Euro Weekly News - Mallorca 18 - 24 February 2016 Issue 1598 by Euro Weekly News Media S.A.

ISSUE NO. 1598

18 - 24 February 2016

MALLORCA

YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION

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As the vote approaches By John Smith CONSIDERING the belligerent position that the acting Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo has taken with regards to Gibraltar, his positive comments on Britain and the EU following a meeting with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on February 15 have come as something of a surprise. In simple terms, he concedes that both Spain and the EU would be worse off with Britain

leaving the Union than if it remains following a number of changes to its terms of membership. It is very important to the British government that it obtains as much support for its proposals before the European Summit due to take place on February 18 and 19, when leaders of the member states will debate the reforms demanded by Britain to stay in the European Community. Understandably, there is an element of self-interest in the

Photo Credit United Nations

SPAIN supports the British government’s proposal to leave the European Union

Spanish comments as their economy is massively helped

by the influx of British tourists, and there are an estimated

200,000 Spaniards living and working in Britain. It seems to some extent a rather strange situation when an acting government, which is likely to be either thrown out or will have to stand in new elections in June, is able to make such a far-reaching decision, but as the Spanish acting government is making such positive noises there is no doubt the British will be happy with the position they are taking. Clearly the next few days are going to be pivotal in the future

of Britain and its membership of the EU, as if the Cameron proposals are rejected, there is no guarantee that the conservative party will even recommend a ‘remain’ vote when the referendum does takes place. Turn to Page 2

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LOCAL NEWS

Marina Club Maritim Molinar THE Palma City Council has ordered the directors of the Club Maritim Molinar to d o u rg e n t r e p a ir work to the structure of their ma i n o ff i c e d u e to

safety concerns. A rep o rt is s u e d b y th e building security departmen t w a rn ed th a t th e building is at risk of collapsing.

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Inadequate cover for drought costs TENSIONS rising between Mallorcan farmers and the government By 3268zauber on wikimedia commons

By Sandra Galo

New key technology INGENIO73, a company in Mallorca, has developed an innovative app for the smartphone which serves as an electronic key. The I-Key allows owners and administrators of holiday properties to control the access of guests and staff without being present themselves. I-Key was presented last week at the Real Club Nautico in Palma.

Cameron plan From front page Equally, it is possible that no final agreement or refusal of the Cameron plan will be the result of the meetings taking place over the next few

days, but all UK passport holders who are entitled to vote in the referendum when it eventually comes should act as quickly as possible to at least ensure that they are registered.

TENSIONS are rising between Mallorcan farmers and the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, because of lack of aid to combat problems associated with the drought. Farmers have expressed disappointment in the government’s handling of the drought situation, claiming that the €1.5 million of government aid is inadequate to cover costs for alternative solutions to compensate for the loss of grazing lands. General Secretary of the Farmer’s Union Biel Torrens said the amount offered by the government was totally insufficient and would not even cover a minimum of the additional costs facing farmers. The agricultural association Asaja believes the government should take on 50 per cent of the cost of feeding the livestock, which would equal between €4 million and €5 million.

LIVESTOCK: There is a lack of grazing lands due to the drought.

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Your papers, your views

Featured News 3

Finance 31 - 30

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Season starts early with arrival of holidaymakers JET2 has become the first tour operator to offer weekend breaks flickr by Karl Baron

Stocks 24

Leapy Lee 31

Daily TV 34

Letters 36

Vicki McLeod 38

Time Out 39 - 42

Our View 44 NEW ARRIVALS: Tourists arrive at Son Sant Joan Airport in Palma.

Colin Bird 44

Health & Beauty 46 - 47

Social Scene 50 - 51

Property 52 - 53

Legally Speaking 54

Homes & Gardens 55

Classifieds 56 - 57

Pets 58

Boats 59

Motoring 60

Sport 62, 64

By Sandra Galo THE first British tourists of the season arrived in Mallorca last Thursday (February 11). The group, flying in from Manchester with Jet2 holidays, was the first to come for organised city-break weekends. This marks the start of the season which is more than

two and a half months earlier than last year due in great part to the cancellation of flights to Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia, which has resulted in a higher demand in the UK for holidays in Mallorca. The Mallorcan Hotelier â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Federation considered their arrival significant because it was the first time British holi-

daymakers have come to Palma on organised city-break weekends and their arrival marked an early start to the 2016 tourist season. Jet2 has become the first tour operator in the UK to offer city-break weekend holidays of three or four days. El Corte Ingles took part in welcoming the holidaymakers

and said that the short-break tourist market is good news for businesses on the island and because of the strong pound sterling, the British have become important customers for the retail sector in Palma. Jet2 will operate more than 80 weekly flights to Palma this summer.

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Calvia says goodbye to its floating waterparks MOTION calls for a review of records pertaining to the installation CALVIA has approved a motion to remove floating waterparks from beaches in its jurisdiction.Â The proposal made by Esquerra Oberta (Open Left) was unanimously agreed upon by all the parties represented at Calviaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full council meeting. The beaches in question are Oratori in Portals, Santa Ponsa, Magalluf, Son Maties, Palmanova, Es Carregador, Tora and Palmira. The motion calls for the administration to review contracts and records pertaining to the installation of the floating waterparks to check their suitability and to remove those failing to meet all requirements. Rafel Sedano, spokesperson for Esquerra Oberta, argued that installations at various beaches in 2014, although complying with the legal requirements, were excessive and that according to what had been written, could be in conflict with regulations governing areas included within the Natura 2000 network for the conservation of natural heritage.

flickr by Paul Kobayashi

By Sandra Galo

FLOATING PARKS: Numbers are to be reduced.

Increased freight shipping in the Balearic ports means an upturn in economic activity THE Balearic Port Authority (APB) registered more than 13 million tons of freight shipping in 2015. These statistics recently published by the APB represent a 6 per cent increase compared to 2014 and show a rebound of economic activity in the Balearic islands returning it to pre-recession levels recorded eight years ago.

The Port of Palma showed an increase of 7 per cent and 8.3 tonnes of freight. In Alcudia, the increase was at 3 per cent with more than a million and a half tonnes. Since 99 per cent of goods entering or leaving the islands go through one of the five ports under the APB, the statistics are a good indicator of economic activity in the islands.

Palma ranks 4th for tourist profitability and employment A REPORT released by Exceltur, the alliance for touristic excellence in Spain, puts Palma in fourth position for growth in financial performance and employment in 2015. The report identifies holiday destinations as paving the way for increased profitability with 11.5 per cent corresponding to

accomodation revenue and a 5.4 per cent rise in employment with much of the increase accredited to tourist-related businesses. The revenue increase is due to increased occupancy as well as higher prices. Barcelona took first place for tourist socioeconomic profitability with San

Sebastian in second, Cadiz in the third spot and Palma in fourth position. Exceltur is a non-profit group composed of the chairmen of leading tourist organisations in Spain from sectors including airlines, cruises, hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, credit cards and rent-a-cars.

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Photo credit: flickr by MÂŞAngeles.

WOODLANDS: Danger of forest fires.

Concerns over fires in Sa Comuna area ONE of Felanitxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important green zones By Sandra Galo CONDITIONS in the area of Sa Comuna in Felanitx are forcing action to be taken against forest fires. Sa Comuna is one of Felanitxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important green zones and now, because of excess woodland and drought conditions, the area has turned into a potential fire hazard for the summer.

The preservation of this area and reducing the risk of fire are issues that concern councillor for the Environment Colau Barcelo who has taken measures to prevent forest fires in the area. Barcelo plans to take steps along with the department of Natural Spaces and Biodiversity against possible destruction of the woodland. The first step to be taken will be to clean up the roads. Firebreaks would then be created in case of a fire.

NEWS

Beds added to Verge de la Salut hospital SON ESPASES hospital has put 29 beds in the adjoining Verge de la Salut hospital for patients admitted to the centre for an average stay. The objective of this measure is for patients to be cared for more effectively and at the same time, to free bed space in Son Espases for more seriously ill patients. The beds will be managed by Son Espases but will also be available for patients from Son Llatzer hospital. Verge de la Salut will continue to handle outpatient surgeries. Twenty professionals have been hired to be able to offer this new service including eight nurses, eight nursing assistants, two guards and two cleaners.

Service businesses grew during the crisis THE number of service-rela te d bus ine s s e s in the Balearic Islands increased

during the crisis in contrast to a decrease of businesses in the industry and building

sectors. Over al l , t he num ber of businesses operating in the Balearics has gone down in the last seven years representing a drop of more than 6 per cent. According to the National Institute of Statistics, more than 87,000 companies were registered on January 1, 2015. This number is down f r om m or e t han 93,000 companies which were operating in 2008. Last year, the first upturn of Balearic businesses was observed since the crisis began with 3.4 per cent more businesses compared to 2014. Si nce 2008, m or e t han 2,000 shops and ar ound 1,000 f ood and bever age com pani es went under i n the islands. However, lodgi ng, whi ch i ncl udes bot h hotels and regulated holiday rentals has increased moderately.

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NEWS

Open doors offers free weekly guided tours LEARN about the history, furniture and its decoration By Sandra Galo THE Palma Town Hall has launched an ‘Open Doors’ programme with a free guided tour of the building’s main area. The weekly tour will continue to be offered free of charge each Sunday. Mayor of Palma Jose Hila, who was present for the first tour, explained that the reason for this initiative is so that residents as well as tourists get to know the town hall. He said that for him, the building not only represents the institution and democracy, it also has historical and cultural value. ‘Open Doors’ was considered by the town council to be a success with more than 60 people in attendance. The tour was led by Joan Avellaneda who gave information about the building including its history,

flickr by Andrew Stopford

PALMA TOWN HALL: Free tours to be offered every Sunday. the origins of the furniture, the decoration and the rooms that form part of the building.

To be able to attend, it is necessary to sign up in advance by phoning or sending a message

to visites@palma.cat. Tours are at 11am and 12pm and can be given in English with notice.

Elderly German man brutally beaten in his Manacor home NATIONAL POLICE officers are investigating a brutal attack on a 70-year-old German man in his home in the vicinity of Manacor. The attack occurred in the early hours of Monday morning (February 15) at the man’s house on the outskirts of Manacor near the motorway joining Manacor and Felanitx. Two men broke into his home with the intention of

robbing him. The man confronted them and, in an attempt to defend his property, grabbed a vase and threw it into the face of one of the assailants. The robbers responded by attacking the elderly man and brutally beating him. The man was taken by ambulance to Manacor Hospital with a broken jaw, some bleeding wounds and bruises all over his body.

World Radio Day is celebrated in Palma THE Association of Journalists of the Balearic Islands (APIB) joined with others around the globe on Saturday February 13 in celebrating World Radio Day. World Radio Day celebrates radio as a medium, strengthens international cooperation between broadcasters and encourages networks and the community radio to promote access to information and freedom of expression and equality.

APIB explained that because of its immediacy and accessibility, radio is an essential means of communication in modern societies and still remains the medium that reaches the widest audience in the shortest time. The association applauded this thriving medium in Spain which boasts an audience of more than 23 million each day with more than 40,000 daily listeners in the Balearics alone.

Since 2000, radio has had a steady audience growth reaching up to 60 per cent in 2015. The theme of this year’s World Radio Day was ‘Radio in Times of Emergency and Disaster.’ The intention was to highlight the role of radio in times of emergency and disaster including freedom of expression and journalists’ safety, its part in educating the community in times of disaster, and how radio helps to save lives.

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Ex-councillor pleads guilty to corruption THE former councillor of Tourism in the Balearic Islands has pleaded guilty to

charges against him. Francesc Buils along with ex-president of the Unio Mal-

lorquina political party Miquel Angel Flaquer and Eugenio Losada, former manager of the Consortium of Information and Communication Technologies in Mallorca, have all pleaded guilty to charges of rigging a competition for the implantation of a technical system for tourist information which proved to be useless. They diverted €95,000 to the Minser Company and collected €34,000 in commissions. The three reached an agreement with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor in which they admitted to corruption, fraud and bribery charges. Buils, who is already serving time in prison for corruption, has now been sentenced to 11 months. Flaquer’s nine month sentence will be replaced by a fine of €5,400 and Losada will pay €3,000 in lieu of five months imprisonment.

NEWS

Long surgery waiting time NO patient should have to wait more than six months flickr by Nevada Medicine

By Sandra Galo PATIENTS with the longest waiting time in the Balearic public health system are those needing the services of orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmology, dermatology and otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat specialists). The conditions treated by these departments are, according to Francisco Carceles, coordinator of waiting lists for public health services in the Balearic Islands, considered the most common types of diseases. He added that as the island has an aging population, chronic conditions needing treatment increase. Carceles said that the ob-

HEALTH SYSTEM: Long waiting times for surgery. jective of the current administration is that no patient should have to wait more than six months for surgery and no more than 60 days for a consultation with a specialist. As of December 31 of last

year, more than 2,000 patients were on the waiting list for cataract surgery, around 440 were waiting for knee replacement surgery with hundreds more awaiting other types of procedures.

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Fundraising efforts for World Kidney Day WORLD KIDNEY DAY takes place on March 10, which this year focuses on the important theme of Kidney Disease and Children - Act Early to Prevent It. Specsavers Opticas stores in Spain have announced they are getting behind this event and will be raising money and distributing information about the cause from February 15 until March 15. The global optical brand have been inspired to support this important cause, after Mar-

tin Blake, the director of Specsavers Opticas in Mallorca, came to the rescue of his brother-in-law and donated a kidney in March 2015. His brother-inlaw was seriously ill, receiving dialysis at the hospital for seven hours, five times a week whilst he waited for a donor and became weaker. The waiting list for kidneys in the UK is over four years and the doctors didn’t think he had that long to live. Martin bravely put himself forward as a donor and since the transplant his

brother-in-law is responding very well. Throughout 2015 Martin and his team have been raising money for Kidney Research and to date have collected €1,300 for this worthy cause. All the other stores were so impressed by his sacrifice and commitment, they have also got behind Kidney Research and will be raising money for the Spanish kidney research charity ALCER in the run up to World Kidney Day. Martin said, “It was amazing to be able to save a life by becoming an organ donor and seeing the difference it has made to my brother-in-law’s life has been wonderful. “However, we’re aware that on average a kidney transplant only lasts 10-15 years and then this cycle could start again if new treatments or cures haven’t been discovered. This is why I am now raising money to fund further research.”

NEWS

Problems gather in park for dogs ANIMALS end up with cuts on their paws

DOG PARK: Council is assessing all of the areas to see how they can be improved. By Sandra Galo DOG owners have complained about the bad condition of the canine area of Sa Riera Park. The area where dogs can run free without being on a lead is covered in debris and broken glass. The dog owners say that the animals can’t run around because they end up with damaged claws and cuts on their paws.

They are criticising the administration for not solving the problem saying that more people would take their dogs to the park if the area was well looked after. Councillor for Animal Welfare Neus Truyal said that the current administration’s focus is on quality rather than quantity and she assured the pet lovers that the City Council is assessing all of the canine areas to see how they can be improved.

OPINION & COMMENT

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The euro takes second place Commentary by Moneycorp EUR weekly currency update Some would call it paranoia, some an overreaction, but all would agree that financial markets are in a heightened state of anxiety. Paradoxically, one cause of the nervousness is low and negative interest rates. Until recently they were seen as a positive, stimulating appetite for ‘risky’ assets. Now, they are perceived as a sign of central banks’ impotence and investors are running scared. For a second week the Japanese yen was the biggest beneficiary of the turbulence and this time the euro took second place, adding one US cent, strengthening by two cents against sterling. The euro’s status as a safe haven currency outweighed some fairly ropey economic data from Germany. Factory orders were down by a monthly -0.7%, industrial production fell -1.2% and both imports and exports declined by -1.6% in December. The only pan-Euroland ecostat was for investor confidence which, unsurprisingly, softened by three and a half points to 6.0.

USD weekly currency update Some would call it paranoia, some an overreaction, but all would agree that financial markets are in a heightened state of anxiety. Paradoxically, one cause of the nervousness is low and negative interest rates. Until recently they were seen as a positive, stimulating appetite for "risky" assets. Now, they are perceived as a sign of central banks' impotence and investors are running scared. Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen stoked that concern on Wednesday when she as good as admitted that US interest rates might not, after all, be heading higher this year. Having strengthened last Friday on news that US unemployment had fallen to an eight-year low, the dollar retreated following Ms Yellen's testimony to Congress. On the week it was down by a cent against the euro and nearly a cent firmer against the benighted pound. CAD weekly currency update Some would call it paranoia, some an overre-

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 action, but all would agree that financial markets are in a heightened state of anxiety. Paradoxically, one cause of the nervousness is low and negative interest rates. Until recently they were seen as a positive, stimulating appetite for ‘risky’ assets. Now, they are perceived as a sign of central banks’ impotence and investors are running scared. Although investors agree that the safehaven Japanese yen and euro are good places to stash their cash, there is no such agreement

about the supposedly risky commodity currencies. The Canadian and Australian dollars lost ground over the week. The Loonie’s case was not helped by last Friday’s Canadian employment data, which showed an uptick in unemployment to 7.2%, or by an 11-year low for oil. It came away with a weekly loss of one US cent and was down by a cent and a half against sterling. AUD weekly currency update Some would call it paranoia, some an overreaction, but all would agree that financial markets are in a heightened state of anxiety. One cause is low and negative interest rates. The Australian and Canadian dollars lost ground over the week. The Aussie’s suffering was exacerbated by weak retail sales in December and by the Reserve Bank of Australia governor’s warning that he had the ‘flexibility to ease [monetary policy] further.’ It lost three quarters of a US cent on the week and was down by a cent against sterling.

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NEWS

Reservoirs welcome much-needed rain RAINFALL was considerably less in some other areas of the island By Sandra Galo WINTER has finally arrived in Mallorca and with it, desperately-needed rain. The rain means that February has made a turnaround and has now become wetter than normal. This is particularly good news for the reservoirs with Gorg Blau having recovered 59 centimetres and Cuber, 25 centimetres. Rainfall on Monday February 15 was heaviest in the mountains with 94 litres per square metre at Lluc and with Escorca registering 86 litres per square metre. The amount of rainfall was considerably less, however, in other areas. Son Servera, for example, only saw 11 litres per square metre.

flickr by Fáblo Petry

RAINFALL: Was heaviest in the mountain areas.

Faculty of Medicine in Palma BALEARIC President Francina Armengol has stipulated that for the urgent establishment of a Faculty of Medicine, the creation of a private university has been proposed. She further added in response to a question by Jaume Font from El PI that an extension for places in the Department of Medicine would mean ‘missing this historic train’ which they wouldn’t be able to catch again if

they didn’t act quickly. Font responded that without these studies the Isispa (Health Research Institute of Palma) would not be able to obtain accreditation and would lose access to investigation projects. The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) is expected to give the green light to the creation of the Faculty of Medicine that will be put in motion for the next school year.

Officers search Little’s flat for clues WARREN LITTLE, who last month confessed to strangling his wife, was released from prison on Monday February 15 to accompany officers searching his flat. The 50-year-old British ex-

patriate was taken to his apartment by officers of the Civil Guard so that he could be present during the search. Mr Little maintains the death was an accident resulting from a sex game gone wrong. Offi-

cers, however, could find no sex toy to confirm his story. According to legal sources, Little was taken there to try to confirm whether or not his version of events had any credibility.

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An Interpol impersonator is arrested By John Smith A BRITISH man was arrested in Palma by the National Police on February 16 after they received a tip-off that he was posing as an agent of Interpol from the UK and was supposedly undertaking investigations within Mallorca. When officers apprehended him and searched his premises they discovered that apart from a number of pieces of

clothing carrying the Interpol emblem he also had a collection of weapons including a baton, gas spray and hand cuffs, but appeared unable to justify his position or the reason for his activities. The un-named man who appeared to be in possession of counterfeit papers has been taken into custody under suspicion of assuming a fake identity whilst investigations continue.

NEWS EXTRA

Park plans THE Council of Mallorca’s Department of Environment plans to expand the Dragonera Nature Park to include a marine reserve to protect species and habitats in the waters surrounding the small island.

Eroski helps THE Eroski supermarket chain is donating €45,500 to 13 charitable organisations in the Balearics dedicated to helping children with problems. Measuring Smiles (Mide sonrisas) is the slogan for the campaign.

Gas birth

Bodies found near Sineu THE bodies of two men in their 40’s were discovered on Friday February 12 in a small house situated in the countryside between Sineu and Maria de la Salut. Preliminary investigations indicate that the two men had been dead for 12 days. Investigators had believed the cause of death to be food poisoning, but after a post mortem examination, they are looking into the possibility of a drug overdose.

INCA hospital will soon offer laughing gas to women giving birth as a method of reducing labour pain while allowing them to actively participate in the birthing process. This is used in most European countries already.

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Parents of bomb victims complain parent ‘total impunity’ that exists in the crime since Aitor Elizaran, who served as head of ETA for four years, was released from prison last month and allegedly is able to identify the perpetrators of the bombing which killed their sons.

More air passengers MORE than 613,000 passengers came through Palma’s airport in January. According to AENA, this is the highest number of the last four years and represents a rise of 8.6 per cent. This figure also helps to predicts a good year for tourism.

NEWS EXTRA Photo credit: flickr by 16:9clue

THE parents of two Guardia Civil officers killed by the terrorist group ETA in front of the Palmanova Civil Guard barracks in 2009 filed a complaint with the president of Spain’s High Court on February 12. They are protesting the ap-

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POTATOES: Sa Pobla potatoes will be exported earlier this year.

An early start for potatoes export EARLY crop is attributed to higher temperatures By Sandra Galo SA POBLA potatoes will be exported much earlier this year. Unlike other crops on the island, potato growers are benefiting from the unusually mild winter in Mallorca. The early crop is attributed to higher temperatures this winter and has resulted in an increase in price for the

first weeks of export. Joan Company, manager of the Esplet cooperative, called it a special situation with harvesting starting three weeks earlier than last year. Sa Pobla is expected to export up to 22,000 tons of potatoes with the UK being the first market to receive them. Other places to be served by Sa Pobla include Scandinavia, Germany and Poland among others.

Fire alert THE second fire in only one week in Albufera Natural Park has burned 1.05 hectares of land. The fire, reported at 11.30am on February 13, took about two hours to get under control.

Hiker lost FIREFIGHTERS came to the rescue of a foreigner lost while hiking in the Tramuntana mountain range last Saturday (February 13). Despite the fog and wind, emergency crews were able to rescue him in the area of Penyal del Migdia.

Sent to jail FOUR more of Palma’s Local Police officers have been sent to prison for allegedly extorting money and threatening businessmen involved in Mallorca’s nightlife. This brings the number of officers imprisoned for the corruption scandal up to 11.

Students participate in Forest Day MALLORCAN st udent s participated in a Forest Day t o cel ebr at e t he 10t h anni ver sar y of t he ‘ Ni un f uego en el bosque’ ( Not one fire in the forest) campaign. Around 400 students from Ar t a, Capdeper a, Sant Llorenç des Cardassar and Son Servera participated in the project in the area of Sa Duaia-Es Reco. The event was organised by the ‘Creciendo juntos’ (Growing together) educational programme. Students identified plants in the forest and participated in reforestation tasks. The programme, part of t he Red El ect r i ca For est Pr oj ect , wor ks t o r ai se awareness of the importance of conservation in forest areas.

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Set free from prison at last DUTCH national spent nearly 13 years imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit By Sandra Galo DUTCH national Romano Liberto Van Der Dussen who spent nearly 13 years imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, was released from a Palma prison on February 11. Spain’s Supreme Court acquitted Van der Dussen of one of the three charges against him. He had been accused of three counts of sexual aggression in Malaga in 2003. Mr Van Der Dussen denies committing the crimes. He had been moved to a prison in Palma to carry out his sentence because of concerns for his safety. Van Der Dussen said that this injustice had ‘messed up his life’ and he wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy and that it was ‘hell’ for him causing him to contemplate suicide on more than one occasion. The 43-year-old took his first steps of freedom accompanied by his lawyer and a representative from the Dutch Embassy stationed in Madrid. He told the awaiting press at the moment of his release that he remained im-

INJUSTICE: Questions arise concerning the justice system in Spain.

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NEWS EXTRA

It’s unfair DOZENS of protestors calling for dignified housing gathered in front of a central office of Bankia in Palma on Monday February 15 to protest against evictions and unfair mortgages.

First snow AFTER months of unusually high temperatures, the first snowfall of the year graced the top of the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range on Monday, February 15.

Taxi park

prisoned even though officials knew for nine years who the actual perpetrator was.

Mr Van Der Dussen said that he wants to remain in Palma for now and look for a job in the tourist sector of Mallorca

saying that he doesn’t want to return to Holland until he has completely cleared his name.

THE Neighbours Association of the Palma Cathedral district has filed a complaint about taxis parking in areas where residents are no longer permitted to park and are asking to be allowed to park there during night hours.

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FEATURE

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How best to negotiate roundabouts IF you are unsure about the correct way to negotiate roundabouts, here are some simple rules to help you enter and exit roundabouts safely and in the right lane. • APPROACHING ROUNDABOUTS It’s important to remember to give way to traffic already on the roundabout. If the roundabout is outside urban areas of towns or cities, keep right. If the roundabout is in a built-up area inside a town or city and the lanes are clearly marked, you should use the lane that best corresponds to the exit you need to take. • LEAVING ROUNDABOUTS This causes the most confusion amongst drivers. Which lane to choose? Why do I get beeped at if I’m in the right lane? Drivers must exit roundabouts from the right hand lane, because the only way to leave the roundabout is by turning right. This doesn’t mean we always have to enter the roundabout from the right hand lane. It depends on the exit we need to take. However this simple rule, in practice, can be more complex. Let us see some examples. • 1st EXIT RIGHT Enter roundabout keeping to right hand side lane. Stay in lane until exit is reached. Indicate and exit roundabout. • CONTINUING STRAIGHT ON (e.g. 2nd EXIT STRAIGHT AHEAD) Enter roundabout keeping to right hand side lane. Stay in lane until exit is reached. Indicate prior to exit and leave roundabout. • TURNING LEFT OR CHANGING DIRECTION (e.g. 3rd OR FINAL EXIT) Enter roundabout keeping to left hand side lane. Stay in lane until you have passed the exit before your turn off, then change lane by indicating right and giving other road users sufficient time to anticipate your manoeuvre. Don’t forget that drivers circulating in the outside lanes have priority, so use your mirrors to ensure you are not blocking them as you change lanes.

We hope the information provided in this article is of interest. If you would like to contact Línea Directa please call 902 123 309 More information on Línea Directa online at: www.lineadirecta.com

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EUROPEAN PRESS

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GERMAN PRESS

SCANDINAVIAN PRESS

Happy city SWEDEN: Malmö has been named Europe’s seventh happiest city, according to a new survey by the European Commission, with 60 per cent of respondents saying they are “very satisfied” with their quality of life.

Interest lowered SWEDEN: Central bank (the Riksbank) has cut the country’s already historically low interest rates even further with rates falling another 0.15 per cent to -0.50 per cent.

Carlsberg decline

Noel stalked online

River crash A MAN drove into the river Elbe after blindly following his Sat Nav instructions. The man had intended to take the ferry across the river and drove straight over the end of the ferry terminal and into the water.

TV personality has received threatening messages BRITISH TV personality Noel Edmonds has revealed he is being stalked online after receiving a series of ‘threatening’ emails and messages.

BRITISH PRESS

Google pay PRESIDENT of Google Europe, Matt Brittin, told MPs he did not know his own pay. The Google bosses appeared before the Public Accounts Committee following a ‘sweetheart’ deal with HMRC, which saw Google paying just £130 million (€165 million).

Doctors angered JUNIOR doctors say they will ‘consider all options’ as they insist they ‘cannot and will not’ accept the decision by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to impose a new working contract for doctors after negotiations ended in deadlock.

Nazi granny A GRANDMOTHER, aged 87, convicted for Holocaust denial and a notorious extremist, was escorted out of a trial of a former guard in Auschwitz after she came under attack.

Kebab arrest

NOEL EDMONDS: Has revealed he has received a series of threatening emails and messages.

Move back MUMS on maternity leave had lunch at a Brewers Fayre pub in Derbyshire, but were ordered to the back of the restaurant so men could read in peace.

flickr by Moyan Brenn

DENMARK: Danish company Carlsberg said it plunged into the red in 2015 because of restructuring provisions and declining sales in Europe and the Russian beer market. They had a net loss of 2.6 billion kroner (€346 million).

POLICE in Berlin had to remove a man from a bus after he refused to stop eating a kebab which he had brought on board after the driver told him it was against the rules to eat on the bus.

Female mosque

NORWAY: Telecoms operator Telenor has announced it is expecting profits to plunge in 2016 after last year’s profits fell by 62 per cent for the full-year, to 3.4 billion kroner (€353 million).

Opera offer NORWAY: A Chinese consortium had offered 10.5 billion kroner (€1 billion) to take over the Opera web browser. The Norwegian company is the fifth most used in the world, behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari.

SEVERAL German banks have had to exchange thousands of customers’ credit cards after details were stolen by hackers after breaking in to a weak spot in the security systems of the banks.

Grave digging

DENMARK: A new all female mosque has opened in Copenhagen as part of a feminist project to help Muslim women.

Telecoms profits

Banks hacked

A MILITARY historian has said he and thousands of German families were horrified by a British TV show promoting the looting of German war graves. FORECAST: The total number of visitors is expected to rise to 23 million by 2025.

Amsterdam city is too busy TOURISTS are being encouraged to stay in other cities AMSTERDAM is encouraging tourists to stay in other Dutch cities to help ease the situation in Amsterdam and boost other cities. This year, 17 million tourists are expected to go to Amsterdam, and the total is forecast to rise to 23 million by 2025.

Soaring sales DUTCH shops report they had the best sales in seven years in 2015 with overall retail sales rising 1.4 per cent. Supermarket sales rose 2 per cent but

DUTCH PRESS furniture shops saw the highest growth in turnover at 6.7 per cent.

Privacy concerns PRIVACY watchdogs are concerned about new draft Dutch legislation which

they say will give the police ‘unprecedented’ powers to hack phones and internet.

Crime investigation AN investigation has launched into the impact of asylum seekers centres on local crime rates. The research involves linking refugees’ BSN registration numbers with the police data bank to find out how many have been involved in crime.

Wolf peace GERMANY is setting aside nearly half a million euros to help educate people on how to live with wolves in peace. The wild animal is back roaming the forests after being wiped out more than a century ago.

Carnival complaints ACCORDING to German police, the number of sexual offence complaints almost quadrupled at this year’s carnival celebrations in Cologne, despite increased security following the mass assaults at the city’s New Year celebrations.

FINANCE

Mallorca

18 - 24 February 2016

LONDON - FTSE 100

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El Corte Ingles to take on Amazon COMPANY has announced it will extend its internet service By John Smith HAVING first trialled its internet shopping site in larger cities in Spain before Christmas, El Corte Ingles has now announced that it will extend its service to include Alicante, Marbella, Murcia and

is the number of products which El Corte Ingles will offer through its website.

FINANCIAL CRISIS: Germany have been the most critical.

Greeks mock Germans SINCE the financial crisis in Greece, the German government has been the most critical as far as the Greek economy is concerned, and has insisted that stringent financial policies be followed if a ‘bailout’ was to take place. Now, in a typical example of what the Germans call schadenfreude (plea-

Palma, whose stores will join Malaga, which was part of the initial launch. The plan is certainly to take part of the Amazon business, by offering a wide range of products with the possibility of supply within two

“I found the comments deeply upsetting,” Marc Zuckerberg when Facebook board member Marc Andreessen said India’s block of Facebook’s ‘free’ internet scheme was ‘anti-colonialism’.

flickr by European Council

Quote of the Week

100,000

sure derived from someo n e e l s e ’s m i s f o r t u n e ) , Greeks are taking to social media to taunt Germany over the enormous losses and low share price of its major bank, Deutsche Bank. The amusement may not last for long, but at least it lifted the financial gloom a little.

BUSINESS EXTRA

US interest rates stable HAVING introduced a rise in interest rates in late 2015, the US Federal Reserve has indicated through its chairperson Janet Yellen that as the current economic situation in the US remains unclear, it was unlikely that rates would be increased in the foreseeable future.

BBVA relatively optimistic ECONOMISTS working for BBVA are relatively upbeat about the Spanish economy for the next 12 months, despite the political uncertainty. They believe that the Spanish economy should grow by 2.7 per cent with the creation of a large number of new jobs, although they warn that the longer the country exists without stable government, the more chance there is of the growth target being missed.

Wanda put a landmark building up for sale AS previously forecast in the Euro Weekly News, Chinese company Wanda has put on sale the Madrid landmark Edificio España building that it purchased in 2014. The reason for the sale is that the company is unable to change the

$27.67 (€24.41) is the lowest per barrel price of oil in 13 years, and it hit this low in early February due to falling demand.

STAT OF WEEK

business & legal

EWN

exterior of the building, although it has seen some significant losses in recent weeks due to the fall of the Chinese stock market. The company hopes to recover the price it originally paid for the building.

hours. This service will now be available to up to 10 million consumers in Spain. To make life even easier they offer their own dedicated site in English at http://www.elcorteingles.eu /shop/uk/en.

IBEX 35

+2.48%

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New board for Nueva Pescanova A FORMER deputy prime minister during the Zapatero government years, Elena Salgado, will join the administration board of Nueva Pescanova, the fishing company which ran into serious financial difficulty. Following its call for bankruptcy protection, it reported earnings of €82 million in 2015, but is still trading at a significant loss as it has a large number of creditors.

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

LONDON - FTSE 100

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

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PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) COMPANY Anglo American 392.80 18.85 Associated British Foods 3,106.50 54.50 Admiral Group 1,709.00 35.00 Aberdeen Asset Management 227.90 18.60 Ashtead Group 817.50 12.50 Antofagasta 442.95 9.65 ARM Holdings 900.75 40.25 Aviva 429.85 9.85 AstraZeneca 4,120.50 111.50 BAE Systems 473.35 13.65 Babcock International Group 880.00 11.50 Barclays 161.65 4.45 British American Tobacco 3,777.00 68.50 Barratt Developments 554.25 9.25 Berkeley Group Holdings 3,215.00 34.00 British Land Co 670.00 17.50 BHP Billiton 710.40 76.30 Bunzl 1,827.00 37.00 BP 337.38 4.88 Burberry Group 1,207.00 33.00 BT Group 457.43 9.18 Coca-Cola HBC 1,328.50 25.50 Carnival 3,145.50 39.50 Centrica 191.10 7.50 Compass Group 1,205.50 -0.50 Capita Group (The) 1,089.50 15.50 CRH 1,719.00 14.00 Dixons Carphone 439.65 8.55 DCC 5,420.00 65.00 Diageo 1,782.00 24.00 Direct Line Insurance Group 365.30 7.50 Experian 1,119.50 17.50 easyJet 1,513.00 27.00 Fresnillo 870.50 -26.50 GKN 263.85 7.35 Glencore 101.15 2.69 GlaxoSmithKline 1,394.25 30.75 Hikma Pharmaceuticals 1,891.00 41.00 Hargreaves Lansdown 1,168.00 38.00 Hammerson 548.50 13.50 HSBC Holdings 444.95 4.55 International Consolidated Air 502.75 22.95 InterContinental Hotels Group 2,301.50 27.50 3i Group 411.45 10.55 Imperial Brands 3,617.50 64.00 Intu Properties 284.45 4.95 Inmarsat 963.50 -6.00 Intertek Group 2,713.00 45.00 ITV 245.30 4.20 Johnson Matthey 2,306.00 58.00

% CHG. 5.04 1.79 2.09 8.89 1.55 2.23 4.68 2.35 2.78 2.97 1.32 2.83 1.85 1.70 1.07 2.68 12.03 2.07 1.47 2.81 2.05 1.96 1.27 4.08 -0.04 1.44 0.82 1.98 1.21 1.37 2.10 1.59 1.82 -2.95 2.87 2.73 2.26 2.22 3.36 2.52 1.03 4.78 1.21 2.63 1.80 1.77 -0.62 1.69 1.74 2.58

NET VOL 4,445.22 23,762.10 4,655.52 2,768.39 3,861.91 3,851.25 12,144.09 16,269.98 50,555.77 14,568.64 4,326.01 24,950.42 68,719.43 5,405.31 4,107.23 6,677.81 13,404.26 5,910.76 56,938.99 4,957.67 37,598.39 4,664.23 6,597.00 9,173.04 19,501.82 7,036.09 13,650.01 4,910.41 4,609.40 43,910.57 5,259.75 10,645.36 5,801.23 6,468.08 4,107.78 12,730.84 65,708.40 3,745.90 5,255.45 4,203.91 82,244.30 9,792.88 5,218.19 3,809.62 34,378.70 3,572.42 4,193.41 4,246.24 9,558.33 4,587.08

COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) Kingfisher 330.30 2.40 Land Securities Group 1,016.50 20.50 Legal & General Group 212.90 3.20 Lloyds Banking Group ORD 59.71 1.23 London Stock Exchange Grp 2,354.00 67.00 Merlin Entertainments 401.35 6.95 Marks & Spencer Group 424.45 7.05 Mondi 1,247.50 26.50 National Grid 950.90 13.50 Next 6,867.50 107.50 Old Mutual 166.10 6.00 Provident Financial 3,103.00 84.00 Prudential 1,195.75 38.25 Persimmon 1,928.00 33.00 Pearson 774.25 13.25 Reckitt Benckiser Group 6,237.50 271.50 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 246.35 6.25 Royal Dutch Shell 1,528.75 74.25 Royal Dutch Shell 1,523.00 -3.00 RELX 1,159.00 20.00 Rexam 599.75 5.75 Rio Tinto 1,852.75 5.25 Royal Mail 433.25 10.85 Rolls-Royce Group 611.75 5.75 Randgold Resources 5,972.50 -182.50 RSA Insurance Group 397.45 8.25 SABMiller 4,157.00 9.00 Sainsbury (J) 244.45 8.05 Schroders 2,443.00 60.00 Sage Group (The) 574.50 8.50 Shire 3,732.00 93.00 Sky 995.25 18.75 Standard Life 343.10 -1.70 Smiths Group 931.50 15.50 Smith & Nephew 1,084.00 19.00 Sports Direct International 386.30 10.50 SSE 1,365.50 19.50 Standard Chartered 445.05 16.05 St James's Place 850.50 20.50 Severn Trent 2,100.50 40.50 Travis Perkins 1,759.50 35.50 Tesco 179.20 2.20 TUI AG 1,022.50 14.50 Taylor Wimpey 173.95 3.15 Unilever 2,984.50 40.00 United Utilities Group 923.50 18.00 Vodafone Group 209.03 3.58 Wolseley 3,445.50 138.50 Worldpay Group Ord 3p Wi 289.65 2.35 WPP Group 1,419.00 28.00 Whitbread 3,766.00 113.00

% CHG. 0.73 2.06 1.53 2.10 2.93 1.76 1.69 2.17 1.44 1.59 3.75 2.78 3.30 1.74 1.74 4.55 2.60 5.10 -0.20 1.76 0.97 0.28 2.57 0.95 -2.97 2.12 0.22 3.41 2.52 1.50 2.56 1.92 -0.49 1.69 1.78 2.79 1.45 3.74 2.47 1.97 2.06 1.24 1.44 1.84 1.36 1.99 1.74 4.19 0.82 2.01 3.09

NET VOL 7,422.83 7,798.71 11,932.72 39,955.02 7,478.69 3,909.51 6,662.28 5,700.40 34,957.91 10,158.45 7,482.83 4,141.16 27,967.19 5,749.19 5,918.38 41,805.44 14,371.71 56,327.38 35,324.94 12,748.80 4,151.15 24,108.49 4,148.50 9,790.52 5,697.22 3,806.74 66,796.94 4,541.06 5,304.75 6,006.49 20,784.73 16,751.82 6,423.49 3,474.04 9,422.41 2,238.56 13,177.99 9,885.95 4,193.86 4,878.50 4,184.11 14,595.26 5,951.09 5,495.10 37,284.50 6,106.31 53,210.99 8,489.56 5,403.00 17,875.19 6,653.47

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US dollar.......................................................................1.11981 Japan yen .................................................................127.529 Switzerland franc .................................................1.10059 Denmark kroner ..................................................7.46405 Norway kroner.....................................................9.63636

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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 153.96 +3.29 +2.18% 2.3M 52.66 +1.55 +3.03% 6.1M 93.99 +0.29 +0.31% 40.4M 108.63 +0.19 +0.18% 13.0M 63.15 +1.74 +2.83% 4.3M 85.43 +2.44 +2.94% 9.8M 25.11 +0.43 +1.74% 49.8M 43.11 +0.70 +1.65% 15.2M 91.15 +0.84 +0.93% 10.8M 58.40 +1.78 +3.14% 5.4M 81.03 +1.43 +1.80% 16.7M 28.26 +0.81 +2.95% 57.6M 146.13 +5.44 +3.87% 9.0M 116.32 +3.05 +2.69% 5.4M 121.04 +3.19 +2.71% 4.9M 28.64 +0.42 +1.49% 19.7M 101.82 +0.12 +0.12% 9.0M 57.49 +4.42 +8.33% 37.0M 117.93 +1.20 +1.03% 8.6M 49.03 +0.18 +0.37% 13.6M 50.50 +0.81 +1.63% 34.2M 56.42 +0.42 +0.75% 10.2M 29.36 +0.23 +0.79% 32.5M 80.99 +1.09 +1.36% 9.3M 107.49 +3.72 +3.58% 2.1M 85.95 +1.29 +1.52% 5.9M 111.82 +1.20 +1.08% 2.6M 50.11 +0.72 +1.46% 21.0M 70.42 +1.95 +2.85% 8.7M 66.18 +0.86 +1.32% 9.7M

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES F EBRUARY 15

COMPANY

PRICE

CHANGE NET / %

Most Advanced Mercer International Inc. Groupon, Inc. Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Connecture, Inc. NewStar Financial, Inc. Genocea Biosciences, Inc. Memorial Production Partners LP Moneygram International, Inc. Varonis Systems, Inc. Rovi Corporation Wowo Limited

$ 8.13 $ 2.89 $ 120.22 $ 2.75 $ 6.27 $ 3.66 $ 2.28 $ 5.63 $ 16.16 $ 20.84 $ 5.7524

1.99 ▲ 32.41% 0.65 ▲ 29.02% 25.93 ▲ 27.50% 0.50 ▲ 22.22% 1.125 ▲ 21.87% 0.65 ▲ 21.59% 0.37 ▲ 19.37% 0.88 ▲ 18.53% 2.34 ▲ 16.93% 2.96 ▲ 16.55% 0.7924 ▲ 15.98%

$ 16.50 $ 15.58 $ 4.13 $ 3.03 $ 32.78 $ 17.61 $ 21.45 $ 44.49 $ 11.69 $ 2.03 $ 28.12

8.76 ▼ 34.68% 4.93 ▼ 24.04% 1.06 ▼ 20.42% 0.49 ▼ 13.92% 3.96 ▼ 10.78% 1.81 ▼ 9.32% 2.17 ▼ 9.19% 4.28 ▼ 8.78% 1.05 ▼ 8.24% 0.18 ▼ 8.14% 2.40 ▼ 7.86%

Most Declined LPL Financial Holdings Inc. Select Comfort Corporation Amkor Technology, Inc. Presbia PLC CyberArk Software Ltd. Qlik Technologies Inc. Dermira, Inc. ProShares UltraPro Short NASDAQ Biotech region Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. Activision Blizzard, Inc

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

Price of gold looks stronger WITH the continued uncertainty over the price of oil and the overall losses in the stock markets around the world, gold is beginning to attract investors again, and 2016 has seen the price rise quite consistently, it has put on over $50 (€44.32) an ounce since the start of the year. There are still plenty of pundits who suggest that it will gain even more ground over the coming months, but investors need to be cautious as not only does the spot price change twice a day, but a movement in exchange rates can also affect costs and profits.

www.euroweeklynews.com

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

Fears over UK interest rates GOOD for those who borrow money, but bad for those who have invested By John Smith AS the pound declines against the main currencies, money flows towards the USA, employment figures aren’t quite as healthy and rumours abound of either increased cuts in government spending or increase in taxation, the former city regulator Lord Turner has entered the discussion warning that without radical policies, the UK economy could be stuck with low interest rates “almost indefinitely.” Low interest rates are clearly good for those who need to borrow money but bad for those who need to see their investments grow, and as banks seem to pay very low rates of interest whilst charging much higher rates to those borrowers who they accept, the overall situation does not, according to Lord Turner, assist the economy. In an interview with the BBC after observing “interest rates in the UK may not go up beyond 2 per cent by 2020,” he also commented on peer-to-peer lending, which is one of the fastestgrowing areas of financial services. It appeals to borrowers who have been turned down by High Street banks and

Photo Credit Niccolo Caranti Wikimedia

LORD TURNER: Indicated that leaving the EU “would be adverse for the UK economy.” savers prepared to take greater risks to make bigger returns. “The losses which will emerge from peer-to-peer lending over the next five to 10 years will make the worst bankers look like lending geniuses,” he predicted.

“You cannot lend money to small and medium sized enterprises without someone doing good credit underwriting.” He also indicated that in his opinion, the possibility of the UK leaving the European Union “would be adverse for the UK economy” and was already “causing

major destabilisation at a global level.” “There is a great deal of nervousness that a UK vote for Brexit (to leave the EU) is another layer of uncertainty in an extremely uncertain world, uncertain economically and uncertain politically,” he said.

Government retains Lloyds shares Photo Credit Barry Barnes Shutterstock

FINANCIAL STAKE: The government has decided to postpone the sale of its shares in Lloyds Banking Group. CHANCELLOR George Osborne has decided to postpone the sale of the government’s final stake in Lloyds Banking Group, after admitting that the global turmoil in stock markets and slowing growth was the reason for the delay. With an expected ‘windfall’ of £2 billion (€2.6 billion), this was to be a useful addition

to the government’s finances, as well as confirmation that the banking sector had returned to normal, and the sale was part of the conservative party manifesto at the last election. There was some serious criticism of the sale of the first tranche of Lloyds shares in October last year, when the government was accused of

pitching the price to corporate investors too low, but since that time, the price of its shares has fallen and banks are not performing as well as expected. Prices then were in the region of 78p per share, which seemed to show a profit for the government which had invested large amounts to support

the bank, but they are currently trading around 65p, so there could be a considerable loss if the government allowed the sale to go ahead. If that wasn’t bad enough, the government’s other bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, has had to make huge provisions to cover fines and expected legal actions.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

EWN

Call to phase out high-value bank notes ACCORDING to a report it will make it more difficult for criminals to move funds around the world Photo Credit Borislav Bajkic Shutterstock

By John Smith AFTER the EU announced that it was to review the need for a €500 bank note, former chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank, Peter Sands has authored a report, which suggests that all high value bank notes should be phased out in order to make it more difficult for criminals and terrorists to move funds around the world. His main targets are the €500 (said to have been introduced at the behest of Germany which previously had a 500 mark note), British £50 and US $100, although he has suggested that the world’s 20 largest economies should consider their own situation and review the proposal at the next G20 summit to be held in China in September. According to the report, each year the movement of ‘dirty’ money exceeds $2 trillion (€1.77 trillion), and rather than spend time catching the criminals, his report argues that governments

HIGH-VALUE NOTES: Play a crucial role in the underground economy. should now target the cash itself, and starve those who try to move it illegally.

High-value notes issued by rich countries are the “currency of corrupt elites, of crime of all sorts

and of tax evasion,” Mr Sands said. “They play little role in the

functioning of the legitimate economy, yet a crucial role in the underground economy,” he added. “The irony is that they are provided to criminals by the state.” He accepts that banning the

Rather than catching the criminals, the governments should target the money itself. notes would not stop crime in itself, but it would make it more difficult and time consuming if criminals could only use small denominations. There is a question as to whether this is a realistic proposal, as if Britain was to remove the £50 note, then Europe would have to consider removing the €200, €100 and €50 notes, and Gibraltar of course would have to remove its £100 and £50 notes.

28 E W N

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

Massive fraud action in Madrid Court against Brazilian oil company A COMPLAINT will be filed as investors have lost billions of dollars, euros and Brazilian reals By John Smith MANY Spanish investors were attracted to purchase shares in Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, when shares were launched on the world’s stock exchanges in 2010 to raise $72.8 billion (€63.5 billion), which was the world’s largest ever share launch and made it the fourth largest company by capitalisation in the world. All appeared to be going well with the company, reported profits grew and it soon overtook Microsoft in value but by late 2013, Merrill Lynch reported that it was now the world’s most indebted company. By late 2014, its debts were estimated by Moodys as having reached $170 billion (€150 billion) and that effectively the company could only go from bad to worse. In response, an investigation under the code name Operation Car Wash was initiated, which suggested that contracts worth up to $22 billion (€19.4 billion) were issued ‘suspiciously’ and the fingers of corruption were observed throughout the company. Naturally, these problems had an adverse effect on share prices and a number of Spanish investors have lost quite large amounts of money because of the alleged activities of the company and its management. The Asociacion de Afectados de Petrobras, a Madrid-based shareholder

PETROBRAS: By late 2013 Merrill Lynch reported it was the world’s most indebted company. association, International Securities Associations and Foundations Management Company for Damaged Petrobras Investors (Bolsa Madrid) ISAF Petrobras, and a coalition of international law firms, including Cremades Calvo-Sotelo, Motley Rice, and Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart, announced on February 10

that they have prepared a substantial criminal complaint against Petroleo Brasileiro SA, certain Petrobras group entities and (formerly) high-ranking Petrobras officers (collectively ‘Petrobras et al’), and intend to file it in the Criminal Court in Madrid in the coming weeks. The complaint will be filed on behalf of all

Petrobras investors who bought shares through Bolsa de Madrid (LATIBEX index), and all investors who bought shares through BOVESPA in Sao Paulo, but brought back those shares to Spain clearing through Iberclear and kept and custodied the shares in Spain thereafter, suffered losses as a result of the allegedly long-running fraud perpetrated by

Photo Credit RHL Images Wikimedia

It’s an ill wind for popular tour operator Tui

COMPANY has experienced a massive drop in tourists travelling to Turkey TUI, operators of Thomson Airways amongst others and now the largest travel operator in the world, has experienced a massive drop in holidaymakers travelling to Turkey following the attack on tourists in Istanbul earlier this year. According to chief executive Friedrich Joussen, almost one in seven of its customers travelled to Turkey in previous years, but rather

TUI have indicated that Spain and the Canaries are ‘pretty much sold out’ as far as summer holidays are concerned.

than cancel summer holidays, many of its customers are simply switching destinations, which will replace the missing income for the company. The company is now seeing more bookings for Spain and the Canary Islands, and despite the fact that they have access to more hotels than any other operator because of their Riu chain, he has indicated that

Spain and the Canaries are ‘pretty much sold out’ as far as summer holidays with Tui are concerned. The company, which is now based in Germany, was originally formed by an amalgamation of a German and British company, and owns and operates six different airlines. Its Thomson Airways is the biggest airline in the group and largest charter airline in the world.

Petrobras et al. Petrobras is majorityowned by the Brazilian government. The complaint will allege that when years of complex fraud and bribery schemes orchestrated by management and officials of Petrobras were finally revealed to the public in 2014, investors lost billions of dollars, euros and Brazilian reals, resulting from significant asset write-downs and precipitous declines in Petrobras share prices. Their argument is that when inviting investors to purchase their shares, Petrobras undertook to comply with European stock market rules, and therefore provided that the shares were either purchased in Spain or were transmitted back to Spain then investors are entitled to take action under Spanish law. The first investor lawsuit was filed as a class action in the United States on behalf of investors there, but is only able to include those who invested in the USA. In Spain the laws are different and those who have lost money must ‘opt in’ to a joint lawsuit. It is suggested that investors (a) who purchased common and preferred shares of Petrobras anytime between 2004 and July 28, 2015 and (b) suffered and/or are in danger of suffering (further) damages as a consequence of the alleged fraud, contact ISAF Petrobras so that it can determine eligibility to pursue claims in the Spanish court system.

OPINION & COMMENT

www.euroweeklynews.com

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

EWN

His credibility has been knocked 360b / Shutterstock.com

ALTHOUGH a Conservative supporter, at present UKIP is looking far better alternative LEAPY LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT

I SUPPOSE I should actually find it flattering. Well, be that as it may, I would like to take this opportunity to inform those people, who look at me with incredulous disbelief and ask if I actually write this column; I most certainly do. It’s all my fault! Ok? Right, moving on. What a load of complete and utter, intelligence insulting baloney Cameron has been trying to foist on us all this past couple of weeks. His so-called ‘deal’ with the EU members amounts to just about zilch. There are only two things that truly worry the public at large. One: Control of our borders and the present policy of virtually unrestricted immigration. Two: The rules and regulations emanating from the power mad, non-elected PC, ‘Uman rights bureaucrats of Brussels. And what has he achieved toward a solution of these two most crucial causes of public concern? Nada! Apart from a four year period of non-benefit

DAVID CAMERON: His so-called deal with EU members amounts to just about zilch.

for new immigrants, which he has never stopped crowing about and is apparently based on some vague sliding scale, plus the insipid child benefit ‘charade,’ a highly complicated and no doubt expensive procedure, which can actually result in some immigrants getting even higher benefits than they are receiving now he may as well concede to the ‘out’ vote without even bothering to call a referendum. It’s the arrogant and brazen way he underestimates and insults our intelligence that sticks in my craw. No I’m sorry Dave, the credibility you have lost over this debacle could not only lose you the ‘in’ vote and subsequently lead to your resignation, but may well do the party such irreversible damage they could well lose the next election. The spectre of Prime Minister Coburn is hovering nearer Dave, and it’s all your fault. The same as this column is mine. I have always supported the Conservatives, but frankly at this moment UKIP is looking a far better alternative. For God’s sake get a grip and show some ‘cojones.’ I hate to add before it’s too late, because I fear it already is! Keep the faith. Love Leapy. Leapylee2002@gmail.com

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

www.euroweeklynews.com

OPINION & COMMENT

Murder, Mystery & Mayhem: Book signings on the Costa del Sol THE names for characters have to be handled with real care, but the ones that I eventually create are composites 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

BEFORE ebooks, if you didn’t fancy the book you were reading, you could quietly bin it and nobody would know. But ebook sellers can tell which books you finish and which you give up on. Surprisingly, Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning The Goldfinch was completed by only 44 per cent of British readers. The highest-rating categories for completion were romance and crime thrillers - the categories many feel embarrassed about admitting they prefer. Aren’t we supposed to say we can’t wait to get our hands on the Booker shortlist and anything else (so-called ‘airport fiction’) is a ‘guilty pleasure’? Well, it was precisely about my own crime thrillers that I was recently asked to give a talk by the Benahavis Decorative and Fine Arts Society (BDFAS). The inspiration for them, the writing

BOOK SIGNING: Was brilliantly organised and hugely enjoyable. process, and how to avoid plotlines more complicated than the directions for assembling IKEA’s finest or dénouements as exciting as filling in income tax returns. Both the event and subsequent book signing brilliantly organised by BDFAS were hugely enjoyable - lots of friendly people there - and con-

tributed to a good cause since profits from the sale of my novels go to Costa del Sol charity Cudeca. I’m often asked if much of me and my personal experience go into my books. To give a brief but balanced answer: ‘yes and no.’ Well, I did say brief! Yes, because, inevitably, those you meet do influence you. No, because the characters eventu-

ally created are composites. The names for characters have to be handled with real care. Take names like Trump, Clinton or Cameron. Give any one to a quiet, self-effacing character and all the preconceptions predominate. And in your mind’s eye, all you’ll see is Trump/Clinton/Cameron as, in psychologists’ jargon, feelings of transference take over. Which brings me on to that old chestnut: writer’s block. Here I’m reminded of (Raymond) Chandler’s Law: “When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.” Good grief! And, finally, what about the actual writing? Grammar and so on. Which reminds me. Once one of my readers graciously offered to proofread my manuscript and pinpoint any errors in punctuation, spelling and style. Of course i spel perffecttly and theres never no punktuation, erors! so her job was like, :- easy! 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.

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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TV LISTING

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Pointless 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

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Flog It! Pointless BBC News at Six BBC London News The One Show A Question of Sport EastEnders Dickensian Shetland BBC News at Ten BBC London News

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BBC News Regional News Weather Match of the Day Live The Voice UK The National Lottery Casualty BBC News Weather Match of the Day: FA Cup Highlights

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Flog It! Pointless BBC News Regional News The One Show Inside Out EastEnders Would I Lie to You? New Tricks BBC News Regional News

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Pointless BBC News Regional News The One Show EastEnders Holby City Happy Valley BBC News Regional News Weather Life and Death Row

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Frozen Planet Antiques Road Trip Eggheads Great American Railroad Journeys Sea Cities Big Dreams Small Spaces The Story of China The Clare Balding Show Newsnight The People v OJ Simpson

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Ski Sunday Match of the Day I Am Number Four Dragons' Den Let's Play Darts for Sports Relief 2016 The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story Memento The Night of The Generals

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Frozen Planet Bargain Hunt Eggheads Great British Railway Journeys Great Interior Design Challenge Back in Time for the Weekend Who's the Boss? Phone Shop Idol

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Bargain Hunt Eggheads Great British Railway Journeys Great Interior Design Challenge Â£100k House: Tricks of the Trade One Child Live From the BBC Newsnight Weather

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Local News and Weather ITV News and Weather Despicable Me 2 Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Take Me Out The Jonathan Ross Show ITV News and Weather Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Jackpot 247

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

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Come Dine with Me Come Dine with Me Come Dine with Me Come Dine with Me Come Dine with Me Channel 4 News Great Canal Journeys Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages RoboCop Apocalypto

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5 News at 5 Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild Storm Force Inside the World's Toughest Prisons Whitney and Bobby: Addicted to Love

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Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Premier League 100 Club Premier League 100 Club The Premier League Years Live Premier League Darts La Liga Show 2015 Barclays Premier League World

Rock the House 5 News at 5 Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight The Gadget Show Lost City of the Pharaohs King Tut's Tomb: The Hidden Chamber Centurion

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La Liga Show 2015 Premier League 100 Club BPL Legends Game Changers Football Gold Football Gold Barclays Premier League World The Fantasy Football Club Live World Club Series Cricket

Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away! Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away! Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away! World War II in Colour The Gadget Show 5 News The Championship Goal Rush

3:45pm 6:00pm 8:30pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:30am 12:45am 1:00am 1:15am 1:30am

Pro 12 Rugby Pro 12 Rugby World Club Series Gloves are Off Pro Kabaddi League 2016 Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs La Liga Sporting Triumphs Premier League 100 Club

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Location, Location, Location The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Channel 4 News Dumbo The Secret Life of the Zoo The Jump The World's End The Eagle Embarrassing Bodies

5:30pm 5:35pm 7:20pm 9:00pm 11:05pm 1:50am 2:15am

5 News The Money Pit The Fox and the Hound Dirty Dancing The Greatest 80s Movies Tattoo Disasters: UK Super Casino Feeling lucky? Get the authentic, heart-thumping casino experience every night.

1:00pm 1:15pm 1:30pm 1:45pm 2:00pm 4:30pm 7:30pm 10:00pm 10:30pm 12:30am

Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Scottish Premiership Scottish Premiership World Club Series The Gloves are Off ATP 500 Masters- Rio Pro Kabaddi League 2016

The Chase Local News and Weather ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Griff's Great Britain Coronation Street Benidorm ITV News at Ten and Weather The Agenda

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A New Life in the Sun Come Dine with Me The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Dispatches Supershoppers Royal Navy School Fresh Meat Tattoo Fixers Bodyshockers

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5 News Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Police Interceptors Grannies Make You Laugh Out Loud The X Files Gotham Righteous Kill Tattoo Disasters: UK

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Sporting Triumphs- Glenn Mccrory Winning World Title Sporting TriumphsJohnny Nelson Winning World Title Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Fantasy Football Club Highlights Soccer A.M. - The Best Bits

Masterpiece with Alan Titchmarsh Tipping Point The Chase Local News and Weather ITV Evening News Emmerdale The Inspectors are Coming It's Not Rocket Science Heroes and Villains: Caught on Camera

3:10pm 4:10pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:05am

Deal or No Deal Countdown A New Life in the Sun Come Dine with Me The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News The Secret Life of the Zoo First Contact Gogglebox Sarah Millican

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

11:00pm 12:00am

5 News Neighbours Home and Away 5 News The Dog Rescuers Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun The Great British Benefits Handout Age Gap Love Conspiracy: Alien Cover Up

Tipping Point The Chase Local News and Weather ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street The Brit Awards 2016 ITV News at Ten and Weather UEFA Champions League Highlights

4:10pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

Countdown A New Life in the Sun Come Dine with Me The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Posh Pawn 24 Hours in A and E Keeping Up with the Khans Royal Navy School Murder Rap

3:15pm 4:15pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:55pm 12:50am

NCIS The Girl He Met Online 5 News Neighbours Home and Away 5 News The Nightmare GPs: Behind Closed Doors Inside Buckingham Palace Person of Interest Person of Interest NCIS

4:05pm

12:00am 1:05am

10:00pm 11:00pm 11:55pm 1:50am

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7:00pm

Eredivisie Football Round-Up Boxing Boxing Gold Boxing Boxing Time of Our Lives Boxing La Liga World 2015

Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Boxing La Liga World 2015 Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Sky Sports Originals - Football: Race for the Title Boxing

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

LETTERS

OPINION & COMMENT

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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

Caminito complaints are totally out of proportion

Caterpillars are dangerous DEAR Editor, On the story that appeared about the processionary caterpillars, three dogs in our area ended up in intensive care and lost part of their tongue s a f t e r t o u c h i n g o n e o f these. Thanks for highlighting this problem, it might prevent a fatality. Lis via the Internet

Angels and Age Care DEAR EWN, Thank you so much for publishing the a r t i c l e o n t h e d o n a tio n from the Angels and amalgamating it with the news about the new coffee morning venue at Fuengirola. Age Care appreciates your help very much. It is really important to us that we keep people aware of what Age Care do. There are so

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

Flights and the facts Credit Claudio Divizia Shutterstock

DEAR EWN, People really irritate me over the access and cost of entrance to the Caminito del Rey. First they complained that they couldn’t get tickets even though it was relatively easy to go online and book ahead, then they were up in arms over allocation to hotel and restaurant owners (which was admittedly a bit naughty), who then only handed them over if you had a meal. Now, because the whole thing is being h a n d e d o v e r t o a p riv a te company to release council workers for hopefully more important matters, they are all complaining about a €10 charge! It costs more or less the same to see a film and the walk cost a heck of a lot to get ready and now keep safe and open for visitors. Let’s put things into perspective and find real problems to worry about, not the price of a tourist attraction. Pauline, Malaga City

knitted knockers Spain and Maggie, who set up the group, and her friend Karen is making me a ‘knocker.’ They need more knitters in other parts of Spain and I thought that maybe you could mention them in the EWN as you are known for getting involved with charitable work and knitting ‘knockers’ is such a wonderful, positive thing to do free of charge for a stranger. Thank you for taking the time to read my message. Susan, via email.

Taxi strike DEAR EWN, With regards to the forthcoming Malaga taxi strike, I really have no sympathy left for local taxi drivers. I used to get them up to and back from Malaga airport before, but now prefer to use the train and try to avoid them at all costs. I find them expensive nor do I not think they merit their charges... but I am sure others will love them ;-) Mike via the Internet

DEAR All, I am impressed with the trouble that you all take to keep us up to date with all of the developments along the coast and it was particularly good news to hear about the extra service that BA are going to offer from Stansted to Malaga. Whilst flights are still pretty expensive compared to the halcyon days of the late 70s and early 80s when there was plenty of competition, the more options there are, the better it is for all passengers. From a selfish point of view, I like to use Stansted as it is closest to my home and to have another option is great. Keep on informing us every week. Harold from Cabopino

man y e ld erly p eople w ho ne e d support and if we can, we will help them. Once again, thank you. Regards, Bobby, Costa del Sol

Fantastic work DEAR Euro Weekly News, I w o u ld lik e to a le rt you a nd your readers to the fantastic work

that is done by the 4 Paws charity which particularly looks after the rehoming of older dogs which are much more difficult to help than cute little puppies. They handle a large number of dogs each year, but costs are very high, especially when many of the animals are rehoused in other parts of Europe. For more information or to offer assistance please visit https://www.facebook.com/4-pawsadoptions-127264347404435 Kind regards, Caroline in the UK via e-mail

Knitted knockers DEAR EWN, I recently had a lumpectomy followed by a mastectomy and have been provided with a prosthesis, which weighs 450 grammes, but the thought of wearing that in the summer filled me with horror. I remembered hearing about ‘knitted knockers’ on a radio programme so contacted knitted knockers in the UK. They put me in touch with

What good news DEAR Sir, What good news it was to read about the action of the National Police in conjunction with the British National Crime Agency to uncover the huge drug factory in Costa Blanca. It is a great shame to think British criminals were heavily involved in the production of this evil and addictive drug but at least the UK was involved in helping to catch them. Let’s hope that there will now be a few less new addicts because of the action that has been taken. Edward from Denia

WHEN YOU WRITE All letters, whether by email or post, should carry the writer’s postal address, NIE and contact number though only the name and town will be published. Letters may also be edited. Readers who have missed earlier correspondence can see all letters posted on:

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

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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OPINION & COMMENT

Invite to International Women’s Day THE world has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in women’s and society’s thoughts Vicki McLeod

Family Matters EVERY year for the past five years I’ve organised an International Women’s Day celebration to mark the official day which is March 8. This year it falls on a Tuesday. I want to invite businesses, organisations and individuals to come together to commemorate this important day. I also would love to see charities, associations and businesses run by women or for women. Would your organisation like to participate? We’ve had all sorts of different events, treats, speeches, workshops, lunches, emotional moments and flash mobs, what will happen this year? The world has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation, like myself, may feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and in-

DIFFERENT EVENTS: Including treats, lunches, workshops and emotional moments. grained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one

could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally

women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men. However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls

are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. So each year the world inspires women and celebrates their achievements. IWD is an official holiday in many countries. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatrical performances, fashion parades and more. Many global corporations actively support IWD by running their own events and campaigns. For example, on March 8, Google often changes its Google Doodle on its global search pages to honour IWD. So make a difference, think globally and act locally! Make everyday International Women’s Day. The theme this year is ‘Make It Happen.’ Can you help make it happen this year? Contact me at vicki@moodbeach.com if so.

TIME OUT

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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Famous quote

This week

MADDOCKS’ VIEW ON LIFE

‘

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.. Arthur Ashe

in history 1478: George, the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV, is murdered in the Tower of London. 1516: Queen Mary I, also known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants is born. 1564: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti-Simoni, Italian painter and sculptor, died. 1701: Philip V of Spain makes his ceremonial entry into Madrid. 1797: The last invasion of Britain takes place when some 1,400 Frenchmen land in Wales. 1804: British engineer Richard Trevithick demonstrated the first steam engine to run on rails. 1857: Lord Robert BadenPowell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement was born. 1878: Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph. 1885: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is published in New York. 1906: William Kellogg established the Battle Creek Toasted Cornflake Company. 1932: Manchurian independence is formally declared. 1945: US Marines storm ashore at Iwo Jima. 1986: MIR space station (USSR) launched. 1987: Andy Warhol died. 1991: US and UN ground offensive began against Iraq. 2006: The Rolling Stones stage the world’s largest rock concert at Copacabana Beach.

Women’s wit

‘

Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

Julie Andrews

World of English

‘

No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery.

‘TYPICAL MAN - I SUPPOSE YOU PREFERRED THAT SKINNY MANNEQUIN FIGURE I HAD BEFORE I WENT TO THE GYM’

Kakuro

for next 7 days

Mallorca

weather

Fill all the empty squares using the numbers 1 to 9, so that the sum of each horizontal block equals the ‘clue’ on its left, and the sum of each vertical block equals the clue on its top. No number may be used in the same block more than once.

TODAY ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA

CALA MILLOR

INCA

CALVIA

CALA d’OR

PALMA ANDRATX

LLUCMAJOR MAGALLUF

TOMORROW ALCUDIA

POLLENÇA CALVIA

INCA

PALMA

CALA MILLOR

CALA d’OR

ANDRATX

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

LLUCMAJOR MAGALLUF

Fri Sat Sun -

Benidorm

CLOUDY MAX 17C, MIN 9C MAX MIN

13 9 Sh 15 8 C 16 9 Sh

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

SHOWERS MAX 14C, MIN 8C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

13 8 Sh 14 9 Sh 16 9 Sh

Mon - 17 9 C Tues - 18 10 S Wed - 18 11 S

Fri Sat Sun -

14 7 Cl 16 8 S 18 11 Sh S Sun,

11 4 C 13 7 C 16 7 C

MAX MIN

Mon - 14 8 Sh Tues - 14 8 Sh Wed - 15 8 Sh

Madrid

CLOUDY MAX 13C, MIN 8C MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Mon - 18 11 C Tues - 19 11 S Wed - 17 11 C Cl Clear,

TODAY:

Fog,

TODAY:

CLOUDY MAX 14C, MIN 7C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

13 7 Sh 16 7 S 18 9 Sh

CLOUDY MAX 7C, MIN -1C

9 -1 C 12 2 Cl 13 3 S C Cloudy,

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 13 4 Cl Tues - 14 4 Cl Wed - 16 4 Sh

MAX MIN

Mon - 18 9 Sh Tues - 17 8 S Wed - 17 8 C

Sh Showers,

CLOUDY MAX 17C, MIN 8C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

15 8 Sh 16 9 C 17 10 Sh Sn Snow,

UK THUNDERBALL

IRISH LOTTO

Saturday February 13

EURO MILLIONS

LA PRIMITIVA

EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA

MAX MIN

Mon - 19 10 C Tues - 20 11 S Wed - 20 10 S

Murcia

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

14 9 Sh 17 9 C 16 9 Sh

Mallorca

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

SHOWERS MAX 14C, MIN 8C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

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

SHOWERS MAX 9C, MIN 3C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Barcelona TODAY:

13 9 Sh 14 10 Cl 16 11 Sh

Bilbao

Almeria TODAY:

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Malaga

CLOUDY MAX 15C, MIN 9C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 20 10 Cl Tues - 21 9 S Wed - 21 9 C Th Thunder

LOTTERY

Alicante TODAY:

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Saturday February 13

Sunday February 14

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Freeheld Directed by: Peter Sollett Starring: Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, Josh Charles

Funagram

Just Joking

Unscramble the name of a television series first broadcast on BBC Two in January 2005 (two words): DONNED RAGS Unscramble the name of a famous British politician: MAN SOLD AXLE

Hexagram

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

DEMURE DETOUR DITHER ENSURE ENTITY FIERCE FREEST HEREBY INHERE KINDLE

Freeheld is the true love story of Laurel Hester [Julianne Moore] and Stacie Andree [Ellen Page] and their fight for justice. A decorated New Jersey police detective, Laurel is diagnosed with cancer and wants to leave her hard earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie. However the county officials, Freeholders, conspire to prevent Laurel from doing this. Thereafter follows their struggle for equality.

Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo , February 18, Fashion designer Better known as Paco Rabanne, the popular fashion designer was born in the Basque Country on February 18, 1934. He is well known for his fashion creations and the brand of perfumes which carries his name. PHOTO: kojoku / Shutterstock.com

John Travolta, Actor, February 18, 62 Actor who starred in the 1970s hit films Saturday Night Fever and Grease. He later went on to play Vincent Vega in the critically acclaimed 1994 film Pulp Fiction and he also starred in Get Shorty, Ladder 49, Wild Hogs, Hairspray and Swordfish. Prince Andrew, Royalty, February 19, 56 The third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is also known for his success with the Royal Navy, particularly during the Falklands War. Charlotte Church, Singer, February 21, 30 Welsh soprano singer-songwriter who has sung classical and pop music and has sold more than 10 million records internationally. She released the #2 hit single ‘Crazy Chick.’ Bruce Forsyth, Game Show Host, February 22, 88 English comedian, television personality and game show host of UK’s The Price is Right and Strictly Come Dancing. He was named Male TV Personality of the year from 1975 to 1978, and was Knighted in 2011. Peter Fonda, Actor, February 23, 76 Best known for starring in the classic film Easy Rider, he also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination alongside his co-stars for Outstanding Performance by a Cast for 2007 film 3:10 to Yuma. Bill Bailey, Comedian, February 24, 52 Zany English comedian who is best known for his role in Black Books and for his appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You and QI.

LEADEN LINDEN OXCART RANSOM RETIRE SERVER SHIMMY(10) UMLAUT UPDATE

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 1 Butane 2 Mentor 3 Presto 4 Infirm 5 Assert 6 Recall 7 Morbid 8 Teasel 9 Inside 10 Beacon 11 Nettle 12 Casein 13 Thence 14 Theism 15 Confer 16 Cheery 17 Marrow 18 Fecund 19 Inbred

YOUR STARS ARIES (March 21 - April 20) There is something comfortable about your life at the moment. Even though there seems to be a good reason to change it, you hesitate. A situation seems to have become outdated and no longer works well. TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) Starting on a new hobby or job has opened your eyes to much that is round you. You ask yourself why it was not so clear to you before. This does not matter. This is where you are and where you need to be at the moment. GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) The buzz in your head is not a mysterious thing. It is the sound of something quite different. Clearly, it is time to act on an idea held for a long time. The buzz will not go away until you are satisfied. Get with the yoga and plan your approach. One step at a time avoids confusion. CANCER (June 22 - July 23) An emotional journey which you made last year comes to mind again. Although there are adjustments to be made, you are now more at ease. Whichever way you go now will be a lucky improvement in your sphere. LEO (July 24 - August 23) A branch is dangling in the wind.

PICSES

(February 20 - March 20)

It’s both a vertical and horizontal week. What goes right somewhere could easily go wrong elsewhere. Sensitive Venus conspires with touchy Mars to trigger tensions and troubles. If you’re aware of where others are coming from, you’ll be fine. You’ll have fun, but don’t let your spending splurges rule your head.

You feel that, if you grasp it, finances will improve. Your hesitation is felt as weakness but it is good to check. See this branch from all angles. The last thing that you want is to tug on it and find that it is too much to hold. VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) Are you hoping that a recent acquaintance will provide the answer to a question? Your friends have given their opinions but you are still not convinced. Here is a situation where expert advice is needed, not a random opinion. LIBRA (September 24 - October 23) There is a lot to take on board this week. At times, you may feel that it is too much to cope with. You, however, are made of stronger stuff. Are you telling me that Fred down the road is better than you? No, of course not. Show everyone what you are made of this week by getting it sorted.

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10-Star Quiz

I decided to change my computer password to ‘incorrect’ because if I type it in wrong, my computer will remind me, ‘Your password is incorrect.’

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SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22) Yours is a big heart, but be more selective about what and who you let in. As you are currently seeing things so clearly, make some choices. Your quality of both life and work will change for the better. You are not being selfish. You know there is such a thing as necessary self-preservation. SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21) Sometimes you feel you are on a stage. Attention is on you, lights shining bright, people waiting. There is no problem with doing what is expected, but maybe an uneasy feeling about where you are. We can all end up in the wrong place, so do what is necessary to get back to where you want to be. CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20) There is a difficulty with someone not standing on their own two feet. It's someone close, but it’s certainly not you. It is not possible to stand by and see bad mistakes happen. On the other hand, there needs to be a balance so as not to enforce dependency. A friend may help, but you will manage this. AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) Working in the dark is not your favourite thing. Blazing lights on everything is more your style. Why, then, do you not have control of the facts? Maybe hiding in the shadows and avoiding something has put you where you are.

EXPLORERS AND ADVENTURERS 1. According to French author Jules Verne, what was the name of the eccentric British adventurer, who, along with his valet Passepartout, attempted to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager set by his friends at the Reform Club? 2. Named after an Inca sun god, what was the name of the balsa wood raft that Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl rowed across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands in 1947? 3. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was the first in a series of films to star actor Harrison Ford as which fictional college professor of archaeology/adventurer? 4. The capital of North Carolina is named after which famous English adventurer, a favourite of Elizabeth I? 5. What was the name of the Welsh-born journalist who began his expedition to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone in March 1871? 6. Which 19th century English explorer who, with John Speke, was the first European to explore Lake Tanganyika, shares his name with a famous Welsh actor? 7. Which British naval officer and explorer who led the ill-fated second expedition to reach the South Pole, died there on March 29, 1912? 8. Which famous 20th century explorer was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot? 9. Which famous American luxury vehicle manufacturing company founded in 1902, is named after a 17th century French explorer who founded Detroit? 10. Which famous Italian explorer discovered the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in December 1492? Not a lot of people know that… the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama has a city in India named after him, as well as three Brazilian football teams, several ships, a crater on the moon and several places in Lisbon 1. PHILEAS FOGG, 2. KON-TIKI, 3. Dr Henry Walton ‘INDIANA’ JONES, 4, SIR WALTER RALEIGH, 5. HENRY MORTON STANLEY, 6. RICHARD BURTON, 7. ROBERT FALCON SCOTT, 8. RANULPH FIENNES (Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes), 9. CADILLAC - named after Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, 10. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, also known as CRISTOBAL COLON

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

TARGET: Average: 18 Good: 23 Very good: 33 Excellent: 40

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION aged dang doge dong drag dreg egad ergo gean gear gnaw goad goer gone gore gown grad gran grew grow ogre rage rang wage agone anger argon dodge gonad goner gored grade grand groan grown orang organ raged range waged wager wagon wodge wrong danged danger dodger dragon gadder gander garden gnawed gnawer goaded gowned graded grande onager orange ranged dowager groaned wagoner wordage wronged DOWNGRADE

SOUND OF THE WEEK We Are King By: KING Released by: Self

IT’S not very often that a group arrives fully-formed, with a sound that belongs completely to them and nobody else, It’s a rare thing indeed. But that’s what made KING, the Los Angeles R&B trio, so special when they self-released The Story, their three-song debut EP, in 2011. Now available on iTunes.

AK, BE INFORMED AND ENJOY A CHALLENGE

Crossword

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

Down 2 Flat fish only (4) 3 Endless oriental holiday in spring (6) 5 Scruffy diners are hosed down (6) 6 First of November poem, Bud (4) 7 A nice temple built on shelf over fireplace (11)

Code Breaker

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS

CRYPTIC

Quick

Cryptic Across 1 Former president’s railroad measure (6) 4 Drink on the way, I hear, in sultanate (6) 9 Health resort in a European country (5) 11 Leaf covering (5) 13 Deep South coming back fast (5) 15 Earth spins after the French hide (7) 16 Strangely regal composer (5) 17 Someone who gives a fellow gold (5) 18 Thanks after Dad’s Italian food (5) 20 Europeans found in the Arctic and Antarctic? (5) 21 Fires possibly singe it (7) 22 A Scot translating one of Puccini’s operas (5) 24 Minor official concerned with First Lady (5) 26 Dismisses for reordering casks (5) 27 Referee seen in photos for a starter (6) 28 Revolutionary actors for Cuban leader (6)

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OUT

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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Across: 1 Ankara, 4 Status, 7 Sartorial, 9 Opts, 10 Rota, 11 Front, 13 Staple, 14 Gentle, 15 Abates, 17 Oscars, 19 State, 20 Teem, 22 Asia, 23 Menagerie, 24 Adders, 25 Scamps. Down: 1 Actors, 2 Alas, 3 Attire, 4 Spring, 5 Ajar, 6 Sedate, 7 Stratagem, 8 Lost cause, 11 Flees, 12 Tense, 15 Attila, 16 Steals, 17 Otters, 18 Shades, 21 Mere, 22 Aida.

QUICK Across:

8 Poet’s oath about therapist (9) 10 Letter recipient scattered seeds, dear (9) 12 Material from the last Ice Age (7) 14 Put forward a motion in favour of the position (7) 19 Former tennis star is a gas, funnily (6) 20 Worshippers, I assume, embracing Iran formerly (6) 23 Aphrodite’s child came back hurting (4) 25 Rewrite diet (4)

Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 6 represents Z and 24 represents B, so fill in Z every time the figure 6 appears and B every time the figure 24 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

Across 1 Summits (5) 4 Vocation (6) 9 Understand (7) 10 Requires (5) 11 Minuscule (4) 12 Departing (7) 13 Heavens (3) 14 In this place (4) 16 Final (4) 18 Weep (3) 20 Ignorant of (7) 21 Quick (4) 24 Porcelain (5) 25 Seeing (7) 26 Cricket team (6) 27 Melodies (5)

Down 1 Buccaneer (6) 2 Once more (5) 3 Slender (4) 5 Yearly (8) 6 Foes (7) 7 Quit formally (6) 8 React verbally (5) 13 Divide (8) 15 Analyse (7) 17 Brawn (6) 18 Prison rooms (5) 19 Phases (6) 22 Foreign (5) 23 Playthings (4)

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

1 Peculiar, 4 Pale, 7 Reads, 9 Snail, 11 Meets, 12 Boats, 13 Subtle, 15 Chosen, 19 Finds, 21 Whale, 23 Stout, 24 Scare, 25 Half, 26 Shelters. Down: 1 Perhaps, 2 Charm, 3 Assist, 5 Exits, 6 Lamb, 8 Steal, 10 Leaps, 14 Bonus, 16 Heals, 17 Nucleus, 18 Switch, 19 Fresh, 20 Soon, 22 Erase.

ENGLISHSPANISH Across: 1 Advice, 3 Apio, 7 Lip, 9 Platano, 10 Higo, 11 Item, 14 Enfermo, 15 Uva, 16 Owls, 17 Naipes. Down: 1 Aula, 2 Cupboard, 4 Plateau, 5 Olor, 6 Mariposa, 8 Painful, 12 Beso, 13 Hats.

CODE BREAKER

Across 1 To marry (5) 4 Melocotón (5) 7 River (3) 8 Soldado (7) 9 Earthquake (9) 13 Campesino (familia, revuelta) (7) 15 Pero (uso adversativo) (3) 16 Grandson (5) 17 Oveja (5)

Down 1 Priest (4) 2 Piedra (material) (5) 3 Cold (infection) (9) 4 Popcorn (9) 5 There (near you) (3) 6 Daño (4) 10 Mesa (mueble) (5) 11 Abierto (4) 12 Paso (4) 14 As (naipes) (3)

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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The Road to Little Dribbling

By: Bill Bryson A LOVING and hilarious - if occasionally spiky valentine to Bill Bryson’s adopted country, Great Britain. Prepare for total joy and multiple episodes of unseemly laughter. Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to discover and celebrate that green and pleasant land. The result was Notes from a Small Island, a true classic and one of the bestselling travel books ever written. Now he has travelled about Britain again, by bus and train and rental car and on foot, to see what has changed and what hasn’t. With his matchless instinct for the funniest and quirkiest and his unerring eye for the idiotic, the bewildering, the appealing, and the ridiculous, he offers acute and perceptive insights into all that is best and worst about Britain today. books@euroweeklynews.com

ON average, a person speaks somewhere between 7,000 and 20,000 words every day. Most of these are just fillers like ‘and,’ ‘so,’ and ‘on.’ But the words that are used to convey a message often carry stories of their own. Here we take a look at the origins of the common word. 1. OK. ‘Okay’ has one of the most complicated word origins to track down. Although there are dozens of theories, nobody’s sure which one is correct. Some of the best suggestions are: Omnis Korrecta is Latin for ‘all correct.’ Another would be: Och Aye or O Qu’oui, Scottish and French, respectively for ‘Ah, yes.’ Alternatively, ‘Oll Korrect,’ a common misspelling in the US of ‘all correct’ back in the 1800s is attributed to Andrew Jackson, the seventh US president, and John Jacob Astor. 2. Spirit. Speaking of spirits, have you ever stood close to someone who has bad breath? Believe it or not, these two have a connection. By that, we mean that the words ‘spirit’ and ‘breath’ have common roots. The English ‘spirit’ comes from the Latin ‘spiritus,’ which can mean ‘breath,’ ‘breathing,’ or ‘soul.’ We can even take it one step further: Spirare has its origins in an Indo-European word that means ‘to blow.’ 3. Influenza. Most of us just call it ‘flu,’ but the full-length word ‘influenza’ actually carries some history on its back. It was originally Italian, where it means ‘influence.’ The name refers to the cause of the disease rather than the illness itself, as the old Italians had the same explanation for illnesses as for disasters. They blamed both on unfortunate astrological constellations. 4. Poison is directly borrowed from the French, who rewrote the Latin word potionem. The Latin word first and foremost meant ‘a drink.’ But it gathered more ominous meanings such as ‘magical potion’ and ‘medicinal potion’ before finally translating into ‘poisoned drink.’ 5 Pants. The mystery of the plural

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Amazing histories behind common words

App of the Week Slide Slide lets you create faux3D GIFs. Every major social network now lets you post videos, but not every photographic situation is improved by video. With this week’s App of the Week, you can add a little depth to a still image just by moving your phone a little. Slide is an app by Little Pixels that lets you easily create a stereoscopic-like GIF with your iPhone. Just tap your screen, slide your phone and then tap your subject. Slide will create a GIF that looks like it’s in 3D.

Play on Words EVERY

OK: There are dozens of theories. ‘pants’ has fascinated us all at some point. Why more than one pant? What is a pant? Little did we know that the word actually has a fascinating background. Some people already know that ‘pants’ is an abbreviation of ‘pantaloons.’ The type of tight trousers that used to be called ‘pantaloons’ were named after a famous character, much like celebrities get fashion items named after them today. Pantaleone was his name, and this wasn’t any old trouserwearing man. He was a well-known character in 16th-century Italian comedies. Due to his thin legs, he wore full-length tights instead of the popular knee breeches. 6 Whiskey. Countless are those who have drowned their sorrows in a bottle of Scotch, but did they know that whiskey is called ‘whiskey’ in countries that have an ‘e’ in their name, like Ireland, and ‘whisky’ in countries without an ‘e,’ such as Scotland? The Gaelic were well aware of this and named their favourite beverage uiscebeathadh (‘water of life’). This was shortened to uisce (‘water’). Try saying uisce out loud, and you’ll find that it sounds quite similar to our ‘whiskey.’ 7 Avocado. The word ‘avocado’ originates from the Nahuatlan word ahuacatl, which was used for describing the fruit. The word ahuacatl underwent a series of misinterpretations. The Spanish changed ahuacatl to

‘aguacate,’ which was then changed by the English to avogato in the 1600s. 8. Robot. We use our machines as slaves! and really, why shouldn’t we? They don’t feel fatigue or hunger, and they can’t complain about bad work conditions. Maybe that’s what went through Karel Capek’s head in 1920 when he gave the name ‘robots’ to the emotionless, mass-produced workers in his play Rossum’s Universal Robots. The Czech word robotnik means ‘slave,’ as does the Old Slavic robu and rabota. 9. Disaster. Today, there are few of us who blame the stars when something goes wrong. The old Italians probably also complained a lot too, but they had one major excuse when things were going south. If you were born under certain stars, you were prone to bad luck and misfortune. From that belief came the word disastrato (‘born under an ill star’). 10. Hazard. Have you ever played a game of dice? Most of us know that little rush of adrenaline when you let go of the small cubes, hoping that they will roll in your favour. ‘A game of dice’ has long been one of the principal meanings of the word ‘hazard.’ It was derived from the Old French word hasard, a word for all sorts of dice games. Hasard came from the Spanish azar, ‘an unfortunate throw of dice.’

HEPLS

Boggled How many English words can you find in the Boggled grid, according to the following rules? The letters must be adjoining in a ‘chain’. They can be adjacent horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Words must contain at least four letters and may include singular and plural or other derived forms. No letter may be used more than once within a single word, unless it appears twice. No vulgarities or proper nouns are permitted.

TARGET: Average: 23 Good: 29 Very good: 42 Excellent: 52

SCORING: • 4 letters: 1 point • 5 letters: 2 points • 6 letters: 3 points • 7 letters: 4 points • 8 or more letters: 11 points

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION iota item items imps deism deist demit demits demist demise dement dements demesne deaf deem deems deva defat date emit emits eaves eves atop aves spied emptied evade feist feta feat fees fate fated fade fave feces cense cent cents cento cess cesspit cement cements cots cote cotes

Word Ladder TIDY

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

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.

TIME OUT

LOVE BACK

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

TIDY TIDE HIDE HIVE LIVE LOVE

TOP 10

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Answers: Every little helps, Fuzzy logic

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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OPINION & COMMENT

Time travel on the N332

OUR VIEW Chad R Hill Wikimedia

Foto: flickr by Bob Bekian

BY the time I reached Guardamar, I was belting out the lyrics like a good ‘un 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.

WE have all experienced the power of music and its ability to take us back to special places and key moments in our lives. I was returning from Alicante airport, having dropped off old friends who, until my visit to the UK last year, I had not clapped eyes on for 30-odd years. Theirs was an obscenely early morning flight and I found myself on the deserted N332 at half past stupid with just some light mist, a chunky Kit Kat and an all night radio station for company. 1968 was a helter skelter year, with deep ravines of depression that slowly turned into a new and hap-

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD: A legend of the 1960s. pier phase in my life. My marriage that had terminated abruptly and brutally in the early summer of that year after a whole 18 months, had left me badly

mauled, but an introduction by my friend’s wife (the one I had just delivered to the airport) to her brother, marked the start of my return to normality and a new

circle of close friends. It began with the excellent Jose Feliciano singing Light My Fire - always a passport back in time which was followed by

good old Leapy Lee dodging Little Arrows. Then Aretha Franklin came on to assure me that she would Say A Little Prayer on my behalf. Obviously this was the 1968 music hour, because along came the sandpaper tones of Joe Cocker and the legend that is Dusty Springfield, and when Mary Hopkin reminisced that Those Were the Days, I confess there were goose bumps as I nodded to myself in fervent agreement. By the time I reached Guardamar via Gary Puckett, Marmalade and The Doors, I was belting out the lyrics like a good ‘un. And when the intro to Jesamine by The Casuals oozed silkily out of the speakers, the metamorphosis was complete and I was back in the bar of The Boars Head or on the dance floor at the Thingumajig Club, reborn and thankful to be alive.

Exit from EU could be damaging World Economic Forum Wikimedia

EUROPOL is involved in over 10,000 cross-border investigations each year John Smith Random thoughts... THIS may sound a little like scaremongering but one negative benefit of Britain leaving the Union would be that it would automatically have to leave a little known organisation called Europol. It is not a large operation, it does not have the power to initiate investigations, cannot arrest anyone, is not affiliated to Interpol (which has a completely different role) but is vital to the protection of member states against organised crime, money laundering and terrorism. Europol is the European Union’s law enforcement agency whose main goal is to help achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU citizens. They do this by assisting the European Union’s Member States in their fight against serious international crime and terrorism. With almost 800 staff at headquar-

ROB WAINWRIGHT: Director of Europol. ters in The Hague, it works closely with law enforcement agencies in the 28 EU Member States and has contacts with other non-EU partner states such as Australia, Canada, the USA and Norway. Analysis is at the core of their activities and Europol employs around 100

criminal analysts who are among the best trained in Europe and it is they who constantly update European police agency knowledge based on the flow of information that is transferred through their offices on a day to day basis. It doesn’t always work as is clear

Eternal Fire at Baba Gurgur, Iraq.

Problems still being faced SEVENTY-FIVE years ago, parts of the world had been at war for more than two years and the USA was about to align itself with the Allies following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Britain was still holding out against the Axis forces and there was heavy fighting in North Africa with Montgomery managing to defeat both the Italians and Rommel’s panzers in Libya before Britain moved on to Iraq, Syria and Iran to take possession of the oil fields there. During the same period, Greece and Yugoslavia were being invaded but at least the Allies had some wind of this because of the code breakers at Bletchley Park. In the meantime, in what turned out to be a major error, Hitler invaded Russia which was a major reason for his defeat, but it also led to the arms race and the Cold War. Although the timelines are slightly askew, there is certainly a feeling of déjà vu as here we are now, watching an invasion of Greece and many of the former Yugoslavian states albeit from a different direction and there has been continued fighting not only in Libya and Iraq but all over the Middle East. Relationships between Russia and Europe are beginning to break down and economies are suffering albeit for slightly different reasons. There is an old saying that, the more things change, the more they stay the same and we have to hope the current situation is going to resolve itself so rather than continue to stagger into one crisis after the other, politicians decide to try to work together.

from the terrible events in Paris in late 2015, but the blame rests unfortunately with intelligence services in Belgium and France and other countries which have closely guarded their information about suspects. Much has been learnt from the breakdown of communications then and action is being taken to persuade intelligence agencies to improve their communications. What is clear, however, is the Europol is involved in over 10,000 crossborder investigations each year and basically is positioned in many cases to take a piece of information from one country and by computer analysis match it with information from one or more other countries in order to predict or solve crimes. The head of Europol, Rob Wainwright, a former British intelligence officer has confirmed that in the event that Britain does decide to leave the Union, it will have to leave Europol Now we and although it may well be able to want to take a similar position to other non-EU hear your views. partners, at a time when the threat of terrorism is increasing, noYOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE one knows how such a change - YOUR OPINION will affect the safety of Britain or www.euroweeklynews.com indeed the whole of the EU.

E W N Mallorca

18 - 24 February 2016

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Burns victim creates her own treatment cream A MOTHER, who was covered almost head-totoe in burns after a freak accident, has created a soothing skin cream to help others feel confident despite having scars. The 56-year-old had 75 per cent burns to her body after an accident around a campfire when she was nine. She lost her ear and breasts, her neck was fused to her chest and she was lucky to have survived the accident. Now, decades later, the British survivor has invented her very own treatment and launched a new business with her 25-year-old daughter. Their cream ‘Sea Creme’ is a mix of sea salt, carrot seed oil and beeswax, and was created after she realised her scars felt softer following a dip in the sea. Working alongside scientists at Star Laboratory, she developed ‘Sea Creme’ which went on sale in January. She has 10,000 pots ready to go and plans to pitch to UK high street stores Boots and Superdrug.

TO READ MORE

HEALTH BEAUTY

You need self-belief to change your own body and your life FitFoxy Looking Good, Staying Trim

THE majority of people I meet in my profession seek my services because they have bodyweight issues or feel that they have lost control of their fitness, and are subsequently suffering structural physical and medical problems. Our initial conversation is based on their background and lifestyle and includes aspects of their lives they feel they no longer have control over. Setting goals for them right at the beginning of their journey gives them a direction with a definite target to reach. By the time I have persuaded a client to sit down and chat with

SETTING GOALS: Gives people a definite target to reach. me about how they plan to change and improve their life, they often already have their aspirations and a fairly clear picture of what they want to look and feel like in six - 12 months time. There are other people that regardless of how many words of encouragement you offer them, will simply not buy into them-

selves and accept that they can achieve their goals. I have weighed clients and given them their medical statistics that are realistical targets. Common responses: • There is no way I could ever be that weight again. • That’s far too hard for me I won’t be able to cope.

I have found over time, if I was unable to help a client to see what they could achieve and how they had all of the capabilities to reach the goals they clearly wanted to reach, then we were fighting a losing battle from the beginning. Instead of looking ahead to the fit attractive person they are slowly emerging into, they cling onto their picture of an unattractive overweight being that is continuously falling back and never able to climb upwards and on to the next positive level. There is truly nothing more self-gratifying than to see a client taking ownership of themselves. Their self-belief that they can achieve their goal and the cherry on the cake is when they turn up to my session in attractive new colourful gym kit and trainers, their hair is neat, with a confident triumphant glow.

Ask the Optician - Can Cancer Affect the Eyes? By Andrés Román Romero, Store Director, Specsavers Opticas Santa Ponça World Cancer Day is held each year on the 4th February and unites the world’s population in the fight against cancer. It aims to save millions of lives each year by raising awareness about the disease, so we wanted to share some information about cancer and the eyes, what it is, how you can spot it and what can happen. Can cancer affect the eyes? Yes it can, although it is rare. There are two main types of cancer which can be found inside the eye, Primary Intraocular Cancer which starts inside the eyeball and Metastic Cancer, which starts somewhere else in the body and then spreads to the eye. What are the symptoms of eye cancer? Unfortunately this is a disease which often comes with little or no symptoms, which makes it difficult to spot. Some of the symptoms of eye cancer can include; loss of vision, seeing flashing lights, a dark spot on the iris which gradually grows, a visible lump on your eyelid and pain in and around the eye. How can eye cancer be diagnosed? In many cases eye cancer can be spotted during a routine eye test. For example Andrew Beckett went to Specsavers in Mallorca for an eye test after noticing his vision had become blurred and thought he needed some new glasses. During the sight test the optician immediately suspected that there was a problem with his

eye and advised him to go straight to casualty to have it checked out in more detail. Within 15 minutes of arriving at the hospital, Andrew was seen by the doctor and then referred to an eye specialist for tests. The tests revealed cancer of the eye and he was quickly admitted to hospital for an operation to remove his eye. Mr Beckett has now fully recovered from his cancer and has been fitted with a prosthetic eye and is incredibly grateful the eye test spotted the problem before the cancer spread. There are many other conditions which can be picked up by a simple visit to the opticians, including diabetes, brain tumours and glaucoma. If necessary the optician will refer you directly for further medical examination to an Ophthalmologist or your GP for treatment. Specsavers Opticas are currently offering free sight tests, to find your nearest store and book an appointment visit www.spec savers.es.

HEALTH & BEAUTY

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Loss of hearing

Housework exercise DO the household chores to achieve your workout goals

SPECIALIST: Doctor Luis Perez Belmonte. This week one of our readers has asked the doctor about hearing loss. DEAR doctor, For some time now I seem to have been suffering from loss of hearing, my family say I turn the TV up far too loud and that I can’t hear them when they talk to me. My doctor says this is normal at my age (65) and that I shouldn’t worry about it, however my children tell me I can’t go on like this as it could be dangerous, for example they say I can’t hear properly when I’m driving. Who is right? Doctor responds: - One of the parts of our bodies which are most affected by the passing of time is our ears, causing loss of hearing which is often minor but in some cases can affect normal daily life. It can be quite dangerous under certain circumstances, such as while driving, as drivers must be able to hear properly to avoid causing harm to themselves and/or others. I think you should be evaluated by an ear, nose and throat specialist and

also get yourself checked out at a drivers’ medical centre to see whether you can continue driving or not. Reader continues: I also hear a ringing sound in my ears which comes and goes, why is this? Am I going to need a hearing aid? Doctor replies: - Ringing sounds are usually a consequence of an abnormal functioning of the inner ear, which is not always linked to a loss of hearing. There are certain exercises and training which, along with medication, can help reduce the intensity of these sounds. If your hearing loss is important and stops you leading a normal daily life, you should go to a specialist doctor who will consider whether a hearing aid would help you hear better. Occasionally, depending on the cause, it is impossible to recover lost hearing but only a specialist at a medical centre can ascertain this.

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DOING THE WASHING: Equivalent of doing a gym session. NO time to exercise? Don’t worry, just do the housework. A new study has found that doing the household chores burns more than 2,000 calories a week with cleaning the bath and doing the washing able to amount to the equivalent of doing a gym session. Scrubbing the bath Cleaning the bath with a bit of added elbow grease for 15 minutes can burn up to 100 calories, which is roughly the same as 30 jumping squats. This chore is great for toning arms and shoulder muscles. Laundry Loading and unloading the washing machine, hanging up the clothes and putting them away, doing the laundry can burn 78 calories which is the same as doing 100 sit-ups. Washing up Scrubbing away at the dishes can burn over 500 calories over a week if you spend 15 minutes doing it every night, around the same as swimming 2,500m. Hoovering Giving your carpets a good clean can burn 90 calories in half an hour, which is the same as 15 minutes of kick-boxing. Mopping and sweeping Cleaning the floors for 30 minutes can burn 145 calories.

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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OPINION & COMMENT

Delaying tactics delayed HAVING lost two general elections, Rajoy wasn’t prepared to set out on a hiding to nothing Cassandra Nash A weekly look - and not entirely impartial reaction to the Spanish political scene

AS the most-voted candidate in the December general elections, acting president Mariano Rajoy was invited by the King to form a government as custom demands. Rajoy declined, aware that he wouldn’t survive an investiture debate. Having lost two general elections before his 2011 triumph, he wasn’t prepared to set out on a hiding to nothing. What Rajoy neither wanted n o r e x p e c t e d w a s t h e K i n g ’s decision to ask Pedro Sanchez, the PSOE candidate, to give it his best shot or for Sanchez to accept. Political sources hint that discreet pressure was put

Time to say goodbye ROSA DIEZ resigned from Union, Progreso y Democracia (UPyD) which she co-founded in 2007 after leaving the PSOE in disgust. The party won five seats in the national parliament in 2011, but since then it was downhill all the way until last December when, upstaged by Ciudadanos, UPyD won no seats at all. Diez has now requested a “dignified end” for the party although sadly everyone else assumed that it had already gone to the great polling station in the sky long ago.

see and do as little as possible’ strategy has stood him in good stead on the home front. This

RICHARD FORD was an English gentleman who lived in Sevilla between1830 and 1833. Whilst there he travelled extensively throughout Spain and wrote in great detail about his experiences. Discussing the bandits and bandoleers supposedly rife on Spanish roads he claimed never to have encountered one. “They are more easily found in government offices and ministries,” he maintained. That’s something that hasn’t changed, then.

Namesakes

ROSA DIEZ: Has requested a dignified end for the party. on the Zarzuela Palace not to do so. Until now Rajoy’s ‘wait and

Plus ça change...

time he overestimated its value and he definitely underestimated Felipe VI.

IT is agreed that there are only eight authentically Basque surnames and a recent study by the ex-rector of the Universidad del Pais Vasco claimed that they were “excessively represented” in Basque politics. That’s a bit like complaining that blue sea is product placement for the Partido Popular.

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18 - 24 February 2016

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Guided visits around theatre of Palma THE Teatre Principal of Palma has launched a series of guided tours on Saturdays for the general public. This behind-the-scenes tour allows visitors to take a close look at different parts of the theatre including the stage, machinery and dressing rooms and also tells them some of the history of the building. The cost of the tour is €5 and will be offered until May 28. The Teatre Principal is located in Palma at Carrer de la Riera, 2A.

Renaissance man exhibition is free THE Museu d’Historia of Manacor (Manacor Museum of History) will be offering an exhibition on the Mallorcan Joan Binimelis, who lived from 1539 to 1616. The exhibition entitled ‘Un Manacori del Renaixement’ (a Manacor man of the Renaissance) will be on display until April 14. Admission is free. The museum is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 2pm and 5pm to 7.30pm and on Sundays from 10.30am to 1pm. It is closed on Tuesdays. For information, call 971 843 065.

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Students to perform with the Orchestra A GRANT will be given as an incentive for students to work hard By Sandra Galo A GROUP of 20 students from the Music Conservatory in Palma will join the Balearic Symphony Orchestra this season for a total of three concerts. The students form part of the Orchestra Academy and will receive a grant from the Symphony Orchestra which they can apply to the cost of their tuition. According to student Maria del Mar Rodriguez, the grant is a great incentive for students who work hard learning to play different instruments. The first concert in which the students collaborated was Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection performed on January 28. Their next performance is scheduled for March 17 in the Palma Auditorium followed by the third performance on April 14.

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SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA: Students will perform three concerts with the Balearic Symphony Orchestra.

SOCIAL SCENE

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David Guetta BH MALLORCA will be hosting three big performers for the 2016 summer season. American electro house musician and music producer Steve Aoki will be the first to perform on June 16. He will return again later in the summer on August 2. Aoki’s first performance will be followed by two performances by English singer songwriter Jess Glynne on June 21 and July 19. Glynne is the second British female solo artist to have five number-one singles in the UK. One of the most famous DJs of our day, David Guetta, will be performing at BH Mallorca on August 7. Guetta, who has sold nine million albums and 30 million singles worldwide, was voted #1 DJ in the DJ Mag Top DJs fan poll. More performances will be announced in the weeks to come. For information on performances and visiting artists, go to BH Mallorca’s website.

FILM CONTEST ORGANISERS: from left to right: Javier Pachon (CineCiutat), Pablo Valera e Isabel Teruel (Port Adriano), Carlos Hellin (RECBLAU), Pere Fullana (ESADIB).

Short film contest A WAY of promoting audio-visual world PORT ADRIANO is hosting the first ever short film contest in a Spanish port. The competition is a way of promoting the audio-visual world and gives both professional and amateur filmmakers the opportunity to show their talents. Finalists will receive €10,000 in prizes making it one of the best contests of its kind on the national scene. For more information, go to Port Adriano’s webpage: www.portadriano.com/en/events/concurso-de-cortos

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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52 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

PROPERTY

18 - 24 February 2016

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PROPERTY experts in Spain estimate that when buying a property it is essential to add an extra rough amount of 8 per cent if buying outright, to 15 per cent if using a mortgage, to the purchasing price in order to fully account for the extra costs associated with closing the deal. There are a great deal of intangibles to consider which depend largely on the region and the nature of the property itself. Whether the building is new or used will determine whether and what level of VAT you will have to pay and also whether stamp duty applies, the amount varying across provinces. New housing is classed in a complex fashion and will require VAT and stamp duty (AJD), while used housing is not taxed with either, but will incur the transfer tax (ITP). This also varies according to region, from highs of 10 per cent of the value of the sale in Catalonia, to lows of four in the Basque Country. There are different

Photo by Roman Motizov via Shutterstock

Allowing for extra costs

STAMP DUTY: The amount varies across the provinces.

schemes for special circumstances like large families or those with disabilities. Land registry and notaries will create extra costs and will be significantly

higher for those with mortgages who will incur all kinds of agency fees and demands embedded in the mortgage contract.

HOME sales in Spain grew by 11.1 per cent in 2015, marking the largest yearly rebound in the eight years since the beginning of the global recession. It was a much higher than anticipated performance following on from 2014 which had registered a more modest 2 per cent increase. A grand total of 354,132 homes changed hands over the course of the year. The figures are being received with moderate optimism from economists who point out that in 2007 more than 775,000 homes were sold, and that the current figures are still much closer to a catastrophic

Photo by M2K7 via Shutterstock

Home sales grow dramatically

HOME SALES: Higher than expected performance in 2015.

2013 which saw 312,593 sales. The market is considered to be in much better health and in more of a standardisation process than forming a new bubble. Used homes represented 78 per cent of all housing transactions and saw a 37.2 per cent increase, while new building sales actually dropped 33.7 per cent to just 77,865 purchases. Valencia and the Balearics registered the most sales per 100,000 inhabitants. Andalucia saw the most overall with more than 70,000 sales executed, far exceeding both Catalonia and Madrid which clocked in just above 50,000 each.

PROPERTY

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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Falling in love with your property MOST buyers have a picture of what they are looking for and studies show that location is top choice John Graham The property expert

FALLING in love is a very personal thing, you fall in love with someone because you find the person particularly attractive for one or several reasons and some reasons are more important than others. The majority of buyers buy a property because they literally fall in love with it! Will buyers fall in love with your property? If you’re selling your property you will want buyers to fall in love with your property, it’s not easy and for the buyer it’s the same as falling in love with a person, it’s very personal. Every buyer is different and will fall in love with a property if the property is attractive to them in one or several ways. With many years of experience in

ROMEO, ROMEO: Falling in love is a very personal thing and that includes property. selling and buying properties in Spain, my job is to make sure that I know as much as possible about what the buyer will want to buy and match the buyer’s requirements with a selection of properties which are close to what they want or love. Buyers could be looking for property in the city close to schools, a

holiday resort close to the beach, a golf location with a protected environment, or gated community for extra security, the choice is endless. Most people in the property industry would say people buy because location, location, location, is everything. Which is true up to a point but it

Market exchange DUBAI based real estate developer, Cayan, has announced its intention to enter the Spanish market onboard a collaborative project with Spanish outfit Sarena near Marbella on the Costa del Sol. The group are behind the twisted 307 metre Cayan tower which dominates the Dubai sky-

line and have highlighted the lucrative European market as their new target for expansion. Sarena has decades of experience working in the Marbella region and having carved out a strong national reputation is looking to reciprocally enter the highly profitable Middle-East market.

oversimplifies thinking behind why buyers fall in love with a property. In my experience, most buyers have a picture of what they are looking for, they normally have preconceived ideas of what they want and don’t want their dream home to be like and when they see something that is close to their mental picture,

it’s love at first sight and they buy it. Of course the buyers’ financial budget is an important factor and will be different for every buyer, but with a little compromise, the buyer can still fall in love with a property, even though it’s not 100 per cent perfect. One recent study asked buyers what they looked for when buying their dream home and the results show the location is first, followed by the price, the exterior and interior appearance, the living area, the kitchen, the master bedroom, natural light, design features, decoration and safety. They say that for every person looking to fall in love there is a perfect match somewhere, I think it’s the same with buying property, there is a property waiting, for a buyer to love. If you are selling your property contact me, we have buyers from the UK, looking for their dream home in Spain. John Graham / gk.ipad@me.com

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It’s the parents, not the children! Mike Senker

In my opinion Views of a Grumpy Old Man BEFORE I start this, I have to say that I like children. Well, let me qualify this, I like wellbehaved children. The ones I’m not too fond of are the ones that are allowed to do what they like, when they like, where they like, with parents that do not give a monkeys what inconvenience it causes others. Come to think of it it’s not the children that tick me off; it’s the parents that let two-plusyear-olds run round a restaurant screaming at each other. The parents sit there totally oblivious of the noise. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be having fun. They should be, but not at the expense of the other punters. Then all of a sudden, they decide they have had enough and start yelling at the child which then starts the poor little so and so crying and screaming and then mum or dad start shouting even more. Then the idle threats start. “If you don’t stop I’m sending you on the next plane back to England!” You can almost see the child

thinking “No you aren’t! I’m five... you have to come up with something more believable than that... but in meantime I’ll just carry on screaming.” I was in a supermarket recently and there was a woman with a five or six-year-old child and he was kicking off like a thing possessed and she was totally ignoring him. Obviously she had read somewhere that this is the correct way to deal with this situation, but I have to tell you, even though I’m no expert it’s not! At that point a woman walked up to her and said, “Excuse me, can you control your child or at least stop and ask him what’s wrong.” Well, all of a sudden it became quite apparent where this small person developed his temper because his mum went berserk at this woman telling her, in no uncertain terms, to mind her own business. But what did happen was the child, all of a sudden, stopped screaming to watch his mum take over the tantrum. I walked off and left them all but having a full blown punch up. My last plea is to the passengers on aircraft. It is not acceptable to let your little precious constantly kick the back of my seat and yes I will turn round and I will ask you to get them to stop and no it’s not their fault or mine it’s YOURS!

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OPINION & COMMENT

LEGALLY SPEAKING

More safety rules BELOW are some other common traffic offences 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.

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY: Pedestrians are vulnerable and need protection. ALL traffic rules and laws are aimed at one thing; to make the roads a safer place. The penalties associated with infractions are mostly intended to be a deterrent, which is why repeat offenders in some cases face harsher penalties. Following on from our article last week, here are some more of the most common traffic offences, and the fines and sanctions for committing them: Offence: Failing to respect the priority of pedestrians Pedestrians are the most vulnerable of all road users and so need the most protection. Failing to respect the priority of pedestrians and the fact they take precedence will result in a fine and, depending on the potential risk to those pedestrians, the loss of four points. Fine: €200 Offence: Failing to give way. Junctions are dangerous places. Vehicles

which have priority and are already moving mix with other vehicles which try to join the flow but at generally lower speeds. Forcing any vehicle to deviate from its course, speed or direction creates a hazard which is dangerous. Failing to give way to another vehicle when that vehicle has priority and forcing them to brake or manoeuvre sharply will result in a fine and the loss of points. Fine: €200 and the loss of four points Offence: Driving on a motorway in a prohibited vehicle. Vehicles which are unable to reach a minimum threshold of speed are banned because if a slower vehicle is in the path of one moving at high speed there is less time to deal with that hazard. Driving on a motorway in a prohibited vehicle, such as a horse or hand drawn vehicle, a cycle or moped for example, will result in a fine. Fine: €200

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

What exactly is ‘plus valia’ tax? I read your article in a recent edition of the Euro Weekly regarding Spanish Capital Gains Tax, with your explanation for exemption for the over 65s who sell their principal residence. Surely the ‘Plus Valia’ Tax is Your logic is impeccable. The ‘plus valia’ tax is indeed very similar to the capital gains tax. We must dig a little deeper however. The national capital gains tax is charged on the profit made when a person sells an asset. If there is no

also a Capital Gains Tax, but this tax is taken by town halls even when a property seller over 65 qualifies for Capital Gains exemption. Can you explain this? P R (Costa del Sol)

David Searl You and the Law in Spain

profit there is no tax. The ‘plus valia’ is a municipal tax which is charged every time a property changes hands. It is based on the

length of time which has passed between the exchanges, not on any profit. It is even charged on an inheritance. This tax is usually low, but if a property has been held by the same owner for many years, it can be substantial.

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

HOMES GARDENS

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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An early explosion of colour THERE has been an almost seamless transition from a mild autumn to the beginning of spring Dick Handscombe

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

ALTHOUGH it is still officially winter, there has been an almost seamless transition from a mild autumn to the beg i n n i n g o f sp r in g , without a real winter, so the spring explosion of colour from trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and bulbs is coming early. The earliest flowering trees in c l u d e d e c i d u o u s trees such as pears, quince, cherry, apricots and evergreen citruses. Plant orange, mandarin and lemon trees in the garden and the spring air will be filled with the sweet scent of the profuse hatch of white flowers. Plant a ‘Luna’ lemon and you can achieve a similar effect e v e r y si x t o e ig h t weeks of the year, but on a smaller scale. Then there are the more s pecta c u l a r m i d a n d late spring flowering trees such as the callistemon (bottle brush tree), oleander, jacaranda, magnolia, schinus (mock pepper tree), the

LEMONS: Will fill the air with a sweet scent. spring flowering mimosa, p h ilad elp h u s (mo c k orange), viburnum, the miniature and full size waxy red flowered pomegranate and showy tamarisks. Be lo w a n d a ro u n d the tree s o n e c a n p la n t ea rly flowering bushes and climbing shrubs, such as camellias , y ello w b ro o ms , low growing purple lantanas and plumbago.

Is it time for a spring makeover at home? IF we are to listen to the latest style gurus, they tell us that gold is the new black when it comes to making our homes ‘Instagram perfect.’ Whether it’s to help sell the house or just for a spring makeover, apparently, this season we should ‘Go for the Gold.’ Bye-bye brushed nickel and patinated bronze, glittering gold is taking centre stage. From lighting fixtures to gilded furniture, this hot hue has taken the design world by storm. Even a few small touches like swapping out kitchen cabinet hardware or working in a few gleaming accessories will give your home an on-trend update. It would seem that designers have fallen back in love with colour. But, like anything, too much of a good thing can be, well, too much. To create a pleasing palette, limit your main colours to three. To be a little different, reclaimed wood walls are hot, hot, hot! But, they can also be oh-so-cool as designer Brooke Wagner proves with a small bedroom and kitchen where silvery grey boards installed in a timeless herringbone pattern create a dreamy backdrop. To set off the wooden walls, Say It with Signage! Whether it’s a faux-plaque you crafted yourself or a real deal antique, vintagelooking signs are a sure way to add a quirky bit of character.

These will be closely followed by bougainvilleas, solanums, wisteria, honeysuckle, hibiscus, the taller red, orange and yellow lantanas, rock roses, and of course roses if you have a suitable soil rich in humus and water retaining. Moving down to smaller plants, a dedicated bed of perennials or plants mixed in w ith s hrubs c a n give a

very colourful display. Try planting the elegant bird of paradise flower (strelitzia), echium with its impressive leaves and spires of blue or white flowers, purple, red and yellow margaritas, brilliant coloured rudbeckias and valerian with continuous pink flowerings. Traditionally spring was the time to plant geraniums already in flower, but the

need t o spr ay t hem weekl y agai nst t he dreaded geranium moth from the day you purchase them, has led many gardeners to stop buying them. Less troublesom e ar e gazani as and mesembryanthemums. In the herb garden rosemary, thyme, sage and rue will start to flower as will

flower succulents on a rockery or in terrace pots. © Dick Handscombe www.gardenspain.com Facebook ‘Gardening in Spain – Handscombe’ February 2016

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PETS PAGE www.euroweeklynews.com

Housetraining tips for your puppies THEY need a lot of care, especially at home

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

PUPPIES are adorable with their softness, big eyes and lovable ways! For sure, everyone loves puppies but these cuddly, furry creatures require so much care, especially at home. Here is some important information on housetraining your puppy: Feeding Feed your puppy with a superior brand of dry puppy food. Do not give him table scraps and as much as possible, do not change brands. If you need to change, introduce gradually

over a period of four to seven days. Do not feed him with tinned food as it loosens stools and makes housetraining more difficult. An hour after eating, most puppies will defecate so you can control his elimination time based on your feeding schedule. Close Supervision In order to housetrain your puppy, you have to supervise him at all times especially when outside his crate or newspaper covered area. When he starts sniffing the floor, circling or running around, he is giving signs that he needs to eliminate so bring him immediately to your properly designated area. If your puppy defecates in the wrong place, stop him by saying NO in a loud and assertive tone. Apply deodoriser on places where he eliminated. Confinement When your puppy is left alone in your home it is recom-

mended that he be placed in a crate or confined area. Confinement is a good way to keep your puppy safe and prevent housetraining accidents. However, it should not be used as a form of punishment. Isolating pets for a long time can be detrimental to them. Confinement can be the source of behavioural problems like excessive barking, self-mutilation, digging and hyperactivity. Puppies also need the essentials like exercise, daily companionship and playtime. Safety zone, grey zone and danger zone In a puppy’s daily life, there is a thing called temporary ‘safety zone.’ It is the time the owner can trust the puppy to hold his urine after he has defecated or was taken for a walk. Do not let your puppy drink a lot of water during this time. Grey zones and danger zones are those outside this safety zone.

Kyara’s new pleasures 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 SINCE moving to Spain with his family, Kyara the spaniel has discovered a number of new pleasures. He loves the swimming pool, and the beach, and he really loves chasing the stray cats who have adopted their new villa and garden. But he misses the lawn from their house in Scotland. As a puppy he would nip at the grass, and then sit in the sun lit-

erally chewing the cud. In Spain, he has a wonderful time in the family’s new garden. He loves leaping in the pool with a splash alongside the children. But he does miss the green grass from home near Aberdeen. When house-sitters are asked to care for him in Marbella when the family go back to Aberdeen for the holidays, they are

warned to watch out for Kyara’s grass nibbling habit. A little too much digging the dirt for grass can upset his tummy. The lawn where they live in Marbella is not the same as the velvety lawn in Aberdeen. The lawn is patchy and more scattered with earth and pebbles which he tends to inhale as he nibbles. The family prepare a housesitter’s guide for the care and feeding of Kyara before the sitters take residence. They use the ‘Easy sit guide’ a template available on the HouseSitMatch site. It is where they can put all the information the sitters will need from his daily habits and eccentricities, his favourite brand of food and treats, to the vet’s telephone number and neighbours’ contact details.

BOATS

18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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EWN

Four women rowers trying to beat current record rescued in Atlantic SHOWS how important it is to be prepared for your voyage and have several means of contact A QUARTET of British women have been rescued after capsizing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in their quest to break a rowing speed record across the vast expanse of dangerous waters. They were 400 nautical miles from Cape Verde on the West African coast when their boat flipped over and they lost some of their oars as well as their GPS. They activated an emergency beacon and were stranded for 16 hours before eventually being rescued by a bulk carrier ship destined for Canada early on Saturday February 13. Gemma Chalk, Clare Lanyon, Jane McIntosh and Olivia Wilson had sought to break the women’s speed record for rowing the 3,000 mile journey from Gran Canaria to

Photo Credit Oceanus Rowing

By Matthew Elliott

SETTING OFF: The four women in their vessel embarking on their voyage.

New 48 metre superyacht

Photo Credit Etnoy Wikimedia

Fourth Carnival Regatta at sea in Las Palmas

CARNIVAL REGATTA: Laser Radial on the water. TO run alongside the celebrations of the Las Palmas Carnival, the Real Club Nautico de Gran Canaria hosted the 4th Carnival Regatta which ran from February 12 to 14 and attracted Laser standard craft from all over Europe. This was a perfect test for those intending to

Barbados. With few oars, no navigation system and after capsizing several times they were forced to abandon their quest, which was raising funds for charity. UK Coastguard duty controller Ian Guy said: “The rowers were an extremely long way from land with no other vessels in the immediate vicinity. We received several responses to our mayday request, the nearest vessel being 90 nautical miles away. They quickly diverted and set course to the stricken rowers, taking 11 hours to reach them. “This shows you how important it is to be prepared for your voyage and have several means of contacting the coastguard or raising an alarm, even if you are not in UK waters. Thankfully the rowers are now on board the ship and all are reported to be well.”

compete in the European Championship which will also be held at the club in the last regatta of the winter season between February 26 and March 4. There were a few upsets with the world champion from Britain Nick Thompson finishing in third place.

AT the recent Miami Beach superyacht exhibition, the Italian shipyard Baglietto unveiled a new Explorer line to complement their existing superyacht models. According to the company, the 48 metre Explorer will offer very high spec capabilities and has been designed to be able to cope equally with periods at anchor or at sea. With construction due to start soon, the superyacht promises plenty of space for the owner and guests as well as the crew and there are well designed ‘nooks’ in which tenders and recreational craft can be stored. Assuming it will not spend too much time in cold or rainy weather, there is an open sundeck lounging area, a jacuzzi and sophisticated bar and dining area. With the options of a four or five bedroom layout and a large galley and dining area, the vessel is designed with comfort and enjoyment in mind and the owner will be able to choose from a wide range of furnishings and décor style. Boat builder Cantiere Baglietto Spa specialises in the construction of new aluminium yachts ranging between 35 and 50 metres in length and steel and aluminium displacement megayachts above 40 metres.

EXPLORER LINE: To complement existing models. The company’s activities also include top-quality ship repair and refitting services, as well as the construction of military craft, which was their original business.

With 35,000 square metres of working space in Liguria, the company which is more than 150 years old offers a range of quality manufacture and repair services.

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016

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Motoring shorts

RenaultNissan stays strong THE Renault-Nissan Alliance sold 8,528,887 vehicles in 2015, up almost 1 per cent from the previous year, thanks to record sales in the United States, China and Europe. Combined sales for the world’s fourth largest car group, which includes Renault Group, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Russia’s AVTOVAZ, held steady from the calendar year 2014, despite sharp declines in the overall Russian and Brazilian markets. Renault, Nissan and AVTOVAZ, Russia’s largest automaker, account for about one in 10 cars sold worldwide.

THE countdown to the 86th Geneva International Motor Show has begun, and Mazda will be there again with two European premieres for the 2016 event, the award-winning Mazda RX-VISION concept and a fun, new low-emission Mazda3 in combination with

Clarkson Quote of theWeek

MOTORING www.euroweeklynews.com

You don’t get paint on a TVR, it’s woad. And instead of being made from steel or aluminium, it’s wattle and daub. It’s an Iron Age fort with a Bronze Age engine. It’s Boudica, only with less femininity and more rage in its heart. Some might say...

Porsche on a roll at Le Mans TWO 919 Hybrids will carry the starting numbers one and two AFTER the successful 2015 season when it took overall victory in Le Mans and won the constructors’ and drivers’ World Championship titles, Porsche finds itself in the role of the title defenders in 2016. Accordingly, the two Porsche 919 Hybrids with around 900 hp will

carry the starting numbers one and two. This was confirmed at last week’s press conference in Paris by the Le Mans organisers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Team Principal Andreas Seidl

said: “Competing with the starting numbers one and two is an honour and a challenge at the same time. “We expect even stronger competition in 2016, but still want to be able to fight for race victories and try to defend our titles. In February our intensive test and training pro-

gramme kicked off in Abu Dhabi.” However, for Porsche’s third season since their return to the prestigious top category of Le Mans prototypes, the cutting-edge 919 Hybrids will be running with the same basic chassis structure and powertrain concept.

TOP CATEGORY: The cutting-edge Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Mazda cars on show the SKYACTIV-D 1.5 clean diesel. The RX-VISION concept puts a stunning new form to Mazda’s illustrious heritage of

rotary powered sports cars. Linking with the company’s one-of-a-kind range of RXbadged production models, the RX-VISION is a shining sym-

bol of Mazda’s challenger spirit as the only carmaker to ever succeed on the market with the rotary engine. The SKYACTIV-D 1.5-

powered Mazda3, meanwhile, adds a new dimension to the award-winning compact with the most fuel-efficient version of Mazda’s all-time bestselling

model ever offered in Europe. The latest edition of the lightweight powerplant enhances both fun and comfort care of a faster, more linear engine response to accelerator input as well as new dynamic dampers built into each piston for a smoother, quieter engine.

Bling Bling for the new BMW THE new BMW M2 Coupe sets the benchmark in the segment of rich boy racers compact high-performance sports cars when it comes to driving dynamics and performance, and now you can make it look like it as well. Its extrovert design further underscores the car’s highly dynamic character and outstanding suitability for the race track. From March 2016, the dynamic qualities and the visual appearance of the BMW M2 Coupe can be further enhanced with the newly presented range of BMW M Performance Parts. They comprise components derived from motor racing for the areas of aerodynamics, engine, cockpit and suspension which not only look great, they do the job too. The very extensive range of aerodynamic components made of carbon fibre will include front and side

sill attachments, rear diffuser and mirror caps that are perfectly harmonised in their aerodynamic effect, and beef up the ‘mean look’ of the compact high-performance sports car. You can even make it sound more monstrous with the M Performance flap silencer system, which makes for more intense en-

NEW: BMW M2 Coupe.

gine sound. Its two operating modes Sport and Track can even be set by Bluetooth remote control. The BMW M Performance coil-spring suspension package will optimise road holding and handling with a fully adjustable five to 20mm lowering system.

E W N 18 - 24 February 2016 / Mallorca

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SPORT

St Valentine’s Day massacres in Rome and at Villa Park! WINS for England, Wales and France 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 • In the Premiership last Sunday, Liverpool inflicted upon ‘hopeless’ and seemingly doomed Aston Villa their heaviest home defeat for 81 years with a 6-0 victory… Arsenal scored very late to beat leaders Leicester City 2-1 as did second-placed Tottenham Hotspur who beat fading Manchester City by the same score at The

Etihad Stadium. • Twenty-four hours earlier, improving Chelsea whacked dismal Newcastle United 51… Sunderland stunned Manchester United 2-1… WBA won 1-0 at Goodison Park despite having only 25 per cent of the play while Everton had 34 attempts at goal… then Stoke City (3-1 at AFC Bournemouth), Southampton (1-0 at struggling Swansea) and Watford (2-1 at Crystal Palace) also won on the road and resilient West Ham United earned a 2-2 draw at Norwich. • Hull City won 2-0 at Blackburn to go top of the Championship ahead of Middlesbrough … Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion and Northampton Town lead Leagues 1 and 2… Celtic head

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: Beat a fading Manchester City.

the SPL… and CF Barcelona, with a new club record of 30 matches unbeaten now secured, remain in pole position in La Liga after hammering Celta Vigo 6-1. Real Madrid, 4-1 winners over Athletic Bilbao, stand second. • On Tuesday, the first leg of the Champions League last 16 encounter between Chelsea and Paris St Germain took place in France; last night AS Roma met Real Madrid in the same compettion. • This evening, it’s Augsburg v Liverpool, Fiorentina v Spurs, Midtyjlland v Manchester United and holders Sevilla v Molde in the first legs of the round of 32 in the long-running Europa League. • There are eight 5th round FA Cup-ties coming up: Arsenal

LIVERPOOL: Had a 6-0 victory over Aston Villa. v Hull City, AFC Bournemouth v Everton, Reading v WBA and Watford v Leeds United on Saturday; Blackburn Rovers v West Ham, Chelsea v Manchester City and Spurs v Crystal Palace on Sunday, followed by the minnows of Shrewsbury Town against Manchester United on Monday. • Also this weekend, Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley, out-of-sorts Derby County and Middlesbrough will be chasing vital ‘promotion’ points in the Championship; Southend United v Burton and Walsall v Wigan Athletic are the two big games in FL1, while in FL2 it’s Crawley Town v Plymouth Argyle and leaders Northampton Town v Wycombe Wanderers. • Former England international Adam Johnson has been sacked by Sunderland after pleading guilty to grooming and sexual activity with a child. • And for those interested, on Saturday, New-

castle United play Swedish side Lillestroem in a friendly at the La Manga golf complex (free admission). RUGBY UNION • The three latest Six Nations matches saw England crush Italy 40-9 in Rome, Wales beat Scotland 27-23 in Cardiff (their ninth win in a row over the Scots) and France stun reigning champions Ireland 10-9 in a ‘bruis-

ing battle’ in Paris. • It’s still Saracens, Exeter Chiefs and Leicester Tigers 12-3 in the Aviva Championship and Ulster, Connacht and Leinster likewise in the pro-12 League. RUGBY LEAGUE • Hull FC ran in seven tries as they won 38 points to 10 at Catalan Dragons to shoot to the top of the Super League, ahead of Wigan Warriors. CRICKET • England won the first two ODIs in South Africa but then lost the next three and with it the five-match series by 3-2. Despite excellent centuries by Joe Root and Alex Hales in matches four and five, skipper Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy and Moeen Ali all failed as England simply did not register enough runs in those final two fixtures. There are two T20 matches still remaining. CYCLING • The ‘Manx Machine’ from the Isle of Man, Mark Cavendish, won the first ‘big’ race of the year, The Tour of Qatar , and said afterwards: “I’m back on track and ready to collect more medals. Bring on Rio!”

RUGBY: England crushed Italy 40-9 in Rome.

E W N Mallorca

SPORT

18 - 24 February 2016

EX-REAL Betis star Trifon Ivanov, who won 77 caps for Bulgaria, has died, aged 50.

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A muddy match for El Toro RC U18 team in Madrid THE El Toro RC U18 team had the opportunity for much-needed match practice in a friendly game against RC Complutense Cisneros at the weekend. After heavy rain in Madrid during the week the pitch was very muddy which made play difficult and both teams struggled to be accurate. The match was dominated by the forwards and was a win for the visitors by 35 points to 15. Baleares Senior League Bahia RC had a surprise win following a tough match against last year’s League winners, RC Ponent in s’Arraco, narrowly beating them by 22 points to 24. In the game between Corsaris / Dimonis combined team and TRUC Menorca, the locals began as favourites and were superior throughout the match. It was too much for an injury hit menorquin team to keep up the pace and they lost by 55 points to six.

EL TORO RC: After heavy rain the pitch was very muddy which made play difficult. In the other Senior League match at the weekend Shamrock RC played extremely well against visiting team Ibiza RFC who were disadvantaged by only being able to field 14 players. This gave Shamrock RC the chance to

show how they are improving and as a result of some accurate play won by 43 points to 15. Rugby day in Son Roca In the U14 tournament held in Son Roca, the El Toro RC team had suffi-

cient players for the second time.They lost their match against Trepitjadors from Binassalem but continue working on their game plan. In the younger categories, El Toro RC present two teams in both the U8

and U10 categories and one for the U12. As always, the youngsters tried their best and showed tremendous enthusiasm. A day to promote rugby for girls was held in Manacor with players from Corsaris RFC, Shamrock RC and Dimonis RC taking part to recruit more female players to the sport. Coming up next week In the Senior Men’s League, El Toro RC will host RC Ponent, whilst Shamrock RFC travels to play TRUC Menorca. Bahia RC could have a tough match against top of the league Corsaris / Dimonis combined team, and it is Ibiza RC’s turn to rest and recuperate. The next Flag Rugby tournament takes place in San Ferran on Saturday morning and the younger players have the opportunity to play in the next leg of the Michel Rodier League for the U16 and U18 teams.