Awarded Best
8 - 14 March 2018
Water ban threat to be lifted THE Junta de Andalucia regional government has scrapped a ban on watering following massive rainfall. The Board said there would be no further watering reductions after the La Concepcion reservoir reached 71.3 per cent capacity after this week’s wet weather. The Ministry for the Environment has also confirmed it will look into lifting a ban on watering in Axarquia after the region’s reservoirs received 58 cubic hectometres since the start of the rainy season. Jose Fiscal, Minister for Environment and Territorial Planning, added further plans to reduce water levels for the tourist season could also be binned. He explained, “the measure of having less water for the Costa del Sol starting in April - which the Board had not publicly discussed until now - is not going to be necessary, which is very important because we are talking about a vital area where the number of tourists multiplies from this time.” From the beginning of February, farmers in VelezMalaga were forced to cut their irrigation by 60 per cent. The Junta explained the subtropical fruit farmers would be offered just 10 hectometres of water for irrigating this year compared to the 23 hectometres normally used. Alexander Clavero, a spokesman for Plataforma de Aguas de la Axarquia, praised the policy which saw Viñuela’s water levels maintained at their current level rather than decreasing as before.
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ISSUE NO. 1705
Newspaper in Spain 2018
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ROAD CLOSED: The MA-4108 fell away in severe weather and (inset) Torrox Coast suffered storm damage. Immense rainfall saw part of one road disappear entirely during the recent stormy weather. It is thought the MA4108 mountain road between Salares and Archez could be closed for up to a month after the tarmac dramatically fell away in one section, leaving drivers unable to cross. Politicians and resi-
dents are now calling on the governing Partido Popular council to repair the damage ‘immediately,’ claiming the road had been ‘abandoned.’ Other motorists were also affected by storms with one driver having to be rescued from the Rio Seco in Torre del Mar. Firemen were forced to intervene after a car was
dragged into the currents as it tried to cross the normally dry riverbed. The vehicle was reportedly dragged to the Rio Seco Bridge around 50 metres from the mouth of t h e r i v e r, c a u s i n g f i r e fighters to intervene. Heavy rainfall also saw tons of plastics and deb r i s w a s h u p o n To r r o x Costa, leaving much of
the beachfront in tatters. To r r o x C o u n c i l a r e forced to pay out thousands of Euros each year to deal with storm damage to the area’s beaches, even installing a groin to prevent sand movement. L a s t y e a r, h o w e v e r, damage to the coastline was still visible leading to criticism from opposition parties.
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Havana laugh? A MAN has been arrested for threatening strangers with a knife. The 37-year-old Cuban national is said to have intimidated those walking past him in Malaga City, brandishing a large knife at them and attempting to hurt one person. Police were forced to detain the man after a resident reported seeing the accused threatening strangers on a street in the Santa Rosalia-Maqueda neighbourhood. Officers arrested the alleged culprit, taking him to a police station and identifying him before discovering he had previous convictions for similar crimes. The unusual incident follows a spate of knife crimes in Axarquia over the last month, resulting in one death and one injury. Last week in Salobreña a man was arrested for slashing a teenager’s face in the middle of a street following a case of mistaken identity. The accused, who is 47, is said to have approached the teenager on Calle Cañas before briefly arguing with him. The victim is said to have told the man he was not the person he was looking for but the alleged perpetrator still took out an eight-centimetre knife before slashing the boy’s face. At the beginning of February, a woman was killed after her partner allegedly stabbed her almost 30 times at her home in La Viñuela.