Euro Weekly News - Costa Blanca North 29 December 2016 - 4 January 2017 Issue 1643

ISSUE NO. 1643

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017

COSTA BLANCA NORTH

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YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION

THE BEST OF THE YEAR 2016 SEE PAGES 10 - 31

Beach body riddle Turn to page 4

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LOCAL NEWS

Local is best

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THE 1642 (December 22-28) issue of the Costa Blanca North Euro Weekly News contained no less than 56 local news items, demonstrating once again our dedication and commitment to delivering the news that matters most to you, our readers, in each of our six editions.

Nobody does it better!

Gone to pot FOUR raids brought in a haul of more than 6,000 marihuana plants in a major antidrugs swoop in the Marina Alta. They arrested four men and a woman, all Dutch na-

tionals, who as well as drugs charges are accused of defrauding Iberdrola with illegal electricity hook-ups which they used to power their indoor plantations.

Seasonal solidarity BENISSA residents once again helped the AECC anti-cancer association by adorning their balconies for Christmas. Participants in the ‘Balconades’ competition acquired the red cloth used for the hangings from Benissa’s AECC branch in exchange for a donation destined entirely for the charity, with Christmas hampers for the five winners in the adult category and educational toys for the youngsters.

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NEWS

Natural disaster will be wake-up call A CYCLIST who has been biking through Spain to raise environmental awareness says he has been shocked by some of the attitudes encountered on his travels through the south of the country.

Former carpenter, Martin Hutchinson, who is now 55, believes the attitude of those who live on the coast is “absolutely appalling.”

At one beach-cleaning event, organised after he spoke to employees at a large firm, barely a handful of people arrived to help.

“People just don’t care. I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “Human waste is going into the sea and nobody seems to want to do anything about it.”

Martin is making his way on his threewheeled bike through large parts of Europe including Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden and Poland, before going to Australia and then on to India.

“We can’t keep going on like this. There will be a natural disaster caused by what we’re doing to the environment. That will be a painful wake-up call,” he said.

Martin spent many years travelling

MARTIN HUTCHINSON: Raising environmental awareness. across South America trying to raise the plight of the environment, including the state of many rivers, to local authorities and ordinary people alike.

As reported by Euro Weekly News, he saw raw, untreated waste being tipped into the Amazon.

“I want people to act on what I’m doing.

If I can do this, one man by himself, then so can you.”

If you would like to follow Martin’s experiences, you can find him on Facebook and contacted him at martinhutchin son99@yahoo.co.uk.

NEWS

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

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FEATURED NEWS

Photo by MMroz

The year Brexit entered the history books…

TRADE DEAL: With the rest of the EU could take up to 10 years.

THE most significant political date during 2016? You’re among only a handful of people if you think it’s anything other than June 23.

Admittedly, you may think it was November 8, and the election of the new President-elect. Mr T will certainly shake things up and you could easily say there’s enough evidence to suggest he’s already started.

The UK economy has not nosedived into recession on the back of a vote to leave the EU. Bu t wi l l t h i n g s b e mo re e x p e n s iv e when we do eventually leave this club? Not if we can find other suppliers willing to give us what we want but where are those countries?

If you leave a club and want not just cordial relations but some of the cosier aspects of the life you had inside to follow you, there has to be something in it for those you’ve left behind.

Otherwise your exit could get somewhat icy, especially if it’s a club you’ve been in for 40 years. Only Angela Merkel has been heard to say the rest of Europe shouldn’t be too hard on

us. But she faces a general election and may not be there when some of the hard talking really starts.

Number 10 has been forced to distance itself from a lot of things over the last few months

Theresa May wants as much free trade in goods and services as possible while putting controls on EU immigration.” when it comes to Brexit. The latest was the apparent warning from the British ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, that it could take up to 10 years to conclude all elements of a trade deal with the rest of the EU. At the time of writing, everyone is waiting for the Supreme Court to deliver its verdict on Article 50 and how it must be triggered. We

have two years from then.

As an expat in Spain it’s been hard not to wonder if the UK government really cares that much about us. Simon Manley is manfully trying to persuade us they do. Those of us in Spain probably face quite a long wait to find out if we figure positively in the government’s exit strategy.

In her most recent discussion with the Commons Liaison Committee, Prime Minister Theresa May made it clear that if other EU states make life difficult for us, she will not hesitate to respond in kind. It makes common sense to see ourselves as a bargaining tool in the oncoming negotiations, but for which side?

Will Spain surreptitiously ‘threaten’ punitive action against its large contingent of British expats? And for what in return? Will we be left to fend for ourselves?

Across the table from the British diplomats after March 2017 will be Frenchman Michel Barnier. Strange how he is always referred to as ‘tough but fair.’

The British position, or the one we know about, is that Theresa May wants as much free trade in goods and services as possible while putting controls on EU migration.

Since controls on immigration could be said to have been what stirred most people to vote in favour of leaving the EU, the government will have to insist on this.

But that is one of the four freedoms, the pillars that make up the acropolis of the EU: free trade in goods, services, capital and labour.

Given that we will restrict the latter, we could well be paying a hefty fee to play in their park. It’s not difficult to see the UK government wants unfettered access to financial markets for those who work in the City and tariffs as close to zero as humanly possible for the import and export of goods.

The Europeans will then ask: “And you want to control immigration as well? Is there anything you don’t want?”

We can’t even give them Scotland…Spain has already said no….

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INDEX News 1 - 38

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Woman’s body washed up From Front page

By Matthew Elliott

Featured News 3

Our View 6

Indoor Market 14

European Press 40

Finance 41 - 46

Stocks 42

Leapy Lee 47

Daily TV 48, 50, 52, 54,

POLICE are baffled by the mysterious case of a Brazilian woman whose body washed ashore on a Costa Blanca beach. She and her Spanish boyfriend were reported missing from Ibiza more than a month ago and detectives have no idea where he is.

The body of Katia F S, 34, was found on a beach in Cullera and quickly linked to a missing persons investigation on the Balearic Island. She and Marcos Perez de la Torre, 36, were supposed to visit his family in Madrid but had been incommunicado since November 18.

Marcos’ family begged Ibiza police for help and a few weeks later the couple’s car was found abandoned and falling apart near an idyllic Ibiza beach. No sign of the two remained and there was no paper trail suggesting either had

MISSING PERSON: Katia’s body has been found but Marcos is still missing. left the island.

Police are now trying to work out whether it is possible that Katia’s body could have drifted across the sea from Ibiza to the Costa Blanca.

A post-mortem confirmed she died of drowning but investigators are sceptical that the tide would take her body almost 200km in little over a

month.

Meanwhile Marcos’ family are waiting for news of their son. The couple had been dating for around four months and Katia was due to meet her boyfriend’s parents for the first time over Christmas.

He had been working as a carpenter on the island for three years and was said to be

very happy. But a comprehensive check of friends, acquaintances, bank accounts, phone and internet activity has left no clues.

His family are holding onto the hope that he will still be found alive. Police request that anyone who thinks they may have information contact them on 091.

56, 58, 60

Letters 59

Time Out 61 - 64

Health & Beauty 66 - 70

Social Scene 72 - 75

Property 76 - 78

Home & Gardens 80 - 81

Pets 82 - 83

Services 84 - 87

Classifieds 88 - 90

Motoring 91 - 93 Sport 94 - 95

Robber’s chaotic escape A BURGLAR suspected of being behind an alarming spate of break-ins across Altea has been arrested by Guardia Civil officers after he tried to mow one down in a bungled escape effort.

Detectives had increased the number of active patrols in the area as they

hunted for the criminal after receiving numerous reports from concerned locals. They set up watches across the Costa Blanca town and eventually spotted their target preparing to break into a property.

After they accosted the 33-year-old Spaniard, he quickly jumped in his car,

tried to run over an officer, crashed, then made his way on foot before being subdued.

Officers found stolen items in his Altea home and he is charged with nine counts of burglary, possession of weapons, and an attack on a police officer.

NEWS

NEWS

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Residents urged not to use Pot-bellied tap water to drink or bathe pigs plague

By Caroline Tyszka RESIDENTS in Alfaz del Pi, Altea and La Nucia were advised not to drink their tap water following quality issues that arose after the recent flooding.

Experts analysing the Guadalest reservoir supply detected anomalies in the turbidity parameters and immediately issued a restriction to over 70,000 residents using the supply.

The Alfaz del Pi Town Hall statement said: “In order to avoid health risks the water in the Alfaz del Pi supply area is classified as unfit for drinking, food preparation as well as personal hygiene but can be used outside these specifications.” Similar warnings were issued by the other town halls with many residents rushing to the supermarkets to stock up on bottled water.

The heavy rains that ravaged the Marina Baixa resulted in unusual currents creating a drag effect in the reservoir, causing a cloudiness which Hidraqua immediately investigated. It was at this point that the warning was issued.

Hidraqua and the town halls highlighted

ANOMALIES DETECTED: In the Guadalest reservoir. that the decision was “a precautionary measure to avoid any minor incidents and that as soon as the flow rates met the quality criteria required by the General Directorate of Public Health for human consumption the warning would be lifted.”

The restrictions were put into place just two days before Christmas. One concerned resident called the water company as she had a new born baby and was worried how to bath her. The advice given was under no circumstances should she

bathe her in tap water.

A similar restriction was put on the residents of Cocentaina following a leak in the water network during the storms, they were unable to use their tap water for three days.

The personal hygiene restrictions in Alfaz del Pi, La Nucia and Altea were lifted on Christmas day with the authorities continuing to monitor the levels before advising residents that the water was safe to drink.

A GANG of Vietnamese pigs have stormed the Javea salt marshes and invaded peoples’ homes. Neighbours asked for urgent help as herds of 30 pigs and more roamed at will across populated areas.

The Asian breed, also known as the pot-bellied pig, doesn’t pose a safety threat to humans but they are fast becoming a serious pest-control problem. There are mounting fears that they will mate with local wild boars and breed a troublesome hybrid species.

In a sense the invasion is a form of revenge. Many of the pigs have been identified as former pets, abandoned by owners as they became too big to handle. Pot-bellied pigs were a popular pet a few years ago but the novelty quickly wore off when people realised just how huge they get.

Unfortunately when they

Christmas lottery consolation prizes THE big fat Christmas lottery prize, El Gordo, eluded Alicante Province this year.

Nevertheless, the second prize left more than €20 million in Javea, Alfaz del Pi, Benidorm, San Vicente, Alicante City, Villena, Orihuela, Callosa de Segura and Torrevieja.

The fourth prize also left €4 million in Benidorm,

Pedreguer, Bolulla and Quart de Poblet. Part of the fifth prize was sold in Denia, Benidorm, Alicante City, Elche, Hondon de los Frailes and Bigastro.

Many of these ‘decimos’ will have gone further afield, following the custom of Spanish tourists who habitually buy Christmas Lottery when they go away each summer.

The Alicante Animal Protection Shelter, which is run by Raul Merida, came in for a small windfall as it sold 1,000 tickets which ended in 13 and coincided with the first prize. Merida also runs the ill-fated refuge for wild and exotic animals, Arca de Noe whose permit has not been renewed by Alicante City Hall.

mate with wild boars, the hybrid bears the worst characteristics of each species. It will be aggressive like the boar, and determined to eat everything in sight, as is the pig.

The latest pot-bellied plague began when several managed to escape from the farm of an elderly resident and began breeding like rabbits. Luckily the pigs are accustomed to humans, largely docile and relatively easy to catch.

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Hospital gets festive

By Caroline Tyszka THE Denia hospital and medical centres donned Christmas decorations to help poorly patients feel more festive.

The Department of Health for Denia ensured that each medical facility had trees, a crib and garlands to welcome their patients with special menus and carol singing also organised.

In a special art area of the hospital an exhibition entitled ‘a curative prescription’ was opened which shows the works carried out throughout 2016 by the patients in the art workshops from the various hospital units.

The Salvation Army of Denia, sang carols for those who could not be home for Christmas and the kitchen staff dished up a very seasonal menu with plans to do the

CHRISTMAS CHEER: Was spread with decorations and carol singing. same for New Year’s Eve. Volunteers from the postal service in Ondara have arranged to be at the hospital the first week of January so that the children admitted to the Paediatrics ward will be

able to write a letter to the Three Kings. At the end of the day they will receive gifts from the volunteers.

The closing ceremony of the hospital Christmas celebrations will be carried out

by the Festival Commission of Denia, with the visit of His Majesties Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar, who will not only visit, but bring gifts for children and adults admitted on January 6.

Pepita’s dream becomes a reality THE La Nucia animal shelter inaugurated its new cat’s area one year exactly after a founder member of the protectora passed away.

Pepita Tur, who passed away on December 23, 2015 at just 68 years old, had always cared deeply for the dogs that came into the home, being a founder member 10 years ago, but had also felt a passion to be able to help the many local homeless cats.

Before passing away and with a sturdy determination she had managed to acquire the land next to the existing shelter and also workers to help build the cattery free of charge. Just weeks before her death she had drawn up the plans for her vision of the cat enclosure.

To realise her dream volunteers arranged fundraising events and people were encouraged to ‘buy a brick’ with donors offered the opportunity to have their name placed in the new enclosure, funding was also given by the La Nucia

NEWS

OUR VIEW

Our hearts go out ‘THERE but for the Grace of God’ is a truism that’s also ironic in as much as the recent attack in Berlin is claimed by an Islamic organisation dedicated to spreading the word of their God. Things are always magnified when they are close to home and just a few days before the lorry crashed into the Christmas market in Berlin, a party of retired police officers and their partners flew to Berlin via Madrid to enjoy the atmosphere of the Christmas markets in that city.

They were lucky and were in the wrong place at the right time returning home unscathed and with plenty of happy memories but those who were mowed down in this act of terror were not so lucky and our

hearts go out to them and their grieving families.

In the past, the concept of terrorism depended on perception. If you were a partisan fighting for freedom in occupied Europe then you were a freedom fighter yet to the Nazis, you were without a terrorist.

No government or terrorist group is free from blame.

The only consolation is that the actual number of people killed in Europe is negligible and whilst every life is precious, we can continue to enjoy our lives in relative safety and despite pressures of all types, 2017 is unlikely to see any major change.

The staff and directors of Euro Weekly News therefore take this opportunity to wish all of our readers and advertisers a safe and prosperous New Year.

Now we want to hear your views.

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Santa’s grotto raises funds for the animals NEW SHELTER: For cats was built in memory of Pepita.

Council.

The new cat animal shelter cost €10,000 to build and was opened with Pepita’s family and the mayor Bernabe Cano in attendance.

Bernabe Cano said: “Pepita was a tire-

less worker and had a great love for the animals, this is a wonderful way to honour her memory.”

Immediately after the inauguration the first tenants of the ‘Gatera’ moved in, waiting for their forever homes.

STALLHOLDERS at the Don Quixote Rastro in Alfaz del Pi raised €250 for the La Nucia animal shelter.

The Christmas grotto event proved hugely popular with the children, who were able to visit Father Christmas (Dougie) and receive a gift which the stallholders had all donated.

Mandy Marriott, who sold tombola tickets said: “Everyone worked so hard but we had a really fun day.”

Music was provided by John Sandman and with many of his line dancing followers attending it was a fun packed dancing afternoon.

The Protectora de Animales de La Nucia thanked everyone for their help in raising the much needed funds.

COMMUNITY

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Local Freemasons celebrate Christmas

FESTIVE EVENING: A great time was had by all.

ON Tuesday, December 12, Masons of Oliva La Safor Lodge No 112, celebrated the start of Christmas with a festive, musical evening at the ‘Viva España’ restaurant in Oliva.

Starting at 6pm, the evening was a festive mix of Christmas carols, bible readings and musical additions from the Oliva U3A choir. More than 70 Masons, wives and guests enjoyed a very merry evening.

The group was honoured by the attendance of several senior Masons belonging to the Lodge including the Provincial Grand Master, RWBro Norman

Wheatley, who gave one of the readings and the Deputy Grand Master, WBro William Russell.

The evening started with a fantastic rendition of Christmas carols sung by the choir which was enthusiastically received by the guests. Bible readings were given by several members of the Lodge before more rousing renditions of carols were lustily sung by all present.

A three-course Christmas menu was served and each course interspersed with more carols. A charity raffle with excellent prizes was held raising €255 in total. This will be

added to the amounts raised throughout the year and donated to local charities.

Thanks to all who took part including Jackie and the restaurant staff, but especially to WBro Jim Jordan, who worked hard to ensure everyone enjoyed themselves. He came close to a breakdown trying to get tables singing the correct carol verses at the right time. It ended in chaos but caused much laughter and everyone had a great time.

If you are nterested in finding out more or joining email prensa@glpvalencia.com.

Helpful devices donated CANDY WRIGHT, president of HELP*, together with Sally Lillie met Francisco Molinos, president of the Calpe Red Cross and Jorge Martín, coordinator for Calpe to hand over a new petrol powered electricity generator and two lights for emergency use.

President of Denia Red Cross, Ana Belén kindly sourced the generator for HELP at a reduced price from Ateco, where she works in Denia and the lights were purchased at AKI. In the future HELP will continue to to assist the Calpe Red Cross, hopefully by purchasing a new blow-up hospital tent. *HELP of Denia and Marina Alta is a charity which raises money to benefit the whole community in the Marina Alta region.

U3A Vall del Pop in the spirit ON Thursday December 15 a large gathering of U3A members enjoyed festive food and cheer at Castelvi Restaurant, Alcalali, and danced the night away to Matt Mason who, as always, provided great entertainment with his singing and also playing popular music.

Sadly, there were a few members missing due to ill health, most notably the president Bob and his wife Sandra.

Bob had unfortunately been taken ill a few days earlier and was under doctor’s (and no doubt Sandra’s) orders to

put his feet up.

Due to their absence Angela and Irene from the TCET Group stepped up and organised all the seating and raffle and ensured everyone was happy and had a good time.

Other missing members included Anne and John Chilcott, also poorly, and U3A hopes both John and Bob recover soon and can enjoy their Christmas festivities. On behalf of the Committee and TCET all members are wished a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES: For U3A members.

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Lions Club community donations THE Alicante Lions Club 22,000 have donated food and hygiene kits for those most in need.

Almost two tons of food and over 1,000 hygiene kits were delivered to the Salesianos centre in El Campello to be distributed through Caritas.

The network of Caritas Parish in the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante carry out their work in a territory that covers 1,653,786 inhabitants and 214 parishes, working and caring for many families who need help.

The donation celebrates the Lions Club Centennial year and represented the organisation meeting the most basic needs of their fellow citizens.

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COMMUNITY

Giving4Giving donation spree

By Caroline Tyszka A LOCAL Costa Blanca charity donated €3,900 in December with four good causes benefitting in one week.

Giving4Giving, run by Gary Burr and his team of volunteers, firstly went to a local toy shop and brought €1,700 worth of toys which he delivered to the Red Cross office in Altea.

Overwhelmed, the staff, who could not believe a local charity could donate so many toys, promised to distribute them to children less fortunate in the region.

Next on the charities hit list was Busy Bees, a charity set up by Wayne and Des Bellamy-Wright together with Tad Paige from Yorkshire Pride in Benidorm. The aim of the group is to raise funds for the children and also some vulnerable women that are being supported within the Emaus homes here in the region. The charity has been set up to direct funds where they are needed most.

Gary said: “I got in contact with Wayne and asked him if there was anything Giving4Giving could do to help, he sent me a wish list of essentials which helped me ensure we were giving what was needed.”

RED CROSS STAFF: Were overwhelmed by the kind donations.

The charity presented Busy Bees with towels, table cloths, glasses, dinner service sets and many more items that would help improve conditions within the homes.

Giving4Giving then moved onto helping another local charity, Doggie Angells, by donating €1,000 to help with vet bills for abandoned dogs – something that will be particularly high during the festive season.

In addition to these generous dona-

tions the charity also helped a local sweets and treats campaign by donating a supermarket trolley full of chocolates and biscuits for the Alfaz del Pi food bank and the children’s homes.

Gary said: “Without my wonderful hardworking team of volunteers and customers none of this would have been possible, I want to wish them all a very happy Christmas and New Year.”

Giving4Giving are always looking for more team members in addition to donations to keep the rails full.

Items can be dropped off at any of the four shops - in La Nucia, Finestrat and Altea. Alternatively Gary can arrange to collect larger donations.

Anyone interested in volunteering or donating items can call Gary on 603 137 697 or visit their Facebook page – Giving4Giving charity.

FEATURE

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BEST OF THE YEAR

LEVANTE BEACH: Coastal laws affect some beachfront properties.

Hands off our proms!

Issue 1592

BENIDORM Town Hall will do its utmost to retain control of the resort’s promenades.

As the local corporation sees it, new Coastal Laws

hand over the beachfront esplanades to the national government’s Environment ministry.

The council now intends to put the matter in the hands of the National High Court in Madrid after the ministry failed to respond to an appeal made last August against the new ruling.

Benidorm Town Hall interpreted this administrative silence on the ministry’s part as a rejection of its appeal, which also reclaimed its rights to the promenades as defined in 1964 demarcations, said Town Planning councillor Lourdes Caselles.

The new law affects a total of 3,000 units of tourist and private accommodation. These properties, according to the new demarcations, come within the coastal strip that is controlled by the central government. This consists of a 20-metre protection zone measured from the high water mark and six metres of public right of way.

“Several frontline properties on the Levante beach now bear a ministry annotation stating that they are affected by the new demarcation,” Caselles said.

“Only work that ensures a building’s safety may be undertaken with the Coastal Authorities’ permission. Furthermore, this will prove a handicap when trying to sell one of these properties,” the councillor added. “If we can retain ownership of the paseos we shall be able to lift this burden from affected buildings.”

Caselles also pointed out that in some places, the Punta Canfali headland for instance, the six-metre right of way crosses rocks. “Who wants to walk across a cliff?” she demanded.

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BEST OF THE YEAR

Javea fishing fleet Puzzle is solved has voted to remain 30 years later JAVEA fishermen said “Thanks but no thanks” to offers to leave the fishing port.

Three or four developers competing for the concession to run the port are so keen to turn the entire port area into a lucrative marina, that they were willing to pay the owners of fishing boats €500,000 to go.

Earlier, Javea Mayor Jose Chulvi had nevertheless announced that the town hall would fight to retain Javea’s fishing fleet and intended to enlist the help of the regional government.

After three previous meetings, members of the Javea Posit or fishing guild voted to reject the offer, despite earlier rumours they were keen to go and likely to accept.

The majority of the trawlers and seine boats were not tempted by the cash offer and

Issue 1593

JAVEA PORT: Fishermen will mend the nets.

Issue 1593 the chance to occupy Denia’s former boatyard, which would have been specially refitted.

Present during the ballot

were the president of the Posit, the owners of 10 boats with voting rights as well as owners of smaller boats not eligible to vote.

The outcome was not unanimous as four owners were in favour of accepting, one vote was blank and the remaining five rejected the developers’ offer.

ARCHAEOLOGIST Joaquim Bolufer, director o f J a v e a ’s S o l e r B l a s c o archaeological and ethnological museum, has cleared up a decades-old enigma.

During excavations at the Muntanyar site in Javea in 1985 archaeologists found a puzzling object they believed could be an early Christian censer or incense burner.

The small bronze artefact, is 3.7 centimetres tall with a 5.1centimetre diameter, had a blackened i n t e r i o r a n d b a ff l e d d i s concerted experts.

Thirty years on, Joaquim Bolufer solved the mystery after linking

it to an identical object that was discovered by a Barcelona University dig.

The expedition in what is now El-Bahnasa, 190 kilometres south of Cairo, was led by Professor Josep Pardro who heads the department of Ancient History at Barcelona University.

El-Bahnasa was once a Greek-Roman town called Oxyrhynchus and is renowned for the vast number of papyrus texts found there.

T h e B a r c e l o n a t e a m ’s copper pot, twin to the Muntanyar artefact, was found in the tomb of a 16-year-old scribe, together with the reed pens he would have used.

Bolufer contacted Josep Pardro, who confirmed

that the Muntanyar object, like the El-Bahnasa find, had not been used for incense but was a sixth or seventh century inkpot and vestiges of centuries-old ink accounted for its blackened interior.

It would not have been unusual for the inkpot to have found its way to Javea as trade relations within the Mediterranean were intense by that time, a n d t h e t o w n ’s P u n t a d e l’Arenal was a thriving Roman settlement between the 1st and 7th centuries.

This included an opulent Roman villa, a fish farm and a factory that produced garum, the fish sauce prized by the Romans.

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BENIDORM Council, in collaboration with local vets, has launched a cat neutering and anti-rabies vaccination campaign.

Adhering to procedures approved by the Alicante Diputacion and the province’s College of Veterinary Surgeons, the cats will be trapped, neutered and returned to their colonies.

Although Benidorm has not received a Diputacion grant for the Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR) programme, local vets have agreed to charge the subsidised fee.

Vice-president of the Ali-

Photo credit: Lutmanns

Neutering programme ASSOCIATED ADVERTISERS

MAIN SPONSOR

STRAY CATS: To be neutered and vaccinated. cante College of Veterinary Surgeons, Javier Garcia, also applauded Benidorm for complying with a regional ruling that street cats should be vaccinated against rabies.

The concessionary that monitors Benidorm’s cat, pigeon and seagull populations will trap cats from the town’s identified and catalogued colonies, said Health councillor Francisco Perez Candel.

They will then be taken to a veterinary clinic for a health check, anti-rabies vaccination and neutering.

“Each cat will be returned in perfect health,” Perez Candel declared. “Our objective is to control existing colonies and in no way do we wish to kill any animal.”

Taming unsafe watercourse FINESTRAT’S mayor called for a definitive solution for La Cala’s deathtrap watercourse. A man of 77 recently drowned when the usually dry streambed reverted to a raging torrent after heavy rain. This tragedy repeated the 2011 flash flood when an elderly British couple died and five people were injured.

The trial starts on February 1 of two former Finestrat mayors, a councillor, the town hall itself and an insurance company. Their negligence was directly responsible for the disaster, the court will hear. “We can’t be on tenterhooks every time it rains,” said Finestrat’s current mayor Juan Francisco Perez recently. The town hall is “alone and unprotected” but needs help, especially financial, to channel the stream underground.

The Confederacion Hidrografica del Jucar (CHJ), which controls the region’s waterways, has approved plans for subterranean channelling but this will cost €2.5 million and is more than the town hall can afford.

Perez said the CHJ should contribute most of the cost but pointed out much of the water arrives from Villajoyosa and Benidorm. “It’s not fair we must shoulder all the responsibility,” he argued. “We’re asking for commitment to finance the project together.”

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Contact us today 965 480 737

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town hall

Cycle lane straight down the middle!

AVENIDA JAIME I: Rehabilitation is nearly complete.

RESIDENTS and businessowners along Benidorm’s Avenida Jaime I repeatedly clamoured for repairs and reforms to the much-transited road.

After a five year wait, rehabilitation is nearing completion but opinions are divided over the cycle lane running down the centre of the Avenida.

Although welcomed by some cyclists, there have been

Issue 1596 complaints from others about the many pedestrian crossings cutting through the lane as well as vehicles turning out of side streets.

With no designated unloading spaces, delivery vans and

lorries park in the street so there is additional danger as cars invade the cycle lane when overtaking them, cyclists said.

Neither are they happy at filtering into traffic where the lane ends at the petrol station, although the town hall confirmed that once the 2016 budget is approved, funds will be available to continue this to the top of the Avenida.

Alfaz programme makes life better for local cats Issue 1596 VOLUNTEERS, animal protection associations and five veterinary clinics are working with Alfaz Town Hall to control local cat colonies.

They are participating in a Trap Neuter Return (TNR) programme, which is recognised as the only effective way of controlling the feral cat population.

Once neutered the cats are released on their home ground with a notch in their ear to indicate they have been sterilised.

Thanks to volunteers, Alfaz’s Health department has registered 400 cats belonging to 11 colonies.

“Once the cats are returned to their colonies they will be controlled and protected by the

FERALS: Cats are trapped, neutered and released. town hall to ensure that they live in good health and hygiene conditions.”

Albero’s department has added a €9,000 allocation to its sterilisation budget already carried out in collaboration with the town’s vets.

“Cooperation from members of the public is the most important aspect of this project,” the

councillor stressed. “It’s volunteers who help to trap the strays and take them to the vet for neutering. That’s why the Health department is calling on residents to take part.

“The people who take care of the colonies are registered volunteers who follow established procedures. We have 40 helpers but need more,” Albero said.

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NEWS

Advertising feature

Boundary dispute in Spain. Legal action to restore the boundaries (Accion Reinvindicatoria) OUR new neighbour has put up a fence that occupies part of our plot.

He does not want to remove it. What can we do?

The legal action in Spanish Law used in order to claim against your neighbour for your piece of land occupied by his fence, is called ‘action to restore’ (accion reinvindicatoria) which refers to border disputes and claiming ownership of a disputed area or region.

The Spa nis h C ourt pre c e de nts state that to successfully claim, it is absolutely necessary to identity both plots a s w e ll a s the re a l e xis ting boundaries between them. Only then, once the portion occupied by the neighbour is clearly identified, could we claim for the ownership.

So, the firs t thing tha t mus t be done is to identify the boundaries, this can be done by using a topographer, checking the town hall plans of

the plots, cadastral plans, etc.

So, if this is the case, on the claim to be presented, you will request two different actions: A legal action to determine the real boundaries (accion de deslinde) where it must be proved to the court what are the correct boundaries of the plots.

2) Then, claim for the ownership and use of the plot illegally occupied to be restorede (accion reinvindicatoria).

In this respect, the Spanish Supreme Court has set by a Court Order No. 524/2000 of May 25 that: “The unequivocal identification of the plot to be claimed is a sine qua non condition and should be carried out precisely from its four cardinal points; this being an essential requirement to thrive any of the legal actions derived from Article 348 of the Spanish Civil Code. The follow-

ing are court orders confirming this: Court Order of July 16, 1990, March 5, 1991, December 1, 1993, among others.”

If you have a problem or dispute about boundaries with your neighbour, do not hesitate to contact us, we will help you.

We woul d l i ke t o t hank al l our clients and friends, who one way or another, dealt with us during this year and wish them and their families a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year 2017 full of happiness.

The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.

Carlos Baos (Lawyer) Spanish Law firm solicitor attorney barrister. Alicante, Denia, Costa Blanca Marina Alta White & Baos 2016 – All rights reserved

FINANCE

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

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If you have ever had the feeling that you spent half your working life just to pay tax, you are probably not far wrong. What with income tax, national insurance, capital gains tax, VAT, council tax, etc., a considerable amount of our hard earned income is lost in tax each year. How much tax will you have to pay in 2017?

If you are lucky enough to be retired you are still faced with tax on your savings, investments and pensions. Having paid so much tax all your life, you will not want to pay any more now than you absolutely have to - tax planning is an important part of protecting your wealth in retirement.

An annual study, The Tax Burden of Typical Workers in the EU 28, determines the ‘tax liberation day’ for individuals working in each EU State. It measures and compares tax burdens across the EU to show how much of a year’s work is devoted to paying taxes. While it focuses on employees’ tax and social security, it illustrates the general tax burden of each country and how they compare to each other.

On average 2016 sees a respite from ever-rising taxes, but it is very small. The average ‘real tax rate’ for

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When Is Your Tax Freedom Day?

By Gerald Turner, Partner, Blevins Franks typical workers in the EU reduces from 45.19% last year to 44.96% this year.

Looking ahead, the report highlights that Europe’s population is ageing, resulting in higher pension and healthcare expenditure for governments.

This does not bode well for future

tax cuts as governments will need to raise revenue – as the population ages, there are less people in employment to pay for these costs. More than half the EU population were not in the labour force last year.

Tax freedom day is the day each year when you finally stop working to pay tax to the government, and start earning money for yourself.

According to the study, in 2016 Spain’s tax freedom day fell on 8th June. For 160 days of the year, every cent earned by the average Spanish employee was taken by the government in tax.

This is a long way off the 16th May tax freedom day we had in 2011.

The average gross salary in Spain is €33,984, but after taxes

people are only left with €19,197 to spend on themselves. The ‘real tax rate’ in Spain is 43.51%.

There were income tax cuts in Spain the last two years, but this study shows that the tax burden is still quite high.

The country with the latest tax freedom day this year is France, with 29th July with a real tax rate of 57.67%. Cyprus continues to have the earliest tax freedom day with 29th March (and a real tax rate of 23.85%), followed by Malta with 18th April, Ireland with 30th April and the UK with 9th May. According to this study the UK’s tax freedom day remains the same as last year. The average real gross salary is €53,637, with workers getting to keep €34,709, making a real tax rate of 35.29%.

These remain taxing times for taxpayers, and not just for workers as retirees are also faced with higher taxes. And of course there is no average person, and higher earners will generally have a later tax freedom day. In many cases, however, there are steps you can take to lighten your tax burden on your capital investments and pensions. While we all have to pay our share of taxes, do not risk paying more than you have to. Seek specialist advice on the compliant tax mitigation opportunities available to you in Spain and UK. To keep in touch with the latest developments in the offshore world, check out the latest news on our website www.blevinsfranks.com.

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BENITACHELL has started the process for obtaining Designated Protection of Origin (DOP) status for the local muscatel wine.

The application is based on the quality of the Alejandria muscatel grapes on which the Marina Alta industry is based.

Resistant to drought, the vines thrive in the salt-laden southwest Llebeig wind and are particularly suited to the area’s climate and geography.

The Benitachell application has emphasised these conditions as the European Union’s DOP directives give priority to varieties that are directly related to the area where they grow.

Juan Jose Vidal, president of the La Marina Winegrowers’ Association and Benitachell’s Mayor Josep Femenia, have now deposited the application with the regional

Philip Lange / Shutterstock

Marina Alta chasing Former IRA chief a prized label arrested in Alicante

EX-IRA: Commander was arrested in Alicante.

Issue 1600 BENITACHELL MUSCATEL: Josep Femenia signs the DOP application.

Issue 1600 government’s Agriculture department. If the application is

successful, the local wine will be marketed as ‘Moscatel de la Marina DPO.’ The quality of Benitachell grapes is incontestable and the official label puts more value on their work, winemakers said.

AN ex-IRA chief is due to be extradited from Alicante to Dublin following allegations relating to historic child abuse in Ireland. The man, now in his 60s and who has been a supporter of Sinn Fein’s political policy, was arrested in Alicante.

Originally from Belfast, the accused had been living in Dublin for several decades and

has a house in Alicante.

Following the arrest in Alicante on February 24, the suspect was taken to Madrid where he has appeared in court and is now in custody awaiting an extradition hearing.

The Garda criminal investigation is following claims made by a woman who is now in her early 20s relating to abuse as a child in Dublin. Following a questioning last year in Alicante, four charges have been

brought against the suspect.

The individual being held has been identified as leading a faction of the IRA in charge of operations to bomb England, during the height of conflict.

He has also been wanted for questioning in connection to the murder of Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996, during an armed robbery in Adare, Co Limerick, that went wrong. This was subsequently dropped during negotiations with the British.

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Javea Muay Thai champ is bound for Bangkok READER Shaun Jenkins contacted the Euro Weekly News recently to tell us about Cain Kiernan.

Cain is a 23-year-old who lives in Javea where he attends a Muay Thai martial arts club.

He suggested Shaun’s twin

Embassy changes its Facebook name Issue 1601 THE British Embassy has renamed its successful Facebook page ‘Brits living in Spain’.

The popular forum for unbiased information and debate on life in Spain that was launched two years ago is now called ‘Brits in Spain’.

Why change the name?

Simon Montague, Embassy’s Director for Communications explained that three-quarters of the F a c e b o o k p a g e ’s 1 8 , 3 0 0 followers live in Spain, but the remaining quarter are in the UK. “So as well as acting as a popular forum for full-time residents, we also want to extend a welcome to the many thousands of Brits who have a second home here and those who visit year after year on holiday.”

The page covers a wide range of topics and vital information which includes advice on registering to vote in the EU referendum in June.

Other topics include where to get an EHIC health card as well as tips on learning Spanish and n a v i g a t i n g S p a n i s h o ff i cialdom, places to visit and, of course, Embassy news.

Euro Weekly News readers who want to benefit from independent advice and experiences need only search for ‘Brits in Spain’ on Facebook, Mr Montague said.

boys, aged nine, would enjoy the great Spanish and English mixture there: “The instructor and Cain, who is bilingual, could not have been more helpful, encouraging and welcoming to our boys,” Shaun said.

Issue 1600 “Cain is an inspiration to young people in Javea and can

often be found on the Arenal beach helping youngsters master their back flips etc.”

Cain, who has competed in 23 bouts and won 22, will represent Spain in the Muay Thai Championships in Bangkok (Thailand) between March 12

and 21.

“Travel expenses total €3,000 and Cain will have to pay himself as he has not been able to get any funding,” Shaun told us. “I thought an article in your paper would help Cain to maybe obtain

some funding to help him in his quest to become a World Champion. If not, at least people will realise there is an inspiring young character in our community.”

You can contact Cain on cainkiernan96@gmail.com.

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Businessman from Alicante confesses to wrongdoing Issue 1605 EVEN in an English-language newspaper, few weeks go by without mention of Alicante property developer and businessman Enrique Ortiz.

Involved in the Gurtel and Brugal corruption cases, he astounded supporters and critics alike by admitting that in 2008 he illegally financed the Partido Popular (PP) to the tune of €348,115.

The confession came before Ortiz stands trial in Valencia along with five highranking politicians from the regional PP and 10 businessmen. They are accused of involvement in the Gurtel case’s labyrinth of bribes, kickbacks, illegal commissions and illicit party funding for Ortiz and face a four-year prison sentence if convicted.

Ortiz, who owns 70 per cent of Alicante City’s zoned building land, has done what no other businessman has yet done and admitted that he made an irregular payment to the PP. Spain’s electoral laws bar all government contractors – which Ortiz was – from financing election campaigns and veto donations of more than €6,012 from any source.

By confessing now, Ortiz hoped that the Public Prosecutor would reduce the recommended term to 15 months which could then be substituted with a fine.

The Public Prosecution department has now agreed and, according to informed sources, expects “an avalanche” of confessions from practically all of the businessmen due to stand trial with Ortiz.

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BEST OF THE YEAR

Fiestas controversy over female roles

MOORS AND CHRISTIANS: The fiestas are still a man’s world after the rejected proposal.

MOORS and Christians fiestas re-enact old battles, but a new one is being fought before Campello’s celebrations have even begun.

Problems began when the town’s Moors and Christians Fiestas Committee rejected a

Issue 1605 proposal from the Cavallers de Conquesta group. They

wanted a woman to occupy the ceremonial post of Ambassador with a man as the equally ceremonial Standard-bearer next October.

The proposal was not turned through gender bias or discrimination, the com-

mittee emphasised afterwards.

“The town hall has always maintained its distance,” said former mayor Juanjo Berenguer. “All decisions are run past the assembly and everything is voted on.”

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BEST OF THE YEAR

Theme park sentences Construction crisis could received after 11 years TWENTY-TWO businessmen involved in Terra Mitica’s earliest days received prison terms, totalling 305 years, for defrauding €6.3 million.

The 20 convicted businessmen, with the collusion of exdirectors Justo Valverde and Antonio Rincon, defrauded Hacienda Publica of €6.3 million.

They also caused losses of €1.3 million to Terra Mitica during its construction, with a complex maze of fictitious invoices and padded bills.

They must now pay €71 million in fines, ruled the Valencia High Court.

Justo Valverde, a retired lieutenant colonel and lawyer, is also the former brother-inlaw of Eduardo Zaplana, mayor of Benidorm between 1991 and 1994. He was president of the Valencian Community from 1994-2002 when he was

be ending Issue 1610

Issue 1609

TERRA MITICA: Now privately owned after it was sold for a large loss. named a Cabinet minister in the national government.

Zaplana was one of the principal movers behind the theme park which opened in 1999 and would, he promised,

become Europe’s most important theme park. The theme park earned lasting fame, principally through the court case that began when all the chicanery came to light in

2005, and has only just finished after twice being shelved by the judges.

The land where Terra Mitica was built had been devastated in 1992 by three fires that were deliberately started over a space of three days, and the theme park was inextricably linked to corruption and speculation from the outset.

The pharaonic project – the first of many carried out by Zaplana and his successors lost hundreds of millions for the Generalitat before it was sold in 2012 for €65 million, despite costing almost €200 million to build.

THE construction industry could be on the up, as a report by the Provincial College of Architects of Alicante found that during the first quarter of the year permit applications to build homes have increased.

Applications were made to build on 279,019 square metres (around 1,850 homes) in the province, a figure that far surpassed 2012, the worst year of the crisis, and marked an increase of 50 per cent compared to data for the first quarter of 2015.

Architects estimate that by the end of the year applications for around 7,400

homes will be made, closer to the ideal figure of 15,000 housing projects per year in the province, but still far off the peaks of 46,000 licence approvals that were made in 2006, at the height of the building boom.

Antonio Macia, president of the College of Architects, welcomed the data, but warned that “if we forget what happened we will be creating a new problem for the future.

Right now we are on the right track, not only in housing for foreigners, but there is demand for first homes throughout the province, especially in the a r e a s o f To r r e v i e j a a n d along the coast of Marina Alta.”

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BEST OF THE YEAR

Pledge for a free toll Issue 1614

EL SOIO: Moves to save cove at all costs.

EL PORTET: Pier built on volcanic rock.

Saving Cala del Soio ALTEA is pulling out all the stops to provide definitive protection for Cala del Soio.

This is hardly a conventional beach because there is no sand, only volcanic rock, but successive councils and Altea residents have moved heaven and earth to defend El Soio. In 2011 they even managed to stop excavators from destroying more volcanic rock at the entrance to the adjoining El Portet marina.

The town council voted unanimously to ask the regional government to declare Cala del Soio a Protected Natural Space.

Issue 1614 The Sierra Helada National Park, which already includes the Bay of Altea, also announced its willingness to take the Algar rivermouth, Cap Negret and Cala del Soio under its wing.

It remains to be seen what steps the regional government intends to take. Two

months ago both El Soio and the El Portet outcrop appeared to be safe after the Generalitat invalidated a 2010 building permit to resite the harbour entrance.

As the 2011 demonstrators maintained, this would also adversely affect El Soio.

The marina’s owners appealed against the Generalitat decision to the Supreme Court which recently found in their favour. And unless something is done soon, that means Altea could be saying goodbye to Cala el Soio, and rocks which have been there 250 million years.

MARINA ALTA’s socialist council representatives have signed a manifesto pledge to make the AP7 toll r o a d f r e e o f c h a rg e b y 2020. They have denounced the ‘broken promises’ made in 2006 by Jose Maria Aznar ’s then PP government to make the road free by 2019. They stated that “the rebates promised then have been gradually diluted over time” and have been replaced by increasing toll costs.

A journey from Alicante (San Juan) to Valencia now costs a standard car €17.50: an increase of € 2 . 8 0 f r o m 2 0 11 . F o r HGVs (Heavy Goods Vehicles) the figure is €25.54:

an increase of €4.15 on 2011. HGVs rumbling their way through several Valencian towns are seen as a particular problem. In 2020 the current motorway service concession ends and this is seen as the ideal time to finally make the road free.

Free motorway access has long been mooted as an alternative to expensive and environmentally damaging bypasses that are much needed due to the N332 free roads overuse by traffic. As well as Marina Alta towns a ff e c t e d o t h e r n o t o r i o u s bottlenecks on the N332 include Altea (Marina Baixa) and Oliva (La Safor). The AP7 runs almost parallel to the N332 but the traffic is usually extremely light due to the cost of the road tolls.

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BEST OF THE YEAR

TOUGH, intense, and featuring almost three times as much Southern Ocean sailing as the previous edition, the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 will be contested over the longest distance in race history at around 45,000 nautical miles (nm), crossing four oceans and taking in 11 major cities on five continents.

The 43-year-old race around the world, the ultimate ocean marathon, will start from Alicante in late 2017 with a 700nm sprint to Lisbon, Portugal.

From the Portuguese capital, the fleet will plunge south towards Cape Town, South Africa, before an epic few weeks racing through the Southern Ocean and then back north across the equator to Hong Kong SAR, China in what will be one of the longest legs in race history.

After a non-scoring transition to Guangzhou, China, where an in-port race and full set of stopover activities will be held, the ocean racing will resume from Hong Kong to Auckland, New Zealand. The fleet will then head back through the Southern Ocean, around the most famous landmark of them all, Cape

photo by Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race

Volvo Ocean Race set to be longest distance in history

ALL CHANGE: Tougher challenge ahead for the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Issue 1618 Horn, to the southern Brazilian city of Itajaí.

From there, as in the last edition, the boats will head back in to the northern hemisphere to the Eastern seaboard of the USA, Newport, Rhode Island, before a blast across the North Atlantic which will see them make a first return to British shores in 12 years.

The fleet will arrive in Cardiff, Wales, in May 2018, before beating its way around the top of the British Isles on a short but potentially brutal leg to the penultimate stopover in Gothenburg, Sweden. The 2017-18 race will end with a grand finale into The Hague, Netherlands.

“More action, more speed, more tough miles and more host venues, but a shorter race; it’s an evolution in the right direction and a move that takes the race closer to its original roots and heritage,” said Mark Turner, who took over as CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race earlier this month.

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FIRES broke out on the same morning in the Marina Alta towns of Adsubia and Ondara.

They were extinguished within an hour although a fire fighting helicopter and Air Tractor planes were needed in Adsubia.

Additionally, a wildfire broke out in the Sierra Bernia in the early afternoon of Tuesday (August 2).

Fortunately fire crews were quick to action and by 3pm had reportedly managed to get the blaze under control. Euro Weekly News sources witnessed two helicopters and a sky-plane descending on the scene shortly after the fire broke out, where they promptly dumped generous quantities of water onto the fire, providing a hefty dose of relief for the many residents who live in the nearby homes and urbanisations.

Fire is a constant presence each summer in Spain and the danger is multiplied in Alicante Province which is enduring its third year of drought.

Fortunately the area of woodland and scrub lost to fire this year is 75 per cent below the 2006 average and inside the Valencian Community, Alicante Province has come off

(Cameron Strandberg Flickr)

Fire risk must continue to be fought

DISASTER STRIKES: A burning cigarette end can burn hectares.

Issue 1622 better than the provinces of Valencia and Castellon. Just 10 hectares of Alicante land have been devas-

tated by fire so far this year, compared with 3,906 hectares in Valencia province and 1,400 in Castellon.

M o r e t h a n h a l f o f Va l e n c i a n Community fires are started deliberately for reasons best known to the arsonists themselves. Others are the result of negligence and the usual summer ban on burning leaves agricultural or garden waste

within 300 metres of wooded areas is in force until the autumn. The veto also applies to barbecues and fireworks.

The regional authorities will be reminding the public throughout the summer that a smouldering cigarette-end can start a fire that rips though hectares of scrub or woodland and can reach inhabited areas.

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Scouting around abroad Issue 1623 EIGHTY-FIVE members of Muchamiel’s 653 Quetzl scout troop are currently in Kandersteg (Switzerland).

The party of 56 scouts, 12 monitors, four cooks and 13 committee members set out on July 30 and returns on August 11 after spending 12 days of activities at the Kandersteg International Centre .

The trip was organised with the collaboration of Muchamiel Town Hall which has given all possible support to the scouts’ journey.

During their 12 days’ holiday the Muchamiel troop are meeting scouts from 33 countries in Kandersteg where there is a permanent mini-jamboree.

The Muchamiel scouts were in the same section as two German troops who will visit Spain next summer and with whom they will share a camp.

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BEST OF THE YEAR

Human bones found

PEÑON DE IFACH: Rocks were accessible from land.

A BAFFLED marine diver returned to shore with a sheetwrapped bundle found wedged in rocks at the base of Ifach.

Believing it was nothing more than rubbish, the Benissa diving school instructor unloaded it at the Basetes marina.

But when they unknotted the sheet, the flabbergasted divers were confronted with a human skeleton, a child’s doll and twigs bearing names.

Also with the grisly package was a container with laurel leaves, some feathers and a watertight capsule containing a mysterious yellow liquid.

The diver also unearthed a broken staff, apparently said to symbolise the end of a journey.

Issue 1626 The Guardia Civil’s Policia Judicial unit are currently trying to unravel the puzzle, attempting to identify both the remains and the significance of the objects found with them.

The skeleton had apparently been interred for around 20 years before it was consigned to the sea, sources have revealed.

However, no sooner had the news of the discovery broken on Saturday August 27, than several other finds were reported. Later the same day members of a Calpe diving club found a similar sub-

merged parcel near the spot where the first was located.

Later still, Basetes diving club members, out on a night dive, found another considerably larger package in the Peñon’s Nido del Aguila zone.

Not wanting to destroy possible evidence or interfere with investigations already launched by Guardia Civil, the divers marked both locations with buoys and alerted authorities.

Although the remains were found in rocks on the Peñon’s seaward side, it’s accessible from the shore so the parcels could have been taken under cover of darkness, sources said.

Forensic experts are trying to determine what took place with theories ranging from burial at sea to voodoo rituals.

We are family Issue 1626 L’ALFAS DEL PI is to be twinned with the town of Covarrubias in Burgos, the local council has announced.

Covarrubias is known as ‘La Cuna de Castilla’ (in English, the birthplace of Castile), after Count Fernan Gonzalez converted it into one of the most important monastic lordships during the 10th century.

Located on the banks of the River Arlanza, the town lies on the Camino del Cid and Ruta de la Lana (route of wool), and thus forms part of the infamous ‘French Way’ of the Camino de Santiago.

At first glance, there is little to link this historical municipality to L’Alfas del Pi, but

a short jump forward in time to 1262 reveals a Norwegian link.

During that year, Cristina of Norway, the daughter of King Haakon the fourth, travelled to Spain at the behest of King Alfonso 10th, El Sabio, who had failed to sire off spring with his Queen Violante, and wanted a divorce to marry the Scandinavian princess.

The latter later dies of ‘melancholy’ in Sevilla, with her bones laid to rest in Covarrubias, making the charming town a favourite among Norwegian tourists in Spain.

In 2010, a delegation of Norwegian residents from L’Alfas del Pi made a pilgrimage to Covarrubias, and this led to improved relations between the towns and, eventually, this new sister arrangement.

BEST OF THE YEAR

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Smokers blamed for the wildfires

THE wildfires which tore through Javea and Benitachell destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people, were not started by arsonists, it has been revealed.

Numerous reports at the time blamed the fires on marauding fire-raisers driving from site to site but SEPRONA, the Nature Protection Unit of the Guardia Civil, now say that was not the case.

The hand of man was however behind the fires but largely as a result of negligence by inconsiderate smokers, rather than the malicious actions of arsonists.

The SEPRONA investigation chimes with the findings of government delegate Juan Carlos Moragues who revealed that ‘many’ cigarette butts were found in the Mirador de Cumbres del Sol, the point where the fires started.

Issue 1632 He had previously urged caution and condemned president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, for his claims of arson,

suggesting that such accusations ultimately harmed the investigation.

In their official report released on October 11, SEPRONA confirmed that all outbreaks in Javea and Benitatxell could be traced back to cigarette embers, and that climatic conditions had enabled the fires to quickly spi-

ral out of control.

Though ruled as ‘accidental’ the investigation into identifying the culprits who were smoking in these areas remains open.

Given the region’s history of forest fires, the time of year and countless awareness campaigns, the question of legal responsibility is very real.

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Monkey business proves to be illegal Issue 1633 INVESTIGATIONS by the Guardia Civil’s Seprona nature protection unit led to the recovery of 25 primates.

Seven people - four in Alicante, two in Murcia and one in Sevilla - face charges for breaching wildlife protection laws by breeding and selling exotic and protected species.

They are also accused of belonging to a criminal organisation, falsifying paperwork and identity theft.

Another 25 people in Almeria, Sevilla and Albacete have been linked to trading in the monkeys that sold for up to €2,000 each.

Seprona calculates that the traffickers made a profit of at least €130,000.

Seprona’s search of three homes and two pet shops in Elche, Torrellano, Agost and La Alqueña revealed the traffickers had bred 67 primates and investigators are

now trying to track down the remaining 42. The majority of trafficked primates were marmosets, but a green guinea ape and three talapoin monkeys were also rescued during the operation.

Investigators found that the primates were bred in private homes by persons connected to the pet trade, a practice not allowed under Spanish law without a permit. This is particularly important regarding primates like the green Guinea ape as these can carry IVH, making it vital to know their origin, Seprona explained.

Although the Seprona operation centred on primates, they also found grey parrots, macaws, a white starling, tortoises, a boa constrictor and pieces of coral.

All the recovered animals are now at the Noah’s Ark and Primadomus rescue centres in Muchamiel and Villena respectively.

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BEST OF THE YEAR

Calls for debate Woman kept own over winter hours children captive Issue 1635

LESS SUN: Tourism industry claims they lose business as the nights draw in quicker.

THE clocks went back at the weekend marking the end of summer time and the onset of shorter days and longer nights.

Whilst some welcome the move, tourism businesses, which form the main industry of the Valencian Region, consider that the time change in winter harms their interests by losing an hour of sun in the afternoon.

The hoteliers association, Hosbec, has called for a discussion on the issue and President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig,

Issue 1635 has advocated ‘opening the debate’ on whether the change of time zone for six months a year should still go ahead and to study whether it is appropriate for economic activity in sectors such as industrial or tourism.

Last year, hotel occupancy in Benidorm slumped seven

points after the time change, going from 87 per cent occupancy in the second half of October to 80 per cent on average in the first 15 days of November. “This is a recurring debate in several autonomies on a decision made during the Franco regime and one that should be reviewed,” said Hosbec.

“We must see if the industry, tourism and other sectors, could benefit with more hours of sunshine in the afternoon, see if it would be more efficient if the clocks didn’t go back.”

A SWISS woman has been arrested and charged with keeping her two children captive in their Alicante Province home for seven years.

The Guardia Civil said that the woman was detained on Saturday after the woman’s 17-year-old daughter managed to sneak an email to the ANAR foundation which is devoted to helping children escape abuse.

She and her 15-year-old sibling had reportedly not been to school or allowed any contact with the outside world since moving to Spain in 2009.

“The minor’s signatures during police proceedings were exactly the same as those on their Swiss ID cards from seven years ago, the writing looks like that of a small child who has not developed his writing,” a spokesman for the

ABUSE ESCAPE: For two sisters after their mum was arrested.

Guardia Civil in Alicante told AFP. The abuse had apparently begun when the children were just toddlers in Switzerland.

The detained woman is 49 years old and of Spanish descent. Her 30-year-old partner

has been charged with covering up her crimes.

Her daughter has told police that they were frequently assaulted and warned that the police would rape and torture them if they ever went for help.

BEST OF THE YEAR

www.euroweeklynews.com

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

Avalanche of water THE strong winds and extreme rainfall that lashed the Valencian coastline last weekend provoked a raft of incidents, with emergency services receiving over 3,000 calls.

Several tributaries of the Rio Jucar, particularly the Rio Clariano in Ontinyent and Rio Albaida near Bellus, threatened to break their banks. The Beniarres and Bellus dams became so swollen that their floodgates were opened on Monday, resulting in some spectacular video footage that was widely shared on social media.

In Muro de Alcoi a series of sinkholes opened, leaving eight families unable to leave their homes, while in Javea 10 people were evacuated from a block of flats on Carretera del Pla due to the rising Rio Gorgos.

A further 10 residents were ordered to leave their homes near the mouth of the Rio Girona in Denia, and many residents in nearby Els Poblets barricaded their doors as the river rose ominously on Sunday.

The Girona also caused problems in Orba, El Verger and Beniarbeig, where it broke its banks and flooded the old football field.

Callosa d’En Sarria Town Hall closed access to the recreational site Les Fonts del Algar after the boiling Rio Algar flooded the picnic area.

C o a s t a l z o n e s s u ff e r e d significant damage, with sand barriers put in place on a number of beaches in order to stop the raging sea reaching roads and houses.

In Benidorm, a number of streets were closed by police on Saturday as parked vehicles became slowly submerged, while 89 caravans were also removed from a camp site as a precautionary measure.

Rio Algar.

Betera.

Issue 1642 R o a d s w e r e a ff e c t e d throughout the region, with some still remaining closed on Tuesday.

having been inundated with water, suffered landslides, or blocked by fallen trees.

The worst traffic accident o c c u r r e d i n P e d r e g u e r, where five people were injured, three seriously, after a head-on collision on the N-332.

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ALFAZ DEL PI /

On the up and up Food, f

PARK IMPROVEMENTS: Rocio and Guijarro watch work in progress.

IMPROVEMENTS are being made to the path up to the Albir lighthouse inside the Sier-

ra Helada national park.

The lighthouse is one of the park’s most-visited places and as this path is a principal access, it is used by the thousands of people who visit the park each year.

Alfaz del Pi’s Environment councillor Rocio Guijarro, accompanied by the park’s technical expert Toni Pellicer, recently visited the park to see how work was progressing.

“At the moment we are concentrating on the picnic area a few metres from where

the path begins,” they explained. “We are installing new tables and benches as well as a new handrail.”

The area is also being weeded and cleared of undergrowth to reduce the risk of fire in a zone that is visited by so many members of public, Pellicer said.

“Thanks to the close cooperation between the town hall and the Sierra Helada park, there will soon be a pool for amphibians in this same area,” he added.

ALBIR Church of England have had an extremely busy time in the lead up to Christmas, with various fundraising events.

On Saturday December 3, in the middle of the bad storms, a group drove to the Franciscan Hospice in Gandia. Hazel and friends had prepared a meal for the 60 residents and staff. The remaining preparation and cooking was done in their kitchen. The terrific team then served the three courses to their tables.

After everyone had eaten Christmas gift bags were handed out to everyone. The Church had been collecting items throughout the year, so combined with other donations every man received a lovely bag full of important items.

The storms continued, roads were closed, bridges were impassable but the church still had a wonderful pre carol service meal at M Godoy in Albir, where there were 32 members and friends. In spite of the continuing downpour the carol service itself at 4pm was attended by 43 peo-

Adopt a pet THE town of Alfaz del Pi has launched a campaign to encourage people to adopt pets at Christmas not buy them.

The ‘do not buy, adopt’ campaign is being run with the department of Health and Education in collaboration with the Society for the Protection of Animals and Plants of Benidorm and the Association of Owners of Dogs of l’Alfàs del Pi (APPA).

The seasonal promotion of adopting dogs and cats instead of buying them is to highlight the issue that owning a pet is a responsibility, that they are not a gift you can exchange if you change your mind.

According to information from the Affinity Foundation in 2015 approximately 110,000 abandoned

29 Dec 2017 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

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/ ALBIR

NEWS

fellowship and fun

FRANCISCAN HOSPICE: All hands on deck plating up the main course. ple and was a truly joyous occasion followed by coffee and a time for fellowship.

A service of Holy Communion is held in Albir every Sunday at 9.45am. You can find the church in the centre of Albir by turning up the main road hill, Camino de la Cantera, (quite near the Consum Supermarket), signposted Rober Palas Hotel. Turn right in front

at Christmas dogs were collected from the streets of Spain.

Councillor for Education, Isabel Muñoz, said: “buying an animal and changing your mind is not a valid reason and this is one of the times of the year where more people purchase an animal without thinking of the consequences.”

The campaign has seen two thousand leaflets distributed throughout the local schools and public buildings which inform the reader about the responsibility of having a pet.

President of APPA Vanessa Pareja said: “It is estimated this Christmas more than 250,000 pets will be given away in Spain and, of all of them, more than 100,000 will be abandoned, most during their first year of life.”

of the hotel and the Church (Norwegian Seaman’s Church) is just inside the next road on the left, Carrer Mart.

Also every Thursday at 11am at the Forum Mare Nostrum, Alfaz del Pi, there is a service of Holy Communion, while the second Thursday of each month is a healing service.

If you need any further information please telephone local

church warden Elaine Mitchell on 966 864 962 or mobile 636 164 467.

Albir is one of eight congregations in the chaplaincy, from Gandia to El Campello, and you can find much more information on the website www.costablanca-anglican chaplaincy.org. Always be assured that a warm welcome awaits you.

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TEULADA MORAIRA

NEWS

TEULADA and Benitachell are taking steps to guarantee their domestic water supply for 2017.

The Teulada-Benitachell Water Consortium board recently approved the €12,000 purchase of 1,600 square metres of land in the Pla district. This adjoins an existing well that has many technical problems because the original perforation was badly executed. Since the shaft is crooked, the pumps do not work efficiently and cannot bring up all the available water.

Engineers consider that it would be economically viable and more reliable to close this well and open another shaft nearby and equip it with new

Photo credit: Benitachell town hall

Water, water everywhere

SUMMER 2016: Both towns campaigned to save water.

Photo credit: Teulada-Moraira town hall

Clarifying doubts

TEENAGERS’ TALK: Clearing up doubts and worries about HIV and AIDS. PUPILS at Teulada High School recently attended a talk on preventing sexually transmitted infections.

Organised by the town hall’s Youth department and Civil Protection departments, the talk was given by nurses Carmen Mª Ceacero and Antonio Ballesteros.

They explained the difference between HIV and AIDS to the teenagers, how the virus is acquired and how to prevent that from happening. Both nurses stressed the importance of using condoms and recommended testing for HIV once in a stable relationship.

There was also a question-and-answer session so that the pupils could clarify doubts and worries about sexuality, contracting the virus and detecting symptoms.

At the end of the talk the nurses reminded the teenagers that if they needed to talk about their sexuality they were always free to use the direct lines to the town hall’s Health or Youth departments, as well as Social Services.

The talk was well-attended, town hall sources said afterwards, with ‘enriching’ dialogue.

pumps. This will draw water from a depth of 220 metres where there are abundant, good quality deposits.

The Consortium plans to spend €614,000 on modernising wells and increasing their flow while a specialist firm is working round the clock, including weekends, to locate more water.

Although water consumption last summer increased by 83,400 cubic metres compared with 2015, there were no cuts and the Teulada-Moraira and Benitachell mayors thanked both the Consortium for its efficient management and the local population for not wasting water.

Rates increase absorbed NO Teulada-Moraira householder will have to pay higher IBI rates in 2017.

Rateable values have been reviewed and subsequently hiked by the national government’s Economy Ministry and in theory the rates bill for a local property-owner should rise by 5 per cent.

To avoid this the town hall is using the same strategy that it introduced last year, explained Teulada-Moraira mayor Carlos Linares.

Not only does he intend to ensure that property owners do not pay even one euro more, the mayor continued, but he intends to reduce their rates as soon as possible.

These measures will be approved at the plenary council meeting, Linares confirmed, and the rates will be adjusted to compensate for the increase that the Ministry has imposed on 2,452 municipalities throughout the country.

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JAVEA Javea U3A Wine Appreciation Group party MEMBERS of Javea U3A’s Wine Appreciation Group, affectionately known as WAGs, certainly know how to enjoy themselves - and they jumped at the chance to raise a glass or two at their annual Christmas party.

It was held at their regular

monthly haunt, La Cocina restaurant in Javea Port, but the usual wine tasting was replaced with a mouth-watering threecourse lunch - with vino, of course!

And group leader Trevor Rush, resembling Santa in his smart red Christmas hat, gave

out gifts of free raffle tickets with prizes of (you guessed it) bottles of wine.

In return, members presented the proceeds of a secret collection to Trevor and his co-leader, wife Sally, as a thank-you for all their hard work over the year organising the monthly meetings.

There was a twist in store for members at their November meeting - all the wines presented by members Duncan and Julie Robson were in screw-top bottles!

Duncan explained that the alternative to the traditional cork originated in France in the late 1960s and has been adopted in many other countries through-

WAG’S CHRISTMAS PARTY: Members tuck into lunch at La Cocina restaurant. out the world... although not so much in Spain.

The couple’s presentation, which included a wine-related quiz and even a song from Duncan, was well received by fel-

low members, who particularly enjoyed their choice of wines two whites from Sicily and Australia, and two reds from Spain and Argentina. Then they enjoyed another red wine from

Sicily with lunch.

For details of the Wine Appreciation Group and other Javea U3A groups and activities, visit the website www.u3ajavea.org.

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- XABIA

37

NEWS

Clearing up after the storms

ARENAL BEACH: Dykes kept waves at a safe distance.

JAVEA’S beaches were in need of clearing after their recent battering from the storms.

The Cespa street cleaning service has removed reeds and debris that were washed downstream by the River Gorgos and swept out to sea before heavy seas returned them to the shore. The rivermouth has now been cleared as well as the Grava and Primer Montañar beach-

EWN

es. After Aemet, Spain’s meteorological office issued prior warnings of four-metre waves, sand was banked along the shore of the Arenal beach to protect the promenade and front-line bars and restaurants before the storms broke.

The dykes did their job and once the accumulated reeds and rubbish were removed the mounds were flattened and the beach levelled.

Bridge needs attention THE bridge at the mouth of the River Gorgos in Javea is in bad condition.

Flooding in 2007 caused structural damage and vehicles of more than 3.5 tons are barred from using the bridge tha t c onne c ts the Port area with Muntanyar and Arenal.

Sinc e the n loc a l bus e s must also make a detour to avoid crossing the river at this point.

The recent bout of storms a nd ba d w e a the r ha ve

caused further damage after the Gorgos rose to dangerous levels, further weakening the bridge.

The reinforced concrete is coming away in places, exposing the structure’s rusti ng i r on r ods and Javea Town Hall now intends to dem ol i sh and r epl ace t he bridge.

The project will cost an estimated €567,000 to Alicant e Pr ovi nce, of whi ch the Diputacion is expected to provide €312,000.

Admirable trios’ effort A TRIO of kind-hearted Javea residents have initiated a campaign to help refugees living in the Skaramanga camp near Athens, Greece.

The largely Syrian residents are short of necessities such as baby clothes and bottles, hats, coats, cereals, soap, shampoo, warm clothing and shoes.

Working alongside the NGO ‘Drop in the Ocean,’ Nieves, Sabine and Jaime will organise the donated items so they can be quickly unpacked and used.

They will also spend 10 days in the camp during January.

Donate at Ginestar car showrooms in Javea, Denia and Benissa.

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JAVEA - XABIA

A HERD of Vietnamese pigs have made themselves at home in El Saladar in Javea.

The area is surrounded by villas and is very near the Arenal beach but the pigs are used to humans and are not put off by their presence.

They enter villa gardens where residents say they can hear them at night, grunting as they search for food. Up to 40 of the animals have

NEWS

It’s a pig of a problem been seen together and Marina Alta Animal Rescue (RAMA) has raised the alarm, recommending that the pigs be rounded up and taken to an animal shelter.

Presumably some were sold as miniature pigs by unscrupulous

sellers and abandoned when they grew beyond the cute stage. Others are known to have escaped from the property of an elderly local man who also kept rabbits and chickens.

They have bred uncontrollably

since then and their presence could upset the balance of native wildlife, RAMA warned, especially if the pigs mate with the wild boar that already inhabit the area.

The hybrids, called ‘cerdolies’ in Spanish, inherit the worst of their

parents’ traits as they have the boars’ aggressiveness and the Vietnamese pigs’ liking for food. They also eat at any time of the day, unlike boar which tend to seek food after the sun goes down.

Trapping the young is comparatively easy, but capturing the adults would prove difficult as many of those spotted in El Saladar are fully-grown and unmanageably heavy.

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EUROPEAN PRESS

DENMARK

GERMANY

Happy workers

CCTV spread DANISH DELIGHT: The country has the happiest workers.

DENMARK has the happiest workers in the world. That’s according to an international survey by research firm Universum which produced the ‘Global Workforce Happiness Index.’ Over 200,000 young professionals were asked about their satisfaction at work.

Film drop

Drug deaths

Residence denied

THIS year has been called the worst year for the Danish film industry. In the past 12 months just 2.8 million cinema tickets were sold to Danish-produced films compared to 4.2 million tickets sold in 2015.

T H E n u mb e r of drug-re la te d deaths in Denmark has fallen to the lowest levels since the 1990’s. The latest report relates to 2012 and s h o w s 2 1 0 d ru g -re la te d de a ths compared to 285 in 2011.

Save the Children Denmark calls for immigration law changes after figures highlighted there were over 1,000 children under age 12 refused permission to live with one or both of their parents in Denmark between 2005-2010.

FRANCE has reinforced its border

THE Tunisian man suspected of being involved in the Berlin C hrist m as m ar ket at t ack, has been under the watch of authorities since the start of the year because of his Islamic links. A reward of €100,000 has been offered for his capture.

GERMAN car manufacturer Volkswagen has reportedly reached a $1billion agreement with US authorities as part of a compensation deal relating to the emissions-cheating scandal, but a criminal investigation is ongoing.

Working refugees WITH around 1.2 million people arriving in Germany seeking asylum in the last two years, government figures show that in the last 12 months 34,000 refugees have found work.

Citizen participation

Express train

Border checks

Under watch

Deal done

BELGIUM

FRANCE PLANS for an express train line between central Paris and Charles de Gaulle airport have been approved and are on track for completion by 2023. The link will be twice as fast as the current train service.

G ERMANY has appr oved plans to expand the country’s C C TV net wor k acr oss publ i c places such as sports stadiums and shopping centres. The move comes following the attack at a Christmas market in Berlin.

controls as the hunt remains for the suspect who carried out Germany’s attack at a Christmas market.

Icon dies FRENCH film star and glamour icon, Michele Morgan, has passed away at the age of 96. The actress was the first to win the ‘best actress’

award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Rat invasion PARIS is reporting being in the midst of a rat infestation. Nine parks and gardens have had to be temporarily shut as the authorities tackle the problem saying it is getting worse as people feed them.

GHENT is giving €1.3 million to citizens to decide how it is spend.

Local residents can put forward project proposals and then a vote will decide where the money goes.

Virtually bankrupt A NUMBER of institutions relying on public funding are virtually bankrupt and need to look at how to improve efficiency. Those needing to cut costs include the police watchdog committee, the intelligence gathering watchdog and the privacy commission.

Student work A START-UP business at Leuven University is recruiting the university’s own undergraduates. A wage of €15,000 is on offer to those who decide to work rather than carry on studying.

Work death TWO people were killed after a free-standing wall collapsed on a bui l di ng si t e i n Ant wer p Province. The wall was behind a new building being constructed at the Reynaers Aluminium company.

SWEDEN

NORWAY

Ikea compensation

Wolves survive

SWEDISH furniture giant Ikea has reached a $50 million settlement with three American families whose children died after their chest of drawers tipped over on top of them.

Ikea will also donate to three children’s hospitals.

FOLLOWING outrage over plans to cull two-thirds of the country’s wolves to protect sheep, the government has issued a last-minute reprieve to the delight of conservationists.

HOLLAND

Boss guilty

Missile tests

Information requests

THE former boss of the Kolmarden zoo has been found guilty of manslaughter over the death of a woman keeper killed by wolves at the zoo in 2012. The judge ruled he neglected safety precautions which could have saved her.

A NORWEGIAN missile designed for the F-35 has successfully carried out flight tests in the USA. It is being developed for the Norwegian military and will complete its testing programme in 2018.

Fewer commuters

Residency test

THE number of regular rail commuters across the Öresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark dropped this year. Sweden’s public transport operator said it sold 17 per cent fewer travel cards for commuters between January and November in 2016.

FOREIGNERS seeking a permanent residency in Norway are now required to pass an oral exam and civics test.

The new rules apply to all foreigners between the ages of 16 and 55 who seek permanent residency.

Satisfaction survey A SURVEY of 2,200 people showed most were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with public services in Sweden. Water and sewage management got the highest marks.

Digital switch ON January 11, Norway will turn off the FM airwaves and switch to being the first country to have digital only radio transmissions, however two out of three Norwegians are opposed to the move.

DUTCH officials made 450 us e r i nf or m at i on r equest s t o Facebook in the first six months of the year. In total, 28 of the requests were made in an emergency with someone in a lifethreatening situation.

Busy quarter BOTH Schiphol and Eindhoven airports saw an increase in the number of passengers in the third quarter of the year. Schiphol’s figures rose 8 per cent to 18.6 million between July and September and Eindhoven rose 15 per cent to 1.5 million.

Twitter closed TWITTER is closing its Amsterdam office at the start of 2017 as part of its re-structuring plans. All 14 staff have been given jobs with media company Brand Deli who is taking over the sales activities.

No beds HOSPITAL beds are in shortage in North Holland due to an increase in the number of children admitted suffering from the RS virus which is a variant of the common cold that affects the respiratory system.

FINANCE

Costa Blanca North

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017

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

Lloyds to take over MBNA

By John Smith LLOYDS BANK, which was bailed out by the British taxpayer, has agreed an in principle deal with Bank of America to take over the MBNA credit card company.

Having managed to get itself into trouble during the financial crisis when it over extended itself the government had to purchase 43 per cent of its capital.

Unlike RBS, the government has been able to sell most of its shares back to the market as the revi-

Quote of the Week

£1.9 billion (€2.25 billion) is the amount that Lloyds Bank will pay Bank of America to take over its MBNA credit card division.

BUSINESS EXTRA

Photo Credit: Krichevsky Wikimedia

Job losses

OIL EXPLOITATION: Russian Arctic exploration.

By John Smith POSSIBLY worried by a statement made by Donald Trump about exploitation of existing oil reserves, President Obama has banned the offshore drilling for gas and oil in the Arctic.

This was made in a joint announcement with Canada, although the Canadian decision only covers the next five years whilst Obama’s office has indicated that the ban will be permanent based upon an exisitng 1953 law.

talised Lloyds has been so successful that the government has reduced its holding to just 7 per cent, although some pundits suggest that the sale price was too low.

According to a Lloyds’ spokesperson, the acquisition of MBNA, which is expected to take place during the first half of 2017, will add around £650 million (€772 million) to its annual profits and will increase its share of the UK credit card market to 26 per cent.

“The government will need to take a ‘whole economy’ approach to avoid leaving sectors behind.” Carolyn Fairbairn Director General of the Confederation of British Industry on Brexit

US bans Arctic drilling

Two main problems exist for the current Administration. Firstly, once Trump is in power he may well look to reverse the decision. Secondly, the Russians are already exploiting the Arctic waters and it may be possible for American firms to lease rights from them prior to being allowed into US Arctic waters.

Environmental groups have welcomed the decision and have promised to take legal action in the event that the decision is challenged.

IN what is a somewhat ironical situation internet employment agency Jobandtalent, founded in Madrid in 2009 with outlets in Colombia, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom, has decided that due to lack of profits it will have to lose a number of existing staff.

Italian banks THE Italian government under new prime minister Paolo Gentiloni has announced that it intends to make up to €20 billion available to support Italian banks that are in the process of running into financial difficulty during the coming year.

Sherry sales ACCORDING to statistics released in the UK by the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, sales of sherry have more than halved in the past decade, falling from 22 million bottles to just 10 million bottles whilst gin sales have increased dramatically.

Stop IKEA sleepover craze A SPOKESMAN for the IKEA has appealed to young people to stop filming themselves hiding in IKEA stores and having illegal ‘sleepovers.’

It appears there’s been at least 10 episodes during the last few months and the latest found two

41

€18 billion is the amount reportedly removed in 2016 from the Spanish Social Security Reserve (Pension) Fund which five years ago contained €66 billion but may be empty by 2018.

STAT OF WEEK

business & legal

EWN

14-year-old girls in one of their Swedish stores.

Two Belgian youngsters appear to have started the craze after hiding in wardrobes and filming the adventure. IKEA were unaware until they saw the YouTube video seen by 1.7 million viewers.

Not all has been rosy in the Lloyds camp as it has been very heavily hit for compensation to individuals mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) and it still expects to have to refund up to £1 billion (€1.18 billion) in the future despite having already paid o u t l a rg e a m o u n t s o f c o m p e n s a tion.

With savings in its credit card division once MBNA is incorporated as well as 9,000 less employees, Lloyds seems to be on track for continued and long-term recovery.

Facebook faces fine WHEN the EU needs money it has come up with a great new idea. Find a successful company, hopefully in the USA, which may have issued incorrect information and then fine it.

First it fined Apple $13 billion (€12.5 billion) and now it has given Facebook until January 31 to explain why it apparently gave false information in evidence when taking over WhatsApp with a fine of up to €120 million possible.

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LONDON - FTSE 100

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

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C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 27

PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) COMPANY Anglo American 1,113.00 -12.50 Associated British Foods 2,680.00 -19.00 Admiral Group 1,728.00 -71.00 Ashtead Group 1,567.50 0.50 Antofagasta 650.50 -25.00 Aviva 478.75 -1.55 AstraZeneca 4,330.50 -76.50 BAE Systems 586.00 -7.50 Babcock International Group 922.75 -21.25 Barclays 223.98 -0.97 British American Tobacco 4,549.00 -9.00 Barratt Developments 460.75 -8.55 British Land Co 634.25 -6.75 BHP Billiton 1,254.50 -3.00 Bunzl 2,046.50 -41.50 BP 498.05 -4.95 Burberry Group 1,454.00 -9.00 BT Group 367.68 -2.67 Coca-Cola HBC 1,646.50 -69.50 Carnival 4,125.00 -22.00 Centrica 226.80 -3.70 Compass Group 1,456.00 -1.00 Capita Group (The) 503.75 -16.75 Croda International 3,128.50 -21.50 CRH 2,517.00 -217.00 Convatec Group Ord 10p Wi 232.70 1.40 Dixons Carphone 342.70 -7.00 DCC 6,055.00 -15.00 Diageo 2,076.00 -21.00 Direct Line Insurance Group 345.60 -22.20 Experian 1,525.00 -28.00 easyJet 1,027.00 -8.00 Fresnillo 1,110.50 -1.50 GKN 312.75 -17.75 Glencore 270.33 -0.32 GlaxoSmithKline 1,537.00 -12.00 Hikma Pharmaceuticals 1,811.50 1.50 Hargreaves Lansdown 1,212.00 -8.00 Hammers 540.50 -28.50 HSBC Holdings 644.85 -1.65 International Consolidtd Air Gr 450.60 -6.60 InterContinental Hotels Grp 3,213.00 -388.00 3i Group 675.00 -20.00 Imperial Brands 3,533.00 -6.00 Informa 625.75 -45.75 Intu Properties 276.60 2.30 Intertek Group 3,397.00 -17.00 ITV 200.55 -2.95 Johnson Matthey 2,962.00 -191.00 Kingfisher 343.55 -3.15

% CHG. NET VOL -1.11 15,789.23 -0.70 21,414.79 -3.95 5,089.91 0.03 7,892.76 -3.70 6,624.96 -0.32 19,553.75 -1.74 54,934.86 -1.26 18,832.08 -2.25 4,747.55 -0.43 38,500.23 -0.20 84,763.60 -1.82 4,791.60 -1.05 6,548.65 -0.24 26,833.87 -1.99 6,996.92 -0.98 97,943.75 -0.62 6,480.00 -0.72 36,938.52 -4.05 6,190.45 -0.53 8,930.66 -1.61 12,605.00 -0.07 23,953.11 -3.22 3,349.05 -0.68 4,146.12 -7.94 22,643.27 0.61 4,513.76 -2.00 4,028.63 -0.25 5,388.17 -1.00 52,449.52 -6.04 4,999.50 -1.80 14,609.93 -0.77 4,075.36 -0.13 8,282.68 -5.37 5,671.48 -0.12 39,153.70 -0.77 75,835.45 0.08 4,350.38 -0.66 5,762.97 -5.01 4,441.86 -0.26 130,160.26 -1.44 9,561.19 -10.77 7,027.67 -2.88 6,682.89 -0.17 33,564.47 -6.81 5,537.31 0.84 3,716.88 -0.50 5,509.74 -1.45 8,203.78 -6.06 6,136.95 -0.91 7,848.74

COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) Land Securities Group 1,020.50 -49.50 Legal & General Group 244.50 -2.50 Lloyds Banking Group ORD 63.40 -0.40 London Stock Exchange Grp 2,844.00 15.00 Micro Focus International 2,105.00 -50.00 Mediclinic International 701.00 -51.00 Merlin Entertainments 447.90 5.20 Marks & Spencer Group 350.00 -2.00 Mondi 1,577.50 -27.50 Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets 228.60 -1.10 National Grid 940.65 -10.65 Next 4,909.00 -13.00 Old Mutual Group 196.45 -2.45 Provident Financial 2,813.00 30.00 Paddy Power Betfair 8,700.00 -35.00 Prudential 1,577.50 -27.50 Persimmon 1,732.50 -32.50 Pearson 814.00 -3.00 Reckitt Benckiser Group 6,781.00 -30.00 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 223.05 -8.05 Royal Dutch Shell 2,133.25 -80.25 Royal Dutch Shell 2,315.50 -5.50 RELX 1,379.00 -59.00 Rio Tinto 3,052.00 -12.00 Royal Mail 450.80 -5.40 Rolls-Royce Group 681.00 0.50 Randgold Resources 5,780.00 -55.00 RSA Insurance Group 577.00 3.50 Sainsbury (J) 247.85 -0.85 Schroders 2,742.50 -242.50 Sage Group (The) 650.25 -3.75 Shire 4,522.50 -25.50 Smurfit Kappa Group 1,878.00 -13.00 Sky 974.00 -8.50 Standard Life 354.05 -10.15 Smiths Group 1,257.00 -156.00 Smith & Nephew 1,193.50 -9.50 SSE 1,550.50 18.00 Standard Chartered 656.30 -5.30 St James's Place 901.50 -97.00 Severn Trent 2,189.50 -38.50 Tesco 203.43 -2.42 TUI AG 1,145.50 3.00 Taylor Wimpey 152.20 -1.70 Unilever 3,232.25 -40.25 United Utilities Group 895.00 -5.00 Vodafone Group 200.08 -0.47 Wolseley 4,717.50 -221.50 Worldpay Group 256.60 -11.10 WPP Group 1,700.00 -95.00 Whitbread 3,676.00 -86.00

% CHG. -4.63 -1.01 -0.63 0.53 -2.32 -6.78 1.17 -0.57 -1.71 -0.48 -1.12 -0.26 -1.23 1.08 -0.40 -1.71 -1.84 -0.37 -0.44 -3.48 -3.63 -0.24 -4.10 -0.39 -1.18 0.07 -0.94 0.61 -0.34 -8.12 -0.57 -0.56 -0.69 -0.87 -2.79 -11.04 -0.79 1.17 -0.80 -9.71 -1.73 -1.18 0.26 -1.10 -1.23 -0.56 -0.23 -4.48 -4.15 -5.29 -2.29

NET VOL 8,294.74 14,659.92 45,679.19 9,910.17 4,916.10 5,507.21 4,496.99 5,767.77 7,778.57 5,369.17 35,070.99 7,277.83 9,884.37 4,112.14 7,335.48 41,387.91 5,436.93 6,733.18 47,704.61 26,956.80 98,033.79 87,026.38 15,543.19 42,357.81 4,553.00 12,549.73 5,427.09 5,846.02 5,438.64 6,708.35 7,079.69 41,245.54 4,469.31 16,992.49 7,244.28 5,583.23 10,512.84 15,543.98 21,799.24 5,240.41 5,296.89 16,651.45 6,686.37 5,057.43 41,860.03 6,065.40 53,167.93 12,479.50 5,336.00 23,038.11 6,786.11

Kleinwort Benson Elite PCC Ltd

0.85039

1.17593 Units per €

US dollar ..................................................................1.04432 Japan yen ................................................................122.549 Switzerland franc ..................................................1.07271 Denmark kroner...................................................7.43427 Norway kroner.....................................................9.09242 currenciesdirect.com/moraira • Tel: +34 966 265 072

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 27

COMPANY 3M AMERICAN EXPRESS APPLE BOEING CO CATERPILLAR CHEVRON CISCO SYSTEMS COCA-COLA DU PONT(EI) DE NMR EXXON MOBIL GENERAL ELECTRIC GOLDMAN SACHS HOME DEPOT IBM INTEL CORP J.P.MORGAN CHASE JOHNSON & JOHNSON MC DONALD'S CORP MERCK AND CO. NEW MICROSOFT NIKE PFIZER PROCTER AND GAMBLE TRAVELERS CIES UNITED TECHNOLOGIE UNITEDHEALTH GROUP VERIZON COMMS VISA WAL-MART STORES WALT DISNEY CO

PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME 178,750 -0,25% -0,450 107M 74,9700 +0,52% 0,3900 68M 116,520 +0,20% 0,230 620M 157,810 +0,22% 0,350 97M 94,320 +0,21% 0,200 55M 118,42 -0,29% -0,35 223M 30,530 +0,23% 0,070 153M 41,60 +0,12% 0,05 179M 74,9300 -0,19% -0,1400 65M 90,71 -0,18% -0,16 375M 31,8800 +0,19% 0,0600 282M 240,97 +0,35% 0,85 95M 135,0500 -0,28% -0,3800 164M 166,71 -0,21% -0,35 158M 36,9700 +0,11% 0,0400 174M 87,0500 +0,18% 0,1600 310M 115,9600 +0,45% 0,5200 315M 123,1400 -0,47% -0,5800 102M 59,56 -0,03% -0,02 164M 63,240 -0,49% -0,310 490M 51,91 -0,44% -0,23 69M 32,4800 +0,43% 0,1400 196M 84,960 +0,58% 0,490 227M 122,12 +0,00% 0,00 34M 110,65 +0,17% 0,19 90M 163,03 +0,90% 1,45 154M 53,68 +0,06% 0,03 218M 78,15 +0,32% 0,25 144M 69,5400 -0,07% -0,0500 213M 105,1500 -0,26% -0,2700 167M

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES

DECEMBER

27

COMPANY

PRICE

CHANGE NET / %

Most Advanced Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. Flexion Therapeutics, Inc. T2 Biosystems, Inc. Revance Therapeutics, Inc. Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Caesars Entertainment Corporation NewLink Genetics Corporation Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

$ 25.06 $ 5.77 $ 4.43 $ 20.71 $ 5.69 $ 21.70 $ 4.99 $ 16.61 $ 7.85 $ 10.99 $ 4.38

6.33 ▲ 33.80% 1.03 ▲ 21.73% 0.66 ▲ 17.51% 2.14 ▲ 11.52% 0.56 ▲ 10.92% 2.10 ▲ 10.71% 0.46 ▲ 10.15% 1.50 ▲ 9.93% 0.70 ▲ 9.79% 0.98 ▲ 9.79% 0.39 ▲ 9.77%

Most Declined Strongbridge Biopharma plc $ 2.50 Fulgent Genetics, Inc. $ 10.35 Oncobiologics, Inc. $ 2.33 DAVIDsTEA Inc. $ 6.80 Sears Holdings Corporation $ 8.79 ProShares UltraPro Short NASDAQ Biotechnology$ 22.18 Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. $ 11.90 Destination Maternity Corporation $ 5.52 VisionChina Media, Inc. $ 4.72 Vanguard Natural Resources LLC $3 Diana Containerships Inc. $ 3.08

1.10 ▼ 30.56% 1.44 ▼ 12.21% 0.1775 ▼ 7.08% 0.50 ▼ 6.85% 0.61 ▼ 6.49% 1.53 ▼ 6.45% 0.70 ▼ 5.56% 0.32 ▼ 5.48% 0.27 ▼ 5.41% 0.17 ▼ 5.36% 0.16 ▼ 4.94%

44

E W N 29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

Too good to be true? It probably is!

By John Smith THE National Police received a formal request from Germany through Europol to investigate one particular case of internet fraud and ended up arresting 31 people in Spain.

Basically, all of those arrested were involved in what tends to be known as a

It appears that at least 34 victims from 17 different countries had been conned into parting with some €5 million.”

Nigerian letters scam whereby huge numbers of e-mails are sent out indiscriminately inviting individuals to assist in smuggling money from one country to another with the promise that they would receive a significant portion of the liberated funds.

In this instance however, the Spanish conmen were more sophisticated and rather than just send out huge numbers of emails, they purchased information about potential victims on the ‘dark net’ which allowed their approaches to be tailored to the individuals and therefore more believable.

In the case of the German complainant, he

Photo Credit: Cherezoff Shutterstock

INTERNET FRAUD: Some victims are hooked by greed. was persuaded to assist a so-called Americ a n s o ldie r w ho ha d be e n s e rving in Afghanistan and wanted to transfer money from that country to Europe in euros and af-

ter investigating the records of those arrested, it appears that at least 34 victims from 17 different countries had been conned into parting with some €5 million.

In some situations, individuals were encourage to journey to Spain where they wer e t aken t o speci al l y set up off i ces, signed fake documents and handed over funds all at very short notice when tired or suffering from jet lag whilst those they were meeting, suddenly disappeared.

One American was reportedly defrauded of $1.7 million (€1.62 million) in a scam involving the daughter of a Vietnamese businessman who was trying to get her father released from prison where he was being unfairly held and she promised to let the victim have half of his fortune.

Officers raided 16 properties where they discovered fake banknotes, 1,500 letters ready to be dispatched, documents implicating those arrested, computer records, cash and paper which could be used in a ‘switching operation’ where packages of bank notes become blank paper.

Considering that this type of fraud has been going on for years and has been heavily publicised it is a lesson to all that it still nets money for the fraudsters and as the basic concept involves the victim agreeing to become involved in an operation which may involve t he i l l egal m ovem ent of cash f r om one country to another, any sympathy that may be felt for them, may also be tempered by that knowledge.

European governments lose out on VAT AS more and more sales of goods are made through the internet, a major problem concerning collection of VAT is emerging which can cost governments billions of euros.

If a retailer within the European Union sells a VAT-able product to an individual (rather than another VAT registered company) in another EU country, then it should charge VAT as if the sale had been made within the country that the seller is based.

However if the company is not based in the EU and sells to a consumer in the EU then it is impossible for it to charge VAT unless it goes to the trouble of registering for VAT in the country that it is supplying.

In theory, the post office or the company delivering the goods should collect the VAT involved or at least some form of import duty and failing that, the recipient should contact customs and revenue and volunteer to make the relevant payment.

The reality is that a lot of revenue is being lost by a number of countries and whilst individual amounts may be small, the annual total in the UK alone is estimated at £1.5 billion (€1.78 billion) per annum and this will obviously reflect across Europe.

Wha t m a n y o f u s d o n ’t rea lis e is th at companies like Amazon don’t just sell their

Photo Credit: Diego Cervo Shutterstock

By John Smith

VAT AVOIDANCE: On stock shipped from the Far East. own product but they also act as portals for sellers around the world and whilst an order ma y b e pla c e d through a n A ma z on s ite

based in the EU, goods may be dispatched and supplied by countries in the Far East or even America and whilst there may be heav-

ier delivery charges, savings on VAT could be significant.

I n t he case of eBay, ever y i t em sol d comes from an independent source and unless it is a company registered for VAT, none finds its way to the exchequer of the country to which the goods are dispatched.

One argument goes that not only is this VAT avoidance increasing the burden of debt on governments it is also making it more difficult for local business to compete on price if they are having to charge a fifth or more extra.

Individuals are quite happy to take advantage of this opportunity and with the speed of deliveries nowadays, whilst there may be a few days extra to wait, it is not an insurmountable problem.

Now Britain at least is going to look at this more closely and the Public Accounts Committee which has considerable influence intends to question the National Audit Committee and also HM Revenue and Customs to see what they are doing to try to stamp out the problem.

Legislation does exist to pass the charges on to website managers such as Amazon and e Bay but what is possible in theory is likely to be much more difficult in practice and in the event that Britain leaves the free trade mechanism when it leaves the EU, the situa-

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

EU Court of Justice orders full refund of Spanish mortgage floor clauses

RULING U-TURN: Means banks have to pay back all money paid by clients.

By Pellicer Heredia THE European Court of Justice (EJC) has declared that the decision of the Spanish Supreme Court Ruling held on May 9, 2013 was limited, and the terms and conditions and indeed the use of the ruling were unfair.

Not only did the ruling provide incomplete and insufficient protection for consumers, it limited the amount that clients could claim back when trying to recover the money paid in relation to overpaid mortgages.

Basically, that meant that those affected by the ground floor rate clause could only reclaim any overpaid money after May 9, 2013 irrespective of whether they had paid more before this date.

This new ruling is a total Uturn and will mean that banks will now have to pay back – to the last euro – all of the money

paid by the clients from the date that overpayment took place, rather than from May 9, 2013.

This decision applies to the whole of the European Union and especially in Spain, finally ending a long legal battle.

This new ruling represents a clear victory for customers and consumers against banks. According to the Bank of Spain report, the banks will have to return close to €7.5 billion to all the customers that have been affected.

This decision is legally binding - meaning that it affects both the pending cases and any future proceedings that have not yet been reviewed.

However, with regard to final judgments, this issue is still controversial.

Our team of legal experts will negotiate with the bank on your behalf and can even sue the bank in order to save you money on each monthly install-

ment due to the fact that the interest you pay is probably greater than the official interest stated by the European Bank Central.

We firmly believe that most of the ‘threshold clauses’ that reflect mortgage contracts are unfair and customers of banks are at a disadvantage and penalised for their lack of knowledge in financial matters.

At Pellicer & Heredia we can give those affected by the mortgage clause the opportunity to check your deeds to make sure whether there is a mortgage floor rate. If so, you could then ask the Bank to reimburse the money that is being taken because of that abusive clause.

For more information, please contact us on 965 480 737, mobile 606 056 282, or send an email to info@pellicerheredia.com and our team of specialists will be able to assist you.

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

EWN

45

OPINION & COMMENT

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

EWN

47

Long lives of utter bone idleness LEAPY LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT

ness. Parliament is nothing more than their playground, merely an extension of public school debating societies - and just about as useless.

As most of the privileged are on the ‘blue team,’ this leads to the ‘red side’ resorting to decisions instigated by the politics of envy and often barely disguised hatred - none of which does the country any good whatsoever.

As I have stated on numerous occasions, the world is a business.

Highfalutin individuals, who act like children, and are often morally immature, don’t fit the modern day bill at all.

Good luck to President elect Trump and his board of directors (including ‘Mad Dog!’). May he run his section of corporation Earth with shrewd acumen, fairness and as much moral and physical profit for its shareholders as possible.

Well, here it comes 2017AD. Reads like a Sci Fi number (to me anyway!) What an exciting future we Brits have in store. Freedom from Brussels. A dramatically changing planet. Hopefully controlled borders and, PG, an iron fist for those who would do us harm.

All this, plus Theresa May’s choice of high heels. What more can we ask?

Happy New Year to us all. Let us hope that peace, harmony and the survival of our culture will be the order of the day.

Keep the Faith Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com

Copyright: Songquan Deng

AT long last we will start a New Year with business people at the helm of our most powerful ally.

Let’s hope this trend spreads to more of our leading nations. Politicians simply can’t hack it.

Most of them are so out of touch with the real world, they don’t have a clue how to make it a success.

So-called diplomatic expertise and political solutions are positively old hat. Although they do have their place, they are about as far removed from effectively creating a thriving society as Jeremy Corbyn is from ever becoming prime minister (and it doesn’t get any further than that!)

Most of the members of this outdated profession are cosseted dinosaurs, raised in an entanglement of old boys’ networks with basically three objectives in mind; power, prestige or lives of utter bone idle-

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT: Nothing more than a playground.

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48

E W N 29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

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9:30am Lorraine 10:25am Free Willy 3: The Rescue 12:10pm Mr Bean’s Holiday 1:50pm ITV Lunchtime News 2:05pm ITV News London 2:15pm Peter Pan 4:15pm Midsomer Murders 6:15pm ITV News London 6:30pm ITV Evening News 6:50pm The Amazing Spider-Man 2 9:30pm Emmerdale 10:00pm Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 12:00am ITV News Mark Austin presents the latest headlines from around the world.

12:20am Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 1:20am The Chase 2:05am Jackpot247 Join the presenters live and play roulette on your telly. Join in now at Jackpot247.com.

7:45am Coastal Path 8:15am Great British Menu 8:45am Herbie Goes Bananas 10:15am This Farming Life 11:15am Money for Nothing 12:15pm A Distant Trumpet 2:10pm Hidalgo 4:15pm Nature’s Weirdest Events 5:00pm Inside the Factory 6:00pm Tribes, Predators and Me 7:00pm New Zealand: Earths Mythical Islands 8:00pm To the Manor Born: 1979 Christmas Special 8:30pm University Challenge 9:00pm Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars 10:00pm Charlie Brooker’s 2016 Wipe 11:00pm Cunk on Christmas 11:30pm Kevin Bridges: A Whole Different Story 12:30am A Gert Lush Christmas 1:30am Dragons’ Den 2:30am The Great Christmas Bake Off 3:30am Doctor Who

9:00pm King George and Queen Mary: The Royals Who Rescued The Monarchy 10:00pm Flying Scotsman From the Footplate 11:00pm The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner 12:00am Billy Fury: The Sound of Fury Documentary which recounts the story of Billy Fury and the birth of British popular music.

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3:15pm Hairspray Live!

5:55pm Catchphrase 6:55pm Happy Feet 7:55pm FYI Daily 8:00pm Happy Feet 9:00pm Quantum of Solace 10:00pm FYI Daily 10:05pm Quantum of Solace 11:15pm Celebrity Juice 12:20am The Keith Lemon Sketch Show 12:50am Family Guy 1:20am Family Guy 1:45am Family Guy

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5:15am Wycliffe Drama series about a Cornwall police detective.

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Short Circuit 2 The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Great Muppet Caper The Net A Place in the Sun Posh Pawn at Christmas Channel 4 News The Simpsons The Simpsons Hollyoaks The Ballroom Boys Location, Location, Location 19 Kids and Counting Bruce Springsteen It Was Alright in the 1970’s Father Ted The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest The Windsors Christmas Special Ep 1 Jamie’s Comfort Food Location, Location, Location

8:35am Noddy: Toyland Detective 8:55am Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 9:05am Wissper 9:15am Peppa Pig 9:35am Paw Patrol 9:50am Toot the Tiny Tugboat 10:00am Toby’s Travelling Circus 10:15am Jelly Jamm 10:30am SpongeBob Squarepants 10:48am SpongeBob Squarepants 11:05am World’s Strongest Man 2016 12:05pm West Side Story 3:05pm The Family Man 5:25pm Serendipity 6:25pm Five News Update 6:30pm Serendipity 7:10pm Battlebots: World Championship 8:00pm World’s Strongest Man 2016 9:00pm Biggest Dog in the World 10:00pm The Adele Story 11:35pm World’s Greatest Divas 12:35am Lip Sync Battle UK Xmas Special

The Professionals Quincy, M.E. Ironside The Professionals British Superbike Championship Review 2016 Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Quincy, M.E. Ironside Bond Girls are Forever Everything or Nothing: The Untold Stories of 007 FYI Daily Everything or Nothing: The Untold Stories of 007 Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Cannonball Run II FYI Daily Cannonball Run II Beetlejuice FYI Daily Beetlejuice Body of Lies FYI Daily Body of Lies When Football Changed Forever

7:00am 9:15am 11:35am 1:20pm 3:40pm

Jurassic Park The Lost World Jurassic Park III Jurassic World The Top Ten Show 2016 4:00pm Jurassic Park 6:10pm The Lost World 8:20pm Jurassic Park III 10:00pm Jurassic World 12:10am Taken 1:55am Gone in 60 Seconds

7:50am Norbit 9:40am The Apartment 11:50am The Bad Education Movie 1:30pm Daddy’s Home 3:20pm Superbad 5:20pm Magic Mike XXL 7:20pm The Bad Education Movie 9:00pm Daddy’s Home 10:45pm Beverly Hills Cop 12:35am Beverly Hills Cop II 2:30am Beverly Hills Cop III 4:20am Two Night Stand 5:55am Curse of the Pink Panther

7:00am 7:25am 8:10am 9:05am 9:30am 10:00am 11:45am 12:00pm 12:30pm 1:00pm 1:30pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:50pm 12:00am 12:35am 1:00am 2:10am

Hollyoaks Charmed Charmed The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Paws Rude(Ish) Tube Shorts Baby Daddy Baby Daddy The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Goldbergs How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Goldbergs The Goldbergs The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Ice Age: Continental Drift Gogglebox The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Naked Attraction Tattoo Fixers

7:00am Kung Fu Panda 3 8:45am The Top Ten Show 2016 9:00am The Jungle Book 11:00am Zootropolis 1:00pm Truth 3:15pm Deadpool 5:15pm The Jungle Book 7:15pm Kung Fu Panda 3 9:00pm Deadpool Marvel’s wisecracking antihero plots revenge on the villain who left him hideously disfigured.

11:00pm Truth 1:10am How to be Single A newly single young woman hits the Manhattan bar scene with the help of her hard-partying pal.

3:05am Anti-Social 5:05am Zootropolis A rookie rabbit cop and a sarcastic fox team up to solve a missing-animals case that goes all the way to the top.

THURSDAY TV

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

7:00am 7:30am 7:45am 8:00am 8:30am 8:45am 8:55am 4:30pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 1:00am 1:30am 2:00am 3:00am 3:15am 3:30am 3:45am 4:00am

Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold WWE SmackDown!

Football Premier League 100 Club Barclays Premier League World Football The Premier League Years Cricket Live World Darts Championship 2017 Football Gareth Bale: Year of the Dragon Premier League Review Premier League Match Pack Football Premier League Review Football’s Greatest Barclays Premier League World Premier League Review Football’s Greatest Teams

Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Cricket’s Greatest Great Sporting Moments Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Cricket Cricket’s Greatest Cricket’s Greatest Jack: Portrait of an Artist England Women’s Winter Tour Boxing Cricket England Women’s Winter Tour Cricket World Rugby Show Cricket’s Greatest Cricket Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments

The schedules for the television programme pages are provided by an external company: we regret that any changes or errors are not the responsibility of Euro Weekly News.

OPINION & COMMENT

www.euroweeklynews.com

LEGALLY SPEAKING

High risk areas AS part of the series, we answer some common driving questions and keep you updated on the latest driving and road news 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.

RISKIEST ROADS: Include the N-332 and V-31.

THE latest incident report released for Spanish roads shows there are now some 3,264km of road classed as being of ‘high’ or ‘very high’ risk due to the number of recorded incidents. Whilst this is still a high figure, it is a slight decrease on 2015.

The report looked at 24,805km of roads and examined the risk by assessing the number of recorded incidents and injuries or fatalities over the last three years. Looking at the severity of the accident, they then calculated the data into a ‘Risk Index’ based on the number of fatal and serious accidents occurring in relation to the number of vehicles.

A total of 4,101 incidents occurred on the national road network in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015, of which 1,036 were fatal incidents resulting in 1,219 deaths. There were 3,065 incidents classed as serious with 4,077 people seriously injured.

Looking at these figures the report concluded there are 77 ‘high risk’ sections of the

roads looked at, with 17 ‘black spots.’

Statistically, the most dangerous section of the Spanish road network is the N-435 between kilometre 33.4 and 45.9 in Badajoz.

This stretch of road has seen five serious incidents between 2013 and 2015, resulting in three deaths and four serious injuries. An average of 2,844 vehicles use this stretch daily.

The number of incidents involving motorcycles has continued to increase. Since 2003, the number has almost tripled in the case of serious or fatal incidents. It means that in 2015, around one in every five fatal or serious accidents involved a motorcyclist.

The N-332 between kilometre 220.5 and 225.6 in Valencia and the V-31 between kilometre 0 and 5.7, also in Valencia, are two locations noted for the high amount of incidents involving motorcycles and scooters.

Incidents involving heavy goods vehicles account for around 22 per cent of the total of fatal and serious incidents.

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

Licence exchange not so easy YOU recently answered a query about the Spanish driving licence. I am 72 years old and my British licence runs out at the end of next year. We have decided to live in Torrevieja but at the moment we do not have official residencia. I need to change to a Spanish licence and I had the impression from you that it is only a medical and coordination exam. I thought I would have to go to ‘trafico’ in Alicante and fill out many forms. Is this not the case?

C B (Costa Blanca) I am very sorry to have misled you and the earlier questioner. It is only licence renewals that are done by the single application through the Medical Centre.

The first time exchange indeed requires, as you say, a

David Searl You and the Law in Spain

personal visit to the Traffic headquarters in Alicante, with forms to fill in.

Be warned that, in order to exchange your valid EU licence for a Spanish licence, you must first be officially resident in Spain. This means the Certificate of Residence for EU Citizens.

Once you have this you can apply for the exchange.

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

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

49

Pensions, news & showers Mike Senker

In my opinion Views of a Grumpy Old Man SO Christmas is over - thank goodness! Time to reflect on the last year and some of the things that made me grumpy. I’ve mentioned pensions before but this week I saw that the UK government want to put into place a billion pound fine if companies ‘mess about’ with pensions whilst specifically mentioning slippery Phillip Green. Well how about how the UK government ‘messed about’ with millions of people’s pensions? Hard working individuals may have been reckoning on getting their pension at 60 for women and 65 for men. They may have wanted to invest in a little retirement home in Spain or just retire.

Then BANG they are told ‘you aren’t getting it till you are 67 or older.’ How is that fair? I don’t see much difference between them and the scumbags that nick pension funds!

There is a phenomenon happening now which is fake news stories that are cropping up. It seems now anyone can say anything about anyone and it immediately becomes the truth. Shove it on Facebook or Twitter and it’s not just Joe public doing it. There was a story

last week where a guy goes in to a pizza place with an assault weapon because he read that Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager, John Podesta, were running a paedophile ring from there. How crazy and dangerous is this?

An absolute lie but it becomes the truth because it was read on the internet and it can’t be stopped as the public demand to know everything now without filters and checks.

My ongoing battle with hotels continues. I just got back from the UK. I stayed at a hotel in Maidenhead. I have been using them for years. But now everything is about health and safety. I had a room with a walk in shower.

Well it was ridiculous. The water was lukewarm at best and the flow was… Well, put it this way - if I was an urologist I’d be recommending surgery or at least some kind of tablets. I, of course, mentioned it to the manager who told me it was a recommended temperature in case people got scalded. I’m an adult. I know how to control the temperature on a shower. What you can’t do is make me take a trickly, lukewarm shower. Plus, as it was Christmas week on Friday and Saturday there were company parties going on and on and on which involved a lot of shouting and screaming till 3am. I, of course, let them know my thoughts about that too and I did get a discount.

Happy New Year everyone.

50

E W N 29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

7:25am 8:25am 8:55am 9:25am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm

Natural World Great British Menu Great British Menu Short Circuit This Farming Life Money for Nothing 84 Charing Cross Road Ladies in Lavender Nature’s Weirdest Events Inside the Factory Flog It! The Marvellous World of Roald Dahl Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot Judi Dench: All the World’s Her Stage The Real Marigold on Tour QI Dara O Briain Crowd Tickler Live Stag Stag Stag Victorian Bakers at Christmas Wild Tales From the Village

10:00am Shark Tale 11:20am Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers 11:50am Flushed Away 1:10pm Bargain Hunt 2:10pm BBC News 2:25pm BBC London News 2:35pm The Moonstone 3:20pm Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom 4:40pm Stick Man 5:10pm Wreck-it Ralph Affectionate animated ode to computer games past and present.

6:45pm Pointless 7:30pm BBC News The latest national and international news stories from the BBC News team.

7:45pm BBC London News 8:00pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:30pm A Question of Sport 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Captain America - The Winter Soldier 11:40pm BBC News 11:50pm BBC London News 12:00am Still Game

7:30pm

7:00am Good Morning Britain 9:30am Lorraine 10:25am Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 12:00pm Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 2:05pm All Star Family Fortunes 2:50pm ITV Lunchtime News 3:00pm ITV News London 3:05pm The Dam Busters 5:30pm Midsomer Murders 7:25pm ITV News London 7:40pm ITV Evening News 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 11:40pm ITV News 12:05am Jaws 2 2:10am Jackpot247 Join the presenters live and play roulette on your telly. Join in now at Jackpot247.com.

4:00am ITV Nightscreen

8:40am Emmerdale 9:10am Britain’s Got More Talent 10:05am Ninja Warrior UK 11:05am Catchphrase 11:50am Inspector Gadget 12:50pm FYI Daily 12:55pm Inspector Gadget 1:30pm Emmerdale 2:00pm You’ve Been Framed!

Gold 2:35pm Looney Tunes: Back in Action 3:35pm FYI Daily 3:40pm Looney Tunes: Back in Action 4:25pm Sleeping Beauty 5:25pm FYI Daily 5:30pm Sleeping Beauty 6:05pm The Lion King 7:05pm FYI Daily 7:10pm The Lion King 7:55pm Freaky Friday 8:55pm FYI Daily 9:00pm Freaky Friday 10:00pm Love Actually 11:05pm FYI Daily 11:10pm Love Actually 12:45am Family Guy 1:15am Family Guy

2:35pm 4:15pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm

9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:30am 1:30am 2:30am 3:30am 4:30am

www.euroweeklynews.com

8:00pm Top of the Pops David Jensen presents the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 23 December 1982.

9:00pm King George and Queen Mary: The Royals Who Rescued The Monarchy 10:00pm British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves 11:00pm 2016: A Year in the Life of a Year A comic cultural review of 2016, told through mash-up and manipulated archive footage.

11:30pm Strictly Ballroom 1:05am Bob Monkhouse: The Last Stand 2:05am Pop Quiz: The Comeback It was the Saturday night smash hit music quiz show that ran for four years between 1981 and 1984.

7:20am 9:35am 10:05am 10:35am

7:00am 7:40am 9:10am 11:10am

7:00am 7:10am 8:05am 8:55am 10:00am 11:10am

1:05pm 3:05pm 4:05pm 4:10pm 5:10pm 6:10pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 2:00am 3:50am 4:45am 5:45am 5:50am

Fresh Fields Lewis Heidi Agatha Christie’s Marple Agatha Christie’s Marple Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory FYI Daily Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Carry on Again, Doctor FYI Daily Carry on Again, Doctor Long Lost Family Lewis Ruth Rendell’s Thirteen Steps Down Ruth Rendell’s Thirteen Steps Down Lewis Foyle’s War Wycliffe The Sting FYI Daily The Sting

1:05pm 3:30pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm

11:00pm 1:05am 2:00am 3:00am 4:55am

5:25am

1:10pm 1:40pm 2:45pm 3:45pm 4:50pm 5:55pm 6:00pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:10am 12:15am 2:15am 3:15am 3:20am 4:15am

The Parent Trap The Simpsons The Simpsons A League of Their Own Cutthroat Island Roald Dahl’s Most Marvellous Book The Secret Life of the Zoo at Christmas Channel 4 News The Simpsons Hollyoaks Noel’s Sell or Swap Live Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown New Year Special Rude Tube Tattoo Fixers at Christmas Celebrity First Dates The Omen The Windsors Christmas Special Ep 2 Countdown

Football Rivalries Classic TT Highlights Quincy, M.E. Ironside The Professionals British Touring Car Championship Review Pawn Stars Minder Quincy, M.E. Ironside Cheyenne Autumn FYI Daily Cheyenne Autumn Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Storage Wars River Monsters The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo FYI Daily The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Road FYI Daily Road Steve Mcqueen: Motorcycle Movie Star

10:05am Toby’s Travelling Circus 10:15am Jelly Jamm 10:25am SpongeBob Squarepants 11:00am World’s Strongest Man 2016 12:00pm Penguins Make You Laugh Out Loud 1:00pm Santa Makes You Laugh Out Loud 2:00pm Christmas Makes You Laugh Out Loud 3:00pm Labyrinth 5:00pm Planet of the Apes 6:00pm Five News Update 6:05pm Planet of the Apes 7:15pm Battlebots: World Championship 8:00pm World’s Strongest Man 2016 9:00pm Britain’s Cleverest Dog 10:00pm Flowers in the Attic 2: Petals on the Wind 11:00pm Five News Update weather.

11:05pm Flowers in the Attic 2: Petals on the Wind 11:45pm The Blind Side 2:05am Super Casino

7:00am 7:25am 8:10am 9:05am 9:35am 10:00am

7:00am Apollo 13 9:20am Avengers: Age of Ultron 11:45am Mad Max: Fury Road 1:50pm Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials 4:05pm Marvel’s Avengers Assemble 6:30pm Avengers: Age of Ultron 9:00pm Mad Max: Fury Road 11:10pm The Top Ten Show

7:00am 8:50am 10:50am 1:00pm

8:10am The Truman Show 10:00am Jerry Maguire 12:30pm Sky Movies 2017 Preview 1:00pm The Intern 3:05pm Ted 2 5:05pm Get Hard 6:55pm The Intern 9:00pm Ted 2 11:00pm Wedding Crashers 1:05am The Night Before 2:50am Planes, Trains and Automobiles 4:30am Sex Ed

11:40am 12:00pm 12:30pm 1:00pm 1:30pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 11:05pm 12:10am

Hollyoaks Charmed Charmed The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Moshi Monsters: The Movie Rude(Ish) Tube Melissa and Joey Melissa and Joey The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Goldbergs How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Goldbergs The Goldbergs The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks The Big Bang Theory Home Alone Tattoo Fixers The Inbetweeners

FRIDAY TV

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

3:30pm 5:10pm 7:00pm 9:00pm 11:30pm

1:30am 3:40am

5:35am

The Jungle Book Zootropolis Truth Captain America: Civil War Kung Fu Panda 3 The Jungle Book Zootropolis Captain America: Civil War Deadpool Marvel’s wisecracking antihero plots revenge on the villain who left him hideously disfigured.

Truth How to be Single A newly single young woman hits the Manhattan bar scene with the help of her hard-partying pal.

Long Way North

Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold WWE Main Event Barclays Premier League World Premier League Legends Boxing Gold Boxing Gold The Premier League Years Barclays Premier League World Premier League Match Pack Live World Darts Championship 2017 Premier League Match Pack Barclays Premier League Preview The Fantasy Football Club Special Football Carling - In Off the Bar The Fantasy Football Club Special Great Sporting Moments

7:00am 7:15am 7:30am 7:45am 8:00am 8:30am 8:55am 4:30pm 4:40pm 4:50pm 5:00pm 5:10pm 5:20pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 8:30pm 8:40pm

Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Cricket’s Greatest Cricket’s Greatest Cricket Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Gold Shorts Sporting Greats II Sporting Greats II Fights of the Year Rugby Gold Live Top 14 Rugby Lyon entertain Bordeaux-Begles at Matmut Stadium in the Top 14.

10:35pm Rugby Gold 10:45pm Cricket Gold Shorts 10:55pm Cricket New Zealand and Bangladesh meet in their third and final ODI at the Saxton Oval in Nelson.

The schedules for the television programme pages are provided by an external company: we regret that any changes or errors are not the responsibility of Euro Weekly News.

52

E W N 29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

7:00am Breakfast 11:00am Saturday Kitchen 12:30pm James Martin: Home Comforts 1:00pm Football Focus 2:00pm BBC News 2:15pm Sport Relief 2016: The Final Score 3:15pm The Great Christmas Bake Off 4:15pm Darcey Bussell 5:15pm Final Score 6:20pm Top of the Pops 7:20pm Peter Pan Goes Wrong 8:25pm BBC News 8:35pm BBC London News 8:45pm Pointless 9:35pm Casualty 10:25pm The National Lottery Live 10:35pm Mrs. Brown’s Boys 11:05pm BBC News 11:25pm The Graham Norton Show 12:25am Robbie Rocks Big Ben Live 1:00am New Year’s Eve Fireworks 1:15am Robbie Rocks Big Ben Live Continued

8:30am The NFL Show 9:00am Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars 10:00am Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars 11:00am You Again 12:45pm Gordon Buchanan: Elephant Family and Me 1:45pm Gordon Buchanan: Elephant Family and Me 2:45pm We Dive at Dawn 4:20pm The Eagle Has Landed 6:30pm The Olympic Golden Ball 7:00pm What Women Want 9:00pm Life in Polar Bear Town with Gordon Buchanan 10:00pm Dragons’ Den 11:00pm Match of the Day 12:20am Jools’s Annual Hootenanny 2016 2:25am Best of Glastonbury 2016 4:30am This is BBC Two Highlights of programmes on BBC Two.

8:00pm Show Boat 9:45pm Sounds of the Sixties Tom Jones, the Rolling Stones and Manfred Mann star in archive clips from the 60s.

9:55pm Pop Go the Sixties 10:00pm Dawn French Live: 30 Million Minutes Dawn French in her critically acclaimed one-woman show, 30 Million Minutes.

12:00am Looking for Mr Bond: 007 at the BBC 1:00am Premium Bond with Mark Gatiss and Matthew Sweet 1:55am 2016: A Year in the Life of a Year A comic cultural review of 2016, told through mashup and manipulated archive footage.

2:25am Dawn French Live: 30 Million Minutes 4:20am This is BBC Four

7:35am Swiss Family Robinson 9:55am The Big Bang Theory 10:20am The Big Bang Theory 10:50am Big Miracle 1:00pm Hachi: A Dog’s Tale 2:50pm The Simpsons 3:15pm The Simpsons 3:45pm Muppet Treasure Island 5:50pm Channel 4 News 6:00pm Amazing Spaces Snow Special 7:00pm Winnie-the-Pooh: The Most Famous Bear in the World 8:00pm Britain’s Best Loved Sitcoms 9:00pm Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: The Missing Sketches 10:00pm Alan Carr’s New Year Specstacular 2016 12:05am Gogglebox 2016 1:35am Big Fat Quiz of the Year 3:30am The Restoration Man 4:25am Location, Location, Location 5:20am Countdown

8:15am 8:20am 8:35am 8:50am 9:05am 9:15am 9:30am

7:00am Emmerdale Omnibus 9:55am Coronation Street Omnibus 12:50pm You’ve Been Framed!

1:50pm Catchphrase 2:50pm Grease Live 5:40pm Happy Feet 6:40pm FYI Daily 6:45pm Happy Feet 7:45pm Kindergarten Cop 8:45pm FYI Daily 8:50pm Kindergarten Cop 10:00pm Family Guy 10:30pm Family Guy 11:00pm Family Guy 11:30pm Family Guy 12:00am Family Guy 12:25am Family Guy 12:55am Family Guy 1:25am Family Guy 1:50am American Dad! 2:50am Celebrity Juice 4:30am The Keith Lemon Sketch Show 5:00am The Almost Impossible Gameshow 5:45am Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records

7:00am Judge Judy 7:20am Jane Eyre 9:20am Carry on Up the Jungle 10:20am FYI Daily 10:25am Carry on Up the Jungle 11:10am Lewis 1:05pm Lewis 3:00pm My Life as a Fairy Tale: Hans Christian Andersen 4:55pm Agatha Christie’s Marple 7:00pm Our Queen at 90 9:00pm Doc Martin 10:00pm Midsomer Murders 12:00am Foyle’s War 1:55am Agatha Christie’s Marple Another new case for Agatha Christie’s famous amateur sleuth.

3:40am My Life as a Fairy Tale: Hans Christian Andersen 5:15am Wycliffe Detective drama series.

7:00am 7:50am 8:45am 9:40am 10:40am 11:10am 11:40am 12:10pm 12:40pm 1:10pm

9:55am 10:10am 10:25am 10:55am 12:30pm 2:15pm 2:30pm 4:30pm 5:30pm 5:45pm 6:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:30am 1:15am 2:10am 3:00am

The Oddbods Show Nerds and Monsters Horrid Henry Horrid Henry Looped Looped Be Cool, ScoobyDoo! Mystery 101 Adventure Time Adventure Time Thunderbirds are Go Beethoven’s 2nd Mannequin ITV News and Weather Midsomer Murders The Chase ITV News London ITV News and Weather Wos Wrestling Ninja Warrior UK Take Me Out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ITV News and Weather The Chase Tipping Point Rebound

2:10pm 2:15pm 3:05pm 4:10pm 4:15pm 6:15pm 7:20pm 7:25pm 9:05pm 10:10pm 10:15pm 11:00pm 12:00am 12:05am 2:15am 3:20am 3:25am 3:55am

The Professionals The Professionals Cash Cowboys Cash Cowboys Storage Wars Storage Wars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars The Land That Time Forgot FYI Daily The Land That Time Forgot Where Eagles Dare FYI Daily Where Eagles Dare The Green Berets FYI Daily The Green Berets Jaws 4: The Revenge FYI Daily Jaws 4: The Revenge Gangs of New York FYI Daily Gangs of New York Awake FYI Daily Awake Pawn Stars

7:15am 7:25am 7:35am 7:45am 7:55am 8:05am 8:15am 8:25am 8:45am

Bob the Builder Wanda and the Alien Zack and Quack Seaside Antics Fireman Sam Pip Ahoy!

Little Princess Paw Patrol Blaze and the Monster Machines Noddy in Toyland Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom The Fairly Odd Parents The Fairly Odd Parents Ben-Hur Wyatt Earp 5 News Weekend Another Audience with Ken Dodd Ken Dodd... In My Own Words World’s Strongest Man 2016 Football on 5 Pulp Fiction Reservoir Dogs Super Casino

7:00am Hollyoaks Omnibus 9:05am 12 Dates of Christmas 10:55am Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days 12:50pm The Big Bang Theory 1:20pm The Big Bang Theory 1:45pm The Big Bang Theory 2:10pm The Big Bang Theory 2:35pm The Big Bang Theory 3:00pm The Big Bang Theory 3:30pm The Big Bang Theory 4:00pm The Big Bang Theory 4:30pm Big 6:40pm Cars 9:00pm The Big Bang Theory 9:30pm The Big Bang Theory 10:00pm The Inbetweeners Movie 12:00am The Inbetweeners 12:35am The Inbetweeners 1:10am The Inbetweeners 1:45am The Inbetweeners 2:20am The Inbetweeners 2:55am The Inbetweeners 3:30am Rude Tube 5:25am Hollyoaks Omnibus

1:35pm The Fast and the Furious 3:25pm 2 Fast 2 Furious 5:15pm The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 7:10pm Fast and Furious 9:00pm Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation 11:20pm Furious 7 1:40am G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra 3:50am Taken 3

7:15am Zootropolis 9:15am Sky Movies 2017 Preview 9:45am The 33 12:00pm Captain America: Civil War 2:45pm The Top Ten Show 2016 3:00pm The Jungle Book 5:00pm Kung Fu Panda 3 6:45pm The 33 9:00pm Captain America: Civil War 11:30pm Deadpool Marvel’s wisecracking antihero plots revenge on the villain who left him hideously disfigured.

1:20am How to be Single A newly single young woman hits the Manhattan bar scene with the help of her hard-partying pal.

3:15am Deadpool 5:05am Zootropolis

9:15am 9:25am 9:40am 9:58am 10:15am 2:20pm 5:55pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:30pm 2:20am 4:05am

7:50am Ricki and the Flash 9:40am The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 11:50am The House Bunny 1:35pm Ride Along 2 3:25pm Sisters 5:30pm Bruce Almighty 7:15pm The House Bunny 9:00pm Ride Along 2 10:50pm Sisters 1:00am The Hangover 2:50am Jackass: The Movie 4:25am Jackass: Number Two

SATURDAY TV

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

7:15am 7:30am 7:45am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 12:15pm 12:30pm 12:45pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 3:45pm 6:15pm 7:15pm 8:15pm 10:15pm 10:30pm 12:25am 12:30am 2:30am 2:45am 3:00am

Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Barclays Premier League Preview Joe Hart: The Italian Job Fnf Highlights The Fantasy Football Club Soccer A.M. Football Gillette Soccer Saturday Football EFL Goals Nissan Game of the Day Nissan Match Choice Football Football Football Football Football Football Football Football Football Football

Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Cricket’s Greatest Cricket’s Greatest Cricket Sporting Heroes Time of Our Lives Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Cricket Time of Our Lives Joe Hart: The Italian Job Great Sporting Moments Live Pro 12 Rugby Cricket ICC Cricket Boxing Boxing Gold Factual Football Gold Fights of the Year WWE From the Vault WWE From the Vault Great Sporting Moments

The schedules for the television programme pages are provided by an external company: we regret that any changes or errors are not the responsibility of Euro Weekly News.

54 E W N

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

9:15am Match of the Day 10:40am The Princess and the Frog 12:10pm The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

1:35pm Revolting Rhymes 2:05pm Revolting Rhymes 2:35pm BBC News 2:50pm The Archbishop of Canterbury’s New Year Message 2:55pm Songs of Praise 3:30pm Countryfile 4:30pm Planet Earth II 6:00pm Monster’s University 7:35pm BBC News 7:50pm BBC London News 8:00pm EastEnders 9:00pm Still Open All Hours 9:30pm Sherlock Contemporary crime drama, based on the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

11:00pm Mrs. Brown’s Boys 11:35pm BBC News 11:50pm BBC London News 12:00am Match of the Day 2 1:05am Peter Pan Goes Wrong

7:00am Countryfile 7:55am Camelot 10:45am Saturday Kitchen Best Bites 12:15pm New Year’s Day Concert Live From Vienna 2017 1:45pm Grand Tours of Scotland 1:55pm Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty 3:40pm Talking Pictures 4:10pm Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 5:55pm The Archbishop of Canterbury’s New Year Message 6:00pm Wild Tales From the Village 7:00pm Croft and Perry: The Sitcoms 7:50pm Dad’s Army 8:25pm Dad’s Army 9:00pm Dragons’ Den 10:00pm Thailand 11:00pm What We Did on Our Holiday 12:30am The Real Marigold on Tour 1:30am Judi Dench: All the World’s Her Stage

4:20am This is BBC Four BBC Four is the BBC channel for people who want more.

8:00pm New Year’s Day Concert From Vienna 2017 10:00pm Flying Scotsman 11:00pm I’m Not in Love: The Story of 10cc 12:00am Top of the Pops 12:35am Top of the Pops David Jensen presents the weekly chart show, first broadcast on 23 December 1982.

1:05am Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top 10 2:35am Forever Young: How Rock ‘N’ Roll Grew Up 3:35am British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves 4:35am This is BBC Four BBC Four is the BBC channel for people who want more.

More depth, more range, more to stimulate the mind.

7:40am 9:35am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 1:55pm 2:25pm 2:55pm 3:20pm

7:55am 8:00am 8:20am 8:35am 9:05am

7:00am The Hot Desk 7:10am Emmerdale Omnibus 10:15am Coronation Street Omnibus 1:15pm Mr Bean’s Holiday 2:15pm FYI Daily 2:20pm Mr Bean’s Holiday 3:00pm The Smurfs 4:00pm FYI Daily 4:05pm The Smurfs 5:05pm Nanny McPhee 6:05pm FYI Daily 6:10pm Nanny McPhee 7:00pm Despicable Me 8:05pm FYI Daily 8:10pm Despicable Me 9:00pm Skyfall 10:05pm FYI Daily 10:10pm Skyfall 11:50pm Family Guy 12:20am Family Guy 12:50am Family Guy 1:20am American Dad! 1:50am American Dad! 2:20am The Cleveland Show 2:50am The Cleveland Show 3:20am Teleshopping Shopping from home.

7:00am 7:55am 8:55am 11:10am 1:20pm 2:20pm 2:25pm 3:05pm 4:05pm 4:10pm 5:00pm

7:00am British Touring Car Crashes and Smashes 7:10am The Professionals 8:00am Minder 8:50am Shed and Buried 9:50am Cash Cowboys 10:50am Cash Cowboys 11:50am Cash Cowboys 12:50pm Pawn Stars 1:15pm Pawn Stars 2:10pm Shalako 3:10pm FYI Daily 3:15pm Shalako 4:25pm Jeremiah Johnson 5:30pm FYI Daily 5:35pm Jeremiah Johnson 6:40pm Chisum 7:45pm FYI Daily 7:50pm Chisum 9:00pm The Chase: Celebrity Special 10:00pm Rugby 11:00pm On Deadly Ground 12:00am FYI Daily 12:05am On Deadly Ground 1:05am 1: Life on the Limit 2:05am FYI Daily 2:10am 1: Life on the Limit 3:25am Tommy Cooper

9:30am 9:55am 10:25am 12:10pm 1:10pm 1:15pm 2:00pm 4:30pm 5:30pm 7:40pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm

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

Share a Story Super 4 Nerds and Monsters Horrid Henry A Grizzly New Year’s Tale Thunderbirds are Go Adventure Time Carry on Cleo Chopping Block ITV News and Weather All Star Family Fortunes ITV Racing Live Ninja Warrior UK E.T. The ExtraTerrestrial ITV News and Weather Diversity Presents Steal the Show Coronation Street Morecambe and Wise’s Funniest Moments ITV News and Weather Prince Harry Rugby

7:00pm 9:00pm 11:05pm 11:40pm 12:45am 12:50am 2:10am 3:50am 4:50am 5:40am

Where the Heart is Heartbeat Heidi Heidi Carry on Cruising FYI Daily Carry on Cruising That’s Carry on FYI Daily That’s Carry on Agatha Christie’s Marple Agatha Christie’s Marple Endeavour Birds of a Feather Good Will Hunting FYI Daily Good Will Hunting Lewis Wycliffe May the Best House Win May the Best House Win Homeowners in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk try to win today’s cash prize.

3:50pm 4:50pm 4:55pm 7:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:35am

1:35am 3:25am

The Love Bug The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory New Year’s Brunch The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Gogglesprogs Christmas Special Channel 4 News Mirror Mirror Rio 2 Titanic: The New Evidence Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown New Year Special Jimmy Car hosts while Jon Richardson and Richard Osman take on Johnny Vegas and Sara Pascoe.

Rude Tube Trigger Happy Christmas Special

7:00am 7:05am 7:10am 7:20am 7:30am 8:45am 9:10am 10:15am 10:45am 2:25pm 4:30pm 5:30pm 5:35pm 6:35pm 8:00pm 8:55pm 9:00pm 10:45pm 12:30am 1:30am 1:55am 5:00am 5:50am

Milkshake Monkey Peppa Pig Bob the Builder Wanda and the Alien Thomas and Friends Blaze and the Monster Machines Football on 5 Football on 5 Big Bash Cricket 101 Dalmatians Dirty Dancing 5 News Dirty Dancing The Adele Story World’s Strongest Man 2016 5 News Weekend Legally Blonde Whitney Autopsy: Whitney Houston’s Last Hours Lip Sync Battle UK Super Casino Now That’s Funny!

Divine Designs Paul Binski examines some of Britain’s most fascinating works of religious art.

4:10pm Back to the Future 6:10pm Back to the Future Part II 8:00pm Back to the Future Part III 10:00pm Spectre 12:30am Hitman: Agent 47 2:10am The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 5:30am Back to the Future

8:05am Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story 9:50am Starsky and Hutch 11:45am Meet the Parents 1:45pm Zoolander 3:25pm Zoolander 2 5:15pm Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story 7:00pm Meet the Parents 9:00pm Zoolander 10:40pm Zoolander 2 12:30am There’s Something About Mary 2:35am Starsky and Hutch 4:25am The Heartbreak Kid

7:00am 7:20am 7:45am 8:10am 8:35am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 11:50am 1:35pm 2:00pm 2:35pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:35pm 10:00pm 12:00am 12:35am 1:15am

Baby Daddy Suburgatory Rules of Engagement New Girl Brooklyn Nine-Nine The Goldbergs The Goldbergs Holiday in Handcuffs Jingle All the Way The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory We’re Going on a Bear Hunt The Big Bang Theory The Inbetweeners 2 The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners

7:00am Kung Fu Panda 3 8:40am Zootropolis 10:40am Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Dark Knight squares off against the Man of Steel in the ultimate superhero showdown.

1:25pm Captain America: Civil War 3:55pm The 33 True-life drama about the Chilean mine collapse that trapped 33 poor souls underground for 69 days.

6:10pm The Jungle Book 8:00pm Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 10:45pm Captain America: Civil War 1:15am Deadpool 3:15am Truth 5:30am Long Way North

SUNDAY TV

7:00am 7:30am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 11:30am 1:30pm 4:30pm 8:00pm 11:30pm

12:00am 1:00am

1:30am

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

Football Football Football Football Football Football The Sunday Supplement Goals on Sunday Live Nissan Super Sunday Live Nissan Super Sunday Live World Darts Championship 2017 Sporting Records An in-depth look at some of the greatest milestones ever recorded in sport.

Goals on Sunday Football 2017 begins in the Premier League as Watford play Tottenham Hotspur at Vicarage Road.

Football

Cricket Classics Time of Our Lives Sky Sports Years Cricket’s Greatest Cricket’s Greatest Joe Hart: The Italian Job Gareth Bale: Year of the Dragon Sporting Heroes Cricket Classics Time of Our Lives Great Sporting Moments Sporting Records Live Pro 12 Rugby Great Sporting Moments Live NFL Live NFL Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments England Women’s Winter Tour Boxing Gold Boxing Gold Cricket Classics Cricket’s Greatest

The schedules for the television programme pages are provided by an external company: we regret that any changes or errors are not the responsibility of Euro Weekly News.

56

E W N 29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

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7:00am Breakfast 10:15am Rip Off Britain 11:00am Homes Under the Hammer 12:00pm Wanted Down Under 12:45pm Caught Red Handed 1:15pm Bargain Hunt 2:00pm BBC News at One 2:15pm BBC London News 2:20pm Father Brown 3:10pm !Mpossible 3:55pm Escape to the Country 4:30pm Money for Nothing 5:15pm The Hairy Bikers’ Comfort Food 6:00pm Antiques Road Trip 6:45pm Pointless 7:30pm BBC News at Six 7:45pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm Celebrity Mastermind 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Would I Lie to You? 10:00pm Silent Witness 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:20pm BBC London News 11:30pm Match of the Day 12:50am Eagle Eye 2:40am Weather for the Week Ahead 2:45am BBC News

7:50am Natural World 8:50am Nature’s Weirdest Events 9:50am Over the Hedge 11:05am Megamind 12:35pm Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out 1:00pm When in Rome 2:25pm Coast 3:00pm Snow Babies 4:00pm The Tropic of Cancer 5:00pm Final Score 6:15pm Eggheads 6:45pm Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 7:30pm Great British Railway Journeys 8:00pm Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 9:00pm University Challenge 9:30pm An Island Parish 10:00pm Britain’s Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney 11:00pm Charlie Brooker’s 2016 Wipe 12:00am QI XL 12:45am Dragons’ Den 1:45am Ethel and Ernest 3:10am The Great Christmas Bake Off

9:00pm How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears 10:00pm Albert Nobbs Unusual period drama featuring Oscar-nominated performances.

11:45pm Dames of Classic Drama at the BBC David Tennant narrates the story of our dames of classic drama, from a golden age of British television.

12:45am Clara Bow: Hollywood’s Lost Screen Goddess 1:45am The King and the Playwright: A Jacobean History 2:45am Shakespeare’s Mother: The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman 3:45am The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner 4:45am This is BBC Four

8:25am Lewis v Nico: F1 2016 9:55am The Big Bang Theory 10:20am The Big Bang Theory 10:45am The Big Bang Theory 11:15am Bandslam 1:20pm The Simpsons 1:55pm The Simpsons 2:25pm Parental Guidance 4:30pm Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters 6:30pm The Simpsons 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 8:30pm Supercommuters: How Far Would You Go? 9:00pm Food Unwrapped Diet Special 10:00pm The Undateables 11:00pm First Dates Hotel 12:05am Tattoo Fixers 1:10am What Britain Bought in 2016 2:05am A Frozen Christmas 3:00am Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA 3:50am The Restoration Man 4:45am Location, Location, Location

8:45am Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 9:00am Wissper 9:10am Peppa Pig 9:30am Paw Patrol 9:45am Toot the Tiny Tugboat 10:00am Battlebots: World Championship 10:55am The Wright Stuff Review of the Year 1:50pm Battlebots: World Championship 2:30pm World’s Strongest Man 2016 3:30pm Operation Crossbow 5:45pm The Bridge at Remagen 6:45pm 5 News 6:50pm The Bridge at Remagen 8:00pm Ken Dodd... In My Own Words 9:55pm 5 News 10:00pm Football on 5 11:00pm Football on 5 11:30pm Most Shocking Celebrity Moments of 2016 2:25am Super Casino

8:35am 9:00am 9:20am 9:25am

8:25am Emmerdale 8:55am Coronation Street 9:55am You’ve Been Framed!

Gold 10:25am Best of You’ve Been Framed! Gold 11:25am The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas 12:25pm FYI Daily 12:30pm The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas 1:10pm Emmerdale 1:40pm Coronation Street 2:40pm Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 3:40pm FYI Daily 3:45pm Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 4:20pm Freaky Friday 5:20pm FYI Daily 5:25pm Freaky Friday 6:25pm King Kong 7:25pm FYI Daily 7:30pm King Kong 10:00pm Family Guy 12:00am American Dad! 12:55am The Cleveland Show 1:55am Two and a Half Men

7:00am Wycliffe 7:55am The Darling Buds of May 9:00am Agatha Christie’s Marple 11:00am Housewife 49 1:00pm An Audience with Victoria Wood 2:05pm Heartbeat 3:05pm The Royal 4:10pm Where the Heart is 5:20pm Doctor in the House 5:55pm You’re Only Young Twice 6:25pm George and Mildred 6:55pm Heartbeat 8:00pm Murder, She Wrote 9:00pm Doc Martin 10:00pm Long Lost Family 11:00pm The Bletchley Circle 12:00am Inside Death Row with Trevor McDonald 1:05am Wycliffe 2:45am You’re Only Young Twice 3:10am ITV3 Nightscreen Text-based information service.

3:30am Teleshopping

7:00am 7:50am 8:45am 9:50am 10:50am 11:55am

11:50am 2:00pm 4:20pm 6:40pm

9:55am 10:25am 11:10am 2:00pm 2:10pm 2:40pm 3:40pm 4:45pm 5:45pm 6:45pm 7:45pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:15pm 12:15am 1:10am

Max Steel Ninjago Share a Story Be Cool, ScoobyDoo! Mystery 101 Mr. Bean All Star Family Fortunes Superman ITV Lunchtime News Off Their Rockers Diversity Presents Steal the Show Judge Rinder Dickinson’s Real Deal Tipping Point The Chase ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street You’ve Been Framed!

Coronation Street The Halcyon ITV News at Ten and Weather Take Me Out The Chase Jackpot247

1:00pm 1:30pm 1:55pm 2:55pm 3:55pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:05pm 8:05pm 8:35pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm

11:00pm 12:10am 1:15am 1:20am 2:25am 3:25am

The Professionals Minder Quincy, M.E. Ironside Gunsmoke Now Pay Attention 007 Pawn Stars Pawn Stars The Professionals The Train Robbers FYI Daily The Train Robbers Cheyenne Autumn FYI Daily Cheyenne Autumn Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Mr. Bean Mr. Bean Billy Connolly’s Tracks Across America An Audience with Billy Connolly The Kingdom Fyi Daily 2017 The Kingdom Rugby Tommy Cooper

11:00pm 1:05am 3:10am 4:40am

Mad Max: Fury Road The Matrix The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Revolutions The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Mad Max: Fury Road Everest Walking Tall Apollo 13

8:45am 10:20am 12:15pm 2:00pm 3:45pm 5:20pm 7:15pm 9:00pm 10:45pm 12:15am 1:45am 3:30am 5:00am

Hot Pursuit Rock the Kasbah Dad’s Army Daddy’s Home Grimsby Rock the Kasbah Dad’s Army Daddy’s Home Brüno Grimsby Loser Brüno The Benchwarmers

9:00pm

7:00am 7:25am 8:15am 9:20am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 1:30pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:45pm 12:50am 1:20am 1:50am

Rules of Engagement Charmed Hollyoaks Moshi Monsters: The Movie Charmed Charmed The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Ice Age: Continental Drift Rude Tube The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Tattoo Fixers on Holiday

9:15am Captain America: Civil War 11:45am Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 2:30pm The Jungle Book 4:30pm Kung Fu Panda 3 6:15pm My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 8:00pm Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Dark Knight squares off against the Man of Steel in the ultimate superhero showdown.

10:40pm Captain America: Civil War 1:10am Deadpool 3:10am My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 5:00am The Jungle Book Reimagining of the classic family tale about an orphaned boy brought up in the jungle by animals.

MONDAY TV

7:00am Goals on Sunday Rpt 8:00am WWE Raw 9:00am Soccer AM: The Best Bits 2016/17 9:30am Football 10:00am Football 10:30am Soccer AM: The Best Bits 2016/17 11:00am Football 11:30am Football 12:00pm Goals on Sunday Rpt 1:00pm Football 3:45pm Football 6:00pm Football 9:00pm Live World Darts Championship 2017 11:30pm Nissan Match Choice 12:30am Football 1:00am Football 1:30am Football 2:00am Football 2:30am Football 3:00am Football West Bromwich Albion host Hull City at the Hawthorns in the Premier League.

3:30am Sporting Records 4:00am The Premier League Years

7:00am 8:00am 8:15am 8:30am 8:40am 8:50am 8:55am 4:30pm 5:00pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 12:15am 12:45am 1:00am 1:30am 1:45am 2:00am 3:00am 3:15am

Cricket Classics Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Gold Shorts Cricket Sporting Records Fights of the Year Cricket NFL Highlights NFL Highlights Cricket More Than a Game Scottish Football Round Up Sporting Greats II Great Sporting Moments Soccer AM: The Best Bits 2016/17 Scottish Football Round Up Great Sporting Moments Cricket Scottish Football Round Up Great Sporting Moments

The schedules for the television programme pages are provided by an external company: we regret that any changes or errors are not the responsibility of Euro Weekly News.

58

E W N 29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

7:00am Breakfast 10:15am Rip Off Britain 11:00am Homes Under the Hammer 12:00pm Wanted Down Under 12:45pm Caught Red Handed 1:15pm Bargain Hunt 2:00pm BBC News at One 2:30pm BBC London News 2:45pm Father Brown 3:30pm !Mpossible 4:15pm Escape to the Country 4:45pm The Hairy Bikers’ Comfort Food 5:30pm Antiques Road Trip Antiques experts travel across the country, competing to make a profit at auction.

6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Holby City 10:00pm Silent Witness 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:30pm BBC London News

8:30am Caught Red Handed 9:00am Winter: Earth’s Seasonal Secrets 10:00am Victoria Derbyshire 12:00pm BBC Newsroom Live 1:00pm Coast 1:10pm Confessions of a Shopaholic 2:45pm Great Bear Stakeout 3:45pm The Tropic of Cancer 4:45pm A Place to Call Home 5:30pm A Place to Call Home 6:15pm Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Great British Railway Journeys 8:00pm Rick Stein’s Long Weekends 9:00pm The Great Interior Design Challenge 10:00pm Yellowstone 11:00pm Revolting 11:30pm Newsnight 12:15am NFL 1:05am Dragons’ Den 2:05am The Real Marigold on Tour 3:05am Whites v Blacks:

8:00pm World News Today The latest national and international news, exploring the day’s events from a global perspective.

8:30pm Secrets of Bones 9:00pm The Last Days of the Liners 10:00pm Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here 11:00pm Ben Building: Mussolini, Monuments and Modernism 12:30am Horizon Series exploring topical scientific issues.

1:30am A Very British Renaissance 2:30am Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here 3:30am The Last Days of the Liners 4:30am This is BBC Four BBC Four is the BBC channel for people who want more.

7:00am Good Morning Britain 9:30am Lorraine 10:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30am This Morning 1:30pm Loose Women 2:30pm ITV Lunchtime News 2:55pm ITV News London 3:00pm Judge Rinder 4:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV Evening News 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Britain as Seen on ITV 9:00pm Paul O’grady: For the Love of Dogs New Year Special 10:00pm Robson Crusoe: A Surprising Adventure 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:30pm ITV News London 11:40pm Wilderness Walks

7:00am Planet’s Funniest Animals 7:20am The Cube 8:15am The Ellen DeGeneres Show 9:00am Emmerdale 9:30am Coronation Street 10:35am Psych 11:25am Scorpion 12:25pm Who’s Doing the Dishes?

1:25pm Emmerdale 1:55pm Coronation Street 3:00pm The Ellen DeGeneres Show 3:50pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 4:55pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 6:00pm Judge Rinder 7:00pm The Guide to You’ve Been Framed!

8:00pm You’ve Been Framed!

Gold 8:30pm You’ve Been Framed!

Gold 9:00pm Two and a Half Men 10:00pm The Bourne Identity 11:00pm FYI Daily 11:05pm The Bourne Identity

7:00am 7:25am 8:25am 9:35am 10:35am 11:05am 11:30am 11:55am 1:55pm 3:00pm 4:05pm 5:15pm 5:50pm 6:20pm 6:55pm 8:00pm 9:00pm

11:00pm 12:00am 2:05am 3:00am

3:30am

Doctor in the House Heartbeat Where the Heart is The Royal Judge Judy Judge Judy Judge Judy A Touch of Frost Heartbeat The Royal Where the Heart is Doctor in the House You’re Only Young Twice George and Mildred Heartbeat Murder, She Wrote Midsomer Murders DCI Barnaby finds a tangled world of crime and intrigue in the art world.

The Guilty A Touch of Frost Wycliffe ITV3 Nightscreen Text-based information service.

Teleshopping Shopping from

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7:00am 7:45am 8:10am 9:00am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 12:00pm 12:30pm 1:00pm 1:05pm 1:35pm 2:10pm 2:40pm 3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

7:55am 8:45am 9:50am 10:50am 11:55am 1:00pm 1:30pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 2:55pm 3:55pm 5:00pm 6:05pm 7:05pm 7:35pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:10pm 12:10am 12:15am 1:25am

Countdown King of Queens King of Queens Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Frasier Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA Supershoppers Four in a Bed Channel 4 News Summary Four in a Bed Four in a Bed Four in a Bed Four in a Bed Countdown A New Life in the Sun A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun Come Dine with Me The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News How to Lose Weight Well 24 Hours in A and E This is Us the Game Plan

8:30am Milkshake Monkey 8:35am Noddy: Toyland Detective 8:45am Milkshake Monkey 8:50am Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 9:00am Wissper 9:15am Peppa Pig 9:25am Peppa Pig 9:35am Paw Patrol 9:45am Toot the Tiny Tugboat 10:00am Toby’s Travelling Circus 10:15am The Wright Stuff 12:15pm Cowboy Builders and Bodge Jobs 1:10pm 5 News Lunchtime 1:15pm Kitten Rescuers at Christmas 2:15pm The Hotel Inspector 3:15pm NCIS 4:20pm Abducted 6:00pm 5 News at 5 6:30pm Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away!

7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm To B&B the Best 9:00pm A New Life in Oz 10:00pm Celebrity Big Brother 12:05am Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the

7:00am 7:45am 8:35am 9:05am 9:35am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 1:30pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm

Minder Quincy, M.E. The Professionals Ironside Gunsmoke Storage Wars New York Storage Wars New York Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Quincy, M.E. Ironside The Professionals Minder Storage Wars New York Storage Wars New York Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Mr. Bean Mr. Bean An Audience with Billy Connolly Cliffhanger FYI Daily Cliffhanger Now Pay Attention 007

7:00am 8:40am 10:45am 1:40pm 3:35pm 6:05pm 8:05pm

7:00am The 33 9:15am My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 11:00am Captain America: Civil War 1:30pm Sky Movies 2017 Preview 2:00pm Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Dark Knight squares off against the Man of Steel in the ultimate superhero showdown.

4:45pm My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 6:30pm Captain America: Civil War 9:00pm Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Dark Knight squares off against the Man of Steel in the ultimate superhero showdown.

11:45pm Me Him Her 1:30am The 33 3:45am Truth

10:00pm 11:55pm 1:45am 3:50am

Sword of Vengeance Dante’s Peak The Patriot John Wick Backdraft Behind Enemy Lines The Day the Earth Stood Still John Wick Max Payne Gone in 60 Seconds Assassin

7:00am Down Dog 8:45am Big Hero 6 Special 9:15am Who’s Harry Crumb?

10:55am Jersey Girl 12:45pm Magic Mike XXL 2:45pm Trainwreck 4:55pm The Holiday 7:15pm Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 9:00pm Magic Mike XXL 11:00pm Trainwreck 1:10am Unfinished Business

4:30pm 4:55pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:50pm 12:25am 12:50am

Charmed Charmed Hollyoaks Rules of Engagement Rules of Engagement New Girl New Girl Charmed Charmed The Goldbergs The Goldbergs The Goldbergs The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother Home Alone The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Carjackers The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Tattoo Fixers Virtually Famous The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Gogglebox

TUESDAY TV

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

7:00am 8:00am 8:55am 4:00pm 4:15pm 4:30pm 4:45pm 5:00pm 8:35pm 8:45pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 10:30pm 11:00pm 12:00am 12:15am 12:30am 12:45am 1:00am 2:00am 5:35am 5:45am

Cricket Football Football Football Football Football Football Soccer AM: The Best Bits 2016/17 Scottish Football Round Up Football Gold Football Football Football Football Football Football Football Football Football Scottish Football Round Up Football Gold Soccer AM: The Best Bits 2016/17 Football Gold Scottish Football Round Up Football Football La Liga World

Cricket Classics WWE SmackDown!

Cricket Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments To be Announced Cricket Shorts Gold Great Sporting Moments Cricket Sporting Mavericks More Than a Game Cricket Sporting Triumphs Sporting Triumphs Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Cricket Cricket Cricket Shorts Gold Great Sporting Moments

The schedules for the television programme pages are provided by an external company: we regret that any changes or errors are not the responsibility of Euro Weekly News.

OPINION & COMMENT

LETTERS

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

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WHAT a bitter and bigoted person Michael Hill must be (Witchdoctor in a dress: Edition 1641). All that insulting ranting against people of faith on a subject of minimal importance to most people - the ability to go shopping on a Sunday.

I have no problem with shops being open on Sundays. People who want to shop will shop and those who want to attend church will do so, and may also shop as well!! As to Mr Hill’s assertion that churchgoers are uneducated, in my experience it is the people who resort to bluster and insult who are uneducated because they are not intelligent enough to hold a reasoned argument.

I wish Mr Hill peace and joy at this festive season as we celebrate the birth of Christ although I would anticipate his reply being the same as Ebenezer Scrooge’s - Bah humbug!!

Sue McNae, Alicante

Pump failure AFTER 15 years in Spain I have convinced myself of one thing and that is that in matters of protection from flooding self-help is the only help you can depend on! After flooding three times I raised my ground floor by almost a foot back in 2009. Each time I flooded before it was due to pump failure and those failures continue!

Last weekend after having kept the constant rain confined to the street for three days the pumps failed and within two hours the water had come up the driveways and into the houses of about 20 properties in Bahia that I know of. I came within two inches of flooding myself so why does the system always fail at crucial times?

Many people put boards up to prevent water incursion without realising once the water reaches a certain level it comes up through the ground floor irrespective of any perimeter protection and it just shouldn’t happen!

An example of authority indifference was exemplified in 2010 when a cloud burst in August flooded Bahia. When Aqualia were asked why the pumps were never applied, a spokesman simply replied, “It’s August, I don’t have the staff, what do you expect?” What more can I say?

Ken Bethell, Puerto de Mazarron

Gone but not forgotten THIS year has seen so many stars leave the stage forever it’s really awful. I know we look back on those who’ve gone every year, but why is it 2016 seems much worse?

For me it’s always the passing of the comedy stars that seems to affect me most. The thought that Victo-

Cluster bombers I NEVER thought I would find myself in agreement with one of your articles (Leapy: Edition 1641) but you are spot on about Saudi Arabia.

But who were the greater hypocrites? The oh so pious Muslim Princes or the cynical Brits who sold them military airfields and advanced fighter planes? And they still do.

The cluster-bombs used by the Saudis in Yemen were made in the

ria Wood won’t be poking fun at all of us in her wonderful way is heart-breaking… the departure of Caroline Aherne and Ronnie Corbett who made us laugh so much. Will we ever see their likes again? Maybe, but I don’t think it will be in my lifetime. How very sad for their families and all of us.

Gina, Benidorm

UK. The UK is a signatory to a 2010 international treaty banning the use of cluster munitions.

Adrian

The children of today I KNOW we are not the only ones that think all this is so bloody bonkers as to be surreal, but as far as I know not many of us died from playing conkers without crash helmets

and goggles.

If it wasn’t so ridiculously pathetic it would be funny and as for cycling, well how the children of today ever get on their bikes after kitting up beats me.

Soooo mad, the whole world has it wrong and while they fixate on such stupidities drugs are circulating like smarties in almost every school.

Now there is something that needs sorting big time.

I can guarantee there are more drug-related deaths in schools than injuries resulting from playing unprotected conkers... it’s pathetically obvi-

ous to anyone that there are a lot of people employed in these departments whose skills (if any) should be employed in other directions or retrained to be of some actual use in society.

Caroline

Bah humbug A FRIEND of mine bought a few small Christmas decorations from a market stall the other day. He purchased the products and wished the market trader Feliz Navidad, as you do. The trader was not impressed and told my friend that he did not believe in Christmas, due to his religion and promptly turned his back.

Did his religion prevent him from making a few Bob from his Christian punters? No. It smacks of hypocrisy to me! Why couldn’t he have just reciprocated the greeting, or just said nothing? Still, miserable sods are not exempt in any religion.

I think he needed a drink.

Me, I would have given him the goods back, told him not to volunteer for the diplomatic corps and gone elsewhere but that’s life.

Philip, San Fulgencio

Pointless celebs I CAN’T be the only one hoping the antics of idiotic minor celebrities won’t be filling our TV screens as much next year. Too much to hope for? They seem to spend their entire time filming themselves and then posting it online. As if everyone wants to see what they’ve been doing for the last 10 minutes!

I know social media is the heart of the world now and I know I’m too old for all that, but it’s a bit depressing when a bit of tomfoolery (or bare flesh) can make a giant section of the whole country seem to stop in its tracks. And then everyone wants to interview them…very very depressing.

Bill, via email

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.

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60

E W N 29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

7:00am Breakfast 10:15am Rip Off Britain 11:00am Homes Under the Hammer 12:00pm Wanted Down Under 12:45pm Caught Red Handed 1:15pm Bargain Hunt 2:00pm BBC News at One 2:30pm BBC London News 2:45pm Father Brown 3:30pm !Mpossible 4:15pm Escape to the Country 4:45pm The Hairy Bikers’ Comfort Food 5:30pm Antiques Road Trip 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News at Six 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 9:00pm The Sheriffs are Coming 10:00pm Italy’s Invisible Cities 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:30pm BBC London News 11:45pm A Question of Sport 12:15am The Recruit 2:05am Weather for the Week Ahead 2:10am BBC News

7:00am Good Morning Britain 9:30am Lorraine 10:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30am This Morning 1:30pm Loose Women 2:30pm ITV Lunchtime News 2:55pm ITV News London 3:00pm Judge Rinder 4:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV Evening News 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Midsomer Murders.

Crime and Punishment 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:30pm ITV News London 11:40pm The Shawshank Redemption 2:15am Jackpot247 4:00am 1000 Heartbeats 4:50am ITV Nightscreen Text-based information service.

7:45am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:55pm 3:30pm 4:30pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:15am

1:15am 1:45am 2:45am 3:40am

Wanted Down Under Caught Red Handed See Hear Great British Menu Victoria Derbyshire BBC Newsroom Live Little Women Coast Great Bear Stakeout The Tropic of Cancer A Place to Call Home Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Eggheads Great British Railway Journeys Rick Stein’s Long Weekends The Great Interior Design Challenge Yellowstone Second Opinion Newsnight West Side Stories The Making of a Classic See Hear Muslims Like Us Countryfile This is BBC Two Highlights of programmes on BBC Two.

7:20am Who’s Doing the Dishes?

8:15am The Ellen DeGeneres Show 9:00am Emmerdale 9:30am The Cube 10:35am Psych 11:25am Scorpion 12:25pm Who’s Doing the Dishes?

1:25pm Emmerdale 1:55pm You’ve Been Framed and Famous!

3:00pm The Ellen DeGeneres Show 3:50pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 4:55pm The Jeremy Kyle Show 6:00pm Judge Rinder 7:00pm You’ve Been Framed!

Gold 8:00pm You’ve Been Framed!

Gold 8:30pm You’ve Been Framed!

Gold 9:00pm Two and a Half Men 10:00pm The Bourne Supremacy 11:05pm FYI Daily 11:10pm The Bourne Supremacy 12:15am Family Guy

8:00pm World News Today The latest national and international news, exploring the day’s events from a global perspective.

8:30pm Secrets of Bones 9:00pm 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Avalanches 10:00pm James May: The Reassembler 10:30pm Pop Quiz: The Comeback First seen in 1981 Pop Quiz was the BBC’s Saturday night smash hit music quiz show.

11:00pm Big Hits: TOTP 1964 to 1975 12:30am Storyville 1:45am 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Avalanches 2:45am How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears 3:45am The Man Who Collected the World: William Burrell

7:00am 7:25am 8:25am 9:25am 10:25am 10:55am 11:25am 11:50am 2:00pm 3:05pm 4:05pm 5:15pm 5:50pm 6:20pm 6:55pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 1:10am 2:15am 3:10am

3:30am

Doctor in the House Heartbeat Where the Heart is The Royal Judge Judy Judge Judy Judge Judy A Touch of Frost Heartbeat The Royal Where the Heart is Doctor in the House You’re Only Young Twice George and Mildred Heartbeat Murder, She Wrote Paul O’Grady: For The Love of Dogs Paul O’Grady: For The Love of Dogs Britain’s Favourite Dogs A Touch of Frost Wycliffe Wycliffe ITV3 Nightscreen Text-based information service.

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7:00am 7:55am 8:50am 9:50am 10:55am 12:00pm 1:05pm 1:35pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:05pm 7:05pm 7:35pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 12:05am 12:50am 1:55am 2:00am 3:05am 4:00am

Countdown King of Queens King of Queens Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Frasier Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA Supershoppers Four in a Bed Channel 4 News Summary Four in a Bed Four in a Bed Four in a Bed Four in a Bed Countdown A New Life in the Sun A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun Come Dine with Me The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Location, Location, Location No Offence A Very British Brothel 24 Hours in A and E

8:20am Thomas and Friends 8:30am Milkshake Monkey 8:35am Noddy: Toyland Detective 8:45am Milkshake Monkey 8:50am Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 9:00am Wissper 9:15am Peppa Pig 9:35am Paw Patrol 9:45am Toot the Tiny Tugboat 10:00am Toby’s Travelling Circus 10:15am The Wright Stuff 12:15pm Celebrity Big Brother 2:10pm 5 News Lunchtime 2:15pm The Hotel Inspector 3:15pm NCIS 4:15pm Heart of Murder 6:00pm 5 News at 5 6:30pm Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away!

7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door 9:00pm GPs: Behind Closed Doors 10:00pm Celebrity Big Brother 11:00pm In Therapy 12:05am Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side 1:05am Sex Pod

Gunsmoke Minder Quincy, M.E. The Professionals Ironside Gunsmoke Storage Wars New York Storage Wars New York Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Quincy, M.E. Ironside The Professionals Minder Storage Wars New York Storage Wars New York Pawn Stars Pawn Stars River Monsters Car Crash Britain Caught on Camera Crank FYI Daily Crank 1: Life on the Limit FYI Daily 1: Life on the Limit The Professionals Teleshopping

7:00am 9:00am 11:00am 12:55pm 3:00pm 5:00pm

Last Knights Arthur and Merlin Cop Out Taken 3 Collateral Damage National Treasure: Book of Secrets 7:15pm The Scorpion King 9:00pm 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi 11:25pm Taken 3 1:25am Self/Less

7:00am Lessons in Love 8:45am Alien Autopsy 10:30am Star Wars: Rogue One Special 11:00am Raising Helen 1:10pm The House Bunny 2:55pm Welcome to Me 4:30pm Star Wars: Rogue One Special 5:00pm Never Been Kissed 7:00pm The Devil Wears Prada 9:00pm Pixels 11:00pm Beverly Hills Cop 12:50am Beverly Hills Cop II 2:40am Beverly Hills Cop III 4:30am Stretch

7:00am 7:45am 8:35am 9:05am 9:35am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 1:30pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 6:45pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 12:30am

WEDNESDAY TV

Charmed Charmed Hollyoaks Rules of Engagement Rules of Engagement How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother Charmed Charmed The Goldbergs The Goldbergs The Goldbergs The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother Paws Rude(Ish) Tube Shorts The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Carjackers The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Timeless Supernatural The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory

7:00am Captain America: Civil War 9:30am Star Wars: Rogue One Special 10:00am The 33 12:15pm Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 3:00pm My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 4:45pm Captain America: Civil War 7:15pm Kung Fu Panda 3 9:00pm Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Dark Knight squares off against the Man of Steel in the ultimate superhero showdown.

11:35pm Warsaw 44 1:45am Truth 3:55am Me Him Her 5:35am Kung Fu Panda 3 The emergence of a new threat forces Po to turn his fun-loving fellow pandas into martial-arts masters.

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

7:00am 8:00am 8:55am 4:00pm 4:15pm 4:30pm 4:45pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 10:30pm 11:00pm 12:00am 12:30am 1:00am 2:00am 3:00am 4:00am 5:00am

Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold WWE Experience Football Football Football Premier League 100 Club The Premier League Years La Liga World Football Football Football La Liga World Football Football Football La Liga World PL Highlights Football Football Football’s Greatest La Liga World Barclays Premier League World Football Barclays Premier League World More Than a Game Sporting Mavericks Football

Cricket Classics Time of Our Lives Cricket Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Great Sporting Moments Cricket’s Greatest Cricket’s Greatest Sporting Greats Sporting Greats Cricket Cricket Classics Cricket Sporting Mavericks More Than a Game Cricket Cricket’s Greatest Cricket’s Greatest Cricket Cricket Classics Cricket Cricket Classics Cricket Day three of the second Test as South Africa host Sri Lanka at Newlands in Cape Town.

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TIME OUT

29 Dec 2016 - 4 Jan 2017 / Costa Blanca North

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Famous quote

This week

MADDOCKS’ VIEW ON LIFE

‘

Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’.”

Bing Crosby

in history 1170 – Four knights, acting on orders from King Henry II, murdered Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

1801 – By an Act of Union Ireland was added to Great Britain to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1803 – The US formally took possession of Louisiana after purchasing it from France for approximately $15 million. At 885,000 square miles this almost doubled the size of the US. 1865 – British poet and writer Rudyard Kipling, was born in Bombay, India. He is best known for writing children’s stories such as The Jungle Book.

1877 – It was announced that Queen Victoria had become the Empress of India.

1901 – The Commonwealth of Australia was created with the federation of six former British colonies. Edmund Barton became the first prime minister.

1937 – Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins was born on New Year’s Eve in Margam, a suburb of Port Talbot, Glamorgan.

1958 – The European Economic Community (EEC) was formed by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands to remove trade barriers and coordinate trade policies.

1959 – Fidel Castro led a revolution to drive out dictator Fulgencio Batista and seized power in Cuba establishing a Communist dictatorship.

1965 – The film Doctor Zhiago, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, premiered in New York.

1967 – Donald Campbell was killed at high speed on Coniston Water in his Bluebird K7 whilst attempting to break the water speed record.

1968 – Frank Sinatra first recorded My Way which went on to spend 75 weeks in the UK Top 40.

1973 – Britain, Ireland and Denmark joined as members of the EEC. 1995 – Charlie Chaplin’s second wife Lita Grey died of cancer at the age of 87.

1999 – The euro came into use as the single European currency for 11 nations including Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

2000 – A painting by French impressionist Paul Cezanne was stolen from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on New Year’s Eve. 2006 – The Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, aged 69, was hung in Baghdad.

2012 – At the age of 86 the founder of Playboy Hugh Hefner, married glamour model Crystal Harris, aged 26, at the Playboy Mansion in LA. 2015 – The WHO declared the Ebola epidemic in Guinea over. Over a two year period 2,500 people died.

Women’s wit

‘

I’ve never met an ugly millionaire.

They all look cute.

No wonder I married four of them.”

Zsa Zsa Gabor

World of English

‘

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.”

‘LET US ALL HOPE FOR A BETTER ONE...’

Kakuro

for next 7 days

Costa Blanca

weather

TODAY

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.

TOMORROW

JAVEA

DENIA JAVEA

DENIA

CALPE CALPE ALTEA ALTEA BENIDORM BENIDORM

ALICANTE

ALICANTE

TORREVIEJA

TORREVIEJA

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION ORIHUELA

ORIHUELA

CLEAR MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

16 8 C 15 7 C 15 6 S

Benidorm MAX 18C, MIN 9C Mon - 16 8 S Tues - 16 8 Cl Wed - 15 7 C

SUNNY MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

17 9 S 15 7 S 15 8 C

MAX 18C, MIN 10C

SUNNY MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

Mon - 16 9 Cl Tues - 16 9 C Wed - 15 8 C

16 8 C 15 7 C 16 8 S

Mon - 16 9 S Tues - 16 9 Cl Wed - 16 8 C

14 4 S 14 3 S 13 3 S S Sun,

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

Mon - 12 7 C Tues - 10 4 Sh Wed - 11 4 S

14 2 S 14 1 S 14 4 S

Madrid MAX 15C, MIN 4C MAX MIN

Mon - 12 6 Cl Tues - 12 4 C Wed - 13 3 S Cl Clear,

TODAY:

Fog,

17 19 S 15 8 C 15 7 C

TODAY:

SUNNY MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

16 6 C 16 6 C 16 8 C

SUNNY

MAX 13C, MIN -1C

13 -3 S 10 -2 S 9 -1 S C Cloudy,

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 9 Tues - 9 Wed - 9

1 Cl 0 C -1 S

Sh Showers,

CLOUDY MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

16 7 C 14 5 C 15 4 S Sn Snow,

IRISH LOTTO

LA PRIMITIVA

EURO MILLIONS

EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA

MAX MIN

Mon - 16 8 S Tues - 16 7 C Wed - 15 7 C

MAX 17C, MIN 5C MAX MIN

Mon - 15 9 C Tues - 14 6 C Wed - 15 5 C

Murcia

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mallorca SUNNY MAX 15C, MIN 2C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Barcelona TODAY:

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

SUNNY MAX 17C, MIN 10C

TODAY:

Bilbao

Almeria TODAY:

Malaga

CLEAR MAX 18C, MIN 9C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

MAX 17C, MIN 6C MAX MIN

Mon - 15 6 S Tues - 16 6 Cl Wed - 15 5 C Th Thunder

Euro Weekly News accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the weather forecasts which are supplied by a third party.

LOTTERY

Alicante TODAY:

61

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Saturday December 24

16

19

Saturday December 24

8

10

Tuesday December 20

13

Friday December 23

4

46

11

16

17

54

58

40

42

27

20

BONUS BALL

12

38

46

LUCKY STARS

2

3

26

29

9

31

34

19

36

40

53

18

39

21

BONUS BALL

Sunday December 25

16

15 29

Saturday December 24

LUCKY STARS

2

5

45

REINTEGRO

49

9

REINTEGRO

6

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Maximum Ride Directed by: Jay Martin Starring: Allie Marie Evans, Patrick Johnson, Lyliana Wray, Luke Gregory Crosby Based on a series of books by James Patterson the film follows a group of six teenagers – Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel - who were all infused with avian DVD whilst they were living in an experimental lab which enables them to fly. They manage to escape the lab with the help of the caretaker and live in a safe house in the mountains. That is until the lab guards kidnap Angel, the youngest of the group, and Max is forced into leading the group as they face their worse nightmare on a journey back to the lab to rescue her.

Along the way they uncover some of their mysterious past and discover some stunning secrets including the biggest betrayal of all.

Silvia Giner, Actress, December 31

36

Spanish actress who was born in Seville in Andalusia, worked in Buenos Aires in Argentina but now lives in Madrid. Her film career was launched in Buenos Aires in Argentina after she appeared in the Latin American film Space of Appearances.

Kieron Dyer, Footballer, December 29, 38 Former professional midfielder who played for Ipswich Town’s youth and first teams before being sold to Newcastle United for £6 million, at that time the highest fee paid for an Ipswich player. His career was blighted by injury however he still managed to represent his country on 33 occasions.

Ellie Goulding, Singer/songwriter, December 30, 30 Her debut album Lights reached number one on the UK Album Chart in 2010. Her hit singles include Burn, Anything Could Happen and Love Me Like You Do. She performed Elton John’s hit Your Song at the wedding reception of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

Lauren Silverman, Socialite, January 1, 40 Better known as Simon Cowell’s other half she was a New York socialite who was married to Andrew Silverman, a friend of Simon’s. She fell pregnant whilst having an affair with Simon Cowell and gave birth to his son Eric in 2014.

Michael Schumacher, F1 Racing Driver, January 3, 48 Seven time World Champion who drove for Ferrari on the Formula One circuit from 1996 to 2006. He started driving a motorised kart aged just four. Whilst skiing in December 2013 he suffered a serious head injury that left him in a coma for six months. He continues to receive medical treatment and rehabilitation at home.

Craig Revel Horwood, Dancer/TV Personality, January 4, 48 Best known as a member of the judging panel for the hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing. He has a reputation for being a harsh critic and a stickler for the rules . He moved to London from Australia when he was in his 20’s seeking more opportunities to dance.

Funagram

Just Joking

Unscramble the name of a traditional seasonal folk song (three words): LEGAL NUN DAYS

How does Santa keep the weeds out of his garden?

With a Hoe-Hoe-Hoe.

Unscramble the name of a famous Hogmanay tradition (two words): RIOTING TOFFS

A guy bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas.

A friend of his said, “I thought she wanted one of those pretty four-wheel drive vehicles?”

“She did,” he replied, “But where in the world was I going to find a fake jeep!”

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

BLONDE CHAPEL CHEERS (10) CHISEL DEMEAN ICICLE IMPISH JUMBLE NESTLE PATRON

ROTTEN SPECIE TALLOW TEETER TEETHE TENDON TISSUE VACATE WEALTH

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

1 Detour 2 Carrot 3 Orient 4 Deceit 5 Routed 6 Harden 7 Trance 8 Vendor 9 Notice 10 Advent 11 Theory 12 Intent 13 Cereal 14 Entice 15 Income 16 Pariah 17 Iodine 18 Polite 19 Skimpy

YOUR STARS AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) Don't chance your plans being disrupted by ill health. Get any problems sorted out now even if you think they are 'nothing'. When you are feeling good it is easy to take that for granted.

Fresh foods and air mean more at the moment than making an extra few pounds. Allow others to become involved and give a hand when energy is low because you can easily repay the favour later when your own energy levels are high.

PISCES (February 20 - March 20) In this your birthday month, your mind is positively buzzing with ideas. There has been so much progress in your personal life during the past year that it is hard to believe. However, you are capable of being very dynamic and singleminded. This is why, now, you may be patting yourself on the back. Keep colleagues on your side by taking a particular interest in them.

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) There are moments of boundless energy which really urge you to 'get up and go'. Make use of this at work, where most progress is to be made this week. Be you a politician, pensioner or anyone in between, the opportunities are there to be had. Slow progress on the love front should not see you fretting. At the moment, the priorities are elsewhere. Putting down roots and establishing your position are paramount.

TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) Bring more zip to your life by putting the spotlight on your health. Getting out and about lifts the spirits, while perking up the diet with new foods brightens the system. As energy levels come up this week, be aware of what is happening around you. A chance remark in conversation may bring to light a really great idea for improving your finances. Romance is not exactly sparkling but you have your eye on this area.

TIME

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(December 22 - January 20)

Romance will find you this week if only you are in the right frame of mind. You may be inclined to refuse social gatherings that hold no prospects for you, but don't close the door on anything. The right kind of companions are sometimes found in the strangest places. It is cosy to stay at home but life is all about progress, not stagnation.

GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) The chance to travel seems exciting but can be made even more so by including a few people who are on your wavelength. So busy have you been on the more mundane aspects of life that the 'big picture' may have faded into the background.

An early holiday or weekend break opens the mind and gives impetus to any personal plans.

Don't be shy when with members of the opposite sex because they have much to offer you spiritually.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23) An authority figure may also be seen as a possible romantic attachment. Your talents and charm serve you well when approaching this person.

Opportunities need approaching with eyes wide open, however, because they could be timeconsuming and disruptive. Nothing is for nothing, though, and maybe you feel that it will all be worth the effort in the longer term. Financially, keep the ball rolling and contacts current.

LEO (July 24 - August 23) Keeping up the activity level physically is really in your best interests this week. It is a pivotal point where your resolutions in this area could fail. With life very busy, it is still important to retain your priorities. A new year promise broken may still be restarted without trauma, just determination is needed.

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) Does someone in the family need your

attention? Don't begrudge time spent with them, even if you are busy. Consider what you would want others to do if you were in the same position. After all, you love a challenge so see this as a bit of a juggling act. Bringing humour into the equation makes such a difference mid-week when you wonder where it is all going.

LIBRA (September 24 - October 23) With your enthusiasm socially at a peak, now is the time to get involved with anything that takes your fancy. A project involving music or painting will give you the chance to make new friends. Children and young people fill your time for a lot of this week and certainly give you a reason to smile.

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22) This week will see more progress on a health issue. Maybe you have recently given up something or taken to the gym. Recent weeks may have conspired to upset your best efforts.

It is never too late to make a fresh start, though, especially right now. Someone who gives your confidence a boost also leads you to believe that anything is possible.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21) Avoid like the plague people who would dampen your spirit. It may not be deliberate but, if you are near repressed or depressed people, it may rub off. Find positive, active people to be near. If you have not started a form of exercise, then now is as good a time as any.

10-Star Quiz QUIZ OUT THE OLD, QUIZ IN THE NEW 1. David Dinkins was sworn in as which US city’s first black mayor on New Year’s Day 1990?

2. Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland were admitted into the European Economic Community on New Year’s Day in which year?

3. ‘No New Year’s Day to celebrate. No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away’ are the opening lines of which Stevie Wonder hit single?

4. Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of where on New Year’s Day 1877?

5. Riga is the capital of which country that became the 18th member of the eurozone (euro area) on New Year’s Day 2014?

6. The first edition of which famous newspaper, previously known as the Daily Universal Register, was published on New Year’s Day 1788?

7. Which coin ceased to be legal tender in the UK on New Year’s Eve 1960?

8. Which EastEnders character, who had been played

by Pam St Clement since June 1986, was killed off in the special 2012 New Year's Day episode?

9. Which famous inventor demonstrated his incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey on New Year’s Eve 1879?

10. Which famous music programme was first broadcast on BBC 1 on New Year’s Day 1964 at 6:35 pm?

Not a lot of people know that… in Italy, people wear red underwear on New Year’s Eve to bring good luck in the coming year

Answers 1. NEW YORK, 2. 1973, 3. I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU, 4. INDIA, 5. LATVIA, 6. THE TIMES of London, 7.

FARTHING, 8. PAT EVANS/BUTCHER/BEALE/WICKS, 9.

THOMAS EDISON, 10. TOP OF THE POPS

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

TARGET: • Average: 5 • Good: 6 • Very good: 9 • Excellent: 12

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION abet able bale bare bate bear beat beer beet belt beta blat brae brat carb crab abler acerb baler beret betel blare blear bleat brace bract caber cable celeb rebec rebel table beater beetle berate rebate treble retable bracelet CELEBRATE ERECTABLE

OUT

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AK, BE INFORMED AND ENJOY A CHALLENGE

page

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

Cryptic

Code Breaker

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS

CRYPTIC

Quick

Across:

Across 1 More sage is planted in clockwise rotation (5) 4 Launderer used to be female (6) 9 Building renters are more strict (7) 10 Swagger like Rod (5) 11 Organs will show up in dress rehearsal (4) 12 Overhaul religious ceremony (7) 13 Appropriate for a gymnasium (3) 14 Ring round for a beam (4) 16 Some involve a system that’s effortless (4) 18 Keys get one offer (3) 20 Refuse to accept sink (7) 21 Choose first vacation on the East (4) 24 A musical piece from a potential donor (5) 25 Cigar with revolutionary origin (7) 26 Sidney could be a famous film maker (6) 27 Grow from endless spring (5) Down 1 Ted was terribly worn out (6) 2 Insult leaves a mark (5) 3 Letters from Grenoble for a city in Nevada (4) 5 Took in some Arabs or Bedouins (8) 6 His rare frolicking badgers (7) 7 Row in London park is deplorable (6) 8 Try small Ford for a secret rendezvous (5) 13 A remedy, not a diet change (8) 15 Takes back car sent incorrectly (7)

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Crossword

EWN

1 Melchior, 5 Read, 9 Grabs, 10 Narrate, 11 Nearest, 12 Sales, 13 Assist, 15 Depths, 19 Sport, 21 Elevate, 23 Twaddle, 24 After, 25 Suet, 26 Protests.

Down: 1 Magenta, 2 Llama, 3 Hostels, 4 Ornate, 6 Epaulet, 7 Diets, 8 Arts, 14 Storage, 16 Elegant, 17 Sierras, 18 Veneer, 19 Sates, 20 Tide, 22 Altos.

QUICK Across:

17 Respected communist is after a party (6) 18 A seat for the judiciary (5) 19 Hire charge included in current allowance (6) 22 Sea-air adds a little weight to one (5) 23 Clues found in a Mickey Spillane novel (4) Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 11 represents H and 16 represents V, so fill in H every time the figure 11 appears and V every time the figure 16 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 Basis for comparison (8) 7 Utter words (5) 8 Not otherwise committed (9) 9 Long-tailed rodent (3) 10 Let have for a limited time (4) 11 Refreshed as by sleeping or relaxing (6) 3 Deliver to an enemy by treachery (6) 14 Not interesting (6) 17 Utter a sudden loud cry (6) 18 Bestow (4) 20 Take in solid food (3) 22 Inspecting (9) 23 Revolves (5) 24 Larval amphibians (8)

Down 1 Little (5) 2 Opposed to (7) 3 Blunt (4) 4 Thief who steals from someone by threatening violence (6) 5 Strikingly odd or unusual (5) 6 Gliding on ice (7) 7 Division (7) 12 Takes for husband or wife (7) 13 Below (7) 15 Beginning (7) 16 Yellow fruit (6) 17 Look at with fixed eyes (5) 19 Borders (5) 21 Drag a leg (4)

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

1 Regret, 4 Satin, 8 Stamp, 9 Airmail, 10 Indoors, 11 Dawn, 12 Ale, 14 Fare, 15 Lamp, 18 Red, 21 Hark, 23 Regalia, 25 Tidings, 26 Noise, 27 Store, 28 Peanut.

Down: 1 Rustic, 2 Grandma, 3 Employer, 4 Sort, 5 Tiara, 6 Nylons, 7 Salsa, 13 Elegance, 16 Million, 17 Photos, 19 Dress, 20 Parent, 22 Radio, 24 Knee.

ENGLISHSPANISH Across: 1 Bangle, 3 Frosts, 8 Sleds, 10 Castaña, 11 Emoción, 12 Sueño, 13 Camel, 15 Ganso, 20 Trees, 22 Miracle, 24 Meeting, 25 Niñas, 26 Stoves, 27 Prices.

Down: 1 Basket, 2 Nuevo, 4 Risas, 5 Skaters, 6 Season, 7 Scent, 9 Slide, 14 Aderezo, 16 Apron, 17 Stamps, 18 Amiga, 19 Feasts, 21 Spice, 23 Coñac.

CODE BREAKER

Across 1 Oil (6) 3 Useful (information, advice, tool) (4) 7 Labio (anatómico) (3) 9 Filling (culinary) (7) 10 Butterflies (insects) (9) 13 Ruibarbo (7) 14 Mentira (embuste) (3) 15 Weight (4) 16 To tire (out) (6)

Down 1 Classroom (4) 2 To finish (8) 4 Uña de pie (7) 5 Lion (4) 6 Carpet (8) 8 Cacahuetes (7) 11 Gota (4) 12 To read (4)

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The Gift

AS we approach 2017 many of us will be thinking about making a New Year’s resolution. According to YouGov around 63 per cent of the UK population make resolutions.

We’ve compiled a list of the 10 most common resolutions. Have a look and see whether any you are planning are on there.

1. Lose Weight Many of us resolve to lose weight after the festive splurge. Whether overindulgence of food or alcohol (or both!) the average person puts on around 4lbs (1.8 kilos). It can be difficult to remain committed but you can succeed.

Don’t expect it to happen overnight, beware of faddy diets, keep a journal and get support from family and friends.

By Louise Jensen JENNA is seriously ill and desperately in need o f a hea rt trans plant to s ta y alive when a donor heart becomes available. All she knows is that it came from a girl called Callie. Forever i n t he family’s debt a n d keen to find out more about the girl who saved her own life she gets in touch with C a llie’s family and b e comes quite close to them.

T he clos er s he ge t s though the more begins to realise that things don’t add up a nd when s he meet s Nathan, Callie’s boyfriend, wha t s he dis covers i s shocking. Jenna is determined to find out the truth of what happened to Callie and uncover her family’s dark secrets, but it could come at a cost to her own sa fe ty. This compelli n g psychological thriller has a killer twist and will have you gripped. books@euroweeklynews.com

Most common New Year’s resolutions

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

App of the Week Bookout A tool for helping you to track and manage your books with the ability to gather insightful stats into your reading such as time read per day, pages read per day, etc.

You can mark books you lend out so you never lose a book again! Set up goals to encourage you to read more eg 30 hours per month or read 12 books during a year. Also obtain book details by scanning ISBN codes or searching

Play on Words RESOLUTIONS: Are you planning one for next year? to plan some time every week to do something fun.

next Christmas – on average that’s how much 20 cigarettes a day costs.

2. Get Organised In the aftermath of Christmas with all those new presents it’s no wonder we feel the need to get organised. One of the best things to do is de-clutter but do it in small steps by limiting it to 10 minutes/one drawer/one room a month so it’s less intimidating and more productive. Involve the children in clearing out old toys and clothes to donate to charity.

5. Get Fit and Healthy Often this goes hand in hand with the resolution to lose weight. Getting fit doesn’t necessarily mean you need to join a gym. Government guidelines suggest we need to be active every day and should aim to participate in 150 minutes of moderate activity per week. To achieve that try to find something you enjoy doing - walking, swimming, cycling, running, dancing, ten-pin bowling or gardening.

8. Volunteer A very thoughtful and rewarding resolution made by many kind-hearted people. According to the volunteering charity TimeBank more people are interested in volunteering in January than at any other time of the year but do they actually do it? If considering it pay a visit to your local volunteer centre to find out about opportunities available.

3. Spend Less, Save More We are often frivolous over the festive period and a quick check of the bank balance often leads to this resolution.

Try reviewing monthly spending to see where your money is going then set yourself a monthly budget and stick to it. Planning meals and making a shopping list to control spending and reduce food waste should help save money.

6. Learn Something New Every day’s a school day and we are never to old to learn! Perhaps that’s the thinking of those who make this resolution. In this age of lifelong learning there are lots of opportunities. What about learning another language, how to knit, juggle, cook or belly-dance or learn CPR/first aid? What will you learn in 2017? The world’s your oyster...

4. Enjoy Life More Christmas can be quite a stressful period so it’s no surprise this may be many people’s resolution. Life’s too short as the saying goes and we need to make the most of the time we have. Perhaps it’s time to review your work-life balance and take control? Is your precious time leaking away on social media? Try

7. Quit Smoking For those who smoke this is often the time of year to seriously consider stopping. Although difficult it’s not impossible. There are many smoking cessation support services provided by the NHS (if you’re in the UK) that you may find helpful. If you need an incentive what about having an extra €1,716 to spend

Sudoku

9. Fall In Love The singletons out there often pledge to find ‘the one’ and fall in love. Easier said than done though! To increase your chances of finding love in 2017 consider removing negative influences from your life, dating people you wouldn’t usually date, joining an online dating site or participating in a new activity.

Widen your horizons and who knows?

10. Spend More Time with Family Perhaps getting together over the festive period or being unable to be with family makes people choose this resolution. So what are you going to do to make it happen? Arrange dates to get together and put them on the calendar - whether it be a visit, an invitation to dinner, a night or a day out. Don’t waste the coming year - figure out what you need to do to make it happen, then do it!

P K UO V NU AA CZ SL HOOUSE

NICECCU CCUNICE

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: 19 • Good: 26 • Very good: 38 • Excellent: 49

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

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION hill hilar hills hags hall haar ills gain gash gals gall gala galah gays galas gars ashlar ashlars agin agar agars alar alarm alpaca alpha alphas anis again achy acari acts hash hang hangs hangar hangars harp harm alas aria arias cays chain chasing chap chaplain char charm chars calash call carp carpal carpals carpi cars cyan cyst chair chairs hair hairs airs

Word Ladder YEAR

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.

SPONSORED BY

TIME OUT

FOOT BACK

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

Solution YEAR BEAR BOAR BOAT (BOOR) BOOT FOOT

TOP 10

BOOKS

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Answers: The drinks are on the house.

Nice to see you, to see you, nice.

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Some tips for keeping fertile MORE and more couples are seeking medical help in conceiving a child. With fertility problems, amongst both men and women on the rise, what can be done to help take care of your fertility?

Even if you are not ready for a child just yet, take note of these top tips from the Assisted Reproduction Unit of Vithas Perpetuo International Hospital in Alicante, as told to Diario Informacion, and when you are ready to start a family hopefully fertility problems will not be a cause for concern.

Fertility should be taken care of from a young age. Advise teenagers and youngsters on safe sex and preventing sexually transmitted diseases as some can lead to fertility problems later in life.

As in all areas of health, a balanced diet will have an impact. Regular exercise and healthy eating will also help care for fertility. For women looking at starting a family sooner rather than later, try increasing your intake of vitamins

and minerals including omega three and six as well as green vegetables which are rich in folic acid and iron. Try and keep a healthy weight. Being overweight can result in difficulties in getting pregnant, as can being underweight, as both can lead to abnormalities in the menstrual cycle with ovary function deteriorating.

Tr y a n d s t a y c a l m . S t r e s s c a n cause some hormones to be released inappropriately affecting your chances of falling pregnant.

STAY CALM: Stress can affect your hormones.

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HEALTH BEAUTY

&

Is your brain tr the urge to drin HAVE you had one tipple too many over Christmas? For many, a little indulgence over the festive period is normal, but what happens when that extra drink turns into one too many?

A professor at the University of Florida has treated thousands of patients for alcohol use for over 15 years and believes that binge drinking, such as at Christmas, can be a result of the chemicals in the brain.

Alcohol releases dopamine giving a happy buzz, but for some, as the brain starts releasing dopamine it is unable to stop and malfunctions, causing the drinker to carry on past the buzz and into intoxication and a compulsion to binge drink can result. This binge drinking can be seen as an addiction and should be treated as such.

HEALTH & BEAUTY

www.euroweeklynews.com

riggering nk?

JUST ONE MORE: Binge drinking is an addiction.

Binge drinking is classed as drinking at least five or more drinks for men and four for women, on the same occasion on at least one day in the past 30 days.

The American Medical Association acknowledged that brains of binge drinkers have

a disease but it is still relatively ignored and not seen as a disease in the same way as heart disease or obesity.

So as we head in to the New Year celebrations, just be aware of the effects drinking can have on you and the people around you.

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Robot lips will help longdistance love be intimate STRUGGLING with a longdistance relationship? Well worry not as you may soon be able to kiss your loved one from anywhere in the world.

A device has been created by a team of engineers in London and Japan that connects to your phone and matches your partners lip movements and pressure. The device, called the Lovotics Kissenger, is like a set of robot lips and can even let you smell your partner. The creators say is it a mix between

being a kiss and messenger and is designed to make online video chat more intimate. Couples can connect the device to their phone and press their lips to it. The software reads the pressure and transmits it to the receiver’s mouthpiece at the other end. The Kissenger even has a silicon lining designed to feel like human skin.

The device is currently just in its prototype stage and a date for sale and its expected price tag, has not yet been revealed.

HEALTH & BEAUTY

Ask The Doctor

Brought to you by

What is a stroke?

Could a simple breath test detect cancer?

A BREATHALYSER has been developed that uses gold nanoparticles to test if someone has illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome and cancer.

The device, which costs £24 (€28), is reported to have an 86 per cent accuracy in detecting 17 illnesses from a person’s breath, when tried on more than

1,400 patients. Scientists say it works just like a fingerprint as each disease studied had a unique breath print which was detected by the breathalyser.

The breath test could be available for use in five years.

It’s idea was based around the same theory that dogs can be trained to recognise illness.

SPECIALIST: Doctor Luis Perez Belmonte.

A STROKE is a type of attack which happens when insufficient blood reaches the affected area of the brain. While the best known type of attack is that which happens to the heart, they can also affect other parts of the body including the brain, lungs or legs among others.

People with higher cardiovascular risk such as those with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obese people and smokers are those most likely to suffer a stroke.

How can we recognise the symptoms and realise someone is having a stroke?

Strokes can present themselves in different ways ranging from slight alterations to behaviour or speech to inability to move arms and legs, difficulty walking or sudden death.

So what should we do if we think someone is having a stroke?

If you have the slightest suspicion somebody is having a stroke you should get them to a medical centre as quickly as possible for tests and treatment.

What if I’m on my

own and think I might be having a stroke?

You should call emergency services and tell them you think you’re having a stroke. If you can’t call an ambulance, you should get a relative or neighbour to take you to hospital immediately.

What are the chances of complete recovery?

This depends on the size and type of stroke. Minor strokes caused by slight bleeding are easier to recover from and less likely to leave after-effects than those which affect a large area or those caused by a blood clot which stopped blood reaching the brain.

Whether or not there are after-effects, anyone who has had a stroke should take medication to reduce the risks of a repeat. However, this will always be a possibility.

Is there any way of avoiding a stroke?

The best way to reduce your risk of a stroke is to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Stop smoking, lose weight if you are overweight, follow a low-fat, salt-free diet, exercise regularly and check your blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels.

If you have any questions for Dr Perez Belmonte, please send them to: jefemedico@helicopterossanitarios.com

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

Purple is the new food fad, so try it next year READY for the new food trends of 2017? Go purple and you should be on track as according to Whole Foods supermarket chain’s predictions, purple foods will be the new fad.

The move will be welcomed by dieticians as purple foods are known to be full of an antioxidant called anthocyanins which help to fight cancer, aging and inflammation. Anthocyanins can also protect the heart muscle and blood vessels so try going purple in the New Year and look out for these health-boosting super foods.

Acai. The acai berry is a rich purple fruit indigenous to the Amazon rainforest and

BEETROOT: Eat it raw or pickle it.

packed with amino acids and vitamins A, B, C and E. Purple sweet potato. These contain the allimportant anthocyanin anti-oxidant and can be used as a substitute for normal potatoes.

Purple carrots. Rich in beta-carotene and vitamin A, they are best eaten raw to make the most of their healthy benefits.

Beetroot. Eat it raw, pickle it, grate it or blend it in smoothies, beetroot is perhaps the easiest purple food to start consuming now.

Purple cabbage. Don’t just save it for Christmas and indulge it in all year round.

OPINION & COMMENT

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Speak out but watch your step Cassandra Nash A weekly look

agreed to let it drop, but as anti-capitalist Monedero was economical with the truth in the past over his undeclared Venezuela earnings, why believe him now?

- and not entirely impartial reaction to the Spanish political scene

J UAN PE DR O YL L A N E S , a ju d g e b y profession, is on voluntary leave because he is also a Podemos MP. Yllanes complained not long ago that the party’s co-founder Juan Carlos Monedero threatened him for backing Iñigo Errejon, the Podemos number two currently at loggerheads with party supremo Pablo Iglesias.

This internal crisis is due to peak during the party conference in February and Mondero warned Yllanes that until then he can say things which he disapproves of “but be careful afterwards.”

When this became public k n o wl e d g e , M o n edero denied threatening Yl l a n e s, claiming “a misunderstanding.”

Both men have talk e d si n c e then and Juan Pedro Yllanes.

Friendly fire FORMER president Jose Maria Aznar resigned as honorary president of the Partido Popular not long after his think-tank, Faes, had detached itself from the party.

He wants more independence, Aznar said, meaning freedom to criticise the party and Mariano Rajoy whom he appointed as his successor.

The current president was supposed to win the March 2004 elections so that the government could continue unde r A z nar ’s t ut el age.

Ins te a d R aj oy l ost t hen and again in 2008.

When he finally came to power he and all but a few PP hardliners disappointed the former president. Party insiders admitted that Aznar’s news c a me as a r el i ef al though that could be short-lived because the sniping won’t stop and f r i endl y fire is about to begin.

A question of values SOME PP politicians would like to remove the phrase that confirms the party’s commitment to ‘values of Christian humanism’ from its statutes. They were unsuccessful as would expected in a party where the former Interior minister Jorge Fernadez Diez awarded the Police Medal of Merit to La Virgen de los Dolores.

Pole position PABLO IGLESIAS and Iñigo Errejon are st r uggl i ng t o deci de whi ch di r ect i on Podemos should take. Former television pundit Iglesias meanwhile showers Errejon with flowery phrases containing an eloquent and ominous subtext. “You are one of the most brilliant and talented people I have ever known and I want you at my side, not in front of me,” Iglesias recently simpered. In fact he wants Errejon behind him, where he can neither cast a shadow nor stab him in the back.

Travel

A pearl set among emeralds

By Eleanor Hawkins THE Alhambra Palace and Generalife gardens in Granada is one of those places everyone in Spain should visit at least once.

History, stunning architecture, gardens and water features fill the complex, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984 and just missed out on becoming one of the seven new wonders of the world.

Described by Moorish poets of bygone times as a pearl set in emeralds, the fortress and palaces tower over Granada’s Albaicin district, cutting an easily recognisable silhouette against the surrounding woods.

The Alhambra began with construction of a small fortress, the Alcazaba, on the remains of a previous Roman fortification in 889 AD but was then mostly forgotten

about until the mid-13th century. Moorish emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada ordered the palace and walls built and in 1333 Sultan of Granada Yusuf I turned the complex into a royal palace.

The last remaining Islamic stronghold in Spain, the Alhambra was conquered in January 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs Fernando and Isabel, who set up their Royal Court within its walls to take advantage of the luxurious Moorish constructions and water management, which was virtually unknown to Castilians at the time.

It was in fact to the Alhambra that Christopher Columbus travelled to seek support from the monarchs before embarking on his journey which resulted in discovery of the Americas.

Just 6,600 visitors per day are allowed into the Alhambra,

WORLD HERITAGE SITE: Alhambra Palace and Generalife gardens in Granada. meaning it is advisable to buy tickets in advance. Although they can be obtained on the day at the door, queues are generally extremely long and tickets sell out very early in the day therefore it is advisable to book online well in advance.

Entry tickets cost €14 for adults and €9 for Spanish and EU pensioners and students, who must prove their status.

Children under 12 do not have to pay but must obtain free tickets from the ticket office as these are checked during visits.

While it is perfectly possible to visit under your own steam and wander at will, guided tours are highly recommended as they provide a great amount of interesting information. Official tours are available for groups and there is also the

possibility of booking private tours. For more information see www.guiasgranada.com or call 958 225 226.

Sensible shoes are a must as it takes three to four hours to see everything. Wheelchairs are available for loan although they run out quite quickly.

Between October 16 and March 15 the Alhambra is open to the public from 8.30am to 6pm every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. From March 16 to October 15 the opening hours are extended from 8.30am to 8pm.

Due to the fact that access is limited to 300 visitors at a time in the Nasrid Palaces, for many the best part of the complex, tickets will include an exact time for this part of the visit. It is recommendable therefore to plan to start your visit there and continue on to the rest afterwards to avoid missing your slot.

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Moors and Christians head off to Fitur VILLAJOYOSA’S Moors and Christians fiestas will represent the Costa Blanca at Fitur in Madrid next month.

When the tourism trade fair, one of the most important in Europe, opens on January 21, the Los Voluntarios and Los Pak.kos will march through the centre of Madrid.

“Last year we contacted the Diputacion, offering to parade during Fitur,” explained La Vila’s Fiestas councillor Marta Selles.

The Costa Blanca Tourist Board has now contacted Fiestas councillor Marta Selles confirming that Villajoyosa is one of the 18 Valencia region towns chosen for the parade.

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SCENE

Kings to pay two visits

By Linda Hall F IN E S T RAT w ill h ave tw o Thre e Kings procession on the evening of January 5.

The Kings will set out from the town centre at 7pm at the crossroads between Cami de Reis and the Oxeta-

R e lle u roa d, finis hing a t Sa n B a rtolome where they will give out presents.

These can be left beforehand at the church on January 3 and 4 from 11am2pm and 5-7pm and on January 5 from 11am-1pm.

The La Cal a pr ocessi on l eaves Avenida Marina Baixa near the town hall’s Administrative Extension and finishes in Plaza del Anfora where the Kings will hand out presents previously left with the organi ser s. Ther e will be drinking chocolate and cake for everybody, courtesy of the Puig Campana and La Barreta residents’ associations.

Presents can be left at the Administrative Cent r e and Tour i st Office from 8am-2pm on January 2, 3 and 4 or the Centro Multiusos bet ween 38pm . They can al so be l ef t at Asociacion La Barreta from 11am2pm and 57pm.

THREE KINGS: Will hand out presents to the children.

Callosa plans a party CALLOSA has announced that this year’s New Year celebrations will take part in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento.

Tradition in the town is that the bells of the Church of San Juan Bautista welcome in the New Year, and the department of Fiestas has organised a party to celebrate this in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, (Plaza de España).

Starting at 11.30pm grapes and Champagne will be given to everyone who attends and music will continue to entertain until 3am on January 1 2017.

OCIAL High hopes for Low Festival SWEDISH group Mando Diao is another name for the line-up at Benidorm’s next Low Festival.

Bjorn Dixgard and the other members of the band form one of the most popular rock groups to emerge from Sweden in recent years and are now ranked amongst the most-acclaimed indie-rock bands in Europe.

Following their 2002 debut album ‘Bring ’Em in’ which won praise from both music critics and the public in Sweden, their second disc ‘Hurricane Bar’ established them at international level.

Mando Diao will be joining the Pixies and Franz Ferdinand whose only Spanish appearances are scheduled for the Low Festival between July and 28.

The New York band !!!

(Chk Chk Chk), Sidonie, Neuman, The New Raemon & McEnroe and Triangulo de Amor Bizarro will also be appearing. This is only the beginning of what promises to be a #GiganticLow, the festival’s most memorable edition yet, the organisers said.

A three-day general admission ticket will cost €58, rising to €99 for VIP and €150 for VIP pool.

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STAR WARS: The evening will be full of colourful entertainment for the whole family.

Feeling the force John Williams, the Cantina Band and DitiramboEspectáculos. The evening will be full of colourful entertainment and is suitable for the whole family.

The show begins at 7pm and tickets cost €17, which can be purchased at the Auditori TeuladaMoraira located at Carrerd’Orba 2, 03725 Teulada or call 965 740 445 for further information.

Photo credit: Callosa town hall

THE UCAM Symphony Orchestra is to pay homage to the 40th anniversary of Star Wars by providing an unforgettable evening of music and fun at the Auditori Teulada-Moraira on January 7.

Actors will bring to life some of the best loved characters, androids and imperial guards and are accompanied by the music of composer

NEW PARKS: Somewhere to skate and bike.

Somewhere to skate CALLOSA D’EN SARRIA’S skate and mountain bike parks were officially inaugurated in time for the holiday season.

The skate park in the Peita district covers an area of 450 square metres while there are two bike parks in El Falset, one of them set aside for younger children.

Together they cost €30,000, said Urban Landscape councillor Lumi Puigcerver, and were built in response to repeated requests from the town’s young people.

She also pointed out that as well as providing a h e a l t h y l e i su re a lte rn ativ e fo r younger residents, both parks would boost

this part of the municipality and bring more life to it.

Denia Roscon de Reyes race WHAT better way to beat the Christmas bulge than by joining in the popular Roscon de Reyes race in Denia on January 7.

The race has once again been organised by Club Rem Marina de Dénia and the whole family can get involved as there are various categories

including juvenile, senior and veteran. Prizes are awarded to the winners of each category but not the usual trophy or medal. The prize will be a Roscon de Reyes (cake of the kings) and participants over 18 years old will also receive a bottle of wine once they are over the finish line. Those that

wish to take part need to register before 10pm on January 5 and the fee is 5€. The race starts at 11am at the marina in Denia and is a 5km course.

For more information or to register call 689 086 400 or visit https://www.rockthes port.com/evento/roscon2017# sthash.wAtfm7gO.dpuf.

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Documentary changes people’s perceptions “It’s full of girly clubs and prostitutes who solicit on traffic roundabouts,” she continued. “Kids regard it as nothing out MABEL LOZANO presented of the ordinary, without knowing what her documentary on prostitugoes on behind it. They don’t realise that tion, trafficking and sexual in up to 90 per cent of cases, prostitution slavery in Calpe. means trafficking, abuse, violence and The screening brought flouted human rights.” to an end an itinerant exIt was important to explain to young hibition that aims, via men that no-one is entitled to buy a huimages, to make young man being or to contribute to the world’s people aware of situasecond-most lucrative illicit trade. tions in what Lozano The documentary and exhibition arose calls the ‘First World.’ from a young Russian woman that she She wants her work to met 11 years ago in Madrid and whose expose a reality that is boyfriend sold her to a clip-joint for nevertheless invisible, €3,000. the director and script“Since then I’ve been writing, directwriter told a Spanish ining and campaigning because I have to terviewer. do something about a crime that we live Prostitution is regarded with but ignore.” as practically normal in “I have used strong audiovisual lanAlicante Province, guage to ensure that the documentary’s Lozano declared. message hits home and is clear,” Lozano explained. “It has received many awards, but the best one is the knowledge that young people’s perception of this scourge has changed.”

MABEL LOZANO: Making people aware.

By Linda Hall

Kid’s Christmas IF the children are bored of their Christmas presents already then do not fear as Teulada and Moraira have activities for children of all ages to enjoy over the Christmas holidays.

On January 2 there is Roller Ball, Football Festival and Just Dance which will be held at the municipal sports hall in Teulada.

‘Xocabolas’ will take place between 11.30am and 1.30pm.

Skate and scooter circuit plus Paintball are the activities lined up for January 3 at Moraira multi-purpose hall and again ‘Xocabolas’ will be held between 11.30am and 1.30pm.

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2017 will be the best year yet for off-plan housing THE new year is almost upon us and it will bring lots of good news for the construction sector, specifically for offplan housing and new-build projects.

Already we’ve been able to see for a while that housing prices are beginning to go up again little by little, a sign that the market is recovering.

Nevertheless, the most notable improvement can be seen in sales of off-plan housing, just as we previously mentioned.

Sales of these types of properties had previously been falling constantly for almost a decade.

2016 has been the first year in which these transactions went up in relation to the previous year. Surely you ask yourself, what is the reason for this change? Why are people more ready to take this important step? What difference has there been when compared to previous years?

The answer is simple: there are constantly less and less totally new buildings on the market, and credit for future owners is very cheap when compared with other times when it was practically inaccessible. Getting a mortgage loan if you need it is now much more feasible. Thanks to these ingredi-

ents, the construction of residential homes will increase by 4.1 per cent during 2017 (data obtained by the Caja de Ahorros Foundation).

During 2016, the growth in transactions (both new-build and off-plan housing) has gone up by 28 per cent, a huge increase if we take a look back in time.

But now is the moment when we stop looking back and start looking to the future. Numerous studies confirm that three years from now, off-plan and new-build housing transactions will make up 30 per cent of the total transactions carried out across the country.

Without a doubt, acquiring an off-plan property is the best option if you are thinking of changing your home. You will begin from zero, shaping your home to your tastes, needs, and the style that best suits your personality. It’s very important to have good professionals who will guide you and show you the best options as you build the home of your dreams.

Contact us now. At Construcciones Marva we will help you build your home, all the while tailoring it to your preferences and budget.

LOOKING FORWARD: Off-plan is the best option.

Construcciones Marva Calle Dr. Calatayud 49, Moraira 03724 Tlf: 0034 637 414 322 marva.construction.com marva@construccionesmarva.com

The tables are turned HOUSE price increases in Spain might outstrip those in the UK if estimates for 2017 ring true, marking an astonishing turn around in the two county’s fortunes.

The 2.6 per cent rise seen across Spain in 2016 is expected to reach 5 per cent by 2018. Meanwhile in the UK the Royal Institute of Char t er ed Sur veyor s has predicted that house prices will rise by just 3 per cent in 2017.

That is a marked decline f r om t hi s year ’s r i se of roughly 6 per cent and the drop would be more dramatic if not for a shortage of homes shoring up demand.

Li ke Spai n pr oper t y pr i ces acr oss t he UK ar e markedly different by regi on. I n 2017 Savi l l s expects prices in the North of Engl and, Scot l and and Wal es t o f al l , whi l e t he South-East will see a rise, but nothing comparable to the skyrocketing increases of recent times.

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PROPERTY

New Year, market remains strong

By Matthew Elliott THE latest figures on the Spanish property market indicate that there was a cooling down during October after months of back-to-back double digits increases. Home sales fell by 1.7 per cent from September but were 2.6 per cent higher than October last year.

House prices rose by 1.5 per cent and the year looks set to close with prices roughly a third below their pre-crisis peak in 2007, still a huge improvement on recent years.

Prices have risen 2.6 per cent across the year and are expected to rise by 5 per cent in 2017, with stable growth predicted until

the end of the decade. They did, however, rise in less than half of Spain’s thousands of municipalities, confirming the twospeed market across the country.

Coastal and city properties have performed particularly well, shoring up losses in the interior. The luxury market, consisting of homes upwards of €1 million

did fantastically well in 2016 with abundant interest from foreign buyers.

In 2017 expect to see the emergence of ‘servicers’ a new player in the real estate game. They are the privileged partners of banks and offer various financial packages to buyers and homeowners that the banks are shifting away from.

HUGE IMPROVEMENT: On house prices.

Most popular it’s ever been SPAIN is by far the most popular destination for Brits interested in moving abroad according to new research from UK property portal Rightmove. Spain beat France, the US, Italy and Portugal to the top spot.

There were more than 30 million searches for second homes in the Spanish sun, with Alicante surpassing Malaga as the most popular choice.

That revelation comes hot on the heels of similar findings from global property portal Kyero. It found that interest

from Brits in moving to Spain soared to its highest ever level this year after the Brexit vote, with an incredible 50 per cent more searches than in 2015.

With many potential British buyers sitting on enormous equity levels, the Brit brigade looks set to lead foreign interest in the Spanish market well into 2017. This year one in five homes in Spain went to foreign buyers as the country’s international appeal strengthens in line with the property market’s impressive performance.

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CHRISTMAS is a time of partying and special meals and, far too often, this can lead to unwanted stains which are the bane of whoever is in charge of the laundry. Some can be busted without too much grief by following a few tricks.

If your clothes get stained with oil or grease during a meal, try to apply talcum powder im-

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Bust those Christmas stains mediately. Leave the stain to dry before brushing the powder out and washing with water and detergent. If you are unable to do so, or don’t notice the stain until later, soak overnight in a mix-

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Coffee is another enemy for our clothes. To blast its stains, mix equal amounts of alcohol,

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white vinegar and water and apply to the stain.

Egg yolk is also quite effective for coffee stains on white materials and wood. Apply before washing as normal.

New chocolate stains can often be lifted with sparkling water and older ones may disappear after a few hours in very hot soapy water.

Make your poinsettia last

By Eleanor Hawkins WITH a little care, the extremely popular Christmas houseplants, poinsettias, can be made to last from one year to the next and there is a simple trick which can be employed to make them bloom just in time for the festive season.

Rather than allowing your plant to die this year, follow these tips to keep it alive and have it ready to party again come next December.

The plants originate in Mexico, where in the wild they grow into tall shrubs. To create the houseplant sized versions we find in the shops, growers use dwarfing hormones in the soil. Once these wear off, careful pruning will be needed to keep them manageable and suitable for indoor decoration. In March the plant will shed its leaves: this is the time to cut stems down

to a length of around 10cm. Coat the cut ends in white petroleum jelly and keep the plant warm and relatively dry until new growth appears.

Poinsettias do not need too much water, in fact overwatering will cause the leaves to yellow, wilt and drop off. Diluted liquid fertiliser should be used once every two weeks during the spring and once a week in the summer to feed the plants and keep them healthy.

Come autumn, about eight weeks before you want your plant to burst into colour, begin giving it ‘short-day’ treatment. This consists of plunging the plant into total darkness for 14 hours every night to trick it into thinking winter has already arrived. During the day, place it on a warm, sunny windowsill so it gets as much light as possible.

POINSETTIA: Can be made to last from one year to the next.

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Photo by Fotokostic Shutterstock

Learn all about pruning

SAFE PRUNING: Trees need specialist care when mature.

By Eleanor Hawkins WINTER pruning time is here.

Pruning is an essential part of any healthy garden. It is necessary to remove damaged and dried out branches, restrict plants to fit into the garden design space, promote flowers and fruits of better quality, and to shape the plant to look better.

Now is the time to prune most deciduous trees that require improvement.

The first key to good pruning is understanding the basics of plant growth to cut in the right place at the right angle at the right time to improve recovery of the plant from the wound.

The second is ensuring the right tools for the job are sharp and effective to give a clean cut.

Thirdly, as a rule of thumb, only prune a third of the plant’s height and width in a year to allow it to recover before removing any more. If you need to prune more than a third of a plant in a year your plant is probably in the wrong place.

There are different types of pruning methods and tools to suit the way you tackle the maintenance of your plants.

Trees need specialist care when mature to ensure their longevi-

ty, shape and purpose with correct pruning cuts. Densely branched shrubs and hedges need skill but generally have smaller, thinner branches that allows shearing off multiple branches with minimal damage to the plant if pruning is done regularly. Sparsely branched shrubs, such as roses, need more care and skill in pruning

The main point of pruning is to cut just above a bud or branch. to encourage a good framework and promotion of flowers.

The main point to pruning cuts is to make the cut just above a bud or branch with minimal waste wood after the joint. This is to prevent die back which promotes insect and fungal entry. Avoid damaging the remaining bud or lateral branch including the branch collar, which is the swelling on the branch around the joint, by allowing a small space of clearance above the joint.

On large limbs it is easiest to cut a branch first well away

from the join to the trunk to remove the weight and make the final precise cut with only the stub to be removed.

In a garden with a variety of plants and trees, pruning can be a year round activity.

Autumn is the time to restrict pruning to damaged and dead branches for mature trees as it is a time of fungal growth and insect activity that can infect trees. Most deciduous trees are pruned in winter when the plants are dormant in order to establish a good framework of branches while visible and encourage stronger growth in the remaining branches to produce better flowering and, for fruiting trees, premium quality fruit.

Spring pruning is normally undertaken for winter and spring flowering plants to remove flower stems and reshape the plant to encourage the next flowering season. Summer pruning is mostly removal of die back branches and overgrowth that may be taking over the allotted space to the detriment of other plants, paths or proximity to buildings and utilities, this includes hedges and topiary features. Take care when pruning.

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How to stop a dog from jumping up

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

A DOG jumping up at a visitor is the worst possible introduction anybody can have to your home and your dog. Indeed, for those who do not even like dogs, it could be the end of a beautiful friendship and visits from them!

Somebody wrote to me: “I have been doing the off command as a dog trainer told me

since he was small, and kneed him in the chest, all to no avail.

I have put him on his leash with a choke collar and he is still tugging away. That initial greeting is a horror story every time.”

My reply was give it up. The knee in the chest is outdated. It is bad advice to tell any owner to knee his dog.

The sound of the doorbell or knocking on the door can be a trigger for excitement. It heralds the arrival of another potential member of the pack. The dog jumps to show he is the host. So remove excitable triggers. The front door bell rings but before opening the door I put away the dog.

To me my dogs are not big; to me my dogs do not smell. To others they are big and they smell. What is acceptable to me is not always acceptable to my friends.

Put the dog away so he cannot demonstrate dominance by going to the front door. Keep

JUMPING UP: Your dog will quickly learn that your reaction is not very rewarding. him there for around 10 minutes. Then allow him in with a bone or Kong filled with a titbit to keep him occupied.

Dogs jump up at other times because the act is rewarding by

attracting attention. When a dog jumps up, do not be aggressive.

Simply hold it up by its front paws and tell the dog you love it. Do not let it down; keep it up as long as you can.

By keeping the dog up, I mean stretching it up and up and keeping walking. The dog will then start to mouth your hands. When that happens drop the dog down. Do not place the

dog down, drop it.

When it is on all four legs, love him to bits, cuddle and talk. Then encourage the dog to jump again. As soon as it does so grab the paws and repeat the whole exercise.

It is important to get the timing right and that the whole family learns to do this. Your dog will quickly learn that by jumping up your reaction is not very rewarding.

Alternatively answer the door with a spray bottle filled with water and squirt the dog in the face when it jumps up at the visitor. The surprise may teach it a lesson. This may not work at first with every dog but it can be repeated by keeping the spray bottle near the door.

Case story. A friend took my advice by having a spray bottle handy. Problem was the dog jumped up, knocked my friend’s hand and he squirted water over the visitor’s face. I know this is true for I was the visitor.

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GETTING BETTER: Bella recovering in the comfort of her own home.

Bella the Beagle recovers House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and pet-sitting and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! To find a pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com or call Lamia on 00 44 (0) 777 214 2742.

THE owners of Bella and Sky travel the world one country at a time, and spend a year or so in each country in order to really enjoy and absorb the local culture.

The Beagles go with them naturally, wherever they live. They are currently based in Sevilla, and are loving the culture and lifestyle so much they have decided to spend a second year.

A n d f r o m t i m e t o time th e o w n e rs have to travel for work, one is a travel writer and the other is a photographer.

Their dogs stay at home in Sevilla with hou se si t t e r s. R e ce n tly B ella , th e younger of the two beagles, fell ill while they were away and our house-sitter Bragi immediately contacted the owners.

They arranged for a friend to collect Bella to see a local vet. She was examined and a medication prescribed. She is now recovering in the comfort of her own home. Meanwhile, Bragi is there to oversee her recovery and tend to her. He re p o rts d a ily to the ow ne rs on he r progress. Get better soon Bella!

Do you need a sitter? Get in touch.

House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and pet-sitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either housesitter or homeowner now with a 20 per cent off introductory offer using coupon code PERFECT20. To find a house petsitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com.

The debate on mogs or dogs WHETHER dogs or cats are smarter has been a common debate among animal lovers for years, and looks set to remain so for many years to come.

Although scientists are making many new discoveries regarding animals and their behaviour and they are one step closer to answering the question every day, there is still no definite result to the debate.

If we go by size, dogs are clearly in the lead as their brains make up 1.2 per cent of their total body weight, compared to 0.9 per cent for cats.

Yet scientists claim that size doesn’t matter and what counts is the number of brain cells. In this case, cats are well in the lead with around 300 million compared to dogs’ 160 million.

Investigations carried out at the Cancog Technologies Insti-

tute in Toronto, Canada, led to the conclusion that dogs are more eager and able to learn and understand tasks and orders and obtain better results than cats in memory tests.

Other studies have proved that dogs are able to classify objects in different categories. While both animals are able to solve simple puzzles to obtain food, when

things get more complicated dogs are more likely to look to humans for help while cats will keep trying to solve them themselves.

Many scientists, though, have said that felines are more difficult to work with than canines meaning results of the many studies carried out so far can never be completely trustworthy.

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COSTA BLANCA DOG Transport. The comfort of your pet is our priority. Excellent rates and Defra run. www.costablancadoghoming.c om 675 485 613 (248464)

FULL/PART TIME Kleeneze Agents required. Choose your own hours. Immediate earnings and a great opportunity to become financially free. Call Brian on 616 786 174 or go to www.new2spain.eu (249564) NEW office in Benidorm require Telemarketers with experience English, Dutch, French, German. Call 603 250 424 (248471)

TELESALES positions available for our Benissa office.

English and Spanish preferred, but not essential, must have local knowledge of the area and be smart and presentable.

Applications by email with full CV should be sent to recruitment@euroweek lynews.com.

DO you want a legal contracted position – in an office – administration – must possess common sense and a desire to work. Full and part time hours available. No time wasters please. Send cv to ssamantha328@gmail.com

REMOVALS & STORAGE

PLUMBING

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FIELD SALES positions available. Must have own transport, English and Spanish preferred, but not essential, must have local knowledge of the area and be smart and presentable.

Applications by email with full CV should be sent to recruitment@euroweek lynews.com.

DO YOU want to rent out your villa in Javea/Denia for summer ? Or looking for a long let while your property is for sale ? We have over 10 year experience. See www.cb casas.com or call Walter at 666 327 729. (248410)

www.100percentplumbing.co m Call for a free quotation 965 835 939 (87006)

NEED YOUR PETS TAKEN CARE OF? Not kennels, just a friendly home. Large fenced area. 699 790 080 Altea

SITUATIONS VACANT

PROPERTY WANTED

BUGBUSTERS Fully legal Costa Blanca Pest Control Company. EST 1994. For all pest problems, commercial and domestic. Call Lois Clark 619 054 939/96 686 5204. bugbusterslois@hotmail.com.

ROESB 05552 CV (232424)

WANTED Cars, vans, caravans, 4 X 4’s British Spanish 600 781 873 ibuyany car@hotmail.com (249193)

ROLLER SHUTTER REPAIRS, awnings, motors, mosquito blinds. Calpe + 50 kms. 659 464 992 www.toldosalchemy. com (241760)

RENTAL APARTMENT RINCON AREA 2/4 PERSONS €250 PER WEEK. WIFI AND EVERYTHING INCLUDED. 0034 602 538 470. jcstevens@home.nl.

(248255)

PEST CONTROL

PET-COURIERS.COM – If you love your pet try us first – we are the best. Door to door service throughout Europe.

Specialised vehicles – bespoke service. Full legal service including documentation if required. For further information call or e-mail us: Tel: (0034) 651 033 670 or (0034) 637 066 227. Email: info@petcouriers.com or www.petcouriers.com (243861)

ROLLER SHUTTERS

PROPERTY TO LET

BRICOMADERWOOD.COM. See our advert on page 80 (242550)

PETS

BENIDORM and surrounding areas. Two man removal. 678 067 163 (232432)

PET TRANSPORT

PERGOLAS

MOTORING

MORAIRA. SEMI-DETACHED TOWNHOUSE WITH GUEST APARTMENT. 3 beds, 2 baths, 85 m2. Swimming pool. Sea view. Ref.: 2ad-3587 – Price: € 130.000, Tel.:670 771 680. www. justhomes.es (228116) CALPE. VILLA WITH GUEST APARTMENT. Beautiful. Must see! Everything on 1 level! House 125m2, plot 866 m2. Rennovated in 2014.

3 beds, 3 baths, Price € 380.000, Tel: 670 771 680 (228116)

PAINTER/DECORATOR

MOBILE MECHANIC, region Denia - Javea. Call Autobastian. Tel 608 860 725 / email autobastian@gmail.com

PROPERTY FOR SALE

EWN

UK - SPAIN - Anywhere Europe! Masses of experience. New clean vehicles.

Insured with Royal Sun Alliance. Genuinely CARING service. FULL and / Part moves. ONLINE QUOTES!! www.bmceuropean.com Tel: UK 08456 443 784 / ES 634 344 787 FIND US ON FACEBOOK! (243375)

SOFT FURNISHINGS LOOSE COVERS, CURTAINS ETC. Made to Measure.

Choose from a wide range of beautiful fabrics in your own home. Tel: 965 771 397 or 686 453 827 (241750)

UK-SPAIN-IRELAND. Removals with the personal touch. Pets carried with care 965 696 750 / 0044 (0) 7447 918 589 e-mail chrisy ounge73979@aol.com

SOLAR LOWEST PRICES IN SPAIN. www.solarmegastore.es (232402)

WE WILL MOVE IT Full roof rack for long loads Full & part loads We will take pets Based in Javea & Denia Spain UK Spain Weekly 0034 634 360 846 0044 7783 222 251 wewillmoveit@hotmail.co.uk (233356)

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Email oasisparks@yahoo. co.uk. Telephone: 696 090 776 (228034) EARN 300€ to 2,500€ per month working with a reputable British PLC. Flexible Hours. No Selling. Local Training & Support. For more information go to www.the-vistagroup.com (249564)

STRUCTURAL SURVEYS MARK PADDON BSc Hons.

Building surveying. MCIOB, CAAT. From 245 EUROS + IVA. Insured and legally registered in Spain. Tel: 653 733 066 / 962 807 247 www.costablancasurveyors.co m (236622) www.euroweeklynews.com

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SWIMMING POOLS WOODEN POOLS LIMITED. Manufacturers & installers of wooden above ground pools.

Take the plunge with one of the above ground pools. Best of all “No Planning Permission Required” Tel: 634 322 672.

Phone or email for a FREE COLOUR BROCHURE & PRICE LIST NOW. www.woodenpo Nols.limited info@woodenpo ols.limited (249646)

TELECOMS FED UP PAYING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR MOBILE PHONE CALLS? THEN CONTACT TELITEC TODAY. CALLS TO SPAIN 7C PER MINUTE INCLUDING MOBILES. CALLS TO UK 5.3C PER MINUTE. NO MONTHLY FEES, NO CONTRACT. WWW.TELITEC.COM TEL: 902 889 070 (0)

QUALIFIED BRITISH SATELLITE ENGINEER with over 25 years experience on Costa Blanca. Installing and repairing SAT TV equipment. Same day service, all work guaranteed. Call Steve 617 911 118 (241999)

WASHING MACHINES

REPAIRS WASHING MACHINE broken?

Call BlueSky Repairs for all your domestic appliance repairs. 626 430 671 / 966 875 283 (248333)

WANTED

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For daily news visit www.euroweeklynews.com

WRITING GROUP CALLING all writers ! Join regular meets in Altea/Albir for feedback, ideas, support.

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XXX RELAXATION Readers of a sensitive disposition may find some of the advertisements in this section offensive.

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Monday - Saturday 10 - 3.

Hundreds of wigs in stock, private appointments after 3pm and home visits. 690 378 844 (248381)

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Tel 671 431 214 (245642) VALERIA in Denia, clean and discreet, erotic massage, relaxing, sex, outings and more call 686 094 328. (236562) BENIDORM, sexy nurse, excellent body massage, including sex, 50€ per hour. Above restaurant Toni Romas, 638 908 955 (248299) VERA MASSAGE BENIDORM. DUTCH WOMAN 47 YEARS GIVES VERY RELAXING MASSAGES IN BENIDORM. MEN OR WOMEN. CALL OR WHATSAPP 672 156 249. www.mas sage-benidorm.com (248351)

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MALE MASSAGE in Benidorm. Relaxing, qualified private service in my positive home. 604 232 351 www.pridemassage.info (247652)

VARIOUS THE LOVE STORE in Denia has all you need to spend a great time with your partner.

Lingerie, adult Toys, Lubricant, Massage Oils, DVDs, S/M and much more. The Love Store Denia, Passeo Saladra 75, Denia (248393) GUYS - Generic Viagra 100mg - Cialis Weekenders - and other associated products. Please contact Keith on 687 357 529 (241994) VIAGRA/Kamagra/Cialis/Weigh t loss pills the best prices in Spain! BUY ONE GET ONE FREE on certain items. Order securely & discreetly online: www.costapills.net Postal Nationwide delivery sales@ costapills.net (253176)

CLASSIFIEDS

MOTORING www.euroweeklynews.com

Costa Blanca North

SPONSORED BY

Running a good race AUTOMOCION MOLL car showroom in Gandia has hosted an event at which Automocion Moll Athletics Club, formerly Kilometro 42 Athletics Club, presented the new season.

The presentation was attended by Gandia Sports Councillor Lydia Morant, club president Felix Pont and Automocion Moll owners Victor and Javier Moll, who presented the club’s new kit for this season which carries the name of Automocion Moll A.C. The car showroom, a leading outlet for Fiat, Abarth, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Hyundai and Mazda, is once again supporting athletics, currently one of the most popular sports in La Safor, by sponsoring the athletics club, which is aiming to become the top club in the area.

The level of athlete at the club can be seen in its recent history of results and victories, including second place in the Gold team’s category at the last Valencia Marathon, and it is currently in the lead on the Circuit Safor Valldigna, with just three races to go.

Automocion Moll Athletics Club is growing by the day and boasts more than 50 members and a national licence. It aspires to continue achieving magnificent results and to repeat last year’s team win at the Circuit a peu Marina Alta race.

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FOR BEST RATES IN MOTOR INSURANCE CALL: 952 89 33 80

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www.euroweeklynews.com

MOTORING

Real public punishment FORGET Brexit, the real referendum in Britain today is on how should the courts punish dangerous drivers.

The Ministry of Justice is asking the public their thoughts on life and death motoring matters as it seeks to calm anger over recent road deaths.

Ministers want to know what you think is the difference between careless and dangerous driving, what should result in a lost licence, and what the maximum penalties for causing death on the roads should be.

Naturally ministers will steer clear of suggestions like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hang them lot of themâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but, if they are genuine about wanting a public input, Britain will likely see some tougher laws in the near future. Last month a Polish lorry driver got 10 years for killing a family of four while playing on his phone.

You can give your opinion on the Ministry of Justice website until February 1.

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SPORT

2017 is going to be a 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

AS usual there has been plenty of sport for everyone to enjoy over the festive season and there is a lot more to come in 2017.

ROUND-UP • Alan Pardew received an early Christmas present - one he certainly didn’t expect - as he was sacked as manager of

Crystal Palace after almost two years in charge. Palace have assembled the worst record of any of the 92 ‘League’ clubs in 2016. Sam Allardyce was quickly appointed to take over the hot seat at Selhurst Park.

• There was no major football played in England (or Wales) over Christmas, but some very interesting matches took place on Monday including relegation battles involving Burnley v Middlesbrough and Swansea v West Ham; leaders Chelsea met Bournemouth, Arsenal played West Bromwich Albion, Manchester City visited bottom club Hull, Manchester United met Sunderland and Watford entertained Crystal Palace. Liverpool welcomed Stoke to Anfield on Tuesday and Spurs visited Southampton last night.

• Surprisingly England’s cricket skipper Alastair Cook has been named ‘Captain of the Year’ by the ICCC… Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin won the ‘all rounder of the year’

award, while four Englishmen were chosen in 2016 World XI - Cook, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes. Australia also had four players in the team, but not Steve Smith, while the Indian star Virat Kohli was also rejected.

• The World Darts Championship is continuing at London’s Ally Pally; the World Junior Ice Hockey tournament is underway in Finland and the World Cross Country Skiing championships start in Canada on Saturday.

• Jockey John Buckingham, who rode 100-1 outsider Foinavon to a famous victory in the 1967 Grand National, has died aged 76.

There will be a different format to my sports page in 2017… I will be looking ahead to forthcoming events and competitions action rather than reporting on what has happened around the world in the previous seven days. And here is a feeler of what you can expect…

FOOTBALL • On Monday, January 2, there will be six matches in the Premiership: Everton-Southampton, Manchester CityBurnley, Middlesb r o u g h - L e i c e s t e r, Sunderland-Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion-Hull City.

• Twenty-four hours later, we have

DID YOU KNOW? West Bromwich Albion scored a total of 18 goals when winning three successive League Division One games by 5-3, 6-0 and 7-1 away at Birmingham City between 1958 and 1960.

And with that I wish all readers of the EWN a very happy and prosperous 2017.

Orba Warblers report

TURKEY TROT: Members and guests with their festive prizes.

THE Warblers were at Oliva Nova for the three clubs and a putter Turkey Trot stableford competition. Unfortunately no buggies allowed on the course because of the wet conditions. We had 22 players, two of which were guests Malcolm Monti and Liam Williamson, who were made to feel very welcome. The golf course played very long and made scoring very difficult. As in the 12 days of Christmas there were 12 prizes up for grabs.

Top trotter was Chris Williamson who played well for his 34pts, second was Steve Smith with 32pts and Fred Cooley was third with 31pts. The rest were as follows: 4th Michael Morley 29pts, 5th Dave Knight 28pts, 6th Glynn Braidley 28pts, 7th Derek Gray 26pts, 8th Chris Hoare 26pts, 9th Malcolm Robinson 24pts, 10th Jerry Fitchett 23pts, 11th Arthur Sullivan 22pts and 12th was Sally Marsden with 20pts.

The two nearest the pins were won by Chris Williamson on hole 3 and Cap’n Dave on hole 16. Dave was the only two winner on the same hole 16. Football card winner was Michael Morley with Ipswich and he forgot himself and ran to the bar to buy everyone drinks!!!

Thank you to Sally Marsden for supplying us with Brandy and mince pies on the first tee, and to Oliva Nova Golf Club for hot chocolate, drinks and cake on the 8th tee.

Next week January 4 the Warblers travel to Alenda for a stableford competition and the eagerly awaited Big Singles Final match between Glynn Braidley and David French. First tee is 10.48am so please arrive by 10.00am for registration. Guests are welcome, subject to availability, and current handicap certificate.

To book please contact David at dr.knight1207@googlemail.com or phone 634 307 407.

SPORT

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another ‘great’ sporting year ALASTAIR COOK: Has been named ‘Captain of the Year.’

Bournemouth-Arsenal, Crystal Palace-Swansea and Stoke City-Liverpool, followed next Wednesday by the London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and top-of-thetable Chelsea.

• The early New Year’s fixtures in the Championship include Blackburn Rovers against leaders Newcastle United, Bristol City versus inform Reading, Fulham v Brighton and Hove Albion, Norwich City v Derby , Sheffield Wednesday v Wolves and Wigan Athletic v Huddersfield.

• In FL1, Bury play Sheffield United, Bolton Wanderers visit lowly Coventry City (who now have Russell Slade in charge), Northampton Town take on Bradford City, Scunthorpe United meet Peterborough and Rochdale visit Walsall.

• The top FL2 games are Barnet-Plymouth Argyle, Carlisle United-Grimsby Town and Doncaster RoversStevenage.

• And I can’t forget Glasgow’s New Year’s Eve showdown between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Park.

• And looking ahead, there will be 32 third round FA Cup-ties staged between January 6 and 9, with a handful of non-League clubs hoping to cause major upsets including Eastleigh at Brentford, Sutton United at home to AFC Wimbledon, Stourbridge at Wycombe and Lincoln against Ipswich. Elsewhere, Peterborough take on Chelsea, Plymouth visit Liverpool and Preston play Arsenal, while former player Jaap Stam returns to Manchester

DAKAR CAR RALLY: A physical challenge that pushes into world of extreme endurance.

United as manager of Reading.

MOTOR SPORT • The annual Dakar Car Rally starts on January 2 and once again the route preserves rally-raid traditions, with a physical challenge that will push the competitors into the world of extreme endurance.

There are seven selective sections covering over 400km

with one of more than 500km.

The rally will run for six days with drivers taking their vehicles to over 3,000m above sea level. The balance of difficulties can be illustrated by a double upward trend and a huge increase in power to reach the ideal level to conquer the ‘Super Belén’.

With the addition of Paraguay, the 2017 Dakar

Rally will visit the 29th country in its history and the fifth on the South American continent.

The longest daily drive will be in Bolivia, going through the capital city of La Paz. Argentina, which has been a part of every edition since 2009, will be the theatre for the final battle decided in Buenos Aires.