussing a future leisure centre at the port. This would suit those wanting entertainment activities and those preferring tranquillity, sources said.

No excuse THE town hall in Benidorm has offered the regional government 15,000 square metres of land for the new Rincon de Loix health centre. This should help to avoid threatened delays, the mayor said.

A TAPAS gastronomic route is taking place in Calvia every Friday, Saturday and Sunday between tomorrow, October 31, and November 16. Maps and more information at www.fundacioncalvia.com.

Passing out A HORSE passed out on Saturday afternoon, October 25, on Avenida Jaume III. A vet and members of the municipal services arrived on the scene to determine its condition.

COSTA DE ALMERÍA

Stolen donations MACS (Mojacar Area Cancer Support) is asking that donations are not left outside the shops as they are being rifled through and stolen.

Airport shuttle ALICANTE Airport now receives shuttles from Mojacar and the surrounding areas. The service comes in addition to Exclusive Airport Shuttles’ provision for Almeria Airport.

Centenary songs THE First World War centenary is being marked with a performance by the Rose Singers at 7.30pm on Thursday, November 6, at the Living Water Church at Camping Los Gallardos. Tickets €8.

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S CANDINAVIAN P RESS

EUROPEAN PRESS

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Stories making headlines in Europe

GERMAN PRESS Getting confident

BRITISH PRESS School breaks

SWEDEN - A date has been set for the wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist. The couple will tie the knot on June 13 in the Royal Chapel in Stockholm.

HEAD teachers should be able to grant term-time holidays for special occasions without parents facing fines for taking their children out of school. The Local Government Association has called for a ‘common sense approach’ to term-time holidays.

SWEDEN - Students at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm are being helped to build Sweden’s first satellite by the country’s first astronaut. Christian Fuglesang, 57 went into space in 2006 and is helping the students who hope to launch in 2017.

Budget cuts NORWAY - Proposed budget cuts to benefits for parents of disabled children will save 590 million kroner (€70.9 million).

Lifting ban NORWAY - A ban on professional boxing could be lifted by the New Year. A law passed in 1981 banned the sport forcing Norwegian professionals to fight abroad. Now proposals to permit the professional sport could go before parliament before Christmas.

Ebola pledge DENMARK - The government has committed another 115 million kroner (€15.45 million), a military supply ship and health workers to the fight against Ebola. The new contributions bring Denmark’s total spend so far to 190 million kroner (€25.52 million).

British jihadist A STUDY has found that British jihadis fighting in Syria and Iraq are being killed at the rate of one per week. Twenty-three Britons are believed to have so far died after travelling to fight in the civil war. It’s believed that all 23 are second-generation immigrants from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

Replica jersey ban SHEFFIELD UNITED has banned the sale of replica shirts bearing the name of former player Ched Evans. Evans was recently released from jail after serving half of a five-year sentence for rape. The Sheffield United club store is refusing requests from fans for the number nine shirt with Evans’ name printed on the back.

Unemployment dropping UNEMPLOYMENT in the UK has fallen below the two million mark for the first time since the financial crisis. Latest figures show that 1.97 million people in Britain are currently unemployed. The figure - that equates to 6 per cent of the population - is the lowest figure for the last six years.

A CRIMINAL gang in Manchester has been using James Bond-style tracking devices to stalk cannabis growers and steal their produce. The gang used

CANNABIS: Being stolen by a criminal gang.

RUSSIAN PRESS Sub hunt cancelled

third in terms of quality of the working environment.

SWEDEN has called off the hunt for a suspected Russian submarine in waters off Stockholm. Sweden mobilised 200 troops, helicopters and stealth ships following foreign ‘underwater activity,’ believed to be a Russian submarine.

Expats in Russia RUSSIA has ranked 17th on HSBC Bank’s annual list of the world’s best countries for expats. Encompassing 34 countries, Russia came out top for expats in terms of quality of social life and making friends, and

CONSUMER confidence is due to recover, according to a report by marketing company Gfk. A succession of falls in confidence has been halted and the consumer confidence index is forecast to rise to 8.5 in November, up 0.1.

Refugee plan BERLIN city bosses plan to use two huge inflatable tents and six shipping container ‘villages’ to house a total of 2,600 refugees. The city is struggling to cope with the numbers of people seeking asylum.

Training plan

Cannabis trackers

PHOTO BY MIRALUZ06

Astronaut aid

hidden GPS trackers to track the farmers’ movements and work out when would be the best time to steal their drugs. Police in Manchester fear the ploy could spark a gang war.

PHOTO BY DAVE H

Royal date

Bank protests sanctions SBERBANK, Russia’s top bank, has protested Western sanctions against the bank in a European Union court. The EU imposed sanctions on Sberbank, restricting its access to international capital, in a decision linked to Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.

Dual citizenship MORE than 600,000 Russians have declared they hold dual citizenship. Those with foreign passports or resident status abroad were asked to disclose their status to the authorities or face a fine of 200,000 rubles (€3,700). Activists have criticised the move and say it is a stepping stone for the government to ban dual citizenship altogether.

Teen held

Oldest bear dies

DENMARK Lebanese authorities are holding a Danish born teenager for fighting alongside ISIS. The teen has been held for four months with no charges.

THE world’s oldest brown bear has died at a zoo in St Petersburg. Varvara, the mother of 29 cubs, died at age 35. Varvara lived almost twice the normal length of time for wild brown bears.

SBERBANK: Russia’s top bank.

FOREIGN Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said Germany is sending a mission to Northern Iraq to examine the possibility of expanding its training of Kurdish forces for their fight against Islamic militants. Germany has already approved humanitarian aid and the delivery of weapons.

Market forces GOOGLE’S market power has forced German publishers to allow the search engine giant to show news snippets in search results free of charge. Google had stopped showing them, instead displaying only a headline and link, when publishers started legal action to try to get compensation from the search engine for republishing their content.

Beer wage ESSEN has started paying alcoholics in beer to clean the city’s streets. Depending on their needs the alcoholics get a small hourly wage and up to three bottles of beer in an effort to get them to rejoin society. Not everyone gets beer - just those who can't work without it.

PROPERTY SUPPLEMENT

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30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

PROPERTY Look no further for a home. 8-page special starts here...

Recovery starts to build

Low interest rates here to stay for home buyers

IN a sign of everimproving prospects for the housing sector, Spanish construction figures are showing strong growth. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, showed construction production in Spain rose 22 per cent year-on-year in August and by 2.7 per cent month-onmonth. That made it the biggest increase in not just the Eurozone, but also the EU as a whole. Spain’s positive figure dwarfs the production in the construction sector in the eurozone, which increased by 1.5 per cent over the previous month. It was the second consecutive month of increases in construction, following a rise of 1.5 per cent in July.

OME buyers in Spain can take advantage of historically low mortgage interest rates. In the UK the property market recovery has been encouraged by the low interest rates, and mortgages in the Eurozone remain at historic lows with signs that foreign banks are opening up more to lending to foreign buyers in 2014. “In Spain, for

Guides example, banks realise Overseas that foreigners are vital Company. “Right now, rates in to the revival of the Spain for a lower property market in certain ‘In Spain, for value mortgage areas of the example, banks are country realise that typically and are between 3 willingly foreigners are to 3.5 per offering up vital to the revival cent, to 75 per of the property pegged to cent loan to value the Euribor market’ mortgages to rate and updated qualifying applicants,” annually - higher LTV said Angelos purchases will get Koutsoudes, Head of the even better rates, as

Photo by Heavenbound.

House prices continue to fall especially on the coast THE average price of housing in Spain fell by 4.2 per cent during September, bringing the overall reduction in property prices since the height of the boom to 41.7 per cent. The Mediterranean coast, however, remains the area of the country with the greatest price adjustment since the highs of 2007, down by 47.3 per cent. In September, house prices on the Med fell by 2.9 per cent year-on-year, according to latest data from appraisal company Tinsa. Tinsa pointed out that since the summer there have been uncertainties that directly affect the Spanish property market,

EWN

MIJAS: Mediterranean house prices down. including negative rates of inflation and stagnation in some countries receiving Spanish exports. It pointed out that figures for the next quarter

must be analysed before putting the price adjustments down to temporary factors or a definite decline in the rate of stabilisation.

MORTGAGE RATES: Banks are offering up to 75%.

low as 2 per cent. And in France, fixed rates start at around just 3 per cent, making it a cheap time to buy there. “Using a broker, rather than going direct

Goldman buying more in Spain MULTINATIONAL investment banking giants Goldman Sachs are in talks to buy a portfolio of 38 Spanish properties. Bloomberg has reported that the Goldman Sachs Group is negotiating with Bankia for the sale of around €300 million worth of Madridbased property. The portfolio, called ‘Lakes’, is made up of 27 apartment blocks and 11 office properties. Last year Goldman Sachs spent €201 million on a portfolio of Spanish property. PORTFOLIO: Madrid-based property.

to a foreign bank, often will save buyers money as well as time and stress. “Not only will a good, English-speaking broker guide clients through the application process, they will also have good relationships with certain banks and frequently be able to offer foreign clients better deals than if they went direct to the lending bank. “Buyers should also consider how they will service a foreign mortgage, and if using sterling-based income to service it, speaking to a specialist currency firm to avoid financial losses here is highly advisable,” Koutsoudes added.

E W N 30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

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PROPERTY SUPPLEMENT

Time to invest in one of Europe’s last bastions of good value property WITH property prices in Spain having fallen significantly since the global financial crisis, many investors are seeing now as the perfect time to put their funds into Spain’s housing market. Spanish real estate and construction accounted for around 18 per cent of Spain’s GDP in 2007, with a market capitalisation of more than €30 billion. It is now about a

tenth of that, with the result that economists and investors alike are looking at Spain as being one of the last bastions of good value property in Europe. European Portfolio Manager Dean Tenerelli of T Rowe Price said: “We are at an interesting juncture as real estate in Spain has reached a trough since the crisis; rent prices are historically low and there is an

abundance of low-cost property on sale.” Figures from a recent Property Hotspots Report confirm the interest that foreign buyers are currently taking in Spain. The latest report saw Spain tie in first place with France as the destination of choice for buyers, garnering some 35 per cent of the vote. Additionally, the National Statistics

Institute has confirmed that home sales are rising, up 8.8 per cent in June 2014 compared with a year earlier, while Spain’s society of notaries has reported that foreign buyers favour coastal areas. The breakdown of foreign buyers included 15 per cent Britons, 10 per cent French, 9 per cent Russians and 7 per cent Belgians, according to the data. While the influx of foreign property investors is good news for Spain’s economy, the situation for domestic buyers is also looking up. Deloitte’s fourth annual analysis of the Spanish housing market has shown that the average price of housing is now 4.4 times the individual gross salary. This compares with an EU average ratio of 6.1, rising to 7.9 in France and 8.5 in Britain. Interestingly, many of the ‘domestic’ buyers benefiting from this situation are foreigners already living in Spain. According to data from the Ministry of Development, 89 per cent of foreign buyers in the second quarter of 2014 were already living in Spain. The figures reveal that Malaga is one of the most popular parts of Spain when it comes to home sales to foreigners, which reached a total of 2,499 property. It boasts a luxury transactions during Q2 marina, polo fields and golf 2014 - a level not seen courses, including Valderrama since 2007 and an increase Golf Club, home of the 1997 of 30 per cent over Q2 Ryder Cup. 2013.

THE €225 million sale of a property portfolio in upmarket Sotogrande has finally been made official. After months of negotiations, Cerebrus Capital Management and Orion Capital - two private US equity funds - have purchased a 97 per cent stake in Sotogrande SA, owned by NH Hotels. The deal includes land zoned for development, two hotels, two golf courses and the operation of sports and tourist services. According to property website Spanish Property Insight, the Sotogrande portfolio was a ‘cash drain’ for NH Hotels and the company is expected to use the bulk of the proceeds to pay down debt. “This transaction gives the group’s business plan a strong boost as this cash inflow was not contemplated when the plan was originally formulated,” said NH Hotels Group Chief Executive Federico J Gonzalez Tejera.

Photo by Jose Javier Martin Espartosa.

Months of negotiation culminate in confirmation of Sotogrande portfolio sale

LUXURIOUS SOTOGRANDE: Multi-million-euro sale. Once the sale has been completed, NH Hotels will continue to manage the hotel properties for two years. Sotogrande is the largest

privately-owned residential development in Andalucia and is renowned throughout Europe as one of the most upmarket addresses in which to own a

UK ENQUIRIES into obtaining a mortgage in Spain rose by a whopping 95 per cent between January and September of this year. The strength of sterling against the euro has led to a 37 per cent increase on overseas mortgage enquiries year-onyear, and Spanish enquiries account for almost half of all, according to overseas mortgage specialists Conti. One pound currently buys €1.27 - the

highest value for two years - and this means that UK money goes further when purchasing a Spanish property. “When you combine the strong pound with the low property prices to be found in many European property markets, together with historically low mortgage rates, affordability is better than it has been in years,” said Conti director Clare Nessling. “With buyers’ budgets stretching that

much further, the purchase of that place in the sun could seem even more tempting, especially when you compare the cost with overheated parts of the UK market.” Conti went on to say that given the current exchange rate between the pound and the euro, a €200,000 property in Spain is now almost £18,000 (€23,000) cheaper.

Photo credit: http://401kcalculator.org.

UK-Spain home mortgage enquiries take a huge leap MORTGAGE ENQUIRIES: On the up.

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inance F A EURO WEEKLY NEWS 6 PAGE SPECIAL SECTION // WWW.EWNBUSINESS.COM

business & legal

EWN

STAT OF WEEK SPAIN’S Synthetic Index of Export Activity (ISAE) registered 7.6 points between July and September, 15.5 less than in the second quarter. Despite this setback short-term export prospects are still good, the government said.

SPAIN’S theme parks have never lived up to their promise. Only Port Aventura in Salou (Barcelona, 1995) has been a consistent success. It had a €164.5 million turnover last year and profits of €9.96 million in return for a total investment of €1 billion. Isla Magica (Sevilla 1996),

PORT AVENTURA: Consistent success for theme park.

Board agrees FCC rights issue FOMENTO DE CONSTRUCCIONES Y CONTRATAS (FCC) announced an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting for November 20. The Barcelona construction and services company whose investors include Bill Gates and George Soros expects to raise €1 billion through a new rights issue. This will then be used to repay its debt and shore up the capital reserves of units outside Spain. The announcement hinged on an agreement between majority shareholder Esther Koplowitz and the banks regarding loans tied to her holding in FCC which has belonged to her family for more than 50 years.

Koplowitz will cut her 50 per cent controlling stake to around 25 per cent to refinance her own debt which is estimated at €1 billion, according to insiders who asked to remain anonymous. The company now seeks to cancel the €1.35 billion payment-in-kind loan that was introduced as a temporary measure earlier this year during restructuring amounting to almost €5 billion. Assets have been sold and jobs cut to counteract more than two years of losses. These stemmed from the economic crisis and the collapse of Spain’s property as well as the insolvency of FCC’s Austrian subsidiary, Alpine.

usiness extra

Sure thing JUAN ROSELL, current president of Spain’s business confederation, CEOE, has sufficient backing to be re-elected in December. Opposition from the metallurgical and construction sectors cannot obstruct his re-election, sources said.

Unfair fine ANDALUCIA’S regional govenrment fined ‘bad bank’ Sareb €120,000 for obstructing the Junta’s anti-eviction measures. It will appeal against the fine, which Sareb’s chairwoman Belen Romana said was “unjustified.”

The customer is not always right BANKS in only five eurozone countries comply with the rulings of users’ protection agencies. Apart from Ireland, France, Slovenia, Greece and Lithuania, 13 EU countries including Spain ignore their conclusions. When a customer is dissatisfied with their Spanish bank’s handling of a complaint this is passed on to the Bank of Spain. Eight-two per

cent ignore the supervisor’s recommendations when these are in the client’s favour, found comparison website Kelisto.es. In 2012, Barclays in Spain made no rectifications at all while Citibank complied with 1.3 per cent and Cajasur 2.3 per cent. Deutsche Bank was more compliant, rectifying in 61.1 per cent cases, as was Sabadell (51.1 per cent).

CHRISTIAN BERTRAND / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Some major variations on a theme costing the equivalent of €85 million, has been on the brink of closing on several occasions and last year’s €2.1 million profit was its first ever. Terra Mitica (Benidorm 2000) cost €425 million of public and private money when the Valencian Community was in the grip of

the mega-million building boom. Last year it had a turnover of €14.44 million but made just €790,000 and will have a ‘make or break’ 2015. Other regions refuse to be deterred by such mediocre results and Murcia optimistically plans to open a Paramount theme park in 2016.

E W N 30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

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LONDON - FTSE 100

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY WITH US

C LOSING P RICES O CTOBER 27

C O M PA N Y PRICE(P) 3i Group PLC 380.70 Aberdeen Asset Mngmnt 405.45 Admiral Group PLC 1295.50 Aggreko PLC 1502.00 Anglo American PLC 1299.00 Antofagasta PLC 679.75 ARM Holdings PLC 809.50 Ashtead Group PLC 993.25 Associated British Foods 2728.50 AstraZeneca PLC 4358.00 Aviva PLC 509.25 Babcock International 1074.50 BAE Systems PLC 442.45 Barclays PLC 224.03 BG Group PLC 1040.75 BHP Billiton PLC 1613.75 BP PLC 431.75 British Amricn Tobacco 3383.25

C H A N G E ( P ) % C H G. 1.10 0.29 -6.00 -1.46 19.00 1.49 -34.00 -2.21 -9.00 -0.69 -13.00 -1.88 -7.50 -0.92 -2.50 -0.25 17.00 0.63 31.00 0.72 2.18 0.43 1.00 0.09 0.90 0.20 -2.35 -1.04 -2.00 -0.19 -13.00 -0.80 -1.05 -0.24 21.00 0.62

NET VOLUME 516.87 1,583.71 391.91 363.21 2,061.18 1,100.36 1,554.86 809.11 234.34 733.42 2,995.43 328.70 1,104.70 29,998.28 2,230.98 3,265.63 6,148.76 750.44

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Units per €

US dollar ................................................................1.26888 Japan yen..............................................................136.803 Switzerland franc..............................................1.20608 Denmark kroner ................................................7.44468 Norway kroner ...................................................8.38773

currenciesdirect.com/marbella • Tel: +34 952 906 581 C O M PA N Y British Land Co PLC British Sky Broadcasting BT Group PLC Bunzl PLC Burberry Group PLC Capita PLC Carnival PLC

PRICE(P)

NASDAQ

C LOSING P RICES O CTOBER 27

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 E I du Pont de Nemours and 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 148.59 86.40 33.87 122.24 99.44 115.91 23.78 69.00 94.49 25.64 183.35 94.99 33.18 162.08 103.13 58.74 91.67 57.61 46.13 90.90 29.11 85.16 41.03 97.73 103.82 91.64 48.77 213.48 76.38 88.61

+3.54 +0.79 +0.21 +0.21 +0.17 -0.28 +0.215 +0.41 +0.38 +0.20 +3.29 +0.19 +0.49 -0.10 +0.50 +0.68 +0.65 +0.98 +1.11 +0.53 +0.51 +1.93 +0.17 +0.96 +0.64 +0.98 +0.55 -0.80 +0.13 +0.62

+2.44% +0.92% +0.62% +0.17% +0.17% -0.24% +0.91% +0.60% +0.40% +0.79% +1.83% +0.20% +1.50% -0.06% +0.49% +1.17% +0.71% +1.73% +2.47% +0.59% +1.78% +2.32% +0.42% +0.99% +0.62% +1.08% +1.14% -0.37% +0.17% +0.70%

4.5M 3.6M 29.8M 4.0M 4.1M 5.5M 19.9M 4.5M 9.7M 20.6M 2.9M 4.8M 27.8M 6.7M 6.0M 13.8M 5.3M 8.6M 61.1M 2.5M 28.4M 13.5M 13.4M 2.4M 3.7M 3.0M 13.5M 2.7M 4.5M 4.9M

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

711.75 871.25 369.10 1653.50 1493.50 1157.00 2364.00

DOW JONES C O M PA N Y

1.26983

0.78750

C O M PA N Y

-2.18 9.80 -0.90 5.00 -1.00 8.00 15.00

-0.31 1.14 -0.24 0.30 -0.07 0.70 0.64

NET VOLUME 1,162.60 692.94 4,031.35 126.28 383.83 354.60 168.64

PRICE

CHANGE NET / %

$ 25.65 $ 42.15 $ 17.33 $ 14.89 $ 24.45 $ 25.52 $ 18.34 $ 96.69 $ 31 $ 14.89 $ 11.04

8.27 ▲ 47.58% 8.95 ▲ 26.96% 2.79 ▲ 19.19% 2.01 ▲ 15.61% 3.26 ▲ 15.38% 3.22 ▲ 14.44% 2.22 ▲ 13.77% 11.61 ▲ 13.65% 3.67 ▲ 13.43% 1.61 ▲ 12.12% 1.14 ▲ 11.52%

$ 6.31 $ 62.105 $ 13.09 $ 3.63 $ 7.30 $ 34.37 $ 16.26 $ 27.08 $ 30 $ 71.91 $ 2.54

1.85 ▼ 22.67% 11.165 ▼ 15.24% 2.17 ▼ 14.22% 0.57 ▼ 13.57% 1.14 ▼ 13.51% 4.64 ▼ 11.89% 2.05 ▼ 11.20% 3.21 ▼ 10.60% 3.19 ▼ 9.61% 7.24 ▼ 9.15% 0.25 ▼ 8.96%

Most Advanced Digital River, Inc. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. Regulus Therapeutics Inc. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. SodaStream International Ltd. Columbus McKinnon Corporation RealPage, Inc. Strattec Security Corporation The Spectranetics Corporation Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. Calithera Biosciences, Inc.

Most Declined Layne Christensen Company Synaptics Incorporated Lakeland Industries, Inc. Alcobra Ltd. First Niagara Financial Group Inc. Hub Group, Inc. NIC Inc. QIWI plc TESSCO Technologies Incorporated GoPro, Inc. Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

C O M PA N Y PRICE(P) Centrica PLC 295.85 Coca-Cola HBC AG 1327.50 Compass Group PLC 975.00 CRH PLC 1363.00 Diageo PLC 1776.75 Direct Line Insurance 277.80 Dixons Carphone PLC 379.60 easyJet PLC 1442.00 Experian PLC 916.00 Fresnillo PLC 749.75 Friends Life Group Ltd 301.15 G4S PLC 251.75 GKN PLC 302.45 GlaxoSmithKline PLC 1416.00 Glencore PLC 312.35 Hammerson PLC 593.25 Hargreaves Lansdown 934.50 HSBC Holdings PLC 625.20 IMI PLC 1171.50 Imperial Tobacco Group 2592.00 InterContinental Hotels 2271.00 International Consolidtd ...385.85 Intertek Group PLC 2560.00 Intu Properties PLC 331.60 ITV PLC 197.95 Johnson Matthey PLC 2870.00 Kingfisher PLC 294.40 Land Securities Group 1086.50 Legal & General Group 223.50 Lloyds Banking Group 74.86 London Stock Exchange 1918.00 Marks & Spencer Group 412.60 Meggitt PLC 440.35 Mondi PLC 1002.00 Morrison (Wm) Sprmrkts 151.80 National Grid PLC 895.00 Next PLC 6442.50 Old Mutual PLC 184.15 Pearson PLC 1139.50 Persimmon PLC 1401.50 Petrofac Ltd 1053.00 Prudential PLC 1369.25 Randgold Resources Ltd 3980.00 Reckitt Benckiser Group 5022.50 Reed Elsevier PLC 993.75 Rio Tinto PLC 2980.75 Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC 784.75 Royal Bank of Scotland 359.50 Royal Dutch Shell PLC 2284.00 Royal Mail PLC 454.05 RSA Insurance Group 469.00 SABMiller PLC 3399.25 Sage Group (The) PLC 367.35 Sainsbury (J) PLC 238.90 Schroders PLC 2294.00 Severn Trent PLC 2001.00 Shire PLC 4072.00 Smith & Nephew PLC 982.00 Smiths Group PLC 1128.50 Sports Direct Internatnl 630.50 SSE PLC 1545.50 Standard Chartered PLC 1109.75 Standard Life PLC 385.85 St James's Place PLC 671.00 Tesco PLC 167.88 Travis Perkins PLC 1586.50 TUI Travel PLC 372.40 Tullow Oil PLC 489.70 Unilever PLC 2424.50 United Utilities Group 846.50 Vodafone Group PLC 198.70 Weir Group PLC 2220.00 Whitbread PLC 4326.00 Wolseley PLC 3193.50 WPP PLC 1178.50

CHANGE 3.10 7.00 8.00 -12.00 5.50 1.30 2.10 3.64 -6.00 -16.50 -0.40 0.80 -5.20 0.88 -4.50 0.00 -8.50 -4.70 -17.00 9.00 54.00 2.50 -6.00 0.70 0.30 -11.00 1.60 3.00 0.90 -1.85 2.00 -1.60 -2.40 -1.00 -0.68 4.00 -55.00 -0.60 0.23 6.00 -15.60 -5.00 -33.00 44.00 16.00 -31.08 -9.67 -4.70 -3.00 -3.80 2.20 42.00 0.50 0.70 -16.00 12.00 22.00 0.92 -24.00 0.50 9.05 -5.50 -1.11 -9.00 -0.91 0.00 6.50 -5.00 18.90 8.50 -1.75 -31.00 15.00 -17.00 0.75

% C H G. VOLUME 1.06 7,097.83 0.53 146.05 0.83 797.94 -0.87 909.41 0.31 997.55 0.47 1,312.14 0.56 1,081.44 0.25 337.81 -0.65 801.77 -2.15 497.03 -0.13 967.78 0.32 730.10 -1.69 1,981.95 0.06 2,774.07 -1.42 8,538.06 0.00 698.32 -0.90 306.43 -0.75 28,714.05 -1.43 797.68 0.35 492.25 2.44 368.69 0.65 5,432.39 -0.23 76.92 0.21 459.51 0.15 4,305.51 -0.38 143.63 0.55 2,301.56 0.28 866.90 0.40 3,655.56 -2.41 107,017.20 0.10 151.45 -0.39 1,406.78 -0.54 654.12 -0.10 375.29 -0.45 2,548.39 0.45 1,532.29 -0.85 196.83 -0.32 5,353.56 0.02 1,162.00 0.43 448.13 -1.46 887.07 -0.36 1,068.72 -0.82 151.58 0.88 367.05 1.64 1,531.92 -1.03 1,807.08 -1.22 1,914.05 -1.29 4,872.12 -0.13 795.04 -0.83 1,016.63 0.47 935.43 1.25 656.30 0.14 445.06 0.29 2,076.64 -0.69 110.43 0.60 212.37 0.54 1,324.74 0.09 415.12 -2.08 518.85 0.08 553.70 0.59 575.01 -0.49 1,956.69 -0.29 1,221.68 -1.32 668.54 -0.54 13,101.75 0.00 232.11 1.78 1,289.76 -1.01 1,120.94 0.79 1,440.37 1.01 710.77 -0.87 23,799.37 -1.38 301.38 0.35 103.72 -0.53 515.92 0.06 1,112.77

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

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30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

EWN

The secret art of a successful business SOME business owners see customers as sheep to be fleeced whilst others try to increase profits by maximising prices whilst minimising service. Balancing the books is essential to running a successful business. To get it right is an art form. We have all endured caferestaurants that have more in common with a workhouse canteen or dock road café. For some strange reason they think they can compete on price with restaurants offering real value for money. There is a Spanish saying; “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” If customers don’t

Talking shop Mike Walsh Mike Walsh was for 20 years Regional Assessment Manager for the Guild of Master Craftsmen, Britain’s biggest quality assurance body for businesses.

www.michaelwalsh.es • 966 786 932

perceive the service as being equal to the bill they will not return. I once had the privilege of spending an hour or so with Pam Morgan, then the marketing head of Redrow Homes. Having started as a one-man business, she and her

husband, Steve, created Britain’s largest privately owned housebuilders. I asked Pam what she put down to the company’s success. “We built homes when others were building houses,” she told me. “These were basic budget designed and built with no thought for the woman or her family. Yet, ironically, the lady of the house is a far bigger influence than the husband when choosing their home.” “Those houses were boxes,” she told me. “I realised that minor changes to home fascias; a curved roof line, bay window, arched door, didn’t add to the building costs but added individuality.”

Pam went on to tell me that show homes of rivals had nightmare deeppile white carpets, anti-child tubular steel, and glass furniture. Electric sockets were at a minimum, no glory hole for toys and prams; “A coat rail? There wasn’t even a hook to hang an ironing board on,” she added. She then explained that she designed show homes that real people could identify with. “The expression I heard most often was from the young mum-to-be: “This is just the way I want my home to be.” Tip: Find out what your customer wants and then sell it to him.

E W N 30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

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FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

Don’t let cybercrime drag you down - change your passwords regularly Loose change A look at finance for females

Jane Plunkett jane.plunkett@euroweeklynews.com

OCTOBER is Cyber Security Awareness Month and while most recently the press have been running numerous reports about how some celebrities have had private pictures of themselves hacked into, what’s a lot more important than their nudity is ensuring that your money is safe online. Cyber crime is big business and it doesn’t just affect the rich and famous, every single one of us, regardless of the amount of money we have in the bank, is a target. Cybercrime comes in many forms online identity theft, financial fraud, hacking, email spoofing, information forgery, and intellectual property crime.

BIG BUSINESS: Cyber crime doesn’t just affect the rich and famous. It can cause a lot of stress for a victim, while at its worst, cybercrime can even lead to financial ruin. In the UK it’s said that someone is ripped off by a fraudster or loses money to an online crime, every two minutes of every day. Therefore learning how to

prevent such crime is essential. Keep a clean machine. Whether it is a PC, mobile device or laptop, make sure security software is current and up-todate. How many times have you delayed security updates when they pop up on the screen? Exactly. But remember that

having the latest software on all devices can be one of the best defences against viruses, malware and other online threats. Change passwords regularly. When changing your password, make it complicated, with a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Don’t use the same password for many accounts. By keeping various passwords you lessen the risk of multiple accounts being compromised. Connect with care. Be cautious when connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots and if you decide to purchase something online send personal information only to websites that are fully encrypted. Be aware of suspicious texts, emails and links. Unsolicited emails and pop-up ads can be full of computer viruses designed specifically to steal user names and passwords from your computer. Just for the sake of curiosity they are not worth opening. Close and delete dubious messages. Report it. If your identity has been stolen or compromised, contact your bank immediately.

Can husband be President? Q. Article 13 of the Law of Horizontal Property states that, ‘The President You and the shall be chosen from among the Law in Spain owners in the Community.’ In our list By David Searl the wife of the President is named as the owner. The Property Registry names the wife as owner and says: TITULARES ACTUALES: ‘Maria… Participación… Pleno Dominio para la sociedad conyugal, casada con Don Francisco…’ My question is whether a spouse can be classed as an owner and so be the President of our Community? J.P. (Costa Blanca)

BUSINESS EXTRA

Oil find GENEL ENERGY has found oil off the Moroccan coast at Agadir, 200 kilometres from the Canary Islands. It is too early to make technical interpretations, the Anglo-Turkish consortium cautioned, and even if the quality and quantity of the oil were commercially viable, it would require up to six years to extract under good conditions.

Vice pays out A. The key to your question is ‘full ownership for the matrimonial entity,’ or ‘sociedad conyugal.’ If their partnership is ‘gananciales,’ they are co-owners. If their scheme is ‘separación de bienes,’ then only the wife owns. Most couples in Spain have property sharing. The husband’s name does appear. In the case of two or more owners, one of them must be named to exercise their Community rights. If they choose to name the

husband, then he can legally be President.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana & Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952 667 090.

PROSTITUTION and drugs contributed 1.7 per cent of Spain’s GDP in 2010, compared to the EU average of 1.3 per cent. Cyprus benefited most from vice-generated money, with an 8.4 per cent contribution to the economy, followed by the Netherlands (5.9 per cent), Portugal (2 per cent) and Italy (1.9 per cent).

OPINION & COMMENT

Callous owners who abandon their dogs WE Brits can easily be misled when we see a stray dog wandering around with no collar, dirty, emaciated and unchipped. We assume it has been abandoned and out of the kindness of our hearts might be inclined to take it into our homes after having first taken it to the vet. Then we discover it belongs to someone who allows it to roam the streets in this condition and sees nothing wrong with that. This has happened to two friends of mine and indeed almost happened to me. I found a Labrador-type dog wandering in the middle of Turre a few months ago. It was terrified and emaciated, covered in mud and obviously pregnant. I bought a collar and lead for it and, as it was hungry and thirsty, gave it food and water. I waited until the vet was open and was about to walk it up there to be checked out when I was stopped by a Spanish chap who told me it was his and had escaped from his compound. He also said he wasn’t bothered about the dog and maybe I could have it after it had the pups. In the event both the dog and the pups ended up at Paws Patas. We now have another dog from Paws Patas and as she was left at their gates I suppose it’s safe to assume someone didn’t want her. Steve Clarke, Turre (Almeria)

Great treatment I WANT to share some good news with your readers! I have been admitted twice to Malaga University Hospital Clinico in the last few months and each time I have been treated so well by everyone in A & E and doctors, nurses and cleaners. My sheets, towels and nightgown were changed every day. Floors and bathroom cleaned twice a day. As we all know, this helps towards recovery. So special thanks to all in A & E, on Floors Four and Six and especially to Dr Carlos de la Cruz Cosme who listened to me and got my all tests completed so I could get home for my big party!

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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

Soon after reading a Euro Weekly News article about cycling teams training in the Costa Blanca mountains, I met these toiling stalwarts. Rather them than me! Maurice Cousins (by email)

Five-star treatment in a National Health Hospital: thank you all so much. Mary Margaret Hopkins, Torremolinos (Malaga)

Quieten down I HAVE to wonder at people like Mr Gregory who like noise. Some Spanish people and maybe Mr Gregory seem to have hearing difficulties and talk at a volume that in any other race would be called shouting. All through the summer months I had tourists from elsewhere in Spain walking past my apartment block on the ninth floor at gone 2am and talking loudly enough to be heard a few hundred yards away. And drunks talking equally loudly till gone 6am. What is pleasant about such people who don’t give a damn about others? Obviously even other Spanish people complain about them rather than just a few Brits, as some noisy late-night places were shut down in Velez-Malaga a while back.

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:

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As to Mr Gregory’s comment on Japan, I’ve been there a few times and found it and its people quiet. Michael Hill, Torre del Mar (Malaga)

Fly away I WORK in a hotel near the promenade in Palma. Summer has just finished although it’s still hot, but in my opinion the regional or the central government could promote the islands better. Everybody on the mainland is wrong in thinking that Baleares

are only beaches. For example there are a lots of very beautiful small villages like Deia, Valldemossa, Fornalutx. An idea would be to reduce taxes when flying because it’s very expensive and tourists with three or four free days in winter could visit other places in Spain. Carlos Felix Carrascosa Medina, Palma de Mallorca.

Taken for a ride WE went to the port of Algeciras last week to take a ferry. On arrival no English signs were visible and we were pleased when a man waved us down. He told us to park at a lower level and charged us €50 for two days’ car parking. Then a police car stopped and told us long term parking was up the ramp and the man who previously helped us was a fraudster! Beware: these men disappear in seconds. What a racket! Linda (by email)

EWN

Mobility bullies READING Street Talk on the state of driving on Spanish roads prompts me to make the following observation on the use of mobility scooters. I am happy that the quality of life for those with mobility issues has been improved by the invention of the mobility scooter. In Benidorm there seems to have been an explosion in their use, and not just by those less fortunate. It seems to have been forgotten that the users of these scooters are still pedestrians. They frequent pavements and pedestrian areas which are, especially in Benidorm, heavily trafficked by walkers. Pedestrians travel at different speeds and have to patiently negotiate their way around slower walkers at opportune moments. The same should apply to mobility scooters. In the past weeks I’ve witnessed users sounding their horns, whistling, shouting and even knocking into pedestrians in order to get past. What gives them the right to do this? I am sure if pedestrians barged through other walkers or shouted abuse to clear a path they would soon feel the wrath of the law. Maybe the issue could be alleviated by making these scooters use roads and banning them from the generally slowermoving pedestrian areas. Nigel Lewis-Davidson, Benidorm (Alicante)

No sale GOING back a few months there was division of opinion in Your Say regarding Looky Looky street vendors. I now know how I feel about them after recently refusing to buy a bracelet as I enjoyed my morning coffee and read the daily paper. “No, gracias,” I answered politely. The vendor thrust his face too near mine and fiercely demanded to know why not, to which I replied sharply and less politely, “I said no.” I’m sure some of these chaps are good sorts, but I can well imagine that others could be intimidating if given the chance. S McNamara (by email)

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.

E W N 30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

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OPINION & COMMENT

Deals to protect the powerful? LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT

T the start of the Pistorius trial I forecast he would get six to eight years for manslaughter. Not far out was I? Around that time I also wrote there was an extremely big name ‘waiting in the wings’ to be brought up on historical child abuse charges. I was of course referring to Rolf Harris. Well now I can tell you there is at this moment another bunch of names facing the dock. A group that will only escape child molestation charges if, as is highly possible, there is a cover up of Profumo proportions to get them all out of it. Will these people receive their just desserts? I’ve no idea. What I do suspect, however, is that, as we speak, there is a veritable hive of hierarchy, whirling like dervishes to protect their backsides. The phrase ‘if I go - you go’ is probably being more bandied about than ‘bring down the deficit’ in certain high places at the moment. Watch this space - but don’t hold yer breath.

OSCAR PISTORIUS: Sentenced to five years in prison. You know why the EU is never going to work? Because it’s communism, pure and simple. Why do you think Miliband and his bunch of lefties are so up for it? The £1.7 billion, demanded by the coffer keepers of Brussels, simply because Britain has been so successful in restoring the economy, shows up the whole rotten conspiracy with all its

devious left-wing intentions. Communism, which runs on the premise that all men and women (and countries) are equal, simply doesn’t work - unless its participants are brainwashed into the marionettes and robots that dwell in countries akin to North Korea and China. This being the case, there is no chance whatsoever that the citizens of

GB are going to fall into the EU line. I also cannot believe that Germany could actually fail to envisage such an obvious outcome to the whole ill-fated scheme. When you ‘even’ everyone up you don’t lift them up to your living standards and way of life, you get dragged down to theirs. The more participants in this whole grand EU scheme, the lower all our standards are going to end up. When we’ve finally sunk to the ‘every country is equal’ level, we’ll all be working for two bob an hour with the EU hierarchy driving their limos to work in special lanes. Give us a break. Let’s get out while we can and reap the benefits of our free enterprise and sacrifices. I dunno, sometimes I really do despair of it all. Delighted we’ve finally pulled out of our war in Afghanistan. Any idea who won? Finally, when are these terrorists going to get into their heads that the more atrocities they carry out the more resolved the West will be to wiping them out? Let the hostages go. We have been known to respect a little compassion. Keep the faith Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com

Why we hate politicians ... and end up with those we deserve Nora Johnson

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

HE UK’s less than a year from a General Election but just look at the choice offered by the main parties! Is there anyone near the top in any party that you’d want running the country, let alone trust? Politicians these days regard their ‘job’ as an all-expenses paid hobby, with a few tedious interludes when they gather to barrack whoever’s speaking in Westminster that day and even more tedious surgeries when they have to pretend to listen to the plebs. There may be some honest, decent, conscientious

WESTMINSTER: Modern politicians lack real-world experience and can never say it as it is!

ones amongst them, but they soon learn what the party line is! Basically, modern politicians many lacking real-world experience - can never say it as it is, never use common sense and hedge everything (except possibly for UKIP’s Nigel Farage, which maybe accounts for his popularity?). Not to mention their peculiar way of talking (usually

‘down’ to the plebs) whilst trying to appear sincere - is there some elocution school they’re forced to attend? If so, Ofsted should shut it down immediately. Obsessing over focus groups, they’re forever promising something - anything - so long as they’re re-elected. How about proper governance in the first place, eh? All people want,

generally speaking, is a safe environment to live in, clean water, decent food and enough money to live comfortably. But so many politicians today simply don’t tell the truth or deliver what the people, who elected them, want. They have their own agenda, very often increasing their own self-worth at the expense of those they’re

supposedly ‘representing’ whilst simultaneously forcing ridiculous PC values on them. And in this age of political correctness, nobody wants to hear the truth and so politicians are only too happy to oblige by failing to address it - either by ignoring it or being ‘economical’ with it. End result: voter apathy and so we end up not with the politicians we really need but those we deserve. Speaking about truth, many thanks to all who purchased my recently published thriller, Landscape of Lies, following my piece about it here recently. Thanks also for helping my other novels, Retribution, Soul Stealer and The De Clerambault Code (available from Amazon) sell so well, too! And keep those great comments coming to my website and donations to Cudeca! (www.nora-johnson.com)

OPINION & COMMENT

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Suspended for just doing their jobs Safer choice

Cassandra Nash

A weekly look

BLESA’S successor at Caja Madrid, which later evolved into Bankia, was Rodrigo Rato, a former Economy minister and managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Rato, like Blesa before him, had practically limitless credit on a card that he was never expected to repay. He too is in sights of judge Fernando Andreu who set off the whole shooting works by investigating Bankia which later needed nationalisation and a €22 billion government rescue. Interestingly, former president of the Spanish government Jose Maria Aznar once considered naming Rato as his successor. Aznar instead chose Mariano Rajoy who was safer, sounder and never known for flashing the cash.

- and not entirely impartial reaction to the Spanish political scene

THE Gurtel corruption case sounded the death knell to Baltasar Garzon’s career as a judge. He ordered wiretaps of conversations between remanded prisoners and their lawyers, but for his pains Garzon was found guilty by his fellow judges of abusing his authority and was suspended for 11 years. Another judge Elpidio Jose Silva also heard the tocsin after twice remanding Miguel Blesa, the former chairman of Caja Madrid. The examining judge ordered Blesa’s arrest while investigating losses resulting from Caja Madrid’s purchase of a Florida bank in 2008. He also attempted to probe a Caja Madrid loan to Gerardo Diaz Ferran, once head of Spain’s Confederation of Business Owners. Ferran, whose

RODRIGO RATO: Is in the sights of the judge. businesses were all bankrupted, is now imprisoned for concealing assets and moneylaundering. He was also a Caja Madrid board member. Blesa was released from prison on both occasions, but Silva was eventually suspended for 17 years for ‘violating his constitutional rights and those of Diaz Ferran.’

Blesa is once more in the news. Together with 82 other Caja Madrid and Bankia executives, he lived high off the hog with an opaque Caja Madrid credit card for ‘expenses,’ a euphemism for undeclared earnings. Once more he is under investigation but still at large. Messengers like Garzon and

Silva don’t get shot these days, but they do find themselves out of a job even - or especially when their suspicions are proved correct.

Own safety THE proposed Public Safety Law is feared only by “the

violent and criminals” according to the Interior ministry. That is not strictly true, as it is also feared by those who want to retain hard-won freedoms like the right to protest. Many of this law’s critics are unlikely ever to demonstrate or want to, but they know that restricting that right is the first step towards protecting politicians, not the public.

Hair today PABLO IGLESIA who heads newly-hatched Podemos revealed that he is after the centre vote, a seemingly impossible task. The politically disaffected and disenchanted made Podemos the third most-voted party in last May’s European elections. If he starts two-timing them he’ll alienate them without managing to attract the centre. Unless he cuts off his ponytail, that is.

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MADDOCKS’ VIEW ON LIFE

Into the Storm During a single day, the town of Silverton, Oklahoma is ravaged by tornadoes that cause unimaginable death and destruction. With the town facing complete annihilation, groups of terrified townspeople, professional storm chasers and amateur thrill-seekers must keep on the move in order to survive. Into the Storm is from the ‘found footage’ genre of movie making, with events depicted from camcorders and cameras as if they are real. Directed by Steven Quale. Stars Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies and Matt Walsh. Run time 89 mins. Rated 12A.

TODAY

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PISCES (February 20 - March 20) Your very nature can lead to internal struggles. In the coming months, however, the truth becomes clear. What

1. By what name is actor William Henry Pratt, best remembered for his roles in horror films and especially for his portrayal of the monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939), better known? 2. In the 1984 supernatural horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, what is the name of the burnt serial killer who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams, played by Robert Englund? 3. Salem’s Lot (1975), Pet Semetary (1982), Cujo (1981), Misery (1987) and Carrie (1974) were all novels by which American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy? 4. The 1978 American independent ‘slasher’ horror film Halloween was produced on a budget of $325,000 (£160,250) but grossed $47 million (£22.5 million) at the box office in the US and $70 million (£33.75 million) worldwide, true or false? 5. What was the nationality of Bram Stoker, the author of the famous 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula?

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is outside of your experience now will become a part of your make-up. Any fear that you had of the unknown gradually diminishes.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) You are a great charmer but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Is there the possibility that your romantic life needs tidying up? Perhaps the number of irons that you have in the fire is causing problems?

thoughts have been deeper than usual and the sense that there is more to life is acute. This, therefore, gives an impetus to everything that you do this week.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23) The ever-inquisitive part of your brain is in high spirits. Clearly there is much to be known and enjoyed over the coming months. Begin at the beginning though. Before you throw yourself into a spiritual or business endeavour, get the facts.

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) In the last few weeks there may have been a sense of being not quite in

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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.

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) The changes that have already started in the way that you see your life have given pause for thought. You are sure that you could have done better but maybe it is not clear how. Take a step back now and see where you came from.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

LIBRA (September 24 - October 23) It becomes clear to you that some friends are drifting away. We all have to make changes as life itself is a constantly shifting event. You prefer to hold on to what is familiar and you are not alone in that. At the moment, however, there is much for you to experience, see and feel.

LOTTERY UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

UK THUNDERBALL

IRISH LOTTO

EURO MILLIONS

Saturday October 25

Friday October 24

10 27

17 30

BONUS BALL

THUNDERBALL

BONUS BALL

9 30

LUCKY STARS 1

REINTEGRO 44

EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA 35

36 48

Mon - 23 16 C Tues - 22 15 Sh Wed - 22 15 C

Madrid

CLEAR 23 13 Cl 23 13 C 23 13 Cl

SUNNY

MAX 24C, MIN 9C

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mon - 19 13 Sh Tues - 19 12 Sh Wed - 20 13 C

MAX MIN

24 10 S 22 9 S 21 10 C

Mon - 16 8 Sh Tues - 17 6 Sh Wed - 17 8 Sh

Murcia MAX 22C, MIN 14C

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

24 18 Cl 25 17 S 23 17 C

TODAY:

MAX 24C, MIN 14C

23 15 S 23 16 S 22 14 C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 23 14 C Tues - 22 13 C Wed - 21 13 Sh Cl Clear,

SUNNY MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun Fog,

Sn Snow,

MAX 26C, MIN 13C MAX MIN

26 14 S 27 14 C 25 13 C

Mon - 24 13 Cl Tues - 23 12 Sh Wed - 22 12 Sh

C Cloud,

Sh Showers,

Th Thunder

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

TARGET:

Average: 16

Very good: 29

Good: 20

Excellent: 36

alar, alee, anal, earl, elan, lane, late, lean, leer, lent, rale, real, reel, tael, tala, tale, teal, alate, alert, altar, alter, anele, areal, elate, later, latte, leant, learn, natal, ratel, renal, altern, antler, antral, elater, lateen, latent, latten, latter, leaner, learnt, letter, nettle, rattle, relate, relent, rental, talent, enteral, eternal, ALTERNATE

Word Ladder SASH

Sunday October 26

Saturday October 25

20 42

LA PRIMITIVA

Fri Sat Sun -

Mallorca TODAY:

SUNNY MAX 24C, MIN 18C MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Mon - 21 15 Sh Tues - 19 14 C Wed - 19 13 Sh

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

Mon - 22 16 C Tues - 19 15 Sh Wed - 21 14 C

Benidorm

22 17 Cl 22 16 C 22 16 Sh

SUNNY

MAX 26C, MIN 16C

26 17 S 25 17 S 23 16 C

TODAY:

CLOUDY MAX 22C, MIN 15C

S Sun,

LEO (July 24 - August 23) Certainly there have been times that you felt crestfallen. Sometimes circumstances bring us down. Avoid believing in the myth of ‘what should have been’. What you are is not what others see but what you feel inside.

Sudoku

Fri Sat Sun -

Malaga TODAY:

SUNNY MAX MIN

Barcelona TODAY:

control. That is something to deal with this week. Real progress will only be made when you have faced what is not wanted. You will rid yourself of any negative emotions quickly by facing them.

Y S our

TODAY:

MAX MIN

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) There has been a very strong feeling through these last few weeks. This feeling has been one of spirituality. Your

5-Star Quiz THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

MAX MIN

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CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20) Your practical streak is in full force. Over the next months you will bring much benefit to those around you, in financial terms perhaps, but also spiritually. AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) Your lot is to be optimistic and positive. Perhaps in the last few months there was the need to take on the problems of others. However, you absolutely must get a balance here.

Almeria

SUNNY MAX 24C, MIN 14C

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

38 50

REINTEGRO 8

LINE

WISE WINE LINE

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21) You of all people understand the importance of the spiritual side of life. Despite being successful in your own right there is the need to bring this to other people. In sharing your experiences this year you come to a better understanding yourself.

Alicante TODAY:

SASH WASH WISH

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22) With a lot of pent-up energy and not a little determination the month is off to a strong start with you. Be aware, however, that treading on the toes of influential people is not to be advised.

1. Boris KARLOFF, 2. Freddy KRUEGER, 3. Stephen KING, 4. TRUE, 5. IRISH (born in Clontarf, Dublin)

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CROSSWORDS

Crosswords

30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

EWN

SPONSORED BY

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

Cryptic

Quick

Across 1 Powerful goddess is buried in Teheran (4) 4 Cargo ship hired by a promiscuous woman (5) 9 Elsewhere in Dali biography (5) 10 Two items used in table tennis game (7) 11 Surprisingly tautest act (7) 12 Create nearly identical copies one hundred and fifty one (5) 13 Ken’s is funny, like Hank’s (6) 15 Playtime corner (6) 18 Rent easel in error (5) 20 Keep us confined in a bad spot (7) 23 English reason for showing a lot of feeling (7) 24 Map book can be found in that last cupboard (5) 25 Built laser for lords (5) 26 Attorney volunteers facts (4) Down 2 State of being a measure angry (7) 3 So, long cube is surrounded by gold (5) 4 Vehicle used in Tibetan demonstration (6) 5 Account of claret I drunk (7) 6 Philosopher began playing lute at

Across 1/23 Avoid humiliation (4,4) 3 Get in the way of (8) 9 Living room (7) 10 Happen or occur again (5) 11 Excessively fat (5) 12 Ornamental hanging tuft of threads (6) 14 Stir up (6) 16 Not according with the facts (6) 19 Terpsichorean (6) 21 Respond (5) 24 Following (5) 25 Set apart from the rest (7) 26 Income (8) 27 Charges (4)

two o’clock (5) 7 Mocks tabloid newspapers (4) 8 Tool’s unusual perils (6) 13 The supplier is in the basement we hear (6) 14 Poorer born, then pass on, right (7) 16 Eastern apostle and French

decoration (7) 17 Rushes funny looking guides (6) 19 An advance, we hear, on its own (5) 21 By the sound of it, remained very serious (5) 22 Bill returns in ‘For Your Eyes Only’ (4)

Code Breaker Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 7 represents Q and 11 represents M, so fill in Q every time the figure 7 appears and M every time the figure 11 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.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS CRYPTIC Across: 4 Ancient, 8 Avocets, 9 Coterie, 10 Theatre, 11 Nervous, 12 Elated, 14 Career, 18 Assuage, 21 Timpani, 22 Elegant, 23 Lineage, 24 Austere. Down: 1 Lattice, 2 Moses, 3 Lecture, 4 Ascend, 5 Cater, 6 Earlobe, 7 Teems, 13 Answers, 15 Anemone, 16 Recited, 17 Settle, 18 Arena, 19 Agate, 20 Banal. QUICK Across: 1 Succeed, 5 Scrub, 8 Excites, 9 Rules, 10 Share, 1 1 Replace, 12 Career, 14 Access, 17 Reached, 19 Tasks, 22 Front, 23 Imagine, 24 Lasts, 25 Guesses. Down: 1 Seems, 2 Cocoa, 3 Extreme, 4 Desire, 5 Scrap, 6 Release, 7 Baskets, 12 Careful, 13 Reasons, 15 Cottage, 16 Adding, 18 Hates, 20 Skips, 21 Seeds. ENGLISH-SPANISH Across: 1 Hailstorm, 8 Enero, 9 Saber, 10 Team, 11 Otro, 15 Snore, 17 Llave, 18 Strongest.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

Down: 2 Arena, 3 Leon, 4 Test, 5/16 Rub out, 6 Ventoso, 7 Arboles, 12 Tears, 13 Beso, 14 Flag.

English - Spanish The clues are mixed, some clues are in Spanish and some are in English. Across 1 Langosta (insecto) (6) 4 Hatred (4) 8 Estrellas (5) 9 Ira (de persona) (5) 10 Emerald (stone) (9) 13 Guante (5) 15 Anchor (5) 16 Cerca (indicando proximidad) (4) 17 Penknife (6) Down 1 Último (4) 2 Abrigos (5) 3 To hold (8) 5 See 13 6 Remo (pala) (3) 7 Pumpkin (8) 11 Shower (in bathroom) (5) 12 Cow (farm animal) (4) 13/5 Perro de caza (3,3) 14 Goose (domestic) (3)

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

PRIEST

BOLTED

REARED

BRINGS

SALTED

CHASTE

SISTER

ESTATE

STILES

FACTOR

THANKS

HASTEN

TICKED (10)

HAZELS

TILTED

KILLED

VOLLEY

MORSEL

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

Funagram Unscramble the name of a British rock band, formed in 1978 (one word): HAS KEEN WIT FUNAGRAM SOLUTION: THE PELICAN BRIEF, WHITESNAKE

Unscramble the title of a 1992 legal-suspense thriller written by John Grisham (three words): RETAIN CHIEF PLEB

Down 1 Mistakenly believed (8) 2 Region marking a boundary (5) 4 Censure severely or angrily (6) 5 Agreement details (5) 6 Poorly stated or described (7) 7 Ripped (4) 8 Secret or hidden (6) 13 Worried and uneasy (8) 15 Talk idly or rapidly (7) 17 Not wide (6) 18 Demanding attention (6) 20 Welsh breed of dog (5) 22 Conscious (5) 23 See 1 Across

1 Invest, 2 Tested, 3 Prices, 4 Decent, 5 Causes, 6 Trench, 7 Speeds, 8 Traits, 9 Cheers, 10 Purity, 11 Thresh, 12 Storey, 13 Writer, 14 Orders, 15 Stroke, 16 Cherry, 17 Tender, 18 Slowed, 19 Tinkle

E W N 30 October - 5 November 2014 / AxarquĂa - Costa Tropical

Thursday BBC ONE 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Watchdog 10:00pm Life Story 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm Question Time 12:35am This Week

BBC TWO 5:50pm Great British Railway Journeys 6:20pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm The Great Interior Design Challenge 9:00pm Autumnwatch 10:00pm Peaky Blinders 11:00pm Russell Howard's Good News 11:30pm Newsnight 12:20am Afghanistan: The Lion's Last Roar?

ITV 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 Paul O'Grady: For The Love of Dogs 10:00pm The Great Fire 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:40pm My Grandfather Dylan 12:15am Wilderness Walks with Ray Mears

CH4 5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 6:30pm Coach Trip 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm George Clarke's Amazing Spaces 10:00pm 24 Hours in A and E 11:00pm Scrotal Recall 11:30pm 8 Out of 10 Cats 12:20am The Sex Clinic

CH5 6:00pm 5 News at 5 6:30pm Neighbours 7:00pm Home and Away 7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm The Gadget Show 9:00pm Underground Britain 10:00pm The Sham Wedding Crashers 11:00pm Inside Holloway 12:00am Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away!

SKY1 5:30pm Emergency with Angela Griffin 6:30pm Futurama 7:00pm Futurama 7:30pm The Simpsons 8:00pm The Simpsons 8:30pm The Simpsons 9:00pm Arrow 10:00pm Forever 11:00pm The Last Ship 12:00am NCIS: Los Angeles

Friday BBC ONE 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm A Question of Sport 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Citizen Khan 10:00pm Have I Got News for You 10:30pm Not Going Out 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:25pm BBC London News 11:35pm The Graham Norton Show 12:20am The Secrets

BBC TWO 6:20pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Mastermind 8:30pm Autumnwatch Unsprung 9:00pm Autumnwatch 10:00pm Tom Kerridge's Best Ever Dishes 10:30pm Gardeners' World 11:00pm QI 11:30pm Newsnight 12:05am Later... with Jools Holland

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 Secrets From the Sky 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm Lewis 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:40pm The Job Lot 12:10am Paranormal Activity

CH4 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 6:30pm Coach Trip 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 8:35pm Unreported World 9:00pm Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 10:00pm Gogglebox 11:00pm Alan Carr: Chatty Man 12:05am Scrotal Recall

CH5 6:00pm 5 News at 5 6:30pm Neighbours 7:00pm Home and Away 7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm World War II in Colour 9:00pm Rome: The World's First Superpower 10:00pm Alex Polizzi's Secret Italy 11:00pm Body of Proof 11:55pm NCIS: Los Angeles 12:55am Poltergeist

SKY1 4:30pm Greatest Little Britons 5:30pm Emergency with Angela Griffin 6:30pm Futurama 7:00pm Modern Family 7:30pm The Simpsons 8:00pm The Simpsons 8:30pm The Simpsons 9:00pm The Last Ship 10:00pm A League of Their Own 10:30pm A League of Their Own 11:00pm Freddy vs Jason 12:50am Modern Family

Saturday BBC ONE 3:00pm Homes Under the Hammer 4:00pm Escape to the Country 5:00pm Final Score 6:25pm BBC News 6:35pm Regional News 6:38pm Weather 6:40pm Pointless 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing 9:15pm Doctor Who 10:00pm Casualty 10:50pm The National Lottery Live 11:00pm BBC News 11:15pm Weather 11:20pm Match of the Day 12:45am The Football League Show

BBC TWO 3:45pm Show Boat 5:30pm Great Interior Design Challenge 6:30pm Flog It! 7:30pm Gardeners' World 8:00pm Restoring England's Heritage 8:30pm William the Marshal 9:30pm Dad's Army 10:00pm Frankenstein and the Vampyre: A Dark and Stormy Night 11:00pm F1: Grand Prix Qualifying 12:15am QI XL 1:00am TOTP2

ITV 3:00pm Doc Martin 4:00pm Keep it in the Family 5:00pm The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 7:00pm Local News and Weather 7:15pm ITV News and Weather 7:30pm You've Been Framed! 8:00pm The Chase 9:00pm The X Factor 11:00pm The Jonathan Ross Show 12:05am 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 8:05pm Speed with Guy Martin 9:00pm Walking Through History 10:00pm Red 12:10am Rude Tube 1:15am Psycho 3:10am Hollyoaks Omnibus 5:15am Location, Location, Location

CH5 4:35pm A Carol Christmas 6:15pm The Town Christmas Forgot 8:00pm 5 News 8:05pm Marilyn Monroe: The Missing Evidence 9:05pm World War II in Colour 10:00pm Gotham 11:00pm The New Daughter 1:05am Super Casino

SKY1 4:00pm Inside RAF Brize Norton 5:00pm The Middle 5:30pm The Middle 6:00pm Greggs: More Than Meats the Pie 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm The Simpsons 8:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 9:00pm Hawaii Five-0 10:00pm Miracle on 34th Street 12:10am An Idiot Abroad: A Commentary

Sunday BBC ONE 3:00pm Holiday of My Lifetime 3:45pm Lost Treasures of the Sikh Kingdom 4:15pm Escape to the Country 5:00pm Points of View 5:15pm Songs of Praise 5:50pm Life Story 6:50pm BBC News 7:10pm Regional News 7:15pm Weather 7:20pm Countryfile 8:20pm Strictly Come Dancing 9:00pm Antiques Roadshow 10:00pm Death in Paradise 11:00pm BBC News 11:20pm Regional News 11:25pm Weather 11:30pm F1: Grand Prix 1:00am The Apprentice

BBC TWO 4:30pm Flog It! 5:00pm Inside the Animal Mind 6:00pm Rugby League Four Nations Highlights 7:00pm Britain's Classroom Heroes 8:00pm Human Universe 9:00pm Wonders of the Monsoon 10:00pm Afghanistan: The Lion's Last Roar? 11:00pm Match of the Day 2 12:05am Russell Howard's Good News

ITV 3:30pm The X Factor 5:30pm Downton Abbey 6:30pm Tasty Travels with Lynda Bellingham 7:30pm Local News and Weather 7:45pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Keep it in the Family 9:00pm The X Factor Results Show 10:00pm Downton Abbey 11:05pm ITV News and Weather 11:25pm Harry's Southpole Heroes 12:25am Rugby Highlights

CH4 3:25pm The Simpsons 3:55pm The Simpsons 5:50pm The Simpsons Movie 7:35pm Channel 4 News 8:00pm WW1's Forgotten Soldiers 9:00pm Speed with Guy Martin 10:00pm Homeland 11:00pm Shame 12:55am Alan Carr: Chatty Man

CH5 4:35pm The Canterville Ghost 6:25pm The Witches 8:10pm 5 News 8:15pm Beetlejuice 10:00pm The Cabin in the Woods 11:50pm Piranha 1:30am Campus P.D.

SKY1 3:00pm Bite Size Brainiac 3:10pm Futurama 3:20pm Miracle of 34th Street 5:30pm The Simpsons 6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm The Simpsons 7:30pm The Simpsons 8:00pm Futurama 8:30pm The Flash 9:30pm The Simpsons 10:00pm Hawaii Five-0 11:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 12:00am Hawaii Five-0

TV LISTING

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Monday BBC ONE 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News 7:30pm Regional News 8:00pm The Passing Bells 8:30pm The One Show 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Panorama 10:00pm Gareth's All Star Choir 11:00pm BBC News 11:25pm Regional News 11:30pm Weather 11:35pm Have I Got a Bit More News for You 12:20am Citizen Khan

BBC TWO 6:20pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Tom Kerridge's Best Ever Dishes 8:30pm Children's Hospital 9:00pm University Challenge 9:30pm Only Connect 10:00pm Intruders 10:45pm Some People Telling Jokes 11:00pm Never Mind the Buzzcocks 11:30pm Newsnight 12:10am Weather

ITV 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm Local News and Weather 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Countrywise 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm Grantchester 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:40pm The Agenda 12:20am The Jonathan Ross Show

CH4 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 6:30pm Coach Trip 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm Dispatches 9:30pm Sarah Beeny's How to Sell Your Home 10:00pm Make Leicester British 11:35pm Toast of London 12:05am The IT Crowd

CH5 6:00pm 5 News at 5 6:30pm Neighbours 7:00pm Home and Away Jake has plans for Brax - plans that will 7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm The Gadget Show 9:00pm Conspiracy: The Missing Evidence 10:00pm Gotham 11:00pm Under the Dome 11:55pm Once Upon a Time in Mexico 1:50am Campus PD

SKY1 6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Futurama 7:30pm The Simpsons 9:00pm Modern Family 9:30pm Trollied 10:00pm Micky Flanagan's Detour De France 11:00pm Arrow 12:00am NCIS: Los Angeles

Tuesday BBC ONE 5:30pm Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News 7:30pm Regional News 8:00pm The Passing Bells 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Holby City 10:00pm The Missing 11:00pm BBC News 11:25pm Regional News 11:30pm Weather 11:35pm Imagine... 12:40am In the Valley of Elah

BBC TWO 5:50pm Great British Railway Journeys 6:20pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Great Interior Design Challenge 9:00pm MasterChef: The Professionals 10:00pm Human Universe 11:00pm Later Live... with Jools Holland 11:30pm Newsnight 12:10am Weather

ITV 4:00pm The Alan Titchmarsh Show 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm Local News and Weather 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm UEFA Champions League 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:40pm UEFA Champions League: Extra Time 12:40am The Cube

CH4 5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 6:30pm Coach Trip 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners 10:00pm You Can't Get the Staff 11:00pm 8 Out of 10 Cats 11:50pm Gogglebox 12:50am Pokerstars.Com Shark Cage

CH5 4:15pm Garage Sale Mystery 6:00pm 5 News at 5 6:30pm Neighbours 7:00pm Home and Away 7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door 9:00pm Britain's Worst Crimes 10:00pm Miracle Babies 11:00pm NCIS

SKY1 3:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 4:00pm Greatest Little Britons 5:00pm Emergency with Angela Griffin 6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Futurama 7:30pm The Simpsons 9:00pm The Flash 10:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 11:00pm Road Wars 12:00am Legends

Wednesday BBC ONE 4:45pm Holiday of My Lifetime 5:30pm Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News 7:30pm Regional News 8:00pm The Passing Bells 8:30pm The One Show 9:00pm Waterloo Road 10:00pm The Apprentice 11:00pm BBC News 11:25pm Regional News 11:30pm Weather 11:35pm England: What Next? 12:15am Film 2014

BBC TWO 4:50pm Who Do You Think You Are? 5:50pm Great British Railway Journeys 6:20pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two 8:00pm Great Interior Design Challenge 9:00pm MasterChef: The Professionals 10:00pm Great Continental Railway Journeys 11:00pm The Apprentice: You're Fired! 11:30pm Newsnight 12:10am Weather

ITV 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm Local News and Weather 7:30pm ITV News and Weather 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Surprise Surprise 10:00pm Broadmoor 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:40pm Through the Keyhole 12:40am Fool Britannia

CH4 5:00pm Deal or No Deal 6:00pm Come Dine with Me 6:30pm Coach Trip 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm The Supervet 10:00pm Grand Designs 11:00pm Grayson Perry: Who are You? 12:00am 24 Hours in A and E

CH5 6:00pm 5 News at 5 6:30pm Neighbours 7:00pm Home and Away 7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm Police Interceptors 9:00pm Gibraltar: Britain in the Sun 10:00pm Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away! 11:00pm Wentworth 12:00am Inside Holloway

SKY1 5:00pm Emergency with Angela Griffin 6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Futurama 7:30pm The Simpsons 9:00pm An Idiot Abroad 10:00pm A League of Their Own 11:00pm Legends 12:00am Forever

OPINION & COMMENT

HICH common courtesies have gone? A lot of them, according to Ilde Casanova from Park and Go airport parking at AlicanteElche Airport. He said: “When customers arrive we would open their doors, help carry their bags but that was not something the company had trained us or told us to do, it was just politeness and being helpful to people. But now the boss has installed it as policy and made all employees do the same thing; however, he shouldn’t have to, really, it should come naturally and I think that is a shame. Now, it is normal not to be necessarily polite or courteous.”

ILDE: Now it is more common not to be courteous

www.euroweeklynews.com

30 October - 5 November 2014 /Axarquía - Costa Tropical

EWN

Manners matter Good manners cost nothing; it is the little things that matter. What is a common courtesy that nowadays people seem to have forgotten about?

STREET TALK Claus van Mierlo from NICLA Casas in Almeria said: “I think some people have forgotten how to be up front and honest in their dealings. They feel the need to tell a different story to change a situation when they could just tell the truth. It is impolite.” Paul Mentessi from Gold Rush in La Zenia agrees that courtesy is a dying form. “Courtesy in general has gone and I think Claus van Mierlo

the most obvious one for me is respect for people’s jobs and profession. Some question their position and have no respect, and I find that really disrespectful.” Nick Holland with He added that Stephen Lloyd-Morgan one nationality in particular had no common courtesy, finding them ruder than any others he deals with. things that are Nick Holland, Manager for well- important, but it is nice to get a thank known tenor, Stephen Lloyd-Morgan, you for making the effort. If we are said: “Please and thank you. Steve and getting paid, or it is a reciprocal I were only talking about this the other agreement, then that is a different day. We do a lot of work for charity, we matter, but it is nice. Manners cost love to help and get involved with nothing!”

E W N 30 October - 5 November 2014 / Axarquía - Costa Tropical

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

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

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our a

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WE D

isers

Day of the operation - time to get my compression socks on Erica Russell Watson: My journey – and I’m driving

19th

SEPTEMBER: operation day. I was booked in for the second slot of the morning which gave me time to have a shower, get my compression socks on and to look longingly at my room-mate’s breakfast. No food for me! Then I was wheeled down to the radiology section where they inserted a metal wire or ‘harpoon’ as the Spanish refer to it, into the tumour in my breast as it was difficult to find and the surgeon wanted to have it perfectly located in order to operate. Then I had a mammogram with said harpoon in, which was not the most pleasant experience I have ever had but was over quickly and made much better by the fabulous medical team. By the end of the experience I had given an English lesson to one of them, promised to have tea with another’s children and

told them about my life abroad to encourage them to travel and told them how lucky I was to have the doctor that I had… because in his own words he was much easier on the eye than the other specialist! Just the Spanish way of relaxing you. I was then whisked back up to my room and shortly after, they came for me to transport me down to surgery. It felt like the films; lights flashed above my head and the nurse complained that whoever had designed the bed had given little thought to dimensions as we scraped through doorways and into lifts. She was an expert and manoeuvred me around well until I was in a holding area where I was wished luck by my loved one. Once inside I was asked all the pertinent questions by my anaesthetist and then wheeled into surgery. After a few deep breaths with the mask on, I was under. The operation lasted about three hours. Seventeen lymph nodes were removed from my right armpit, the tumour in my breast and additional

micro tumours that had not shown up on the mammogram, but were regarded as suspicious by my surgeon. I came to, felt cold but in quite good shape and was given an update by my surgeon and then taken back to my room. The rest of the day was spent feeling ravenous, but after having some tea and biscuits and holding that down well, I was given lunch. Some people react badly to the anaesthetic If you have any procedures in Spain, remember that their timetable is different.

and are very ill when they first eat. Not me! If they hadn’t given me lunch I was going to nip down to the hospital café and grab a sandwich… either that or start eating my bed sheets. Thirty-six hours without food is not ideal! The ensuing days were spent looking forward to

visitors, lots of cakes, chocolates and flowers, meal times and general updates on my progress. The nurses changed my dressings and controlled the two drainage globes to check the levels were dropping. The drains were the most awkward things as it made it difficult to shower, as the bandages had to be kept dry and I had to be careful that the drains did not come out. I wasn’t in a great deal of pain, but the staples in my armpit were uncomfortable. Being bored and in need of a pen to do a crossword I went down to the shop in the entrance of the hospital. I was shooed back upstairs as I really shouldn’t have been down there, but I was a little fed up with the circuit on my ward. I think it essential to carry on as normally as possible. It’s what the Brits do, isn’t it? Keep calm and carry on. I insisted they took my drip out the day after my operation and didn’t take any more painkillers. I got up and moving about as soon as possible. I got to know the staff well and enjoyed joking with them and they even kept my surplus of cakes in

their fridge. I can’t speak highly enough of the care I received. People often complain about the service in general in Spain, but if you are respectful and polite, they are the kindest and most helpful people you could ever wish to meet. The most amusing thing for me was being woken up in the middle of a blissful sleep and being asked if I wanted a sleeping tablet at 11.30 at night. If you have any procedures in Spain remember that their timetable is different. They come round with tea at 11pm! Finally one drain was removed and the other was left in. I had had enough of hospital and opted to go home. The doctor gave me the ‘alta’ or permission to go home. This gave me a huge boost. I was desperate to see my children and basically be in my own home. I was given various instructions to follow and then had to wait for the results of the operation to see what the next step would be.

Become a cougar to have a baby WOMEN wanting a baby at over 40 could improve their chances of conceiving if they are with a younger man. A study of women aged 40 and over found if her partner was aged 43 or

above, her odds of giving birth plummeted as the combination of an older man’s sperm and an older woman’s eggs make it less likely to conceive. Canadian researchers believe one solution is for

older women to choose toy boys, whose sperm will be in better condition. Michael Dahan, of McGill University in Montreal said: “It actually gives a biological

argument for the cougar phenomenon. “Younger women’s eggs can fix any defects of genetic material of the sperm. But once a woman hits 40, that’s no longer true.”

HEALTH & BEAUTY

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Ginkgo and magnesium A useful combination of active substances keep us fitter for longer HOW fit you feel as you get older depends mostly on the condition of your heart, circulation and brain. Forgetfulness, concentration problems, higher irritability, aggressiveness, rapid tiring, nausea, tinnitus and a lowering of joy of living can all be caused by a narrowing of the blood vessels (e.g. arteriosclerosis) leading to the brain. The brain only makes up 3 per cent of the body’s weight and uses about 22 per cent of all the oxygen the body has at its disposal. Through a narrowing of the vessels the oxygen supply to the brain is often obstructed, which normally causes a decrease of brain function. Changes in the blood vessels already begin to appear at the age of 35, without the person noticing. Beside other factors, there might be also be a hereditary tendency towards this sort of disease. For that reason, prevention is very essential for people with such a tendency, as especially in the early stages the effect of natural remedies is most noticeable. In supplementing a health-conscious way of life with the regular intake of Ginkgo biloba extracts, one can THE UK’s NHS is considering plans to pay people to lose weight. The new scheme, which would only be available to workers, would see weight loss rewarded with cash or shopping vouchers in a bid to tackle the obesity crisis. The amounts given are unclear but firms could also receive tax breaks from the Government and some funding to set up slimming or exercise classes, following suit with other countries which run similar schemes. NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said workplace schemes to encourage weight loss

stimulate the circulation and improve the oxygen supply to the brain. THE GINKGO TREE (ginkgo biloba), which can reach a height of 40 metres, is related to our conifers. It comes from China and Japan, where it has always been cultivated as a temple tree. For the application as a natural remedy, an extract of the ginkgo leaves is made. The active substances of the ginkgo leaves improve the circulation, because it widens especially the deep-seated middle and smaller arteries and thus improves the micro-circulation in the brain and other organs. On top of that it speeds up the velocity of the blood flow in the capillaries and stimulates the formation of by-pass arteries. MAGNESIUM is a mineral that plays a key role in the metabolism. With normal daily nourishment the need of magnesium is only partially filled. Because of the intensive cultivation of the soil and acid rain, even in a varied diet the magnesium supply is not sufficient. The vital mineral magnesium feeds and relaxes the heart, nerves, muscles and blood vessels and improves the oxygen absorption in the brain and other organs.

COENZYME Q10 The vital way to old age COENZYME Q10 belongs to the vitamin E series and has two important functions in the human body: It helps to convert nutritious energy into kinetic energy, takes part in the building up of 95 per cent of the body’s energy and thus is a very important element in the energy supply to the heart muscle. Q10 acts furthermore as a ‘catcher of free radicals.’ Q10, just like vitamin C, vitamin E, the mineral selenium and betacarotene, can bind free radicals (the aggressive waste products of the metabolism that damage cell membranes) and thus prevent the cells growing old. Coenzyme Q10 is partly taken in with food and partly produced by the body itself. The modern treatment and preservation of food reduces its nutritious value and consequently its Q10 content, which can lead to Q10 deficiency. Besides which the production of coenzyme Q10 in

Cash incentives may be way to tackle obesity

SLIM DOWN: And be rewarded for your efforts. have been largely ignored despite success abroad adding that he personally

managed to lose nearly three stone thanks to an incentive scheme at his

previous job with an American insurance firm. Dr Sally Norton, a weight loss surgeon, added that these schemes would also boost product-ivity amongst staff: “Employers lose over £20 billion a year due to absenteeism, but the costs of reduced productivity due to illhealth may be three times higher. Being overweight increases the number of sickness days taken by 50 per cent.”

the body decreases after the age of 40. This explains why especially middle aged people benefit from taking additional Q10. Often medical science is powerless in the face of functional disorders of the organs, such as the heart, that occur in the course of the aging process. However, it is becoming more and more clear that an optimal supply of coenzyme Q10 not only protects the body from decline in performance, but also produces a higher vitality in old age. To prevent under-supply and to maintain proper energy levels, it is recommended that additional coenzyme Q10 is taken. Even quite a number of experts recommend a preventive intake of coenzyme Q10 in order to conquer the decline in performance. Taking coenzyme Q10 is absolutely without risk. Previous experience shows that a permanent result can only be obtained by a regular intake. Sanct Bernhard

Crta Almeria – Malaga N340a KM 283,5 Torrox Costa 952 53 48 88 Email: info@sanctbernhard.es

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OPINION & COMMENT

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Profit-making war machine Goran Bogicevic / Shutterstock.com

Mike Walsh Mike, based in Mediterranean Spain, is an international journalist, author and professional writer.

HE Western Powers are now engaged in perpetual war. Few Britons or Americans have known a month when their country was not directly or indirectly involved in conflict. Rudyard Kipling, Britain’s greatest poet, who lost his only son in World War One, was scathing: “If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied.” Disregard Orwellian mantras such as ‘The War on Terror’ and similar smokescreens. Conflict is fuelled, not by idealism, but by pursuit of market share, territory and raw material. Global war is the most profitable venture of all man’s pursuits. Western economies are largely based upon arms related investment, raw material acquisition and profits. Britain’s history of piracy and pillage is abysmal. Of the world’s 200 plus nations, Britain has invaded all but 22 of them. There is not enough room to list the number of conflicts Britain has been involved in since 1945.

CONFLICT: US economy depends on military. The piratical record of the United States is equally grim. Since 1776, a period spanning 238 years, the US has been at peace for only 21 years. Henry Labouchere, Liberal MP and journalist: “We are without exception the greatest robbers and marauders that ever existed on the face of the globe. We are worse than other countries because we are hypocrites also, for we plunder and always pretend to do so for other peoples’ good.” The United States has more than 1,000 bases spread over 153 countries. They are

not there to defend our freedoms. It is said that war and arms manufacture is not only America’s biggest industry, the entire US economy is based on it. The US spends more on arms than China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, France, UK, Japan and Germany combined. Most of us prefer the comfort of our illusions to the truth, which is, one supposes, understandable. The fact remains that we no longer have government of the people for the people but government by corporates

for corporates. During 2009 and 2010 household name oil, gas and coal companies spent $347 million (€274 million) on political campaigns and lobbying bribes. A profitable investment. Big oil gets a 5,800 per cent return on every dollar it spends on Congress. US senators who voted to attack Syria received 83 per cent more campaign money from military contractors than lawmakers voting no. Politician Dick Cheney has been cited as the most powerful Vice-President in American history. His arms manufacturing related companies made over $39.5 billion (€31.25 billion) US taxpayer funded dollars from the Iraq War alone. US taxpayers saw $2 trillion (€1.58 trillion) of their hard-earned cash spent on the War in Iraq. Ninety per cent of that money ended up in the bank accounts of 1 per cent of the population. You guess which 1 per cent. British parliament is every bit as corrupt. Only 0.7 per cent of Britons are millionaires yet 78 per cent of British parliamentarians and 50 per cent of Congressmen are millionaires. If you think such wealth is salary-based, you are likely to believe in fairies at the bottom of your garden.

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Globelink Travel Insurance Team We are back on the road again AFTER a few years break, Globelink International Roadshow and Exhibition Team are back on the road and look forward to attending a show near you soon. Our next stop will be at the Over 50s Show in Estepona on Saturday and Sunday November 8/9. Whether you are an existing Globelink client, or just want to find out what we can offer, we’ll be delighted to meet you and we absolutely promise no heavy sales routines. Come and have a chat and a chance to be the lucky winner of one of the four Kindles we will be giving away. Globelink are a specialist UK based Travel Insurer established in 1996, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the leading provider of short or long term Single Trip and Annual Multi Trip travel insurance for people living in all European Union countries. Our policies are underwritten by ANV, Lloyd’s Syndicate 5820, or other leading insurers offering a

GLOBELINK: The leading providers of long term Single Trip and Annual Multi Trip travel insurance for expats.

high level of service and complete security. You can get a quotation, more information about our policies, and even arrange cover online by visiting www.globelink.co.uk Your policy will be delivered to you instantly by email and by text to your mobile phone. We are one of a very few travel insurers who will provide cover for senior travellers up to the age of 100 years, and we can often include cover for most pre-existing medical conditions following a fast and easy online or telephone screening. Our ‘specialist risk’ underwriting team can usually arrange cover on a bespoke basis for particular requirements such as High Value Cruises, Hazardous Sports or Occupations, Sports and Leisure Groups, Charitable and

Voluntary Organisations etc. We will always try to find a solution for your needs. Why not come and see our travel insurance experts Tracey Paul and Sarah Baines on Stand 32 at the Over 50’s Show in Estepona on the weekend of November 8 and 9? We will be running several Prize Draws throughout both days and will have four Kindles to give away to the lucky winners. Don’t miss your chance to ask a few questions and to win a prize. We look forward to meeting you at the Over 50’s Show at the Palacio de Congressos y Exposiciones, Estepona on Saturday and Sunday November 8 and 9, from 11am until 6pm on both days. Globelink are the leading providers of Travel Insurance for people living in EU countries. For an instant Travel Insurance quote and to arrange cover securely visit www.globelink.co.uk, or call (UK) +44 1353 699082 or our Spanish link lines on 966 265 000 or 951 242 434.

HOMES & GARDENS

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