Euro Weekly News - Costa de Almeria 26 August - 1 September 2021 Issue 1886

THE BEST FINANCE NEWS ON PAGES 30 - 33

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Don’t close FIÑANA’S mayor delivered a 1,500-signature petition to the Junta protesting about the ‘foreseeable closure or interruption of service’ at the local day centre. Residents requested an immediate solution both for the centre’s users and those who will lose their jobs.

COSTA DE ALMERIA • WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

WALKING FOR

€14,000

Photo credit: Walk for Life

Issue No. 1886

News

The people’s paper

Turn to page 4 » DEDICATED WALKERS: One of many groups who raised funds for Walk for Life.

FREE • GRATIS

2 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

NEWS

La Vuelta in Almeria FAMOUS CLIMB: The Alto de Velefique.

LA VUELTA entered the province of Almeria on Sunday, August 22, with riders tackling the famous climb of Alto de Velefique.

The prestigious La Vuelta cycling event returned to Almeria Province, with more than 4,200

metres of accumulated unevenness. The Sierra de Los Filabres tested the strength of these world-class cyclists, starting in Puerto Lumbreras in Murcia, and entering the province of Almeria covering a total route of 188km, with the riders hitting the finishing line in Velefique.

It was the second time in history that a stage of La Vuelta has finished in this Almeria mountain

POLICE have arrested a man ac‐ cused of six burglaries from busi‐ nesses in Almeria. According to police, the man carried out the burglaries in the centre of the city.

Officers have now arrested him on suspicion of burglary with force following the crimes in Almeria.

The suspect allegedly commit‐ ted the crimes on August 6 and 7

pass, after the Canadian Hesjedal finished in first position in 2009.

The Almeria stage includes a climb that over the years has won more prestige, both in professional sporting events, and at the amateur level, with hundreds of riders gathering on its slopes every year to make descents through the route that on several occasions has even received Freeride world champions.

Arrested for six burglaries in several shops as well as at a restaurant. The investigation car‐ ried out by officers from the Almeria Police Station said that the burglaries had been commit‐ ted by the same person, who

Vandals hit Cabo de Gata SEVERAL of the beaches in Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park have been vandalised with the Junta de Andalucia swinging into action to repair through the Territorial Delegation of Sustainable Development, having replaced the buoys on beaches that have been the victim of ‘acts of vandalism’.

Vandals set out to remove signage and attack buoys, which are intended to ensure the safety of beachgoers and protect the environment.

According to reports, the Andalucian government sources confirmed that recently there have been cases in which the buoys have been moved or even removed, and can be considered a ‘serious offence’ due to the fact that it is considered ‘a threat to the conservation of the coastal habitats of the Natural Park and affects the safety of visitors’.

For three days, Almeria was the centre of attention in the elite cycling world, and also to the global television audience, as this year’s riders passed through the 17 municipalities of Huercal-Overa, Zurgena, Cantoria, Lijar, Olula del Rio, Bacares, Bayarque, Purchena, Armuña del Almanzora, Tijola , Olula de Castro, Castro de Filabres, Velefique, Roquetas de Mar, El Ejido, Balanegra and Adra.

broke into the fronts of the busi‐ nesses before making their way inside and stealing from them.

The investigation carried out by officers from the Scientific Police Brigade helped the officers to fully identify the perpetrator.

The suspect, who has 39 previ‐ ous arrests, most of them for crimes against property, has been placed at the disposal of a court.

Vaccine facts ALMERIA is the only Andalucia province where no pregnant women are hospitalised with Covid-19.

Paradoxically, it has fewer mothers-to-be who are immunised, as only 55.6 per cent have received one vaccination while just 39.3 per cent have completed the process.

Foreign trading MORE than 800 Almeria Province firms are classed as regular exporters, and the number is rising.

Most companies are linked to the agri-foods or agricultural supply industry and natural stone sector.

www.euroweeklynews.com

NIBS EXTRA Standing room ALMERIA City’s Banda Municipal arrived to play in Cabo de Gata last week, but the musicians unexpectedly left after they had begun tuning-up their instruments. Municipal sources later explained that the concert was arranged at such short notice there was insufficient time to provide chairs for the audience.

New system ADRA Town Hall is tendering a €40,000 software contract for its Human Resources department for programmes covering payroll procedures as well as electronic clocking-in for all municipal staff.This will also increase productivity and improve attention to members of the public, town hall sources said.

Better water THE provincial council is spending more than €200,000 on modernising water infrastructure in three inland towns. In Canjayar and Las Tres Villas, the Diputacion is sinking new wells to complement or substitute those that currently supply both the towns while Abla’s two main water pipes are being renewed.

Covid-free THERE are only six municipalities where no Covid cases have been reported throughout the pandemic and two of these, Laroya and Benitagla, which have respective populations of 169 and 58, are located in Almeria Province. The other four are Carataunas, Castaras and Lobras in Granada and Atajate (Malaga).

Bad figures ACCORDING to the Ministry of the Interior’s VioGen system that protects gender violence victims, 18,271 active cases were registered in Andalucia during August, 317 more than in July.

Andalucia’s 17 ‘extreme risk’ cases, which included one Almeria Province woman, accounted for 41 per cent of the national total.

Direct aid ROQUETAS Town Hall has transferred €2 million in direct aid to the bank accounts of 380 small local firms and the self-employed through its Impulsa 2 programme. This follows earlier grants of €200,000 and will be followed by another €2 million in the third phase of the programme.

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Back in the saddle ALBOX mayor Francisco Torrecillas will be back at the town hall on September 1.

Torrecillas, now recovered from Covid-19, announced his return on his Facebook page, explaining that he had already recommenced his activities as a director at Aguas del Almanzora as he was keen to start work..

“September 1 is approaching and soon I will be with you all again. Today I shall ask the Town Clerk to prepare the necessary documents for my reincorporation as mayor,” Torrecillas wrote.

For the mayor, this was the end of a nightmare experience that began at the end of January, when he tested positive for Covid

Photo credit: Francisco Torrecillas

NEWS

RECOMMENCING ACTIVITIES: Albox mayor Francisco Torrecillas at the Aguas del Almanzora offices.

A REPLICA of the Nao Victoria can be visited at Aguadulce port until Sunday, August 29.

The ship, which previously visited Roque‐ tas’ port, is a faithful copy of the the sole sur‐ vivor of the five ships that set out circumnavi‐ gate the world on August 10, 1519, returning in 1522 after a journey of more than 100,000 kilometres. Roquetas mayor, Gabriel Amat, accompanied by several city councillors, visit‐ ed the Nao Victoria before it left for Aguadulce.

Exhibition for bullfight lovers AN exhibition of bullfighting photos in the Patio de Luces in Almeria’s Diputacion building can be visited until August 28.

Entitled ‘Emociones,’ they are the work of Jose Luis Molina Lazaro and Miguel Asis Gallego who have shown their pho‐ tographs in the same location for the last five years. This year’s exhibition centres on the ‘aes‐ thetic beauty of bullfighting.’

The inauguration was presid‐ ed by Manuel Guzman, who heads the provincial council’s Culture and Cinema depart‐ ment. Welcoming all those at‐ tending the opening, Guzman thanked the organisers, the Foro Cultural 3 Taurinos 3, expressing his gratitude for their support of bullfighting.

“The Diputacion has always been ‐ and will continue to be ‐ a point of reference in its backing for all those who love bullfight‐ ing,” Guzman declared.

The exhibition can be visited Monday to Saturday, mornings and afternoons, and Sunday mornings between 10am and 2pm.

A muchtravelled ship “We welcome this opportunity for mem‐ bers of the public to enjoy the replica of the first ship to sail round the world,” Amat said.

“It belongs to our sea history and the mon‐ ey that is raised from entrance tickets will go

During the first few days, the mayor had only mild symptoms but by early January his condition worsened and he was admitted to Torrecardenas hospital on February 4.

On March 30, Torrecillas finally left the Intensive Care Unit after spending 51 days there, but he still had to face long, hard months of rehabilitation, recovering from the effects of the virus.

Although unable to take an active part in the local government which has been headed in the meantime by Torrecillas’ deputy, Jose Campoy, the mayor has kept in touch with the local population via Facebook.

to the Food Bank, which does indispensable work by assisting those who most need help,” the mayor added. Now in Aguadulce port, the Nao Victoria is open for visits between 10am and 2pm each morning and from 6pm until 9pm in the evening. There is a donation‐en‐ trance fee of €3.

The Nao Victoria replica, which was built in 1992, was the first faithful copy of a historic ship to sail round the world, a feat it complet‐ ed between 2004 and 2006.

New Infoca outpost THE Junta de Andalucia will spend €472,515 on a sub‐centre for Infoca in Laujar de An‐ darax.

Located on high ground near the town cen‐ tre and easily accessible, the new construction will take nine months to build, providing 1,381 working days for 11 employees.

An existing building will be enlarged to store firefighting equipment and machinery and in‐ corporate a vehicle repair shop. An adjoining

deposit will collect and store rainwater for fire‐ fighting water tenders as well as cleaning and irrigation at the centre.

The new installation will include all necessary living facilities for the firefighting teams, includ‐ ing a dining room, lounge and washrooms.

Infoca currently has three forest fire defence centres in Seron, Alhama de Almeria and Velez‐ Blanco, plus a provincial operations centre and landing strip in Gergal.

Young extortioners

Wind Surf sails in

A 14‐YEAR‐OLD was detained for allegedly extort‐ ing €7,000 from a child of 10 in Adra, while anoth‐ er is under investigation.

They reportedly threatened the younger boy with violence if he did not hand over money from the family business, receiving amounts of be‐ tween €200 and €3,000 on a weekly basis for two months.

The blackmail came to light after the victim’s father reported the loss of an envelope containing cash to the Guardia Civil.

Their investigations led to the arrest of one of the boys, who lives in Berja, while they are investi‐ gating the extent of the involvement of another from Adra.

The case is now in the hands of Almeria’s Pub‐ lic Prosecution department responsible for mi‐ nors.

THE cruise ship Wind Surf put in to Almeria port’s Levante pier last weekend for the sec‐ ond time in 10 days. The luxurious liner, which is also a five‐masted sailing ship, was the first to visit Almeria on August 11 after a halt of 18 months owing to the pandemic.

Many of the Wind Surf’s 400 passengers ‐ principally from the US ‐ disembarked to visit the city’s Alcazaba and cathedral, while oth‐ ers booked excursions to Mojacar or the Cabo de Gata‐Nijar national park. Jesus Caicedo, president of Almeria’s Port Authority (APA) said he was confident that the city would soon be a popular port of call for cruise ships.

“The reduced harbour fees approved by the APA will contribute to more stopovers, to‐ gether with an extension and improvements to the Levante pier,” Caicedo predicted.

EWN

3

Awaiting a happy event VOLUNTEERS have kept watch for six weeks over a nest of turtle eggs dis‐ covered on Mojacar’s Granatilla beach.

A beachgoer who dis‐ covered the nest by chance in early July ad‐ vised the 112 Emergency number, which immedi‐ ately launched the proce‐ dures put in place by the Junta’s Sustainable De‐ velopment department for situations like these.

Once confirmed, ex‐ perts pronounced the lo‐ cation adequate for the hatchlings’ survival once they emerged from their shells, deciding that it would not be necessary to move the nest.

A group that includes Junta officials, the Guardia Civil’s nature protection unit Seprona, Local Police officers and experts from Almeria University, Spain’s Na‐ tional Research Council (CSIC) and Doñana are currently coordinating the operation.

Members of the Serbal environmentalist associ‐ ation are present day‐ round at the spot where the turtle eggs are buried, waiting for them to hatch.

According to the re‐ gional government, this could happen sooner than expected, owing to the very high tempera‐ tures in the area.

Raquel Espin, the Jun‐ ta’s Sustainable Develop‐ ment delegate to Alme‐ ria and Mojacar’s mayor Rosa Marina Cano re‐ cently visited the Serbal volunteers, applauding their professionality and generosity in ensuring that the turtles could hatch safely.

Once the hatchlings emerge, Andalucia’s Ma‐ rine Environment Man‐ agement Centre (CEG‐ MA), base in Algeciras (Cadiz) will take over un‐ til they can be released into the sea.

4 EWN

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Spanish humanitarian emergency operations BETWEEN January and July 2021, the Hu‐ manitarian Action Office of the Spanish Agency for International Development Co‐ operation (AECID), which is responsible for the management and implementation of Spain’s official humanitarian action abroad, managed 11 emergency aid operations worth more than €6 million, most of which went to vulnerable populations in coun‐ tries without sufficient resources to treat extremely ill patients or the means to es‐ tablish basic disease prevention measures.

These Covid‐19 responses took place in Lebanon, Bolivia, Brazil, India, Nepal, Guatemala, Paraguay and Tunisia.

Among the crises caused by non‐natural events, the one resulting from the explo‐ sion of a military arsenal in the city of Bata, Equatorial Guinea, led to the largest opera‐ tion for AECID in 2021.

In March, at Equatorial Guinea’s request, the Agency deployed 14 members of the Spanish Technical Aid Response Team, the Spanish Emergency Medical Team, to Bata.

The team supported local health workers in caring for the injured and contributed to the rehabilitation of the affected health fa‐ cilities.

The bulk of these operations, carried out between January and July 2021, amounted to more than €6 million and were carried out either through direct bilateral relations ‐ country to country; through the activation of emergency agreements with Spanish NGDOs ‐ or by contributing to international humanitarian aid organisations that assess and estimate the costs of the emergency and make international appeals for aid adapted to alleviate the effects of a given crisis on the population.

www.euroweeklynews.com

PayPal work cryptocurrency PAYPAL is to allow users in the UK to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency through the payment platform for the first time in the companies history.

The firm said its new service would allow customers to choose from four types of digital cryptocurrency: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash and will be available both via the PayPal app and website.

A new crypto tab will be added to the PayPal platform, showing real-time currency prices as well as offering educational content to help answer common questions and learn more about cryptocurrencies, including the potential risks, PayPal said.

Dodgy antigen tests OFFICERS from the National Police have seized a staggering 25,000 antigen tests and a health alert has been opened by the Medicines Agency.

Officers from the National Police working with the Provincial Inspec‐ torate of Health Services of the Andalucian Regional Government in Malaga were able to crack down on a criminal organisation which were distributing antigen tests. The antigen tests breached the basic health regulations regarding storage, sale and distribution.

Officers seized 25,000 tests and they also believe that 10,000 tests have already been distributed. Four men were arrested, three of Pak‐ istani nationality and one Moroccan. They had been running three com‐ panies in Malaga under the umbrella of a fictitious company, and dis‐ tributing products including antigen tests, amongst other products. The tests are believed to be a risk to public health according to the health au‐ thorities. Health authorities brought the issue to the attention of the Medicines Agency, which then opened a health alert.

NEWS

from Front page »

They did it anyway!

ONCE again Walk for Life were unable to hold their annual Walk.

Not to be beaten, the local cancer charity replaced it with the Six Kilometres Any Way Challenge where people could walk, run, swim or cycle six kilometres whenever and wherever they chose.

Twenty-six individual challenges involved over 90 people and they ranged from a very difficult one-kilometre walk to an arduous 36-kilometre swim that took more than six weeks to complete Everybody who took part gave their time and efforts to raise an incredible €14,140.

This fantastic amount does not include the €2,517 that was raised by Richard Clarke and friends who walked to Saliente on May 16.

The Walk for Life committee were overwhelmed by people’s generosity in giving their time and their commitment and by the number of both private sponsors and the local companies who gave their money.

“We thank them all and assure them that this hard-earned money will be put to good use in helping to make life a little easier for people in this area who are affected by cancer,” said Judi BedfordKeogh, Walk for Life’s publicity manager.

“Let’s hope we can all come together next year at the annual Walk on Saturday, May 7.”

NEWS

www.euroweeklynews.com

Cruelty beyond belief A DOG in Jaen has died after being tied up by his owner on a house terrace and left screaming for help in a 43‐degree heatwave, without any water or food.

According to a report by Jaen City Council, residents in the Puente Tablas area, in the capital, alerted police at around 4.00pm on August 15, that the dog had hardly any shade, and was left without food and water.

There was no sign of the owner, al‐ though residents could hear the poor an‐ imal’s screams due to the high tempera‐ tures that afternoon.

When the officers arrived at the scene, they verified, from outside the plot, that the animal was tied to a tree, without any shadow to protect it from the sun and without food or drink to help it cool off.

After ringing the bell several times with no response, they found an open door and discovered the poor animal in the garden of the property.

Shocked at the state of the dog, they immediately contacted the veterinary services of the municipal authorities, who took over. The veterinary doctor re‐ ported that nothing could be done to save the dog’s life and sadly, was eu‐ thanised so as not to suffer any more pain from the severe sunburn.

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Praise for Pedro THE President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has praised Spain’s effort to rescue European and Afghan citizens from Kabul.

Speaking at a joint press conference with President Pedro Sanchez at the welcome hub for evacuated Afghan EU Delegation staff and their families at Torrejon Air Base, she said, “I first of all also want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, dear Pedro, for inviting us to the reception hub here. And I want to thank you for having taken the initiative and I also want to thank the High Representative, Josep Borrell.

“The two of you having taken the initiative, with the respective Minister for Foreign Affairs and Development, to coordinate the reception of incoming Afghans here, who have worked for the European Union, and to coordinate their arrival here with their families.

PRAISE: For Spain’s rescue efforts.

“And indeed, as you said Pedro, you can feel it today: In the times of need, Spain has shown humanity and Spain has proven a great sense of solidarity. So, Spain is here an example for the European soul at its best and I really want to thank you,” she added on August 21.

Morocco to rebuild with Spain THE King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, called on Friday, August 20, for the need to “inaugurate an un‐ precedented stage” in relations with Spain, in his speech delivered on the occasion of the 68th an‐ niversary of the King and People’s Revolution.

Admitting that relations with Spain “have recently gone through an unprecedented crisis, that has

KING: To rebuild relations. strongly shaken mutual trust, and raised numerous questions about

their fate,” Mohamed VI affirmed that, “we have worked with the Spanish side in a climate of total calm, transparency, and responsi‐ bility. In addition to the traditional constant points, which constitute the plinth of relations, today we ensure that they are consolidated, by jointly understanding the inter‐ ests of the two neighbouring coun‐ tries.”

EWN

5

Princess Leonor in Wales IN just over one week’s time, Spain’s Princess Leonor will ar‐ rive in Wales, where for the next few years she will study at the exclusive UWC Atlantic College, a boarding school that is one of the most prestigious institutions in Europe.

It means she will be separated from her family for the first time, which means a big change for all concerned for a family that is so closely knit, with her mother Queen Letizia, her father Felipe VI, the King of Spain, and sister, Infanta Sofia, all resigned to Leonor de Borbon making her way alone.

The Princess of Asturias is due to start her studies in Septem‐ ber, and she is looking forward to meeting, and making, new friends from around 100 coun‐ tries at the facility, where, on October 31, she will turn 16, and with the strict rules enforced by this prestigious school, it is very unlikely that she will be allowed any special guests, and will have to celebrate with her new‐found friends in Wales.

6 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Village hits back at townie tourists A S P A N I S H village has hit back at urban tourists who have little to no clue about rural life.

After a small number of tourists rang Ribadesella’s town hall to complain about the noise of roosters, donkeys, and to let the au‐ thorities know that wan‐ dering cows had left a mess behind them, the town hall decided to put up posters around the village warning tourists that country life is noisy and if they cannot handle it, they should leave and holiday somewhere else.

The poster said, “Here we have church bells that

ring out regularly, roosters that crow early in the morning and herds of live‐ stock that live nearby and at times carry cowbells that also make noise. If you can’t handle all this, you may not be in the right place,” it added.

If, however, tourists can appreciate and understand rural life the poster added, “If on the other hand you’re one of the privileged ones who can bear all this, you’ll enjoy the wonderful surroundings and the excel‐ lent products made by our fantastic farmers, ranchers or artisans. Enjoy Ribade‐ sella!”

NEWS

Understanding new electricity bills A CAMPAIGN to help people understand electricity bills has been launched in Malaga by the council, as both Spaniards and expats alike are feeling the pinch with the new elec‐ tricity pricing system which began at the start of June.

The initiative has been designed to set out to help everybody understand the new sys‐ tem and save money by developing a cam‐ paign to help understand the new electricity bill. The aim of the initiative is to clearly ex‐

ELECTRICITY: New pricing system.

Spain misses its vaccination target SPAIN has missed its August 18 vacci‐ nation target as promised by President Pedro Sanchez.

On May 10, President Pedro Sanchez vowed that Spain would reach herd immunity with a target of 70 per cent of the population vaccinated against Covid‐19. However, 100 days later, just 63 per cent are vaccinated, a shortfall of at least three million peo‐ ple.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, 29,968,303 Spaniards have already received their first Covid vacci‐

nation, that is 62.79 per cent of the population.

Spain’s incident rate stands at 398.94 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Meanwhile, some autonomous re‐ gions are still waiting for vaccines to be delivered.

The Delta variant currently accounts for 85 per cent of Covid‐19 cases in Spain. Deaths in Spain over the last 14 days are however three times the Eu‐ ropean Union average, according to the European Centre for Disease Pre‐ vention and Control.

plain to people how the changes, which took place to the electricity billing system on June 1, affect them.

According to the town hall: “An information leaflet has been designed and distributed in the 11 districts of the city through the District Councils and the municipal offices for citizen attention (OMAC), as well as the Consumer Office.

“A website https://nuevafacturaluz.com has also been created.”

EU authorises GMO crops THE EU Commission has authorised seven genetically modified crops ‐ three maize, two soybeans, one oilseed rape and one cotton ‐ and renewed the au‐ thorisations for two maize and one oilseed rape crops used for food and animal feed.

All of these GMOs have gone through a compre‐ hensive and stringent authorisation procedure, in‐ cluding a favourable scientific assessment by the Eu‐ ropean Food Safety Authority, the Commission said on August 17.

The authorisation decisions do not cover cultiva‐ tion. Member States did not reach a qualified majori‐ ty either in favour or against at the Standing Commit‐ tee and at the subsequent Appeal Committee.

The authorisations are valid for 10 years, and any product produced from these GMOs will be subject to the EU’s strict labelling and traceability rules.

NEWS

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Squatter cheek!

POLICE officers were called to a property in the city of Zaragoza on Thursday, August 19, by a squatter who was occupying a home, where she informed them that she was actually living there illegally, and that the own‐ er had just put a padlock on the entrance and she wanted them to remove it.

The woman asked the officers to cut the chain so that she could

gain access to her ‘home’, ex‐ plaining that the owner had earli‐ er snatched the house keys from her in a violent manner, which meant that all her belongings were locked inside and she had no way to access them, including her insulin, as she was a diabetic.

With the help of firefighters, the police finally managed to ac‐ cess the building through the bal‐ cony, where, once inside, it was

Spain’s rate falls 27% SPAIN’S incidence rate over the last 14 days has regis‐ tered a new decrease ac‐ cording to reports issued on Monday, August, 23, with figures standing at 317.36 cases per 100,000 inhabi‐ tants. The communities which registered the highest number of new infections af‐ ter the weekend are Andalu‐ cia, which totals 4,930; Cat‐ alonia, which adds 3,498

infections; Madrid (2,661); and the Valencian Commu‐ nity (2,340).

On Friday August 20, the rate stood at 345.18, which is a fall of almost 28 points over the weekend and of al‐ most 100 from the previous Monday. The contagion rate is based on all communities, but excludes Extremadura and Melilla, areas where it has risen slightly.

found that the owner had put a chain with a padlock to prevent entry to the squat, so the police proceeded to cut it off, and al‐ lowed the squatter back inside.

It is possible that the police could now open proceedings against the owner for coercion because the law states that squat‐ ters become the legal residents of a property, and they cannot be evicted without a court order.

Regions removed GERMANY announced that it has removed Catalonia, the Canary Islands, Asturias, Castilla‐La Man‐ cha, and Valencia from its list of high‐risk travel destinations, but that it will keep the rest of Spain in this classification for now.

The change means travellers over 12 years old from these au‐ tonomous communities will no longer have to quarantine for 10 days when arriving in Germany, however, a negative PCR test, or a vaccination certificate when en‐ tering the country is still manda‐ tory.

EWN

7

8 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

NEWS

Driving age limit debate SPAIN is debating whether the driver age limit should be re‐ vised after a spate of fatal wrong direction accidents involving el‐ derly people have been report‐ ed.

On Thursday, August 19, a hit‐ and‐run driver in Ponferrada, León, killed a 61‐year‐old wom‐ an and injured three other

women. The driver was 85 years old and he was driving in the op‐ posite direction.

Several people believe that at a certain age you should stop driving, although others believe that you have to look at the mental and physical capacity of each person and not the age.

Despite the opposing views,

Whatsapp phone scam NATIONAL POLICE are warning of another telephone scam that is mainly being used through WhatsApp and has been taking place throughout the year.

The scam is related to false advertisements on websites that of‐ fer sexual services from women in exchange for payment.

The scammers upload fake advertisements to various contact pages showing women offering sexual services. They contact the victims via telephone or through messaging apps and inform them that because they did not meet the girls they have contact‐ ed, they have wasted time so therefore accrued a debt with them.

They intimidate the victims by telephone with the aim of gen‐ erating sufficient fear for them to accept to pay the debt they nev‐ er contracted and request financial compensation.

Once the victims make a first payment, there are always subse‐ quent requests for money. The receipt of the money by the scam‐ mers is done immediately upon entry through ATMs. In case of being contacted by telephone in this way, the Nation‐ al Police has urged not to make any payments and to contact the police via www.policia.es/colabora and their social media pages.

there is still no age limit for driv‐ ing in Spain.

Medical Recognition Centres are those that assess whether or not a person is qualified to drive a vehicle, regardless of their age.

This is measured through psy‐ cho‐technical tests and these tests are the same for all ages and are necessary to renew the driver’s licence.

A total of 15.5 per cent of those with a driving licence in Spain are over 65 years old, which is equivalent to 4.1 million people. In 2019, 491 elderly peo‐ ple died in a road accident, ac‐ cording to the General Direc‐ torate of Traffic (DGT) and this figure represents 28 per cent of the total victims.

NO LIMIT: Some people believe you should stop driving.

Millions in funding THE EU will provide €41 mil‐ lion in funding to help low and middle‐income countries fac‐ ing an unprecedented health,

humanitarian and socio‐eco‐ nomic crisis as the Covid‐19 pandemic continues to persist, combined with the imbalance

in the delivery of vaccines.

To help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia tack‐ le the consequences of the pandemic, the EU has allocat‐ ed €31 million for, among oth‐ ers, health assistance to vul‐ nerable populations, support for the management of Covid‐ 19 cases, and for building re‐ silience in the local health sys‐ tems in view of future surges.

In addition, €10 million in funding is allocated to support the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in delivering vaccines to children under the COVAX Humanitari‐ an Buffer.

Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic, said, “The EU has been leading the multilateral response against the coronavirus pan‐ demic, in several ways. Team Europe is a leading contributor to the COVAX, which works to ensure that no country is left behind.”

10 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

NEWS

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Photo cred it: Paul Stath am

Paul Statham describes himself as a sound artist.

PAUL STATHAM is a musical polymath who plays piano, keyboards, drums and guitar and even teaches song writing courses and production at Solent University.

Although he lives in North London where he has his own home studio, he has been a visitor to Spain for the last 20 years and his dream is to own a home in Salobreña in Axarquia.

He is currently staying near Motril after spend‐ ing a week with former flat mate and best friend Rob Downes, guitarist with the band Then Jerico who also lives in Axarquia.

Often musicians tend to stick with one style of music, but Paul certainly embraces a huge range and his career has seen a number of major changes, mostly to his benefit.

He was (and still is) in a band called B‐Movie from his teen years and they obtained a record‐ ing contract which then saw him form Peach with Lisa Lamb and producer Pascal Gabriel and had a sizeable hit in the USA with On My Own which was part of the soundtrack for the movie Slid‐ ing Doors.

From there, he was signed to the Warner Chappell com‐ pany as a songwriter and got together with Dido, co‐writ‐ ing a number of songs for

Paul Statham Multi-talented UK musician her smash hit album No Angel which sold more than 20 million copies.

He was then approached and asked if he would like to write with Kylie Minogue and they spent two weeks together, producing a number of songs, two of which were on her hit album Fever and Paul says “she was a delight to work with.”

From there he has worked regularly with Jim Kerr and Simple Minds as well as writing with for‐ mer Spice Girls Geri Halliwell and Emma Bunton, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Rachel Stevens, Natalie Im‐ bruglia and Will Young.

At the same time, he has recorded no less than seven albums with former Bauhaus singer Pete Murphy and they had some success in the States where Goth music was popular, playing for up to 7,000 people at a time.

Another side is his record label Loki (pronounced Low Key) that came about as he explained “I’m a huge Marvel Comics fan and years ago I thought that it would be great to have a name connected with one of my heroes, so I was lucky enough to snap up lokirecords.com.”

The name laid dormant for some time, but now he releases tracks from some of the bands he plays with as well as selected material from other musi‐ cians.

When asked who his influences are, Paul said “All time favourite is Another Green World by Brian Eno but I’m also very fond of David Bowie, especial‐ ly Blackstar, his album released just before he died.

“Other favourites are Leonard Cohen who taught me how important lyrics are and Tom Waits as well as Bacharach and David.”

We spoke about Spotify (a site to listen to music at a price) and whilst agreeing the concept was good, he explained that on average for every mil‐ lion plays of a number, the record company re‐ ceives around €4,500 and the composer €500 which is being contested at the moment.

In the meantime, he has just released the second Dark Flowers album Radioland featuring Jim Kerr and singer The Anchoress, as well as other top mu‐ sicians which he describes as electro ambient coun‐ try and would love readers to give it a listen on Spo‐ tify.

Your Belgian estate agent at the coast!

12 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

NEWS

October London Marathon THE London Marathon 2022 date has been announced for Sunday, October 2, and has been moved from its traditional date in April for the third year running.

Event director Hugh Brasher has announced that the race has been moved to give the “best chances” of an event of full‐ca‐ pacity and crowds.

“The London Marathon is an extraordinary and unique cele‐ bration of the family of hu‐

mankind coming together,” said Brasher.

“We believe that by moving the 2022 event to October we give ourselves the best chances of welcoming the world to the streets of London,” he contin‐ ued.

The 2021 race will take place on October 3 and is due to be the biggest marathon in the world to be staged.

Up to 50,000 runners will compete on the traditional

Blood pressure drug recall THE Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Aemps) which reports to Spain’s Ministry of Health, has ordered that a batch of Karvezide 300mg is recalled. The drug is a blood pressure medicine and it has been found to contain impurities that are said to be above the acceptable limits. The impurities have been found in the active ingre‐ dient which is called irbersartan.

The Agency warns that batch FT015 of Karvezide 300mg/12.5mg, with an expiry date of 28 February 2023, is affected. The medicine comes in film‐coated tablet packs of 28 tablets.”

Anyone worried about the medications that they are taking should head to see their doctor or their nearest pharmacist.

course and up to 50,000 partici‐ pants will complete the 26.2 miles on a course of their choos‐ ing, BBC Sport reports.

Ryanair launch new routes IN something sure to delight hol‐ idaymakers, Ryanair has an‐ nounced the launch of new win‐ ter routes which mean that its UK winter 21/22 schedule will see holidaymakers head off to more than 400 stunning destina‐ tions on over 2,000 flights each week.

The new routes include Birm‐ ingham to Bucharest, Milan, Turin and Vilnius. Ryanair will also be adding flights from Bristol to Barcelona and Madrid and Bournemouth to Budapest and Wroclaw. Something that is sure to delight many expats who want to see their relatives, is that the winter route from London’s Gatwick to Malaga has also been added.

NEWS

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EWN 13

Child deportation Please help!

HUMAN rights groups have denounced Spain’s expulsion of unaccompanied chil‐ dren to Morocco, calling the deportations illegal with ministers urging the Spanish government to call an immediate halt to the process.

Amnesty International spokesman Angel Gonzalo said the deportations of minors began on Friday August 12 and continued on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14. The Interior Ministry and Spanish police did not imme‐ diately respond to requests for comment or confirm the exact number of children af‐ fected. Spain is legally obliged to care for young migrants until their relatives can be located or until they turn 18.

Save The Children, meanwhile, urged Span‐

ish authorities to assess the needs of each child and not deport them en masse, about a quarter of the migrant children it interviewed in Ceuta had suffered abuse in their home‐ land, according to the organisation.

Hundreds of unaccompanied minors were among a massive surge of over 10,000 people who tried to enter Ceuta in May by scaling a border fence or swimming around it. Morocco has since taken back the bulk of the migrants.The mass exodus took place after Spain agreed to provide medical treatment for the Sahrawi leader heading the fight for an independent West‐ ern Sahara, which was annexed by Moroc‐ co in the 1970s. Rabat reacted furiously by recalling its ambassador in Madrid.

Sanchez’s surprise gesture PEDRO SANCHEZ won over more hearts as he made a surprise gesture to a resident in So‐ talbo, after fires recently devastated Avila. Paquita, lives in the town and Sanchez was visit‐ ing to meet with the local mayors who have seen their towns affected by shocking fires re‐ cently.

Paquita asked Sanchez to sign her plaster cast as she had injured her leg and ended up in plaster. Sanchez promised that he would sign the cast after the meeting and he kept his promise.

Paquita watched eagerly as he kept his promise and wrote: “For Francisca, with love. Pe‐ dro”, something which touched the resident of Avila deeply.

Paquita later decided that she would do all she could to help the towns hit by fire and said that she would auction off her newly signed plaster cast.

A GERMAN short‐haired Pointer was lost, believed stolen, in the area between the Vera ITV and the Valle del Este golf course on the evening of Thursday August 19.

Murphy is a much‐loved family member and his owners are distraught.

A €250 reward is being offered for his safe return.

If you have any information which may help please con‐ tact Jane Breay on 666 711 344.

Found at last THE father of the two children who went missing in Tenerife was arrest‐ ed in western Portugal on Tuesday August 24. The children were discov‐ ered too, and are said to be in good health.

The two young children, Kristian and Amantia Toska, went missing from Germany in January along with their father. At the time of the disap‐ pearance their mother was not able to report it as he had threatened to kill them.

It took some time before she re‐ ported the shocking disappearance.

According to Joaquin Amills, the president of SOS Desaparecidos, the father of the children had called the mother several times and said “if you go to the police, I will kill you, your family and the children.”

MURPHY: A much-loved family member.

14 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Exports to USA SPANISH olive oil exports to the USA have soared as the trade barriers have now been lifted. Biden made the deci‐ sion to lift the trade barriers which were put in place pre‐ viously by Trump.

So far this year olive oil ex‐ ports have grown by 37.5 per cent. This amounts to over 57,000 tons of olives and comes at a staggering value of over €150 million. When Trump imposed trade barriers it meant that Spanish olive farmers could not afford to sell to the North American market as it became unprofitable. The market has recovered fantasti‐ cally since Biden took over and removed the barriers.

NEWS

Black fly invasion AN alert has been an‐ nounced for Aragon, Catalo‐ nia, the Community of Va‐ lencia and Madrid for an increase in black fly.

According to the National Association of Environmental Health Companies (ANECPLA) Aragon, Catalonia, the com‐ munity of Valencia and Madrid will be the most af‐ fected by plagues of black fly.

The flies reproduce on the banks of rivers and due to the current heatwave that has affected Spain, the direc‐ tor of ANECPLA, Jorge Galvan has explained this could pro‐ duce a peak in the volume of the fly population.

Bites lead to infections.

Because the black fly is in‐ digenous, it is not an invasive species, however, over the last several years attacks on humans have increased, and their bites in the shape of a saw can lead to ‘infections and allergic reactions’ that can, in some cases, require ‘hospitalisation’.

Students visa chaos IT is only weeks before British students are set to begin studying in Spain but many are facing visa chaos. Universities have called on the Spanish em‐ bassy to let students in as they have been prepar‐ ing for months and some undergraduates are said to have waited more than a month to get their ap‐ pointment to get the documents they need to en‐ ter the country.

Both the Spanish embassy and the foreign office

BREXIT: Caused the rules to change. have been approached by UK universities in a bid to convince them the students should be allowed to complete their applications once they arrive in Spain.

16 EWN

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

www.euroweeklynews.com

NEWS

Italian on the run arrested

CAUGHT: The man had a European Arrest Warrant.

Fallen out of the sky IN the last 20 days, in the Cadiz municipality of Ubrique, eight young Griffon vultures have simply fallen out of the sky, being found by concerned residents as they lay in the road, or on ter‐ races and patios ‐ one even discovered on the stairs of a house, as it searched for shade from the heat. All of the birds are just five or six months old, and have flown down from the surrounding mountains. An officer from the Local Police advised that “Due to the lack of water and food, which causes them weakness and dis‐ orientation, they fall where they can.”

An officer from the Seprona Guardia Civil, familiar with these occurrences, after rescuing several birds and nursing them back to life by rehydrating them, commented, “Normally they suffer heat strokes.”

Some of these chicks who fall from the sky are saved, thanks to the speedy intervention of the neighbours who find them, and contact the emergency services, but many sadly die, due to the lack of feeders and water that help them overcome the rigours of summer.

OFFICERS from the National Police have successfully ar‐ rested an Italian national who was on the run. The ar‐ rest was made in Malaga and the man had a European Ar‐ rest Warrant (EAW) for crimes of illegal possession of weapons and breach of pre‐ cautionary judicial measures which had been issued by the Italian authorities.

The man is considered by the authorities to be an Italian far right supremacist and an ultra‐right‐wing extremist. He is thought to have been acting on his own. Intelligence ser‐ vices in Italy have been inves‐ tigating what his targets could be.

He was wanted for events which happened in June in the Piedmontese town of Brescia.

As reported by the Italian authorities, the fugitive had caused an explosion during the making of an explosive device. He was arrested in Italy but managed to evade the justice system before flee‐ ing to Spain.

18 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Kate Garraway heads off AN emotional Kate Garraway took the difficult decision, as she revealed on Good Morning Britain, to head off on holiday for a few days without husband Derek Draper, with Susana Reid returning from her own holiday to cover her.

Susanna has been supporting Kate throughout Derek’s illness.

Kate will be heading off with chil‐ dren Darcy and Billy for a much‐ needed rest.

“Derek’s family are descend‐ ing to take care of Derek while I take the kids away,” said Kate.

30 million vaccinated against Covid SPAIN has 30 million people, 63.8 per cent of the population, fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

In the age group over 80 years, 100 per cent of people have been fully vaccinated; in the 70-79 age group, 99.1 per cent have received at least one dose and 98.2 per cent have been double jabbed; in the 60-69 age group, 97.5 per cent have received at least one dose and 93.9 per cent fully vaccinated.

In the 50-59 age group, 92.9 per cent have received one dose and 89.7 per cent have been double jabbed; in the 40-49 age group, 85.1 per cent have received one dose and 81 per cent are fully vaccinated. In the next age group, 30-39 years, 71.8 per cent have received one dose and 58.5 per cent the full course.

Finally, in the 20-29 age group, 68.4 per cent have had one dose and 35.8 per cent have both, and in the 12-19 age group, 49.1 per cent already have one dose and 9.3 per cent both.

“I want to say a massive thank you to Susanna, she has been very kind.

“I had a very tight window where I could get everybody to come and look after Derek.

“Obviously he’ll have nurses as well, but I also needed friends to help us because I think the three of us are quite emotional about going away without him.”

Kate added: “We wondered whether that would be too strange to do.

“It feels like a bit of a moment.

In fact my son Billy is concerned.

It feels strange to do it, but we need to do it, so we can have a few days and come back re‐ freshed.”

KATE: A difficult decision.

NEWS

Spanish aid to Haiti SPAIN will send 10 tons of medical supplies by the end of the week to Haiti and the government will contribute €250,000 to the Interna‐ tional Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent So‐ cieties appeal to assist with the humanitarian crisis.

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) will provide a direct response in the field of water and sani‐ tation to support the man‐ agement of water purifica‐ tion equipment previously provided by the Spanish Co‐ operation to the Haitian National Water and Sanita‐ tion Agency, with which it maintains cooperation pro‐ jects.

“This action will be aimed at providing the most vul‐ nerable population with ac‐ cess to safe water and sani‐ tation and thus prevent the spread of diseases such as cholera, which could aggra‐ vate the situation of the population,” the govern‐ ment said.

Asylum applications rise EU and Schengen area countries, known as the EU+ area, re‐ ceived substantially more asylum applications in June.

A broad range of nationalities lodged more applications than in May, often approaching or exceeding pre‐Covid‐19 levels. In the case of Afghans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, the increases continued a rising trend from previous months.

The top origin countries in June 2021 were Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco and Iraq. Afghans lodged over 6,000 applications in June, almost 1,000 more than in May and the most since February 2020. While Afghan appli‐ cations were still not exceptionally high, they increased for the fourth consecutive month.

This rising trend over time contrasted with most other na‐ tionalities but was similar for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, who might often use the same migration routes as Afghans.

Increasing arrivals of Afghans would likely affect a range of EU+ countries given that in June, many received a substantial number of Afghan applications (100 or more).

Increasing applications by Iraqis (1,800) were partly due to the new irregular migration route via Belarus.

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EWN 19

Balancing the Chancellor’s books… could your pensions be affected?

The UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak, like his counterparts in Spain, has a difficult balancing act to find ways of raising revenue while still keeping public support strong for the government. And pensions and property are being brought into sharp focus in the media when it comes to the options he has available.

With the pandemic having caused governments to provide huge financial support to keep their economies afloat, they will now need to raise money to pay what effectively is massive government debt – and taxation is one of the most obvious routes.

But what does that mean for you?

Changes that may be made by the Spanish government could, over time, make tax-efficient investing trickier and capital taxes more encompassing. So careful planning with expert advice becomes even more important now to legitimately avoid paying any

By Fiona Keogh, Private Client Manager, Blevins Franks

more tax than necessary.

And if you have a pension fund or other UK assets (such as property) they could be adversely hit by changes the UK government may bring in over the next years to start repaying its pandemic debts.

Property in the UK Property has already been targeted in terms of second homes in the UK and the council tax applied.

And UK rental income is taxable; selling it can attract capital gains tax as it is not your principal home, and stamp duty is set to return to its pre-reduction level.

You may want to hold onto a UK home for emotional reasons and as somewhere you could move back to. Many people, however, opt to downsize, so that if they retain a UK home it is a smaller one they can easily nip back to at will, rather than need to rent it out to pay the bills.

Pensions lifetime allowance Those with established pension funds (final salary or money purchase) built over their working life may be concerned about speculation that the lifetime allowance – which has been cut several times – may be further reduced.

This would bring many more people into the higher taxation regime. The lifetime allowance is the maximum amount of tax-relieved pension savings an individual can build up over their lifetime.

Currently £1,073,100, tax relief on any pension benefits taken over this amount is recovered by applying a charge to the excess – 25% if taken as pension income or 55% if taken as a lump sum.

The lifetime allowance normally rises in line with inflation, but in March the UK government froze it for the next five years.

And recent press speculation suggests that one option being considered is potentially cutting the lifetime allowance to £800,000 or £900,000.

Do you know how much your pension fund is valued at? It may be worth checking.

The UK’s 25% Overseas Transfer Charge And with the UK’s Overseas Transfer Charge not having been extended yet – enabling suitable pension transfers to be made within the EU without the penal 25% tax being applied as it would for outside the EU – maybe now is a good time to review your position.

Our next article will look at the UK State Pensions ‘triple lock’ and whether it will be maintained for EU expatriates, and Spain’s 2019 ruling that non-EU pension plans do not qualify for the wealth tax exemption. The latter means British expatriates here may find that their pension fund now pushes them into the wealth tax net.

If you haven’t reviewed your financial affairs recently with your adviser, this may be an excellent time to do so.

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.

Keep up to date on the financial issues that may affect you on the Blevins Franks news page at www.blevins franks.com.

20 EWN

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

www.euroweeklynews.com

NEWS

A Place in the Sun returns Jean Johansson is heading to Marbella.

ALL-NEW A Place in the Sun re‐ turns on September 10 with the opening episode taking place in Marbella.

Jean Johansson heads to the stunning town of Marbella in Malaga with house hunters Clement and Tracey‐Anne. The playground of the rich and fa‐ mous, it’s the glitziest town on the Costa Del Sol. Can she find them their dream holiday home?

Clement and Tracey‐Anne are a married couple from Croy‐ don, in South London. The pair have a family of three children and often visit Clement’s broth‐ er in Jerez, Andalucia, where he owns a property. With his brother having lived out there for almost 15 years, Clement has been inspired to purchase his own place.

Clement and Tracey‐Anne dream of a luxury Spanish bolt‐ hole within a short walk to the beach and shops. However, they know that houses become more expensive the closer they get to the beach. They have a budget of £250,000.

Jean said, “I am delighted to be part of the Black to Front pro‐ ject, championing Black talent on and off screen. This is an impor‐ tant day in broadcasting and I’m extremely excited to be hosting this very special episode of A Place in the Sun.” For the rest of the team, Jas‐ mine, Jean, Danni, Laura, Lee, Scarlette and Ben they’ll be heading to the Canary Islands, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus determined to help their house hunters find their dream properties.

22 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Insurers face bar claims THE ongoing coronavirus pan‐ demic has affected many busi‐ nesses badly, but many are re‐ covering well now that the summer season is here and tourists are back. Last year the State of Alarm was declared in March after the coronavirus pandemic made itself felt in Spain. The State of Alarm had many consequences for the Spanish economy as it caused many businesses that offered face‐to‐face services to cease activity. This included bars and shops which saw their incomes drop dramatically.

As reported, “Many are ask‐ ing their insurers to cover part of the losses by appealing to a busi‐ ness interruption cover that is not clearly included in their poli‐ cies, and the companies’ refusal has already reached the courts.”

So far two different judges have ruled in favour of two hoteliers. According to experts this could create a legal prece‐ dent, which could usher in a new wave of claims against in‐ surance companies.

Juan Maria Gonzalo Lasheras, partner of Legal Services in the

Financial Sector at EY told Inver‐ tia: “I think that we are going to have something similar to what we have here with banks, for example, in cases such as pref‐ erence shares, floor clauses or mortgage arrangement fees, but perhaps it will not be as vo‐ luminous as in these other cas‐ es.”

He does however believe that the number of cases will be smaller than those seen against banks as the State of Alarm mainly affected SMEs and self‐ employed people. He believes the decision on who is correct will be down to the exact cover offered by the policy and how it is written in the contract.

Welcome to the world

A 36-YEAR-OLD woman gave birth on Saturday August 21, to her second daughter.

The location of the birth was rather unexpected though as she gave birth in a street in the Madrid neighbourhood of Villaverde.

She gave birth at around 4pm

Ryanair partners with Greece RYANAIR has announced its latest partnership with the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) in a bid to boost tourism recovery in the Hellenic country.

Ryanair and GNTO will partner in a joint communications campaign with the aim of strengthening Greece’s positioning as a tourist destination in the British, German and Italian markets and attract more tourists from here.

The campaign ‘All you want is Greece’ will promote the Greek Islands as a must destination for a summer getaway through Ryanair’s owned channels as well as external digital platforms.

Famous for their amazing beaches, clearblue waters, incredible sunsets, ancient temples and mouth-watering food. The campaign is sure to attract many holidaymakers eager to

NEWS

enjoy a long-awaited sun break.

Ryanair’s Director of Marketing, Dara Brady said, “We are delighted to partner with the Greek National Tourism Organisation and work together to rebuild Greece’s leading tourism industry.

“We have significantly increased connectivity to and from the Greek Islands with new routes and additional frequencies from all across Europe. This partnership will promote the wonders of this beautiful region and highlight each of Ryanair’s routes to the Islands, which have proven to be a clear favourite among our customers. Europeans can now enjoy a well-deserved sun break travelling on the lowest fares to the likes of Mykonos, Santorini, Chania, Kos and Rhodes.”

on Saturday August 21, in Calle Lillo. The woman had experi‐ enced labour pains earlier in the day and headed to hospital that morning, but she was sent home as it was too early to have the baby. Only a few hours later her waters broke and her con‐ tractions began. She had been having contractions every three minutes.

As reported, “When the

Samur medics arrived at the scene, the contractions had ac‐ celerated and were repeated ev‐ ery minute and a half, so doctor Alicia Martin decided to put her in the ambulance to proceed with the delivery.”

Baby Sofia made her entrance into the world without any problems and mother and baby were safely transferred to the Hospital 12 de Octubre.

BABY BORN: In the middle of a Madrid street.

Spanish exports rise over the last year SPANISH exports rose 23.3 per cent January‐June 2021 com‐ pared to the same period in 2020. Exports for the first half

of 2021 stood at €152.9 bil‐ lion. Imports also increased by 20.3 per cent to €158.3 billion.

Spain’s trade deficit for the first six months of the year was €5.3 billion, 28.7 per cent lower than that registered in the same period in 2020. “In June the recovery of Spanish foreign trade was consolidat‐ ed. Imports and exports in‐ creased notably compared to 2020 and also grew more moderately compared to 2019,” said Secretary of State for Commerce, Xiana Mendez, on August 19.

NEWS

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Traffic deaths down SPAIN registered its lowest num‐ ber of traffic accident deaths ev‐ er in 2020. Covid‐19 restrictions prevented people from driving frequently.

In 2020, 1,370 people lost their lives in traffic accidents.

The number also includes peo‐ ple who died within 30 days af‐ ter the accident occurred.

According to the government, “The decrease in the death toll occurred in a context of a reduc‐

tion in long‐distance trips caused by mobility restrictions imposed due to the Covid‐19 pandemic.”

The death rate stood at 29 deaths per million inhabitants, one of the lowest in the Euro‐ pean Union in 2020, only behind Sweden (18), Malta (21) and Denmark (27). The average rate for the countries of the Euro‐ pean Union was 42. In the Euro‐ pean Union as a whole, the mor‐ tality rate per million inhabitants

Help for Tunisia

TO help Tunisia cope with the impact of the Covid‐19 pan‐ demic and the worrying health situation within the country, the European Union including Spain continue to mobilise emergency aid via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

Close to 1.3 million vaccine doses, and almost eight million face masks, along with antigen tests, ventilators, oxygen con‐ centrators, nursing beds and other vital medical equipment have been already delivered. More deliveries are expected to arrive throughout the month.

Janez Lenarcic, Commissioner for Crisis Management said, “I thank all the EU member states who promptly responded to Tunisia’s request for assistance and the European Civil Protec‐ tion Mechanism that made this possible thanks to a swift co‐ ordination.”

decreased by 17 per cent be‐ tween 2019 and 2020, while in Spain this reduction was 22 per cent.

$100 million for lie detector IAN HALPERIN, the Canadian bestselling author and docu‐ mentary filmmaker, has made an offer of $100 million to Prince Andrew, to take a lie detector test live on television, to try and prove or disprove, once and for all, the allegations of sexual abuse made against him by Vir‐ ginia Roberts Giuffre.

In her recent civil lawsuit against the Duke of York, Ms Giuffre claims to have been the victim of sexual abuse brought about by billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly of‐ fered her to the Duke, who she claims abused her at least three times when she was 17 years old.

EWN 23

24 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

Swedish Mafia’s fortune THE National Police, in one of their most successful investiga‐ tions of the year, have uncov‐ ered an illegal drugs operation that involved the transfer of sub‐ stances by removal lorries be‐ tween Spain and Sweden.

The profits generated in the Nordic country reverted to the purchase of super‐luxury real es‐ tate in some of the best areas in Marbella, Estepona or Benahavís, in the province of Malaga.

The Swedish removals compa‐ ny Roslagen, with offices in Stock‐ holm and Gothenburg, pros‐ pered until opening small

branches in Marbella and Torre‐ vieja (Alicante), two destinations where they found most of their clients.

Swedish authorities put the Spanish National Police on alert in 2018 and eventually led the Udyco Central officers to a ware‐ house in the San Pedro Alcántara industrial estate, which while un‐ der observation, was found to be carrying out some ‘very strange’ activities. Under close surveil‐ lance, officers let the suspects continue their operations until the first drugs shipment arrived.

One of the most famous drugs

operations was carried out in Stockholm where 55,000 units of an opiate drug used as a substi‐ tute for heroin were transported to the Swedish capital by one of Roslagen’s lorries.

Simultaneously, in Sweden, the two owners of the company were arrested and investigators seized 12 properties in the provinces of Malaga, Alicante, Ávila and Granada.

During the operation, 64 luxu‐ ry properties and land have been seized and the total assets and property recovered exceed €55 million.

Twelve companies fined THE National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has sanctioned 12 companies with fines worth €61.3 million, including subsidiaries of Acciona, ACS, OHL, Ferrovial, FCC, Elecnor and Sacyr.

The companies formed a cartel for bids on road maintenance and operation ser‐ vices convened by the Ministry of Devel‐ opment from 2014 to 2018.

The Competition body revealed that the cartel’s operation was carried out through meetings ‘to have coffee’ where the companies ‘periodically established the criteria for coordinating the econom‐ ic offers to be submitted in the bids of the Ministry of Public Works for the road maintenance services of the State High‐ way Network.’

FEATURE

Advertising Feature

THE RIGHT CAR INSURANCE

CHECK IT OUT: Shop around for car insurance and find out what’s included.

BACK ON THE ROAD As Spain eases restrictions due to Covid, many drivers are looking to get their car back on the road. But before turning the key we recommend you check your vehicle is good to go. Fluid levels may have dropped.

Check your oil, windscreen wash and coolant. Before checking the brake fluid, drive your vehicle for a short period, braking several times to fill the system. Top up with more brake fluid if the level is below the minimum. If the battery is flat you may need to jump start your car. Once running keep it turning over for 20 minutes. Check tyre pressures and any abnormal wear and damage. Take your vehicle for a drive and listen to the engine sound for any grinding, grumbling, whining or knocking.

BASIC INSURANCE Shop around for car insurance and find out what’s included. Does your insurance company have a national network of repairers that can collect your vehicle, undertake repairs and then return the car to you on completion? How does your No Claim discount work? If no claim is made against your policy, your re-

newal premium will be adjusted accordingly. If a claim is made, then your No Claims discount may be reduced. Línea Directa’s team of customer service experts can guide you through all your queries and provide clear answers.

OPTIONAL EXTRAS Travel Assistance from Línea Directa provides extra protection when you need it most. On-the-spot emergency repairs will be carried out on the vehicle if it is immobilised. If you run out of fuel, then your vehicle will be towed to the nearest petrol station. In the event of loss or theft of the vehicle’s keys, then Línea Directa will do everything in its power to obtain duplicates and dispatch them as quickly as possible to you.

WHY LÍNEA DIRECTA? Línea Directa has been providing comprehensive car, motorbike and home insurance to British expatriates and residents in Spain for over 20 years. Backed by a leading Spanish financial group Bankinter, with over three million customers nationwide. All services and documentation is in English. Call their English-speaking customer service staff on 952 147 834 and get a competitive quote today.

BEST PRICE. BETTER COVER.

EUROPEAN PRESS

www.euroweeklynews.com

EUROPEAN NIBS DENMARK

FRANCE

Fairy Tales

Fake passes

A NEW museum designed to look like the hollow tree in The Tinderbox is now open in the writer’s old home town of Odense and is dedicated to the work of Hans Christian Andersen. Covering some 18,000 square metres, visits are currently restricted due to the pandemic.

FOR those who want to be able to visit bars and restaurants as well as use public transport but don’t want to be vaccinated, there are now a number of online offers of fake passes available for several hundred euros even though vaccination is free.

THE NETHERLANDS

NORWAY

Electric scooters

Tragic accident

IN many Dutch cities it is possible to rent an electric scooter and then drop it off when you are finished with it. Sounds a good idea, but you can’t solve mobility problems by causing mobility problems, as too many people just leave them on pavements blocking pedestrians.

A 78-YEAR-OLD farmer and his 52-year-old son who were moving their free-grazing livestock from one area to another are believed to have been attacked and killed by their own cattle according to information released by the police in Sykkelven investigating the case.

BELGIUM

FINLAND

Free furniture

Fewer police

WHEN the Belgian Government decides that furniture needs to be replaced in its ministries it normally sells it online but rather than do this, it is now donating all of its used furniture to those who lost everything in the July floods.

THE National Police Board of Finland has said that some police departments will be forced to reduce staff if the government does not allocate more funds for law enforcement, as the police budget for 2022 is between €35 and 40 million less than expected.

GERMANY

SWEDEN

Camping not Glamping

Bright idea

IN the centre of Berlin there are some 13 official campsites where owners of vans can park up and enjoy a holiday without all of the normal trimmings of pretty views, grass or even lakes, but there are occasional views of the former Berlin Wall.

IKEA is to sell renewable energy generated from solar and wind parks to Swedish householders who sign up to pay a fixed monthly fee and if they don’t use all of the power that they are contracted for, they will be able to sell it back to the Swedish company.

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EWN 27

FINANCE BUSINESS EXTRA New boss GLOBAL giant American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is appointing a new CEO effective from January 3, 2022, as current vice president, Spaniard, Joaquín Duato will replace the incumbent CEO Alex Gorsky. This appointment will make him one of the most powerful international Spanish executives.

Second bite AS the battle to take over UK supermarket Morrisons continues, the Sunday Times has reported that with plenty of money available, whichever US investment fund loses out, there will almost certainly be a bid for Sainsbury’s which could be as high as £10 billion (€11.5 billion).

Redundancy WITH the loss on August 31 of the concessions to collect funds from three toll roads in Catalonia, operator Abertis has managed to come to an agreement with unions concerning termination of employment of 340 staff who worked in the booths and offices.

Borrowing down UK Government borrowing at £10.4 billion (€12 billion) in July 21 was down £10.1 billion (€11.6 billion) on the amount borrowed in the previous July, thanks mainly to the easing of restrictions which saw a boost to the economy, but is the second-highest amount since records began.

New flights LOW-COST Norwegian passenger airline Flyr is introducing new flights from Oslo to Alicante and Malaga. Founded in August 2020 partly in response to the demise of Norwegian Air, Flyr which has its HQ in Oslo and operational base at Gardermoen/Oslo Airport initially only flew within Norway itself.

Currently, the airline has just two Boeing 737-800 aircraft in its fleet, but is confident that it will be possible to add to both the number of aircraft in service and the staff of 70 and is now expanding to fly to European destinations from Oslo.

Effective from August 21, it will operate a weekly flight to Alicante and twice weekly flights to Malaga and Nice.

30

www.euroweeklynews.com • 26 August - 1 September 2021

is the amount of additional tax that the Spanish Government will STAT OF earn this year from the rise in the price of electricity according to €3.3 billion Partido Popular leader Pablo Casado.

WEEK

Morrisons bidding war THE Morrisons bidding war has taken a twist as a US offer arrived worth £7 bil‐ lion (€8 billion) but from a different investment firm.

On August 19, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice whose ear‐ lier bid for Britain’s fourth largest supermarket was rejected, announced that its newly created division, Market Bidco Limited had offered £7 billion to take over Morrisons and that the supermarket’s board

had accepted the offer.

This is now the third of‐ fer that the Board has ac‐ cepted, the first two being from rival US bidders Fortress, which is not nec‐ essarily out of the running.

Any offer has to be ap‐ proved by the majority of the company’s sharehold‐ ers and this latest offer is approximately 60 per cent up on Morrisons’ share closing price on June 19, 2021.

LEGALLY SPEAKING

This values each share at £2.85 (€3.28), but with‐ in 24 hours of the offer be‐ ing accepted by the Board, the share price in London had climbed to £2.91 (€3.35) which suggests that the market believes there is still considerable room for improvement on the offer.

Fortress in the mean‐ while is advising sharehold‐ ers not to take precipitate action and it seems likely

that a further bid could be imminent, but no decision on any bid will be made until a shareholders’ meet‐ ing due to take place in Oc‐ tober.

British companies are at the moment considered by many to be underval‐ ued and there are a num‐ ber of overseas invest‐ ment companies looking to snap up bargains as the UK recovers from the pan‐ demic.

Digital legacies

Are tree roots included?

A root from a tree has damaged a sewerage pipe under my bathroom. I read thoroughly my insurance policy and was frustrated to see that nowhere in its 48 pages does it mention this eventuali‐ ty. So I telephoned them and was told that my policy did not cover removal of roots which block sewers un‐ der my house. I pointed out that the definition of a house in the home insurance policy included the sew‐ ers but they said no. I ask then, what about the risks to your house not described in an insurance policy as ei‐ ther included or excluded?

N S (Costa del Sol) Your frus‐ tration is understandable but YOU AND THE LAW we find that dam‐ IN SPAIN age from tree roots blocking drains and sewers is basically never covered by any home insurance policy. Many complications arise in assigning blame such as whether you have maintained your pipes in good condition and determining where the roots come from. As to risks not listed as included or ex‐ cluded, of course a detailed description of all the thou‐ sand ways things can go wrong would be impossible.

You can be quite sure the insurance company will decide they are excluded.

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.

AS the stadium undergoes com‐ plete refurbishment and the team play at the Alfredo de Ste‐ fanos stadium, the Real Madrid merchandise store at Bernabeu was ramraided.

The attack on the store which saw three vehicles involved took place at 6am on the morning of Thursday August 19 according to eye witness reports.Ironically,

A social media will.

A DIGITAL legacy is anything which a person created or owned in digital format: social me‐ dia profiles, conversations and comments, photos and videos, profiles on online gaming sites and streaming platforms, blogs or websites, downloaded Apps, music, e‐books, documents on the cloud, online banking, etc.

It is becoming more common to make plans for what will hap‐ pen to them after you die.

It is usually handled by giving access to someone you trust, pro‐ viding a list of your accounts with the usernames and passwords, and explaining if you want them closed, cancelled or memorialised.

You should legitimise your digital legacy in a ‘social media will’, ideally kept separate from your existing will so you don’t have to keep updating it every time you create a new account or change your password.

Your digital legacy is something you should consider when pre‐ planning your funeral. With Golden Leaves Funeral Plans, you can arrange your funeral in advance, so that you family will not have to deal with it.

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

Real Madrid ramraid earlier that day, members of the first team had been taken by coach to the stadium to inspect the renovation work which was started some time ago, as no crowds were allowed in the sta‐ dium for live matches.

The two‐storey shop remained

fully stocked during the work and it appears that a single vehi‐ cle drove into the glass doors and then the robbers emerged from two accompanying cars and literally swept the shelves clear of very expensive team clothing and other branded souvenirs.

Spanish success THE latest Spanish business success sees installation of railway signals in Cairo under‐ taken by the Talis Group.

On Friday August 20, the Spanish Ambassador to Egypt, Ramon Gil Casares met with Egypt’s Minister of Transport Kamel El‐Wazir to inspect the work currently being under‐ taken to upgrade the railway signals on the Cairo‐Alexan‐ dria railway line.

In a statement released by the Egyptian Transport Min‐ istry, El‐Wazir said the signals project is being carried out by Talis Group of Spain in Sidi Gaber and Alexandria railway stations and the minister ob‐ served that the work is ex‐ pected to be completed by December 2021.

Copper lines THERE are still plenty of peo‐ ple alive who will remember telephone exchanges and manual switchboards, but as‐ sumed that these had com‐ pletely disappeared.

To some extent this is true and younger people may well have been amazed to see how calls in Spain were handled many years ago if they watched the Netflix series Ca‐ ble Girls. Now, Telefónica has announced that it has closed down 1,000 telephone ex‐ changes which used lines made from copper and these have been replaced by more reliable fibre lines.

The company celebrates its centenary in 2034 and plans to have completely replaced all copper lines by then.

By the time that the police ar‐ rived following an alert from a member of the public, the rob‐ bers had disappeared with their haul.

There is a huge market for this time of branded material and as it is genuine (rather than coun‐ terfeit) it will probably sell quickly and at reasonably high prices.

32 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY WITH US

LONDON - FTSE 100

See our advert on previous page

C LOSING P RICES A UGUST 23

COMPANY PRICE(P) 3I Group 1.321,00 Abrdn 263,90 Admiral Group 3.670,0 Anglo American 2.908,5 Antofagasta 1.419,50 Ashtead Group 5.490,0 Associated British Foods 2.012,0 AstraZeneca 8.678,0 Auto Trader Group Plc 638,60 Avast 596,60 Aveva 4.097,0 Aviva 418,70 B&M European Value Retail 574,80 BAE Systems 575,60 Bank VTB DRC 1,342 Barclays 180,58 Barratt Developments 710,00 Berkeley 4.811,0 BHP Group 2.208,00 BP 293,55 British American Tobacco 2.727,5 British Land Company 520,52 BT Group 167,80 Bunzl 2.688,0 Burberry Group 1.884,0 Carnival 1.458,8 Centrica 50,64 Coca Cola HBC AG 2.654,0 Compass 1.498,50 CRH 3.765,0 Croda Intl 9.222,0 DCC 6.040,0 Diageo 3.534,0 DS Smith 442,20 EasyJet 811,40 Experian 3.198,0 Ferguson 10.185,0 Flutter Entertainment 13.750,0 Fresnillo 833,80 GlaxoSmithKline 1.508,80 Glencore 317,25 Halma 2.987,0 Hargreaves Lansdown 1.476,26 Hikma Pharma 2.536,00 HSBC 395,25 IAG 162,32 Imperial Brands 1.562,50 Informa 530,20 InterContinental 4.500,0 Intermediate Capital 2.177,00

CHANGE(P) 1.330,50 266,80 3.693,0 2.917,0 1.422,00 5.536,0 2.037,0 8.773,0 643,20 603,60 4.135,0 420,40 576,20 580,20 1,348 183,10 726,60 4.937,0 2.219,50 293,65 2.731,5 528,40 174,45 2.704,0 1.902,5 1.478,4 51,20 2.679,0 1.502,00 3.808,0 9.304,0 6.054,0 3.550,0 447,90 821,80 3.225,0 10.256,3 13.805,0 842,00 1.525,60 317,70 3.042,0 1.489,00 2.592,00 399,10 163,12 1.569,23 537,20 4.548,0 2.212,00

% CHG. 1.318,00 263,90 3.659,0 2.881,5 1.403,00 5.480,0 2.012,0 8.674,0 635,20 595,40 4.095,0 416,70 571,60 575,00 1,324 180,48 710,00 4.811,0 2.191,00 291,10 2.712,0 518,60 167,55 2.685,0 1.847,5 1.441,8 50,50 2.650,0 1.490,50 3.758,0 9.220,0 6.024,0 3.529,5 441,30 806,00 3.195,0 10.175,0 13.700,0 829,60 1.508,80 314,30 2.986,0 1.471,50 2.536,00 394,90 160,60 1.560,00 527,40 4.477,0 2.174,00

NET VOL 44,51K 386,92K 16,10K 440,18K 85,53K 37,36K 216,96K 94,03K 186,56K 89,51K 8,11K 1,29M 105,58K 385,45K 62,56K 3,07M 100,27K 12,33K 935,86K 3,77M 244,71K 52,27K 2,78M 24,87K 158,45K 114,66K 736,34K 18,45K 289,89K 16,77K 8,53K 8,09K 269,96K 248,22K 457,75K 50,68K 0,96K 14,54K 160,38K 376,47K 5,50M 22,48K 35,35K 12,75K 2,19M 4,14M 16,05K 196,45K 46,96K 9,03K

COMPANY

PRICE(P)

Intertek 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 Taylor Wimpey Tesco Tui Unilever United Utilities Vodafone Group PLC Whitbread WPP

5.256,0 116,25 328,12 2.970,0 709,00 265,50 44,11 8.080,0 839,11 164,10 2.038,00 966,40 212,00 7.960,0 32,00 1.946,80 2.830,0 619,60 1.501,00 5.600,0 2.172,00 583,60 704,60 5.233,0 112,18 7,26 1.410,2 1.410,90 1.404,8 733,00 1.564,50 17,68 3.662,0 1.353,60 1.287,00 2.815,0 1.417,00 1.427,50 15.935,0 1.642,50 1.588,00 448,50 173,73 251,15 313,90 4.105,4 1.064,00 122,52 3.080,0 975,40

CHANGE(P)

% CHG.

NET VOL

5.300,0 117,30 332,00 3.002,0 721,00 266,60 44,72 8.112,0 839,60 167,00 2.059,00 982,00 215,40 8.022,0 32,09 1.949,50 2.890,0 629,00 1.502,00 5.681,0 2.190,00 589,10 712,60 5.277,0 112,80 7,26 1.412,0 1.411,11 1.406,0 738,02 1.565,50 17,73 3.697,0 1.370,00 1.295,00 2.880,0 1.440,50 1.433,50 16.125,0 1.672,00 1.609,50 452,30 177,80 252,15 317,00 4.149,0 1.089,50 123,64 3.105,0 981,40

5.250,0 115,75 302,00 2.968,0 706,00 265,00 44,08 8.040,0 832,20 164,00 2.039,29 965,60 211,80 7.940,0 31,79 1.936,10 2.828,0 617,40 1.486,00 5.594,0 2.167,00 583,00 703,60 5.190,0 111,10 7,19 1.398,0 1.397,75 1.390,4 733,20 1.556,50 17,59 3.655,0 1.351,50 1.283,50 2.810,0 1.415,50 1.425,69 15.920,0 1.635,00 1.587,50 448,00 173,65 247,75 309,60 4.099,5 1.062,00 122,50 3.057,0 973,40

7,98K 343,89K 7,33M 10,80K 91,60K 911,60K 5,03M 34,60K 371,27K 469,42K 3,40K 445,74K 1,34M 5,58K 130,06K 25,03K 52,43K 427,99K 568,94K 78,34K 185,72K 13,16K 75,64K 49,84K 8,01M 54,18K 378,91K 344,59K 832,70K 20,94K 1,64K 271,54K 4,98K 449,94K 87,86K 49,20K 129,22K 8,22K 7,42K 137,21K 48,84K 623,50K 580,13K 3,02M 580,47K 258,80K 114,17K 3,77M 26,39K 137,19K

1.16423

0.85895

Units per €

US dollar (USD) ......................................1.17278 Japan yen (JPY)......................................128.952 Switzerland franc (CHF) .........................1.07285 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4370 Norway kroner (NOK) .............................10.5085

currenciesdirect.com/mojacar • Tel: +34 950 478 914 THE ABOVE TABLE USES THE CURRENT INTERBANK EXCHANGE RATES, WHICH AREN’T REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RATE WE OFFER

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES A UGUST 23

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 194,16 2.768,7 3.199,95 223,53 148,19 212,67 204,94 94,30 58,22 56,64 359,37 395,87 329,24 227,70 139,11 52,01 179,44 154,72 238,49 78,68 304,36 167,79 145,09 256,13 680,26 429,71 55,52 231,36 151,45 175,12

CHANGE CHANGE% VOLUME(M) 195,13 193,37 2,39M 2.772,3 2.729,3 772,97K 3.207,81 3.175,76 3,32M 226,24 222,01 2,71M 148,50 146,78 59,51M 214,74 210,94 9,16M 207,26 203,59 2,75M 94,88 93,21 9,52M 58,33 56,85 21,83M 57,03 56,58 10,38M 359,99 353,31 8,53M 396,45 391,00 1,57M 329,68 322,47 2,92M 228,73 226,51 2,07M 139,38 137,27 2,63M 52,38 51,42 25,59M 179,92 178,07 5,29M 154,90 153,16 6,76M 239,39 236,32 1,96M 79,20 78,22 5,97M 305,84 298,06 40,66M 168,01 165,42 3,78M 145,98 144,78 5,01M 257,87 252,61 5,47M 692,13 673,70 14,72M 431,36 426,91 2,38M 55,71 55,20 10,61M 232,16 230,30 5,43M 151,72 149,75 6,42M 175,21 172,65 6,12M M - MILLION DOLLARS

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES A UGUST 23

COMPANY

CHANGE NET / %

VOLUME

Most Advanced Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Cl A NVR Inc. Large Cap Growth Index-Linked ETN due 2028 Cable One Inc. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. Biglari Holdings Inc. Cl A RH UBS AG FI Enhanced Large Cap Growth ETN Credit Suisse FI Large Cap Growth Enhanced HubSpot Inc. ServiceNow Inc.

0.24% 1.74% 9.92% 1.29% 1.11% 2.26% 2.60% 2.31% 2.25% 2.40% 2.32%

849 11.21K 1.14K 32.5K 124.77K 360 329.34K 277 1.99K 377.78K 1M

-1.05% -4.57% -3.67% -0.72% -1.63% -1.70% -2.10% -3.38% -13.15% -1.58% -1.07%

783.49K 13.19M 4.81M 91.06K 391.22K 761.15K 3.5M 1.42K 754.7K 279.65K 216.62K

Most Declined Shopify Inc. Cl A Snowflake Inc. Sea Ltd. ADR Mettler-Toledo International Inc. Boston Beer Co. Cl A Domino's Pizza Inc. Deere & Co. Colfax Corp. Tangible Equity Un Rafael Holdings Inc. Lithia Motors Inc. Fair Isaac Corp.

www.euroweeklynews.com

First UK class action

Credit: Kārlis Dambrāns flickr

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

ANTI-COMPETITIVE: Mastercard to contest class action.

HAVING now lost a final appeal against the validity of the claim, Mastercard is being sued for £10 billion in the first UK class action.

In 2007, the European Com‐ mission declared that Master‐ card’s multi‐lateral interchange fees were anti‐competitive.

These are fees paid by busi‐ nesses when transactions are made using a Mastercard, which the Commission decided resulted in higher prices being charged to consumers.

The then UK Chief Financial Ombudsman Walter Merricks considered that there was clear evidence that British cardhold‐ ers had suffered to the tune of some £14 billion (€16 billion) be‐ tween 1992 and 2008.

Since 2015, he has been bat‐ tling to bring what is known in the USA as a class action where‐ by consumers do not have to be named individually and this

right was granted in the 2015 Consumer Act. Understandably Mastercard have attempted to block this case and have been successful in various UK courts, but now the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of bringing this class ac‐ tion to court saying that the Competition Appeal Tribunal had been wrong in rejecting the claim in the first instance.

The action has been changed in as much as it no longer in‐ cludes claims on behalf of the deceased, but is said to be worth around £10 billion (€11.5 billion) and if the action is suc‐ cessful refunds could be expect‐ ed by around 46 million con‐ sumers who probably aren’t even aware of the case itself.

Mastercard will be contesting the claim according to a report

by City AM and observed “This claim isn’t being brought by UK consumers, but is being driven

Raw material prices AS the world’s economies try to rebuild following the financial problems of the pandemic, a World Bank report suggests that raw material prices are spiralling upwards.

According to this report, prices of some materials such as aluminium have tripled since 2019 whilst others have exceeded the prices forecast to be likely in 2035 already.

Add to this, the disappearance of many workers such as HGV drivers in the UK which is causing shortages and it is clear that consumers are going to experience a barrage of price hikes for a whole range of items for some time to come.

by lawyers, backed by organisa‐ tions primarily focused on mak‐ ing money for themselves.”

BUSINESS EXTRA Currying favour IN a bid to curry favour with its vegetarian and vegan employees, the Volkswagen HQ in Wolfsburg has confirmed the wurst news possible for meat eaters as after the summer holidays, currywurst (German sausage favourite) will be removed from the canteen menu.

Sky Showtime A NEWCOMER to Spain’s online TV supply industry, Sky Showtime which is due to start streaming in 2022 has reportedly signed a series of deals which will allow it to screen thousands of hours of movies, documentaries and kid’s programmes. No prices have as yet been revealed.

UK inflation THE latest figures released by the UK Office for National Statistics shows that inflation in July had fallen from 2.5 per cent to 2 per cent, in line with Bank of England expectations with lower prices for clothing and footwear being a major factor.

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EWN 33

34 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

USA HAS LOST IT

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT I TRULY do believe America has lost the plot. Bumbling Joe Biden rather reminds me of a movie I once saw. In the film the general is killed. To keep up army morale, his dead body is propped up on a horse with a pole stuck up its back as he leads his troops into the battle.

I think Biden is actually demised and his carefully coiffured body is being worked with a remote control ‐ probably operated

by Kamala Harris! And it’s not in the least bit funny. Because of his, and a few other naive so‐called American leaders’ decisions, hundreds, probably thousands of people will die, and the terrorist will now govern a stronghold which will ultimately prove more dangerous to the West than all the other Islamist countries put together.

It’s also worth remembering that the Saudis (who have been very quiet!) are predominately Sunni, as are the Taliban.

Bin Laden came out of Saudi Arabia ‐ and the Americans have been selling the Saudis the latest military hardware for years! Should we be worried ‐ well what do you think? Personally I believe we need Trump back; he would have made a more intelligent withdrawal than the Biden

JOE BIDEN: Worked by remote control.

administration that’s for sure. Mind you, any one of us with half a brain could have done better than Jurassic Joe! Just recently this man instigated the presentation of the squared off American flag to the relatives of George Floyd, declaring him to be ‘a

fallen hero’! You really couldn’t make it up.

Let me remind you of Floyds ‘heroic’ record. Six burglaries. Two violent home invasions. Three armed robberies, beating four of his victims senseless. Passing counterfeit money and being arrested 23

times. And Biden considers him an American hero! What an insult to the true heroes of the US, whose tearful relatives accepted the folded flag after burying loved ones who had given their lives for the country.

FEATURE

As a further point of interest, after a year of burning the city and tearing down the statues of patriots and Columbus, New Jersey has erected a 700‐pound bronze statue of George Floyd in his ’honour’ outside of City Hall. His family have received over $50 million (you ‘eard) from compensation and ‘go fund me’! And the man, who runs what is purportedly the most powerful nation in the world, thinks this thug is a national hero.

Heaven help us all.

Just to round off this week’s column of utter disbelief. The society of transgender folk have now come up with a real peach.

‘Neopronouns’. Apparently you should now choose how you want to be referred to. For example you may hear ‐ ‘Hello my name is Petal and my pronouns are they/ them. Subsequently, when talking about Petal, you should use the pronouns they, them, their etc. For example Petal is at ‘their’ desk. Before entering ongoing interaction, you should always ask, ‘what are your pronouns at the moment’? But you should avoid asking somebody about their preferred pronouns ‐ it implies their gender is a choice, rather than simply a part of who they are! Confused?

Faith the keep Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com 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.

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EWN 35

A FEW OF LIFE’S IRRITATIONS 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

GOOD morning, class. No talking at the back, please. I’d like to begin with another few moans.

For me, everyday irritants include: sticky price labels that don’t come off, selfies, photographing food in restaurants, people who use an upward inflection at the end of sentences and automated phone systems that claim “your call is important to us” while putting you on hold for an hour.

Calls like: “We apologise for the delay in an‐ swering your call ‐ we are experiencing a higher call volume than expected” seem to greet you ev‐ ery time you have to phone one UK media group I won’t name and shame. When will they adjust their ‘expectations’ and provide more ‘customer advisers’? They then tell you their website more than likely has the answers you need. I mean, where do they think you’ve spent the last 20 min‐ utes looking for the answer to your query before you had to ring them?

ON HOLD: Automated phone systems are just one everyday irritant.

Other irritants include food packets that re‐ quire a magnifying glass to read the instructions.

Getting a new toothbrush out of its packet. Jar lids that you need the strength of Tarzan to prise open. And as for opening ‘child‐proof’ containers,

I’m going to have to wait until the two‐year‐old next door is four before I have a reliable ‘opener’.

Let alone the packaging on scissors that require scissors to open.

In fact, packaging generally. First world prob‐

lems, I know, but even so...

Finally, where are all the UK GPs? A relative re‐ cently called into her GP surgery which has nu‐ merous doctors and health assistants to find it completely deserted apart from one patient wait‐ ing and a receptionist sitting behind a glass screen so massive she couldn’t hear anything, so any chance of patient confidentiality was scuppered.

But try booking an appointment! This involves a 30‐minute wait on the phone to be informed there are no doctors available because the surgery is (still) enforcing the same Covid‐restrict‐ ed service it was a year ago.

Where have all the doctors gone? Gone to golf courses every one.

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.

THURSDAY 26/08

6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:40pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:25pm

TUESDAY 31/08

MONDAY 30/08

SUNDAY 29/08

SATURDAY 28/08

FRIDAY 27/08

8:00pm 9:05pm 9:25pm 10:00pm 10:30pm 11:00pm 11:25pm 11:30pm 11:35pm 4:30pm 5:30pm 6:10pm 6:20pm 6:25pm 6:30pm 7:20pm 9:30pm 10:30pm 11:10pm 3:05pm 3:50pm 4:35pm 6:35pm 7:35pm 7:50pm 7:55pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 7:45pm 7:55pm 8:00pm

9:10pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:25pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 8:50pm 9:30pm

WEDNESDAY 01/09

11:00pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather Rip Off Britain EastEnders Shop Well for Less Ambulance BBC News at Ten Regional News and Weather

6:15pm 7:00pm

Strictly Amy: Crohn's and Me EastEnders Would I Lie to You? Celebrity MasterChef King Gary BBC News at Ten Regional News and Weather Weather Captain America:the Winter Soldier

5:20pm

Escape to the Country Final Score BBC News BBC London News; Weather Weather Pointless Celebrities Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Parkinson at 50 Casualty BBC News

2:15pm 4:00pm

Escape to the Country Garden Rescue Beauty and the Beast Serengeti II BBC News BBC London News; Weather Weather Countryfile Antiques Roadshow Vigil BBC News

5:05pm

BBC London News; Weather Weather Best of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo EastEnders Ghosts Vigil BBC News at Ten Regional News and Weather

6:25pm 7:00pm

The Bidding Room Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The One Show EastEnders Holby City 9/11: Inside the President's War Room BBC News at Ten

5:45pm

The Bidding Room Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The One Show Lambing Life - Our Lives The Repair Shop Celebrity MasterChef BBC News at Ten

2:45pm 3:15pm

7:30pm 8:00pm 10:00pm 10:45pm 11:30pm 12:10am 12:15am

6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

6:00pm 6:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:30pm 11:20pm

7:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:45pm

7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:30pm

6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm

4:00pm 4:45pm 5:15pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm

Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games The Farmers' Country Showdown Diamond League: Lausanne The Watch The Watch Newsnight Weather When Ruby Wax Met...

8:00pm

Meet the Monkeys: Natural World Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games The Farmers' Country Showdown Cricket: Today at the Test Gardeners' World The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family I'll Get This

8:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 10:30pm

Summer Holiday Athletics: Diamond League Paris Flog It! Porridge Cricket: Today at the Test Dad's Army Super Powered Eagles Parkinson: Billy Connolly and David Attenborough Parkinson: Hollywood Women

8:00pm

Witness for the Prosecution The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family Cricket: Today at the Test Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing Chris and Meg's Wild Summer When Ruby Wax Met...

Live at the Apollo Pose

10:30pm

Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games The Farmers' Country Showdown River Walks: The Dove, the Soar and the Trent Mastermind Only Connect University Challenge Surviving 9/11 On The Basis Of Sex

8:00pm 8:30pm

Rick Stein's Seafood Lovers' Guide Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games The Farmers' Country Showdown Celebrity Antiques Road Trip Saving Lives at Sea Alex Brooker: Disability and Me

8:00pm 8:30pm

Eggheads Paul Martin's Handmade Revolution Make Me a Dealer Rick Stein's Seafood Lovers' Guide The Animal's Guide to Britain Flog It! Live T20 Cricket Mock the Week Newsnight

8:00pm 8:30pm

9:00pm 11:05pm 1:35am 2:05am 2:35am 3:05am 3:35am 4:05am

Cricket: Today at the Test BBC Proms 2021 Silence Motherland Motherland Motherland Motherland Motherland Motherland

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm

11:30pm 1:00am 1:30am 2:30am 3:00am

9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 1:00am

2:30am

11:00pm 12:00am 1:00am 2:00am 3:00am

10:00pm 11:00pm 11:50pm 1:45am 2:45am

9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:45am 1:45am

9:00pm 10:00pm 10:55pm 12:25am 1:25am 1:55am

ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale NHS: The Longest Wait?

Tonight Emmerdale The Greek Islands with Julia Bradbury Undercover Big Boss ITV News at Ten and Weather ITV News London

5:00pm 6:00pm

Dickinson's Real Deal Tenable ITV London Weather Tipping Point The Chase Celebrity Special ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Endeavour ITV News

5:00pm 6:00pm

ITV London Weather Midsomer Murders Thunderball The Chase Celebrity Special ITV News and Weather ITV News London Rolling in It The Void The Cube for Soccer Aid ITV News and Weather ITV London Weather

6:00pm

You've Been Framed!

Tipping Point: Lucky Stars Extreme E Live The Chase Celebrity Special ITV News and Weather ITV News London On Yer Bike for Soccer Aid Vera It's Clarkson on TV ITV News and Weather

8:30am 10:00am 3:25pm 3:55pm 6:00pm

Tipping Point The Chase ITV Evening News ITV News London Emmerdale Coronation Street James Martin's Islands to Highlands Coronation Street Stephen ITV News at Ten and Weather

3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

BBC Proms 2021 TOTP: 1991 TOTP: 1991 When Bob Marley Came to Britain Reggae at the BBC Sounds of the 70s 2: Reggae - Stir It Up Reggae Fever: David Rodigan TOTP: 1991 TOTP: 1991

3:00pm 4:00pm 4:59pm 5:00pm 6:00pm

Treasures of Ancient Egypt Our Coast Ordeal by Innocence Ordeal by Innocence Ordeal by Innocence Toffs, Queers and Traitors: The Extraordinary Life of Guy Burgess - Storyville Our Coast

1:19pm 1:20pm 3:20pm 5:55pm

Agatha Christie: Talking Pictures Agatha Christie Marple: The Pale Horse Agatha Christie Marple: The Pale Horse The Mystery of Murder: A Horizon Guide Imagine: This House Is Full of Music Agatha Christie: Talking Pictures

3:30pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm

The Joy of Painting Agatha Christie's Miss Marple Agatha Christie: Unfinished Portrait The Great Detectives Witness for the Prosecution Timeshift: How to Write a Mills & Boon Agatha Christie: Unfinished Portrait

5:35pm 6:35pm 7:30pm 7:50pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm

The Joy of Painting Canals: The Making of a Nation The Good Life Porridge In Search of Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe Shakespeare in Italy with Francesco da Mosto Canals: The Making of a Nation

3:00pm 4:00pm 4:59pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

Judge Rinder Tenable ITV London Weather Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Love Your Garden Long Lost Family ITV News at Ten and Weather

4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm

The Joy of Painting Canals: The Making of a Nation Nile: Earth's Great Rivers H2O: The Molecule That Made Us Ocean Autopsy: The Secret Story of Our Seas Dive, Dive, Dive!

Canals: The Making of a Nation Nile: Earth's Great Rivers

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

The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Britain's Busiest Airport Heathrow Coronation Street Lee Mack's Road to Soccer Aid ITV News at Ten and Weather

4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:30pm 11:20pm

7:00pm 7:15pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:30pm 10:50pm 11:09pm

7:00pm 7:20pm 7:30pm 9:00pm 11:00pm 11:35pm

9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

7:00pm

8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 10:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

A Place in the Sun Paralympics: Today in Tokyo The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Paralympics: Gold Rush Joe Lycett's Got Your Back Sixteen: Class of 2021 The Last Leg of Tokyo 2020

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

A Place in the Sun Paralympics: Today in Tokyo The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Paralympics: Gold Rush Epic Wales: Valleys, Mountains & Coasts Deceit The Last Leg of Tokyo 2020

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

Paralympics: Today in Tokyo Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying Highlights Paralympics: Gold Rush Bettany Hughes' Treasures of the World Lost Pyramids of the Aztecs The Last Leg of Tokyo 2020

3:05pm 4:05pm 5:05pm

Paralympics: Breakfast Paralympics: Live The Simpsons Congo Paralympics: Today in Tokyo Channel 4 News Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Highlights Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins for Stand Up to Cancer

4:55pm 5:55pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:05pm

Countdown Find it, Fix it, Flog it A Place in the Sun Paralympics: Today in Tokyo The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Paralympics: Gold Rush Food Unwrapped Secret Spenders 999: On the Front Line

3:15pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 7:55pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm

Find it, Fix it, Flog it A Place in the Sun Paralympics: Today in Tokyo The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Paralympics: Gold Rush The Secret Life of the Zoo 24 Hours in A&E The Last Leg of Tokyo 2020

3:15pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm

Find it, Fix it, Flog it A Place in the Sun Paralympics: Today in Tokyo The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Paralympics: Gold Rush Changing Rooms Grand Designs The Last Leg of Tokyo 2020

5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm

9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:05am

9:00pm 10:00pm

11:00pm

5:10pm 6:15pm 7:55pm 8:00pm 9:30pm

8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

11:00pm 12:00am

9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

8:00pm

9:00pm 10:00pm

5 News at 5 Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight Secrets of the Fast Food Giants Nick Knowles' Big House Clearout Alex Polizzi: My Hotel Nightmare Filthy House SOS Adults Only: Kinky for Cash

6:00am 7:00am 8:00am

Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight Fantastic Foxes: Their Secret World Motorhoming with Merton & Webster Ian Hislop: The Trains That Changed The World 30 Moments That Made ABBA

6:00am 7:00am 8:00am

Monster-in-Law Clueless Entertainment News on 5 Clueless Cruising India with Jane McDonald 5 News Weekend When the Spencers Met the Monarchy Princess Alexandra - The Queen's Confidant

8:00am

The Mask 5 News Update The Mask 5 News Weekend Inside Legoland: A World of Wonder All Creatures Great and Small Premier Inn: Britain's Biggest Budget Hotel Rich House, Poor House Shirley Valentine

6:00am 8:00am 11:00am

The Wrong Neighbour Bargain Brits in the Sun Bargain Brits in the Sun Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Update Traffic Cops Police Interceptors Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up Casualty 24/7 Red Shoe Diaries

11:00am 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 5:30pm

Stalked: Julie's Story Bargain Brits in the Sun 5 News at 5 Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight GPs: Behind Closed Doors A Country Life for Half the Price Sex & Power Critical Condition

8:00am

5 News at 5 Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight Adrian Dunbar's Coastal Ireland Coastal Devon & Cornwall with Michael Portillo Tsunami: Devastation Inside Chernobyl with Ben Fogle

11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm

8:30am 11:15am 7:55pm 11:30pm 1:00am 2:00am 3:00am

8:30am 11:15am 7:55pm 11:30pm 1:00am 2:00am 2:30am

9:00am 9:30am 11:30am 1:30pm 3:30pm 6:00pm 9:30pm 12:00am 1:00am

12:00pm 3:00pm 5:00pm 8:30pm 12:00am

8:15pm 10:45pm

9:00am 10:00am 11:00am 1:00pm 2:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm

5:55pm 8:00pm 11:30pm

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Good Morning Sports Fans Live Women's Golf Live Test Cricket Live Vitality T20 Blast Cricket Live PGA Tour Golf NFL: Total Access Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Good Morning Sports Fans Live Women's Golf Live Test Cricket Live Vitality T20 Blast Cricket Live PGA Tour Golf NFL: Total Access Sky Sports News Major League Soccer Good Morning Sports Fans Good Morning Sports Fans Live NRL Live Test Cricket Live EFL Live Test Cricket Live: SNF Live PGA Tour Golf Sky Sports News MLS Live Sky Sports News Goals on Sunday Super Sunday Matchday Scottish Premiership Live Live Renault Super Sunday Live Renault Super Sunday Live PGA Tour Golf Live NFL The Football Show Transfer Talk Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Live Betfred Super League Live Betfred Super League Betfred Super League Highlights Good Morning Transfers Transfer Deadline Day Good Morning Transfers Transfer Deadline Day Transfer Talk Transfer Deadline Day The Transfer Show Transfer Deadline Day The Transfer Show Transfer Deadline Day The Football Show The Football Show Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Live World Cup Qualifier Live International Football Live World Cup Qualifier Sky Sports News

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

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EWN 37

Advertising Feature FOR a seller, Grupo Platinum Es‐ tates guarantees maximum ex‐ posure of properties, a large team of fully contracted staff, working seven days a week.

Working with local and interna‐ tional clients of all languages. In‐ vesting time and money on prop‐ erty portals, exhibitions in many different countries, local publica‐ tions and radio. Selling your prop‐ erty in a good timeframe for the best price. NO SALE NO FEE! Two offices on the coastline ‐ Head Office: Calle Mar Rabiosa 1, San Juan de los Terreros, 04648 Pulpí, Almeria.

Vera Playa Office: Ronda de las Buganvillas 12A, 04621 Vera, Almeria.

For a buyer, be guaranteed of an honest, friendly and profes‐ sional service from a team which is with you every step of the way

Buying or selling a home?

Contact us today. No sale, no charge!!

Never compromise, get the best service for the best price of the buying process and be‐ yond.

Grupo Platinum Estates also offers a full range of associated services, including property rental and management, financial and insurance, and property ren‐ ovations and upgrades.

Looking to buy or sell on the Almeria, Murcia or Alicante coast? Don’t compromise on ser‐ vice, or timescales, choose the experts: contact Grupo Platinum Estates today. 950 466 112.

Buy or sell with Grupo Platinum in 2021 and you can win a week in the Casa Rural La Geoda of Aguilon, Almeria.

DUE TO RECORD SALES so far in 2021!

WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HOME FOR WAITING CLIENTS, ANY HOME, ANY AREA, CALL US NOW TO GET YOURS SOLD....

THE TEAM: Choose the experts.

www.euroweeklynews.com • 26 August - 1 September 2021

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM

39

TIME OUT

TIME OUT

40

www.euroweeklynews.com • 26 August - 1 September 2021

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM

www.euroweeklynews.com • 26 August - 1 September 2021

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM

41

TIME OUT

TIME OUT

42

www.euroweeklynews.com • 26 August - 1 September 2021

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK GO TO WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM FOR THIS WEEK’S ANSWERS

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.

BAD PLANNING

From our Facebook

NEW CLUB: How was planning permission given to build on the beach?

Beach Bars I have been coming to Estepona for many years now, and have been impressed by the constant improvements that the Junta has implemented over the years, beautiful flowers and a feeling of a town on the up. One recent change however does not fit into that category. It had been rumoured that a chiringuito was to be built on the Costa Natura naturist beach, the first beach in Spain to be designated as naturist by royal charter in 1979, but before the lockdown I heard that planning permission had been refused.

You can imagine my surprise on visiting again that what can best be described as a beach club (not a chiringuito) had been built, directly in front of the new high end ‘The Edge’ properties, replacing the previous sea views that some of these properties had with the view of a wall, and a constant heavy beat music track for the whole development and the surrounding area. What is worse is that the club is built directly on the naturist beach, will not allow naturists in, or even allow them to hire a sun lounger on the beach in front of their club, and the ‘waiters’ have been telling Spanish families that they have bought the beach, and they should go elsewhere. The beach is actually public land, and cannot be bought.

This seems to me to be a spectacularly bad case of planning,

What happens next?

AT the time of writing, it has become clear that a number of people are worried about which way the British Government is going to jump with regards to Spain and the traffic light system.

Rumour abounds that we could become a red light country and this has clearly resulted in a number of people, both British residents and visitors either curtailing their holidays or bringing forward a return to the UK. Considering that British children start to return to school at the beginning of September, many parents understandably want to make sure

CORRECTIONS

and I cannot understand how this club, which is completely cross threaded with both the Edge development, the neighbouring Costa natura village, and the naturist beach has been allowed to build here. Or am I just being naïve?

Tony Worswick

REFUGEES: Should they be granted asylum in the EU?

I agree!

David Sánchez

I completely agree with the letter entitled ‘Racist propaganda’.

So very noticeable all of a sudden. I believe this was kicked off by the situation in the US when the policeman held the perpetrator down with his knee on his neck. May be wrong, but am sure it was around that time.

Love Leapy’s articles, usually agree with his look on life too.

Regards, DM

It shouldn’t be any debate. They had to leave their home because of an unacceptable war...t he whole EU and the others countries of the world should help them. No debate.

Love the paper Thanks for all the informative and entertaining news, keeping us abreast of changes both here and abroad.

Regards, S Brown

OUR VIEW

that they and their kids aren’t suddenly required to go into quarantine and those living here who want to see their families seem to believe ‘better safe than sorry’.

Looking at the situation dispassionately, there seems little genuine justification for the British Government in effectively penalising Spain, as the number of new infections is clearly on a downward trend and hopefully this will continue to be the case.

Some believe that the British Government wants to encourage British holidaymakers to remain in the UK and to spend their money there

rather than in European hot spots and if that logic prevails, then Spain may well suffer for economic rather than protective health reasons.

Under normal circumstances, such a conspiracy theory would be treated as nonsense, but the British Government hardly has a record of rational thinking as far as the pandemic and travel matters are concerned.

Let’s hope that the status quo remains and that relatively free movement between Spain and the UK is allowed to continue after Sunday August 29, when any change is likely to be imposed.

Tina Fisher This is a bit late as they already have. But yes of course they should. With Spain already overflowing with economic refugees, how could they refuse real refugees in their hour of real need.

Betty Purves All countries, should be a united nations problem.

Mark Spain Yes I’m sure the EU will take many refugees, but the majority should be taken by the USA and the UK.

Patricia Keery All countries should help and not be left to the usual ones.

Agnes Gillespie All countries should help, the men were trained up to be soldiers, they need to stand their ground. Get the elderly out and women and children, the Taliban have no respect for women !!!!!

Margaret Mc If they are people who have worked for another country in whatever role, then yes.

Dominique Ramsey No and they should take responsibility for themselves.

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

46 EWN

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

www.euroweeklynews.com

HEALTH & BEAUTY

The rewards of rooibus IT’S a well‐known fact that rooibos is better for you than normal tea, but just how much better is surpris‐ ing. And once you’ve heard about these ‘extra’ health and beauty ben‐ efits, chances are you’ll be sipping rooibus in favour of your regular cuppa.

An added bonus is that you can get all the beautifying effects with‐ out the herb, which originates from South Africa, even touching your lips.

Acne sufferers will be interested to hear that rooibos is rich in alpha hydroxy and zinc – both vital nutri‐ ents for healthy skin. Alpha hydroxy reduces the signs of ageing and revi‐ talises skin, while zinc heals wounds, protects against UV rays and has an‐ ti‐inflammatory properties, which can help with acne, random monthly pimples and sunburn.

Sip on a cup, or even apply the tea straight to your skin!

Rooibus, also known as bush or redbush tea, is also said to help with hair loss. A cup a day not only keeps your locks healthy and strong, but may also help prevent hair loss. Ap‐

BENEFITS: The positive effects of a cup of rooibos are far reaching.

parently, its active ingredients actu‐ ally help remove dead skin cells that block hair follicles and prevent hair from growing.

It’s also packed with zinc, calcium, copper and potassium (essential for hair growth), and polyphenols (an‐

tioxidants), which promote shiny, soft tresses.

It’s easy to prepare your own tea rinse at home. Steep for 30 minutes in boiled water.

Once cooled, pour over freshly washed or conditioned hair, or sim‐

ply spray it on. Allow to sit for 20 minutes before rinsing.

As mentioned, the antioxidants in rooibos have anti‐inflammatory properties, which assist in prevent‐ ing cardiovascular disease, while its antiviral properties boost your im‐

mune system. It also has a hypogly‐ caemic effect on the body, helping to balance blood sugar and improve insulin resistance, which may help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

The tea has also been proven to remedy irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The antispasmodic agents in rooibos help ease stomach aches and pains, and aid digestion. It is re‐ ported that this is because it smooths out the muscles in the gut.

Sufferers should try drinking a cup about half an hour before a meal to get the most out of this effect.

Apparently, rooibos can also help with asthma. It’s a bronchodilator (a substance that dilates the bronchi and bronchioles in lungs to increase airflow) and many researchers be‐ lieve the tea can alleviate the symp‐ toms of asthma.

And finally, although there are bound to be even more health and beauty benefits, rooibos can help lower your cholesterol. Chrysoeriols, a flavonoid in rooibos, aids in blood circulation and has also been linked to reducing cholesterol.

HEALTH & BEAUTY

www.euroweeklynews.com

Well groomed men A GOOD skin care regime is not exclusive to women, men need one too. Only cleansing and moisturising is not enough to keep male skin healthy and clean.

To avoid dry, dull and brit‐ tle skin, it’s important to fol‐ low a skin care plan.

Men tend to have oilier and thicker skin, so it’s ad‐ visable to choose a good fa‐ cial cleanser that works on all kinds of skin.

Cleansing sanitises and eliminates dead skin cells without drying. It also helps to avoid whiteheads, black‐ heads and acne. Toning bal‐ ances and tightens.

Moisturising prevents cracks and dry and dull skin, as well as offering protec‐ tion and healing benefits.

Sunscreen is a must, with a minimum SPF of 30, mak‐ ing sure it’s applied 15 min‐ utes before heading out so that it is well absorbed.

Exfoliation is crucial to eliminate dead skin cells from accumulating and causing bacterial infection.

Used once a week, a gentle but granulated face scrub will smoothen the skin,

SKINCARE: A simple daily routine is vital for men as well as women. eradicate dullness and soft‐ en hair follicles for a smoother shave with mini‐ mal irritation.

The skin around the eyes lacks in sweat and oil glands, making it highly sus‐ ceptible to under‐eye dehy‐ dration. This shows itself as fine lines and wrinkles. Dab‐ bing a little hydrating eye cream each morning and be‐ fore bed can help prevent this.

A good lip balm with a high SPF is a must to help keep them soft, supple and protected from the sun.

Clean beards are more likely to be soft beards.

Beauty experts advise using face wash or shampoo when cleansing facial hair, taking care not to over shampoo as this can strip the hair of nat‐ ural oils. Try applying beard oil with fragrance after washing.

Cucumber: beautiful inside and out

THE humble cucumber is a summer must have offering a number of health and beauty bene‐ fits as well as helping to beat the heat.

The vegetable is made up of 95 per cent wa‐ ter and is therefore incredibly hydrating with the added bonus of helping to detoxify the body.

It can even treat bad breath.

During long, sweaty days and punishing heat, it’s important to take care of your diet and while certain foods can ensure you stay cool from the inside, others may end up aggravating your body and increasing your body heat.

Cucumber is one of the recommended daily additions to the plate, cleaning the body inter‐ nally and keeping skin healthy and beautiful on the outside.

With its high water content, the veggie is an effective system cleanser that can expel waste products.

While it’s doing its work on the inside, it can be put to use on the outside, too. It’s no secret that cucumber soothes and refreshes the skin.

When applied to the face, the juice can make skin look refreshed. It is especially great for peo‐

ple with dry skin.

Slices have been used in many beauty treat‐ ments, and are particularly effective in reducing dark circles and treating puffiness around the eyes. You can even put grated cucumber on your face for a fresh skin. Simply put them on your eyes for eight to 10 minutes daily.

Not as many people know this, but cucumber helps in reducing excess heat in the stomach, which is a primary cause of bad breath. Just holding a piece of cucumber in your mouth can kill the bacteria that cause stinky breath.

And while the green vegetable, available all year round, is a complete beauty food, it is not just great for the skin, but also for the nails and hair. It can help in reducing tanning and the sili‐ ca in the vegetable can promote hair growth and make your nails stronger.

It also promotes weight loss.

High in fibre and low in calories, the cucum‐ ber is a great snacking option for people want‐ ing to reduce weight.

And, owing to its high potassium, magnesium and fibre levels, it is effective in controlling blood pressure.

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EWN 47

48 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

EMMA WALLSWORTH THERE are many different causes and sources of foot pain: Sprains, arthritis and joint pain, bunions, plantar fasciitis, blisters, calluses, and corns swelling.

What essential oils we use and why...

Peppermint oil: Peppermint essential oil can serve as both a pain reliever (anal‐ gesic) and a mild anaesthetic. It’s also an‐ ti‐inflammatory, antiseptic, and is anti‐ spasmodic (prevents or lessens cramps and spasms).

Eucalyptus oil: Eucalyptus essential oil could help as a pain reliever and anti‐in‐ flammatory. It’s also antibacterial, anti‐ septic, and antispasmodic.

Ingredients: 1) ½ cup organic olive oil 2) ¼ cup infused nettle oil 3) ¼ cup coconut oil 4) 17g beeswax 5) 5 drops of vitamin E oil 6) 15 drops of peppermint oil 7) 15 drops of eucalyptus oil 8) Wooden skewer 9) 4 x 60ml glass jars with lid Method: 1) Prepare a bain‐marie, you can use a pan, add water ¼ way, add two wooden skewers to the bottom, place in glass heat proof jug (also known as a water bath or double boiler)

How to make a soothing foot balm at home...

FEATURE

Or contact The Simply Natural Group to purchase directly from our Facebook eco shop.

Join Our New ‘Simply Flora & Fauna’ page on Facebook. We aim to build a map to track local nature in different areas throughout Spain. We will share findings, share information and photos.

Please contact us at email: thesimplynaturalgroupltd@gmail.com.

Facebook ‐ The Simply Natural Group Facebook community page ‐ Simply Flo‐ ra & Fauna You Tube Simply Back 2 Basics The Simply Natural Group products may contain oils and butters from natural nuts, seeds and fruits.

If you have any allergies please read the product label carefully. We recom‐ mend that people with sensitive skin per‐ form a patch test first to ensure there is no reaction.

ESSENTIAL OILS: You can make your own Eucalyptus oil to help as a pain reliever.

2) Add beeswax to the glass jug and be‐ gin to melt 3) Add nettle oil, coconut oil and olive oil to the jug, use a wooden skewer to stir (melting point of beeswax is 65ºC)

4) Once melted remove from the heat, add vitamin E and other essential oils 5) Lay jars on to paper towel to catch spills. Add balm to the jars.

Leave to cool.

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

Advertising Feature

Don’t sweat it this summer, reduce your electricity bill the easy way IF the sight of your electricity bill has prompted you to turn off the air con and left you sweltering in your home, never fear, help is at hand.

San Pedro‐based green energy bro‐ ker, Mariposa Energía is committed to helping households and businesses alike to save money with their cheaper, 100 per cent green electricity tariffs and is also offering a free, no obliga‐ tion energy review to demonstrate just how much money you can save.

Switching with Mariposa Energía is incredibly easy. There is no need for any new equipment, any workmen to come out to your house or any work to be done whatsoever, the switch is sim‐ ply made and the new cheaper electric‐ ity is sent down the same cables to your home.

There is no interruption to your ser‐ vice and, in fact, you will only notice the switch has occurred when you re‐ ceive your cheaper electricity bill.

MARIPOSA ENERGÍA TEAM: Pride themselves on providing excellent customer service.

What’s more, if you switch with Mari‐ posa Energía you will be helping to re‐

duce your carbon footprint and to do your bit to help the environment, as all

the energy supplied is certified 100 per cent green energy, coming exclusively from Spanish wind farms.

M a r t i n T y e , M a r i p o s a E n e r g í a C EO, said: “The process to change energy supplier really is easier than flicking a switch and for the time it takes to send us a recent energy bill you could be saving yourself significant sums of money each month.”

The Mariposa Energía team not only provide cheaper, greener electricity, they also pride themselves on provid‐ ing excellent customer service and electricity bills that are easy to under‐ stand.

“We know just how difficult it can be to try to decipher traditional electricity bills, to understand how much energy you’ve consumed and, sometimes, to even understand how much you need to pay. That’s why we’ve made our bills simple, clear and easy to understand,” Martin Tye added.

To find out how much money you can save and to learn more about switching with Mariposa Energía contact the friendly team today on +34 951 120 830, email info@mariposaenergia.es or visit the website: www.mariposaenergia.es

50 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

FEATURE

GO LOCAL

THE EURO WEEKLY NEWS is urging its readers to support local businesses in the com‐ munity by going local now that the lockdown has end‐ ed and for your all your shopping this year, instead of feeding online giants and superstores.

We challenge you to redis‐ cover your local high streets, markets, butchers, greengro‐ cers and all of the wonder‐ fully quirky independent businesses in your area.

Now that the Covid‐19 pandemic appears to be un‐ der control, it is a good idea to try and support many lo‐ cal businesses by ordering online and making use of any click and collect services 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 businesses can help support the local community.

Although it may be a euro or two cheaper elsewhere or online, consider where your money is actually going.

By shopping at an inde‐ pendent 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 local charities, support and sponsor local sports teams and in many cases the small independent stores are actu‐ ally much more than just a small high street shop, they’re a family’s legacy, of‐ ten passed down through numerous generations and support not just the current owner but the generation before.

For those stores which are new, that extra couple of eu‐ ros spent there are support‐ ing 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 purchasing 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 better gift. Helping people alleviate stress and worry, give the gift of peace of mind through these difficult times.

Choosing to spend your money locally will really make a difference in the re‐ covery of the local economy.

When we buy local, our money stays local, and it strengthens the local econo‐ my in two ways. First, buying local keeps money circulat‐ ing within the local economy.

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

Data shows that local re‐ tailers return 52 per cent of their revenue back into the local economy, compared to

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

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

BUY LOCAL: By shopping locally, independent businesses can help support the local community.

just 14 per cent for nation‐ al chain retailers.

Money circulating through the local economy benefits everyone who is a part of each transaction. For exam‐ ple, let’s look at a local farmer growing produce.

First, they sell to a local restaurant, which in turn prepares the fresh produce and sells it to local cus‐ tomers.

The farmer pays its local employees and the restau‐ rant uses revenue from sales to buy supplies from a neigh‐ bourhood hardware store.

This example illustrates how the recirculation of money in the local economy leads to a stronger financial foundation for our neighbours and com‐

munities. Buying local also fuels new employment and job opportunities for people within our community.

Studies show, locally owned businesses employ more people per unit of sales and retain more employees over time.

A fantastic example of

how to support your local community is with a Charity Gift certificate, why not do‐ nate to your loved one’s favourite cause.

Just remember to still fol‐ low the latest government advice and any guidance businesses have to keep ev‐ eryone safe in the future.

To advertise here contact us on:

951 386 161

EWN 51

PETS Enter our 2021 Funny Pet Photo Competition 52

OUR pets are adorable, and we all love them to bits. Sometimes they do the funniest things.

Have you ever snapped your pet doing some‐ thing funny or remarkable? Send your photos to us to enter our HouseSitMatch Funny Pet Photo Competition and you could win an 18 month free Premium membership as either a house‐sitter or a homeowner. You choose the prize you want!

To enter the competition Send us your photos to email address ‐ admin@housesitmatch.com Please include your full name and your pet’s name.

How does HouseSitMatch work?

You join as a pet and homeowner member, for this there is a small annual fee. You get ID checked for safety and then build your advert saying when you are going on holiday. House‐sit‐ ters are mailed your advert, they respond and then you choose whom you would like to care for your pets.

What makes HouseSitMatch unique?

The careful checking of all our members makes us unique. Unlike other house‐sitting and pet‐sitting networks, at Housesitmatch.com we ID check all our members. We also offer house‐ sitters a police and background check on regis‐ tration. We do this because it makes our net‐

www.euroweeklynews.com • 26 August - 1 September 2021

SPONSORED BY

OCELOT OPERATED FOR A SERIOUS FRACTURE IN ALFAZ DEL PI

Ever snapped your pet doing something fun - share it with us and you could win! work safer and helps us maintain a high bar for house‐sitters caring for your precious pets and homes. Please check our Trustpilot reviews on‐ line to see what our clients say about our service.

Trustpilot Testimonials ‐ 4.8 / 5 Excellent rat‐ ing (New Trustpilot rating scale) Here’s what members have said about us ‐ HouseSitMatch found us a perfect house‐sit‐ ter…

HouseSitMatch found us a perfect house‐sit‐ ter while we were away in Canada and we were delighted with the care and attention that Hous‐

eSitMatch took in helping us find the right per‐ son.

Ros Morris ‐ Dog owner How do you join?

Please register online via our website www.Housesitmatch.com ‐ Choose a membership plan ‐ Please note prices go up soon so sign up now on subscription to secure these prices: • Standard (DIY option) = £69 pa • Premium (with support at each step) = £89 pa

Do you need a housesitter? Get in touch. House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and petsitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either housesitter or homeowner with a 25% discount using coupon code 25NEWS – an exclusive offer for readers. To find a house pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com

Surgeon José Rial preparing the ocelot to be operated on.

AN ocelot suffering from a serious elbow fracture was op‐ erated on at the Marina Baixa Veterinary Hospital. Before the surgical intervention, because of the suspicion of a possible heart problem due to the distended abdomen and symptoms of fatigue and the age of the ocelot, sever‐ al tests were performed, including blood tests and ab‐ dominal ultrasound and echocardiography in order to as‐ sess various organs. The ultrasound was performed by the veterinarian David Nieto del Centro Veterinario de Diag‐ nostico por Imagen de Levante, who confirmed that there were no heart problems. The need to attend the injury of his limb is due to the impact that it can generate in his daily routines over time. The Terra Natura Park veterinari‐ ans performed anaesthesia on the ocelot and the CT scan and complicated elbow surgery was performed by the vet‐ erinarian José Rial, an AVEPA accredited specialist in trau‐ matology and orthopaedics.

The pursuit of happiness OWNING a pet can help to improve our emotional and physical well‐being and could improve your health long term.

According to the British Medical Journal, the emotional bond between animal and owner can be as intense as any human relationship.

Most pet owners are well aware that owning a pet comes with a lot of responsibilities, but these help to give the day purpose and structure. Many people also feel a sense of achieve‐ ment when their animal is happy and healthy.

It has also been suggested that own‐ ing a pet reduces the risk of heart dis‐ ease and other cardiovascular illness‐ es, possibly due to the extra exercise

WELL-BEING: The emotional bond between animal and owner can be intense. pet owners usually undertake or the fact that having an animal companion helps to relieve stress.

Studies have also shown that animal

owners are also less likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, as play‐ ing with your pet releases feel‐good hormones.

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021 • www.euroweeklynews.com

53

SPONSORED BY

AIR CONDITIONING

BUILDERS ALMERIA BUILDERS: Fully Legal, Fully Insured, All Work Guaranteed. 659 685 133 www.almeriabuilders.com

BUY & SELL PRIVATE collector will buy your Gold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel – 678 716 693 (288662)

CARS FOR SALE

to The Anglican Chaplaincy of Costa Almeria and Costa Calida web page. Or contact Tony Noble 950 069 103. (10002) ROYAL BRITISH LEGION Why not make this year the year you volunteer? Call and see how you can help either as a caseworker (with full training) or as a Telephone Buddy. We also visit beneficiaries who are housebound or in hospital. If you feel you could support us here in Spain, and you have a Spanish phone number then why not email us for more info tbuddyhhvisits@gmail.com. If you or your partner served or are serving, and you feel you need help or support then contact us using the details on the card, we are here for the small things as well as the big, sometimes talking to someone is the first step to feeling more in control. It can be a personal need or some help with your home or information on what or who to speak to on a medical issue, we help with signposting if we cannot help directly, just call and have a chat with Pam who will try to guide you to where you need to be. If you would like to go to a branch meeting then find your nearest one at, www.britishle gion.org.uk/counties/ spain-north ZURGENA Branch meeting on the first Thursday, Coffee Morning on the third Thursday and Buffet & Quiz Night on the last Tuesday of the month all at The Heathers La Alfoquia, for further details please email zurgenarbl secretary@yahoo.co.uk (253989)

ELECTRICAL ABBOTT ELECTRICS. From a Light Fitting to a Full Rewire.

Tel: 950 137 208 / 638 010 691 (292250)

ESTATE AGENT VOSS HOMES are a professional, British family-run Estate Agents with an office in Huercal-Overa town. They specialise in selling and renting properties in the Huercal-Overa, La Alfoquia, Zurgena & Taberno area.

Andy, Anna, Jess, Adele, Hannah, Amy & Karen look forward to helping you buy, sell or rent your ideal property. Please call 678 002 006 for more information (283824)

FOR SALE

CLASSIFIEDS

GOLD & SILVER Bought & Sold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel – 678 716 693

MOTORING

STAY SAFE! Abbeygate Insurance Call 971 277 455 For your security www.abbeygate insure.com

LANGUAGE CLASS

SOLAR ENERGY

FOR SALE WE ARE currently the market leader in our country in the sale of direct car, motorbike, home and company fleet insurance.

Since we started out in 1995, our philosophy has always been to offer an excellent service with the best prices in the market. For the most competitive quotes in English, call Linea Directa on 902 123 309.

PETS

WANTED Gold, Silver, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel – 678 716 693 (288662) MOTOR INSURANCE. For the most competitive quotes in English call Linea Directa on 902 123 309, you could save as much as 30% and you can transfer your existing no claims bonus. Call Linea Directa on 902 123 309 for motor insurance with a human voice in English from Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm and save money now! (200726)

power tools. A full driving licence and NIE/TIE/DNI is required. If you think you have what it takes to join our team email your details to lifestyle.enc@gmail.com (293508)

MISCELLANEOUS

SERVICES

PET SITTING HOUSE/PET SITTING. Retired couple available to do house/pet sitting. Nonsmokers. References available. If we are able to help you, please e-mail jswingler1@gmail. com (293496)

SITUATIONS VACANT

THE FIVE BONE HOTEL, TURRE. We are still here and would love to discuss your future requirements. 630 234 556 / the5bonehotelturre@ gmail.com (292999)

PLUMBERS KNOWLES PLUMBING No 1 for all plumbing jobs big or small. Central heating, solar hot water and water deposits. Tel: 606 807 797 or 684 143 560

LOOKING FOR ENTHUSIASTIC people who want to earn money. Come & join me working from home online or direct to friends, neighbours, or your local club etc. promoting Avon Products. No start up fees.

Please WhatsApp or message Rosh for more info. +34 635 386 888 (293497) LIFESTYLE ENCLOSURES EUROPE: We are currently looking for installers to join our ever growing team based in Antas. Candidates will need to be able to adapt to a wide variety of roles and must be able to work safely and accurately with

PROPERTY MAINTENANCE

REMOVALS/STORAGE

DRAINAGE

CHURCHES LOCAL ANGLICAN (C of E) church services at Mojacar Los Llanos Del Peral and Alhambra. Communion every Sunday in Mojacar at 11am.

Communion at Los Llanos every Sunday except the last Sunday in the month when there will be Prayer and Praise all at 11am. The Alhambra service has moved to the Peruvian church in Albox and Communion is held on the second Thursday of the month at 11am. Priest in charge Rev Vincent ORAM. For further information, please go

BUILDERS

www.euroweeklynews.com

SITUATIONS VACANT

REMOVALS & STORAGE

SOLAR WIND POWER SOLUTIONS. Over 20 years installation experience. Established 17 years in Spain. Call Phil for competitive prices on 636 261 240 or email info@sunergyalmeria.com (292258)

XXX RELAXATION Please note that in Spain there is NO legislation banning adverts in this section.

Neither regional nor national governments are able to pass such a law due to rules governing freedom of publication and printing.

READERS OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION MAY FIND SOME OF THE ADVERTISEMENTS IN THIS SECTION OFFENSIVE.

XXX VARIOUS Male/Female viagra, cialis, kamagra jelly, mixed trial packs available, all areas mail order.

604 385 476. viagra4you19@ gmail.com

For daily news visit www.euroweeklynews.com

54 EWN

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

ROAD TEST

by Mark Slack I’M frequently told that all cars look alike nowadays, the only differentiator being the badge on the bonnet. Well there’s no mistaking Hyundai’s latest SUV, the Tucson. It has a very imposing front which reminds me a little of the 1960’s Dodge Charger RT. The lights are shielded at the outer edge of the dominant front grille and provide an excellent level of light in terms of both spread and distance. It’s a neat styling touch that certainly makes drivers do a double take in their rear view mirror.

The range starts with the SE Connect powered by a 150 hp, 1.6‐litre petrol engine, across the range, and priced at €33,746/£28,710. There are petrol and mild hybrid models along with hybrid and plug‐in hybrid versions. More tech op‐ tions include manual or auto‐ matic gears and there’s all‐ wheel‐drive options too.

Standard equipment across the board includes heated and height adjustable front seats,

www.euroweeklynews.com

MOTORING

Hyundai Tucson - bold styling!

The latest Tuscon has a very imposing front.

Facts at a Glance Model: Hyundai Tucson Ultimate Engine: 1.6-litre, turbocharged, petrol, 48v mild hybrid, developing 150 ps Gears: 7-speed automatic Price: €41,596/£35,390 Performance: 0-100 kph (62 mph) 9.6 seconds/Maximum Speed 188 kph (117 mph) Economy: 6.4 l/100km (44.1 mpg) combined driving - WLTP Emissions: 144 g/km - WLTP Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets. .

climate, automatic lights and wipers, high beam assist, LED headlights with cornering, cruise, heated and pow‐ ered folding door mirrors, automat‐ ic dimming rear view mirror, parking sensors with rear camera, keyless entry and start, navigation, Bluetooth and wire‐ less charging. It’s an im‐ pressive list.

The test model was an Ulti‐ mate trim with mild hybrid power mated to a seven‐speed automatic gearbox. Priced at €41,596/£35,390, the Tucson carries off this higher price be‐ cause it not only looks quality, but feels it in the way it drives and the interior has an upmar‐ ket aura.

Thankfully in an age of digital

mania Hyundai have sensibly retained traditional dials in the driver display and separate controls for things such as the climate control, rather than burying them in the digital menu of the large 10‐inch touchscreen.

Seating is very comfortable with multiple adjustment, in‐ cluding on the premium model luxuries like heated rear seats, ventilated and heated front seats along with power adjust‐ ment and heated steering wheel. Driver and passengers will not complain about space as there is plenty of room for all along with their luggage.

On the road the Tucson has plenty of power from its 1.6‐ litre engine and is both smooth and refined, but it’s never go‐ ing to set your driving pulses alight. Then it isn’t meant to be a driver’s car, this is a family and work machine capable of everything from the school run to chauffeuring for a black tie dinner.

It’s a very big tick in the box for the Tucson!

MOTORING

www.euroweeklynews.com

26 Aug - 1 Sept 2021

VW Group on the electrical throne ACCORDING to data from Jato Dynamics, 26 per cent of all electric cars sold in Eu‐ rope during the first half of 2021 were from the Volk‐ swagen Group, which is an increase of 4 per cent more than in the corresponding period last year.

The Renault‐Nissan‐Mit‐ subishi Alliance was the mar‐ ket leader in sales of electric cars in Europe before, but, in the first half of 2021, the Al‐ liance ceased to be the largest European seller of electric cars, overtaken by the Volkswagen Group, thanks mainly to its large sup‐ ply of electric vehicles in sev‐ eral of its brands.

This result not only put the German consortium on the electrical throne, but also meant increasing its advan‐ tage over Tesla, which main‐ tained third place in the Eu‐ ropean market, with a share of 14 per cent, 3 per cent down on last year, while Stel‐ lantis, the consortium result‐ ing from the merger between

VW: Responsible for 1 in 4 electric cars sold in Europe.

the FCA Group and the PSA Group, was the second Euro‐ pean seller of electric cars with a 16 per cent market share, up by 4 per cent on last year.

The big loser, according to data from Jato Dynamics, was the Renault‐Nissan‐Mit‐ subishi Alliance, leader until 2020, but now languishing in fourth, seeing its market share reduced from 23 per cent in 2020 to 13 per cent, who would seem to have lost out while waiting for the launch of their Nissan Ariya, or Renault’s electric futures,

Renault Zoe ‐ 30,382 units Volkswagen ID3 ‐ 30,329 Volkswagen ID4 ‐ 28,873 Hyundai Kona ‐ 21,733 Kia Niro ‐ 20,757 Peugeot e‐208 ‐ 20,234 Fiat 500‐e ‐ 19,068 Volkswagen e‐Up! ‐ 17,985 Nissan Leaf ‐ 15,563

while the Leaf and the Zoe have not been able to com‐ pete against heavyweights such as the Volkswagen’s Model 3, or the ID family, as well as the electric models from Stellantis.

Despite the success of the

Volkswagen Group and Stel‐ lantis, who both surpassed Tesla in total sales, the Model 3 of the Californian brand was by far the best‐selling electric vehicle in Europe, while Volkswagen had their ID 3, the ID 4, and the e‐Up!, along with Audi’s popular e‐ tron, the Porsche Taycan, and the Seat Mii electric. Elon Musk’s Model 3 saloon car topped the individual electric car sales in the first six months of this year, with 66,010 registered units, with the others as shown above.

EWN 55

Costly illegal reversing WHEN it comes to getting behind the wheel of a vehicle, it is essential to know in detail the General Traf‐ fic Regulations in Spain as there are manoeuvres as simple and com‐ mon as reversing that in certain sit‐ uations can cost us a large fine from the traffic police.

According to the DGT (Director General of Traffic), the improper use of reverse gear can render the driver with a €500 fine and the loss of six points off the driving licence ‐ it is considered a danger to both the driver and other road users.

The first and most important thing is to know in what situations to use reverse gear ‐ it is not as sim‐ ple as one may think.

Article 32 of the Law on Traffic and Road Safety is very clear in this regard: It is prohibited to move in reverse, except in cases where it is not possible to go forward or change direction or direction of travel, and in complementary ma‐ noeuvres of another one that de‐ mands them, and always with the minimum necessary route to carry it out. Therefore, contrary to popu‐ lar belief, it is only possible to re‐ verse in two very specific situa‐ tions. First, when it is impossible to move forward ie you are blocked

in. And, secondly, in those ma‐ noeuvres in which you have to re‐ verse, such as when parking.

Reversing on a motorway or du‐ al carriageway. So, next time you see someone reversing back from the A‐7 slip road, or back down the ‘calle’, just remember, it is illegal and they will get fined if caught!

SPORT

56

26 August - 1 September 2021

to read more visit www.euroweeklynews.com

Champions Man City back to winning ways A relentless City team were ahead 64th minute for the floodgates to within six minutes when Gabriel Jesus open, as the big defender, Aymeric La‐ crossed, only for Grant Hanley’s at‐ porte, notched his first goal at the Eti‐ tempted clearance to cannon off goal‐ had, putting away Ilkay Gundogan’s keeper Tim Krul and into the Norwich corner, for 3‐0, sealing the points for net for an own goal, and then, a mo‐ the Blues, but it was not over, as Ra‐ ment all home fans had been heem Sterling entered the action waiting for, Jack Grealish as a substitute, seeing Gabriel got on the scoresheet on Jesus notch up a hat trick of as‐ his home debut, sending a sists as he set Sterling up for message to the critics who goal number four after 70 questioned his £100 million minutes. move from Aston Villa, al‐ In the 78th minute, Norwich though it can be said he City finally had their first, and probably didn’t really last, attempt on goal, know much as Milot Rashica about his fired a shot in goal on 22 vain, and it was minutes, as left to another he turned sub, Riyad home a Mahrez, to cross from claim the fifth Gabriel Je‐ as he slotted sus.It took home in the GREALISH: Scored on 22 minutes. until the 84th minute.

Photo credit: mancity.com

PREMIER League champions, Man City came into the match at the Etihad Stadium against Nor‐ wich City on Saturday, August 21, off the back of a defeat to Tottenham on the opening day of the season, and straight away the doubters were gossiping on social media, but, on this show‐ ing, there are no problems in the blue half of Manchester, as Pep Guardiola’s men slammed five goals past a freshly‐promoted, hapless Norwich team, in front of an official crowd of 51,437.

Barcelona rescued

by Memphis Depay BARCELONA topped LaLiga on Saturday, August 21, but only after scraping to a hard‐earned draw at Athletic Bilbao’s Nuevo San Mames stadium, when new signing Memphis Depay’s thunderbolt pulled the scores even for the Catalans.

Inigo Martinez opened the scoring after 50 minutes for the Basque Country side, heading home a fine goal, supplied by Muniain, after Athletic had totally dominated the first 45 minutes of the match, starting the second half with the same intensity.

Inaki Williams was in teriffic form, as was his strike partner Ohian Sancet, who hit the crossbar with one attempt, after a skilful move involving a swivel and shot, with both men running the Barcelona defence ragged at times, a de‐ fence which contained another new signing, former Man City centre half, Eric Garcia, who suffered the indignation of being red carded for hauling down Nico Williams in the 93rd minute, when he was clean through on the Barca goal.

Barcelona were not without their opportunities, as Ronald Koeman and his team try to adjust to life without Lionel Messi, but based on Saturday’s form, although it is early to say, there might just be a new hero developing in the form of Dutch international Depay, who had some moments of sheer bril‐ liance, and he could have notched a winner right at the death, if he hadn’t dragged his shot wide of the Bilbao goal.

Koeman lost Gerard Pique in the first half, as he limped off, to be replaced by Ronald Araujo, who would have had his name on the scoresheet had Brazil’s Martin Braithwaite not been judged to have committed a foul in the lead‐up to a spectacular effort that found the back of the net, only to be ruled out.

There is a burden on the shoulders of Frenkie de Jong in the centre of the park now that Messi has departed, and he came close to an equaliser when he attempted to chip the keeper, only minutes before Depay’s goal.