Euro Weekly News - Axarquia 11 - 17 March 2021 Issue 1862

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The people’s paper ISSUE NO. 1862

11 - 17 March 2021

AXARQUIA - COSTA TROPICAL • WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

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MOTRIL’S €6M HOSPITAL

WORK on the new multi‐million euro hospital will begin at the end of the year, with a further €180,000 allocat‐ ed in light of the pandemic to create an extra 15 beds.

The first stone will be laid at the site between November and December, 14 years after the old Santa Ana de Motril regional hospital building was demol‐ ished, and construction is expected to take 30 months.

At t h e b e g i n n i n g o f M a y 2 0 2 0 , t h e project, which has gone out to tender, was presented by teams of experts in hospital engineering for review and the specifications were drawn up.

The new hospital will be 14 metres high and will have three floors and the initial €4.5 million that was initially es‐ timated has now risen to €6,674,336.

Though unions have expressed con‐ cern about the budget allocation, the Minister of Health and Families, Jesús Aguirre, said the budget reserve for 100 per cent of the construction work has been approved “in order for the new building to become a reality as soon as possible.”

Police jabs MOTRIL Local Police have received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine.

The vaccination of the town’s firefighters will begin on Monday, March 15, divided into groups - as with the police - to prevent possible side effects leaving the service stretched.

The local officers will have to wait around 21 days to receive the second jab for full immunisation.

At the beginning of the year, the council and unions demanded that the vaccination of police and firefighters be prioritised after around 20 per cent tested positive, putting immense pressure on both emergency servcies.

“The first vaccination shift of the firefighters will start next Monday, and in this way, one of the claims that the consistory has made to Health will have been fulfilled,” said councillor for Citizen Security, Mara Escámez.

NEW HOSPITAL: Will be built on the site of the old regional hospital building and is expected to take 30 months.

Tribute to women

THE efforts of women in the fight against Covid were honoured by Rincon de la Victoria Council on International Women’s Day (March 8) with a manifesto in recognition of their contribution during the pandemic.

Deputy mayor and councillor for S ocial W elfare, Elena Aguilar, highlighted the fact that the pandemic has confined many women to their homes, adding: “We can not allow ourselves to go back on the relevance of the gender perspective as social reconstruction or teleworking makes us disappear from the public arena and decision-making against Covid-19.

“This manifesto recognises the great contributions of women and the exemplary female leadership. Their re-

WOMEN’S DAY: Were honoured for their contribution. sponse, commitment and effort against this disease and its social and economic consequences deserves all of our admiration and respect,” she added.

Aguilar said the document,

which was approved in February, “reaffirms our commitment to work on those measures that favour equal opportunities in all areas and for all people, regardless of their sex.”

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11 - 17 March 2021

Welcoming guests

First hotel to reopen.

AN Almuñecar hotel has become the first large holi‐ day complex on the Axar‐ quia coast to reopen for business ‐ albeit temporari‐ ly.

The Hotel Helios opened its doors on Saturday, March 6, to host 45 Polish cyclists for a week ahead of its official reopening on May 20.

The hotel has been

Rincon de la Victoria Invests €154,534 in Disinfection RINCON DE LA VICTORIA Council has invested €154,534 in disinfecting.

According to councillor for the Environment, Sergio Di‐ az, Rincon de la Victoria will spend €154,534 in disinfect‐ ing.

The investment will see disinfection and cleaning ser‐ vices carried out over the next three months after the move was approved by the council.

Councillor Diaz said: “It is important that we attend to the real needs of services in the municipality. This work will improve the cleaning and disinfection in the four main areas in the months leading up to the summer when the influx of visitors is beginning to be noticed in Rincon de la Victoria.”

closed for six months hav‐ ing shut on September 28 due to the pandemic, but today breathed new life in‐ to the complex with the ar‐ rival of the first group of cyclists who will spend sev‐ en nights in the hotel leav‐ ing on March 13 ‐ the an‐ niversary of the declaration of State of Alarm in Spain.

The cyclists will be train‐ ing in Almuñecar for a week, having been allowed to travel as they are a group of federated athletes who have undergone PCR testing.

They were due to travel last year to join teammate Tomasz Marczynski, a pro‐ fessional cyclist based in Granada, but the health cri‐ sis meant the trip was can‐ celled.

The Helios hotel will be closed for other customers, with the exception of the San Cristobel beachfront cafe.

Ninety per cent of the coastline’s hotels remain closed.

€400,000 training scheme

EMPLEATE 2021 (Get Employed 2021) is a comprehensive action initiative launched by Almuñecar Council to improve employability through training in a range of different occupational workshops.

“We want to improve economic and social progress particularly during the difficult economic situation we are currently experiencing,” said deputy mayor and delegate for Training and Employment at Almuñecar Council, Beatriz González Orce.

Workshops will include: painting and construction, paving and masonry for urbanisation and auxiliary activities in nurseries and gardens.

“These will be aimed mainly at unemployed people in the municipality who have lost their job, unfortunately, because of the crisis generated by Covid-19, or those that have family dependents and lack benefits of any kind,” added González Orce.

The workshops are expected to start in mid-April, with spaces for 120 people and registration period will be from March 8 to 22. To find out more, visit Almuñecar Council’s website.

Queen’s jewels AXARQUIA jeweller crafts pieces for Queen Letitia and Lady Gaga.

Rod Almayate in Torre del Mar has become the jeweller of choice for many celebrities and most recently Queen Latitia who was snapped wearing a pair of intricate laced earrings. Founders of Rod Almayate, Diego Díaz and Roberto Ferlito, said this is “the fourth time that Queen Letizia has used our products” and that “she trusts the brand,” reports Vanitatis.

And demand is so high, that the founders claim they have had to say no to the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus.

They explained that their collections are full of symbolic, original, unique pieces, linked to the present time and at affordable prices.

The earrings worn by the Queen cost around €220 and are made to order. Other celebrity customers include Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, along with Spanish actresses Candela Peña or Blanca Suárez.

The company was started 15 years ago and relocated to Torre del Mar two years ago, centralising all work and closing international offices.

NEWS

Motril to Restore Iconic Military Plane MOTRIL Council has announced plans to restore its iconic military plane.

Politicians at Motril Council an‐ nounced plans to restore the iconic military plane as well as to move it. The plane, which began its active life in 1965 and was do‐ nated to Motril in 1981, is now being restored for its 40th an‐ niversary.

The aircraft is an example of the advances in military aviation of the 1960s and was donated fol‐ lowing an agreement between the Air Force and Motril Council.

Jose Miguel Perez Juarez, the Motril Local Police officer desig‐ nated as the liaison between the council and the Historical and Cul‐ tural Service of the Air Force, said: “It is an iconic plane and, due to the passage of time, it needs a complete restoration which will give it back the appearance it had at the beginning of its operational life.”

Jose Luis Rando, commander of Motril’s 9th Air Surveillance Squadron, said: “it is a cause for celebration because this aircraft was the first built in our country.”

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NIBS EXTRA Destination MAYOR Óscar Medina has pledged to continue working to make Torrox ‘a preferred destination in Europe’ and is taking part in the ITB Berlin telematic meetings which come to an end on Friday, March 12, to ensure the town ‘is in perfect condition to receive tourists and thus reactivate the local economy.’

Highest yet NERJA has approved its €37,903,079 budget which has been hailed its ‘highest investment to date,’ with €12,200,000 aimed at the ‘economic reactivation’ of Nerja and Maro, and large social spending to support the most vulnerable families hardest hit by the pandemic in the municipality.

Be aware THE Local Police and the Consumer Information Office of Torrox is urging members of the public to be vigilant reiterating the fact that gas checks will only be carried out at people’s homes if the homeowner themselves calls the gas company to arrange the visit.

Far reaching THE campaign ‘Axarquia Costa del Sol wants to see you’ has reached more than 800,000 people on social networks through images and publications, highlighting the region’s natural and heritage resources, its gastronomy and its regularly celebrated customs. The initiative was launched in July of last year.

Well received A BUDGET of €16,000 was set aside to complete repairs on the television antenna at Bentomiz Castle in Arenas. The council assures ‘very good quality’ receptions should now be being received and has asked residents to check they can now receive all channels, and to contact them if they are having problems.

Accessible THE Home and Social Centre of Maro has been completely remodelled and is now equipped with a new access ramp and renovated toilets including adapted facilities for people with reduced mobility. The council has spent €150,000 on the project. After two years without use, the centre is now fully accessible for all users.

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Pony Neglect Investigated POLICE in Motril are investigating after receiving reports about pony neglect.

Officers from the police said they are investigating after receiving reports of a pony that had been neglected.

The Guardia Civil are investigating a 63-year-old man from Motril for alleged animal cruelty after allegedly neglecting his pony.

The animal, which was kept on a piece of land in Almuñecar, reportedly showed signs of neglect,

UNTRIMMED: The pony was unable to walk easily. with hooves that had not been trimmed, leaving it unable to walk easily and in pain.

Officers from the Guardia Civil’s environmental team, Seprona, reportedly learned of the

neglect before visiting the animals the next day with a veterinary surgeon belonging to the Oficina Comarcal Agraria in Motril. The vet reportedly confirmed the pony was showing signs of laminitis, a disease that affects the feet and is found mostly in horses and cattle.

According to media reports, the owner admitted that he had not trimmed he pony’s hooves in more than a year, claiming he had called a man to do it who had never arrived.

Review of Children’s School Meals ALMUÑECAR Council has announced it will review its school meals.

The news means Almuñecar Council will review school meals before awarding a new contract to provide the food.

Almuñecar Council and the Children’s Cen‐ tre Catering Service company have said they will review the requirements and provisions of school meals before renewing them.

Free bus travel FREE bus travel has been agreed for Al‐ muñecar pensioners as part of a €6.3 million contract renewal with urban transport company Roalfa.

Mayor of Almuñecar, Trinidad Herrera Lorente, and Juan Pablo Fajardo of the Autocares Fajardo Group sealed the deal for a period of 10 years, and extendable for a further five, which will see free travel for pensioners registered in the munici‐ pality.

“This is one of the most important that the municipality has... public transport is one of the most important services the municipality provides its citizen,” said Her‐ rera.

She added that an important aspect of the new contract is that “pensioners of the municipality will not pay for bus tick‐ ets, they will be subsidised by the council so that pensioners can move around our town for free.

“We also congratulate the bus compa‐ ny because they have been continually very supportive and sensitive to the situa‐ tion we are experiencing,” added Her‐ rera.

New features and improvements in‐ cluded in the concession include connect‐ ing 15 bus shelters to a special location system to provide real‐time information about bus stops and routes for travellers.

Fajardo stressed that the pandemic may determine exactly when the system is up and running. “We will try to imple‐ ment it as soon as possible and before the summer. We believe that this will serve to speed up passenger collection and give more information on how traffic evolves.”

The council said: “In order to monitor the specifications and the provision of the cater‐ ing service that is served in the municipal nursery schools of Almuñecar and La Her‐ radura, the councillor for Social Services and Municipal Children’s Centres, Maria del Car‐ men Reinoso, has met coordinator Maria del Carmen Centurion and those responsible for the company awarded the contract at Global

Colectividades SL, which agreed to the ser‐ vice last year for a period of two years and an extension of another two.”

They added at the event were, “those re‐ sponsible for each municipal centre, who ex‐ pressed their doubts and suggestions.”

The award reportedly reached the amount of €150,703.40, at a cost of €3.25 per menu.

Beaches for all

BEACH facilities are getting a makeover to ensure the Nerja coastline can be enjoyed by everyone.

Toilet modules are being upgraded on Nerja beaches, adapted for people with reduced mobility following an investment of almost €200,000.

Councillor for the Beaches, Mari Carmen López, explained: “The aim is to improve the quality of the services we offer to users who come to our beaches, a total of seven modules will be renovat‐ ed on the El Playazo, Chucho, Salón, Calahonda and Maro beaches.

“In addition to renewing the image of the beaches, with a modern design and quality materials, all modules are adapted for people with reduced mobility. Their interior has better lighting and natural ventilation, as well as tiling, suspended toilets and provided with a changing table for ba‐ bies. Some are also equipped with a shower.” She added: “We at Nerja Council are going to contin‐ ue working on this line, improving and modernising our beaches with the aim of offering the quali‐ ty services that our neighbours and visitors deserve.”

Maiden voyage

Healthy routes

THE first passenger ferry set sail from Motril to Melilla at the weekend, a year after Covid forced its suspension.

On its maiden four and a half hour voyage, five passengers and vehicles boarded the ferry at Las Azucenas dock at 8.47am on Saturday, March 6. The Volcán del Tauce ferry has re‐ mained moored due to the outbreak of the pandemic since March 13, and since then, the Port Authority has been trying to recover the passenger lines, which account for 30 per cent of the annual business volume.

As a result of the closure, the shipping com‐ pany was forced to furlough 73 per cent of the 251 workers that make up its workforce. Presi‐ dent of the Port Authority, José García Fuentes, said: “From April we will have at least four lines in operation. Not only are we going to recover 100 per cent of the lines, we are also adding two shipping companies, Balearia, which will operate to Melilla and MCL, connecting Motril with Tangier for freight traffic.”

THE Nerja branch of the Spanish Association Against Cancer is promoting outdoor activity with ‘healthy routes along the coastline.’

The town council is collaborating with the associ‐ ation to develop a series of routes which will be led by volunteers from the cancer charity.

Councillor Daniel Rivas and local coordinator of Social Action, Bernardo Cortés, explained that “this initiative launched by the Malaga Provincial Council and the provincial headquarters of the AECC aims to promote physical activity to the open air and healthy habits among our neighbours in a privileged environment by the sea.”

The routes will be developed in groups of six peo‐ ple, with all the hygienic‐sanitary safety measures in place. The itinerary will depend on the physical ca‐ pabilities of those taking part, and will include the beaches of El Playazo, Chucho, Torrecilla, and Burri‐ ana, as well as the centre of the municipality and the Balcón de Europa and Maro.

Anybody interested in taking part should call the Spanish Association Against Cancer on 654 740 993.

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Water Service Updates

Torre del Mar.

PLANS to improve water services in Torre del Mar will see supply cuts in the Tomillar area.

The updates to wa‐ ter services will see cuts in Torre del Mar. Plans to renew a section of the Torre del Mar water supply network will see Aqualia, the manage‐ ment company in charge of the Velez‐ Malaga municipal wa‐ ter service, suspend the supply today, Thursday, March 11.

Water supplies will be cut off from 8.30am to 3pm in the Tomillar area, accord‐ ing to Aqualia.

The renovation consists of replacing 50 metres of the sup‐ ply network and con‐ necting it to the sup‐ ply networks on Calles Ruta de los Carboneros, Ruta del Peocoton, as well as to the general net‐ work that runs along Avenida del Sol. Aqualia has told residents to make sure no water is left on during supply sus‐ pension hours to avoid unnecessary losses of water later, as well as not to use electrical appliances, such as washing ma‐ chines or dishwash‐ ers, to avoid inci‐ dents with them.

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11 - 17 March 2021

NEWS

BA Plans Rapid Antigen Tests Sevilla Oranges to Queen of England BRITISH AIRWAYS is offering discounted test kits from government-approved Covid-19 testing provider Qured, at an ‘exclusive’ price of £33 (€38.18).

Qured will deliver rapid antigen tests to travellers, who can take the kits with them to be used anywhere in the world.

Following a video consultation with a health advisor, results will be available within 20 minutes and they will guide the customer through taking a nose and throat swab and processing the sample.

Verified results are available after 20 minutes, and the customer can download a ‘fit to fly’ certificate if the test is negative. Qured said its test kits “remove uncertainty for customers who may be unsure how to source a pre-departure test while in a foreign country.”

SELF TESTING: The kit can be used anywhere.

BA customers have access to preferential rates with several Covid-19 testing providers offering a range of PCR, lamp, antibody and antigen testing options. Before they fly, passengers due to fly on selected routes can upload their test results to the VeriFLY app - a mo-

bile travel health passport. This will certify their test certificates before departure.

The app is currently available to those who are eligible to travel between London and the US and Canada. It is also available on all inbound routes to the UK with BA.

THE Real Alcazar in Sevilla, Eu‐ rope’s oldest functioning royal palace, has brought back the tradition of sending a crate of oranges to the Queen of Eng‐ land, a tradition, which was lost early in the 20th century, with the fruit then being used for marmalade for the Queen.

Hugh Elliott, the British am‐ bassador to Spain, said the fruit would be made into the marmalade in his residence.

He wrote a letter of thanks to the Alcazar’s director, Isabel Rodriguez.

In it he said the oranges were “enormously appreciat‐ ed” and the result would be “a blend of our cultures.”

Built in the 12th century, the Real Alcazar is surrounded by around 7,000 square me‐ tres of gardens with 1,053 or‐ ange trees and 39 lemon trees.

A specialised firm has al‐ ready begun the 2021 harvest, with a budget of €17,837.

Rodriguez told one publica‐ tion another official had told

her about the lost tradition of sending Sevilla oranges to the British royals in 2019.

She added: “Last year we got in touch with the hon‐ orary consul in Sevilla, Joe Cooper, and we prepared a

20‐kilogram crate of oranges from our trees.

“This year, however, it was the consul in Sevilla who visit‐ ed us last week to pick them up and send them to Madrid once more.”

Caminito del Rey Reopens SPAIN’S famous attraction, El Caminito del Rey (the King’s Pathway), located in El Chorro, near Ardales in the province of Malaga, will reopen tomorrow, Friday, March 12, after a few weeks of forced closure, due to the mobility restrictions imposed by the authorities due to Covid-19.

The hanging walkways attached to the rocks of the Desfiladero de Los Gaitanes (Los Gaitanes Gorge) can once again be visited by nature lovers and thrill-seekers, walking on what in the past has been labelled ‘the world’s most dangerous walkway,’ pinned along the steep and sheer walls of the vertical gorge.

Tickets are currently on sale, through www.caminitodel rey.com enabling people to visit this natural enclave until, so far, April 4, limiting the dates at the moment purely in the event that a new closure occurs, but the website gives full information about full refunds or changes of tickets in the event of any new closure. For the time being the attraction will only be open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, with the exception of Easter (March 29 - April 4) where the facility will remain open every day, with the opening hours of 9am to 3pm daily, until March 28, and then after that date, extended from 9am til 4pm.

General admission is €10 per person, but there is the option of an English and Spanish-speaking tour guide for €18.

Dr Seuss Banned

FURIOUS sellers of six iconic Dr Seuss children’s books found that they were blocked from sell‐ ing them on eBay, receiving a message informing them that they had violated the company’s ‘offensive material policy,’which bans content that promotes ‘ha‐ tred, violence or discrimination.’

The news comes after Dr Seuss

Enterprises announced earlier in the month that it would no longer publish certain books because of ‘racist and insensitive imagery.’

The six books now on the ‘banned’ list are ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’, ‘If I Ran the Zoo’, ‘McEl‐ ligot’s Pool’, ‘On Beyond Zebra!’, ‘Scrambled Eggs Super!’, and

‘The Cat’s Quizzer’.

The decision to cease printing the books came after a 2019 study published in the journal ‘Re‐ search on Diversity in Youth Liter‐ ature’ found 43 out of 45 charac‐ ters of colour across 50 of the books had ‘characteristics aligning with the definition of Oriental‐ ism.’

Kilimanjaro On Bikes AN all‐female expedition will set out to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, in June, by climbing 5,895m on their bikes. If the restrictions allow, a group of seven women will head for Tanzania, among them two athletes from Alicante, Lola Martinez and Gloria Pérez.

As part of ‘The Magic of Kilimanjaro’ initiative, the women will take a few days to acclimatise to Africa before beginning the ascent. The journey will be six different stages and take place during the winter season in the southern hemisphere, so the weather conditions should be favourable.

Their path will pose a challenge as in several places it will be impassable for bikes so the women will have to carry them.

As well as giving a voice to women in Tanzania, the initiative will raise funds through the ‘Bike‐ forgirls’ project, which purchases bicycles for young women who often have to travel long dis‐ tances to get to school.

NEWS

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Masked Summer THE Minister of Health and Families of the Junta de Andalucía, Jesus Aguirre, has confirmed that “we will be wearing a mask in the summer” but added that “maybe there will be a little more relaxation.”

The minister added “The masks are going to make us change our habits, we have scientific evidence that respiratory infections, flu and pneumonia have fallen exponentially.”

New Delivery Company Scam SPANISH police are warning of the latest scam where fraud‐ sters pose as a parcel delivery service in order to get their vic‐ tims to click on a malicious link.

According to Spanish offi‐ cials, it has emerged at the be‐ ginning of March that the new ‘SMSing’ scam is in play, which sees the perpetrators posing as companies such as Fedex, Correos or DHL and messaging people to tell them there is a package waiting. The fraud‐ ster’s message then directs the victim to follow an internet link, which automatically downloads an app to the mo‐ bile or computer which gives the scammers access to per‐ sonal data. In addition, the ma‐

licious app can then install a banking Trojan that allows the criminals to access data from the most sensitive accounts.

In a statement, the National Police recommended paying particular attention when re‐ ceiving an electronic communi‐ cation and not acting impul‐ sively by clicking on the links.

They added that there are usually some clues in the mes‐ sages that indicate all may not be as it seems, such as unusual links which may have been shortened or have a different domain name to the company.

Officials also advised cus‐ tomers to only use the official websites of the delivery com‐ panies to track their packages or make enquiries.

11 - 17 March 2021

Birth Rate Falls

ACCORDING to new figures, Spain’s birth rate fell by 23 per cent in the year following the beginning of the pandemic.

In December and January, 13,141 fewer births were registered than in the same period the previous year, a drop of 22.6 per cent.

In total, 45,054 babies were registered in December and January, according to information from 3,929 computerised civil registries in Spain, covering 93 per cent of the country’s population. The drop follows an ongoing decrease in the number of births in Spain, with the 360,617 births in 2019 being the lowest figure since records began at the Spanish National Institute of Statistics in 1941.

BIRTHS: Numbers down.

Guillermo Antiñolo, director of the maternal-fetal unit at the Virgen del Rocio Hospital, in Sevilla, said he had seen a 40 per cent reduction in deliveries attended in the last 12 years, from 9,000 in 2008 to just over 5,000 in 2020.

TikTok campaign To Join The Force THE Guardia Civil has launched a campaign on its TikTok profile, on Sunday, March 7, in order to encourage more young women to join the force.

The campaign called ‘# ManyMás’ was run to tie in with International Women’s Day, which was celebrated on March 8, with a series of TikTok videos being published on the social media network, showing officers from the full range of services that the Guardia Civil offer, including Traffic, Maritime, Air Service, Seprona, and Criminalistics.

The current campaign is aimed at transmitting the message to its users, who are on average between 16 and 24 years of age, as potential recruits, to show them that ‘there are no limitations or barriers to being a Guardia Civil.’

At present, there are more than 6,000 women at all levels of the Guardia Civil, across all the different fields, with four of them holding the rank of lieutenant colonel, the highest-ranking so far for a female officer.

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Bitcoin Could Replace All Currencies AS national currencies are al‐ ready showing extreme signs of weakness, people will soon start measuring the price of things in terms of bitcoin, says Jesse Powell, CEO of cryptocur‐ rency trading exchange Kraken.

He told Bloomberg that bit‐ coin will eventually be a global currency because “you have to think it’s going to infinity.”

“I think true believers will tell you it’s going all the way to the moon, to Mars, and eventually it’ll be the world’s currency,” Powell added.

According to Powell, “In the near term, people see it (bit‐ coin) surpassing gold as a store of value, so I think a million dol‐ lars as a price target within the next 10 years is very reason‐ able.

“Bitcoin believers expect the cryptocurrency to replace fiat money and the market capitali‐ sation of all national currencies combined could make up its worth,” he said.

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11 - 17 March 2021

SPAIN is the world’s 10th biggest market for organic products in terms of the total value of organic sales and the 11th when it comes to the percentage of organic consumption.

A report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food shows how the organic farming sector continues with its strong growth process and

Organic growth is becoming an important differentiated food sector within the entire Spanish food system.

The estimated value of organic production at its origin surpassed €2.3 billion in 2019,

up 8.32 per cent on the previous year.

More than three quarters of this corresponds to organic production of plant origin and a quarter to that of animal origin.

The data shows that on average, each person in Spain spends €50.22 on organic products, with the most spent on fruit (15.5 per cent) and fresh vegetables (13.9 per cent).

Exports reached €995 million while imports totalled just over €1.07 billion.

General Director of the Food Industry, Jose Miguel Herrero, said Spain is “moving towards a sustainable model that is committed to the environment,” adding that after the summer, the ministry will carry out its “most important campaign to promote organic production.”

Chef Jose Andres will be the face of the promotional campaign that will be launched under the slogan: ‘The richest country in the world.’

NEWS

Rollout ‘Could End Pandemic’ A SPANISH expert has claimed the vaccine rollout could end the pandemic.

Dr Antoni Castells, medical director of the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, said: “If we manage to extend the vaccine, it is the end of the pandemic.”

Speaking about the situation, he said: “Like all health centres, we suffered from a shortage of protective equipment and respirators.

The avalanche of patients overflowed the healthcare structure around the world and we had to manage as best we could, the first months were really dramatic.

“In the first wave, the number of patients with non-Covid pathology dropped drastically. We were confined at home and patients were afraid of catching it if they came to the hospital. This was one of the concerns we had from the first moment.

“We are especially proud that the hospital never stopped treating non-Covid patients, although the total capacity was limited to a third.”

He added: “The favourable part of the pandemic is the appearance of the vaccine and the start of vaccinations.”

DR ANTONI CASTELLS: Proud hospital did not stop nonCovid treatments.

5000 people concert MANY may consider the thought of a concert with 5,000 people scary, but the idea will be trialled on March 27.

Barcelona will welcome 5,000 people to the Palau Sant Jordi for a concert of the Love Of Lesbian group.

During the concert there will be none of the normal Covid-19 prevention measures as we know them, as social distancing will not be required. Concert goers will be required though to wear an FFP2 mask and undergo certain requirements before the concert.

A series of preliminary checks will be carried out and this will include an antigen test and also a temperature check before entering the concert. The announcement was made on Friday, March 5 at an event which was being held at Barcelona’s Estadi Olímpic. The event was also attended by representatives of Health and Culture of the Generalitat, and Ada Colau, the mayor.

A smaller trial concert took place last December at the Sala Apolo, this time with around 500 people in attendance.

It is hoped that the concert will allow new protocols to be established and used in the future at other concerts.

NEWS

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11 - 17 March 2021

Appeal for missing 17 yr old A GIRL, 17, has been reported missing from her home in Barcelona since Monday, March 1.

Sandra Plazas Prados is described as 1.63 metres tall, 65 kilos, with long, straight, black hair and green eyes and wellbuilt.

She was wearing jeans, a military style jacket and white trainers with a turquoise stripe when she was last seen.

She was going to a course in the Raval area of Barcelona

when she was last seen, but according to her sister’s Facebook post regarding her disappearance, she did not arrive.

People have claimed to have seen her in the area.

Anyone with information can call 674 926 577, 112, the National Police, the Mossos d’Esquadra or the Guardia Urbana.

MISSING: In Barcelona.

Fines for no ITV

THE General Traffic Depart‐ ment (DGT) has confirmed that it will fine drivers whose vehicle has not passed its ITV (Technical In‐ spection of Vehicles, equiva‐ lent to the MOT).

In the past months, due to the pandemic and its mobility restrictions, many people are using their vehicles less and may have forgotten about the ITV. There is also a backlog caused by the first State of Alarm, during which ITV stations were closed, and drivers whose vehicles should have undergone the ITV test during lockdown have been given an extended deadline.

However, this may not get them out of being fined, even if they can prove they have got an ap‐ pointment for the ITV. Some Guardia Civil officers

from the Traffic Department may be understanding, but by law, they can fine you, although the fine can later be appealed.

What some drivers may be unaware of is the fact that you don’t have to be stopped while driving to get a fine.

Any registered vehicle in circulation must under‐ go the ITV test, so even if you’re not using it, if your ITV is out of date or you didn’t pass the test and have failed to get it checked again, you can be fined. If a vehicle has not been taken for its ITV within the deadline, the fine is €200 (€100 if paid quickly).

Driving with a vehicle which got a negative result at the ITV, a €500 fine.

Driving with a vehicle which got an unfavourable result at the ITV, a €200 fine (€100 if paid quickly).

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7

Tobacco Sales Fall

THE coronavirus affected many businesses as the State of Alarm forced many premises to close. Tobacconists though were among the shortlist of those allowed to remain open during the State of Alarm.

The government could have had multiple reasons for keeping them open including the avoidance of illegal sales, and the fact that closing them could have badly affected nicotine addicts. The fact that they remained open also would have prevented people from hoarding cigarettes and tobacco.

Even with the tobacco shops remaining open sales still fell.

Spain has registered a drop in sales in the last two decades and in Valladolid the trend was even more pronounced in 2020.

Data released by the Tobacco Market Commission which in turn reports to the Ministry of Finance revealed that sales in the province fell by 4.6 per cent last year. This means that 2020 saw a level of sales that was almost half that of the 51 million packs of cigarettes that

PANDEMIC: People are quitting or smoking less. were sold in 2002.

Many people have used their time during the pandemic to quit smoking or to smoke less, and according to the Ministry

of Health, “the decrease in frequency is more pronounced among younger people, students, people on ERTE and people living with family.”

Mercadona Face Masks SPANISH retail giant Mercadona has responded to the demand for masks which provide higher levels of protection than the reusable cloth ones they have provided to date, and have announced that FFP2-type self-filtering masks will go on sale this week. These masks are categorised as personal protective equipment (PPE) and according to the Ministry of Consumption, work by “filtering the air inhaled and avoiding the entry of polluting particles into our body.” They have already been rolled out in 1,600 stores across Spain.

The new model on sale in Mercadona is non-reusable and currently available for adults only, but it boasts a total of five layers and a bacterial filtration efficiency of more than 94 per cent, according to the packaging.

8 EWN

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11 - 17 March 2021

Electric first Vaccine Side Effects SPAIN is set to see its first electric car factory in a publicprivate consortium with SEAT-Volkswagen and Iberdrola.

The Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, has announced the creation of the first electric car factory in Spain revealing the consortium is open to other partners.

During a speech at the 28th Federal Congress UGT-FICA, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism said the project aims to “transition towards the electric and connected vehicle” which she claims will guarantee that there are “the infrastructures and facilities necessary to manufacture autonomously and competitively.”

Maroto said the move is a government commitment to enable Spain to become a “leader in the automobile industry” at a global level, with a focus on sustainable mobility.

“We have worked together with three priorities: protecting the health of workers, protecting the productive fabric and employment and launching a Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan to promote a battery of investments,” she said.

The minister also spoke of a pact by the industry to diversify, balance and modernise the productive structure and promote strategic sectors.

For this, she said, the coalition government already has a “draft of the bases of the State Pact that must be approved by the High Level Industry Forum for submission to Congress.”

This is a “good moment,” she added, to approach a pact that will give “stability and reinforce productive capacities.”

SEVERAL members of the Na‐ tional Police in Sevilla called in sick or were forced to leave work early on Thursday, March 4 after receiving the Oxford‐As‐ traZeneca Covid vaccine the day before. The vaccination cam‐ paign for the Security Forces be‐ gan in Sevilla on Wednesday, March 3 with officers of the Na‐ tional Police in the mass vacci‐ nation centre at the Hispalense University in Los Bermejales.

The vaccinating of the staff should be completed within a couple of weeks, and officers of the Guardia Civil will follow.

Officials have insisted that the side effects being experienced by the officers are within the ex‐ pected range and should last no longer that 24 hours; however, the very nature of the illness makes carrying out police work very difficult. The majority of offi‐ cers are receiving the As‐ traZeneca jab which is well‐ known for producing unpleasant side effects such as fatigue, mus‐ cle pain and fever. The remaining officers aged over 55 will receive a different jab, most likely the Pfizer vaccine, at a later date.

NATIONAL POLICE: Have been receiving the vaccine.

Evictions In Spain Drop A NEW report published by the General Council of the Judicial Power (CGPJ) on Thursday, March 4 showed that mortgage fore‐ closures and evictions plummeted by 45.6 per cent in Spain in 2020 compared with the previous year. The figures of course co‐ incide with the coronavirus pandemic; while the State of Alarm is decreed, the government has put a halt to such procedures.

According to the study, the number of renters evicted last year was down 42 per cent from 2019, while 51.3 per cent fewer peo‐ ple lost their homes due to foreclosures.

The latest ‘Report on the effect of the crisis on judicial bodies’ revealed, however, that there has been a marked upturn in exe‐ cutions or embargoes filed in this same period, which increased by 17.5 per cent to 20,460 proceedings. This is the first rise since 2012, although the records are still far lower than the 91,622 recorded that year.

NEWS

Workmen left hanging A CABLE connecting a mobile scaffolding snapped and two workers plummeted to the first floor where they were left hanging.

The two men who were working on the facade on the third floor, fell sharply but thankfully their safety har‐ nesses stopped them plung‐ ing to the ground and they were left hanging a few feet from the ground in a street in Torrente.

Dozens of passers‐by wit‐ nessed the terrifying moment at around 1pm on Wednes‐ day afternoon, March 3.

Witnesses alerted the emergency services.

But before firefighters ar‐ rived, a man who was passing by with a van and carrying a ladder inside his vehicle, stopped and helped the two workers to safety.

They were both taken by ambulance to the General Hospital of Valencia where they were treated for differ‐ ent cuts and bruises.

It’s not known what caused the cable to snap.

NEWS

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11 - 17 March 2021

Royal Yacht Docks In Malaga

PRINCE ABDULAZIZ: On its fourth visit to Malaga.

No to wolf being protected species NINE regions have joined forces to prevent the wolf from being a protected species throughout Spain.

Castilla y Leon, Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia, Aragon, Andalucia, Madrid, Murcia, the Basque Country and the autonomous city of Ceuta, together with agricultural organisations Asaja, COAG and UPA have promoted a common project to demand that the gov‐ ernment withdraw the approval procedure of the order that in‐ tends to include wolves on the List of Wild Species under the Spe‐ cial Protection Regime (LESPRE).

In an open letter, they defend managing the Iberian wolf from the point of view of respect for the rural world, social consensus and coexistence with livestock.

They ask that, once the process for changing the legal status of the wolf is suspended, a process of dialogue and consensus be opened by the Minister for Ecological Transition and Demograph‐ ic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, in which all parties are involved, with the aim of negotiating a global management plan for the Iberian wolf that guarantees its preservation as well as the future of ex‐ tensive livestock farming.

THE magnificent Prince Abdulaziz, the royal yacht of Saudi Arabia docked in the southern pier of Malaga port, just before midnight on Wednesday March 3, after sailing from Gibraltar.

This is the Prince Abdulaziz’s fourth visit to Malaga, and it is not known if any member of the Saudi royal family is on board.

This luxurious vessel is ranked number eight in the list of the largest private yachts in the world, being built in 1984 in the Danish shipyards Helsingor Vaerft. It underwent a reform in 2005, and then a second reform was carried out over an 11month period in the Cartagena Navantia in 2018.

The Prince Abdulaziz holds the record as the largest yacht built in the entire 20th century, having the distinction of being the largest pleasure boat in the world, and was reported to have been built at a cost of around €450m, with its original design carried out by Maierform Maritime Technology, a German company, with its interiors being signed by David Hicks, the designer of private boats.

EWN

9

10 EWN

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FEATURE

GO LOCAL

THE EUROWEEKLY NEWS is urg‐ ing its readers to support local businesses in the community by going local through the lock‐ down and for your all your shopping this year, instead of feeding online giants and super‐ stores.

This lockdown and with and Mother’s Day and Easter upcom‐ ing, we challenge you to redis‐ cover your local high streets, markets, butchers, greengrocers and all of the wonderfully quirky independent businesses in your area.

Due to the Covid‐19 pandem‐ ic, you may have to support many local businesses by order‐ ing online and making use of any click and collect services they can operate if you are unable to get

out due to health reasons or lockdown restrictions.

The joy of shopping local means that independent busi‐ nesses can help support the local community.

Although it may be a euro or two cheaper elsewhere or on‐ line, consider where your money is actually going. By shopping at an independent store you’re putting food on a local family’s table, and there is no better time than now to give back to your community by making a small gesture and shopping in this way.

Many local stores support lo‐

cal charities, support and spon‐ sor local sports teams and in many cases the small indepen‐ dent stores are actually much more than just a small high street shop, they’re a family’s legacy, often passed down through numerous generations and support not just the current owner but the generation be‐ fore.

For those stores which are new, that extra couple of euros spent there are supporting someone’s dream and ambition, and also the courage it took them to step out alone, which is no easy task. It takes quite a large chunk of money to set up an independent store and com‐ pete with the multinational and chains.

So be sure to pre‐order your meat from a local butcher and get your spuds from a local greengrocer, let us revive that community spirit and get to know our neighbours again

12 EWN

11 - 17 March 2021

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EUROPEAN PRESS

EUROPEAN NIBS DENMARK Sahara dust

FRANCE Brazilian beef

SIXTY-ONE years ago, the French Government detonated four nuclear bombs in the desert of Algeria and now, a cloud of Saharan nuclear dust has entered into Danish airspace making for some very attractive sunsets. Happily, the amount of radioactivity is not considered likely to be dangerous.

RELYING upon a 2017 law concerning loss of livelihood, indigenous people from Brazil and Colombia have sued retailer Casino in a French court claiming that it is selling beef linked to land grabbing and deforestation in the Amazon. Casino denies the allegations and insists that it is opposed to such activities.

NETHERLANDS Going Dutch

NORWAY Wolf packs

TWO years ago, the European Medicines Agency moved 83 per cent of its staff from London to Amsterdam due to Brexit, but the transition for mainly English speaking staff has not been as easy as expected due to the pandemic and many are finding it difficult to learn Dutch.

A CONTROVERSY concerning the culling of wild wolves in Norway has now found its way to the Supreme Court which must decide whether or not the decision to eradicate two packs in 2018, where farmers scared of the predators, allowed hunters to kill them was lawful or not.

BELGIUM Dr No WORRIED about social media comments on the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccinations, Belgium’s Order of Physicians has told doctors that if they have personal doubts, they should not share them as by doing so could contribute to the spread of conspiracy theories which would be bad for the vaccination campaign.

FINLAND Sniffer dogs at airports AFTER spending around a year training dogs to sniff out coronavirus on passengers, the Customs department has discovered that they will not now be allowed to operate as a special clause was left out of legislation making the use legal.

GERMANY Under suspicion

SWEDEN Vegan Volvo

ACCORDING to German magazine Der Spiegel, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has placed the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the largest opposition party in parliament under surveillance prior to the elections. Whilst BfV refused to comment, its parent Interior Ministry would neither confirm nor deny the idea.

SWEDISH vehicle manufacturer Volvo has announced that not only will it stop producing any oil fuelled cars (including hybrids) by 2030, it also intends to remove leather from its new models and will also aim to use 25 per cent of recycled material by 2025.

FINANCE Bankers fight ITALIAN banker Andrea Orcel, who is due to take over as UniCredit CEO is expected to appear in court in Spain with his lawyers demanding that Santander Bank either installs him as its CEO or pays damages in the sum of €112 million for allegedly breaking a commitment made to him.

M&S Bank THE UK retailer Marks & Spencer is shutting current and saver accounts for its banking customers by this summer as well as closing all of its in-store bank branches. It will continue as a bank as it has three million customers, but only 150,000 hold current accounts, hence the decision.

New builds THE Catalan developer Jordi Llauradó Conejero has announced that he is purchasing 20 per cent of Extremaduran property company Civitas Pacensis, which is planning to create 8,000 new homes in the Badajoz area and has already revealed plans for its Campus Civitas development which puts people first.

London Stock Exchange UNDAUNTED by the fact that the London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw Amsterdam overtake it as Europe’s largest share trading centre, its latest report shows that the organisation saw an increase in pre-tax profits of 5 per cent to £685 million (€753 million) for 2020.

Ikea hub SWEDISH company Ikea has indicated that it will locate one of its four global digital hubs in Madrid where it is expected to employ at least 100 members of staff. The plan is for this office to develop new business concepts for Ikea Business (which targets companies and the self-employed), the Ikea Food division and its ‘customer experience’ sector. With the other three hubs based in Holland, India and the Philippines, the Madrid office will be looking at ways to improve online marketing and create an Ikea App

STAT OF WEEK

www.euroweeklynews.com • 11 - 17 March 2021

€1,480

is the price of a single loaf of bread from the Pan Piña de Algatocin bakery in Malaga which bakes edible gold and silver into the crusts for the very rich.

Blockchain Business Council

Amazon opens UK grocers HAVING started to com‐ pete with the supermar‐ kets in the UK with its on‐ line grocery business, Amazon on March 4 took things a step further by opening it’s first food store outside of the USA. Amazon Fresh offers a range of food in its Ealing Broadway store and cus‐ tomers simply use the Amazon App to enter, put all of their items into Amazon Fresh bags and walk out with no queue‐

ing and no stopping at a till to pay.

Thanks to the technolo‐ gy in use in the store, when customers scan in on arrival, their chosen method of payment is noted and as they place items in their bags, so the bill is prepared and once they leave, the charge is made directly via the App. Initially, there will be around 10,000 different items available to cus‐ tomers, either from Ama‐

LEGALLY SPEAKING

zon’s own ‘by Amazon’ brand or from items sup‐ plied by Morrisons and Booths and it is even pos‐ sible to buy hot food as well as special ready made meals.

It is not as big as an out‐of‐town superstore but should have every‐ thing available that high street shoppers would want to purchase.

Whilst there may be no long queues to check out, one of their safety mea‐

sures is that at certain times there will be a max‐ imum of 20 customers given admittance to the shop, which could mean queues outside or lost business as shoppers look elsewhere.

Certainly, this new ven‐ ture by tech savvy and very rich Amazon is bound to give competi‐ tors something to think about especially if they expand across the coun‐ try.

Supplying new technology Credit: El Corte Inglés

BUSINESS EXTRA

14

Can they cancel AGM? The Pandemic prohibition of large gather‐ ings has created many problems for com‐ munities and the AGM. The HPL specifies that the AGM must be held at least once a year and indicates the agenda. So our 2020 AGM was cancelled and we were asked to pay community fees based on a budget not agreed by the owners.

We have now been asked by the President and Ad‐ ministrator to pay for 2021 the same as last year.

We have not received a budget for this year or ac‐ counts for the year 2020. There is no provision in the HPA for postal voting or online meetings. Is the community of owners the supreme authority?

R P (Costa del Sol) The com‐ munity is not above the law YOU AND THE LAW but it must find a IN SPAIN way to obtain op‐ erating funds.

Some communities have decided to mail out the agenda and the accounts and others have used emails and voting by email. These are not ‘legal’ but if no one protests the results will stand. However, if the president and administrator simply take matters into their own hands with no attempt to consult or inform the members this can be challenged.

DAVID SEARL

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

ALERT to the fact that it needed to try to replace some of the income lost from tourism, in May of last year the Spanish Government introduced new tax breaks for foreign film producers.

With a relatively strong understanding of the techniques of filmmaking here in Spain, there are plenty of technicians

JOINT VENTURE: Signing of the new agreement.

THERE is a new player in the telecommunications sector in Spain as Más‐ Móvil and El Corte Inglés have signed an agreement to market mobile phone and fibre services to con‐ sumers.

This joint venture will be promoted under the Sweno banner and in a joint state‐ ment the two groups con‐ firmed that after several months of discussion an agreement which will be advantageous to both com‐ panies and customers has been signed.

The agreement, signed on March 4 by Víctor del

Pozo, CEO of El Corte In‐ glés, and Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MásMóvil Group, will allow El Corte Inglés to market these services in the confidence that clients will be secure in the knowl‐ edge that two strong and trusted organisations are involved.

Although full details of the services to be offered are awaited, it has been re‐ vealed that this agreement will be helpful for El Corte Inglés as it expands its of‐ fers aimed at options for the new generation of smart home products which continue to grow.

Spain attracts filmmakers and locations which make it attractive to film around Spain and filmmakers are very aware of the fact that there are an estimated 450 million Spanish speakers around the world.

Now, despite the lock-

downs and State of Alarm, foreign producers are attracted by the increased cap on tax credits and the fact that rebates for local spending have risen from €3.28 million to €10.8 million.

Netflix has been an impor-

tant purchaser of Spanish language films and TV series and not only supplies its Spanish speaking outlets, but also dubs into other languages hence the worldwide popularity of creations such as Money Heist now in its fifth season.

THE Government of Gibraltar has strengthened its ties with the Global Blockchain Business Council which has members from 76 different countries and territories.

Gibraltar Minister, Albert Isola has been appointed Ambas‐ sador of the GBBC for 2021 and participated as a speaker in the Virtual Summit for Members of the EMEA region.

Gibraltar joined the GBBC which was launched in Davos in 2017 in November 2020 as an observer and has now been ac‐ cepted as a full member.

Blockchain technology looks to decentralise the storage of data so that such data cannot be owned, controlled or manipulat‐ ed by a single entity and sup‐ ports cryptocurrency such as Bit‐ coin.

Female health workers WITH International Women’s Day on March 8 and the impor‐ tance of health services across Europe over the past 12 months, UK company Lenstore has anal‐ ysed the best countries for wom‐ en to work in.

According to the report which takes into account a number of different factors including aver‐ age annual salary, hours worked and holidays, France offers the best opportunities for women health professionals with the UK in sixth place and Spain in ninth.

There is a big disparity in pay between the sexes in Spain with the average male annual salary €37,400 and female salary at €28,270.

Almost every region in Spain is trying to attract filmmakers and the Canary Islands with a somewhat different tax regime has enticed big names like Apple TV and HBO to its shores.

Whilst movies won’t replace tourism, the industry is certainly helping to plug part of the hole in the economy.

16 EWN

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11 - 17 March 2021

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C LOSING P RICES M ARCH 8

COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) 3I Group 1.143,50 1.145,50 Admiral Group 2.928,0 2.967,0 Anglo American 2.944,5 2.968,0 Antofagasta 1.728,50 1.753,50 Ashtead Group 3.927,0 3.940,0 Associated British Foods 2.377,0 2.399,0 AstraZeneca 6.906,0 6.927,0 Auto Trader Group Plc 553,40 555,00 Avast 436,60 445,40 Aveva 3.355,0 3.368,0 Aviva 394,19 395,00 B&M European Value Retail SA535,60 539,80 BAE Systems 493,55 495,46 Bank VTB DRC 0,952 0,967 Barclays 174,72 175,23 Barratt Developments 723,40 724,54 Berkeley 4.359,0 4.367,0 BHP Group 2.201,00 2.227,00 BP 322,05 324,56 British American Tobacco 2.594,0 2.630,0 British Land Company 510,80 514,60 BT Group 139,25 141,40 Bunzl 2.175,0 2.185,5 Burberry Group 1.866,0 1.888,5 Carnival 1.619,0 1.640,0 Centrica 52,34 52,50 Coca Cola HBC AG 2.350,0 2.362,5 Compass 1.576,21 1.584,00 CRH 3.319,0 3.335,3 Croda Intl 6.070,0 6.106,0 DCC 5.928,0 5.928,0 Diageo 2.918,5 2.944,7 DS Smith 405,70 405,70 EasyJet 1.013,24 1.013,24 Experian 2.355,5 2.366,2 Ferguson 8.464,0 8.506,0 Flutter Entertainment 14.610,0 14.895,0 Fresnillo 890,16 901,67 GlaxoSmithKline 1.233,44 1.248,20 Glencore 287,35 289,25 Halma 2.241,0 2.251,0 Hargreaves Lansdown 1.516,50 1.526,48 Hikma Pharma 2.197,00 2.201,02 HSBC 448,00 447,89 IAG 211,76 211,99 Imperial Brands 1.391,50 1.410,00 Informa 564,40 567,00 InterContinental 4.955,0 4.965,0 Intermediate Capital 1.825,00 1.825,00 Intertek 5.394,0 5.422,0 ITV 119,85 119,85

% CHG. 1.137,00 2.912,0 2.926,5 1.718,50 3.913,0 2.359,0 6.853,0 550,40 435,00 3.334,0 390,99 531,60 486,60 0,952 173,11 713,74 4.305,0 2.195,00 321,24 2.582,0 501,00 137,00 2.164,0 1.864,5 1.604,5 51,74 2.348,5 1.563,50 3.303,5 6.032,0 5.848,2 2.910,5 399,70 991,28 2.345,5 8.402,0 14.535,0 885,72 1.231,73 284,90 2.227,0 1.510,00 2.182,04 443,30 207,25 1.378,50 553,00 4.894,0 1.803,00 5.378,0 117,85

NET VOL 38,78K 39,03K 230,91K 80,02K 49,04K 28,99K 270,68K 150,71K 58,53K 11,02K 267,33K 215,29K 68,13K 52,05K 1,25M 21,87K 15,90K 334,30K 1,87M 361,70K 122,26K 3,49M 3,12K 52,30K 113,66K 1,05M 3,15K 13,17K 2,42K 15,11K 0,35K 31,41K 317,50K 121,45K 4,35K 46,34K 16,32K 23,36K 196,24K 2,58M 39,43K 13,67K 1,10K 196,93K 2,80M 182,73K 75,34K 24,33K 17,68K 24,20K 162,96K

COMPANY

PRICE(P)

J Sainsbury Johnson Matthey Land Securities Legal & General Lloyds Banking London Stock Exchange Meggitt Melrose Industries Mondi National Grid NatWest Group Next Norilskiy Nikel ADR Ocado Persimmon Phoenix Prudential Reckitt Benckiser Relx Rentokil Rightmove Rio Tinto PLC Rolls-Royce Holdings Rosneft DRC Royal Dutch Shell A Royal Dutch Shell A Royal Dutch Shell B RSA Insurance Sage Samsung Electronics DRC Sberbank Schroders Scottish Mortgage Segro Severn Trent Smith & Nephew Smiths Group Spirax-Sarco Engineering SSE St. James’s Place Standard Chartered Standard Life Aberdeen Taylor Wimpey Tesco Tui Unilever United Utilities Vodafone Group PLC Whitbread WPP

228,50 3.205,0 680,06 282,00 41,17 7.940,0 430,70 175,10 1.768,00 821,60 190,80 7.476,0 29,48 2.048,00 2.968,0 746,00 1.485,49 6.166,0 1.699,00 474,70 558,61 5.906,0 112,39 7,46 1.566,31 1.564,6 1.507,8 677,60 588,62 1.792,00 14,99 3.345,0 1.019,94 877,75 2.214,0 1.362,00 1.509,00 10.780,0 1.306,50 1.230,00 509,40 312,50 173,18 221,46 432,10 3.845,7 885,80 125,58 3.497,0 895,60

CHANGE(P)

% CHG.

NET VOL

230,80 3.205,0 686,20 283,30 41,28 8.104,0 431,40 176,85 1.769,50 832,60 192,50 7.498,0 29,71 2.102,00 2.975,0 750,20 1.487,50 6.286,0 1.712,00 484,30 564,84 5.947,0 112,99 7,46 1.577,70 1.578,0 1.518,0 678,80 594,21 1.796,00 15,03 3.353,0 1.055,90 878,15 2.235,0 1.367,50 1.510,00 10.900,0 1.324,00 1.231,50 509,40 314,10 174,50 223,90 432,76 3.880,9 892,40 125,58 3.497,0 896,60

227,90 3.172,0 678,60 280,30 40,29 7.932,0 416,00 173,90 1.754,97 819,20 187,60 7.400,0 29,48 2.041,00 2.883,0 735,20 1.476,50 6.166,0 1.692,00 472,80 555,06 5.874,0 109,54 7,41 1.562,01 1.563,0 1.502,4 677,40 585,89 1.789,00 14,88 3.325,5 1.013,00 870,10 2.211,0 1.351,00 1.498,50 10.705,0 1.301,50 1.213,00 500,00 308,90 171,50 220,51 422,84 3.837,3 882,80 124,82 3.433,0 888,60

174,85K 22,83K 13,11K 906,62K 17,57M 100,13K 166,20K 435,73K 6,70K 377,95K 2,52M 13,32K 0,78K 76,95K 137,65K 136,21K 19,20K 103,51K 213,66K 236,29K 28,37K 237,28K 3,68M 43,62K 28,13K 36,73K 176,12K 205,77K 24,77K 1,81K 115,85K 1,88K 1,48M 27,71K 15,83K 119,98K 23,41K 4,01K 124,08K 45,45K 40,63K 476,67K 300,79K 433,33K 327,31K 30,29K 120,64K 433,53K 30,85K 111,95K

0.85992

1.16346 Units per €

US dollar (USD) ......................................1.18862 Japan yen (JPY)......................................128.911 Switzerland franc (CHF) ...........................1.1093 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4359 Norway kroner (NOK) ...............................10.190

currenciesdirect.com/marbella • Tel: +34 952 906 581 THE ABOVE TABLE USES THE CURRENT INTERBANK EXCHANGE RATES, WHICH AREN’T REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RATE WE OFFER

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES M ARCH 8

COMPANY 3M Alphabet C Amazon.com Amgen Apple Boeing Caterpillar Chevron Cisco Coca-Cola Facebook Goldman Sachs Home Depot Honeywell IBM Intel J&J JPMorgan McDonald’s Merck&Co Microsoft Nike Procter&Gamble Salesforce.com Tesla UnitedHealth Verizon Visa A Walmart Walt Disney

PRICE 180,80 2.108,54 3.000,46 227,73 121,42 223,22 220,16 109,00 46,25 50,79 264,28 327,37 253,52 206,58 122,83 60,74 156,10 150,91 207,37 73,13 231,60 133,35 125,98 210,76 597,95 347,10 56,00 215,41 129,12 189,99

CHANGE 181,56 2.118,11 3.009,00 228,15 121,94 229,92 220,78 109,13 46,74 50,95 265,45 335,58 254,20 207,46 123,75 61,18 156,69 153,49 208,23 73,41 233,27 133,68 126,33 212,35 627,84 348,29 56,20 216,10 129,75 190,57

CHANGE% VOLUME(M) 176,95 2,26M 2.046,42 2,20M 2.881,00 5,39M 221,45 3,02M 117,57 153,77M 213,80 20,03M 211,50 3,60M 106,15 23,64M 45,27 33,20M 49,90 21,31M 255,61 26,82M 316,47 3,74M 246,59 6,35M 201,78 2,86M 120,25 6,95M 58,51 39,51M 153,13 8,33M 147,97 18,47M 202,96 3,61M 72,01 11,68M 226,46 41,87M 129,19 5,96M 122,55 10,49M 203,22 11,41M 539,49 89,40M 335,02 4,56M 54,92 23,60M 209,63 7,58M 126,75 11,36M 183,34 10,27M M - MILLION DOLLARS

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES M ARCH 8

COMPANY

CHANGE NET / %

VOLUME

+3.95% +3.10% +2.90% +5.30% +3.50% +0.77% +5.50% +4.01% +3.57% +3.19% +10.59%

435,602 2.65M 2.20M 1.31M 56,353 5.39M 128,078 612,890 2.22M 78,229 5.83M

-2.04% -3.94% -3.78% -6.13% -5.19% -20.40% -4.67% -15.51% -4.54% -5.11% -2.36%

18,461 1.35M 89.40M 1.88M 28,811 65,567 2.69M 464,042 6.90M 9.44M 4,394

Most Advanced Booking Holdings Inc. Alphabet Inc. Cl A Alphabet Inc. Cl C CoStar Group Inc. First Citizens Bancshares Inc. Cl A Amazon.com Inc. Credit Acceptance Corp.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. Lam Research Corp.

Amerco Novavax Inc.

Most Declined Broadcom Inc. 8% Pfd. Series A MicroStrategy Inc. Tesla Inc. MongoDB Inc. II-VI Inc. 6% Pfd. Tian Ruixiang Holdings Ltd. Cl A Coupa Software Inc. ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. Okta Inc. Cl A CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. Cl A Daily Journal Corp.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

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USA drop Scotch Whisky tariffs

WELCOME NEWS: Karen Betts of the Scotch Whisky Association.

ONE quickish concession following the election of Joe Biden as US President has seen a four‐month sus‐ pension of the 25 per cent tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on the import of Scotch Whisky.

Amongst other exports also now allowed into the US tariff free are cheese, pork, cashmere and ma‐ chinery.

It comes in response to the suspension of UK tariffs on certain goods effective from January 1, 2021 when Britain ceased to be part of the European Union.

The argument and tit for tat measures came about as the US Government was ac‐ cused of giving financial support to Boeing and Eu‐ rope of giving support to Airbus.

The matter will still have to be resolved between the UK and US in the long term, but in a joint statement the

UK and the US said that the suspension would “ease the burden on industry and take a bold, joint step to‐ wards resolving the longest running disputes at the World Trade Organisation.”

Karen Betts, head of the Scotch Whisky Association, said the industry has lost around £500 million (€550 million) in export sales to the US in the 16 months that the tariffs were in place and welcomed the news.

The USA in particular is worried about the possible emergence of new compa‐ nies producing aircraft from countries such as China which could cause serious competition to Boeing so therefore wants to resolve disputes with the UK to en‐ sure solidarity.

In the meantime, the Eu‐ ropean Union will have to consider its position, possi‐ bly with a view to helping

Record unemployment THE month of February is traditionally the transition between the fall in employment after the Christmas period and the increase in jobs ahead of Easter.

This year however is unusual in that the figures for unemployment have more than doubled compared to the same time last year.

The effects of the pandemic, the increase in restrictions and the lack of a reopening horizon for the holidays, has helped pushed unemployment to 4,008,789 - a level that Spain hasn’t seen since May 2016.

to find a settlement benefi‐ cial to both Airbus and Boe‐ ing.

BUSINESS EXTRA Apple App AFTER complaints from App developers that Apple’s terms and conditions are unfair and anti-competitive, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will undertake an investigation into the organisation’s dominant position in order to decide whether consumers have had to pay higher prices for apps.

Rato review FORMER Minister and President of Bankia, Rodrigo Rato may be in hot water again as a new investigation is taking place which has seen a court consider additional allegations of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion also connected with his role at Bankia.

Underpaid pensions THE UK Department of Works and Pensions has admitted that it has identified underpayments of pension to some older women which will cost around £3 billion (€3.3 billion) between now and 2026 with some of the underpayments going back to 1992.

11 - 17 March 2021

EWN 17

18 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

11 - 17 March 2021

FEATURE

Any chance we can now get a break?

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT IF ever there was less of an exponent of the old adage ‘never a borrower or a lender be,’ it has to be the British Government. They have now managed to borrow and create a deficit of some £393 billion!

As a pure layman in these high financial dealings and with my curiosity well and truly aroused, I decided to try and discover where, or who on earth they turn to when they require these astronomical sums.

Actually it’s all pretty simple. What they do is print ‘Bonds’. Although this sounds very grand, all these bonds are is a rather posh IOU! The moneylenders who buy these ‘markers’ and charge the appropriate interest of course, are generally those who control the likes of pension funds, banks or insurance companies. There are however also a number of private individuals who also purchase bonds. Yes, I’ll bet there are.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out who those might be! It gets even more

BRITISH GOVERNMENT: Where does all the money come from?

complicated by the fact that deficit, although linked, should not be confused with debt. The government is actually in debt to the tune of £2.11 trillion! Have you nodded off yet? These astronomical sums seem to roll off the tongues of politicians so easily these days, that a mere million or

two now seems like so much chicken feed.

With this observation in mind, let me attempt to give you some idea of just how much a billion pounds actually is. If you earned one pound sterling a second, you would have a million in two weeks. If your aim is a billion, at the same rate of saving it

would take 32 years to reach your goal! If you’re Jim, a normal working person earning a respectable £16.50 an hour and doing 39 hours a week, it would take 60 million hours to earn a billion ‐ that’s nearly 7,000 years!

Just to give you some idea of ‘us and

them,’ Facebook founder Zuckerberg earns as much as Jim’s yearly income in one and a half minutes. Jeff Bezos, who created Amazon, earns it in 35 seconds!

Ever feel you’re in the wrong job!?

Well, at the time of writing I’ve only heard extracts from THAT interview. The only royal ambitions this young lady harboured was to be a member of Hollywood royalty. Well she has undoubtedly achieved this. She is now at the top of the LA celebrity pecking order and earning very nicely thank you.

With unfailing predictability the racism card soon popped out of the ‘Vuitton.’ The claims there were ‘concerns’ about the colour of the baby she was expecting can also be observed as speculation. Millions of people throughout the world, both black and white were following this train of thought. Most of it was not connected with racism, merely curiosity of something that, despite the rubbish in Bridgeton, had never been experienced in the royal household before. Is there any chance that this privileged couple of whingers can now give us a break? Somehow I doubt it.

Keep the faith.

Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com

Leapy Lee’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

I don’t see a happy ending MIKE SENKER IN MY OPINION Views of a Grumpy Old Man IN a wide-ranging interview Harry and Meghan described painful discussions about the colour of their son’s skin, losing royal protection and the intense pressures that led the Duchess of Sussex to contemplate suicide. Of course, there has been a massive backlash. Obviously there are two sides, sometimes three to every story, but I actually believe Meghan and Harry’s side. Let’s be honest they can only lose in this situation. They have already lost financially, titles and security for their child, soon to be children, and themselves.

Their accusations aren’t that outrageous.

We have witnessed a lot of this before with Princess Diana. The Palace ‘Firm’ are notorious for being totally out of touch with the real world. Charles has plenty of previous, he was carrying on with Camilla through his courtship and marriage, so, for me, has absolutely no credibility and, according to Harry, Charles is not even taking his phone calls. The big difference here is that Meghan is mixed race and the racist element is a massive problem.

We have all read about Prince Phillip’s gaffs over the years. Although Meghan and Harry

both said that it was not the Queen or Phillip that made the outrageous comment about the possible skin tone of their baby. So it has to be another senior Royal. Meghan’s dad was interviewed by Piers Morgan and if it was a court drama it was obvious that Morgan was leading the witness. I can’t stand Piers Morgan’s way of just dismissing everything Meghan says because she dropped him as a mate.

He also is not in a position to discuss whether remarks are racist or not or argue with members of his own team, who are actually mixed race when they confirm what it’s like to be on the receiving end of those comments. You can’t make the comparison of saying, ‘I wonder if the baby will have your nose or your colour eyes or hair.’ It’s just not the same.

Harry and Meghan want to be in control of their own lives but The Firm once again don’t come out of it well. Royal interviews that aren’t tied to a specific topic are rare, and prior televised sessions have often proved problematic. Prince Andrew’s 2019 BBC interview about his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein led to his own departure from royal duties after he failed to show empathy for Epstein’s victims. This is just my view, and I’m sure you all have yours, but I don’t see a happy ending here.

Email: mikesenker@gmail.com

Mike’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

11 - 17 March 2021

EWN 19

THURSDAY 11/03 FRIDAY 12/03 SATURDAY 13/03

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This Farming Life The Americas with Simon Reeve Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins Brazil with Michael Palin The Ranganation Beep Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies Festival of Funny: Short

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Best House in Town Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games My Unique B&B The Hairy Bikers' Northern Exposure Interior Design Masters DNA Family Secrets The Ranganation Newsnight Weather

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Richard Osman's House of Games My Unique B&B The Hairy Bikers' Northern Exposure Natural World The Terror The Terror Newsnight Weather Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

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FilmThe Plank The Many Faces of Twin Sisters: A World Apart Got Life!

Opera Mums with Bryony Kimmings The Many Faces of Twin Sisters: A World Apart Alaska - Earth's Frozen Kingdom

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Walk the Line The Joy of Painting Fake or Fortune?

The Story of Welsh Art Storyville Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories The Joy of Painting Walk the Line Fake or Fortune?

The Story of Welsh Art

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The Joy of Painting Yes, Minister The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Ireland's Treasures Uncovered Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan Man in Room 301 Man in Room 301 The Joy of Painting

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Walk the Line The Joy of Painting Armada: 12 Days to Save England Elizabeth R Elizabeth I's Secret Agents Some People with Jokes TOTP2 Songs of Ireland The Joy of Painting

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ITV News London Party Political Broadcast ITV Evening News Emmerdale Tonight Emmerdale The Martin Lewis Money Show: Live Return to Dunblane with Lorraine Kelly ITV News at Ten and Weather

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Four in a Bed Drawers Off The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Stand Up To Cancer The Dog House The Celebrity Circle for Stand Up to Cancer Naked Attraction Gogglebox Friday Night Dinner

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Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Vera ITV News at Ten and Weather ITV News London McDonald & Dodds Ideal World

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Four in a Bed Drawers Off The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Grayson's Art Club Gogglebox The Celebrity Circle for Stand Up to Cancer First Dates The Purge: Election Year Come Dine with Me

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ITV News and Weather ITV News London Six Nations Live Six Nations Live Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Take Away The Voice UK ITV News and Weather ITV London Weather The Jonathan Ross Show: Special Guests Lucy

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ITV News and Weather ITV News London The Chase: Celebrity Special Dancing on Ice NewGrace ITV News and Weather ITV London Weather Harry Redknapp's Sandbanks Summer DNA Journey Six Nations Highlights

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Mother's Day Channel 4 News A New Life in the Sun: Road Trip The Great Pottery Throw Down The Celebrity Circle for Stand Up to Cancer Gogglebox Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Ramsay's Kitchen

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Four in a Bed Drawers Off The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Dispatches Jamie: Keep Cooking Family Favourites The Celebrity Circle for Stand Up to Cancer Two Sisters, One Body The Undateables

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Life in the Sun: Where Are They Now? Four in a Bed Drawers Off The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer The Circle The Sex Clinic

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11 - 17 March 2021

FEATURE

HOLIDAYGATE - ANOTHER OBE FOR ME? NORA JOHNSON BREAKING VIEWS Nora is the author of popular psychological suspense and crime thrillers and a freelance journalist.

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

RECENTLY, I wrote here that I risked being awarded an OBE. That’s not an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, but the dubious honour of being ‘overtaken by events.’ I was writing then about Covid‐19 that carries that risk in spades.

But this week I risk another OBE, mention‐ ing the fraught subject of holidays ‐ after UK ministers got themselves in a right summer holiday tangle not so long ago.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said don’t book anything. But his colleague, Health Sec‐ retary Matt Hancock, previously told everyone about the ‘Great British Summer’ and that he’d even booked his own holiday to Cornwall.

So what’s the answer? One former minister tried to translate what they meant, suggest‐ ing: “Bottom line on holidaygate: travel abroad this year is not impossible. Holidays within the UK *are* likely by the summer, but

HOLIDAYS: If you book one this year, you do so at your own risk. the government can’t make a hard and fast statement to this effect at this stage. If you book, you do so at your own risk.”

As for Boris Johnson’s recent press confer‐

ence, there will be no firm review before May as to when international travel can restart.

So, everything crystal clear now?

Incidentally, during the recent UK cold spell,

an igloo was listed on a leading property web‐ site for a cool £250,000. The advert, which was later removed, said the ‘one bedroom house’ was on the fictional ‘North Pole Road’ in Clacton‐on‐Sea, Essex.

According to the listing, it would be a ‘great first home’ but buyers had to ‘be quick’ as the property ‘won’t be for sale long’ and was ‘showing signs of damp.’

Well, in normal times I might have popped along to Clacton‐on‐Sea to check it out, but not at the moment. Obviously, I could have Googled it, but I thought I’d opt for getting a life. By the way, you never hear the expression ‘I must get out more’ these days. I wonder why?

But right now, going on holiday is illegal anyway. Another one of those extraordinary sentences a few years ago I’d never have imagined writing...

Nora Johnson’s psychological crime thrillers ‘No Safe Place’, ‘Betrayal’, ‘The Girl in the Woods’, ‘The Girl in the Red Dress’, ‘No Way Back’, ‘Landscape of Lies’, ‘Retribution’, ‘Soul Stealer’, ‘The De Clerambault Code’ (www.no ra‐johnson.net) available online as eBook (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, paperback and audiobook. All profits to Costa del Sol Cudeca cancer charity.

Nora Johnson’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

24 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

11 - 17 March 2021

FEATURE

PUBS AND THEIR SIGNS DAVID WORBOYS A R E T I R E D comedian in our village opened a pub and tried to register its name as The Three Poofs. Even in the lib‐ eral swinging 60s, freedom of expression did not extend that far. Perhaps he would have got away with The Two Poofs. To‐ day, the very idea of anybody even sub‐ mitting such an application is about as likely as a pantomime horse winning the Grand National.

The identification of inns by their names and their signs goes back to the middle ages, when many houses displayed a sign, often denoting some heraldry, which indi‐ cated that the premises were under the special care and control of a nobleman or landowner. The sign would portray a vivid image that impressed the theme on the memory. Hence the names were taken from images incorporated in coats of arms, family crests etc.

PUB NAMES: Some of today’s alternatives make a refreshing change.

Alternatively, The Plough, The Harrow and The Stag all conjure up rural images of a bygone age. But many new pubs and signs which opened in the modern era are not tied by such traditions.

Why, in the last hundred years, has the more recent naming of pubs been so unad‐

venturous ‐ so repetitive? In the 60s there were hundreds of pubs in England called The Crown, The Bell and The Swan. Not so many were called The Stetson, The Foghorn or The Puffin. The Duke of Wellington is still proving far more popular than The Mayor of Huddersfield. The

George is preferred to The Cuthbert.

With a little imagination there could have been so many colourful alternatives.

The Purple Penguin (rather than the Red Lion), The Thrush and Manhole (for The Rose and Crown), The Twenty Bottles (The Three Tuns), The Cleaner’s Knees (The King’s Arms or The Queen’s Head).

Of course, there are an increasing num‐ ber of pubs which have broken ranks. The Old Monkey in Manchester for example and The Old Devil near Maidenhead are re‐ freshing changes from The New Inn. The Ape and Apple (Manchester) and The Queen’s Head and Artichoke (London) are two further innovative examples. In Cornwall there is a pub called The Bucket of Blood; this is also the name of a beer brewed in the area, marketed as “a spooki‐ ly spicy red classic ale which has become a feature of Halloween. It is full with a malty toffee palate and a good bitter skeletal backbone finish.” Hmm, thanks, but I’ll go for a pint of London Pride.

I have also seen a pub with an advertise‐ ment outside. “Seven‐course Irish meal ‐ six pints and a potato.” It sounds more inviting than six potatoes and a pint.

David Worboys’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

Advertising Feature

Somewhere beyond the sea THE sea seems to go on forever, much as we feel about the memo‐ ries of our loved ones. This and the calming effect which it can have on people are among the reasons that for centuries people have chosen burials at sea.

For many people, looking at the sea when they are going through a difficult time can help them to feel at peace. Just listening to the sound of the waves and feeling the sea breeze can blow some of the pain away from the mind and soul. Add to this the knowledge that in a way their de‐ ceased loved one is part of that vast blue expanse, can make them feel close to them and seek guidance from them.

About 71 per cent of the surface of our planet is water, and we are deeply linked to it, not only because studies show that the first life forms most probably came from the water, but also because we are made up of

it too, about 60 per cent. So while we usually hear the sentence ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’, we could also say ‘water to water’, as our lives be‐ gin surrounded by water in the womb, so returning to the water af‐ ter death completes the circle of life.

While sending the bodies of the deceased out to sea is a well‐known practice of the seafaring people of the past, notably the Vikings, it may have been carried out in earlier stages of history. Of course, the same practices are not used nowa‐ days, but there are natural burials which include placing cremated re‐ mains inside concrete coral reef balls which are ceremoniously placed in the sea as part of a reef ecosystem.

These balls are used to repair dam‐ age to coral reefs, and to provide new habitat for fish and other sea life.

This option is kind of an urn, scat‐ tering of ashes and sea burial all

combined into a permanent and en‐ vironmentally friendly tribute to the life of a loved one.

A more literal interpretation of burial at sea is also used where it is permitted, which is also seen as nat‐ ural when no formaldehyde is used.

There are organisations which organ‐ ise such burials, where the deceased

is placed in a shroud and, where authorised, the body is placed in the sea where it will decompose naturally or be con‐ sumed by animals.

This can be done from a ship or aircraft, and is quite common amongst those who have been in the Navy.

However, the most common op‐ tion involving the sea as a place of rest is to take the cremated remains to a special and meaningful location in the water, and some families hire boat services to do so. A type of urn has been created which floats before disintegrating so that the loved one’s ashes enter the water in a gradual and graceful way. Another in‐ novative option is an ice urn, which contains the ashes and floats on the water be‐ fore obviously melting to spread the ashes.

Doing so may seem inof‐ fensive but remember that a permit may be needed to avoid any possible fines for environmental rea‐ sons. In Spain there are funeral homes which have the necessary permits or can advise relatives on where they can allow the remains of their loved one to become one with the sea.

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Who cares for your outdoor cats when you are away?

IF you are one of the many households that took in a new stray or rescued cats during the Covid pandemic, then your newly adopted pets will need special care and attention when you go on holiday later this year. Even if you are planning a short trip, plan ahead.

Take a moment to plan ahead for pet and house‐sitters, if you have trips planned later this year. Now is the time to get ready. We will help you as much as we can. Our philosophy is that we are all in this together. These are the steps to take: 1. Register as a homeowner on HouseSit Match.com 2. Choose a Premium account (£89 per year) to ensure you can help online when needed 3. Create a profile with photos of your pet and the house 4. Post a house‐sit advert stating your plans for your next holiday, Covid permitting.

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How fit is that doggy in the window?

SPRING is about new beginnings and brushing away the cobwebs, after being cooped up inside.

Dogs are out on the streets and in the parks with their owners, but are they protected enough?

The warmer weather could easily present issues for your dog’s health, including heartworm, so make sure the dog receives a year‐round monthly heartworm preventive.

This is also the time of year for mosquitos, fleas and ticks; so protect your dog well in advance and your dog will thank you for it. It is worth asking your vet about the latest products in flea protection.

Dogs, like their owners, need exercise, especially after living the sedentary lifestyle that winter encourages. How‐ ever, don’t rush your dog, as he needs to warm up before doing anything too strenu‐ ous, otherwise he’ll end up with an injury.

Therefore, it is wise to build up a fitness regime grad‐ ually, giving the dog time to adapt.

DON’T RUSH: Your dog needs to warm up before exercise.

One in 10 pets will develop a tumour in their lifetime CANCER is one of the biggest concerns for dog and cat owners. It is the leading cause of death in geriatric animals. For this

reason, owners and veteri‐ narians have been becoming aware of the need to pro‐ vide special care for their pets. There have been great

advances in veterinary medicine and surgery, espe‐ cially in the field of cancer treatment. Early diagnosis is essential. The checkup that is carried out on your pet every year should be more exhaustive from six years of age.

Any patient suspected of having a malignant process should be thoroughly inves‐ tigated by the veterinary team.

This information will help us to know which treatment to use and will inform us of the prognosis, time and cost necessary for the treatment.

We can only establish a complete therapeutic proto‐ col and with probability of success if we have informa‐ tion on the extent of the process. This way we can answer the pet owner’s questions about the progno‐ sis and quality of life. Specif‐ ic laboratory tests, ultra‐ sound, endoscopy, CT or MRI may be necessary.

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CHURCH SERVICES The Anglican Chaplaincy of Nerja & Almunecar. Every Sunday there is a Holy Communion service at midday in San Miguel church in Nerja. Every Wednesday morning at 9.30 we have an online ‘Zoom’ HC service - please contact Fr Nigel with an e-mail address if you would like to join us. Priest in Charge, Father Nigel Thomas. Tel: Church House - 951 815736, Mobile: 608 695 756, e-mail: cofenerja@ gmail.com. www.euroweeklynews.com

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SPORT

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11 - 17 March 2021

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We are getting there!

MARCH arrived with many of the Costa’s walking football teams back in training and looking forward to playing actual matches. It has been decided however that it will be best to wait until April be‐ fore resuming playing other teams.

One match which was played was the ‘Seniors’ James King Seniors Cup be‐ tween Benalmadena and Calahonda.

In what was an entertaining game be‐ tween the two sides it was Calahonda re‐ splendant in their new green strips who were first on the ascendency when a de‐ lightful through ball from Captain Robin Beith found Tony Bullion on his own with time to dispatch the ball into the net to open the scoring for Calahonda.

The greens continued to press and it was no surprise when they went two up through Gary Seymour who soon added a third to put Calahonda in a command‐ ing position.

Despite late pressure from Benalmade‐ na’s blue and whites which produced a goal from Glyn, the Calahonda defence held firm with goalkeeper Colin the Manc dealing comfortably with anything which came his way.

Both teams gave their all with special credit to Calahonda who fielded five

Proud Calahonda Captain Robin Beith with the James King Seniors Cup.

players over 70 years old in their team.

Last week we featured WAFI...the Walking Football Association Iberia. This association was set up recently to strengthen the case to gain recognition for walking football in Spain.

The WAFI Mission Statement is ‘To im‐ prove, sustain and support the physical, mental and social well‐being of older adults (50+ age category) through walk‐ ing football.

The Association’s main aim is: To en‐ gage and work with all Walking Football Groups, sponsors, partners, participants, local authorities, health services and any other organisations interested in the de‐ velopment of Walking Football on the Iberian Peninsula; from Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar, and the Basque Re‐ gion of France.

Due to lack of space the above have been abbreviated. For the full WAFI Aims and Objectives go to the website at www.walk ingfootballassociationiberia.com More info on walking football in the south of Spain can be found at www.walkingfootballspain.com or www.walkingfooty.com or Facebook Pages Walking Football Spain/Malaga WFC.

An entertaining game Club Nerja Rugby 29 ‐ CR Aguilas de Mijas 31 NERJA dominated the first half of their game against Mijas last Sun‐ day but their indiscipline allowed their opponents to snatch the game by a slender margin at the end.

The visitors kicked off but within a minute had conceded a penalty which Nerja were unable to convert. Nerja dominated and it was eight minutes before Mijas broke the half‐way line. Nerja gave away a penal‐ ty which Mijas took to within 10 metres of the home goal line. They moved the ball wide and opened the scoring with a try in the left cor‐ ner. Within three minutes Nerja were back on equal terms when, from a maul, Javier Aparicio Martin powered over for the try.

Nerja took the lead when Enrique Lopez Armijo took the ball on the half way line and evaded the Mijas tackle attempts to score a magnifi‐ cent try. Ricardo Carratu Romero added the conversion. From a five metre penalty Antonio Santiago Gomez added Nerja’s third try with Richie adding his second conversion of the day. Tomas Caraffo’s try took Nerja’s lead to a comfortable 24‐5 with every likelihood of another large total in the second half. The visitors reduced the lead to 24‐12 with a try in stoppage time, but the locals only saw this as a slight inter‐ ruption in their game plan. In the second half Nerja gave away too many penalties, picked up a yellow card and allowed the visitors to get back into the game. It was no great surprise that by midway through the half Mijas had scored the two tries that tied the game at 24‐24.

A rare defensive error opened up a gap that Mijas used to score and convert the try which gave them a 31‐24 lead. With eight minutes of normal time remaining Richie scored his second try from a tapped penalty but his own conversion attempt went wide. Nerja again domi‐ nated the game, but wrong options taken prevented them from getting the points they needed so they went down 29‐31.

This was the first home game at which spectators were permitted for a year. In excess of 100 enjoyed the entertaining game. This Sunday March 14, Nerja make the long journey to Algeciris to take on CR Bahia.