Euro Weekly News - Mallorca 22 - 28 July 2021 Issue 1881

News

The people’s paper Issue No. 1881

22 - 28 July 2021

Reducing stress RECOGNISING that stray and abandoned domestic pets, especially dogs can suffer from considerable anxiety and stress, the Palma Council has organised a week-long course at the Animal Welfare Centre of Son Reus to assist vets and staff to understand how best to cope with these animals.

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ON the evening of Monday July 19, the tunnel boring machine that is working on the construction of the sanitation pipeline in Palma completed the excavation of the longest section of its route, measuring 933 metres after four months of excavation work in the area.

Councillor Adrover has told Local Police to continue cracking down on bottle parties.

UNTIL now, children aged up to 12 are able to travel on buses in the Palma area free of charge but in order to encourage more youngsters to use public transport, a decision has been made that from midSeptember, this facility will be extended to include those up to 16.

Tokyo Olympics ASSUMING it still goes ahead, the Olympic Games in Tokyo will see a record number of participants from the Balearic Islands with 18 competitors in the main Games (two more than at Rio) and five athletes taking part in the Paralympics.

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ALTHOUGH Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands with the largest resident and now tourist population, it is faring better than Ibiza and Menorca as far as infections are concerned.

This doesn’t mean that the risks are not significant and because of the huge rise in infections across the islands, the Balearic Government is introducing some new restrictions which currently affect everyone.

First and fore most and to the disap‐ pointment of the hospitality industry, bars and restaurants will have to close one hour earlier at 1am and the num‐ ber of people who may eat together goes from 12 to 8 outdoors and from six to four indoors.

Speaking to local press the president

of CAEB Restauración, Alfonso Robledo observed that losing an hour in the summer was in cash terms the equiva‐ lent of eight hours in the winter.

In addition, frightened by the large increase in contagion of young people who have been gathering and partying in public, the Balearic Government has applied to the Supreme Court to ban the meetings of those who don’t live together from 1am to 6am both in‐ doors and out and if approved this will come into force on Saturday July 24.

Shops have already been told not to sell alcohol after 10pm but because savvy young drinkers have been stock‐ piling booze during the day, hotels are now being instructed to keep an eye on the amount of alcohol that guests may

Credit: Palma Council

have and explain that it’s not allowed.

Fines for those taking part in open air ‘bottle parties’ are to be increased and although not mandatory, the Govern‐ ment also recommends the continued wearing of face masks for those over six especially if social distancing cannot be maintained.

Palma Councillor Joanna Adrover has instructed the Local Police to do all that they can to stop people drinking in open spaces.

With so much depending on tourism to restart the economy, the Balearic Government doesn’t want to see the is‐ lands being placed into an Amber+ situ‐ ation by the British or indeed any fur‐ ther restrictions from any foreign power.

ON July 19, the President of the Consell de Mallorca, Catalina Cladera, the Minister of Tourism and President of the Fundació Mal‐ lorca Turisme, Andreu Serra, and the CEO of W2M, Gabriel unveiled a new promotional campaign.

W2M, which owns Newblue, specialises in creating holidays in the Caribbean and Is‐ lands of the World and will be targeting 8,000 travel agents in mainland Spain as well as Portugal offering a range of holidays in Mallorca.

“We are in a situation where there are many people who do not know where to travel, because there are no safe destina‐ tions, and our job is to highlight the hotel of‐ fer and the destination of Mallorca and take advantage of this demand.

“The ingredient of this campaign is the of‐ fer that Mallorca has, more successful than ever, because it adds to the security of the is‐ land a very attractive offer for the peninsular traveller” explained Subías.

A special package has been created includ‐ ing a selection of hotels in Mallorca with of‐ fers for the whole summer. In addition, by booking before 31 July, transfers from the air‐ port to the airport are included at no extra cost.

The campaign will be in force until the end of July using banners, commercials, videos, reports and branded content. The range of in‐ sertions includes publications in media spe‐ cializing in tourism and social networks, but also radio, online television channels, the Movistar + platform and market‐leading lifestyle magazines.

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22 - 28 July 2021

Better bus service Posidonia monitoring WITH effect from Wednesday July 21, the bus service between Calvia and Palma is to improve.

There will be amended routes so that the line that connects Es Capdella with Palma (107), and will change its entry and exit route to Ciutat.

In this way, the residents of Calvia will have a second option to get to the city centre, because until now they could only do so by access‐ ing the Son Dureta area.

It will also offer a later service with a departure at 9.20pm from both Palma and Es Capdella plus two extra services on Saturdays.

There will also be a number of changes in the routes and timetables across the area and more information on lines, timetables and fares can be found on the tib.org website.

There are special offers for those who are not residents if they pay for travel using a bank or credit card which is cheaper by paying cash.

Gas bottle six yr high THE Spanish government’s official maximum price of a 12.5‐kilo butane gas bottle cylinder is now set at €15.37 ‐ the highest price it has been in six years.

The price of a 12.5‐kilo butane gas bottle in Spain has increased by 4.99 per cent to €15.37, which is the fifth consecutive rise and is now reaching its highest level since March 2015.

The price rise was confirmed on Tuesday July 20, in the BOE Of‐ ficial State Gazette. The reason for the price increase has been put down to the cost of raw materials, which, according to the bulletin, was partially offset by the slight gain of the euro against the dollar (+ 1.32 per cent).

The price that a butane cylinder can be sold for is reviewed ev‐ ery two months ‐ specifically on the third Tuesday of the odd‐ numbered months.

IT was five years ago that the Balearic Government became the first Autonomous Community to initiate a Posidonia Monitoring Service.

Indeed, it is almost unique across the entire Mediterranean region and the Posidonia (which was commonly known as Nep‐ tune grass) is not seaweed but an important part of the environ‐ ment and according to the Minis‐ ter of Agriculture, Mireia Mollà, Posidonia forests are 20 times more efficient than terrestrial forests in capturing CO2 and are a structural habitat that must be protected.

The Balearic Government be‐ lieves that now is the time for the Spanish State to demonstrate its commitment to the protection of marine biodiversity by allocating funds for the protection of Posido‐ nia.

In the meantime, the Valencian Government will be introducing its own Posidonia Monitoring Service in 2022 and has sent members of the proposed group to Mallorca to study the plans and procedures of the Balearic Island Group.

Both the Balearic and Valen‐

IMPORTANT WORK: Welcoming the group from Valencia. cian Ministers responsible for this work have confirmed the im‐ portance not only of conserving the Posidonia meadows as the lung of the Mediterranean, but also of promoting research and research in order to recover

those degraded areas.

To date, the 15 vessels of the Posidonia Surveillance Service have carried out 36,977 checks on vessels across the island group with 3,307 boats reported and 2,159 warned.

Celebrity visits CRISTIANO RONALDO and his model girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez continue to enjoy their holiday in Mallorca, posting photos to fans on social media.

Ronaldo shared a photo of the couple on a boat looking very loved‐up, with a caption that said: ‘My Love’.

Ronaldo has been keeping fans up‐to‐date during his family trip around the beautiful island.

Also enjoying life in Mallorca is Catherine Zeta Jones who has been posting pictures of herself exercising and learning to paddle surf as well as showing her green fingers with pictures of tomatoes she has grown.

NEWS

Flood discounts THE association of holiday rental companies, Federació ETV Mallorca, which focuses mainly on villa and fincas has come up with an idea that is both generous and entrepreneurial.

Its President Jordi Cerdó explained to the German press that he has a natural affinity with Germany as he lived there for many years and his daughter still resides there.

For this reason and in or‐ der to help his members to fill their properties in the coming months, he has re‐ ceived their agreement to offer discounts to German holidaymakers who have been flooded out in Ger‐ many.

The discounts range from 10 per cent up to 50 per cent depending upon the amount of damage done and there must be proof of flooding in order to qualify.

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NIBS EXTRA AstraZeneca THE Balearic Health Ministry has confirmed that it will not be ordering any more of the AstraZeneca vaccine because the eight to 10 week delay between inoculations is too long and once all have received their second vaccination, any left-over vaccine will be donated to other countries.

Laptops THE Balearic Government has authorised expenditure of up to €1.4 million in order for basic and larger laptops to be purchased for use in selected places of learning across the islands and the initial period to place an order is two years, although this may be extended.

Head injury A YOUNG German tourist who was on what is described as a ‘party boat’ fell over and injured his head, meaning that the vessel which had set out from Palma had to call in at the nearest port, which was Arenal, where emergency services awaited.

Gay tourism THE very popular Shangay Magazine, a travel journal which is read by a large percentage of the Spanish speaking LGTBI population, has devoted its latest cover and lead story to promote Mallorca as a welcoming and tolerant destination for Gay tourists.

Special concerts PIANIST and composer David Gómez will present his acclaimed 1 Piano y 200 Candles concert at his own home, Finca Ca’s Pianista in Sineu on August 5 and 6 with tickets costing from €20 as the accomplished pianist performs a number of his own compositions.

Organic waste CALVIA Council is installing a fifth card operated container for organic waste which accounts for about 40 per cent by weight of all household waste. It believes that collecting this waste separately is the path to achieving the recycling targets set out in European regulations for the coming years.

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Celebrating Grandparents Day SPAIN marks Grandparents Day (Día de los Abuelos) on Monday July 26 and Age in Spain is turning over its social media for the day to celebrate the special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.

On Facebook and Twitter, the organisation will be exploring just what it means to be a grandparent in 2021 and about how the role has changed over the years.

They will be describing the joys and tackling a few prejudices about grandparenthood. After 16 months when many grandparents have been isolated from their

Credit: Age in Spain

NEWS

Age in Spain staff and volunteers share photos. families for long periods of time, the Age in Spain team feels that this year is the time to say a special thank you.

The group is also inviting members of the English-speaking com-

PARTNER of former Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, the Spanish Minister of Equality Irene Montero visited Mallorca on Friday July 16 to discuss gender violence.

In a meeting which the minister had with Balearics President Francina Armen‐ gol, Councillor Garido Mercedes and Na‐ tional Government delegate Aina Calvo, the minister confirmed that the Balearics will receive €4.9 million from Madrid to tackle various gender matters.

This is the first time that the State Gov‐

Seabed waste IN what has now become an annual tradition, to celebrate the Feast of the Virgen del Car‐ men, the Santanyí Civil Protec‐ tion Group has organised a cleaning of the seabed of the port of Cala Figuera last week‐ end.

On Sunday July 18, divers and volunteers from the Proter‐ mar association, the Santanyí Municipal Services Company (SEMDESA), Calvia Civil Protec‐ tion, the Municipal Brigade, Can Amengual and Ports de les Illes Balears removed approxi‐ mately 1,500 kilos of waste of all kinds from these local wa‐ ters.

In addition, Civil Protection took the opportunity to re‐ move three large pines that were at risk of falling into the waters of the port, which posed a great danger to boats enter‐ ing and leaving Cala Figuera.

It took a crane and lorries to get the trees out of the water, and to be able to take every‐ thing out of the sea. Tyres, plas‐ tics and various materials have also been found, dragged by currents and accumulated over time.

munity in Spain to pay tribute to their own grandparents by going to their Facebook page and sharing a picture and telling them just why Granny or Grandad was so special to you.

Minister visits Mallorca ernment has allocated funds to the Au‐ tonomous Communities to promote co‐re‐ sponsibility, work‐life balance and the bal‐ anced distribution of care tasks between men and women.

President Armengol highlighted the leading role that the Balearic Islands have

You can find Age in Spain on Facebook at www.facebook. com/ageinspain and on Twitter @ageinspain “So many of the people Age in Spain supports are grandparents and so are some of our fantastic volunteers. The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is so often something really special and we’re delighted to celebrate Día de los Abuelos and to give people the opportunity to pay tribute to their own grandparents, whether they are still with us or have passed away,” said Age in Spain Director, Helen Weir.

played in recent years in the development of innovative equality policies, with mea‐ sures such as the approval of the Equality Law, the Law against LGTBI‐phobia, or the Social Pact Against Gender‐Based Violence.

“We are facing a moment of consolida‐ tion of a new generation of feminist rights,” among which is the right to concili‐ ation: with the public investment of €190 million in the plan which guarantees that “the state can become co‐responsible for the care of families,” said Montero.

Pop Rock contest IF you are a singer or in a band, the Pop Rock Palma contest returns for its second year with the follow‐ ing rules. ‐ The groups, if all their mem‐ bers are 18 years or older at the time of registration and one of these are established in the Balearics, or soloists who meet

this age requirement and are also established in the Balearics. ‐ Each group or soloist must present two songs which must be original in terms of lyrics and mu‐ sic, each of which cannot last more than six minutes. ‐ The two subjects presented in the pre‐selection phase must be

part of those to be performed in the different phases of the compe‐ tition. ‐ The groups or soloists that ap‐ pear in the contest must have a sufficient number of original com‐ positions to be able to perform a concert lasting around 20 minutes.

Registration is open until July 31

Free gifts fund Shop and fly cheaper

TO support local producers, the Consell de Mal‐ lorca is funding free gifts worth €825,000 with 4,778 vouchers.

The concept is that each voucher is worth €153 and will be issued upon application to any resi‐ dent of Mallorca who spends €200 or more with one of a number of cooperatives and shops on the island.

In four days, there have already been 1,321 ap‐ plications for vouchers which will be redeemable at one of 14 cooperatives, eight social economy shops and 24 producer shops from all over the is‐ land which are taking part.

Provided that the minimum spend of €200 takes place at a single outlet, then the holder of a voucher will receive a gift containing 22 different Mallorca produced items.

Residents can apply for the vouchers through the www.ajutsmallorca.com website and pur‐ chases must have been made between July 25 and October 25, which will help boost the sector throughout the summer.

AN agreement has been signed between El Corte Ingles and the IAG Group (British Air‐ ways and Iberia) to offer discount prices for Brits.

The airline giant will be offering air fares at a discount price to Spain for shoppers and El Corte Ingles will be offering tax‐free shopping.

Since Brexit and Britain leaving the European Union, British holidaymakers can now reclaim VAT on everything they purchase. El Corte Inlges shops in Mallorca have already begun to advertise the discount scheme by placing large signs at the entrances of their main branches.

This could lead to the Balearic Islands be‐ coming a discounted shopping destination for British tourists. El Corte Ingles will also be offer‐ ing British holidaymakers a gift voucher offering 10 per cent off if they take advantage of their tax‐free promotion.

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Nadal takes to mountains

NADAL: Enjoying the beautiful views around the island.

MALLORCA tennis leg‐ end Rafa Nadal has been sharing photos of himself and his wife hiking the beautiful Mallorcan mountains.

The couple posted a photo on Instagram of them enjoying a stunning view of the mountains.

The caption read ‘Hiking, spectacular summer af‐ ternoons in Mallorca.’

Recently, Nadal and his wife were out on a luxuri‐ ous catamaran, Great White, enjoying a beauti‐ ful sunset as he continues to show his millions of fans around the world the beautiful views of the island.

Just last month on June 17, Nadal an‐ nounced his intention to not compete at Wimble‐ don, nor in the upcoming Olympic Games, saying his health must come first.

In a statement con‐ veyed by his manage‐ ment, he said “It is a deci‐ sion that is never easy to make, and after listening to my body and talking to my team, I understand that it is the right one, with the aim of extending my sports career and con‐ tinuing to do what makes me happy; compete at the highest level and con‐ tinue to fight for profes‐ sional and personal chal‐ lenges at the highest level in a competitive man‐ ner.”

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22 - 28 July 2021

NEWS

Our readers think the government should have no say in what we eat THE majority of our readers think that the government should not have any say in what and how much we eat.

After Alberto Garzon, the Minister for Consumer Affairs, sparked outrage when he said we should all cut down on or give up meat, we asked our readers if they agree and if they think too much meat is eaten in Spain.

President Sanchez said he likes his steaks ‘al punto’ and 57 per cent of our readers re‐

EATING MEAT: People didn’t plan to give it up entirely. sponded that it’s none of the government’s business and they would eat whatever they like!

Correos profits THE Correos Group has released the accounts for the first half of 2021, a period in which it has reported a consolidated profit of €1.8 million.

This figure clearly shows a positive upward trend in busi‐ ness after the complexities of the previous year, during which the pandemic accelerated the collapse of the use of the postcard, or letters, a service which normally accounts for 65 per cent of Correos’ revenues, with a recent drop of 560 million letters less than in 2019, although the company still posted an operating income growth of 20.6 per cent, compared to only a 1.6 per cent operating expense.

This is the result of the effort and strategy implemented to adapt the company’s business model to the new situa‐ tion, where it has adjusted production costs and increased revenues due to the new pricing policy.

Meanwhile, 19 per cent ad‐ mitted that they thought that we should eat less meat, but didn’t plan to give it up entirely.

The survey also revealed that people think more meat is con‐ sumed in Spain than by the British, for example.

Finally, 23 per cent respond‐ ed that we should all become vegetarians.

Our readers spoke of the im‐ portance of understanding where what you eat comes from and understanding the carbon footprint of it. Another argued that it is better to eat meat which has come from a farm nearby, than to consume avocados from California which “have to be flown halfway round the world, but kills mil‐ lions of bees” she added, “or maybe use palm oil once we clear the Amazon to grow the palms, or possibly tofu, brought all the way from China in a ship.”

BRINGING you the news you want to read, whether it’s about a local charity event or a far‐ reaching international issue, it is our mission, and that’s why we think it’s so important to keep Euro Weekly News free for all of our read‐ ers.

Unlike other publications, we are, and will continue to be, absolutely free of charge, both online and in print.

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UK tourists flock to Spain

TOURISTS have been flocking to Spain after the UK government allowed vaccinated travellers to come back from amber list countries without quarantine from July 19.

The number of tourists making their way to Spain following the amber list changes on July 19 has increased dramatically, with airlines reporting higher numbers of planes arriving at airports.

In total, 489 flights were scheduled between the UK and Spain on the day the gov-

ernment began allowing travellers to amber list countries to come back without quarantine, representing a three-fold increase on the previous week.

The airports with the most flights were Palma de Mallorca, with 113 flights, Ibiza with 70, Alicante-Elche with 62, and Malaga with 59.

Meanwhile, airline Jet2 also reopened its flights between the two countries, allowing thousands of holidaymakers to enjoy a holiday in Spain.

Ryanair is also expecting greater numbers of travellers, and has announced it will be expanding its summer routes in July.

Businesses in Spain have welcomed the arrival of UK travellers, with the Executive Vice President of the Association of Hotel Businessmen of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos), Javier Hernandez, saying that after the elimination of the restrictions by the UK government they expect “a greater rebound in reservations during the next few days.”

He added that occupancy rates are 58.20 per cent for July and 62.03 per cent for August.

Hernandez said the majority of tourists were British, adding “we are satisfied by the elimination of the restrictions and surely during the next few days hotel establishments will begin to reopen in those areas that mainly work with this British sector.”

The UK government has said that vaccinated travellers coming back from amber list countries will not have to quarantine this summer.

NEWS

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22 - 28 July 2021

Moroccan migrants demand recognition MOROCCAN migrants who are still living on the streets of Ceuta are demanding recognition from the Spanish government.

About 200 Moroccan mi‐ grants, mostly adults, gathered together on Saturday July 17 in front of the Government Delega‐ tion in Ceuta and demanded what they called a “dignified re‐ ception.”

They are part of the almost 3,000 that have been living on the streets of Ceuta for the past two months, after the massive entry they made through the breakwa‐ ters of the Tarajal and Benzu bor‐ ders which separate Ceuta from Morocco.

The protest responds to the convocation of the NGOs No Name Kitchen, Maakum and Elin at the request of the migrants themselves “to stop being invisi‐ ble,” the organisation explained.

Reda, one of the twenty‐some‐ things who entered Ceuta on

May 17, has acted as spokesman for the group demanding that the police raids on public roads and

the returns to Morocco “carried out without proper legal proce‐ dures” be stopped.

Mllionaire creates new phone BITCOIN millionaire Erik Finman has announced a phone for conser‐ vatives. Erik Finman, the youngest millionaire thanks to Bitcoin, aims to develop an undetectable mobile phone so as not to transfer per‐ sonal data to large companies.

Now, at 22 years old, the millionaire wants to create a mobile phone he has christened ‘Freedom Phone’ for companies like Twit‐ ter or Facebook, something highly demanded by the conservative public close to Trump. According to Finman, these social networks are censoring messages of this ideology and he wants to put an end to it. He has announced on Twitter that the ‘Freedom Phone’ is al‐ ready on sale for $499 (€424). With it, he supposedly seeks to end companies that, according to him, silence right‐wing movements.

Finman assures that Freedom Phone is “the first phone that guar‐ antees your freedom of expression and freedom.” This smartphone has conservative applications already installed at the factory, such as Parler, which was once removed from the Apple and Google appli‐ cation stores, and ultra‐conservative media apps, such as OANN or Newsmax. This phone will have its own application store which will not have any type of censorship or control, according to Finman.

Likewise, Duck Duck Go will be the default browser of the device to avoid the use of the Google search engine.

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France requires test

UNVACCINATED Spanish trav‐ ellers entering France must now present a negative coronavirus test taken within 24 hours, as opposed to the current 72 hours.

Unvaccinated travellers enter‐ ing France from Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Greece, and Cyprus are now required to pre‐ sent a negative coronavirus test (PCR or antigen) taken a maxi‐ mum of 24 hours before travel‐ ling. This new rule comes into ef‐ fect after the rebound in Covid

cases worldwide and in France due to the Delta variant.

The reinforced control system will also apply to people arriving from the United Kingdom, who must also produce a negative test carried out a maximum of 24 hours in advance, compared to the current 48 hours which apply to British travellers entering France.

The period after which people who have received their second dose of the vaccine are allowed

to enter France has been re‐ duced from 14 to seven days, af‐ ter which it is possible to enter the country without a detection test (28 days in the case of the single‐dose Janssen vaccine or a single dose for who have had the virus).

The French Government has warned that it will be strengthen‐ ing all of its land, air, and mar‐ itime border controls to ensure strict compliance with these new coronavirus measures.

€1 bn Covid funding THE European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, Spanish plans to set up a €1 billion recapitalisation fund which will invest through debt and equity instruments in certain companies affected by the coronavirus out‐ break. The scheme was approved under the State Aid Temporary Framework.

“This €1 billion recapitalisation scheme will enable Spain to support companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak by facilitating their ac‐ cess to finance in these difficult times.

“We continue working in close cooperation with Member States to find workable solutions to mitigate the economic impact of the coron‐

avirus outbreak, in line with EU rules,” said Ex‐ ecutive Vice‐President Margrethe Vestager.

The measure is open to companies estab‐ lished in Spain and active in all sectors except the financial one, with total net yearly revenues of a minimum €15 million and up to €400 mil‐ lion on a consolidated basis, and that are now facing capital needs due to the coronavirus out‐ break.

Companies that have already received sup‐ port through the ‘Solvency Fund for Strategic Enterprises’ approved by the Commission in Ju‐ ly 2020 are not eligible for aid under this new scheme.

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22 - 28 July 2021

Criminals posed as officers THE Guardia Civil have arrested nine people and are investigat‐ ing another six in Madrid and the province of Toledo, for crimes against property that they committed with great vio‐ lence, whilst also posing as members of the security forces.

It is reported by the Guardia Civil that the leader of this crimi‐ nal gang ‐ ‘Goyito’ ‐ has been ar‐ rested on 20 previous occasions, having committed more than 200 crimes, and those arrested are also reportedly related to an attempted murder in Navalcan,

4,000 ignored curfew THE first night of the new curfew rules in Catalonia Province saw Barcelona police having to remove 4,357 people who had taken to the city’s streets and beaches, who were not respecting the new curfew. This new action was brought in after the Generalitat de Catalonia made a request to the Catalonia High Court of Justice, asking for the 161 municipalities almost 80 per cent of Catalonia - in the province with the highest rates of infection to once again have a curfew imposed between the hours of 1am and 6am, in an effort to combat the spread of the virus in the province, especially among young people.

Barcelona’s Guardia Urbana police force reportedly highlighted the ‘normality’ and ‘absence’ of incidents involved during the evictions on the first night of lockdown in the capital of Catalonia, saying that there had been no noticeable increase seen in the number of private parties or concentrations taking place in the streets. Most of the 4,357 evicted people were reportedly found on the streets and squares of the city centre, and in the Ciutat Vella district of the city, as well as on the beaches, where there were many tourists.

Toledo, last June, where a man was wounded after being shot at.

During the investigations, offi‐ cers quickly learned that this gang was a perfectly structured and hierarchical criminal group, whose members were not afraid to use firearms to intimidate their victims, with each of their rob‐ beries being planned meticulous‐ ly, and carried out mainly at night after studying the area and the communication routes.

They used high‐end vehicles that they had stolen, capable of reaching up to 200kph per hour, and they did not hesitate to ram any other car that got in their way.

According to a statement from the Guardia Civil, during search‐ es, they recovered many stolen items, including clothing, per‐ fumery items and accessories, audiovisual material, a collectible motorcycle, numerous mo‐ tocross helmets, along with a po‐ lice newspaper, and masks with the logos and initials of the Na‐ tional Police.

The operation remains open, with the police not ruling out fur‐ ther arrests.

NEWS

Avoid the sun after vaccine

SUNBATHING: It is advisable not to be exposed to the sun during the hottest hours.

IT is being recommended not to sunbathe in the middle of the day after being vaccinated.

In the recommendations of the Ministry of Health for vaccination, there is no mention of the prohibition of sunbathing after being vacci‐ nated, in fact, it is advisable to choose outdoor activities to avoid infections.

However, the SUMMA coordinator at the Wizink Vaccination Centre, Raquel Jimenez, rec‐ ommended not to expose yourself to the sun.

“It is not advisable to be exposed to the sun during the hottest hours,” said the expert, al‐ though the manufacturers of the vaccines do not specifically mention anything about it.

“Before vaccination, there are no contraindi‐ cations, a normal life should be carried out and afterwards, one must wait about eight hours to ensure that there are no side effects before making efforts and being able to start a normal life,” she added.

The recommendation comes from the side ef‐ fects that the vaccine can produce hours after re‐ ceiving the injection, fever being one of these most common symptoms. Likewise, having a headache is another of the most repeated symp‐ toms of the Covid vaccine, a pain that can also be caused or increased due to long sun expo‐ sure.

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22 - 28 July 2021

Influencer 0 degrees angers many in August FOR those who love a cold summer, there is a town in Teruel that has been given the nickname of the coldest town in all of Spain in summer.

The town in question is called Griegos and is located in the Sierra de Albarracin region, with an area spanning 31.77 km² and boasting a population of 138 inhabitants, according to data from 2020. Although its climate is the continental Mediterranean, the altitude of the town is what causes such low temperatures in this municipality.

With an average annual temperature of only 7.5°C, it is 1,604 metres above sea level. Its winters are usually extremely cold and long, and on the contrary, the cool and short summers can even register temperatures below 0 degrees on some occasions in August. In winter temperatures can drop below -15 degrees. The municipality has great tourist attractions that will surprise its visitors. The Church of San Pedro, in whose construction there are still remains of the 16th century and the subsequent extension of the 17th century. Meanwhile, the Muela de San Juan is one of the most incredible viewpoints that can be found in the area to observe a beautiful panoramic view of the region.

Also, visiting its well-known ‘House of Butterflies’ where lovers of insects will discover more than 2,000 specimens is one of the obligatory visits in the coldest town in Spain.

SPANISH social media in‐ fluencer and singer, Dar‐ rechi, 19, who has 26 mil‐ lion viewers on TikTok, has caused anger after saying he avoids using a condom by telling sexual partners he is sterile.

Darrechi stated that because none of his part‐ ners had fallen pregnant from unprotected sex with him “I started think‐ ing that I had a problem.

So, I tell them ‘relax I’m sterile’. It’s true, I find it difficult with a condom, so I never use one,” he said.

He later came out on Instagram to apologise af‐ ter his comments went vi‐ ral saying: “I’m really sor‐ ry... it’s just crazy what I said.

“I want to apologise, really. Sometimes I don’t

DARRECHI: Is now being investigated. realise the responsibility that is mine...

“I made a comment that really is out of place and that is not right.

Sometimes I say things and sometimes I exagger‐ ate, but it’s just crazy what I said, I wish it had been cut at the edit and no one would ever have heard it,” he continued.

The equality minister for Spain has now asked a prosecutor to investigate Darrechi. Irene Montero said on Twitter that she wants an investigation in‐ to whether Darrechi’s comments were true and, if so, to identify victims of his deception as it would constitute as sexual abuse under Spanish laws.

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#ImVaccinated promotion MANY young people in Spain feel unfairly sin‐ gled out as those responsible for the fifth wave of the pandemic, due to uncontrolled parties and crowds and, therefore, they have launched a campaign on social media net‐ works to encourage everyone to get vaccinat‐ ed and show that most of them respect the rules.

With the use of the #ImVaccinated hashtag, they have wanted to show their commitment to curbing the pandemic, at a time when young people over 16 have already begun to be vaccinated in some communities such as Madrid, the Basque Country, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. They want to demon‐ strate their collaboration to stop the spread of the virus in this new wave of infections that af‐ fects this age group in particular as it is the one that, within the vaccination strategy estab‐ lished by the Ministry of Health, receives im‐ munisation later compared to other age co‐ horts. On Twitter, Instagram and Facebook there are constant messages from young peo‐ ple who encourage their followers to get vacci‐ nated, attaching a photo after receiving the vaccine or posing next to the health personnel who have administered the doses.

And it is now, after the constant pointing out that they are responsible for the new wave of infections when young people want to show they are aware of the seriousness of the situation and want to be vaccinated.

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Lego flagship store THE Lego group are set to open their first flagship store in Spain which is set to open towards the end of 2021 and will be located in Barcelona.

The Danish multinational firm an‐ nounced that the new store will open hopefully before the Christmas cam‐ paign begins. This new store confirms the Lego commitment to Spain where they already have six certified shops.

The shops are located in Barcelona, Madrid, Zaragoza and Sevilla.

The Lego flagship store will be located at Barcelona’s 9 Paseo de Gracia. Visi‐ tors will be treated to an impressive ex‐ perience including an interactive discov‐ ery tree. The tree will be constructed from nearly one million Lego pieces. The tree is meant to express the Lego group’s commitment to the environ‐ ment along with their commitment to inclusivity.

Fake DGT traffic fines

POLICE are warning of a new scam of fake emails with DGT traffic fine demands after receiving thousands of complaints from drivers in Spain.

The General Directorate of Traffic al‐ ready alerted the public in December 2020 that this type of scam had returned. The email is so good that it includes the official logos of the DGT itself and the Ministry of the Interior in order to lure its victims into the trap.

The aim of the false email is to encour‐ age the user to click on the supposed offi‐ cial form, after which they will be asked for their personal data in order to pay the supposed fine.

If, by any chance the user falls for the scam, a file will be downloaded in the background without them noticing. A banking‐type program known as Mekoito will then run and access the user’s bank

TRAFFIC FINES: DGT will not send by email. account, squeezing every last euro out of it. This is based on a system capable of opening different windows and accessing different banking websites and pretending to be the user.

To avoid these deceptions, both the

DGT and experts specialised in cybersecu‐ rity recommend looking at the email and checking its domain to rule out possible deceptions and scams as they do not use this format to notify drivers about fines.

UK Embassy commiserates with expats FROM July 19, British visitors coming to Spain do not have to quarantine when they return to the UK. But residents in S pain who have both doses of C ovid vaccine will still be required to quarantine if going back to the UK prompting many to express their anger and disappointment.

The UK Embassy in Madrid said it understood the rules were causing annoyance.

“We have received many questions and comments about last week’s announcement that those U K Nationals who have been double-vaccinated by the N H S will, from July 19, be able to return from amber-list countries without the need to quarantine on their return,” the Embassy posted on its popular Facebook page on July 14.

“This is good news for anyone coming to visit you here in Spain, but we recognise the disappointment that this exemption does not apply to you. The g o v e r n m e n t i s t a k i n g a p h a s e d a pproach to amending requirements and is already exploring plans to remove quarantine for vaccinated non-UK residents arriving from amber countries later this summer, when it is safe to do so. “ W e will update you as soon as we have further news on this. Meanwhile, you have the option of travelling to the U K and doing quarantine or using the Test to Release scheme to shorten your quarantine period. I f you have been vaccinated here in S pain, we recommend getting the EU Covid digital certificate, which will be useful for travel within the EU,” the embassy added.

NEWS

Spending recovery NATIONAL spending on tourism in June recovered to the pre-pandemic level. The summer season in S pain starts with encouraging data for the national tourism sector, at least with regard to Spanish trips.

While waiting for the arrival of international visitors to gradually normalise, which are still well below normal before the pandemic, national tourism spending soared to exceed the levels recorded two years ago, driven by the end of the regional closures after the ending of the State of Alarm last May. According to a BBVA R esearch report released on Monday, July 12, the spending of S panish credit card users of this bank in provinces and communities other than those they reside in was four percentage points higher in the last week of J une than that registered in the same month of 2019, something that had not happened until now at any time since the pandemic broke out.

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Liquidators called in

PULLMANTUR: Potential investors are being sought.

Arrested on Camino de Santiago A FUGITIVE wanted in connection with three murders in Brazil was arrested while doing the Camino de Santiago.

His arrest occurred on July 15, when officers from the National Police - through their control of the hostels in the area detected the presence of a 53-year-old Spanish citizen, of Argentinian origin who was doing the famous treks of the Camino de Santiago.

The officers were able to verify that the man was listed with a ‘red notification’ from Interpol, standing accused of committing a triple homicide in Rio de Janeiro some years previously.

After his arrest, his full identity was subsequently confirmed, and he appeared before a judge in Palencia.

SPANISH cruise company Pull‐ mantur has made a request to the courts to open the liquidation process, in order to carry out an inventory of the company’s assets to allow potential investors to in‐ ject the necessary capital needed, or to sell it.

This move has been long‐ex‐ pected, as the pandemic has hit the cruise sector badly, with no re‐ al date set in stone for the resump‐ tion of activities. In a statement from the bankruptcy administrator of the shipping company, it said: “Pullmantur continues negotiating with two or three investors.”

While Pullmantur commented, “Unfortunately, the prolongation of the State of Alarm and its suc‐ cessive extensions, together with the restrictions in the cruise opera‐ tion, made Pullmantur, like the rest of its competitors, have to postpone again its plans to restart activities, due to the restrictions in Spain to contain the Covid‐19, dis‐ rupting all its work plans.”

If an investor can be found then the company can restart, and rein‐ state the workforce, but in the ab‐ sence of any investor then the company would end up closing.

Spanish citizenship for Senegalese heroes SAMUEL LUIZ: Died after a vicious attack by numerous young people.

THE Spanish government are set to grant nationality to the two Senegalese men who risked their own well‐being to try to pro‐ tect Samuel Luiz during a vicious attack which took place in La Coruña.

Samuel was tragically beaten to death by multiple young peo‐ ple in what is considered by many people to be a homophobic attack.

The Secretary of State for Migration has confirmed that the Spanish government will grant Spanish nationality to these two brave men. Samuel’s friends have been among those to request this happen. The two men have been welcomed by Samuel’s friends into their group and are treated as one of their own.

The Spanish government has the legal authority to legalise people’s irregular situations in Spain on a discretionary basis.

This can occur when people show exceptional solidarity and thereby prove themselves to be worthy of being citizens.

The government believes that this describes perfectly the two young Senegalese men who tried to save the life of Samuel. One of them even threw his own body over Samuel’s to protect him during the attack. The other man helped Samuel’s friends.

Mask question THE President of the Basque Government, Iñigo Urkullu, has asked the President of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, to re‐ consider the mandatory use of the mask.

In an interview with the newspaper Deia, Urkullu points out that “garments would not hurt” if another State of Alarm had to be de‐ clared. He said: “What gives us some hope in a very pru‐ dent way is the occupation of ICU beds, not deaths, the re‐ productive index ... But if we see that it goes wrong, we will have to put some other mea‐ sure on the table that I do not know if it has to be with the State of Alarm but, in any case, that it is an umbrella for the whole of the State.”

He added: “The situation invites us to reflect on whether umbrella tools are necessary for the whole of the State, understanding the time of year we are in, if there may be an effect on certain eco‐ nomic sectors, such as tourism and the hospitality in‐ dustry.”

NEWS

Worker loses eye A HEALTH worker has lost an eye after being brutally at‐ tacked on a Madrid Metro train for telling a passenger to wear a face mask.

Police in Madrid are looking for a man accused of the as‐ sault. Video footage of Thurs‐ day July 15’s incident, that oc‐ curred at the Alto del Arenal station on Line 1 of the Madrid Metro, has since gone viral on social networks, and police are hoping that somebody will recognise the aggressor.

The man allegedly attacked the health worker with a sharp object, which went into his eye, and even though he was transferred to the 12 de Octubre Hospital, they were unable to save his eye.

In the video, the aggressor, wearing a pink baseball cap and a backpack is seen picking something up and leaves the carriage as the train pulls into the station. He shouts at the man, “Let it be clear to you, I hope you die, asshole.” The National Police have asked the public to contact them if they know who the man is.

Seven arrested by NCA SEVEN British fugitives have been arrested in Spain in the space of just three weeks as a result of joint operations between the National Crime Agency and the National Po‐ lice.

The fugitives ‐ all men ‐ are want‐ ed in the UK for various unrelated offences including supplying Class A and B drugs, supplying firearms, causing wounding with intent and conspiracy to rob.

The flurry of arrests were execut‐ ed by the National Police with sup‐ port from the NCA’s international li‐ aison officer network, Interpol Manchester and UK police partners.

In late June one suspect, aged 45, was arrested in Estepona on the Costa del Sol. He was wanted by the NCA in connection to a 40kg co‐ caine conspiracy.

In the early hours of July 4, a 27‐ year‐old man was arrested in Mar‐ bella for allegedly causing wounding with intent. He is wanted by Greater Manchester Police.

Another UK national wanted by West Midlands Police, was arrested on July 5 in Fuengirola, on suspicion of cocaine and firearms supply.

On July 6 two brothers aged 37 and 35, also wanted by GMP, for al‐ legedly supplying cocaine were ar‐

rested in Alicante.

A day later a 36‐year‐old man wanted by Merseyside Police was arrested in Estepona for allegedly supplying firearms and Class A and B drugs.

On July 12, a 26‐year old man wanted by Greater Manchester Po‐ lice was arrested in Fuengirola in connection to affray with a ma‐ chete.

The suspects remain in custody awaiting extradition proceedings.

The NCA’s international liaison officers worked with Spanish part‐ ners and the Crown Prosecution Service to execute the arrests ‐ some under pre‐existing European Arrest Warrants, and some under new Trade and Cooperation Agree‐ ment warrants.

Dave Hucker Head of European Operations at the NCA, said: “Seven arrests in just three weeks is the re‐ sult of some very hard work by the Agency with our Spanish partners ‐ who have allocated critical re‐ sources and operated quickly to se‐ cure these arrests.

“Fugitives should know that the NCA work hand in glove with inter‐ national law enforcement partners, and that we therefore have signifi‐ cant reach.

NEWS

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22 - 28 July 2021

EWN 11

How to retire to Mallorca with financial peace of mind Anyone recently retired or approaching retirement is entering a new and exciting phase in life. The Balearics certainly offers a beneficial lifestyle for retired expatriates, but long-term financial security is crucial to help you enjoy your retirement years. To achieve this, you need to take a good look at your finances and the way you hold your assets.

Savings and investments You may have built up a successful portfolio of investments over your working life, but your circumstances and objectives were different then.

With a regular salary coming in you could afford to take more risk and focus more on growth.

Many retirees, however, are looking for income. Besides planning for that, you need to protect the capital that generates the income, so manage risk carefully. Aim to earn enough capital growth to keep pace with inflation over time to maintain your spending

By Cathal Rochford, Partner, Blevins Franks

power throughout retirement.

It’s a fine balance. The starting point is to obtain an objective assessment of your risk tolerance. Together with a good understanding of your aims, circumstances, needs and time horizon, this is key to ensuring your portfolio is suitable for you. In any case, diversification is central to managing risk.

Taxation All that free time in retirement costs money! You can

help maximise your income through strategic tax planning - how you hold your capital can make a significant difference to retirement income.

UK tax planning is unlikely to be effective in Spain. ISAs and UK bank interest, for example, become fully taxable for Spanish residents – but you gain access to investment opportunities that might provide much better tax-efficiency alongside other advantages.

Locally compliant arrangements, such as a suitable life assurance bond, can combine your investment, tax and estate planning in one exercise, grouping different investments together under one taxefficient roof.

Pension plans This is the time you get to benefit from those years of pension contributions!

Once you are no longer UK resident it may become less beneficial to leave UK pensions where they are. UK pension income is paid in sterling, so if your key spending is

Caught red handed TWO men have been arrested after being caught red‐handed in Sanlúcar la Mayor, Sevilla for

poaching. They were seriously prepared for the mission, dressed in camouflage whilst

Sanlucar dates now set DAT ES have been confirmed for this year’s famous S anlucar de B arrameda, C adiz H orse R acing programme, to be held in two cycles, the first between August 3 and 6, and then the second cycle on August 18, 19, and 20.

This has already been approved by the Spanish Jockey Club, which officially regulates horse racing at the national level, and in a press release from the Horse Racing Society, it is confirmed that the programme comprises 22 races, 10 in the first cycle, and 12 in the second, with the possibility of adding one more prize, which would be given an extra fourth race day.

All the races will be for horses and thoroughbred mares from three years old and upward, and the distances will range between 1,400m and 2,000m, with a total prize budget of €159,460 allocated.

The Andalucia Prize will be run on August 18, with a €10,200 prize, and the Ciudad de Sanlucar grand prize, which will once again be the most prestigious race of the equestrian meeting, with a first prize of €13,600, which will be the final race on the last day.

wearing balaclavas and carry‐ ing a large backpack which was found to contain the remains of a wild boar which had been cut into pieces. The men had a startling array of hunting equipment including a long‐ range rifle with a scope, a si‐ lencer, and independent ther‐ mal sight and other equipment. They were also car‐ rying various 308 mm calibre ammunition. The police had been working to track down il‐ legal poachers, having received information that poaching was taking place in multiple loca‐ tions in the province. They were caught on private proper‐ ty and they had not been granted permission to be there by the owner. Wild boar in Spain is not considered to be an endangered species but there is a season for hunting.

According to the officers the men had been hunting out of season which is considered to be seasonal poaching.

To read more stories like this go to www.euroweeklynews.com

in euros, this invites exchange rate risk. UK pensions remain subject to UK regulations, which could potentially change for non-residents post Brexit.

Many expatriates choose to transfer UK pensions to a Qualifying Regulated Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) or reinvest funds into more tax-efficient arrangements for Spain. As well as reducing taxation, this can offer currency and estate planning benefits To protect your long-term financial security, research your pension options and fully understand the various implications.

Estate planning The key message here is not to risk leaving it too late. Decide who you want to leave your assets to, how much and when. Then research the most effective way to achieve this, in the most tax-efficient way, taking both the Spanish and UK rules into account.

Don’t ignore your own

needs in the process – look for arrangements that provide taxefficiency for you today as well as your heirs in future.

An integrated financial planning approach produces better results than just focusing on one element at a time.

For example, the way you hold investments and pensions can affect how much tax you and your heirs pay and how the assets are passed to heirs.

Cross-border tax, wealth management, pensions and estate planning is complex. For peace of mind, talk to a specialist adviser who will take time to understand your unique circumstances, needs and goals to help you secure a prosperous retirement in Mallorca.

The tax rates, scope and reliefs may change. Any statements concerning taxation are based upon our understanding of current taxation laws and practices which are subject to change. Tax information has been summarised; individuals should seek personalised advice.

EUROPEAN NIBS DENMARK

FRANCE

Top names

Restaurant rules

TOP names for new born babies in Denmark during 2020 were for girls Alma (514) and for boys Alfred (520) according to information released by Danmarks Statistik. Runners up were Oscar and Carl for boys and Agnes and Ella for girls.

THE latest anti Covid measure imposed by President Emmanuel Macron will hit anti-vaxxers where it hurts as in order to visit a café or restaurant, individuals will have to show that they have been vaccinated or have recently tested negative for Covid-19, otherwise no service.

THE NETHERLANDS VW pay out A DUTCH court has ruled that people who purchased new Volkswagen, Seat or Skoda diesel cars fitted with software that falsified the vehicles’ emissions test results should receive compensation of €3,000, whilst those who purchased the cars second-hand will receive €1,500.

BELGIUM Sir Pent FIREFIGHTERS in Anderlecht thought that they had seen everything until they were called to a car dealer’s showroom and asked to remove an unidentified 50cm long snake from under the bonnet of a car that had recently been imported from Bordeaux, France.

GERMANY Gender-neutral A DECISION has been made by Lufthansa that all of the airlines within its group will drop the phrase Ladies and Gentlemen as it is now committed to gender-neutral language and crews may simply say ‘dear guests’, ‘welcome on board’ or ‘good morning/evening’.

NORWAY Oil OK A SURVEY, conducted by research bureau Sentio for newspaper Klassekampen, showed that 59 per cent of Norwegians were in favour of ongoing oil and gas exploration, 23 per cent were opposed and 18 per cent were undecided. Those against has shrunk by 11 per cent in two years.

FINLAND Scooter curfew WITH effect from September, people in Oslo will no longer be able to rent e-scooters between 11pm and 5am, due to the high rate of accidents.

According to Norwegian NTB Data, of all the major cities in Europe, Oslo has the highest number of escooters per capita.

SWEDEN No ID A MAN claiming to be a plain-clothes policeman flagged down a car containing two women in Malmo and accused the driver of speeding. He showed no ID, didn’t try to get into the car or fine the woman, but simply drove away.

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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 now that the lock‐ down has ended and for your all your shopping this year, instead of feeding online giants and su‐ perstores.

We challenge you to rediscov‐ er your local high streets, mar‐ kets, butchers, greengrocers and all of the wonderfully quirky in‐ dependent businesses in your area.

Now that the Covid‐19 pan‐ demic appears to be under con‐ trol, it is a good idea to try and support many local businesses by ordering online and making use of any click and collect ser‐ vices they can operate, especially if you are unable to get out due to health reasons or any other 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 indepen‐ dent 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‐

SPENDING LOCALLY: Will make a difference to the local economy. 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.

You could also consider pur‐ chasing gift vouchers from local businesses to help them over the coming weeks, thinking outside the box can often lead to some fantastic ideas. Why not buy a meal for two, an hour’s tattoo time at a local studio, a hair cut at a local salon or an online study course for someone looking to change their career path.

As people are struggling with finances thinking about what friends and family may actually need is important too. Whilst it’s nice to give a glamourous gift perhaps pre‐paying a family member’s phone bill for the month would actually be a bet‐ ter gift. Helping people alleviate stress and worry, give the gift of peace of mind through these dif‐ ficult times.

Choosing to spend your mon‐

ey locally will really make a dif‐ ference in the recovery of the lo‐ cal economy. When we buy lo‐ cal, our money stays local, and it strengthens the local economy in two ways. First, buying local keeps money circulating within the local economy.

Studies have shown that local businesses recirculate a greater share of every euro as they cre‐ ate locally owned supply chains and invest in their employees.

Data shows that local retailers return 52 per cent of their rev‐ enue back into the local econo‐ my, compared to just 14 per cent for national chain retailers.

Money circulating through the local economy benefits everyone who is a part of each transaction.

For example, let’s look at a local farmer growing produce.

First, they sell to a local restau‐ rant, which in turn prepares the fresh produce and sells it to local customers. The farmer pays its local employees and the restau‐ rant uses revenue from sales to buy supplies from a neighbour‐ hood hardware store. This exam‐ ple illustrates how the recircula‐ tion of money in the local economy leads to a stronger fi‐ nancial foundation for our neigh‐ bours and communities.

Buying local also fuels new employment and job opportuni‐ ties for people within our com‐ munity. Studies show, locally owned businesses employ more people per unit of sales and re‐ tain more employees over time.

A fantastic example of how to support your local community is with a Charity Gift certificate, why not donate to your loved one’s favourite cause.

Just remember to still follow the latest government advice and any guidance businesses have to keep everyone safe in the future.

FEATURE

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22 - 28 July 2021

EWN 13

Advertising Feature

Two week review

A M I X E D bag of stories means the F X market has had a rather uncertain time over the last few weeks. A summer holiday atmosphere and a lack of solid data releases has meant nothing moved very far. However, sterling reached its highest level against the euro since April, and Powell’s testimony to Congress has woken the markets back up.

Sterling has been bolstered by a few good news stories. The majority of restrictions will be lifted in the UK next week we had to wait for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to also confirm they’re following suit. The speed of the UK vaccination programme has supported sterling against the euro and the U S dollar this year. As the majority of UK adults are now jabbed with their first dose, it’ll be interesting to see how sterling, and other majors responds. It’s also important to note that the UK government has struck a cautious tone in that Covid cases are extreme-

ly likely to continue rising across the summer, prepping investors for the possibility of choppy waters ahead.

Outside of football and freedom day, there was little to affect sterling in political or economic terms. The only economic statistic was the British Retail Consortium’s like-for-like retail sales measure which showed exceptional growth. UK employment numbers showed job vacancies have surpassed those of pre-pandemic levels.

Eurozone Industrial Production dropped by 1% in May, which was not was expected with economists polled by The Wall Street Journal forecasting a 0.1% drop.

The suggestion is that the manufacturing sector could be losing its recovery momentum.

Over last weekend, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde expanded on some of the changes to ECB policy.

In light of the change to the inflation tar-

get from “just below but close to 2%” to “2%”, Ms Lagarde said she would update the guidance on the direction of monetary policy.

U S central banks are under immense pressures as prices surge, with official figures showing that the consumer price index (CPI) has jumped by an annual rate of 5.4% in June, the largest spike in 13 years.

Powell’s testimony in Congress yesterday sought to ease concerns over US inflation and that the world’s largest economy is as the FT put it, overheating, but he very much stuck to his guns that the these increases are temporary and will eventually subside. Powell pushed back the suggestion that the bank is complacent surrounding such risks, and that he understands the public’s frustrations and worries.

The Bank of Canada revealed that they are willing to let inflation run faster than its 2% target through to 2023 at least. The sentiment is in alignment with governor

Clarisse Musselwhite is Moneycorp’s Account Manager for Mallorca.

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

mallorca@moneycorp.com.

Tiff Macklem’s favouring of taking calculated risk in order to arrive at a complete recovery in the long run. “This adjustment reflects continued progress towards recovery and the bank’s increased confidence in the strength of the Canadian economic outlook”, Macklem and his deputies on the Governing Council said in a statement at the end of their latest round of interestrate deliberations.

In correlation with a vastly successful vaccination programme in Canada - one of the world’s fastest rollouts - the Loonie is enjoying further growth projections for the second half of the year and well into 2022.

To find out more about suitable solutions, please call us on +44 (0) 207 823 7400 or email partners@moneycorp.com Moneycorp is a trading name of TTT Moneycorp Limited which is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Service Regulations 2017 (reference number 308919) for the provision of payment services

FINANCE BUSINESS EXTRA Face masks WITH the removal of pandemic restrictions on July 19, many UK companies have decided that they will require that staff and customers continue to wear masks. Those who have already indicated this are supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Tesco as well as bookseller Waterstones.

Netflix games AS more competing companies such as Apple and Disney enter the online TV market, Netflix continues to look to increase its customer base and has reportedly employed a new expert executive to head up a new Video Game division which is expected to go live in 2022.

Scam warning THE use of Bizum, a mobile App to make small payments to friends became so popular in Spain during the lockdown that companies such as El Corte Inglés have started to accept payment but the Spanish Government is now warning about a proliferation of scams.

14

STAT OF WEEK

Restructuring AFTER having closed eight John Lewis stores earlier this year, John Lewis and Waitrose are looking to cut 1,000 management jobs across the UK. In a statement it said that it wanted to try to avoid compulsory redundancy and will help affected staff (averaging three members of management at each store) to find other roles such as customer service roles.

The decision has been made due to the growth of online shopping and the group intends to continue to improve its business through its web offers.

€6.5 billion

is the amount that American investment bank Morgan Stanley earned in the first six months of 2021, an increase of 56 per cent over the previous year.

IBM acquires Bluetab Solutions Interest rates

AMERICAN technology giant IBM is acquiring Spanish data analytics company Bluetab Solutions Group SL for an undisclosed sum.

Bluetab will become a strategic part of IBM’s data services consulting practice to further advance its hybrid cloud and AI strategy.

“The outside‐in digital transformation of the past is giving way to the inside‐out potential of using company‐ owned data with AI and au‐ tomation to generate busi‐

ness value and create intelli‐ gent workflows,” said Mark Foster, Senior Vice President, IBM Services and Global Busi‐ ness Services.

“Our acquisition of Bluetab will fuel migration to the cloud and help our clients to realise even more value from their mission‐critical data,” he added.

Founded in 2005 and based in Madrid, Bluetab has long‐standing relationships with leading brands in the banking, telecommunica‐

LEGALLY SPEAKING

tions, and energy and utilities industries throughout Spain and parts of Latin America in‐ cluding Mexico, Peru and Colombia.

Bluetab enables leading enterprises to drive more val‐ ue from their data by trans‐ forming their on‐premise da‐ ta and analytics estates to hybrid multi‐cloud data plat‐ forms using a combination of public cloud providers and technologies including Red Hat OpenShift.

Bluetab’s expertise in data

and cloud migration services includes specialised data strategy, data fabric and ad‐ vanced analytics.

Bluetab’s highly skilled da‐ ta experts will join IBM Global Business Services to capitalise on the rapidly growing data services market opportunity.

The transaction was an‐ nounced on July 15 and is subject to customary closing conditions including regulato‐ ry clearance and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.

Returning ashes to the UK

Lawn Bowls Again I saw your EWN piece on club ownership and the assets in the bank belonging to the club signatories and not to the members. I am the sec‐ retary for a Lawn Bowls club on the Costa del Sol and also a bank signatory. I wish to ensure that the assets are shared by the members. My concern is that we al‐ ready belong to the Federation of Bowls in Andalucia and I wonder if going for the Associacion Civil will af‐ fect this membership which governs our sport here in Spain. I understand a lawyer is needed.

VAT free ONE positive effect of Brexit for UK residents travelling to EU destinations is that they are now entitled to claim back VAT on any item they purchase which may be returned to Britain, but they should complete a DIVA tax free form instore or have invoices stamped on departure.

www.euroweeklynews.com • 22 - 28 July 2021

Yes, you need a lawyer and no, it will YOU AND THE LAW not affect your fed‐ IN SPAIN eration status. This Asociacion Civil status makes your club a legal body that can hold a bank account in its own name. When the officers of the association are changed, they register at the bank. The assets are not ‘shared’. They belong to the club. It means you must file your accounts and list your officers and activities each year.

You may even be able to apply for grants to help meet your expenses.

W N (Costa del Sol)

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.

FOUNDED in 1980, Majestic Wines looked to be in trouble as more people turned to online purchasing, but in 2019 it was purchased by American investment firm Fortress for £95 (€105) million.

With the return of former manag‐ ing director John Colley, shops and jobs were saved and staff instore continue to offer knowledgeable advice on the large range of differ‐

REMAINS: Things have changed.

WHEN a person dies in Spain, they may want their remains to be cremated.

If this was arranged in their pre‐paid funeral plan, it will be carried out as per their wishes. However, due to current coro‐ navirus restrictions, it is important to know that human ashes can no longer be returned from Spain to the UK privately with a courier service as they could in the past.

Instead, the same procedure as is required when repatriat‐ ing a body must be carried out and unfortunately this is con‐ siderably more expensive than it was to send the ashes with a courier. Golden Leaves can arrange the whole process for you so that it will go smoothly and your loved one’s ashes will be safely returned to the UK. On the other hand, a family member can take the cremat‐ ed ashes back to the UK with them and Golden Leaves Funer‐ al Plans can provide the certificates required for transport.

www.goldenleavesinternational.com enquiries@goldenleaves.com Facebook: goldenleavesspain

Spanish wines popular in UK ent wines that it stocks.

Talking to Euro Weekly News about its Spanish wines, a spokesman explained: “Spanish wines have dominated the best‐sell‐ ing list at Majestic for some time, with key regions such as Rioja a firm customer favourite.

“In recent times, this has started

to shift ‐ with more interest across other key regions and styles. In par‐ ticular white wines from Spain have started to become more popular, firstly with grapes like Albarino, but increasingly also White Rioja too ‐ including Majestic’s first ever own label Definition Rioja Blanco.

“After a difficult few years in

ONE Bank of England (BOE) ex‐ pert said on July 15 that the Bank may need to take action to curb inflation earlier than ex‐ pected after conditions for tight‐ ening monetary policy appear to have been met already.

Michael Saunders, a member of the BOE monetary policy committee, said that with the economy reviving and inflation above the committee’s 2 per cent target, it may need to con‐ sider ending its bond‐buying programme in the coming months rather than the expect‐ ed December.

The BOE reduced interest rates to a historic low of 0.1 per cent to tackle the financial ef‐ fects of the pandemic, but may now need to start increasing rates again.

Girl power YOUTH and Gender took priori‐ ty in Spanish President Pedro Sánchez’s recent cabinet reshuffle.

Although only PSOE minis‐ ters changed, the average age has dropped to 50 and women now constitute 63 per cent of the cabinet.

Most obvious promotion was that of economy minister Nadia Calviño, who has now become the first Vice Presi‐ dent.

Calviño has experience of economics in her previous role with the European Commission and will be a lynchpin in the re‐ covery programme which will have access to up to €140 bil‐ lion in the coming years. terms of harvests, the region has re‐ cently returned to strong sales growth in our 200 UK stores, driven by this increase in interest along‐ side some other exciting develop‐ ments; including from regions like Rias Baixas, Toro, Priorat and Ribero del Duero ‐ showing that Spain is now about so much more than just simple Rioja when it comes to wine.”

16 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

22 - 28 July 2021

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C LOSING P RICES J ULY 19

COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) 3I Group 1.163,00 1.176,50 Admiral Group 3.282,0 3.304,0 Anglo American 2.786,5 2.845,0 Antofagasta 1.360,00 1.363,50 Ashtead Group 5.520,0 5.544,0 Associated British Foods 1.971,5 2.026,0 AstraZeneca 8.238,0 8.315,0 Auto Trader Group Plc 651,00 658,40 Avast 602,40 605,80 Aveva 3.824,1 3.856,1 Aviva 380,80 388,00 B&M European Value Retail SA554,50 556,00 BAE Systems 529,60 534,80 Bank VTB DRC 1,240 1,242 Barclays 160,20 163,98 Barratt Developments 670,00 679,20 Berkeley 4.612,0 4.622,0 BHP Group 2.153,50 2.196,00 BP 282,20 289,20 British American Tobacco 2.800,5 2.833,5 British Land Company 486,83 492,12 BT Group 181,25 185,20 Bunzl 2.567,0 2.592,0 Burberry Group 1.937,0 1.945,0 Carnival 1.310,0 1.361,0 Centrica 49,01 51,20 Coca Cola HBC AG 2.584,0 2.611,0 Compass 1.416,50 1.437,50 CRH 3.481,0 3.535,0 Croda Intl 7.718,0 7.821,0 DCC 5.866,0 6.030,0 Diageo 3.436,5 3.476,0 DS Smith 406,30 408,60 EasyJet 778,00 811,40 Experian 3.028,0 3.066,0 Ferguson 10.115,0 10.210,0 Flutter Entertainment 11.965,0 12.125,0 Fresnillo 787,40 811,00 GlaxoSmithKline 1.409,80 1.441,00 Glencore 297,50 304,60 Halma 2.741,0 2.759,0 Hargreaves Lansdown 1.598,50 1.612,00 Hikma Pharma 2.628,00 2.639,00 HSBC 394,13 401,85 IAG 159,90 166,82 Imperial Brands 1.571,22 1.596,14 Informa 476,70 484,50 InterContinental 4.572,0 4.650,0 Intermediate Capital 2.008,00 2.054,00 Intertek 5.464,0 5.532,0

% CHG. 1.149,00 3.266,0 2.773,5 1.321,50 5.496,0 1.969,5 8.198,0 651,00 597,80 3.808,9 380,30 550,20 529,40 1,224 159,92 667,20 4.567,0 2.145,00 281,20 2.794,0 476,25 180,90 2.563,0 1.920,5 1.298,0 48,99 2.581,0 1.398,50 3.477,0 7.698,1 5.862,0 3.424,0 404,20 770,60 3.021,0 10.060,0 11.815,0 779,00 1.403,00 296,10 2.727,0 1.591,00 2.606,00 393,65 157,86 1.567,01 475,80 4.492,0 2.002,00 5.402,0

NET VOL 441,95K 55,59K 722,34K 430,24K 101,74K 289,65K 943,95K 57,11K 1,26M 5,27K 2,33M 25,77K 878,44K 347,22K 10,45M 522,80K 136,49K 1,19M 20,12M 622,08K 81,51K 5,96M 107,15K 219,68K 272,07K 5,03M 134,37K 787,67K 209,46K 8,01K 37,84K 614,31K 1,31M 2,55M 197,65K 44,20K 79,13K 374,12K 2,01M 11,42M 77,12K 68,17K 95,86K 898,00K 14,48M 93,26K 480,71K 134,54K 117,17K 58,31K

COMPANY

PRICE(P)

ITV 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 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

116,06 282,50 3.009,0 651,80 254,40 44,09 7.558,0 404,50 143,03 1.920,00 932,20 194,15 7.364,0 33,63 1.729,50 2.906,0 666,00 1.320,50 6.406,0 2.037,00 517,40 662,20 5.803,0 88,99 7,37 1.362,6 1.362,70 1.335,1 688,36 1.707,00 15,78 3.490,0 1.285,50 1.162,00 2.698,0 1.468,59 1.512,00 13.980,0 1.494,95 1.480,50 423,95 270,30 150,40 232,53 308,57 4.325,0 1.036,00 113,69 2.861,0 919,20

CHANGE(P)

% CHG.

NET VOL

120,59 283,40 3.087,0 662,20 259,00 45,20 7.622,0 409,90 147,18 1.950,00 941,90 198,70 7.466,0 33,91 1.774,00 2.925,0 675,59 1.345,00 6.482,0 2.051,00 519,60 665,34 5.891,0 92,95 7,49 1.388,2 1.388,11 1.354,3 694,98 1.716,50 16,00 3.525,0 1.300,50 1.168,50 2.709,1 1.500,00 1.540,00 14.115,0 1.509,48 1.529,77 433,40 276,00 153,45 235,10 321,59 4.369,0 1.045,19 115,84 2.883,0 937,00

115,90 280,60 3.008,0 644,20 254,40 44,06 7.510,0 398,40 142,80 1.911,00 930,00 193,60 7.354,0 33,38 1.726,50 2.889,0 664,80 1.316,00 6.388,0 2.024,00 513,00 660,41 5.790,0 88,24 7,36 1.357,0 1.357,00 1.329,3 687,52 1.707,00 15,77 3.483,0 1.280,50 1.156,00 2.681,8 1.462,67 1.509,50 13.955,0 1.491,80 1.477,00 423,70 269,70 150,10 231,88 307,35 4.312,5 1.032,52 113,69 2.801,0 917,20

960,80K 1,57M 102,88K 484,32K 1,78M 31,15M 107,80K 484,76K 811,71K 411,56K 1,34M 3,69M 122,84K 275,69K 333,31K 160,77K 220,49K 641,23K 142,69K 440,38K 806,27K 23,73K 85,16K 8,44M 1,69M 1,66M 1,65M 569,06K 70,43K 0,04K 1,28M 5,65K 1,11M 182,63K 33,43K 69,85K 144,10K 14,86K 119,29K 37,08K 159,09K 609,40K 2,97M 776,23K 557,67K 625,89K 40,30K 4,80M 263,68K 406,36K

1.16375

0.85905

Units per €

US dollar (USD) ......................................1.18524 Japan yen (JPY) .........................................129.5 Switzerland franc (CHF) ...........................1.0847 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4377 Norway kroner (NOK) ...............................10.529

currenciesdirect.com/mallorca • Tel: +34 687 906 226 THE ABOVE TABLE USES THE CURRENT INTERBANK EXCHANGE RATES, WHICH AREN’T REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RATE WE OFFER

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES J ULY 19

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 199,37 2.636,9 3.573,63 247,96 146,39 217,74 207,95 98,62 53,70 56,40 341,16 364,80 321,54 230,33 138,90 54,97 168,10 151,91 234,75 78,02 280,75 159,85 140,51 238,43 644,22 419,70 56,46 248,12 141,56 179,31

CHANGE 203,21 2.643,7 3.646,06 249,53 149,76 224,00 212,70 101,69 54,41 56,68 345,99 374,93 326,28 233,86 141,00 56,93 169,09 156,28 237,88 78,38 284,10 161,70 140,78 240,88 656,70 422,29 56,79 250,46 142,13 185,29

CHANGE% VOLUME(M) 198,91 2,47M 2.616,4 743,06K 3.570,46 4,04M 246,54 3,14M 145,88 93,25M 217,03 12,41M 207,01 4,37M 98,33 12,20M 53,65 14,14M 56,26 14,86M 340,14 11,03M 363,83 2,58M 321,40 3,62M 229,62 3,59M 138,59 4,11M 54,90 25,26M 167,95 5,84M 151,02 14,00M 234,38 1,68M 77,63 7,64M 279,46 26,19M 159,64 6,60M 139,11 9,35M 237,77 7,29M 642,20 16,37M 417,64 2,63M 56,41 11,64M 247,52 8,67M 140,95 6,03M 178,92 8,35M M - MILLION DOLLARS

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES J ULY 19

COMPANY

CHANGE NET / %

VOLUME

Most Advanced Biglari Holdings Inc. Cl A Cable One Inc. Danaher Corp. 5% Mand. Pfd. Series B Teleflex Inc. Markel Corp.

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. HubSpot Inc. Twilio Inc. Cl A White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. AutoZone Inc. Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. Cl A

2.56% 0.86% 1.00% 3.75% 1.09% 0.90% 1.61% 2.38% 0.76% 0.51% 1.20%

98 34.7K 12.3K 683.09K 41.64K 79.11K 267.71K 1.35M 10.66K 141.91K 99.4K

-0.89% -2.59% -0.50% -1.35% -8.98% -9.31% -1.98% -4.08% -4.43% -2.76% -1.22%

880 24.63K 15.33K 233.68K 358.57K 468.44K 243.49K 32.39K 50.37K 369.22K 222

Most Declined Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Cl A Texas Pacific Land Corp.

NVR Inc. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. Direxion Daily Regional Banks Bull 3X Shares MicroSectors U.S. Big Oil Index 3X Leveraged EPAM Systems Inc. Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares Direxion Daily Retail Bull 3x Shares Burlington Stores Inc. Credit Suisse FI Large Cap Growth Enhanced

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

Credit: Stéphane M Grueso CC

Ceuta and Melilla

‘Hand luggage’ Melilla WHILST the unemployment situ‐ ation in Spain appears to be get‐ ting better, Spanish enclaves in Morocco are finding their economies are getting worse.

For many years Ceuta and Melilla had relatively thriving economies due to the fact that they benefited from what is known as ‘atypical commerce’ whereby goods were shipped in from around the world.

They were then taken to the borders with Morocco where mainly women, who had access to cross the border, were paid to take large packages as ‘hand lug‐ gage’ into Morocco, avoiding im‐ port duties.

From 2018, Morocco started to make it more difficult for this to happen and come the outbreak of the pandemic, bor‐ ders were closed, meaning that a huge flow of income disap‐ peared from both Ceuta and Melilla and this continues to

the present day.

Each of the enclaves houses around 85,000 residents and it is reported by the World Politics Review that although about half of those employed work for the Spanish Government, adult un‐ employment is now around 30 per cent in Ceuta and 20 per cent in Melilla.

The local economies used to thrive on import taxes (much lower than Morocco or Spain) on goods which soon found their way across the borders but this source of income has now disappeared.

The way forward seems to be either rapprochement between Morocco and Spain (which cur‐ rently seems unlikely) or the possible incorporation of the two enclaves into the EU cus‐ toms zone which would be likely to generate options for income.

Morocco isn’t just belligerent because of the ‘atypical com‐

Arcadia debts MOST of the accounting with the Arcadia Group is confusing and now it needs a second set of Administrators to wind up 21 of its companies.

In November 2020, Deloittes were appointed Administrators and raised some £320 (€352) million through the sale of Top Shop and other high street names which allowed the repayment of a £50 (€55) million loan to Lady Green.

Now Mazars is charged with resolving payment of debts to creditors with around £30 (€33) million in the pot, although it is suggested that more than £40 (€44) million is owed in unpaid VAT alone.

merce’ but because Spain still won’t recognise its rights to oc‐ cupy the Western Sahara, which Spain moved out of in 1976.

BUSINESS EXTRA Offices sold PONTEGADEA the real estate investment arm, (said to be worth €15 billion) of Europe’s richest man Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara has made a new investment, buying the London offices of global private equity firm Cinven which is based in St James’s Square.

Revolut value DESPITE continuously making losses, UK online bank Revolut has been valued at a stunning £24 (€26.4) billion after raising £578 (€636) million in a fundraising effort which makes it the most valuable British Fintech operation trading today. It also forecasts profit this year.

Turnover down ONE of the world’s richest football teams, Real Madrid saw a massive drop in turnover due to the suspension of matches and then banning of crowds due to the pandemic, so has declared that for the 15 months to June 2021 it earned €653 million.

22 - 28 July 2021

EWN 17

18 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

22 - 28 July 2021

FEATURE

Well, good luck with that one!

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT WELL, I hope the woke wallies that encouraged the introduction of an act of such provocative propaganda into our national sport are pleased with themselves.

The taking of the knee, in support of a Marxist, anti‐white (and in fact anti male) organisation has ‐ as I was scoffed at for prophesying months ago ‐ now created more racism in the UK than ever could have been previously envisaged.

Instead of a few low lifes making derogatory noises from the terraces, or the occasional banana being thrown on the pitch, there are now thousands of spectators voicing their displeasure of this act of blatant racial confrontation at the start of every match. And now it is announced that some of our mislead athletes will be continuing this practice of ‘gesture politics’ at the Tokyo games!

This decision is in direct violation of the Olympic charter that states and I quote: ‘No kind of demonstration, political, religious or racist propaganda is permitted on any

The Olympic Charter is clear.

Olympic site or venue’, unquote. In yet another act of total disregard for the rules and regulations and with utter contempt for the millions of sport fans, who want to enjoy sport for sports sake, this arrogant BLM movement is now about to tarnish the most glorious celebration of peaceful sporting rivalry ever created with political statements akin to the Nazi demonstrations at Hitler’s 1936 games in Berlin.

Well I personally think the

Japanese should ban the whole debasing operation and, as they did with the Black Power athletes in 1969, disqualify those who decide to flout the time honoured rules of this magnificent unbiased competition.

The problem here of course is that some who initially (and irrationally) thought it would be ‘pretty cool’ to display this kneeling act to the supporters, cannot now back down for fear of being accused of racism themselves. Do I detect a certain

irony? For all our sakes get off your knees and get on with these sporting events in the true unbiased and multicultural spirit they were originally intended. After all it’s not as though black and minority figures are underrepresented in these events.

In fact many categories are positively dominated by ethnic athletes.

These continuing accusations of white privilege are a positive disgrace and completely non‐ productive to anyone truly wishing to

solve the problems. Personally I think the words of the great actor Morgan Freeman were probably one of the most intelligent pieces of advice I’ve heard, when he announced in the media that the best way to end racism was to stop talking about it!

The BLM movement is a far left Marxist organisation which, under the guise of seeking racial equality, is intent on causing as much disruption and resentment as it is allowed to get away with. Time it was exposed for what its intentions truly are (which is actually black female domination!)

Well, good luck with that.

I believe the British government has finally capitulated to Covid. It’s now every man, woman and child for themselves. And good luck with that as well!

Keep the faith.

Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com expatradioscotland. Mon. Wed. Fri. To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com

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

THURSDAY 22/07 FRIDAY 23/07 SATURDAY 24/07 SUNDAY 25/07 MONDAY 26/07 TUESDAY 27/07

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FEATURE

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EWN 21

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE POLITICAL KIND 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

AFTER decades of doing everything possible to keep reported UFO sightings secret, the Pen‐ tagon has changed tack. According to a recently‐ released report, it has no explanation for dozens of unidentified flying objects seen by US military pilots.

All the cynics amongst you may well point to the fact that aliens only seem interested in places where western powers are known to test new technologies (places like southern California, Vir‐ ginia Beach etc) and to let them know just when the little green folk show some interest in Syria or Sri Lanka. And that maybe there is another expla‐ nation for UFO videos released by military forces: the need to convince us of the ongoing existence of threats, real and imaginary, to maximise their funding.

Admittedly, we’ve been told by our own gov‐ ernment there’s been no substantiated evidence of Unidentified Flying Objects over the past half

ALIENS: Are not just confined to British politics. century. But heck, that’s the UK Government ‐ it wouldn’t LIE to us, would it?

Unidentified means unidentified, not alien but alien could be applied to some UK politicians. And let’s face it: there are some very strange people in

politics. And even more who claim that the lack of UFO sightings over the years is simply because aliens have all now been assimilated into the vari‐ ous political parties.

But these aliens aren’t confined to British poli‐

tics. Consider former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the number of times she ‘mis‐spoke’ about being in places where she clearly wasn’t.

Under sniper fire in Bosnia. Under bomb fire in Belfast. It always sounded so thrilling ‐ like some‐ thing out of a Dan Brown novel. Problem was, it did come out of a Dan Brown novel. Fiction that’s totally out of this world.

Then there’s Donald Trump still refusing to ac‐ cept the election result...

Yes, politicians are strange. Alien‐like. And with us. And, unlike the Pentagon, we’ve got the PROOF...

And a final thought: in space, nobody’ll hear Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk etc in their rockets. So can Dominic Cummings go too (plus any others you’d like to add?)

Nora Johnson’s psychological crime thrillers ‘The Sentinel’, ‘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.nora‐johnson.net) available online as eBook (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, paperback and audiobook. All profits to Costa del Sol Cude‐ ca cancer charity.

To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com

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

My whole life is flashing past!

MIKE SENKER IN MY OPINION Views of a Grumpy Old Man THE world we live in today makes these articles almost write themselves unless you are dumb enough to believe everything that is being fed to us. We are being mugged off big time and I’m not talking about Covid, I’m talking about everything.

I live on the Costa del Sol and if one didn’t read the news, watch it on TV or look at the internet you wouldn’t know there was anything different going on except there are people walking about in masks. The beaches and restaurants are full. Obviously lots of businesses haven’t made it but there is still ‘normal’ life going on.

The UK government has introduced an ‘amber plus’ now to make sure they ruin as many peoples’ holidays as possible. When BoJo and Sunak were told to isolate suddenly they’re part of a new experiment and won’t be treated the same as the plebs.

Two hours later they did a complete U-turn.

Do they really think the public are going to stand for this nonsense? Over 300,000 people were at Silverstone this weekend and were not

really subject to any stringent checks that they are complying with the entry rules. This was confirmed by the boss of Silverstone in all the press and news programmes. If the organisers believe everyone is being totally honest then I’ve got some bridges and palaces in London I’d like to sell them.

So they are trying to nick the whistle blower who released the CCTV footage of Hancock’s hallway grope. Actually they should give that person a reward, maybe a knighthood, for doing the right thing and exposing the lying, cheating, smiling assassin scumbag to the public for what he really is.

Just got a message that 34 passwords stored on my phone have been compromised and I need to change them. I looked at the offending apps and I have to tell you I can’t remember 90 per cent of them so it’s going to be a fun time changing them. My phone also told me today that I’m listening to my music too loud and promptly turned it down for me! I’m now arguing with my phone about how loud I can have my music.

A note to all the app makers - please change the way I have to enter my date of birth. Just let me type it in - it’s really distressing to scroll all the way down to 1949 from 2021. It’s like my whole life flashing past me!!

Email: mikesenker@gmail.com

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

EW YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION Letters should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments on our website: www.euroweeklynews.com Views expressed and opinions given are not necessarily those of the EWN publishers. No responsibility is accepted for accuracy of information, errors, omissions or statements.

GIVE UP SMOKING NOW! Dear Editor Should we be baffled to see a letter from a reader that has been allowed to rant for a second time on the same subject (Smoking Beach Goers)?

In my life experience there is no bigger fool than a selfrighteous one. BW firstly tells us how they discard their cigarette butts responsibly, out of regard for the environment.

This is in a plastic water bottle or drink can. If such items with sand and cigarette butts inside are recycled, they will spoil the entire batch. If cans and bottles are not being recycled and BW cares for the environment, is this not a contradiction?

BW also complains about signs stating ‘the bleeding obvious’ and yet praises such signs in Portugal advising against ‘using the beach as an ashtray’. The signs about Covid-19 in Spain are reminder signs, not information signs. Public information campaigns correctly ensure people are later reminded. This may appear repetitive, but is essential.

Perhaps there is one message in the Covid-19 public health information campaign that BW missed, which is that during pandemics of a virus that targets the lungs, is a good time to give up smoking.

NS

Welcoming, NOT!!

An observation from flights coming in from the UK today to Malaga airport. As Spain suffers from a Covid induced lack of tourism, one would think that any tourists braving the restrictions to come to Spain and pay for the expensive tests would be more than welcome? Not so. Malaga airport border control was utter chaos. Queues of over an hour to get through the border, guards clocking off and leaving posts unmanned. Tourist tempers flaring and nobody from authority to help out.

Quotes from more than a few in the queue said they would never come back to Spain after their experience.

If Spain wants tourists, then start acting like a welcoming brand. Remember, there is, and will be, lots of competition for tourists.

G McGill

Thank you I have just read an article about Anne Hernandez, Founder of Brexpats Spain Support Group who has been awar-

FREEDOM DAY ENGLAND THERE is a certain irony that as England removed the majority of antiCovid regulations on July 19, socalled Freedom Day, that probably the three most important members of the government were isolating.

The Health Secretary who said just a few days ago that he planned to keep his mask to hand, Sajid Javid is now suffering from Covid-19 and because of this, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak are also self-isolating until Monday July 26.

Those in England are being told that they are being given the responsibility of looking after them-

CORRECTIONS

From our Facebook

NO SMOKING: Don’t use the beach as an ashtray. ded an MBE for her work in supporting Brits in Spain since Brexit became an issue. She said “I have done this to help my fellow Brits and I honestly don’t think that deserves special merit or recognition. It is something we should all be doing, helping one another!”

Recently my husband and I needed help in an emergency. Our beautiful young daughter-in-law had died from Cancer leaving behind her distraught husband, our son, and our granddaughters aged six and four. We needed to go to England at short notice for the funeral and did not have time to make our usual arrangements with house/dog sitters, so we asked around, our friends and on many Facebook groups whether anyone could look after our dogs at reasonable cost. There were two issues, we don’t like leaving the dogs at kennels and also we had to pay hundreds of pounds for Covid tests, so cost was an issue. The response was, yes so and so can at €10 per dog, so that would have been 16 days x two dogs €320. One family with whom we have an arrangement to help each other for the odd day would have done but were away at the time, and one neighbour nearby whom we felt could have helped, said “no”. However, one wonderful person who belongs to a club my husband is part of, phoned up to say that she was happy to come to the house and dog-sit for us and did not wish to be paid. Also another friend did the airport runs for us, one of which was for a late night flight.

They know who they are, we are touched and most grateful.

P & B Saunders

OUR VIEW

selves and effectively hope for the best!

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are taking a somewhat cautious attitude, but they can expect a relaxation of the rules between now and the middle of August, but if as some experts predict, there is a huge increase in infection in England over the coming weeks, these three regions may have a change of heart.

One of the biggest questions is whether or not to wear masks in public and the situation is very clear, do or don’t, it’s up to you but you are probably safer to keep the

masks on and some organisations like supermarkets and Transport for London will insist that they are kept on.

Now that UK residents who have received both vaccinations in the UK no longer have to quarantine upon return to the UK from Spain (which is amber) a rise in holiday bookings must be expected and sadly a possible subsequent additional surge in infection here in Spain.

We all want to get back to some form of normality but everyone needs to remember that the disease is still there and caution should continue to be the watchword.

POLITICIANS: The rules do not seem to apply to them.

Michele Edwards They’ve had their vaccines, that must have the advantage to be exempt from quarantine otherwise why bother having it.

Tracey Michael Jesney This pilot scheme has been in place a few weeks, my sister and brother-in-law did it when my niece tested positive, they had to use lateral flow tests every day and two PCR tests during the 10 days, but were allowed to carry on their lives as usual. People really do need to check the facts.

Murray Wasik Surprise, surprise, all of a sudden there is a ‘pilot scheme’ now in operation that Johnson the slippery one is testing out.

Nicola Hendy The man is an absolute joke, get rid of him.

Bev Taylor Doesn’t make any difference what we think. Those idiots are playing with people’s lives. They don’t give a ....

Patricia Smith Well it’ll backfire as he’s not showing by example. He’s an utter disgrace and not fit to hold the post.

Murray Wasik And how many would still vote for this little Hitler. He originally advocated herd immunity and has had Covid, now let’s see if he has tested positive and been reinfected.

At the EWN, we pride ourselves that reports are accurate and fair. If we do slip up, we promise to set the record straight in a clear, no-nonsense manner. To ask for an inaccuracy to be corrected. Email: editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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What do pets need while you are away?

IF you are planning a trip later this year you still need to plan early for pet and house‐sitters.

Perhaps you are already mak‐ ing plans for a staycation get away. Even if you are planning just a short trip, you’ll know that you simply can’t travel with some pets. Young pets in particular may benefit from staying behind so they can fol‐ low their routines at home. So, 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 HouseSitMatch.com 2. Choose a Premium account (£89 per year) to ensure you can help online when needed 3. Create a profile with pho‐ tos of your pet and the house

4. Post a house‐sit advert stat‐ ing your plans for yor next holi‐ day, Covid permitting Do you need a pet‐sitter in 2021? Then get started right now.

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HouseSitMatch can help you find suitable sitters. Join our network for a small annual fee. You get ID checked for safety and then build your ad‐ vert saying when you are go‐ ing on holiday. House‐sitters see your advert, they respond and you choose the sitter

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Pets need more than just exercise while you are away.

Do you need a house-sitter? Get in touch. House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and pet-sitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either house-sitter or homeowner with a 20 per cent discount using coupon code P2020 - an exclusive offer for readers. To find a house or pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com.

Why does your cat not like water?

WATER has long been the neme‐ sis of most felines, in spite what those cat surfing videos on YouTube may suggest. So are there any cats that actually like water? Is it possible to get your kitty to stop scarping every time you turn the tap on?

It is thought that cats self‐do‐ mesticated in the Middle East around 10,000 years ago. This of‐ fers a big clue as to why they are so averse to water ‐ it’s in their DNA. If their ancestors evolved in an arid desert, this means they would have had little experience swimming or being submerged underwater.

Unlike dogs, cats are also not built physically to appreciate get‐ ting wet. While dogs’ coats repel water, cats’ fur absorbs it which then causes their body tempera‐ ture to drop ‐ and cats hate being cold almost as much as they hate being wet.

Some of domestic cats’ more distant relatives, however, actu‐ ally enjoy taking a dip. Tigers, for

example, are known to cool off in the water and even take a swim if the circumstances call for it.

It is possible to get your cat

used to water by slowly introduc‐ ing him to the feel of it, but this is usually most effective when he is a kitten.

29

PETS

Urinary problems in dogs and cats HERE are some signs that may lead you to think that your dog or cat has a uri‐ nary tract problem: Change in urine colour and increased turbidity Presence of blood in urine Strong smell of urine Straining or pain when urinating He urinates at home or in the case of the cat outside the litter box Needs to be let out more often (Increased amount or frequency of urination) Licking the vulva or penis Fever Lethargy Higher water consump‐ tion.

Vomiting Changes in appetite Weight loss What Causes Urinary Tract Problems in Dogs?

There are many causes

of lower urinary tract prob‐ lems, such as: Inflammation or infec‐ tion of the bladder or kid‐ neys Presence of stones, crys‐ tals, or cellular debris in the bladder or urethra Trauma, congenital anomalies or cancer in the kidneys, ureter, bladder or urethra.

Prostate disease Spinal cord abnormalities Diagnosing urinary tract problems requires your veterinarian to do a physi‐ cal exam that includes checking the kidneys and bladder. They will also like‐ ly perform a urinalysis. A urine culture, blood tests, ultrasound, or X‐rays may also be necessary, depend‐ ing on findings. Sometimes it is even necessary to per‐ form a CT scan for more complex pathologies.

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ROAD TEST

by Mark Slack MG was an iconic British car, but in terms of new models is now an iconic British badge.

Taken from the ashes of the Rover Group the Chinese car maker SAIC owns MG and produces a small range of cars and SUVs in petrol, hybrid and all‐electric. The main models are SUVs but one of the newest is the MG5.

It’s an all‐electric affair and an estate, which will surprise many as SUVs con‐ tinue to find favour with a majority of buyers. With

22 - 28 July 2021

EWN 31

MG5 EV, a great package an affordable starting price of just €29,371 (£25,095), af‐ ter the UK government grant, it offers lots of space, excellent equipment levels and a very good claimed range. It’s not the cheapest EV out there, but in terms of space and equipment it of‐ fers a great package.

It’s a fairly basic design in terms of looks but

because it’s fairly straight‐ forward it has a very decent load area.

Passenger space is also generous and there’s good seat adjustment so everyone should find a comfortable driving position.

Standard fare includes navigation, cruise control, rear parking camera, keyless

start, air conditioning, auto‐ matic lights and an eight‐ inch touchscreen. The higher trim level, there are just two, adds keyless entry, au‐ tomatic wipers, heated seats, power mirrors, auto dimming rear view mirror and faux leather seating.

Power comes from a 52 kwh battery to provide a 214 mile range, or in pure city

driving 276 miles. Energy re‐ generation is better in the urban environment because of the stop/start nature of the driving.

If you can find a 50 kw charger then your volts can charge up to 80 per cent in 50 minutes. In reality our public charging network isn’t great and even if you find a fast charger there are so many factors, you might find it doesn’t charge at full rate.

That said the MG charged commendably quickly during my tenure and provided enough volts to make it use‐

able without range anxiety.

As ever a home charger is a must to make EV life practi‐ cal.

On the road the MG5 isn’t a speed machine, as with all electric cars it has good pace, and the ride can get a little choppy on rougher sur‐ faces.

That said it’s a comfort‐ able drive and an immensely practical, well equipped and rather likeable family and business holdall. If you’re looking to move to an EV on a budget then the MG5 could be the perfect start.

Facts at a Glance

A comfortable drive.

Model: MG5 Exclusive Price: €35,224/€32,297 (£30,095/£27,595 after UK government grant) Engine: 52 kwh battery powered electric Gears: Automatic Performance: 0-100 kph (62 mph) 7.7 secs Range: 344km combined /444km urban (214 miles/276 miles) WLTP Emissions: 0g/km WLTP Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets.

SPORT

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22 - 28 July 2021

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Bolt record won’t be broken USAIN BOLT is “very confident” his world records won’t be broken by sprinters heading to Tokyo 2020.

In a lengthy Instagram Live with @Olympics, Usain Bolt predicted that the 100m Olympic final will be fast but not at a world record pace. And Bolt thinks his fa‐ mous athletics world records will remain in‐ tact during Tokyo 2020 in 2021.

“I’m very confident,” Bolt said during an In‐ stagram Live with @Olympics.

“I’m not saying it’s not going to happen.

But I don’t think the crop I’m watching; I don’t think they’re there at a level [to run times of] 9.58s or 19.19s. So, we’ll see what happens.”

In 2008, Usain Bolt went to Beijing as the favourite to win the 100m title on the athlet‐ ics track in the iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium.

He won individual Olympic titles in the 100m and 200m at world record paces and became a global phenomenon.

The current 100m and 200m world records were set a year later at the World Champi‐ onships in Berlin.

The 100m record stands at 9.58s with the 200m at 19.19s.

Bolt said he backs US sprinter Trayvon Bromell who set a world leading time of 9.77s on June 5.

“He’s really stepped up and shows that he’s ready and he is fit,” Bolt said.

BOLT: Confident he will keep his records.

“As long as he stays good, he should be on top.”

The 100m is a notoriously brutal race with tiny margins marking the difference.

“Mentally, it’s tough on you and making one mistake in the 100m finals, it can be your downfall. So, let’s see what happens.”

The Olympics will host a new event in the athletics programme in 2021. The mixed re‐ lays will provide another opportunity for 400m runners to take an Olympic medal.

Bolt was reluctant to provide any predic‐ tions for the winners directly.

“But I think Great Britain and the US really have strong teams. So, let’s see how that goes.”

The first round of the 4x400m mixed relay will be on the first day of athletics competi‐ tion at Tokyo 2020 on Friday July 30.

Hamilton wins British Grand Prix THE British Grand Prix at Silver‐ stone is one of the biggest events in the UK’s sporting calendar, and Sunday July 18, saw around 140,000 Formula One fans de‐ scend on the famous Towcester 3.7 mile circuit to watch 52 laps of what is always one of the most ex‐ citing F1 races of the year.

Sunday’s first‐ever F1 Sprint ar‐ ranged the starting grid, with Red Bull’s current driver’s champi‐ onship leader, Max Verstappen, on pole, and Britain’s seven‐time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, alongside in second place.

One of the most thrilling laps un‐ folded as the lights turned green, the Dutchman kept the lead, with the front two battling through the first corners, until they reached Copse, where they made contact and Verstappen had a huge crash at around 180 mph, spinning off across the gravel and smashing into the tyre wall.

His eighth British win.

Thankfully, as he got out of his car, he looked shaken but was able to walk away, but in the confusion, Charles LeClerc shot past Hamilton to take the lead, just as the race was red‐flagged, with Hamilton be‐ ing heard to say, “I was ahead go‐ ing in there. Pulling alongside, it was my line,” said Hamilton over the team radio. “He turned in on me, man, giving the guy space.”

After a 10‐minute stop, the cars lined up again and the Ferrari of leClerc kept the lead, with Alonso and Sebastian Vettel fighting for

sixth, entering Luffield, Vettel lost control of his Aston Martin and spun off, elevating the Spaniard to sixth position, with Hamilton being told he had a 10‐second penalty for the incident with Verstappen.

Hamilton pitted, and served his penalty, rejoining in fifth place, los‐ ing positions to Bottas and Norris, 4s behind Norris and a handful more behind Bottas, but he was charging, and it was only a matter of time before he caught and passed both of them, and with Bot‐ tas in second, a message came through telling him to move over to let Hamilton through, and the Brit moved up to second, ready to chase the Frenchman down.

On Lap 50, a brilliant move by Hamilton saw him take the lead, which he was not going to give up, taking the chequered flag to win his eighth British Grand Prix, closing the gap on Verstappen at the top of the driver’s championship.