Euro Weekly News - Mallorca 4 - 10 February 2016 Issue 1596

ISSUE NO. 1596

4 - 10 February 2016

MALLORCA

YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION

WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

Right to the bitter end The Balearic High Court ruled against an appeal made by the lawyers of Princess Cristina asking for the charges against her to be dropped.

The court said that she must stand trial in the high profile case involving her husband I単aki Urdangarin and 16 other defendants.

Her lawyers had asked for the charges to be dropped saying that public prosecutors had refused to press charges citing a lack of evidence.

She and her husband are on

dropped against the princess

Natursports

LAWYERS had asked for the charges to be

trial for alleged embezzlement of funds involving their real estate company Aizoon and the non-profit Noos Institute sports foundation run by her husband. The princess is accused of improper use of Aizoon funds. Her husband was indicted on charges of using the Noos Institute as a front for the embezzlement of millions of euros. The foundation allegedly received millions of euros of public money, most of which came from the Balearic Islands and Valencia regional government.

If found guilty, she could face up to eight years in prison, four years for each charge. Mr Urdangarin faces up to 19 and a half years imprisonment. Hearings are set to resume later in the month.

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LOCAL NEWS

Body found in sea THE body of a middle-aged man was found floating in the waters off Llucmajor by two fishermen who immediately contacted authorities. The body was in an advanced state

of decomposition. A post mortem examination will hopefully give investigators more insight as to the identity of the man and the cause of death.

Boutique hotels boosting economy LUXURY boutique hotels are contributing to the growth of the local market.

Palma is said to have more than any other European city with five more planned to be added in

2017. According to Javier Vich, president of the Palma Hoteliers’ Association, the city has become a popular hotel destination spot which in turn has stimulated the local economy.

Red beetle initiative THE Balearic government has approved a plan to stop the spread of the red beetle responsible for killing many palm trees on the islands. Regulations and an official register will be put into effect for growers, distributors and importers of the trees. Information as well as methods to combat the spread of the beetle will be published online.

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NEWS

Campaign launch to improve service IMPORTANT to improve relationships with bus users and bus drivers

By Sandra Galo PALMA’S EMT public buses are launching a campaign to improve bus driver - bus user relations.

The campaign called ‘People who accompany people’ will be promoted over the period of three months. According to the mayor of Palma, Jose Hila, the idea is to feature the human qualities of EMT workers. Drawing them closer to the community will help bus users acknowledge the service they give to the community. He explained that it is important to stress the value of the service bus drivers provide in order to improve relationships with bus users. Five bus drivers who recently retired have been rehired to help with the campaign.

Hila affirmed that the town hall is committed to public transport and that it intends to add more drivers to the 31 who are currently employed by EMT. The city also aims to increase the fre-

RETIRED DRIVERS: Have been rehired to help with the campaign. quency of services and to improve working conditions. Joan Ferrer, councillor of

Transport, said bus lines 3, 5, 11, 12, 14, and 16 will be involved in the effort.

NEWS

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Your papers, your views

FEATURED NEWS

Just what exactly has the EU ever done for us?

Readers Brian, Mike and Margaret discussed the story at length on the EWN website, these being a few key points.

To join the discussion go to: http://www.euroweeklynews. com/3.0.15/news/on-euroweekly-news/uknews/136726-what-has-theeu-ever-done-for-us Crown Copyright Credit: Georgina Coupe

BREXIT factions pay tribute to Monty Python

Camp Europe FOR all its faults, the ongoing EU project is an extremely worthwhile ambition. Quite simply we need it in order to retain and push forward the undoubted progress that has been made since the end of the Second World War. Brian

Team Brexit IF the EU lasts much longer than the British leaving, an agreement will be put in place to cover many things. Citizens data would continue to be exchanged, trade deals would still be made. The EU has more to lose if they put concrete blocks up to the UK. Mike

On your bike WE are entitled to live in Spain because we are European Union citizens. Without it all Brits are aliens and would not have the automatic right to live here, so 2.2 million of us would need to get on our bikes back to the UK. Margaret

DAVID CAMERON: In negotiations with the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk.

By Matthew Elliott SCRAMBLING to denounce Downing Street’s praise of Cameron’s prowess in negotiations with EC president Donald Tusk, the increasingly fragmented Brexit factions risk being caricatured as an unintentional homage to the Judea People’s Front in A Life of Brian.

So with the Romans already having left bronze-age Britain with irrigation and public baths, what exactly has the EU ever done for us?

Somewhat ironically, given the typical charges levied against the union, the greatest benefits have been offering some modicum of protection against the unelected invisible monolith that is international capitalism.

Basic benefits such as inexpensive wine, cheap flights, and a cap on mobile roaming charges, make an unseen daily difference to our modern lives.

Other developments include cleaner air, lead-free petrol, recycling, food labelling, hormone bans, price transparency, holiday entitlement, labour rights, equal pay, collaborative scientific research, diplomatic strength,

4 is the number of matters requiring change to allow David Cameron to recommend that Britain remains within the EU.

counter terrorism, police and military intelligence cooperation, human rights legislation, and straight bananas.

Of course Norway is not officially in the EU and undeniably enjoying many of the above benefits. It would be ridiculous to suggest that, by leaving the EU, Britain would by definition sell off all its assets to big finance, enable 70-hour working weeks, pollute the rivers and decapitate political antagonists at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.

The question revolves around polit-

ical philosophies. Many who are happy to remain in the EU radiate a certain mistrust of the direction Britain would take without the harness of collective regulations. They might look at the legacy of Thatcherism, the tight knit relationship between hedge fund management, government bureaucracy, media barons, the military industrial complex, and consider a superior arbitrator in the people’s best interests.

Others, of course, might see the EU as an encroaching Trojan horse which essentially embraces a neo-liberal agenda, yet cloaks motives in the inspiring rhetoric of freedom and progress. While others simply believe Britain should be entirely sovereign and have full control over border policies and financial policies, giving far too much credence to the power of their government with or without the EU. The question isn’t so much what has the EU done for us? The real question is what kind of Britain would emerge without it?

YOU can find out whether, and how you can vote in the Brexit referendum by reading through this paper.

Baroness Brady AGAINST exit EVEN the ‘beautiful game’ has been caught up in the network of Brexit propaganda with Baroness Brady entering the fray.

According to her, an exit from the EU would have a disastrous effect on football, as it would be far more difficult for EU players to obtain work permits. This of course assumes that in the event of an exit the government would not take into account the money that English football brings into the country.

Lasting legacy THERE are millions of people that will live in the UK after us. We can’t ignore the future life and prospects for all those people because we think we would not be able to spend a few more years here in the sun. Mike

Britain-in-hiding IF we leave and let the Union collapse then we’d better prepare to leave our comfort zone too, as our economy shrinks we expose ourselves to Putin’s warlike intentions and basically we withdraw, cowering, into our little rabbit hole. Brian

Friends with money

Quote of the Week Referendums never settle anything” former Conservative chancellor and supporter of EU membership Kenneth Clarke.

THE British are a major contributor to the Spanish economy. Do you really think there would not be some arrangement made to accommodate that massive economic market that the British bring to Spain? Mike

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INDEX News 1 - 18

Featured News 3

Finance 21 - 26

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Pedro Sanchez asked to form new government SPANISH CONGRESS announced on February 2 Photo by La Moncloa Gobierno de Espa単a

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Stocks 22

Leapy Lee 27

Letters 28

Daily TV 30

Vicki McLeod 33

Time Out 34 - 35 MARIANO RAJOY: Believes that the ideal solution would have been a three-way coalition.

Our View 36

By John Smith

Colin Bird 36

Health & Beauty 38 - 39

Social Scene 42 - 43

Property 44 - 45

Legally Speaking 46

Homes & Gardens 47

Classifieds 48 - 49

Pets 50

Boats 51

Motoring 52

Sport 54, 56

AT 8.10pm on February 2, Patxi Lopez, speaker of the Spanish Congress announced that King Felipe had asked Pedro Sanchez, leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) to form a new government.

Both Mr Sanchez and Mr Rajoy had met the king for the second time on February 2, and Mr Rajoy admitted that he had

not been asked to form the government, although he believed that the ideal solution would have been a three-way coalition between the PP, PSOE and Ciudadanos.

Mr Sanchez now has the delicate job of trying to find sufficient partners in order to allow him to form a stable government, although in a quickly removed tweet by the Zaragoza arm of Podemos, it had actually

forecast the possible cabinet which would consist of seven PSOE candidates, five from Podemos, one affiliated to Podemos, and one from the United Left.

There will now be a flurry of meetings and negotiations, but it does look as if there will be a relatively stable government in due course although, with Pablo Iglesias as deputy prime minister, sparks could well fly.

Commenting on this invitation, Mr Sanchez has indicated that it is likely to take at least one month to form all of the alliances needed, as he intends to ensure that they are strong and workable.

There is, of course, still the possibility that if he is unable to create a cohesive coalition there could be a new election, but that is now looking less likely.

NEWS

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Calvia works on the issue of abandoned animals TOWN HALL will continue to provide support

By Sandra Galo CALVIA’s town hall wants to cut down on the practice of sacrificing abandoned pets as much as possible. The town council met with the animal protection groups SOS Animal Foundation and Baldea which have both agreed to work together in collaboration with the town hall to improve animal welfare in the area.

SOS Animal Foundation, a non-profit organisation which works for the rights and protection of animals in Mallorca, has been working with the town hall of Calvia for a number of years. The foundation will collaborate with Calvia to find homes for unclaimed animals that have either been abandoned or given up by their owners. They will also offer veterinary services as well as monitor cat colonies in the area and provide advice on matters pertaining to animal protection.

Baldea, the federation of animal protection associations in Mallorca, will contribute to the initiative by controlling birth rates of local cat colonies and by

ABANDONED PETS: Town hall wants to improve animal welfare in the area. providing neutering for abandoned or captured animals in a mobile clinic or other clinics collaborating with the effort.

They will also advise the town hall on ethical matters involving the control of cat colonies.

Calvia’s town hall will continue to provide administrative support and municipal facilities and will also contribute €16,000 towards the costs of adoption and €12,000 for the sanitary needs and veterinary costs.

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NEWS

Bird-watching park reopens RESPONSIBILITY for the reserve has been handed over to the Natura Parc foundation

By Sandra Galo LA GOLA bird-watching reserve in Puerto Pollensa opened its doors once again to the public on February 1.

Responsibility for the reserve has been handed over to the Natura Parc foundation

(in Santa Eugenia) by the town hall. The foundation will be responsible for the reserve for the next four years.

The park, located just off the sea front, offers bird-watching enthusiasts the chance to see local and migratory species.

BIRD-WATCHING: Offers enthusiasts the chance to see local and migratory species.

Factory closure represents decline EMPLOYEES of the Bimbo bread factory in Palma held a mass protest on Tuesday (February 2) over the company’s decision to close its factory in Palma.

The company decision will affect 34 workers. However, it will continue to function as a logistics centre. Business

for Bimbo had suffered a sharp decline a few years ago and has slowed down in recent years. The Bimbo company’s decision comes a year after the closing of the Coca Cola bottling plant. Both companies argue that it is cheaper to import from the mainland than maintain facto-

ries on the island.

Because of the decline in the industrial sector, Iago Negueruela, councillor for Industry on the island, announced last week that there would be a plan to revive this sector which represents 7.44 per cent of the Balearic’s Gross Domestic Product

(GDP). This decline in the industrial sector has resulted in complaints from unions voicing concerns over the loss of businesses and jobs.

Leatherwear and shoes, which used to be leading industries on the island, have also been going down due to relocation.

NEWS

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Boosting tourism at London exhibition CULTURAL aspects of Palma appeal to holidaymakers

By Sandra Galo PALMA 365 Foundation has used the exhibition entitled Miro’s Studio, currently on display in London, as a bridge to promote Palma as an all-year-round cultural holiday destination to Londoners.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Mallorcan artist Joan Miro’s studio, the Barcelona Mayoral Galeria de Arte has created a replica of it in London.

Palma 365’s director Pedro Homar and Pal-

ma’s councillor for tourism Joana Maria Adrover took the opportunity offered by the exhibit to reach the London community by making a presentation to more than 30 UK media outlets. They spoke about the cultural aspects of Palma and how it appeals to holidaymakers 365 days of the year.

Adrover emphasised the priority of cultural development to the town hall and Homer explained the impact of Joan Miro’s legacy on Mallorca’s culture and its attraction for visitors to Palma.

Popular with filmmakers THE Balearic Film Commission received more than 150 requests to film on the islands in 2015.

Most of the requests were for television programmes including travel shows, beach reports and reality shows. Included in these were the Spanish version of Masterchef filmed in Ibiza, Michael Portillo’s BBC2 documentary Great Continental Railway featuring two train lines in

Mallorca and the AMC/BBC series The Night Manager which will be screened in the UK next month.

Some international filmmakers requesting to film in the Balearic Islands were Canadian director John Bernard (Menorca), Israeli director Shay Kanot (Ibiza), French film company Gaumont (Un petit Boulot), and MGM (Me Before You).

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NEWS

Fight against drought PLAN includes using recycled water for cleaning and irrigation

TRAMUNTANA RESERVOIRS: Capacity has fallen to 28 per cent.

By Sandra Galo CONCERNS over the lack of rain on the island have resulted in precautionary measures being taken by the town hall of Palma to ensure

a sufficient water supply for residents The Tramuntana reservoirs’ capacity is down to 28 per cent and the town hall does not want to deplete them. Measures include adopting a drought plan and buying €5.7 million worth of desalinated water. Other municipalities are also joining the initiative which includes raising awareness of the need to save water.

The desalinated water supply comes from Abaqua, the regional government’s water agency, and will be used as

the need arises depending on future rainfall and taking into account the increase of demand during the tourist season. The town hall pays Abaqua a €3.5 million retainer for use of the desalinated water supply. The annual budget for purchasing water is €3 million, and will have to be exceeded.

The amount of water drawn will be assessed on a month-to-month basis.

The plan includes using recycled water for cleaning and for crop irrigation. Neus Truyol, councillor for the

Natural gas to reach further STARTING from September, some 135,000 people will have access to natural gas. The ambitious pipeline project is being built by the Redexis Gas company and is going at full speed.

The pipeline can be seen along the Ma-15 road with work being done simultaneously at different points along the motorway. The operation involves clearing land to open a canal, welding the large tubes together and then burying them underground.

The starting point of the pipeline is at the Cas Tresorer Power Plant (between Playa Porticholet and Son Ferriol) and will stretch 58.5km through the towns of Algaida, Montuiri, San Joan, Vilafranca, Manacor and ending in Felanitx.

The pipeline project represents an investment of over €20 million and, according to Redexis Gas, will generate more than 200 jobs.

Environment, emphasised the responsibility of the public and private sectors along with the general populace to combat the problem. She also said that for now water rates will not increase.

Government and municipalities will meet to discuss the plan and how each will address the problem. To determine the action needed to be taken by each municipality, phases (pre-alarm, alarm, and emergency) will be established. An audit of water management will determine pre-alarm status in Palma.

Sheep slaughtered in killing spree TWO American Staffordshire Terriers went on a killing spree in Pollensa on Sunday (January 31), killing half a dozen sheep. Three more were later put down by the vet and a dozen more were left severely injured with a low possibility of survival.

The bloodbath took place at the Can Ramis property. The two dogs, owned by a resident of the area, were known to have committed other violent acts in the past including the massacring of chickens.

The sheep belonged to Maria Pons and her husband who filed a complaint with the Local Police.

Pons hopes that something will be done to prevent this incident from happening again. The owner of the dogs has asked that they not be put down as they are like children to him.

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NEWS

Palma de Mallorca renamed

By Sandra Galo PALMA DE MALLORCA will have a new name. The name change from Palma de Mallorca to Palma was approved by the full council meeting on January 27.

The decision will now be sent to the Balearic parliament where it can be given definitive approval under the law governing regional and provincial capital cities.

The motion to change the name was originally proposed by the political parties PSOE, Més and Som Palma

(Podemos) which make up the town hall administration.

The initiative was agreed upon at the start of the current period of office and was to reverse the previous administration’s decision to change it to Palma de Mallorca.

The vote has not been without controversy. The Partido Popular said that it regretted that the council remains entrenched in the past and is using tradition to justify the name change.

Councillor for Culture, Miquel Perello said that the initial proposal to change the

PALMA DE MALLORCA: Motion to change the name was approved by the full council. name was first considered in the month of October during

a committee meeting discussing place names.

The committee at that time planned on forwarding the proposal to the full council and they also requested a report into the name from the University of the Balearic Islands.

Josep Lluis Bauza, Representative for the citizens, said that the council doesn’t seem to understand the difficulties that the name change will cause outside of the island.

Perello responded by say-

ing that the name goes back to the origins of the city when the Romans founded it with the name ‘Palma’ and that this is not an attempt to change the name, but rather to recover it.

Perello thinks that the whole process will require a maximum of two months to take effect.

The motion is expected to be contested by the Partido Popular when it is taken to parliament.

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NEWS

Expats may vote in the EU Referendum THE British Embassy launched a major campaign

REGISTER TO VOTE: It must be done in good time.

By Matthew Elliot THE British Ambassador Simon Manley this week launched a major campaign to make expats aware that they may be eligible to have their say in the EU referendum, provided they register to vote in good time.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives of the expat community to launch the registration campaign, Mr Manley said: “Interest among expats in the EU referendum is high, but awareness that you may be able to v o t e i s l o w. We w a n t a s many expats as possible to be aware that they can have their say.”

Some 283,000 Britons are registered on the padron as residents in Spain, but just 11 , 0 0 0 a r e r e g i s t e r e d t o

vote in the UK. So the vast majority of expats will miss out on having their say in the referendum, unless they take a few simple steps.

To register as an overseas voter, you must have been registered in a UK constituency within the last 15 years. All you have to do is visit www.gov.uk/registerto-vote with your passport details and National Insurance number to hand, and the postcode of where you last lived in the UK. You can choose how you want to vote, by post, by proxy (voting by appointing someone you trust to vote on your behalf), or even in person if by chance you will be in your UK local authority area on polling day.

All it takes is five minu t e s t o r e g i s t e r. A n d b e -

cause overseas voters must allow enough time for their ballot paper to be posted from the UK, you should do it now rather than wait for the final deadline, at which point it may be too late to use a postal vote effectively.

Postal ballot papers will be despatched about a month ahead of the referendum, earlier than for the General Election last year, giving overseas voters more time to receive, complete, and return their ballot pack to the UK. Just as in the UK, you need to register annually.

So if you registered as an overseas voter for last y e a r ’s G e n e r a l E l e c t i o n , you need to renew your registration for the EU vote.

T h e E m b a s s y i s u rg i n g Brits to pass on the register to vote message via its ‘Brits living in Spain’ accounts on Facebook and Twitter, the expat media and a wide range of partners that work with the British Consulates in Spain.

You can find out more information about the Regist e r t o Vo t e c a m p a i g n a t w w w. g o v. u k / re g i s t e r- t o vote.

OPINION & COMMENT

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Advertising Feature

Euro acts as safe haven currency Commentary by Moneycorp EUR weekly currency update To describe the FX market as muddled over the last few days would be to credit it with a wholly unjustified semblance of orderliness. Investors were confident, scared, optimistic, frightened and upbeat, in that order. The euro’s status as a safe-haven currency meant that it was sold, bought, sold, bought and sold again as investors’ mood changed almost with their socks. On Friday morning, after the Bank of Japan announced it was cutting its deposit rate to a negative -0.1%, the supposedly risky commodity-oriented currencies were in favour and safe-havens were not.

For the euro against sterling the net result was a relatively modest half-cent loss after it had covered a two-cent range five times. It did rather better against the US dollar, adding a net cent and a half, principally as a result of the growing suspicion that the Federal Reserve is not as keen to raise interest rates as it pretends to be.

USD weekly currency update To describe the FX market as muddled over the last few days would be to credit it with a wholly unjustified semblance of orderliness. Investors were confident, scared, optimistic, frightened and upbeat, in that order. The dollar’s status as a vaguely safe-haven currency meant that it was sold, bought, sold, bought and sold again as investors’ mood changed almost with their socks.

The Federal Reserve’s decision to keep the target for its Funds rate unchanged at 0.25-0.5% was not a surprise and had no great effect on the dollar.

However, the more investors thought about it, the more they began to suspect that the prospect of four more increases this year was out of the window. As that prop crumbled, so did support for the dollar. It lost a net cent and a half to sterling on the week and three quarters of a cent to the euro.

Clarisse Musselwhite is Moneycorp’s Account Manager for Mallorca

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

902887243 mallorca@moneycorp.com CAD weekly currency update The Loonie’s status as a commodity-oriented ‘risky’ currency meant that it was bought, sold, bought, sold and bought again as investors’ mood changed almost with their socks. Last Friday’s Canadian economic data told conflicting stories. The 1.7% monthly increase for retail sales in November was far stronger than analysts had predicted, while the 1.6% inflation rate for 2015 was lower than expected.

The Loonie outperformed its antipodean cousins, thanks mainly to a 10% rebound in the price of oil. It strengthened by a net cent and a quarter against sterling and added one and a quarter US cents.

AUD weekly currency update The Australian dollar’s status as a commodityoriented ‘risky’ currency meant it was bought, sold, bought, sold and bought again as investors’ mood changed almost with their socks. It was helped overall by a growing suspicion that the US Federal Reserve’s appetite for further rate increases this year is fading and by a surprise rate cut - to a negative -0.1% - in the Bank of Japan’s deposit rate.

There were no surprises among the Australian economic data. Inflation as measured by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s ‘trimmed mean’ was on target at 2.1%. After covering a two-cent range four times the Aussie ended up with a net gain of one US cent and it was up by half a cent against sterling.

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NEWS

Scary flight A SWISS AIR plane on a training flight frightened observers in Palma on Monday (February 1).

The Boeing 777-300 was seen flying as low as 450 metres above the city.

The Palma City Council responded to concerns voiced by the alarmed public by filing an official complaint with the director of Son San Joan airport, Antonio Alvarez Fernandez. A spokesperson for the Spanish airport authority Aena said these types of tests are quite common.

HOTELIERS: Concerned about how this may affect bookings and revenue.

Tourist tax to be absorbed

ALL indications pointing to a record season

By Sandra Galo HOTELIERS are concerned about the new tourist tax and how it will affect the tourist industry, and especially the number of tourists coming to the island.

The new tax has had little publicity in the two largest markets for hotels on the islands, the United Kingdom and Germany. Hoteliers are concerned about how this may affect bookings and revenue.

To soften the blow, the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation has decided to absorb the cost of the tax which has not been included in the cost of this year’s package holidays.

For this 2016 season, hotels have been able to increase prices from 5 to 20 per cent. This will allow larger chains to absorb the tourist tax. Small independent hoteliers, however, may not be able to cover the tax and could face unpleasant consequences.

Despite the tourist tax, all indications are pointing to a record season this year for the Balearic Islands with tour operators encouraging clients to book early to avoid disappointment. With insecurity in the Middle East and North Africa on the rise, large tour companies have cancelled summer programmes in those regions and are redirecting holidaymakers to the Canary and Balearic Islands.

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Number of people unemployed falls TEN PER CENT drop in comparison to January 2015

By Sandra Galo UNEMPLOYMENT numbers in the Balearic Islands for the month of January showed a 10 per cent drop compared to figures from January 2015.

The number of those registered as unemployed was 74, 973, representing a decrease of 8,093 from last year.

National ministry data for employment and social security, revealed that the number of those unemployed in January was more than 1 per cent lower than in the previous month of December.

The greatest number of unemployed people was in the service sector (59, 846).

The construction sector represented 7,485 of the

CONSTRUCTION: Represented 7,485 of the total. number, followed by industry (3,175) and agriculture (1,377).

During the month of January, more than 24,000 contracts were registered, a 4 per cent increase from last year, and a 5 per cent increase from January 2014.

The fall in unemployment

numbers in the Balearic Islands, however, was less than those in the Canary Islands.

Unemployment rates in most other parts of Spain increased.

Andalucia was hardest hit with more than 9,000 registering as unemployed.

NEWS

Car accident claims victim A TRAFFIC accident claimed the life of a 21year-old Argentine man in the early hours of Saturday January 30. The incident took place in P a l m a ’s S o n S a r d i n a area.

The only other passenger in the car, a 20-yearold male, was taken to hospital with mild injuries.

This is the fourth victim in Mallorca to die in a traffic-related accident this year.

The accident occurred on the Cami del Destre a few minutes after 7am.

The car the man was driving was a Volkswagen GTI with the steering wheel on the right hand side.

It was heading in the direction of Soller when it crashed trapping the driver inside.

P o l i c e c o r d o n e d o ff the accident site and firefighters were called in to cut the man free from the vehicle.

Paramedics also arrived on the scene but they were unable to save him.

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NEWS

A colourful phenomenon TWICE a year the sun casts a magical image on the wall

PALMA CATHEDRAL: Light shines through the large rose window.

By Sandra Galo ON two days of the year, light shines through the large rose window of the cathedral of Palma to project a magnificent display of colours on the opposite wall.

This phenomenon, which took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning (February 2), was witnessed by

hundreds of people who had gathered to see the greatly anticipated event.

Twice a year, the sun is projected through the stained glass of the larger eastern window in such a way as to cast a magical image of colour on the opposite wall, just under the smaller rose window.

Appropriately known as ‘8,’ the double

rosette that forms appears to be in the shape of the number eight and takes form around 8 o’clock in the morning.

The biannual event occurs on the second day of the second month - the Christian festival of lights known as Candlemas - and on the eleventh day of the eleventh month (the feast day of Saint Martin).

Clarification IN a short piece which appeared on page 14 in issue 1595 about two travel agents who had been taken to court for alleged misappropriation of funds, the title over the piece was ‘Just the ticket.’

We wish to make it clear that the title, which was meant as a humorous aside, does not refer to any travel agency in Mallorca or elsewhere which uses the word ticket in its name.

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Shell to spend billions on expansion ABOUT to take over oil and gas exploration company BG group

83.08

By John Smith DESPITE the doom and gloom being spread through the stock markets and the economies of oil producing nations due to the rapid fall in the wholesale price of oil, Royal

Dutch Shell is about to invest $49 billion (€45 billion) to take over oil and gas exploration company BG Group.

This expenditure, which is greater than the annual GDP of 107 countries and equal to that of Slove-

Billions of euros are lost every year to tax avoidance. This is unacceptable and we are acting to tackle it.” The EU tax commissioner Pierre Moscovici on legal tax avoidance.

Alexandru Chiriac Shutterstock

Quote of the Week

is the percentage of shareholders who voted in favour of the board proposal to take over the BG Group.

SMOKERS: Number has reduced due to regulations.

BUSINESS EXTRA

IMF forecast upgrades SPAIN is set to outpace the world’s leading advanced economies in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the agency upgraded its outlook for Spanish GDP, predicting growth of 2.7 per cent in 2016 and 2.3 per cent in 2017. This is still less than the recently downgraded forecast for the overall world economy.

Cigarette factory to close Trade profit THE very last cigarette factory in Spain, based in La Rioja and operated by Altadis, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco which manufactured the Fortuna brand, is to close by the end of June, with its 471 workers either retiring or being made redundant.

As the number of smokers

in Spain reduces due to government regulations on smoking in public places, and with an unprecedented number of fraudulent cigarettes being made in unlicensed factories in Spain and other countries, it became impractical to continue with their manufacture.

REPSOL, the Spanish oil company, announced on January 27 that its accounts for 2015 showed an increase in trading profit of 8 per cent over the previous year at €1.85 billion. To counter this good news, it has had to write down the value of its reserves by €2.9 billion due to plummeting prices.

Abengoa submits a new plan and may survive CRIPPLED engineering giant Abengoa has produced and submitted to its administrators a five-year plan projecting a reduction of the company debt by €3 billion, through a combination of selling assets and closing

21

€8.7 billion is said to be the amount that Chinese entrepreneur Wang Jianlin, owner of the Edificio España in Madrid lost due to the January stock market slump in China.

STAT OF WEEK

business & legal

EWN

non-viable areas of its business.

By concentrating on core engineering and construction business it hopes to renegotiate its €9 billion debt, to allow it to return to profit and make the company viable again.

nia, shows both the wealth of this company as well as its commitment to the production and sale of fossil fuels and natural gas.

Unlike rival BP, Shell has not had to expend large amounts of money to clean up environmental spills.

IBEX 35

+0.87%

C LOSING P RICES F EBRUARY 1

El Mundo to reduce staff SPAIN’S second largest daily newspaper El Mundo, which sells just over 180,000 copies each day, is looking to reduce its staffing levels by about 20 per cent. Owned by an Italian group, it has been instructed to reduce wages by €15 million over a three-year period.

It appears the move to online reporting has affected circulation, which has shown a reduction of advertising income.

22

E W N 4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

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LONDON - FTSE 100

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY WITH US See our advert on opposite page

C LOSING P RICES F EBRUARY 1

PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) COMPANY Anglo American 282.95 5.50 Associated British Foods 3,142.00 -8.00 Admiral Group 1,774.00 0.00 Aberdeen Asset Management 245.15 -1.35 Ashtead Group 900.00 1.00 Antofagasta 382.35 2.15 ARM Holdings 1,005.50 12.50 Aviva 479.65 -1.15 AstraZeneca 4,436.50 -51.00 BAE Systems 514.00 -2.00 Babcock International Group 915.25 0.25 Barclays 188.45 2.45 British American Tobacco 3,864.00 -33.00 Barratt Developments 603.50 4.00 BG Group 1,053.50 -1.00 Berkeley Group Holdings 3,551.50 16.50 British Land Co 741.75 1.75 BHP Billiton 681.45 5.05 Bunzl 1,876.50 8.50 BP 373.28 -2.82 Burberry Group 1,195.50 0.50 BT Group 497.18 12.33 Coca-Cola HBC 1,451.50 22.50 Carnival 3,495.00 15.00 Centrica 205.85 1.05 Compass Group 1,199.50 -3.50 Capita Group (The) 1,176.50 1.50 CRH 1,857.00 3.00 Dixons Carphone 475.75 2.05 DCC 5,395.00 -10.00 Diageo 1,892.00 7.50 Direct Line Insurance Group 375.90 1.30 Experian 1,188.50 -1.50 easyJet 1,572.00 24.00 Fresnillo 729.00 7.00 GKN 280.10 1.30 Glencore 90.43 0.95 GlaxoSmithKline 1,435.75 -3.25 Hikma Pharmaceuticals 2,024.00 6.00 Hargreaves Lansdown 1,360.50 -2.50 Hammerson 585.75 2.25 HSBC Holdings 489.95 -2.35 International Consolidated Air 545.25 5.75 InterContinental Hotels Group 2,330.00 33.00 3i Group 441.85 -0.15 Imperial Tobacco Group 3,742.00 -44.00 Intu Properties 298.45 -0.55 Inmarsat 1,104.50 4.50 Intertek Group 2,820.00 -10.00 ITV 266.70 -0.10

% CHG. 1.98 -0.25 0.00 -0.55 0.11 0.57 1.26 -0.24 -1.14 -0.39 0.03 1.32 -0.85 0.67 -0.09 0.47 0.24 0.75 0.46 -0.75 0.04 2.54 1.57 0.43 0.51 -0.29 0.13 0.16 0.43 -0.19 0.40 0.35 -0.13 1.55 0.97 0.47 1.06 -0.23 0.30 -0.18 0.39 -0.48 1.07 1.44 -0.03 -1.16 -0.18 0.41 -0.35 -0.04

NET VOL 3,820.42 24,007.52 4,845.32 3,137.47 4,481.02 3,725.55 13,442.60 18,721.70 54,441.47 15,946.56 4,579.37 29,663.75 70,145.53 5,766.16 35,562.36 4,754.99 7,366.78 14,147.71 5,997.88 66,684.81 5,204.55 38,665.60 5,057.78 7,221.68 9,939.12 19,335.78 7,544.12 14,664.31 5,347.96 4,629.25 45,952.34 5,522.25 11,337.25 6,063.38 5,198.78 4,556.05 13,028.39 67,922.53 3,865.23 6,178.00 4,456.85 92,908.27 10,640.23 5,333.89 4,209.79 34,728.04 3,805.29 4,698.06 4,498.77 10,415.75

COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) Johnson Matthey 2,469.00 4.00 Kingfisher 329.50 3.40 Land Securities Group 1,095.50 0.50 Legal & General Group 242.40 -1.10 Lloyds Banking Group ORD 65.69 0.23 London Stock Exchange Gr 2,460.00 -14.00 Merlin Entertainments 413.85 0.15 Marks & Spencer Group 425.60 1.50 Mondi 1,150.50 14.50 National Grid 984.60 -1.20 Next 6,942.50 17.50 Old Mutual 169.20 -0.50 Provident Financial 2,924.00 -14.00 Prudential 1,350.00 -17.50 Persimmon 2,032.00 -4.00 Pearson 797.50 8.50 Reckitt Benckiser Group 6,211.50 -22.50 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 254.65 1.95 Royal Dutch Shell 1,517.00 -1.00 Royal Dutch Shell 1,515.00 -6.00 RELX 1,224.50 -5.50 Rio Tinto 1,709.50 -4.50 Royal Mail 460.80 1.60 Rolls-Royce Group 553.50 -1.50 Randgold Resources 5,005.00 38.00 RSA Insurance Group 417.65 1.25 SABMiller 4,178.25 -4.25 Sainsbury (J) 246.60 1.50 Schroders 2,727.00 3.00 Sage Group (The) 622.50 1.50 Shire 3,895.00 -15.00 Sky 1,099.50 17.50 Standard Life 363.90 0.40 Smiths Group 941.50 -2.00 Smith & Nephew 1,156.00 -6.00 Sports Direct International 416.35 0.75 SSE 1,450.50 0.50 Standard Chartered 472.43 1.43 St James's Place 948.00 -5.00 Severn Trent 2,219.00 30.00 Travis Perkins 1,822.00 -3.00 Tesco 173.25 -0.15 TUI AG 1,194.50 8.50 Taylor Wimpey 192.70 0.30 Unilever 3,067.25 -17.75 United Utilities Group 969.50 13.00 Vodafone Group 225.88 1.98 Wolseley 3,452.50 -10.50 Worldpay Group Ord 3p Wi 310.85 -2.15 WPP Group 1,512.50 -4.50 Whitbread 4,019.00 19.00

% CHG. 0.16 1.04 0.05 -0.45 0.35 -0.57 0.04 0.35 1.28 -0.12 0.25 -0.29 -0.48 -1.28 -0.20 1.08 -0.36 0.77 -0.07 -0.39 -0.45 -0.26 0.35 -0.27 0.77 0.30 -0.10 0.61 0.11 0.24 -0.38 1.62 0.11 -0.21 -0.52 0.18 0.03 0.30 -0.52 1.37 -0.16 -0.09 0.72 0.16 -0.58 1.36 0.88 -0.30 -0.69 -0.30 0.48

NET VOL 4,900.61 7,448.47 8,446.96 13,938.35 45,572.13 8,345.15 4,073.23 6,902.93 5,440.63 35,807.17 10,391.58 7,933.57 4,130.87 33,854.74 6,006.69 6,355.18 43,576.80 15,964.64 57,834.59 36,276.70 13,293.81 23,777.91 4,480.00 9,887.04 4,453.93 4,107.70 67,508.15 4,547.79 5,974.90 6,520.95 22,506.43 17,869.18 6,963.04 3,614.19 10,111.10 2,418.10 14,071.75 11,673.21 4,771.33 5,049.75 4,425.48 13,571.69 6,904.32 6,022.16 37,868.47 6,351.79 56,731.88 8,692.40 6,083.00 19,010.74 7,115.09

Kleinwort Benson Elite PCC Ltd

0.75955

1.31684 Units per €

US dollar..................................................................1.08504 Japan yen .................................................................131,534 Switzerland franc ..................................................1.10774 Denmark kroner...................................................7.46238 Norway kroner ......................................................9.41249

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

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES F EBRUARY 1

COMPANY MMM 3M AXP American Express AAPL Apple BA Boeing CAT Caterpillar CVX Chevron CSCO Cisco KO Coca-Cola DIS Disney DD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co XOM Exxon Mobil GE General Electric GS Goldman Sachs HD Home Depot IBM IBM INTC Intel JNJ Johnson & Johnson JPM JPMorgan Chase MCD McDonald's MRK Merck MSFT Microsoft NKE Nike PFE Pfizer PG Procter & Gamble TRV Travelers Companies Inc UTX United Technologies UNH UnitedHealth VZ Verizon V Visa WMT Wal-Mart

PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME 151.00 +3.68 +2.50% 4.0M 53.50 +0.62 +1.17% 14.0M 97.34 +3.25 +3.45% 64.4M 120.13 +2.12 +1.80% 9.2M 62.24 +1.16 +1.90% 8.2M 86.47 +0.55 +0.64% 20.2M 23.79 +0.68 +2.96% 39.7M 42.92 +0.35 +0.82% 20.5M 95.82 +2.29 +2.45% 8.2M 52.76 +0.75 +1.44% 6.3M 77.85 +0.86 +1.12% 25.2M 29.10 +0.89 +3.15% 51.6M 161.56 +4.50 +2.87% 4.9M 125.76 +3.48 +2.85% 7.6M 124.79 +2.57 +2.10% 8.2M 31.02 +1.05 +3.50% 38.3M 104.44 +2.17 +2.12% 15.6M 59.50 +2.22 +3.88% 27.0M 123.78 +1.40 +1.14% 10.5M 50.67 +1.47 +2.99% 16.9M 55.09 +3.04 +5.83% 83.6M 62.01 +0.81 +1.32% 10.5M 30.49 +0.29 +0.96% 56.7M 81.69 +1.87 +2.34% 19.9M 107.04 +2.57 +2.46% 2.2M 87.69 +1.24 +1.43% 7.9M 115.16 +3.78 +3.39% 5.3M 49.97 +0.96 +1.96% 29.1M 74.49 +5.16 +7.44% 40.4M 66.36 +2.14 +3.33% 16.4M

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES F EBRUARY 1

COMPANY

PRICE

CHANGE NET / %

Most Advanced Avenue Financial Holdings, Inc. Chiasma, Inc. Coherent, Inc. Mimecast Limited Vanguard Natural Resources LLC Hansen Medical, Inc. Century Aluminum Company Vanguard Natural Resources LLC Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. First Cash Financial Services, Inc. Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

$ 19.24 $ 10.30 $ 77.27 $ 7.5901 $ 5.98 $ 2.15 $ 4.72 $ 5.89 $ 2.95 $ 35.50 $ 6.68

5.53 ▲ 40.34% 2.11 ▲ 25.76% 14.73 ▲ 23.55% 1.3901 ▲ 22.42% 1.04 ▲ 21.05% 0.34 ▲ 18.78% 0.74 ▲ 18.59% 0.91 ▲ 18.27% 0.45 ▲ 18% 5.28 ▲ 17.47% 0.90 ▲ 15.57%

$ 13.11 $ 9.28 $ 43.55 $ 5.57 $ 29.91 $ 8.45 $ 5.33 $ 56.15 $ 587 $ 64.545 $ 8.45

3.16 ▼ 19.42% 1.48 ▼ 13.75% 6.88 ▼ 13.64% 0.80 ▼ 12.56% 3.16 ▼ 9.56% 0.75 ▼ 8.15% 0.47 ▼ 8.10% 4.92 ▼ 8.06% 48.35 ▼ 7.61% 5.245 ▼ 7.52% 0.67 ▼ 7.35%

Most Declined Quality Systems, Inc. Unwired Planet, Inc. ABAXIS, Inc. Tuesday Morning Corp.

Independent Bank Group, Inc region Accuray Incorporated Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. Amazon.com, Inc. Electronic Arts Inc. Vanguard Natural Resources LLC

24

E W N 4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

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FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

Advertising feature

English court or Spanish court?

ROBINSONMURPHY: Help their clients to use the English courts. there is no express agreement between the parties, and no children, the home will be retained by the

original owner. This may be the most valuable asset.

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English court may order it to be sold, to allow both parties to properly adjust and provide adequate housing for their needs.

English courts take a sensible and pragmatic approach with child arrangements and adopt a ‘no order principle’, ie they trust the parents to make appropriate arrangements for the welfare of the child or children.

In Spain a custody order is inevitably always made, even if the parties have reached an agreement.

Decisions have to be made as to where the children will live and how often the absent parent has contact, and also decisions on issues such as your children’s health and education.

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The problems continue for Bankia Photo Credit Louise Ashton Shutterstock

ROBINSONMURPHY have a dedicated team of Family Lawyers assisting their expat clients living in Spain, with regards to family and divorce matters.

Even if you have lived in Spain for many years it is still possible to use the English courts if you retain your domicile in England.

Domicile is in essence the country to which you consider yourself most connected, and does not have to be the country of birth (though this is often the case with expats living abroad), or where you currently live.

RobinsonMurphy help their clients use the English courts as the Spanish system can be slow, frustrating, costly and not in their language, making it difficult to understand the advice given to enable them to make informed decisions.

The advantage of English courts is that they can adjust the terms of legal ownership of a property, irrespective of who bought it. Whereas the Spanish court’s approach is if

BANKIA: Disgruntled shareholders have demanded their money back because of ‘serious inaccuracies’ in the bank’s prospectus.

By John Smith THE problems with troubled Bankia just continue, with the latest blow to its reputation being a Supreme Court ruling, which rejected its appeal against two cases which had been heard in Valencia and Oviedo.

Disgruntled shareholders demanded their money back because of ‘serious inaccuracies’ in the bank’s share prospectus.

This decision cannot have come as too great a shock to the bank, as it had already set €1.84 billion aside in its accounts to cover possible claims from individual shareholders, but it will have come as a blow due to the fact that these funds are now likely to be needed to meet repayment claims.

What may worry the bank even more is the fact that the doors are now open for corpo-

rate investors to look to claim similar refunds for their shareholders, which would almost double the amount that the bank, which has already received €20 billion of taxpayer and EU support, will have to allocate in reserves.

It’s a vicious circle, as the more the bank has to pay out in compensation for selling shares which were ‘hyped up’, the lower its share price will become on the four markets in

which they trade.

Previous directors of the bank are said to have treated it as their own personal ‘piggy bank’, using credit cards and taking money as if they were playing monopoly.

Former government minister and chairman of the bank Rodrigo Rato had his passport confiscated whilst awaiting trial, in respect of his activities when with the bank, although he denies any wrongdoing.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

EWN

25

An eventful month for currency trading Ask the expert Peter Loveday Contact me at euroweekly@currenciesdirect.com

AFTER the US increased interest rates, monetary policy between the US and the Eurozone continues to widen and drift apart. On the one hand we have the European Central Bank continuing with their quantitative easing programme, and on the other the Bank of England issued a statement reaffirming that interest rates are unlikely to rise in the near future.

Meanwhile, economic data released from the UK revealed a slowdown in industrial and manufacturing production for the month of December and January. The pound slid rapidly close to 5 per cent against the euro, exacerbated by a postponement of an interest rate hike as well as fears mounting over the Brexit outcome in the referendum (most likely to be held in June).

As inflation has struggled to get anywhere close to the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target, due to falling oil and commodity prices putting Central Banks in a conundrum on monetary policy planning, it is looking increasingly likely

THE POUND: Slid rapidly close to 5 per cent against the euro in January. that the Monetary Policy Committee will refrain from raising interest rates in the first half of 2016.

Meanwhile, with 2016 starting with global growth concerns amidst a stock market rout across world markets, the UK economy will continue to lean on consumer spending to look forward to better data prints.

From the Eurozone, we have had a bit of a subdued month as far as economic data prints go.

However, the main event for the month was the much anticipated Central Bank statement on monetary policy. In his speech Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, launched a staunch defence of the central bank’s

accommodative monetary easing policy to counter criticism of the policy.

In fact, he went a step further and said that the central bank is prepared to cut rates, and also ‘review and reconsider’ further quantitative easing as a premature increase in interest rates could bring about yet another recession.

In a fairly interesting month to kick off 2016, we have witnessed a global stock market correction, falling commodity prices as well as a slide in the pound. However, after such a rapid and drastic fall it looks like sterling has bottomed out and could nip up slightly from current levels, though unlikely to achieve last year’s soaring heights for the first half of the year. From Europe, the silver lining continues to be the Central Bank’s accommodative monetary policy, as it meanders towards growth and seems to be working.

As we move forward in the year, currency movements are likely to be driven by Central Banks and their monetary policy stances, with the major risk event being the referendum on Britain leaving the European Union, which will determine the shift/stability in market sentiment and whatever the outcome is.

Either way, it is likely to be a cautious, yet eventful first half of 2016!

Visit us at our Spanish offices in Costa del Sol, Costa Almeria, North Costa Blanca and South Costa Blanca.

Telephone: UK +44 (0) 207 847 9400 SPAIN +34 950 478 914 Email: euroweekly@currenciesdirect.com • www.currenciesdirect.com

OPINION & COMMENT

4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

EWN

27

I’ve had this up to the eyeballs Giovanni Vale / Shutterstock.com

DON’T you just long for the days when we were all enjoying peace and happiness?

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT

TO tell you the truth, I’ve just about had this entire refugee, migrant, ‘Arab Spring’ business up to the eyeballs.

Don’t you just long for those wonderful days when we were all enjoying the peace and happiness so many of our forefathers gave life and limb for? Days when Jihad, Burkas and affairs of the Middle East were far far away, in lands that had no more impact on our daily existence than a few snowflakes on a summer’s day.

Wouldn’t it be paradise, just to awaken and realise it was simply all a nightmare? Well I’m afraid those days of peace and happiness are well and truly over. The influx of migrants has now reached ridiculous proportions, and still the do gooders try to make those who seek to discourage this onslaught feel bad and unfeeling.

MIGRANTS: The influx has reached ridiculous proportions.

To be honest I can’t really blame some of them. Not when the media (especially the BBC) continually put the tales of tragedy and human trauma to the forefront of their reports.

Why don’t they give more air time to the rioting in Germany, with large mobs of men of ‘Asian appearance’ attacking police with any missile they can lay their hands on? (Wait till

someone starts handing out the Kalashnikovs!)

The wrecked migrant trains, covered in graffiti with their smashed windows, destroyed furnishings and toilets literally overflowing with excreta. The young, able-bodied men of ‘Asian appearance,’ disdainfully throwing donated food back into the bewildered faces of kindly souls, because it was considered ‘unclean’.

The men of ‘Arab and North African appearance,’ marauding through supermarkets hurtling insults and lifting the skirts of female shoppers. In heaven’s name, how do the authorities think it’s all going to end?

I’m not trying to stir up hatred, I’m trying to bring some common sense into the equation.

Sooner or later, the most volatile of the local populace will take matters into their own hands, more out of frustration than hatred.

We can then prepare ourselves for the ‘Blood Rivers’ Enoch Powell tried so hard to warn us against. Are we listening now?!

The innocent children are of course an exception. I believe we should endeavour to save as many of them as we possibly can.

Keep the faith Love Leapy

28

E W N 4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

LETTERS

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OPINION & COMMENT

YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION

Letters for Your Say should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments straight on our website: www.euroweeklynews.com

A common problem on the coast’s naturist beaches DEAR Editor Having just finished reading the above article in the January 21 Costa del Sol edition (issue 1594) of the Euro Weekly News, I feel obliged to point out that this problem is not just limited to Artola beach in Marbella.

I live in Estepona and there is the same problem at the naturist beach situated between the Elba five star hotel and the relatively new Fuerte Hotel, which is stopping many of the genuine naturists from enjoying the beach unmolested.

The problem is not just confined to the beach, where between t h e t w o h o t e l s t h e r e i s a l a rg e tract of overgrown land in which these men ply their trade.

I have reported this problem to the police in the past, which also includes prostitutes at the main roundabouts, just near to the Elba hotel.

The situation becomes worse in the summer months, when many families with their children are visually subject to the sexual exploits of these men in broad daylight on the beach, which is totally unacceptable.

Two years ago there was a large fire which burnt down the undergrowth on the adjoining land which left the site bare.

So therefore with nowhere to hide, the situation stopped. However, as the land has now regrown giving cover, these men have returned in their droves.

There have even been reports of men masturbating in the car parks adjacent to the main N340 in full view of the passing vehicles.

If the Costa del Sol is going to be touted as a warm and friendly tourist destination to spend holidays with children, then this situation all along the coast needs to be seriously addressed and quickly.

I also believe Cabopino naturist beach has similar issues.

I am sure that the Tourist office would love to advertise the Costa del Sol as a pervert’s paradise!

Ron Bennett, Estepona

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

Brexit referendum

As your article states, our theme this year is “Don’t Stand B y. ” H i s t o r y s h o w s t h a t i f w e simply stand by, genocide freely takes place.

Have we learned?

On behalf of the community we thank you for the inclusion of the article All good wishes Gerry Crest, via email

A friend request HI Leapy, I send communications to you from time to time and wonder if you are on Facebook - I am a big fan and always look forward to your page in the Euro Weekly News. I send many of your articles to David Cameron.

Peter A Smith, via email.

Leapy Lee replies: Yes I am Peter.

Apply for friends and I’ll accept you in.

Thanks for your interest.

WHY do you think we’re having this unnecessary referendum? I’ll tell you. It is solely because the most weak-willed PM in the history of the UK was so afraid of his own Eurosceptic back benchers, that he called a referendum purely so he could stay in power and save his own political skin!

How despicable is that? It’s not as if he has some grandiose plan for the UK - or even for Europe itself. His feeble ideas for trying to keep us in are simply laughable. I don’t think he even cares about the trouble and worry and strife he is stirring up. If he did, he wouldn't have created it by calling the referendum in the first place!

Brian, via the website

Earthquake aftershocks MY wife and I were on holiday in Torre del Mar when this quake occurred and it was very strong with furniture banging against walls. The shaking lasted for approx 35 seconds.

Aftershocks we felt that day numbered five in total. At a time like that you realise you are not in control of your life.

H o w e v e r, h a v i n g l o o k e d a t a

quake internet site they seem to happen quite a lot. We lived in the hills above Torre for 11 years and never felt any quake.

John, via the website

Thank you I WANTED to thank you for the coverage that you gave our silver anniversary. Twenty-three new members have joined our club as a result!

Linda, Vice-President of the Field Club Fuengirola

Holocaust Memorial Day DEAR Michel and Steven, Thank you for the excellent article on page 31 of the January 28 issue (1595).

Locally the Marbella and Estepona Jewish Community held a Commemoration Service and we listened to readings, which told of unimaginable horrific suffering.

Fugitives in Europe JUST to say about Europe’s most wanted site for fugitives, great idea!

Why didn’t they think about it before? Now hopefully the crooks and bandits will not have any place to hide.

The world wide web is finally being put to its proper use, whoopee!

Andy, via the website

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

Letters may also be edited.

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

www.euroweeklynews.com

The 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.

OPINION & COMMENT

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4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

EWN

29

Red wristbands and doors for refugees in the UK, roadblocks in the EU BOTH the refugee crisis and Daesh terrorism have brought the Schengen system to the brink Nora Johnson

Breaking Views Nora is the author of popular psychological suspense and crime thrillers and a freelance journalist.

To comment on any of the issues raised in her column, go to www.euroweeklynews.com/3.0.15/nora-johnson

WITH some refugees placed in homes ‘branded’ with red doors that have made them targets for racists in Middlesbrough and others forced, until recently, to wear red wristbands in Wales, we might be forgiven for overlooking what’s happening in Europe.

Namely, the threat to seal Greece off from the rest of the EU, and suspend it from the Schengen passport-free area within three months for “seriously neglecting” its borders during the migrant crisis last year, according to the European Commission.

This, together with EU states extending and prolonging national border controls/roadblocks for up to two years, is a serious blow to the Schen-

GREECE: Infuriated at being ‘scapegoated’ by the rest of the EU.

gen system, which is regarded as a cornerstone of the EU. But both the refugee crisis and Daesh terrorism have brought the system to the brink and it’s anyone’s guess where it’ll all end. One thing’s for sure, though. On the cutting edge of the migration influx, 850,000 migrants crossed Greece last year, Greece is infuriated at being ‘scapegoated’ by the rest of the EU, and fears the potential effects of being expelled from Schengen.

Now, this unprecedented move isn’t the failure of one person, Mrs Merkel, but an entire system of eurocrats who have never been faced with problems on this scale.

The Greek financial crisis was dealt with badly, the situation in Ukraine was, in effect, never dealt with at all, and Russia simply seems to be able to act with impunity.

It was likely to happen sooner or latPhoto Credit: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com er and fairly ironic that the open-arms

gesture ‘all are welcome’ is now coming full circle by closing borders, erecting barbed-wire fences, and getting back at Greece with a vengeance.

The EU’s problem is each government is elected ‘nationally’, each party offers what’s in the best interests of its own citizens, or it won’t get any votes.

Once elected, these governments then invariably start telling their citizens what’s best for them. However, when the going gets tough, as now, they’ll do whatever’s necessary to remain in power, and if that means tearing up the EU rule book, so be it!

One thing I AM very clear about in all this is nobody’s got a clue what to do next...

Nora Johnson’s thrillers ‘Landscape of Lies’, ‘Retribution’, ‘Soul Stealer’, ‘The De Clerambault Code’ (www.nora-johnson.com) available from Amazon in paperback/eBook (€0.89;£0.79) and iBookstore. All profits to Cudeca charity.

30

E W N 4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

TV LISTING

THURSDAY 04 FEBRUARY

FRIDAY 05 FEBRUARY

SATURDAY 06 FEBRUARY

SUNDAY 07 FEBRUARY

MONDAY 08 FEBRUARY

TUESDAY 09 FEBRUARY

WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 12:45am

BBC News at Six BBC London News The One Show EastEnders Dickensian Room 101 Death in Paradise BBC News at Ten BBC London News Question Time This Week

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:25pm 11:35pm 12:25am

BBC News at Six BBC London News The One Show A Question of Sport EastEnders Dickensian Shetland BBC News at Ten BBC London News The Graham Norton Show Would I Lie to You?

7:00pm 7:30pm

7:55pm 8:05pm 8:10pm 8:15pm 9:30pm 10:20pm 11:10pm 11:25pm 11:30pm 12:55am 1:25am

BBC News Regional News Weather The Voice UK The National Lottery Casualty BBC News Weather Match of the Day NFL Michael Clayton

8:25pm

7:35pm 7:50pm 7:55pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:20pm 11:40pm 11:45pm 11:50pm 12:55am

BBC News Regional News Weather Countryfile Call the Midwife War and Peace BBC News Regional News Weather Match of the Day 2 In the Valley of Elah

8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 11:40pm 11:45pm 12:15am

The One Show Inside Out EastEnders Panorama Crimewatch BBC News Regional News Weather Tracey Ullman's Show Crimewatch

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:25pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 12:15am

BBC News Regional News The One Show EastEnders Holby City Happy Valley BBC News Regional News Weather Live at the Apollo Troll Hunters

6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm

Pointless BBC News Regional News The One Show The Great Sport Relief Bake Off New Tricks BBC News Regional News Weather A Question of Sport Film 2016

10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 11:40pm 11:45pm 12:15am

7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:15am

8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:00am

9:25pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:45pm 12:15am

8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:50pm 4:30am 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:10am

Great American Railroad Journeys Sea Cities Cats v Dogs: Which is Best?

The Story of China The Clare Balding Show Newsnight World War Three: Inside the War Room

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

Eggheads Great American Railroad Journeys Sea Cities Mastermind What to Buy and Why Earth's Greatest Spectacles QI Newsnight Artsnight

7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm

King George and Queen Mary: The Royals Who Rescued The Monarchy Dad's Army The Real Marigold Hotel Live at the Apollo Insert Name Here People Just Do Nothing

11:45pm 12:15am

9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:40pm 12:10am 7:15pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:20pm 11:20pm 11:40pm 1:15am

Six Nations Highlights Greece with Simon Reeve James May's Cars of the People Patrick Kielty's Mulholland Drive NFL Live Super Bowl L. Countryfile

7:15pm

Great Interior Design Challenge University Challenge Mary Berry's Foolproof Cooking Rick Stein's Taste of Shanghai Insert Name Here Newsnight Weather

7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 11:00pm 11:15pm 12:15am

11:45pm 12:45am

7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:10am 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:30pm 12:10am

Great American Railroad Journeys Great Interior Design Challenge Back in Time for the Weekend The Real Marigold Hotel Phone Shop Idol Newsnight Weather

7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

Eggheads Great American Railroad Journeys Great Interior Design Challenge ÂŁ100k House: Tricks of the Trade How to Die: Simon's Choice Newsnight Russell Howard's Good News

5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm

11:40pm 12:40am 1:10am

7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 11:00pm 11:40pm 12:40am

ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Tonight Emmerdale Birds of a Feather Jericho ITV News at Ten and Weather The Late Debate Car Crash Britain ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street The Martin Lewis Money Show Coronation Street Mr Selfridge ITV News at Ten and Weather Birds of a Feather Diamonds are Forever ITV News and Weather You've Been Framed!

Ninja Warrior UK Take Me Out The Jonathan Ross Show ITV News and Weather Jurassic Park III Jackpot 247

6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:10am 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:10am 2:30pm 5:00pm 5:25pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 1:00am

ITV News and Weather Planet's Got Talent Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands Vera ITV News and Weather Rookie Cops Aviva Premiership Rugby Highlights

3:35pm

ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Griff's Great Britain Coronation Street Benidorm ITV News at Ten and Weather The Jonathan Ross Show Car Crash Britain

7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm

5:15pm 5:45pm 6:15pm 6:35pm 8:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:05am

11:00pm 11:35pm 12:35am 1:35am

ITV Evening News Emmerdale The Kyle Files Sugar Free Farm Car Crash Britain ITV News at Ten and Weather River Monsters Double Decker Driving School Jackpot 247

6:00pm

Tipping Point The Chase Local News and Weather ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Midsomer Murders ITV News at Ten and Weather Parking Wars The Kyle Files

5:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am

6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:05am

Come Dine Champion of Champions The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Location, Location, Location Keeping Up with the Khans First Dates 24 Hours in A and E

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm

The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown The Last Leg Goes Down Under Virtually Famous

4:15pm

Channel 4 Racing Come Dine with Me Come Dine with Me Come Dine with Me Come Dine with Me Channel 4 News Great Canal Journeys Walking Through Time Prisoners Friday the 13th Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel The Simpsons The Simpsons Channel 4 News X-Men The Jump Deutschland 83 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Alien 3

9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am

6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:05am 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:55pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:25am

1:00pm 1:30pm 3:20pm 5:05pm 6:50pm 6:55pm 8:25pm 10:00pm 12:25am 2:40am

Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Dispatches Supershoppers Royal Navy Sailor School Crashing Tattoo Fixers Bodyshockers Keeping Up with the Khans

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:55pm

Come Dine Champion of Champions The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News The Secret Life of the Zoo The Supervet How the Rich Get Hitched First Dates

6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm

A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun Come Dine Champion of Champions The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Posh Pawn 24 Hours in A and E Bodyshockers Royal Navy Sailor School

12:55am 1:50am

10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 2:15am

Home and Away 5 News Tonight Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side Celebrity Big Brother 10,000 BC Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side

7:00pm 7:15pm 7:30pm 7:45pm 8:00pm

Undercover Bridesmaid 5 News at 5 Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight Pets Make You Laugh Out Loud 2 That's So... 1982 Celebrity Big Brother Lip Sync Battle UK

5:00pm

World War II in Colour Nazi Quest for the Holy Grail 5 News The Championship Goal Rush Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Fail Army Police Interceptors My Favorite Martian Alvin and the Chipmunks 5 News Little Nicky Zoolander The Internship The Green Hornet Super Casino Home and Away 5 News Ice Road Truckers Fail Army The X Files The X Files Gotham JFK's Secret Killer: The Evidence That's So...1982 Lip Sync Battle UK Neighbours Home and Away 5 News The Dog Rescuers Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun The Great British Benefit Handout The Last Hours of Robin Williams The X Files Neighbours Home and Away 5 News The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door GPs: Behind Closed Doors Violent Child, Desperate Parents 10,000 BC Hannibal Super Casino

11:30pm 11:45pm 12:00am

6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 11:15pm 12:15am 4:15pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 9:00pm 11:00pm 12:30am 2:00am 10:00am 11:30am 1:30pm 4:30pm 8:00pm 8:15pm 10:30pm 4:00am 5:00am 3:00pm 4:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 12:00am 12:30am 6:45pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 11:00pm 11:15pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 11:00pm 12:00am 5:30pm 6:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 11:30pm 12:00am 2:00am

Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Darts Gold Darts Gold Premier League Darts 2016 04.02 (Leeds) Darts Gold Darts Gold Barclays Premier League World Barclays Premier League Review Game Changers Barclays Premier League World The Fantasy Football Club Football A League of Their Own The Fantasy Football Club Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Ford Saturday Night Football SNF: Game of the Day SNF: Match Choice SNF: Match Choice SNF: Match Choice The Sunday Supplement Goals on Sunday Ford Super Sunday Ford Super Sunday La Liga Football Ronaldo: Real Madrid's Greatest NFL NFL Goals on Sunday NFL Super Bowl Soccer A.M. - The Best Bits Football League Goals Ford Monday Night Football Fantasy Football Club Highlights La Liga Cricket Classics Fantasy Football Club Highlights ATP 500 MastersRotterdam Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Fantasy Football Club Highlights Skysports Originals: Bournemouth: Bust to Big Time BPL Legends ATP 500 MastersRotterdam The Mavericks The Premier League Years Football Gold

FEATURE

4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

EWN

33

Some island dates for your diary FEBRUARY has arrived and now we have woken up, we can prepare ourselves for the season ahead WELCOME SPACE: For food lovers and art lovers.

Vicki McLeod

Family Matters HELLO February! It’s as if a fog is lifting from the island, we’ve slept through January, and now we’re waking up slowly and preparing for the season ahead. I’ve been out and about.

Recently I went to see a new place called Santosha in Palma. I kept hearing about them, so when my friend and colleague Aimee celebrated her birthday a week or so ago, we met up there with about a dozen of her friends and had a menu del dia. Santosha is just off Bon Aire close to Jaime III. I was seriously impressed with the venue, the care taken by the owners and staff there, and of course, the food.

I found out that Santosha café-restaurant is the fruit of years of planning for the owners. They care deeply about slow food, family, community and the planet, and this care is behind everything they do. Most of the food they serve comes from local organic producers.

Their menus will change according to what fresh fruit and vegetables are in season. Any animal products they serve come from animals who have enjoyed a good life and been treated humanely. Their coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate and other ingredients that

cannot be grown locally are all sourced from small companies who treat their employees with the same respect with which they endeavour to treat theirs.

What they hope to create is, above all, a positive and welcoming space for food lovers and art lovers, for readers

and day-dreamers, for coffee addicts and yogis, for wornout parents and lovely loners and everything in between.

I’m definitely returning soon! You can see more about them on www.face book.com/SantoshaEcoCafe.

Someone who has a big heart is Renee who will soon be celebrating her birthday. She doesn’t want presents though, she’s decided instead to raise money for animals on the island.

You can make her wish come true by attending Bar Leos (opposite The House of Katmandu in Magaluf) on February 6 from 5pm until late. The theme of the party is Blue, so I guess you should wear something blue, or maybe go as a smurf! The singer Angel Flukes will be performing, there will be a tombola, a quiz, a raffle and karaoke, so plenty to keep you entertained. The money raised will be going to pay for the castration of street cats and to help other animals as well. Well done Renee, and the best of luck!

Also, the first meeting of The Supper Club for 2016 will be on Thursday February 18 at 7pm. If you want to attend then send me an email to vicki@moodbeach.com. And finally, P.S! The AGM for Europeos Por Espana will happen on Thursday February 4 at 6.30pm for 7pm at the OD Hotel in Portals. Please be punctual.

You can visit www.mallorcamatters. com to see more info about Mallorca.

E W N 4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

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EURO WEEKLY’S SPACE FOR YOU TO TAKE A BREA

Word Ladder

MADDOCKS’ VIEW ON LIFE

LOVE LIVE LINE SINE SINK SILK

YOUR STARS

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) Surprising and happy news about the 30th really puts some bounce into you. Having been so busy recently, you may not have noticed that someone has a special interest in you. Another surprise then, but how will you react?

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) Family members bring a sparkle to your eyes and a spring to your step.

When there is so much going on it is

Average: 7 Good: 10 Very good: 14 Excellent: 18

LLUCMAJOR MAGALLUF

TOMORROW

blah dahl dhal haar hale hand hard hare head heal hear held herb herd rhea aahed ahead haled haler hared heard rehab handle harden herald herbal halberd handler HANDLEBAR

CALA MILLOR

INCA

CALVIA

‘GET ON THE PHONE AGAIN, GRANDMA - I’VE FOUND YOUR WINNING LOTTERY NUMBERS!’

CALA d’OR

PALMA ANDRATX

LLUCMAJOR MAGALLUF

should be considered carefully. When planning home improvements, get plenty of good advice and do not trust your heart. A new activity means new friends.

(January 21 - February 19)

Alicante TODAY:

Madrid

CLOUDY MAX 14C, MIN 10C

Fri Sat Sun -

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22) Being protective of those close does not mean worrying all the time. With their co-operation, the burden, welcome though it may be, can be lightened. There is the opportunity to have fun with some young friends, which may not come again for some time.

15 9 C 18 12 S 18 11 C

Mon - 19 12 S Tues - 19 10 S Wed - 18 10 S

Almeria TODAY:

Fri Sat Sun -

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) This is a week of deep thinking and meaningful conversations.

Someone’s opinion of you reaches your ears and pleases you greatly.

Work that has been progressing at home faces hold-ups and tact is needed to avoid a row. Some compromise is required at work, perhaps related to a planned holiday.

Mon - 19 11 S Tues - 18 10 S Wed - 17 19 S

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20) With a big event coming up, you need someone to give plenty of love and support. Starting a new interest could lead you into their path. Going for looks alone will do you no favours.

Be as broad-minded as possible when it comes to making friends.

LIBRA (September 24 - October 23) Take extra care where finances concern your home. A legal matter

16 11 C 17 14 C 17 12 C

16 11 C 18 13 S 19 12 C

S Sun,

Cl Clear,

Sh Showers,

8-Star Quiz

IRISH LOTTO

EURO MILLIONS

LA PRIMITIVA

EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA

Saturday January 30

Saturday January 30

Saturday January 30

Friday January 29

Saturday January 30

Sunday January 31

31

41

44

30 32

31 38

21

25

26

28

33

47

BONUS BALL

THUNDERBALL

BONUS BALL

42

6

30

1

5 29

23 32

LUCKY STARS

1

7

2

6

11

33

37

46

REINTEGRO

49

8

CLOUDY MAX 16C, MIN 9C MAX MIN

17 8 C 18 12 S 17 10 Sh

Mon - 18 10 S Tues - 17 8 S Wed - 17 7 C

6

16 42

33 43

REINTEGRO

6

SHOWERS MAX 16C, MIN 8C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 19 11 S Tues - 18 11 S Wed - 18 9 S

UK THUNDERBALL

1

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

21

MAX MIN

Mon - 19 12 S Tues - 18 9 C Wed - 17 9 S

Murcia

SHOWERS MAX 16C, MIN 11C

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.

6

CLOUDY MAX 17C, MIN 11C 17 9 C 19 12 C 18 11 C

MAX MIN

Mon - 18 12 C Tues - 18 11 S Wed - 16 11 C

Sudoku

1

Fri Sat Sun TODAY:

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mon - 12 6 C Tues - 12 4 C Wed - 11 4 C

Mallorca

CLOUDY MAX 15C, MIN 10C

Benidorm TODAY:

MAX MIN

12 6 C 12 8 Sh 11 7 C

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

17 11 C 19 12 Cl 18 10 C

MAX MIN

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21) Be determined to make a budget and stick to it. Even if you are arranging a holiday, resist the urge to splash out. Because this is such a busy week, it may not seem that there is time to read the small print.

Fri Sat Sun TODAY:

Barcelona TODAY:

MAX 13C, MIN 3C

MAX MIN

Malaga

CLOUDY MAX 16C, MIN 10C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

SUNNY

TODAY:

MAX MIN

MAX MIN

LEO (July 24 - August 23) Oh, gosh, this is a really sensitive time for Leos. Although it is easy to upset you, it is equally easy to fire your enthusiasm. Anyone considering not keeping a promise or appointment with you should beware because they will be whipped into shape.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23) Expecting others to automatically know what you want is unrealistic.

Even dropping heavy hints can go well astray of the mark. Although it is unpalatable to your sensitivity, plain talking is needed. Stop wanting everyone to like you and your personality will grow in leaps and bounds.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) A trip to the cinema or theatre makes you take notice and may even shock. There are many things in life that normally do not touch us but, once we are aware, there seems to be a need for action.

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

CALA d’OR

PALMA ANDRATX

easy to forget how much we are part of a whole. If you have neglected keeping in contact of late, this serves to remind you to try to do better.

Nonagram

CALA MILLOR

INCA

CALVIA

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

PISCES (February 20 - March 20) What will really be appreciated this week is if you will give your time to others. I realise that your life is busy but the emotional rewards from helping someone will be more than worth it. To see yourself in a truly positive light, imagine being in the positions of those round you.

ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA

An area in which you have experience means that you are able to help someone close this week. Keep the advice free from personal opinions wherever possible. Some upsets on a day-to-day basis are all minor and will pass.

AQUARIUS

for next 7 days

weather

TODAY

LOTTERY

SILK BACK

TARGET:

Mallorca

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

LOVE MOVE MOLE MILE MILK SILK or

LOVE

TIME

www.euroweeklynews.com

Fri Sat Sun -

F Fog, Sn Snow,

MAX MIN

18 7 C 22 13 Cl 22 10 C

Mon - 22 11 S Tues - 21 9 S Wed - 21 9 Cl

C Cloudy, Th Thunder

LOVE IS IN THE AIR With St Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this week’s quiz is all about lovers 1. According to D H Lawrence, what was the name of Lady Chatterley’s lover?

2. According to Paul Simon’s 1976 hit single, how many ways are there to leave your lover?

3. Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin was the real name of which French novelist who had much publicised romantic affairs with composer Frédéric Chopin and writer Alfred de Musset?

4. Consider one of the greatest albums of its era, who recorded the 1956 LP Songs for Swingin’ Lovers?

5. What are the names of either of the two main stars of the 1970s television sitcom by Jack Rosenthal, The Lovers?

6. What are the surnames of Shakespeare’s two ‘star-cross’d lovers’?

7. Which 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical features the song Hello Young Lovers?

8. Which American playwright, screenwriter and author wrote the award-winning comedy play Last of the Red Hot Lovers, which premiered on Broadway in 1969?

Not a lot of people know that... in Victorian times it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card.

1. Oliver MELLORS, 2. 50 (FIFTY), 3. George SAND, 4. Frank SINATRA. 5. Richard BECKINSALE and Paula WILCOX as Geoffrey and Beryl, 6. Romeo MONTAGUE and Juliet CAPULET, 7. THE KING AND I, 8. Neil SIMON,

34

OUT

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4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

page

AK, BE INFORMED AND ENJOY A CHALLENGE

Enjoy filling in the following puzzles and check the answers in next week’s edition

Quick

Code Breaker

Across 7 Dealt with (7) 9 Similar (5) 10 Fitting (3) 11 Courier (9) 12 Acquires (5) 14 Immediate (7) 16 Trying out (7) 18 Fragment (5) 19 Choice (9) 20 Vat (3) 21 Vision (5) 22 Unfriendly (7) Down 1 Uncurved (8) 2 Pulsate (4) 3 Embosses (6) 4 Tags (6) 5 Shame (8)

35

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Crossword

EWN

Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 12 represents G and 17 represents F, so fill in G every time the figure 12 appears and F every time the figure 17 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: 1 Base, 4 Socrates, 8 Strewn, 9 Shaken, 10 Urge, 11 Slapdash, 13 Controversial, 16 Innocent, 19 Shot, 20 Legend, 22 Clever, 23 Managers, 24 Thaw.

Down: 2 Afternoon, 3 Element, 4 Sinks, 5 Cascade, 6 Award, 7 Eye, 12 Soap opera, 14 Overdue, 15 Suspect, 17 Omega, 18 Ticks, 21 Era.

QUICK Across:

6 Alcoholic drink (4) 8 Differentiate (11) 13 Affronted (8) 15 Shook (8)

English - Spanish

17 Earnings (6) 18 Penalise (6) 19 Facet (4) 20 Slim (4)

Down: 1 Costly, 2 Train, 3 Hate, 5 Inspired, 6 Seesaws, 7 Solved, 8 Adapt, 13 Separate, 15 Declare, 17 Golden, 18 Odour, 19 Stayed, 22 Apple, 23 Shut.

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

Across 1 Streets (6) 3 Brazos (de persona) (4) 7 Dedo del pie (3) 9 Canal (7) 10 Manzano (5-4) 13 London (7) 14 Mar (3) 15 Equipo (deporte) (4) 16 Married (6)

ENGLISH-SPANISH Across:

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

1 Autumn, 4 Debt, 8 Tyres, 9 Enter, 10 Relampago, 13 Brave, 15 Cielo, 16 Echo, 17 Morena.

Down: 1 Acta, 2 Torre, 3 Messages, 5 Eat, 6 Tar, 7 Despacio, 11 Geese, 12 Boca, 13 Bee, 14 Ash.

Down 1 Appointment (with client, bank manager etc) (4) 2 Stairs (8) 4 Corredores (atletas) (7) 5 Seda (4) 6 Ghost (8) 8 Sponge (for washing) (7) 11 Plano (llano) (4) 12 Healthy (person, plant, mind) (4)

Hexagram

1 Catch, 4 Kisses, 9 Started, 10 Steel, 11 Link, 12 Private, 13 Set, 14 Edge, 16 Easy, 18 Odd, 20 Orchard, 21 Vast, 24 Drama, 25 Unhappy, 26 Needed, 27 Trend.

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

AUNTIE BEETLE BRIDLE BULLET DEPUTE ENABLE (10) INTONE LAUREL LINDEN LOAVES

LUMBER MEMBER RAISIN RENDER SALOON SENIOR SORTIE SPARKY UPROAR

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 1 System 2 Sextet 3 Stance 4 Nettle 5 Extent 6 Citron 7 Attest 8 Cordon 9 Attain 10 Stormy 11 Rudder 12 Acuity 13 Debtor 14 Tenure 15 Amoeba 16 Lambda 17 Camber 18 Mallet 19 Jumble

Across 1 Wrong dosage for an old sailor (3,3) 4 Swan taking donkey round trees (6) 9 Old coin Rex found in butter! (5) 10 A small laboratory takes on a graduate in America (7) 11 In forest, ran, getting split up (8) 12 The lady drunk mead (4) 14 Extremes of society stalk organisation (6) 16 Prevents the desert crumbling (6) 19 Trade on the coast of Kent (4) 20 Game scars Leo badly (8) 23 Monsters created from dead organs (7) 24 What was a performance to be precise (5) 25 Small hole, it’s surrounded by water, reportedly (6) 26 He takes a chance on being restored to health (6) Down 1 Small seals sing when set about (7) 2 On the subject of a boxing match (5)

3 Oldfashioned duet at do is wrong (8) 5 Scare away Old Bob’s feline (4) 6 English gent consumed spring (7) 7 Embarrass bogus engineer (5) 8 Push river transport (5) 13 Having stopped working, right, I need the end of the day to recover (8) 15 How old is bird in Dorset seaside

resort? (7) 17 Around lake there’s poor protection (7) 18 Light wood from herbal samples (5) 19 Western city to avoid (5) 21 Tin found in street is barely sufficient (5) 22 It’s the judge’s habit to steal a note (4)

E W N 4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

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OPINION & COMMENT

A case for drastic surgery

OUR VIEW chainarong jaykeaw shutterstock

36

TELLING ourselves that the NHS is the best in the world is frankly delusional Colin Bird A weekly look Each week, Colin brings his slightly off-thewall view of the world to the pages of EWN in his own irreverent style.

IN response to the recent strike by junior doctors in the UK, a plethora of postings h a v e a p p e a r e d o n Facebook in support of the National Health Service.

One o f t h o se p o st in g s pleaded: ‘Let’s stand up for the best health service in the world.’

Of course it is vital that we save the NHS, but telling ourselves that it is still the best in the world, is frankly delusional and we must recognise that it is not acceptable in its present state of decline.

Here in Spain our local ‘NHS’ hospital in Torrevieja provides en suite rooms for each patient, cleaners are in e v i d e n c e 2 4 / 7 a n d the place is spotless.

LOCAL HOSPITAL: Provides en suite rooms for each patient.

Convertible sofas are in e a c h ro o m w ith family me mb ers e n co u ra g ed t o stay overnight if they wish.

In addition, patient appointments with consultants are made at point of contact

with GPs, and it is not uncommon for them to be seen the following week.

Many people are in denia l a nd be lie ve tha t Britain is still the world le a de r in qua lity fre e

healthcare, and whilst it is true that many have cause to be grateful for the treatment received, there are far too many who have different stories to tell.

My father-in-law was ad-

mitted for a relatively minor condi t i on and si x weeks later died from a virulent bug that he contracted whilst there.

The condi t i on of t he wards was disgusting and the attitude of some of the staff unbelievable. To describe some areas of that hospi t al as Thi r d Wor l d would not be an overstatement.

This is the downside of an organi sat i on t hat has lost its way, and we must impress on our politicians that horror stories like that of my wife’s Dad (and there are many of them), ar e not accept abl e, and fresh, drastic thinking must be applied to rectify matt er s and st r i ve t o once again make it the envy of the world.

When r epor t s l i ke t hi s are tucked away on the inside pages of UK newspapers, and are no longer remarkable, then this surely tells its own story.

One smell we could all do without IN some places in Spain there is a permanent and unpleasant smell of sewage

Kekyalyaynen Shutterstock

John Smith Random thoughts...

WHEN I was growing up in England in the 50s and 60s, there were a number of constant smells which I can still clearly remember, coal and wood burning, escaping coal gas from gas holders, the smell of yeast and hops from breweries, wax from the candle factory and something I was too young to put a name to from the Gordon’s gin distillery.

The worst smell however was from the sewage works and if the wind was in the wrong direction, it was s t r o n g e n o u g h t o n o t o n ly make you gag, but it seemed to insinuate itself into your nostrils and follow you around.

Now the UK has literally cleaned up its act and most of these smells are lon g g o n e , e v e n t h o u g h th e memory still lingers.

In Spain however, this isn’t the case and although I don’t object to

four squar e ki l om et r es, and t he third is at the entrance to La Linea, which on a bad day is absolutely putrid.

In 2010 in response to an EU directive concerning the treatment of sewage, the Junta de Andalucia regional government announced 47 projects that were necessary in order to complete the Costa del Sol’s Although a great deal of progress has been made in order to stop the pumping of raw sewage directly into the sea, there is still a long way to go.

SEWAGE PLANTS: Why do they still have to smell so bad? th e s me ll o f w ood, w hic h ma ny houses do still burn as soon as it becomes a little chilly, what I just don’t understand is why, in today’s technological age, sewage plants still have to smell so bad.

In my p era mbula tions , w hic h regularly take me from Malaga to

Gibraltar, I pass three areas which always stink, although some days are worse than others.

The first is by the Rio Fuengirola where there is a permanent and unpleasant smell of sewage. The second is by Elviria , a nd the re the smell permeates around at least

CHILDREN: Born with ability.

Manners maketh man!

THE phenomenal growth in electronic media has brought some real benefits to people around the world, allowing them to be in easy contact with friends and family and to be updated on world events, celebrity gossip, trends and indeed anything and everything that one can think of.

Whilst older people struggle to keep up with advances such as tweeting, Tinder, Instagram and many other new developments, younger people take to them like a ‘fish to water’, and it is quite amazing to see really young children manipulating iPads and other tablets as if they were born with the ability.

Whilst this is all well and good, there is quite a downside as many parents and grandparents will have observed.

Children are becoming far more occupied with their games and tablets and less interested in either talking to each other or their parents, and are far less polite and indeed in many cases seemingly less educated as they are so used to ‘text talk’.

It used to be suggested that despite the negatives, the TV was a great babysitter, but now it has become the tablet or iPad. How many times have you visited a restaurant to see children completely oblivious to all around them because they are engrossed in a game? This doesn’t excuse teenagers and adults who spend half of their time checking or sending messages and taking photographs of their food.

sewage treatment plan.

These required an investment of some €390 million and needed to be completed by January 1, 2016.

Although a great deal of progress has been made in order to stop the Now we pumping of raw sewage directly inwant to to the sea, there still seems to be a hear your views. long way to go before the whole system actually allows local YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE residents to enjoy a peaceful - YOUR OPINION life, without having to smell www.euroweeklynews.com the results of others’ actions!

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VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.EWNLIFESTYLE.COM

Drug can reduce cancer relapse THE Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), has authorised the use of a new drug that can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer returning in patients with the BRCA mutation gene.

Ovarian cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths in women and more than 3,200 new cases are diagnosed every year, of which a large majority are in an advanced stage because it presents non-specific symptoms.

After diagnosis, the patient undergoes surgery to remove the tumour as a first-line treatment with chemotherapy, after which comes a follow-up stage in which a high percentage of women have a relapse, explained the President of the Spanish Research Group of Ovarian Cancer (Geico), Antonio Gonzalez.

However, this new treat-

ment has been found to delay ‘significantly’ the reappearance of the disease, up to 80 per cent of cases.

Gonzalez said however, that this drug is only indicated for patients who have a BRCA gene mutation. Between 10 and 15 per cent of patients with ovarian cancer has a mutation of the BRCA gene.

These patients have a better prognosis, but the relapse rate is still significant.

At present this drug is only given in a treatment programme to those that have responded to chemotherapy, but an international clinical study in which Spain participates, is ongoing but relapse rates will not be fully known until 2019.

The cost of treatment is €4,980 per month and includes 16 pills.

TO READ MORE

HEALTH BEAUTY

&

My top 3 diet questions Often clients ask my advice with regards to diet, as they quickly become aware that this is the cornerstone to any achievements they will make with regard to their health and fitness goals. Over the years I have been asked many questions.

FitFoxy

Looking Good, Staying Trim

HERE are just a few: Q. Is it true that fat people have a slow metabolic rate?

A. No, on the contrary, the heavier you are the more energy your body produces.

This in turn produces an increase in dietary thermogenesis (the energy required to digest food and to absorb and transport nutrients around your body).

Q. I have given up smoking, am I going to gain lots of weight?

A. I won’t sugar the pill, weight gain is often a side effect of giving up smoking which is why unfortunately it can put people off the idea. However most people give up smoking because they have opted for a healthier lifestyle.

Once your lungs are clear from tobacco pollution, your exercise sessions will become more enjoyable and provided you are opting for healthy foods, your metabolism will correct itself and start speeding up again.

Q. Why do I never lose weight even though I eat like a mouse?

A. If you are close to your healthy weight, you will find it hard to lose the last couple of pounds. This is common as your body is clever and will hold onto those last few pounds, as it feels you are trying to starve it.

If you are determined enough and you are 1-

2lbs short of your goal, add a few more intense cardio sessions to your weekly schedule. If on the other hand you are overweight and just not seeing results, you may need to take a look at your exercise plan and recalculate your calorie intake.

By incorporating at least three sessions of resistance training into your weekly plan, you will create more muscle tissue which will fire up your metabolism to burn energy at a faster rate.

QUIT SMOKING: Your metabolism will speed up.

HEALTH & BEAUTY

Ask The Doctor

Brought to you by Helicopteros Sanitarios.

Answers to your alcohol questions

Serious sleeping problems

By Gemma Quinn

SPECIALIST: Doctor Luis Perez Belmonte.

There are many varying takes on the pros and cons of alcohol, so this week we have asked the GP for his opinion on a few common drink-related queries.

- Is it true that a glass of re d wi ne a da y is good for our health?

Ye s i t i s . A g l a s s o f red wine with lunch or dinner is recommended.

Du e t o i t s c o m p o s ition red wine has protective qualities against heart disease, has beneficial effects on the skin and c a n h e l p p r e v e n t cognitive deterioration among other things.

- Is it a bad idea to mix different alcoholic drinks?

In principle, as long as moderation is exercised, consuming different types of alcoholic drink should not cause a problem.

- How much alcohol is too much?

Generally the maximum amount of alcohol

4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

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rec o mmen d e d is 3 0 grams per day for men, an d 2 0 g rams p e r d a y for women.

T h is co rres p o n d s to ap p ro x ima te ly tw o g la s s e s o f w in e, tw o b e e rs o r o n e s tro n g er drink such as whisky.

- I s a lc o h o l fa tte n ing?

Alcohol can be fattening as it has a high calorie content.

In fact, obese people or those with weight problems should limit their alcohol consumption as much as possible.

- I s i t o k f o r p re g nant women to drink some alcohol?

Pregnant women and those trying to conceive are advised not to drink any alcohol at all, as there are possible negative effects on foetal development.

The Coast’s Home GP service - wherever you are - at home - in the office - in the car - on the golf course your GP will get to see you any time, anywhere.

A priceless service at an affordable price.

NOT getting enough sleep?

Join the club as nearly half of all women are sleep deprived and constantly tired.

It can be a side effect of getting older as sleep is a problem as women approach the menopause, but it could also be a sign of a more serious underlying medical condition, sleep apnoea.

A disturbed night is often caused by the disorder sleep apnoea, which causes snoring and dangerous pauses in breathing.

The chances of getting the disorder can be increased during pregnancy, and the menopause increases a woman’s risk of suf-

Zika virus traveller warnings PREGNANT women are being advised to avoid travelling to countries affected by the Zika virus.

Zika is a virus carried by mosquitoes, that has recently spread through the Caribbean and Latin America.

Pregnant women have been officially warned to avoid travelling to South American countries and experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Oxford University say the virus is likely to spread to Florida in the US. The virus is a risk for pregnant women as it is thought to cause a birth defect where the baby’s brain does not develop properly.

Zika is spread by the same type of mosquito that spreads dengue fever and it can potentially spread to all areas where dengue fever is present.

fering from the disorder.

It is thought around 1.5 million adults in Britain suffer with sleep apnoea, yet many do not talk to a doctor about the problem, and if left untreated it can lead to a stroke or heart attacks.

As well as snoring and insomnia, symptoms include restless legs, fatigue, depression, headaches and muscle pain.

A survey of 4,100 British adults found that 46 per cent of women have trouble sleeping, compared with 36 per cent of men, with women also more likely to wake during the night.

Six in 10 women said they become irritable during the day because of lack of sleep.

EWN

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FEATURE

Advertising feature

A problem shared is a problem halved CALLING all community leaders CLEAN streets, safe roads, green gardens, capable police and vital medical services.

Often overlooked as we go about our daily activities and provide for our families, the smooth running of all these essential amenities can truly make or break a community.

Indeed, as an active member of our thriving society here on the Costa del Sol, you’ll be intimately aware that such indispensable features have to be fought for, and that, in Spain, nothing is handed to you on a silver platter.

Success is achieved through the hard work of individuals, working together, organised and enthused by shared values and a common goal.

It is only by uniting our pioneering spirits, passionate hearts, business acumen and strength of character that we can ensure the security and prosperity of our expatriate communities.

Your life experience alone will tell you that engaging with kindred spirits and fighting for your rights, are the twin pillars upon which our trailblazing foundations are built.

Remember the underdog resolve and courageous verve that made you who you are, and the Costa del Sol what it is.

The Presidents Club International (TPCI) knows the challenges faced by expatriates on a daily basis because we have lived through the best of times and the worst of times.

We’ve learned how to best channel the wisdom, vitality, expertise and sheer grit of our community members in order to forge an unshakeable foundation, and a home to truly call our own. As a club run

by Community Presidents, for Community Presidents, we’ve had a singular impact on expatriate families and societies.

Whether it’s enhancing property values, developing neighbourhoods, providing crucial services, offering expert advice, and dealing with the real practicalities of life in Spain, our Presidents play an invaluable

LOCAL COMMUNITY: Make your presence known.

LOOKING FOR LEADERS: The Presidents Club International. role in each of their communities.

If there is one thing we have learned in all our collective experience it is this: Having a Community President will immeasurably improve your local area. As well as providing a voice to speak on your behalf, having a President enables a community to collaborate with other leaders across the Costa del Sol, opening up the kind of precious resources that will change lives.

Solicitors, architects, developers, notaries, insurance specialists, accountants, debt management services, and all manner of essential, practical knowledge is at the disposal of Community Presidents.

The great curse of mankind is its time-tested ability to suffer in silence, to accept the seemingly inevitable, to push problems to the side, to hope that someone else resolves your problems. To settle for less and just hope that things don’t get any worse.

The Presidents Club International exists as a living refutation of these negative standards of living. Our mission is to tell you that you can achieve the community you deserve, that you do have the power

to initiate real and lasting change, and that there are hundreds, nay, thousands of people out there, in the Costa del Sol alone, who share your principles and are right here willing to work together to right the wrongs and ensure a proper life for ourselves and our children.

We are here to provide space for the visionaries among you to cooperate and endeavour to transform our lives for the better.

Our message is spreading but there are still many communities out there who do not have a President, and who are unaware of the tremendous rewards on offer, of the life that could be. That is where you come in.

The Presidents Club International is looking for the champions among you to stand up and be counted. The heroes who care about their local community, and have the fighting spirit and wherewithal to get things done. The men and women who refuse to settle for less and believe it is time to finally make a difference.

We are looking for leaders, for visionaries, for tenacious minds ready to fight the ultimate fight,

bringing genuine success to help improve the lot of their family, friends, neighbours and future.

If you believe that you can be a Community President then now is the time to put your hat into the ring and start making a difference today.

If you believe you can help a collective aspiration to improve your local community in whatever capacity, through your business skills, practical expertise, or personal strength, then contact The Presidents Club International and make your presence known.

Because we believe that change is made in partnership with one another, we offer strategic alliances for the businesses we trust to make a hugely positive impact on their communities.

We have a vast network of hardworking experts and professionals working closely with us to ensure that their communities and residents get the best deals available.

If you believe your skills or your business is up to the task of exploring new avenues of shared prosperity, then you should contact us today.

So if you are a leader, or business owner, who loves your community and wants to be part of a wider network of highly successful expatriates here on the Costa del Sol, get in touch with us now. You can reach us on 951 40 24 34, email us at info@tpci.es, visit us online at www.tpci.es , or drop in for a visit at The Presidents Club International, Centro de Negocios Nuevo Andasol, Oficinas 16/17/18/19/20, Urbanización Andasol, Carretera Cádiz-Málaga KM 189, 29604 Marbella.

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VISIT WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM/FEATURES/RESTAURANTS

Celebrating the almond tree PINK and white almond blossoms can be seen in full bloom all over the island affirming the arrival of spring next month.

Visitors and locals alike can enjoy the colours and beauty that the almond tree offers. Admirers of the flower can experience its

beauty on various hiking trails around the island.

Those who prefer to savour its fruit can enjoy a wide range of local delicacies. Mallorca boasts a wide variety of almonds that are used by the locals in many traditional recipes including the always popular almond cake and almond ice cream.

Son Servera celebrates the beauty and uses of the almond tree this weekend at their annual fair known as the Fira de la Flor d’Ametler (the Almond Flower Fair) to be held on Sunday morning February 7, from 9.30am to 2pm.

Stands will offer a variety of products made from the tree including oil, cosmetics, perfumes, scented candles and soap. Visitors will also be able to see traditional harvesting tools and methods and will have opportunities to taste some of the products. The fair will be held at Ses Cases de Ca s’Hereu, a country estate dating back to the 13th century.

TO READ MORE

SCENE

OCIAL

Carnaval festivities to begin in Palma PARADE will feature floats and a variety of costumes

By Sandra Galo PALMA’S colourful carnaval festivities will take place on Sunday February 7 and are sure to delight children of all ages.

Sa Rueta, the carnaval and parade version for children, will begin at 10.30am and continue throughout the morning with activities and entertainment specially designed for children. The carnaval route starts at the Plaça del Mercat and finishes on the Avenida d’Antoni Maura.

The adult version known as Sa Rua, will take place later that same day at 5pm.

The lively parade featuring

COLOURFUL PARADE: Prizes for the best costumes. floats and a variety of fancy dress costumes will advance down Passeig Mallorca, Avenida Jaime III,

Passeig del Born and Avenida d’Antoni Maura.

Prizes will be given for the best floats and costumes.

SOCIAL SCENE

www.euroweeklynews.com

Passion for crafts MARKETS offering handmade goods

By Sandra Galo ADMIRERS of handmade crafts can visit markets in Mallorca and find all sorts of items.

Every Friday and Saturday during February in Plaça Major,

the Mercat d’Artesans (Crafts Market) offers a wide variety of handcrafted treasures. On the third Sunday of each month (excluding July, August and September), Santa Margalida hosts a market, 9am to 1pm.

4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

EWN

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44 E W N Mallorca V I S I T O U R W E B S I T E W W W . E U R O W E E K LY N E W S . C O M

4 - 10 February 2016

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PROPERTY

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Drop in house prices slowed down in 2015 LOWEST for many years

THE stark inequality of the Spanish housing market can be aptly summed up by the simple statistic that one square metre in Madrid’s Serrano street can be up to 31 times more expensive than one in Talavera de la Reina in Toledo Province.

ck sto ter ut sh ck xto

EVEN though the price of ‘second hand’ homes has fallen dramatically in many parts of Spain since the financial crisis began, the property portal fot ocasa.es released a report on January 28 based on its own findings.

The report showed the drop in 2015 was just 0.8 of 1 per cent, which was the lowest for many years.

Prices in many areas have risen and it appears that the market may finally have seen stability, especially as mortgages are still attainable at reasonable rates.

The five most buoyant areas in 2015 were the Balearic Islands (+3.3 per

(both +0.7 per cent).

Even the Bank of Spain seems to be upbeat in its review of the m ar ket , as i t has indicated in latest figures that mortgage costs have fallen.

The ministry of development has reported that requests for certificates to allow for the building of new properties have i ncr eased by an amazing 35 per cent.

Provided that the world economy does not take fright at the economic problems in China and stagger back into a decline, it is to be hoped that the trend in property prices in Spain will continue to move in a positive direction. it red oC ot Ph

By John Smith

PROPERTY PRICES: In many areas have risen. cent), La Rioja (+2.4 per cent), Madrid (+1.4 per cent), Andalucia and Galicia

Inequality widening The contrast is a spectacular €10,900 compared to €349 according to a new report by TecniTasa.

Barcelona’s Paseo de Gracia comes in at second most

expensive in the country at €8,450 per square metre, while Avenida de la LibertadBoulevard in San Sebastian averages out at €6,100. Puerto Banus in Marbella comes

in a close fourth, with an average square metre costing roughly €5,500.

The report indicates the Spanish real estate market has experienced a slight bounce but highlighted the difficulty of selling homes that persists.

PROPERTY

4 - 10 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

EWN

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It’s that time of year again...

THE tourists are coming, it’s time for you to rent out your property!

John Graham The property expert

IT’S that time of year when tourists start planning their holidays in Spain.

It’s also the time of the year when homeowners in Spain start looking to rent out their homes, especially in the summer months.

Many homeowners own more than one property, and run a healthy business renting out their other properties to tourists throughout the year.

According to official figures, around 68 million visitors arrived in Spain in 2015, and even more visitors are forecast to visit Spain this year.

In particular, the Costas and Balearics are set to have another record year for tourism, which means more rental income for those

TOURISM: Spain looks set to have another record year in 2016. of you renting out in 2016, and excellent news for all property investors.

Spain has consolidated its position as the third most popular international tourist destination in the world (after France and the USA), and the country where visitors spend the second largest amount of money.

Official statistics confirm Spain is on a roll, the average amount spent

by visitors is growing, with tourist expenditure currently around 7.7 per cent higher than previous years.

When we look at the total size of the world tourism market, we see that it is expanding and the number of tourists is expected to increase to around 1,400 million by 2020. Based on these figures, Spain’s tourism numbers can continue to grow in the future, which is very good news.

A new subset of homeowners DINKS are young working couples with no children

A NEW subset of homeowners has emerged, the ‘dinks’ (Double Income No Kids), young couples with no children. And there are a lot of them in Spain.

According to a study done in 2015 by the National Institute of Statistics, young couples without children and no plans to have them, own almost four million homes in the country.

The number of homes owned by ‘dinks’ is on the rise, and all evidence indicates that this will continue.

In Europe alone the number has increased by 14 per cent in the last decade, which translates to 53 million homes.

‘Dinks’ are between 25 and 40-years-old, and their lifestyle is based on leisure. They live in the city and usually rent, have good incomes and high educa-

Photo credit: flickr by Christina Chirtes.

By Sam Croft

LIFESTYLE: Based on travelling, going out for dinner and buying the latest technology. tional levels.

Their lifestyle is based on travelling, going out for dinner, buying the latest technology and enjoying unique experience, the typical philosophy of Generation Y, people born between 1980 and 2000 who seek passion, challenges and happiness in everything they do.

A lifestyle where there are

no limits, and therefore no children.

Currently, singles and couples without children make up 50 per cent of the total homes in the developed world.

This new way of sharing a home, as well as this new concept of life and family, will completely change the socioeconomic structure of cities.

It’s also very good news for property investors, who will benefit from the tourist rental income and the annual appreciation in the value of the property.

This year is the ideal time to invest in Spanish property, and that is why I am very busy providing investors with prime investment properties throughout the Costas and Balearics.

The other good news for those of you renting out your property, is that according to official figures the average rental price increased in Spain by around 3 per cent in 2015.

However, rental prices vary enormously depending on many factors including the region, location, quality of the property, and the time of the year the property is rented out.

For example, rental prices have increased on average by around 13 per cent in the Balearics and Malaga, and in Catalonia by around 10 per cent.

The average rental price per

square metre per month in Spain is around €7, so for example the average rent for a property of 100m2 would be an average of €700 per month.

City rental costs also rose last year, Barcelona is the most expensive Spanish city for rentals and has now recovered to the pre-economic crisis level, up by 23 per cent to around an average of €15 per square metre per month.

Enjoy renting out your home this year and check with your local town hall on the new legislation regarding renting out properties to tourists.

New legislation has or will come into force this year, and it is different in every autonomous region of Spain.

If you want to sell your property we have buyers or if you are looking to buy a property we have an exclusive selection of properties available.

John Graham Email: gk.ipad@me.com.

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I want to choose what I listen to Mike Senker

In my opinion Views of a Grumpy Old Man I HAVE a very wide range of musical taste in my car and on my phone. It goes from Al Jolson to Black Sabbath.

But I want to choose what I listen to, or if someone else wants to play music it has to be at a level that doesn’t drive me nuts.

How many times have you been in a restaurant just to have something to eat?

I’m not talking about the night you go to see an act and there are some great ones on this coast, I’m talking about when you have nipped out for a spag bol, and for some reason they feel the need to prove it’s an Italian restaurant by having Italian music blaring out.

Or worse than that a live singer that’s belting out at a level you can’t hear yourself speak. I have one place I like to go that has music four nights a week, and I will only go there on the other three nights.

I was in one of the large supermarkets the other day and for some reason they had

some crazy loud drum and bass going on. I was going to complain but was stopped by Mrs S who said she had had enough, and we just paid for what we had and went.

The worst culprits are small clothing stores where the assistants insist on playing all their favourite music through the sound system. I have actually asked many times if they could turn it down whilst I’m in there.

But if there is one thing that does my nut in more than anything it is the music played by the street entertainers. I must admit some of them are really good and I will gladly tip them for the performance, but there are a couple of chancers that I see regularly on the Paseo Maritimo in Los Boliches where I like to go to a chiringuito.

There is one guy that come along with an accordion and just ‘squeezes’, and plays absolutely no recognisable tune at all. He then has the liberty to come and ask for money and gets very arsy when I ask him what he played, and tell him I will gladly give him money if he can play a tune I know!

OK I’m off now to have a quiet lunch somewhere.

Let me know what makes you grumpy mikesenker@gmail.com.

www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

LEGALLY SPEAKING

Driving safely LAWS must be strictly adhered to in tunnels AS part of a new series, we answer some common driving questions, kindly provided by members of the Guardia Civil based in Torrevieja, Costa Blanca, who set up the N332 website and Facebook page to help break down barriers.

INCREASED RISK: Pay attention to matters such as speed and distance requirements.

TRAFFIC laws must be strictly adhered to in tunnels or underpasses on account of the increased risk factors involved in this type of road route, with attention specifically to matters such as using headlights, observing speed and safe distance requirements and not stopping, parking, changing direction or reversing.

When approaching most tunnels a blue rectangular sign provides some key information about the tunnel, such as the name and the length, as well as details about emergency help points within.

The speed limit in tunnels is controlled with the R-301 mandatory maximum speed limit sign (a red circle with

the speed limit in the centre), and before entering the tunnel there will be t he R- 413 si gn, a bl ue ci r cl e wi t h a headl i ght pi ct ogr am i n t he cent r e, telling us that it is mandatory for us to use headlights at all times.

Some tunnels have indicators above the carriageway which shows if the lane is open or closed.

In tunnels or underpasses where the traffic flows in both directions, overtaking is prohibited, unless an additional lane or lanes are provided for this.

A safe distance must always be maintained from the vehicle in front, with a minimum of 100 metres being required between each vehicle, the equivalent of a four-second gap.

For more news and articles visit www.n332.es or search N332 on Facebook.

Can I buy the Highway Code?

I HAVE been looking to purchase a book with all the rules for driving in Spain (Highway Code for Spain). Can you help me with this? For

You don’t say it, but I guess that you want the Spanish Highway Code in English. There is no complete English translation of the traffic code into English.

If you want the law in Spanish, you can order it in soft-cover book form from Amazon.

It is called the ‘Ley sobre

the last 14 years I have purchased your book ‘You & The Law In Spain’.

David Searl You and the Law in Spain

trafico, circulacion de vehiculos a motor y seguridad vial’.

From Amazon the cost is €11.40. Be warned that the law has 385 articles and

T.F. (Costa del Sol)

the text is 941 pages.

Be warned also that the ‘Direccion General de Trafico’ is working on an updated and revised version of the law at this moment.

You can also check the Traffic Department website at www.dgt.es and you can download the law from http://boe.es/legislación/cod igos.

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

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An A to Z about winter cutbacks AS they are in full swing, here are some thoughts on cutting back an assortment of popular plants Dick Handscombe

Gardening Corner

By Spain’s best known expatriate gardening author living in Spain for 25 years.

WITH winter cutbacks in full swing here are some thoughts about cutting back an assortment of popular plants as an A to Z checklist.

Acanthus – These are getting ready to flower so just remove any brown misshapen leaves or excess growth on plants.

Bay – Trim to a neat shape and spray with five cc propolis in a litre of water against black sooty leaves.

Caesalpinia – Trim off dead flower stalks and trim to the shape and size appropriate to its planting position, also cut out unsightly crossing branches.

Datura – Trim dead flowers and cut back 25 per cent to stimulate new flowering growth.

Ericas, heathers – Trim plants that have stopped flowering and trim winter flowering varieties when they stop.

Ferrocatus – Carefully clean any dead fallen leaves etc from the thorns, plus any irregular unpleasing growth.

Bougainvillea before being cut back.

The latter can be used to propagate new plants.

Geraniums – Cut out dead and untidy straggly growth.

Hydrangeas – Cut out dead growth and trim back other stems to one or two buds.

Irises – Clear or cut away any dead leaves and dead stems unfortunately not cut out during the summer.

Jasmines – Cut back as necessary to have tidy tight growth, unless you want them to grow into trees.

Wonderful home ideas THERE are plenty of magazine spreads featuring fantastic home remodelling ideas that we can all gawp at, but most have little impact for those of us on an earthbound budget, and with a noticeable lack of cutting edge stylists at our disposal.

Here are a few strange and wonderful ideas that can be achieved with just a little money and creativity.

If you have the space, build a hammock, it could be inside or outside depending on where it fits. Or adapt a door so that it flips then paint it ping-pong board colours, or use a pool table as a dinner table.

Get hold of a large frame and a mountain of sand, and put a sandpit under your desk so you’ll always feel the pleasurable crunch, even when you’re miles from the beach and working at home.

You can pick up themed chandeliers and lamps which could, for example, convert your bedroom into an enchanted forest by night.

The possibilities end with your imagination.

Kalanchoas – Trim straggly and dead growth after flowering ends.

Lagerstromea – Trim out growth that has flowered and shape.

Musas, bananas – Cut back dead or dying growth, and use the leaves as a valuable high in potassium mulch around the base of the plants.

Narcissus – Leave until they have flowered and leaves die back.

Polygala – Leave or trim to shape.

Bougainvillea after being cut back.

Querus ilex, holm oak – Trim to a pleasing shape with an attractive trunk clear of side growth.

Raspberry – Cut out dead stems and trim tips of live stems to new buds.

Santolina – These can become woody and straggly after a few years, so trim back to stimulate more tidy young growth.

Teucrium – Trim as you would a hedge whether single plants or an internal edge.

Ulex, gorse – Cut back

hard after winter flowering finishes. Remove plants you don’t want.

Verbena – Trim back 25 to 75 per cent to have a neat plant that will create new creeping, flowering growth in the spring.

Water lillies – Clear out dead leaves and stems. In small or medium sized ponds remove plants from water every two or three years, and cut back plants to the heart or reject the thick old plant and pot up one or more of the new

young plants that have formed.

Xanthostemon, myrtle – Trim to shape.

Yucas – Trim to shape and height. Remove dead flowered stems and leaves from stems if you want to see the trunks. Cut off the dangerous spiky leaf ends on the varieties that have hard tiff versus soft floppy leaves.

Zantedeschia, water arum lily – Remove any dead or dying leaves and brown flowered stems.

Having cut back plants strim them for the compost heap or bag up for the weekly garden collection or take them to the nearest Eco park or green bins. Where possible avoid the pollution of a bonfire.

Recently much of the coastal plain has been an unsightly and unhealthy continuous cloud from agricultural bonfires. It used to happen in urbanisations! Luckily this is now largely banned or strictly controlled. (c) Dick Handscombe www.gardenspain.com Facebook – ‘Gardening in Spain – Handscombe’ February 2016

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Rosie suffers from anxiety, she doesn’t like change

PETS PAGE www.euroweeklynews.com

Adding new cats Rosie – by Florian Schumann

WILL those already in your care accept them?

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

ROSIE: Behaviour is erratic if she thinks her owner is leaving.

Having a housesitter can be a win win for pet owners and the sitters. To find a pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com or call Lamia on +44 (0)1865521508 SOME cats get a little anxious. They don’t like change in their home environment, this can make leaving them even for a short holiday a little difficult.

Rosi e i s su c h a c a t , th e minute she sees a suitcase appear, o r c l o t h e s b e in g arranged ready for packing, she w i l l st o p e a t i n g a n d look fo r l o r n . Gi l l i a n h e r owner says that her behaviour ca n b e c o m e e r ratic with dramatic gestures to physically demonstrate she is not happy.

If a suitcase is left open on the bed she will move into the c a se a n d sl e e p fo r hours. If the boycotting of the packing has no effect she will show a physical ailment, like a sore leg that is dragged across the floor as

you watch. The eating cessation can also have a detrimental effect, within a day s h e b ec o mes lis tle s s a nd withdrawn.

One previous experience in kennels led to Rosie losin g a lo t o f w eig h t w h ile Gillian was away.

L a s t y e a r G illia n trie d inviting house-sitters into her home a day or so before th e s u itc a s e w a s u s e d for packing, with the goal of h a v in g th e m lo o k afte r Rosie in her own home to minimise disruption while she went away on holiday.

It worked.

This distraction alone reduced the forlorn behaviour Rosie would normally exhibit. And she continued to ea t an d d rin k w h ile h e r owner was absent.

YOUR responsibility should be primarily for the cat or cats already in your care.

Think hard before asking a very elderly cat to put up with a new companion.

Kittens may be accepted better than an adult cat, but kittens often pounce on and pester old cats. Some old cats will mother a kitten, others definitely won’t!

A very energetic kitten can make an old cat’s life a misery.

It can take months and months for harmony and sometimes the cats will never be friends. An introduction takes at least a month, don’t hurry it. The more slowly you do it, the more likely it will work out OK. Cats which are used to a multi-cat household will be less upset than a cat which has lived alone. Get a kitten from a cat shelter, which will promise to take it back if the introduction really doesn’t work out. A male female mix is proba-

INTRODUCTION: It can take months and months for harmony.

bly better than all female.

Be careful about accepting the local stray into your home. Ask yourself if an existing cat should have to put up with a former stray, who may bully her or him.

Also think about checking for FIV, the cats Aids equivalent, before final acceptance. In the case of a stray cat, you can feed it, and then when it is tame enough find it a new home through the local rescue centre.

The introduction The best way to introduce a new cat is to give it an indoor pen with food, litter etc. If you can’t borrow or buy one, give the new cat its own room, so that it feels it has safe territory. Shut doors, windows, and block chimneys before letting it out.

If possible retreat holes like a covered cardboard box with entrance hole, or a cage/den. Put familiar toys (if available), feeding bowls etc in the room. Put a litter tray in the room. You can’t expect a cat to go outside in the first few days, and if you let it, you may not see it again.

Mix the smells. From the point of view of a cat, anything which smells strange is an intruder. Give the new cat something to sleep on which smells of the old cat, then vice versa.

Use the same grooming tools on both cats. Pet one, then go to next room and pet the other. Transfer used litter from the new cat tray to the old cat’s tray and vice versa to mix smells.

Winter warmers WHILE the wintry temperatures in sunny Spain might not plumme t to the ic y depths of the Scottish highlands, there has been a definite c old s na p a c ros s the country, and there’s never a

good time to be complacent when it comes to the health of your pets.

The cold can kill animals with surprising ease, so it’s a good idea to take proper precautions over the next month or two.

Smaller animals such as rabbits are more prone to the thre a t a s he a t le a ve s their body much quicker.

If you have a rabbit hutch you can take the forwardthinking step of insulating it, or even consider bringing it inside if the cold really bites.

Keep your eyes on newborn animals with pups and

kittens, potentially wriggling free of their mothers watchful gaze and finding themselves at the foot of a frosty garden.

I f you f i nd t hem t her e bring them into a warm and cosy environment immediat el y, and i f t hey don’t warm up quickly, take them to the vet.

Don’t go over boar d though, and exercise caution when applying direct heat. Electric heaters and hot water bottles can scald, so drape your pet in layers of towels to simultaneously heat t hem up and pr ot ect them.

Pot for pets THE health benefits of cannabis are widely recognised by medical professionals, with the cannabidiol (CBD) compound frequently advised for pain relief and as an anti-inflammatory.

Now there are companies devoted to providing products for animals to relieve painful ailments.

Hemp-based edibles, treats and capsules are growing in popularity, albeit with restricted advertising.

Unsurprisingly, given the recent marijuana revolution in the US, it is now at the forefront of pet usage of CBD.

BOATS

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Ocea Nemo 44 concept revealed, will combine comfort with speed FIRST Sport Utility Yacht produced which is aimed at the Superyacht owner

By John Smith ALDO MANNA, founder and CEO of MC Yacht & Co International had the idea of producing a Sport Utility Yacht and explained “More than 20 years spent dealing with yachts, brought me recently to the following conclusions: owners of 100 plus feet vessels are treating their boats as luxury hotels, pampered with all comforts, but nevertheless somehow slightly bored, the way they stay on board.

“Even when they drop anchor in a beautiful bay, they often perceive the lack of contact with sea and few chances of spending time, doing all those activities which made them love yachts.

“Therefore I imagined a boat

OCEA NEMO 44: A sleek sporty model with all the luxuries of a much bigger vessel.

Jesus Renedo/Sailing Energy/World Sailing

Local girl competes in Sailing World Cup Regattas

SPANISH PAIR: At the Sailing World Cup in Miami.

MALLORCAN Marina Gallego from the Club Nautic in Sa Rapita and Fatima Reyes from Murcia finished in fourth position at the 2016 Sailing World Cup Regattas in Miami, Florida.

The duo competed in the Women’s 470

event and finished with 49 points, just behind the team from Brazil. More than 780 athletes from around the world competed in the events held over the course of five days (January 2530).

capable to offer all of the superyacht cosiness, combined with an extensive range of amenities and the very best in terms of good life on the water.”

He then invited naval architect Fulvio de Simoni to take the concept to the design stage to create an all-around seafarer boat, able to sail in deep waters with comforts and luxury, but still in extensive and close touch with water and sea-life.

The resulting design shows a sleek sporty model with all of the luxuries expected from a much bigger vessel. Once the Ocea Nemo 44 goes into production, the pair will also be investigating the concept of producing a range of different sized ‘SUY’s from 38 to 65 metres.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Has generated €274 million in its three editions.

President shows support for further Volvo races PRESIDENT of the Valencia Government, Ximo Puig, has expressed his support for the Volvo Ocean Race to continue being launched from the port of Alicante.

Speaking in a meeting with the board of the Valencian Business Association, Puig recalled the start of the round the world yacht race has been positive for Alicante and the region, since it hosted the first race launch in 2008.

Alicante is being used in 2017 for the next edition but Lisbon and Dubai have also placed bids to host the event.

Puig's comments of support come after Minister of Finance Vicent Soler, warned that the race editions cost the Regional

Government and in the current economic situation, the government had other priorities and needed to find more sponsors to provide funds for the race.

“Now more than ever it is time to optimise resources and efficiently manage what we have.”

Soler added that for the 2017 edition they must try “to reduce costs as far as possible and increase revenue by sponsoring.”

Earlier this month it was reported that the Volvo Ocean Race had generated €274 million in its three editions.

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A legend LEGENDARY racing driver and board member at Laurin & Klement, Graf Alexander Joseph Kolowrat-Krakowsky, was born 130 years ago on January 29.

He made a huge contribution to the development of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s largest automobile manufacturer as well as his sporting successes.

A milestone SKODA have manufactured their 18,000,000th vehicle, a huge milestone in the Czech firm’s 111-year-old history.

With CEO Bernhard Maier in attendance, a Skoda Superb Combi rolled off the assembly line on January 22 at the Kvasiny plant. The plant is undergoing the largest modernisation in its history.

Over the coming years, the production capacity of the East Bohemian site will increase to 280,000 vehicles per year.

Clarkson Quote of theWeek

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On the Jaguar S-Type Concept Car: “If that car comes out like that, then I will cut my left leg off and beat myself to death with it.”

Some might say...

Meet the new Porsche Boxster NEW models incorporate defining four-cylinder flat engines

by Matthew Elliott CONTINUING the tradition of the four-cylinder flat engines used in its legendary 1950’s mid-engine sports cars, winning races including Targa Florio and Le Mans, Porsche is restructuring its mid-engine roadsters with a new generation 718 Boxster and 718 Boxster S. The news comes 20 years after the original Boxster made its debut, and the new model series will see a fourcylinder flat engine with

turbo-charging. The 718 Boxster develops 220 kW (300hp) of power from two litres of engine displacement, with the S model attaining 257 kW (350hp) from 2.5 litres displacement.

The Boxster S also uses variable turbine geometry (VTG) technology, making Porsche the only manufacturer to offer VTG in production cars with petrol driven engines. Both models offer fuel economy improvements of 13 per cent.

The completely new chassis tuning and stronger brakes provide for passionate and sporty

driving pleasure. The design of the new model line was also comprehensively advanced.

The vehicle was completely revised except for the luggage compartment lids, the windscreen and the convertible top. Inside, a newly designed dash panel frames the cockpit. In addition, the latest generation of Porsche Communication Management (PCM) with a state-ofthe-art touchscreen is included as standard. The navigation module is available as an option.

The launch of the new

718 Boxster generation represents the first time since the late 1960s that Porsche is again implementing sports cars with four-cylinder flat engines.

Turbocharging significantly boosts torque. The two-litre engine of the 718 Boxster has a maximum torque of 380 Newton metres, which is available from 1,950 rpm to 4,500 rpm.

The market launch of the new mid-engine sports car begins on April 30 in Europe. Pricing starts at €53,646 in Germany, and the 718 Boxster S from €66,141.

NEW CAR: Porsche’s new 718 Boxster.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PORSCHE

Renault shine at the FAI THE 2016 International Automobile Festival awards are in, and amid the dazzling display of innovation and sleek design, the Renault

Talisman stole the show, easily picking up the ‘Most Beautiful Car of the Year ’ award.

A touch of Hollywood was

in the air as the ‘Make Your Time Great’ campaign advert for Renault Espace, starring Kevin Spacey, won the Grand Prix for best advertis-

ing film.

Laurens van der Acker also won the Design Grand Prix with Renault SVP at the 31st edition of the Festival

Automobile International (FAI).

“I would like to thank all those who voted on the internet for the Renault Talisman, our new large D-segment saloon. The Talisman combines bold, muscular lines that are coherent with Renault’s new brand identity with a unique, unprecedented driving experience thanks to our multisense and 4Control technologies.

“Renault is the only manufacturer to offer these technologies at this level of range,” said Michael van der Sande, Renault’s Senior Vice President, Marketing.

Featuring advanced technologies, including the multi-sense system that offers drivers a selection of five different modes, and the 4Control System that combines four-wheel steering with electronic damping.

On the design front 2015 was an exciting year for Renault which saw the highly-

anticipated launches of the new Espace, the Kadjar, Talisman and Megane, all acclaimed for their exterior styling. It comes as part of a new initiative to focus on design enhancement across the range.

“Awards like this encourage us to continue to pursue our design strategy. Our brand signature, ‘Passion for Life’, mirrors the shift in Renault’s design thinking which was introduced in 2012.

“I would like to thank the jury for honouring me with the Design Grand Prix. It’s an honour I share with my teams, product managers and engineers. Together, it is these people who help to turn our dreams into reality for Renault customers,” said Laurens van den Acker.

Finishing up on Sunday, the FAI showed a vast array of concept cars at the Hotel National des Invalides in Paris, with the display open to the general public.

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SPORT

‘Angie’, Novak, Bruno, Jamie and Gordon - all champions down under ANDY MURRAY lost the Australian Open final in straight sets Tony Matthews International Sports A former player and now the world’s most prolific author of football books with almost 150 published since 1975, Tony is also the sports correspondent for Spectrum Radio and lives on La Pilica in the Sierra Cabrera Mountains overlooking Turre.

Costa de Almeria

FOOTBALL • No major shocks in the 4th round of the FA Cup, but all credit to Shrewsbury who beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 with a 97th minute winner, and Peterborough who drew 2-2 at PL WBA. The pick of the other ties saw holders Arsenal beat Burnley 2-1, Chelsea hammer MK Dons 5-1, Everton win 30 at Carlisle, Manchester City trounce Aston Villa 4-0, Manchester United beat Derby 3-1, Tottenham win 4-1 at Colchester and Liverpool draw 2-2 with West Ham. • The 5th round draw is: Arsenal v Hull, Blackburn v Liverpool or West Ham, Chelsea v Manchester City, Reading v WBA or Peterborough, Shrewsbury v Manchester United, Tottenham v Crystal Palace and Watford v Leeds.

• Barcelona beat nine-man Atletico Madrid 2-1 to stay clear on top of La Liga as Real Madrid smashed Espanyol 60. The Milan derby ended 3-0 to AC over Inter at the San Siro.

• After 10 Premiership games earlier this week, there are 10 more this weekend including Manchester CityLeicester (Saturday) before we revert back next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, to competitive European action.

• The 2016 League Cup final between Liverpool and

Manchester City is on February 28, while in Scotland’s equivalent, Ross County (after ousting Celtic) will play Hibernian on March 13.

• Five red and nine yellow cards were brandished when River Plate beat Boca Juniors 1-0 in Argentina.

Boca finished with eight men.

• Stuart Pearce (53) comes out of retirement on Saturday to play for Gloucestershire team AFC Longford, who have lost all 18 matches this season, scoring one goal and conceding 179.

• Last weekend Wycombe’s goalkeeper Barry Richardson (aged 46) came on as a ‘sub’, and kept his first clean sheet for 11 years in a 1-0 win at Plymouth.

• Former Welsh international Rob Earnshaw has retired, so too has Manchester United’s ex-defender Nemanja Vidic.

• The transfer window closed on Monday and no doubt several players found new clubs…105 took place during the 2015 ‘window’.

CRICKET • Although beaten by 270 runs in the final Test in South Africa, England still won the series 2-1. The ODI series started yesterday in Bloemfontein with four more following in Port Elizabeth (Feb 6), Centurion (Feb 9), Johannesburg (Feb 12) and Cape Town (Feb 14).

• India (200-3) beat Australia (197-5) to clinch the T20 series 3-0 and now head the T20 rankings.

• England’s Stuart Broad is now the top bowler in world

SIX NATIONS: Tournament starts this weekend. cricket, ahead of Indian Ravi Ashwin.

• West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul has retired, having scored 11,867 runs in 164 Tests.

• And ex-Warwickshire bowler Jack Bannister, 1,198 wickets in 374 matches, 195068 including a best return of 10-41, has died, aged 85.

TENNIS • The first Grand Slam of 2016 in

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Won Australian Open final in straight sets.

Australia saw Andy Murray crushed in straight sets by the imperious Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles final, while Germany’s Angelique Kerber denied Serena Williams a 22nd title by winning the women’s final.

Kerber is Germany’s first Grand Slam champion this century, while for Andy Murray it was a record fifth defeat in the Aussie final, as Djokovic equalled Roy Emerson’s record of six Melbourne victories with his 11th Grand Slam title overall.

• Jamie Murray (GB) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) won the men’s doubles and Gordon Reid (GB) took the men’s wheelchair gold.

• Earlier, Johanna Konta had become the first Brit to reach a women’s Grand

Slam semi-final for 33 years.

• And Andy and Jamie Murray became the first siblings to reach different finals in a major Grand Slam tournament.

GOLF • The first tournament of the year, the Abu Dhabi Championship, was won by Ricky Fowler (USA), Thomas Pieters (Belgium) was second and Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson (Sweden) joint third.

RUGBY UNION • The Six Nations Tournament starts this weekend with FranceItaly and ScotlandEngland on Saturday, followed by IrelandWales on Sunday.

• The European Champions Cup quarter-final draw is: LeicesterStade Francais, Racing 92-Toulon, SaracensNorthampton and WaspsExeter. The final is in Lyon in May. • French club Toulon want to join Perpignan-based Catalan Dragons in the UK Aviva PL.

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PEP GUARDIOLA: The Barcelona legend will be the new manager of Manchester City next season.

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Baleares U16 and U18 prepare for Territorial Championships Lynda Demangeat Baleares Senior League AFT E R t h e i r v i c t o ry b y 2 5 points to five over Bahia RC in S’Arraco at the weekend, El Toro RC have crept ahead to the top of the Baleares Senior League and are leading by just one point.

The final score does not reflect the fight that Bahia RC put up on their home ground in a fast moving and exciting match.

Other scores in the men’s senior league was a win for Ibiza RFC who played hosts to the Corsaris / Dimonis combined team, by 41 points to 23 and RC Ponent who beat TRUC Menorca by 37 points to 10.

Shamrock RFC, who were on a rest weekend, made the most of an opportunity to get in some match practice in a friendly game against CE Escolar in Capdepera.

younger players. There was lots of action and excitement as the teams played in their age groups. As always there was plenty of sideline support and encouragement from coaches and parents.

RUGBY SCRUM: Bahia RC put up a fight on their home ground in a fast-moving, exciting match.

U16 League Teams from Mallorca Bocs, RC Ponent, Dimonis RC and Agora

Portals CE headed to Capdepera for a series of matches in their league.

Rugby Day in Son Caliu E l To r o R C w a s i n c h a rg e o f the successful day for the

Coming up next week In the men’s Senior League El Toro RC play visiting team Ibiza RFC i n t hei r post poned m at ch from the first part of the season.

TRUC Menorca play Shamrock RFC. Shamrock RFC are hosts for the next leg of the Girls 7’s League for teams from El Toro RC, Corsar i s RFC, Bahi a RC and of course their own team.

The U18 and U16 Bal ear es teams head off to the Territorial Championships in Merida, Extremadura.