ISSUE NO. 1537
EWN FRONT EXTRA
Stay-athome ALICANTE Province’s population ceased to fall as fewer residents emigrated inside Spain or abroad. The province had 1,852,789 registered residents in July 2014, a rise of 2,399 on July 2013.
Posted abroad ONE HUNDRED men from the Special Operations Command (MOE) at Alicante City’s Rabasa base are to be posted to Iraq. They will assist in training Iraqi soldiers to combat jihadism.
Supermarket could open ALCAMPO could open a supermarket in part of Benidorm’s Centro Cultural. SPTCV, owned by the regional government, began building the centre in 2007, but work was halted four years ago.
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18 - 24 DECEMBER 2014
Superstar solution for white elephant A
MERICAN superstar director Francis Ford Coppola could be riding to the rescue of Alicante’s white elephant film studios. But the catch is the Valencian taxpayer faces a massive loss on the project potentially up to €194 million. The Ciudad de la Luz (City of Light) was closed down after the European General Court declared a €274 million investment in the project by the Valencian Regional Government to be illegal and anti-competitive. The regional government, which had ended up owning the studios, was told to reclaim its money. That left little option other than to put the studios up for sale in a bid to recoup the money. Now an American investment group, led by s Pres don Cor
director Francis Ford Coppola (pictured), and featuring several companies, has reportedly put in an offer to take on the complex and its €80 million debt. But it is unclear whether they would pay
any extra money, or just take on the debt. The regional government has admitted that it has little chance of getting back its original investment as all it could hope for was the market rate for the complex. The studios, which closed in February 2013, have seen 60 films made there, and were recently declared the best in the world by Blade Runner director Ridley Scott. He criticised the closure of the studios saying it made no sense. Coppola himself is aware of the possibilities of the Ciudad de la Luz, having used the facilities in 2008 for a few weeks during filming of Tetro.
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The right Christmas spirit BETTER watch out - and not just because Santa Claus is coming to town. The Guardia Civil traffic police from the General Traffic Directorate (DGT) will be out in force, too. Nor will the DGT’s surveillance of the Christmas spirit be restricted to main roads, as the traffic police will also be concentrating on secondary roads with radar traps and breathtests. These are the roads where 80 per cent of mortal accidents occur, the DGT pointed out.