Euro Weekly News - Costa de Almeria 23 - 29 December 2021 Issue 1903

Issue No. 1903

23 - 29 Dec 2021

Mayors set forth THE mayors of Vera and Antas are seeking funds for a €5 million project to pre‐ vent flooding in both towns.

Their first interview was with Aranzazu Martin Moya, the Junta’s Sustain‐ able Development delegate to whom Vera mayor Jose Carmelo Jorge Blanca and his Antas counterpart, Pe‐ dro Ridao Zamora, detailed their plans to tame the Riv‐ er Aguas.

Channelling and draining a 2.5‐kilometre section of the river would solve a problem that is repeated each year in both municipal‐ ities during periods of tor‐ rential rain, they explained.

Martin Moya was “very receptive” towards the project, saying that she would study solutions and include allocations in the delegation’s budget, the mayors revealed after‐ wards.

COSTA DE ALMERIA • WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

BANDIDOS ON THE RUN

Photo credit: Los Bandidos

RACE READY: Los Bandidos prepare for their Christmas run.

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23 - 29 December 2021

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Pre-Christmas run for local group LOS BANDIDOS met on Mojacar’s Paseo for a five‐kilometre Santa Run, Jog or Walk according to preference on Satur‐ day December 18.

Thirty‐six of the Los Bandidos mem‐ bers turned up, some for the first time, all entering into the Christmas spirit with Santa hats and outfits, for what it is hoped will become an annual event.

Finishing times ranged from 24 min‐ utes for the fastest runner, to an hour for Santa and his merry band of helpers who took longer as they had to stop to chat and have their photos taken along the way.

Congratulations go to one of Santa’s helpers, Kerry Newman, who ran the 3.2‐kilometre San Silvestre in Garrucha on Friday December 17, coming third in her age group.

After walking the Paseo on the morn‐ ing of December 18, Kerry ran the 33rd edition of Huercal‐Overa’s San Silvestre that same evening, coming first in her age group.

Los Bandidos are a local group that

The Santa 5km Run, Jog or Walk.

was set up by Kevin Rowe in June 2018, starting with a small number of regulars who have grown to include runners, joggers and walkers.

Some are permanent residents, oth‐ ers are regular visitors or holidaymakers and they meet to cover Mojacar’s five‐ kilometre Paseo. All ages, nationalities and speeds are welcome.

The Bandidos also have a road cycling group and a triathlon group.

For more information, contact Kevin on ironmankev08@gmail.com and fol‐ low them on their https://www.face book.com/pg/elbandidorunners Face‐ book page.

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Smart way of watering ADRA Town Hall is putting out to tender a €50,000 contract for a Smart Irrigation Sys‐ tem for parks and gar‐ dens.

Smart irrigation sys‐ tems automatically tailor watering sched‐ A Smart Irrigation System. ules to meet specific landscapes and monitor weather, soil conditions and evapo‐ ration amongst other factors.

The innovative system, which will be financed with EU as well as municipal funds, is expected to reduce the town hall’s bills by cutting down on water consumption.

It will also provide a more efficient service, explained Parks and Gardens councillor Jose Crespo as he introduced the scheme accompanied by Environment councillor Anto‐ nio Sanchez.

“This will help us to progress in our objectives of promot‐ ing sustainability and combatting climate change,” Crespo said. “It also means that we can make the best use of our water, which is scarce, while operating more efficiently.”

The town hall was committed to introducing new digital options to continue Adra’s economic, social and environ‐ mentally‐sustainable development, the councillor empha‐ sised.

Healthy eating SEVEN THOUSAND Almeria province pupils will be eating or‐ ganic produce in their school dining rooms during the 2021‐ 2022 school year.

The Junta’s State School Agency and Andalucia’s Agricul‐ ture and Fisheries Agency recently signed a collaboration agreement to continue promoting organically‐grown prod‐ ucts in school dining rooms.

Aranzazu Martin, the Junta’s Agriculture delegate to Almeria drew attention to the province’s reputation for growing organic produce, as 90 per cent of Andalucia’s eco‐ logically‐grown fruit and vegetables are cultivated on more than 3,800 hectares of Almeria province land.

“Biological control and organic production here have be‐ tween them already opened the door to markets half the world over,” Martin pointed out.

NEWS

Do something!

STEVEN MULLARD intends to continue bombarding Vera Town Hall until they clear away the litter in front of Gold Gym. He has emailed every town hall department that he has an address for, describing the rubbish‐strewn street and asking, “What are you going to do about it?”

Workmen and street clean‐ ers do nothing to pick up rub‐ bish that’s blown from the bin area, Steven seethed to the Euro Weekly News.

There was never rubbish there before, Steven ex‐ plained, but now it accumu‐ lates each day.

“It was clean but now it’s a s**t‐tip,” he said. “Maybe your workmen are getting too comfortable in their jobs,” Steven suggested to Vera Town Hall. “If so, sack them and give the job to someone else.” Spain has many unemployed people who would happily queue up for a job, he pointed out.

He owns many flats near‐ by, Steven said, and com‐ plained that the area is “dirty, dirty, vile, mucky and scum‐ my.”

The rubbish shown in the photos that Steven forward‐ ed to the Euro Weekly News was still there, he said. “This spreads diseases and Covid, especially the dirty used tis‐ sues,” he fulminated.

“This area needs the c**p picked up from the street and the bins.”

A Boxing Day treat ADRA Town Hall is organising a performance of La Reina de las Nieves (the Snow Queen) at the Centro Cultural on De‐ cember 26.

Based on the Hans Chris‐ tian Andersen story, the mu‐ sical which is directed by Lau‐ ra Lopez and begins at 6pm, is aimed at families and audi‐ ences of all ages.

With its live voices, the pro‐ duction tells a tale of friend‐ ship, perseverance and love that is full of visual effects, magic, music and adventures.

Tickets are obtainable from the Centro Cultural box office and the www.giglon.com website cost from only €4 each.

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NIBS EXTRA Sports offer HUERCAL‐OVERA Town Hall is organising a free mu‐ nicipal sports school for chil‐ dren aged between three and 14 over the Christmas holidays. As well as sports activities there will be an ‘early bird’ class and lunch, enabling the children to en‐ joy sports while assisting families where both parents work.

Working girls AN Almeria City ‘girlie club’ owner faces prison for fail‐ ing to pay Social Security for 17 employees. When the case reaches court, the Pub‐ lic Prosecution department will recommend a three‐ year sentence after a Work inspection found that only one of the 18 girls was regis‐ tered with Social Security.

Fewer people ALMERIA Province saw its population reduced for the first time since 2015, accord‐ ing to figures released by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE). Between January and July the overall population shrank from 720,861 to 720,033 owing to the pandemic, coupled with residents seeking work outside the province, INE found.

Work accident A 30‐YEAR‐OLD El Ejido em‐ ployee was seriously injured and transferred to Torrecar‐ denas hospital on Decem‐ ber 18 after a fall at the La Redonda industrial estate.

He crashed through a sky‐ light, revealed 112 Emer‐ gency Services, who were first alerted to the accident by a witness to the accident.

Nijar peril FIFTY accidents, two of them fatal, occurred on the Al‐3111 in Nijar between 20165 and 2020, Spain’s General Directorate of Traf‐ fic (DGT) announced. On 23 occasions the accidents were the result of collisions, while 60 per cent occurred between the A‐3111’s 8.5 and 10.5‐kilometre mark‐ ers, the DGT said.

23 - 29 December 2021

Going, going, gone

ON December 16, an opera‐ tive pressed a button to turn off the generators at the Car‐ boneras power station.

“We have turned a page in our history but will fill others, writing about a prosperous future for Carboneras,” May‐ or Jose Luis Amerigo Fernan‐ dez vowed.

To do so, he stressed, it was necessary to benefit from the EU’s Fair Transition policies towards a climate‐ neutral economy leaving no‐ one behind.

“We were generous al‐ most 40 years ago regarding the installation of the gener‐ ating plant that has been key

Photo credit: Carboneras town hall

SHUTTING DOWN: An operative stops the generators at Carboneras’ power station.

to the development of the province, Andalucia and Spain,” the mayor continued.

“We now hope for the same generosity from the Spanish government, the

from

Euro Weekly News!

AFTER another challenging year that brought hope fol‐ lowed by more uncertainty, we are reminded of the things that matter. Here at Euro Weekly News, we nev‐ er ceased to be amazed by those who put others first in times of adversity.

Covering the news round the clock, we see closer than most the hardships endured by people close to home and further afield. But we are al‐ ways uplifted by what peo‐ ple can achieve when they come together and focus on doing the right thing. The stories of kindness to others

and the huge amounts of money raised by people in the communities we serve, always leaves us with a posi‐ tive outlook on the world.

At a time when the luxury of normality still eludes us, let’s not forget those less for‐ tunate than ourselves and those who make it their mis‐ sion to make the world a better place. And let’s re‐ member to cherish those closest to us, even if distance often keeps us apart.

From everyone at Euro Weekly News, we would like to wish each one of you a MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Junta de Andalucia and the Diputacion provincial coun‐ cil.” From the outset the power station provided many jobs that will now be lost and it is vital to guaran‐

Morales lets go MARTIN MORALES, Turre mayor, has finally relin‐ quished the post to the PSOE’s Maria Isabel Lopez.

Following an inclusive re‐ sult for either Morales’ Turre para la Gente (Turre for the People) party or the PSOE in the May 2019 mu‐ nicipal elections, it was agreed that Morales would head Turre Town Hall for 20 months before handing over to Lopez.

When the time came Morales remained in place, claiming that Lopez was embroiled in a court case and his party could not make way for a politician who was facing charges.

Maria Isabel Lopez had

Nine Lessons in Mojacar ANGLICANS and Catholics met on Tuesday December 14 at Mojacar’s Santa Maria parish church for the Festival of the Nine Lessons.

The service was celebrated by parish priest Fr Victor Manuel Fernandez and Canon Vincent Oram, with the mem‐ bers of the two communities reading the Lessons from Gen‐

esis in English and Spanish.

As usual during the annual event, there were traditional carols from both cultures, with participation from the Embru‐ jo Mojaquero choir.

Also in attendance were Mojacar’s mayor Rosa Maria Cano, accompanied by the Public Safety, Education and Culture councillors.

tee the future, Amerigo pointed out.

The town hall would soon be signing an agreement with the Junta and Endesa, he revealed, focusing not only on retraining employ‐ ees affected by the shut‐ down but also others hop‐ ing to find work in decommissioning the plant, which is expected to take between four and six years to complete.

“New opportunities will have to be created for the population of an area that has always been one of the most industrialised in Alme‐ ria,” Amerigo said.

The Nine Lessons and Carols service, held in Anglican churches at Christmas all across the world, was original‐ ly devised by the first Bishop of Truro, Edward Benson, in 1880 but was established as a tradi‐ tion after the service was held in 1928 ‐ and thereafter ‐ at King’s College Chapel in Cam‐ bridge.

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been accused of ‘arbitrarily and unjustly’ preventing a stallholder to occupy the site habitually allocated to his family during Turre’s fi‐ estas. The PSOE party re‐ fused to put forward an‐ other candidate as Morales had requested, preferring to await the outcome of Lopez’s court case from which she later emerged unscathed.

Barring a last‐minute sur‐ prise, Lopez is due to be confirmed today, Thursday December 23 as Turre’s mayor for the second time as she occupied the same post between 2017 and 2019, again in coalition with Morales.

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Fishing sector cut HALF of Almeria Province’s 43 trawlers could disap‐ pear thanks to fishing quo‐ tas recently agreed in Brus‐ sels.

“The situation is compli‐ cated,” lamented the re‐ gional government’s Agri‐ culture and Fisheries department head, Carmen Crespo, after bottom trawling in the western Mediterranean in 2022 was cut by a further 6 per cent.

“This is not a positive re‐ sult, even with voluntarily accepting selective mea‐ sures allowing another 2 per cent of fishing days,” Crespo said after the EU’s Fisheries Council ignored Spain’s objections and went ahead with the cuts.

Crespo accompanied Spain’s Agriculture and Fisheries minister Luis Planas to Brussels where, together with Andalucia’s Faape and Facope fishing industry associations, they unsuccessfully pleaded their case.

“This new 6 per cent re‐ duction follows a17.5 per cent cut that affects many families who depend on trawling,” Crespo ex‐ plained after 40 hours of fruitless negotiations.

Backing the Mediter‐ ranean proposals meant letting Spain’s fishing sec‐ tor down and cutting it adrift from its future and livelihood, Planas warned.

and finally...

BALERMO loses its patience. Hundreds of Balermo residents descended on Almeria City on December 17, demanding a solu‐ tion for their vanishing beach. The beach has been slowly dying since 2019, they maintained, disappearing at an ever‐faster rate during successive storms, gales and heavy seas, they com‐ plained. The demonstrators, who have the support of the Diputacion provincial council, included politicians, local associa‐ tions and representatives from the neighbouring towns of Berja and Dalias. After assembling outside the Provincial Coastal Ser‐ vice where they left a symbolic pile of sand, they continued along the Paseo as far as the central government’s Sub‐delega‐ tion. “This is a dramatic situation, we have lost half of our beach and many residents fear for their homes,” the Balerma Beach Working Committee declared in a letter to the Sub‐delegation.

“What our grandparents lived through a century ago is being re‐ peated now,” the letter warned.

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23 - 29 December 2021

Fireball along Almeria coast

ACCORDING to analysis from Jose Maria Madiedo, the principal investigator of the SMART project, from the Institute of Astro‐ physics of Andalucia (IAA‐CSIC), a fireball was de‐ tected on December 14, passing over the Mediterranean. This heavenly phenomenon oc‐ curred at about 1.16am, as the rock originating from the asteroid Phaeton, entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It was measured to be travelling at a speed of around 131,000km/h.

THE Anglican Church at Turre sent out a message of help two weeks ago: “Help our shelves are empty and with Christmas com‐ ing we can’t help people.”

The Masonic Lodge of Almeria 74 heard the cry loud and clear. Within a couple of days the Mojacar / Turre based Masons came to their aid with €500 worth of goods selected by the food bank themselves.

Of course this is in addition to the €18,500 which was already donated to the threefold banks in the area (Mojacar Red Cross, Turre

These rocks that intersect the Earth’s orbit are called ‘meteoroids’, and the sudden friction cre‐ ated as they enter the atmosphere at this enor‐ mous speed causes the rock to become incan‐ descent. This reaction generated a fireball that began at an altitude of about 109km above sea level, on a point located approximately 45km to the south of the Murcian town of Cartagena.

From there, it passed in a westerly direction, and after travelling a distance of around 83km, it

Community help

Anglican Church and Los Gallardos Town Hall).

This amount of food was donated by the Almeria 74 Masonic Lodge over a period of many weeks during the worst of the pan‐ demic.

Whilst they are only 18 members in the Lodge, they try and help local charities if at all possible, and what better than the local food banks that help the local community.

became extinct at an altitude of about 35km above the sea, at a point located approximately 43km east of Mojacar in Almeria.

The SMART project detectors operate within the framework of the Southwest Europe Fireball and Meteor Network (SWEMN). This is a net‐ work of observatories that aim to continuously monitor the sky, in order to record and study the impact against the Earth’s atmosphere of rocks and objects from different Solar Systems.

Shock hanging attempt OFFICERS from the National Police have saved the life of a man who attempted to kill himself in public.

The man had tried to hang himself from a tree in Almeria’s José María Artero Plaza.

According to the police, a passer‐by alerted them to the incident at 2am on December 15. Officers rushed to the scene of the incident and discovered a man standing on top of a moped. The man already had a noose around his neck and had tied the other end of the rope to a tree branch.

When the man saw the officers approaching, he let himself drop. The officers rushed in as he was dan‐ gling in the air by his neck. Luckily, they were able to cut the rope and save the man’s life.

The man was rushed to hospital to receive medical treatment for his injuries.

NEWS

Drunk drives wrong way A DRUNK driver headed the wrong way down a motorway in Almeria. The driver managed to drive 30 kilometres in the wrong direction before being caught.

When the Guardia Civil became aware of the driver they headed to kilometre 525. They then pro‐ ceeded to stop traffic and wait for the vehicle that was heading the wrong way down the motorway.

They aimed to safely bring the driver to a stop and avoid damage to other cars.

When the vehicle approached the officers, they signalled for the driver to slow down. The officers were then able to open the driv‐ er’s door of the car while it was still moving and bring the car to a full stop.

The driver appeared to be drunk so was subjected to a breathalyser test. After being caught, the driver gave an alcohol reading of 0.73 mg/l of exhaled air.

The potential punishment in‐ cludes a driving licence ban for up to 10 years and up to two and half years in prison.

World’s first octopus farm I N a year when many countries have passed laws to protect species deemed to be sentient beings, the news that the world’s first octo‐ pus farm is to open in the Canaries has been met with dismay by conservationists and scientists alike.

For some years now, experts have argued that the octopus is an intelligent being, one that is able to feel pain and emotion. This was portrayed all too well in the South African documentary ‘My octo‐ pus teacher.’ They be‐ lieve such creatures should never be farmed for commercial purposes.

Part of the interest in

OCTOPUS: Quickly form bonds with their carers.

farming the octopus comes from the de‐ mand for the meat, but also the rapid rate at which the animal de‐ v e l o p s m a k i n g i t r e l a‐ tively quick to market and therefore poten‐ tially commercially vi‐ able.

But those who work

with octopuses say that the animals quick‐ ly form bonds with their carers that they can sense their moods ‐ at times playful, at other times just happy to be in your company.

For them these animals are more akin to pets than they are food.

NEWS

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ACROSS the globe, supplies of different items are running low or running out and ex‐ perts are warning that the global supply chain crisis is far from finished. The issues with supply and de‐ mand caused by the pandemic have far‐ reaching and long‐last‐ ing effects and busi‐ nesses are not out of

23 - 29 December 2021

No end to supply crisis SUPPLY CHAIN: Experts forecast a long road ahead.

the woods yet.

As some bottlenecks

start to ease, others begin, and it is these

Covid passport download FOLLOWING the announcement that Covid passports or a negative test result are re‐ quired for hospitality in Andalucia ‐ here’s three ways to download the certificate on your mobile or laptop.

• ClicSalud + Identify yourself in ClicSalud + with a digital certificate, DNIe or Cl@ve. The certificate is available in the ‘Health’ section under ‘Covid‐ 19 Certificates.’

Once in this section, you will be able to ac‐ cess the corresponding certificate for you and beneficiaries under 16 years of age.

• Salud Andalucia app Click on ‘Certificados Covid‐19’ and identify yourself with a digital certificate, Cl@ve or via

mobile verification using personal data.

A PIN code is sent to your mobile phone (via SMS) to complete the authentication process. The mobile phone number must be registered in the database to guarantee secu‐ rity.

Once registered, you will be able to down‐ load a PDF document.

• Ministry of Health website Click on the ‘Apply for your EU digital Covid certificate’ button. Then answer the ques‐ tions before using your digital certificate or a Cl@ve to sign in.

You will receive an email containing the PDF, this can be done on a mobile phone or laptop.

signs that are causing experts to forecast a long road ahead for re‐ covery.

A Covid‐19 outbreak in the Chinese manu‐ facturing hub of Zhe‐ jiang has left 10s of thousands of people in quarantine under Chi‐ na’s strict zero‐Covid policy and “Further supply chain disruption is a significant possibil‐ ity,” economic analysts at Capital Economics have said in a note.

There are currently delays of up to four weeks for unloading onto the US west coast as there is a severe lack of workers on the ground.

This creates a ‘ripple effect’ in the global supply chain crisis, with ships working to tight deadlines and too many containers in the US ports, and not enough in the ports throughout Asia.

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Alcazaba’s €7.4 million facelift

THE Junta de Andalucia will spend its €7.4 million EU’s Recovery and Resilience Mechanism Fund (MRR) al‐ location on Almeria’s Alcaz‐ aba.

Patricia del Pozo, who heads the regional govern‐ ment’s Culture and Heritage department, announced the decision during a recent visit to the Moorish stronghold.

“This will be the largest‐ ever investment in the mon‐ ument,” declared Del Pozo who was accompanied by the Junta delegate Maribel Sanchez, Almeria’s mayor Ramon Fernandez‐Pacheco and Culture and Heritage delegate Eloisa Cabrera .

Experts from her depart‐ ment have been drawing up plans for the project throughout the three years

that the present Junta has been in power, the Culture and Heritage chief revealed: “And now they can be car‐ ried through.”

Rehabilitating the North Wall will require a €1.1 mil‐ lion investment, Del Pozo said, with €4.6 million need‐ ed for the South Wall and €1.3 million for the San Cristobal Wall.

At least €400,000 will be spent on the Alcazaba’s irri‐ gation system and water supply, she added.

The central government will first have to give its ap‐ proval, but as the project must be completed be‐ tween 2022 and 2023, this meant that the 1,000‐year‐ old fortress would see “sub‐ stantial improvements” in the short term, Del Pozo said.

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23 - 29 December 2021

French ski season scuppered AS the French resort of Cha‐ monix sees some of its best snow in years, some restau‐ rants are releasing staff as busi‐ ness drops due to the ban on UK tourists. The French ski sea‐ son was looking forward to a huge Christmas after restric‐ tions stopped the snow party last year, but now cancellation after cancellation is coming in‐ stead. Flights and ferries had been fully booked in the run‐up to December, but after the final day rush through the Eurostar and the port of Dover before the ban came into force, re‐ ports are coming in of 10 cars to a ship instead. It follows the warning of a landslide of new Omicron cases and that all non‐ essential travel from the UK was to be banned.The quiet‐ ness of the pistes and the start of the French ski season is drawing comparisons with last year and people fear a new full lockdown is looming as France struggles to catch up with its booster programme and tests.

Secret Santa couple A COUPLE left $10,000 to pay off the instal‐ ment plans of hundreds of families before Christmas at a Kmart in Melbourne, Australia.

One recipient commented: “That selfless act has done more for my family than I can even begin to explain.”

The secret Santa couple only had one re‐ quest. The money had to go towards paying off pre‐ordered Christmas gifts and toys, which were on instalment plans.

A Kmart spokesperson commented: “I think the intent behind the donation was alleviating some of the financial pressures for families.

“We really have a lot of people coming in and supporting our Kmart wishing tree appeal

Xmas gifts and toys were paid for. that do it in smaller amounts, but every year they support those in need.”

No confinement ON December 18, President Pedro Sanchez ruled out the implementation of confine‐ ments or severe restrictions due to the rise of Covid‐19 in‐ fections. Instead, the govern‐ ment expressed its commit‐ ment to vaccination and the use of masks to combat the latest wave.

According to government sources, there is no imminent

forecast to announce confine‐ ments or any other restrictive measures. Carolina Darias, the Minister of Health, stated that there had been “a turning point” in the increase in infec‐ tions although it remained “slow and sustained.” Its im‐ pact on the healthcare system, given the escalation of cases in recent days, was also pointed out.

Ms Darias highlighted the importance of the imminent gathering of the Conference of Presidents. Regarding the lack of a global response that had been demanded by some communities, Darias reiterated her commitment to co‐gover‐ nance. She pointed out that up until now, they have managed to bend all the curves, thanks to acting “jointly.”

NEWS

Life-extending pill A F O U N T A I N-O F-Y O U T H pill could be on the horizon after scientists dramatically extended the life of mice by injecting elderly rodents with a grape seed extract.

The extract extended their remaining time by 60 per cent and boosted overall lifespan by 9 per cent ‐ this is equivalent to over a decade of hu‐ man life.

Dr Yu Sun, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai said: “The plant chemical has high potential as a clinical intervention to delay, alle‐ viate, or prevent illnesses.” The flavonoid known as PCC1 gets rid of ‘zombie’ or ‘senescent’ cells that have stopped dividing. As we age, they nat‐ urally build‐up and release chemicals that result in inflammation.

and finally...

UNLUCKY winning ticket. Two men who bought a winning lottery ticket with a stolen card were jailed after being found guilty of fraud. The men had stolen card details and used these to draw money and buy groceries along with some scratch cards at a Londis store in Clapham Common back in 2019.

One of those cards revealed a prize of £4 million. Suspi‐ cions were raised when they went to collect, but said they did not have a bank account, although the purchase of the winning scratch card had been made by debit card.

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23 - 29 December 2021

NEWS

President’s dog rehomed VJOE BIDEN’S dog Major has been given away after biting a Secret Service agent.

On Monday December 20, the White House welcomed a new German Shepherd puppy called Commander. It has also been revealed that the president’s previous dog Major has been sent away to live with family friends.

Major came to live at the White House in January, but did not settle and bit both a Se‐ cret Service agent and a National Park Ser‐ vice employee.

The First Lady’s spokesperson said: “After consulting with dog trainers, animal be‐ haviourists, and veterinarians, the First Fami‐ ly has decided … it would be safest for Major to live in a quieter environment with family friends.

“This is not in reaction to any new or spe‐

BIDEN: Welcomes his new pup. cific incident, but rather a decision reached after several months of deliberation as a family and discussions with experts.”

Biden took to Twitter to welcome the new pup Commander. His post featured a photo of the new pup along with the cap‐ tion ‘Welcome to the White House, Com‐ mander.’

IL Divo star dies

CARLOS MARIN, the Spanish voice from international singing sensations, Il Divo, passed away on Sunday, De‐ cember 19, aged just 53.

He had been rushed to Manchester Royal Hospital on December 7, where he was admitted to the ICU, and re‐ portedly placed in an induced

coma. His tragic passing was confirmed on Twitter by his saddened bandmates. “It is with heavy hearts that we are letting you know that our friend and partner, Carlos Marin, has passed away,” they posted, accompanied by a photo of the singer.

They continued, “He will be

missed by his friends, family, and fans. There wiIl never be another voice or spirit like Car‐ los.”

Il Divo was formed in De‐ cember 2003, by music mogul, Simon Cowell. They enjoyed worldwide fame, sell‐ ing over 30 million copies of their operatic pop albums.

Goodbye Holby City AFTER 23 years on TV screens, Holby City reached the end of an era on December 17, as the cast and crew filmed the last ever episode. It had been an‐ nounced back in June that the popular medical dra‐ ma was going to finish.

“We are incredibly proud of Holby City, but it’s with great sadness that we are announcing that af‐ ter 23 years, the show will end on screen in March of next year,” the BBC informed its viewers. Mem‐ bers of the cast reported receiving messages from adoring fans who still can’t believe their favourite TV show is ending.

Holby City, which follows the lives of NHS staff working in a hospital, was first broadcast in 1999, developed as a spin‐off from Tony McHale and Mal Young’s hit BBC drama series, ‘Casualty’, and went on to be a huge success.

Marin from Il Divo, RIP.

UK lockdown ruled out

AFTER a three‐hour virtual emergency cabinet meeting on December 20, British Prime Minis‐ ter, Boris Johnson, announced that his govern‐ ment will not be implementing a lockdown be‐ fore Christmas.

Playing his cards close to his chest, he added that they will be monitoring the Omicron data situation on an hourly basis, and action would be taken without further hesitation if he thought it was necessary.

“Unfortunately, I must say to people that we will have to reserve the possibility of taking fur‐ ther action to protect the public, to protect public health, to protect our NHS. We won’t hesitate to take action,” said the prime minis‐ ter.

Mr Johnson had been caught in the crossfire of angry MPs earlier, as several of them were reported to have demanded to know if Christ‐ mas was going to be ruined or not.

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23 - 29 December 2021

Couple reunited with stolen dog

A COUPLE has been reunited with their beloved pet after he was stolen and sold to an‐ other family.

Björn, a Russian Bolonka, was stolen on November 6 af‐ ter thieves broke into his owners’ van in Essex.

The couple reported the in‐ cident and launched an ap‐ peal to get their dog back, making several video posts which were shared across so‐ cial media.

Five weeks later, the pair received a phone call from a woman in East Ham who had purchased an adult male Bolonka as a Christmas pre‐ sent for her daughter.

Catalonia closes nightlife AN extraordinary meet‐ ing of the Catalonian Government was held on Monday December 20. It involved President Pere

BJÖRN: The dog was recognised on social media.

She had shown a photo‐ graph of the dog to a col‐ league at work, who recog‐ nised him as the dog they had seen on social media.

The woman had kept Björn for two weeks before realising it was the stolen dog, she

LONDON’S mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced on Monday December 20, that the planned event in Trafalgar Square on New Year’s Eve is can‐ celled. This decision probably doesn’t come as a surprise due to the surging rate of Covid infec‐ tions in the capital. The event had been an‐ nounced in November, designed to replace the annual fireworks celebration that normally takes place in the Square. It would have paid tribute to 6,500 key workers, plus members of the public. Mr Khan said it was being called off “in the interests of public safety.”

then sent the couple images of the pet she had purchased.

Michael said: “We could tell immediately it was him. She then offered to meet us to give him back, as she obvious‐ ly didn’t want to keep a stolen dog.”

New Year’s Eve cancelled

“This will be very disappointing for many Londoners, but we must take the right steps to reduce the spread of the virus. I’m proud that we will still have an incredible broadcast spec‐ tacular to watch on our screens, which will showcase our great city to the rest of the world.”

NEWS

Aragones, and several cabinet councillors, with the Delegate Commis‐ sion made up of the Sci‐ entific Advisory Commit‐

Holy Grail of archaeology MERCEDES COLOMBO, the territorial delegate of Cul‐ ture and Historical Heritage of the Junta de Andalucia in Cadiz, attended the Underwater Archaeology Centre of the Andalucian Institute of Historical Heritage earlier this week. There, she presented the remains of ancient buildings that have recently been discovered. It is be‐ lieved that these remains could correspond to a leg‐ endary temple.

The temple of Hercules Gaditanus ‐ known as Melqart in Phoenician times ‐ was a key pilgrimage site in ancient times, dating back to at least 9BC. This temple, according to historical records, witnessed visits from legendary fig‐ ures such as Hannibal, the Carthaginian conqueror, and the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar.

Historians and archaeologists have been searching for its location for thousands of years, but it has remained a mystery. The temple has become something of a holy grail in this field.

tee of the Generalitat.

As a result, it was an‐ nounced by spokesper‐ son Patricia Plaja, that all nightlife is to be closed again. Bars and restaurants will be limit‐ ed to 50 per cent capaci‐ ty inside (the terraces will continue at 100 per cent), and a curfew will be in place from 1am to 6am, although the date on which this will come into effect is still un‐ known.

In addition, the Gov‐ ernment has established a limit of 10 people in in‐ door and outdoor meet‐ ings, and a reduction of the capacity to 70 per cent in commerce, feder‐ ated sports, gyms, and culture.

All these restrictions require the approval of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), but the Govern‐ ment estimates that they will enter into force before Christmas Day.

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NEWS

Space age research

Rescued parrots

RESEARCH into ageing is set to blast into space as scien‐ tists aim to solve the puzzle of why muscles get weaker with age. The UK Space Agency is funding the re‐ search by scientists at the

ON December 18, Madrid’s Municipal Police rescued two parrots that they believed were about to be cooked in an Asian restaurant in the city.

The officers were carrying out a routine restaurant in‐ spection when they made a strange discovery in the food handling area of the kitchen.

Next to the cooker and a pot of boiling water, they discov‐ ered a container that had live parrots inside. The parrots are not native to Spain and had no food or water. The officers asked both the owners of the restaurant and the cooks why the parrots were in the kitchen. No one seemed to want to answer the questions.

The officers discovered that the parrots had no relevant documentation regarding their origin, so the officers seized the birds. The parrots were rescued and taken to the Wild Animal Recovery Centre by the Environment Unit. The officers also reported the es‐ tablishment for serious health and hygiene deficiencies.

Astronauts get weaker.

University of Liverpool.

Astronauts in space get weaker due to the lack of gravity. When they return to earth their muscles recover though. Experts are set to study how muscle tissue re‐ sponds to zero gravity in the hopes that this will give in‐ sights into how we age and how to prevent it.

Science Minister George Freeman said: “As we get old‐ er, our bones and muscles get weaker, but scientists don’t fully understand how this happens.

“The research of our scien‐ tist astronauts like Tim Peake on muscle loss in the micro‐ gravity of space is helping identify potential cures for musculoskeletal disease, which causes agony to mil‐ lions and costs the NHS bil‐ lions” he added.

“By harnessing the unique environment of the Interna‐ tional Space Station our pio‐ neering scientists could help us all live healthier, stronger lives.”

IBERDROLA: A huge boost for the company in the US.

Clean energy contract IN a major boost for Iberdrola’s operations in the United States, the Spanish energy company has won a clean energy supply contract in Massachusetts. The contract, which will see the company invest €3.5 billion in the USA, includes the construction of the future Commonwealth Wind Park, the third such facility in the state This is a huge win for Iberdrola in the United States, pro‐ viding jobs for 11,000 full time staff and generating enough power to supply 750,000 homes. Winning this contract pro‐ vides the company with a much‐needed boost after they were rejected by the regulator in New Mexico.

The Commonwealth Wind Park is a key project in help‐ ing the States to meet its target of 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030. Speaking about the project, Igna‐ cio Galán, President of Iberdrola said: “Our portfolio of off‐ shore wind energy projects in the United States could rep‐ resent more than $15 billion investment in the next few years.”

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Executions return to Japan ON December 21, Japan carried out executions for the first time in two years when three death row inmates were executed.

A justice ministry official com‐ mented: “Three death row in‐ mates were executed today.”

The men had all been convicted of atrocious crimes. One had killed seven family members and neigh‐ bours in a terrifying knife and ham‐ mer attack in 2004. The other two had carried out a double murder in 2003.

Japan last carried out executions in 2019 when three executions were performed. In 2018, a stag‐ gering 15 executions were carried out. This included 13 members of a sect involved in a Tokyo gas attack.

The Deputy Secretary‐General of the Government Seiji Kihara commented: “Whether or not to retain the death penalty is a crucial issue that concerns the founda‐ tions of Japan’s criminal justice sys‐ tem.”

Despite criticism from human rights organisations, backing for capital punishment is strong in the country.

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Raducanu wins SPOTY No mulled wine for offenders

EMMA RADUCANU’S sensational win at the US Open catapulted her to fame and also landed her the 2021 BBC sports personality of the year award ahead of many strong candidates.

The highly publicised straight sets win in New York, made her one of the most marketable names in the CEREMONY: Emma receiving her award. sport. It came after she fought back following her withdrawal with Wimble‐ “such an honour just to be among these don due to illness. nominees.

Radacanu (19) was unable to attend “Thanks to all the fans and voters, this the BBC ceremony after a positive year has been insane,” she added. “The Covid‐19 test and instead received a energy this year playing at Wimbledon replica of the trophy in Abu Dhabi in front of my home crowd was some‐ where she is in self‐isolation. Olympic thing I’ve never felt before.” diver Tom Daley came second, with The young star entered the US Open swimming star Adam Peaty in third. as a qualifier and became Britain’s first Clearly overjoyed she said it was female Grand Slam winner since 1977.

MULLED wine and brandy are off the cards for alcohol‐ tagged offenders along with other Christmas tipples. Near‐ ly 800 people have been tagged with alcohol monitoring tags this Christmas. The new technology is being used by the probation service to stop alcohol‐fuelled crime.

Nearly 40 per cent of all violent crime in the UK involves alcohol consumption. This includes domestic abuse which is known to increase dramatically over the festive period.

Crime, Policing and Probation Minister Kit Malthouse commented: “Alcohol‐fuelled violence ruins too many lives and families and creates mayhem in our town centres. It is a sad reality that over Christmas we see a worrying spike in domestic abuse and crimes fuelled by drink. Sobriety tags have already brought enormous benefit helping offenders change their ways and the Probation Service to clamp down on this behaviour and protect victims from further violence.”

New vaccine approved and finally...

O N December 20, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted a European licence to the Ameri‐ can vaccine Novavax. This is the fifth Covid‐19 vaccine available on the European market.

Its full regimen consists of two injections, three weeks apart. It

can be stored, handled, and dis‐ tributed, at refrigerator temper‐ atures between 1.7 and 7.8 Cel‐ sius. This vaccine is based on a stabilised form of protein S from the virus, for which recombinant protein nanoparticles have been used.

MOURNING PERIOD. North Korea banned its citizens from laughing, shopping, and drinking from December 17 onwards as part of an 11‐day mourning period on the 10th anniversary of the passing of former leader, Kim Jong‐il. Kim Jong‐il ruled the republic of North Ko‐ rea from 1994 to his death in 2011 and died due to a heart attack at the age of 69 on December 17. He was succeeded by his youngest son Kim Jong‐un.

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NEWS

Russian demands BA cancels flights

RUSSIA has put forward a list of security guarantees that it wants the West to agree to in order to lower the tensions across Eu‐ rope and defuse the crisis over the Ukraini‐ an border. Many of the Russian demands on the list have already been ruled out and se‐ curity experts across the world have deemed the requests unacceptable.

The eight‐point draft treaty was released

by Russia’s foreign ministry after months of escalation and as more troops gathered with‐ in striking distance of Ukraine’s border.

Moscow has said if its interests are ignored, then it would lead to a “military response” similar to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

One of the Russian demands wants a limit to the deployment of troops and weapons to

Troops gathered at the Ukraine border.

Nato’s eastern flank. Russia has also demand‐ ed that Nato rule out further expansion, in‐ cluding the accession of Ukraine into the al‐ liance. Nato head, Jens Stoltenberg, has already ruled out any agreements denying Ukraine the right to enter the military al‐ liance.

Cotswolds mammoths

IN an exceptional discovery, five Ice‐age mammoths have been discovered perfectly pre‐ served in the Cotswolds, Eng‐ land. The remains were discov‐ ered near Swindon and the find will be explored by Sir David Attenborough as part of a new documentary.

Viewers will be able to see

Attenborough and the Mam‐ moth Graveyard on December 30, on BBC1. Sir David will be joined by Professor Ben Gar‐ rod and DigVentures archaeol‐ ogists. The documentary will feature the excavation of the Ice‐age mammoths.

Garrod commented on the incredible find. He said: “This is

one of the most important dis‐ coveries in British palaeontolo‐ gy.

“Where these mammoths lie in the ground is exactly where they died a quarter of a million years ago ‐ next to in‐ credible things like stone tools and the snails they trampled underfoot.”

B R I T I S H Airways can‐ celled multiple flights over the weekend of De‐ cember 18 and 19. The shortage of baggage han‐ dlers also led to chaos with Brits being asked to leave their bags behind at the airport.

The airline said that they would be couriered on later, but many pas‐ sengers were not happy.

British Airways’ cus‐ tomers took to social me‐ dia to complain about the lack of luggage. One per‐ son commented: “@British_Airways entire BA636 flight to #Athens departed from London without any luggage loaded. And no alert to passengers.”

Earlier this month British Airways grounded more than 2,000 flights until March 2022. A spokesperson for the air‐ line explained that it was not due to worries over the new Omicron variant

Customers complained.

or Coronavirus travel re‐ strictions being put in place.

The airline comment‐ ed: “Like other airlines, due to the continuing Coronavirus pandemic we are operating a re‐ duced and dynamic schedule.”

Pub bailout grants

RISHI SUNAK has unveiled bailout grants for pubs and restaurants hit by Covid. The hospitality industry has been calling on the government for help as restaurants, pubs and music venues have been hit by the spread of the Omicron variant and a socalled ‘stealth lockdown.’

Businesses can claim a one-off grant worth up to £6,000 per premises. The total bailout fund announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak comes to £1 billion.

Sunak commented: “We recognise that the spread of the Omicron variant means businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors are facing huge uncertainty, at a crucial time.

“So, we’re stepping in with £1 billion of support, including a new grant scheme, the reintroduction of the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme and further funding released through the Culture Recovery Fund.

“Ultimately the best thing we can do to support businesses is to get the virus under control, so I urge everyone to get boosted now.”

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Resolve to review your financial planning for 2022 The New Year is a time when most of us take stock of our situation and set goals to improve our health, happiness, lifestyle and wealth. This January, make it one of your resolutions to check your financial planning is on track to meet your needs and protect your long-term financial security.

Why regular reviews are important Regular reviews help keep your financial affairs compliant and up-to-date. Tax rules or financial regulations often change, which may affect the tax efficiency of existing arrangements. There may be new opportunities you could find beneficial. And with Brexit still relatively new, it is important to keep ahead of any further developments that may affect you.

Consider also if any changes in your personal and family circumstances mean you should adjust your arrangements.

For a truly effective review, and to ensure it is suitable for

ic exchange of information’, it’s more important than ever to get it right. Cross-border tax planning is complex; take specialist advice to achieve peace of mind and secure tax savings.

By Fiona Keogh, Private Client Manager,

your life in Spain, consider how your tax planning, investments, pensions and estate planning work together.

Tax planning Make sure you know where you are resident for tax purposes, especially if you are new to Spain or spend time in both countries. You can then structure your wealth in the most suitable way to minimise taxation, while still meeting your obligations.

In today’s world of ‘automat-

Booster analysis research RESEARCHERS in the UK have completed prelimi‐ nary analysis on the likely impact that a Covid boost‐ er shot will have on the new variant and say it could provide around 85 per cent protection against severe Omicron symp‐ toms.

This level of protection is lower than the vaccines given against earlier strains but should still be enough to keep many people out of hospital.

Experts are still trying to ascertain how Omicron will play out, and whether the relatively mild symptoms seen so far are indicative for all cases. The modelling completed by the team at Imperial College London is based on the limited infor‐ mation scientists currently have on Omicron. This means there is a high level of uncertainty until more

Savings and investments If you do not already have a financial plan in place for Spain, take a fresh look at your savings and investments. Are they better suited to a UK resident? Do they meet your risk/reward appetite? Are you taking advantage of tax-efficient opportunities in Spain?

Successful investing is about having a strategy specifically based around your personal circumstances, time horizon, needs, aims and risk tolerance.

Ensure you have adequate diversification to avoid over-exposure to any given country, asset type, sector or company.

Explore investment structures that allow multi-currency flexibility to help minimise exchange rate risk.

Pensions Pensions are usually key to fi-

nancial security through retirement, so deciding what to do with yours could be one of the most important financial decisions you make.

Take the time to explore all the options, weighing the pros and cons and considering the tax implications and potential benefits in Spain.

Take regulated advice to protect your retirement benefits from pension scams and do what is right for your circumstances and aims.

Estate planning It is vital to review your estate planning when living in Spain. Both succession law and tax work very differently to the UK. For example, Spain’s ‘forced heirship’ rules could automatically pass a significant proportion of your worldwide estate to your direct family, whatever your intentions. You can specify in your will for the EU regulation ‘Brussels IV’ to apply relevant British law to your estate, but understand your options and any tax implications.

real‐world information is gathered.

The vaccines currently available help to teach the body how to fight Covid, but as the new variant has heavily mutated from the original, the doses avail‐ able are not a perfect match and so are less effec‐ tive.

To get around this, peo‐ ple are being advised to get their booster to build high‐ er antibody levels as this should create less severe Omicron symptoms.

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

Omicron sleep symptom AS the Omicron variant takes hold and becomes the dominant strain across multiple countries, re‐ search is allowing scien‐ tists and doctors to pin‐ point new differences

between this version of the virus and the older ones. Surprisingly, the main Omicron symptom that sets it apart from the others occurs while you sleep.

Germany bans Brits Booster is advised.

Your estate plan should be set up to achieve your wishes in the most tax-efficient way possible. If you remain UK domiciled – as many expatriates do – you continue to be liable for UK inheritance tax, so plan to reduce this liability for your heirs.

To bring all these complex elements together and ensure you haven’t missed out on any opportunities, take expert, crossborder advice. Spending time on a financial health-check can secure peace of mind that you and your family are in the best position to enjoy a prosperous 2022 and beyond.

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

GERMANY has banned Brit tourists and classed the UK as a ‘Covid area of concern’ as the number of Omi‐ cron cases rises dramatically.

The world is battling the Omicron variant and Ger‐ many is the latest country to decide to ban travel to and from the UK under certain conditions. According to the German government, the new measures were brought in to try and slow the advance of the Omicron variant.

The new measures came into place from midnight on Sunday, December 19. Only German nationals and residents will be allowed to travel freely into Germany from the UK, unless they are transiting through the country. Anyone who does want to travel to Germany from the UK will need to have a negative PCR test and spend 14 days in quarantine.

Germany also considers South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zim‐ babwe to be high risk countries for the Omicron vari‐ ant.

In South Africa, where Omicron was first se‐ quenced, doctors have dis‐ covered that patients with the new strain have been suffering from serious night sweats, says Dr Amir Khan, speaking on UK TV. He also explained how patients are experiencing body aches and pains, fever, fatigue, and a dry cough.

Dr Khan said: “The symp‐

toms that are coming out of South Africa by the doc‐ tors that are looking after patients with Omicron show these five new symp‐ toms. “A scratchy throat, mild muscle aches, ex‐ treme tiredness, a dry cough and night sweats.

That kind of drenching night sweats where you might have to get up and change your clothes.

Mask-less teacher suspended A MALAGA teacher who refuses to wear a mask while teach‐ ing his classes has been suspended from his duties for six months. A disciplinary file has been opened against his name so he will not be able to practise teaching elsewhere for the stated time. The Ministry of Education has confirmed the sus‐ pension.

The teacher joins two others from Granada who have also been suspended from their roles. The suspensions may de‐ velop further under the new protocols that have been made by the Education, Health and Families department, and the teachers involved have been replaced by others for the dura‐ tion. The suspensions also come with a suspension of salary.

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Lib Dems shock win

F U R T H E R pressure has been piled on Prime Minister Boris Johnson after the Lib Dems pulled off a shock win in North Shropshire, traditionally a Conservative safe seat.

The by‐election on De‐ cember 16, triggered by the resignation of Owen Paterson, saw candidate Helen Morgan win by a 5,925 votes with Labour coming a distant third.

The Lib Dems polled nearly 50 per cent more votes than the Conserva‐ tives in an election that was always going to be a test of Conservative poli‐

Helen Morgan won seat.

cy and their handling of crises, including the res‐ ignation of Paterson over the lobbying scan‐

dal.

Speaking after the win, Morgan who is the Lib Dems’ 13th MP after a

poor showing at the last election, said “the voters of North Shropshire had spoken loudly and clear‐ ly, the party is over.”

Directly referring to Johnson she said “Your government, run on lies and bluster, will be held accountable. It will be scrutinised; it will be challenged, and it can and will be defeated.”

Tennis star retracts claim PENG SHUAI, the Chinese tennis star at the centre of a worldwide scandal has re‐ tracted the sexual assault claim that started off the en‐ tire saga. But the Women’s Tennis Association still be‐ lieves she is not acting under her own steam.

“I wanted to make this very clear: I have never claimed, or wrote about any‐ one having sexually assault‐ ed me,” Peng said. “With re‐

gards to Weibo, it’s about my personal privacy. There’s been a lot of misunderstand‐ ing. There [should be] no dis‐ torted interpretation.”

This new statement appar‐ ently contradicts the note that appeared on the social media site Weibo on November 2. The note stat‐ ed that the former vice‐pre‐ mier of China, Zhang Gaoli, had coerced Peng into sex af‐ ter a visit to his house. The

essay was taken down less than half an hour after it was published, and Peng disap‐ peared from public view for two weeks, which led to a global press storm. The new interview came as fresh footage of Peng emerged on‐ line on December 19. But with the WTA still having “a hard time believing” Peng Shuai is acting of her own vo‐ lition; the issue is far from re‐ solved.

Brit found dead

A BRITISH expat, who has not been named, has been found dead after going miss‐ ing on December 6. The man had lived on a boat that had been anchored on a river be‐ tween Portugal and Spain.

He was last seen in the mu‐ nicipality of Alcoutim near the Guerreiros do Rio area.

The man’s body was dis‐

covered close to the area from where he disappeared.

According to reports, the Maritime police were alerted to a body being discovered by locals in Portugal. It is thought that the body be‐ longed to a 63‐year‐old British man.

When the search opera‐ tion was launched by Por‐

tuguese and Spanish police, the authorities thought it was possible that the man could have fallen from his boat. The boat belonging to the man had been seen with no one aboard and was said to be adrift.

A post‐mortem will be car‐ ried out. It is not thought the death was suspicious.

Lord Frost resigns IN a sensational turn of events on De‐ cember 18, Lord Frost ‐ who negotiated Britain’s departure from the EU ‐ re‐ signed from his position in the cabinet.

Lord Frost is believed to have handed in his resignation a week earlier, but the prime minister allegedly tried to per‐ suade him to stay until January. His deci‐ sion to quit is thought to have been the result of a growing disillusionment with the Conservative Party’s direction.

The introduction of Boris Johnson’s ‘Plan B’ Covid measures were cited as be‐ ing the last straw in prompting the Brexit

Minister to resign. Discontent had also been growing over the staggering cost of ‘net zero’ environmental policies, and over tax rises in Britain.

Earlier this week Mr Johnson had faced the largest revolt among Tory MPs since he took control of No10 Downing Street when almost 100 MPs voted against the government’s ‘Plan B’ measures.

This was followed by the loss of the North Shropshire by‐election, by a 23,000 majority. These events have led to rumblings of a possible leadership challenge

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DiCaprio saves drowning dogs H O L LY W O O D actor Leonardo DiCaprio jumped into a frozen lake to save his beloved huskies while filming his latest movie, Don’t Look Up, set to be released on Netflix on December 24.

The 47‐year‐old star re‐ called in an interview with Entertainment Weekly how he desperately jumped into the lake: “Yeah, and then I went in,” he said. “(Living in California) I didn't under‐ stand what you do at a frozen lake.”

Co‐star Jennifer Lawrence said: “One of the dogs fell in and he jumped into the frozen lake to save the dog and as soon as he pushed the one dog out, the other one jumped in.

“The other one started licking the one that was drowning and then we all were in the frozen lake to‐ gether,” said Leo. Jennifer then said, jok‐ ingly: “He immediately got naked in the car.”

A frosty dip for Leonardo.

DiCaprio has three dogs; the two huskies are called Jack and Jill and are littermates. He and his girlfriend, Camila Mor‐ rone, began fostering the pups during the pandem‐ ic.

NHS dilemma THE leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar, has challenged Nicola Sturgeon over the impact of Covid on cancer care within the NHS, asking her to commit that cancer services will be protected in any redeployment of care sparked by coronavirus.

He has insisted that the NHS should not be made to choose between cancer and Covid.

Sarwar says this means that screening pro‐ grammes must not be paused again in the same way they were at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Also, cancer operations should not be cancelled because of Covid pressures either.

The Scottish party leader tweeted: “Since the start of the pandemic, almost 30,000 of our fellow Scots have died from cancer.

“Every one of these deaths ‐ just like Covid ‐ is a tragedy.

“There must be no pause to screening pro‐ grammes, no cancelled cancer operations, and a genuine acceleration so we can catch up on cas‐ es.”

EWN 17

New Malaga routes BUDGET airline easyJet announced on Friday December 17, plans to strengthen its network of routes in Spain ahead of summer 2022.

In line with the strate‐ gy of sustained growth in Malaga, the airport will open three new routes and will have a total of five planes cov‐ ering the routes.

The new easyJet base was inaugurated at

Malaga airport this year.

In 2022, Malaga will link to London Southend, Birmingham, and Edin‐ burgh, increasing the to‐ tal number of options from Malaga to 17.

Coming into operation at the beginning of May, the first connection will have six weekly routes, the second with four, and the third will have three.

Despite the Omicron

Covid‐19 variant, Javier Gandara, general direc‐ tor of easyJet in south‐ ern Europe, comment‐ ed: “In the long term, we see that the level of new reservations for the second half of our fiscal year continues to be good, and we are look‐ ing forward to the fourth quarter of 2022.

“We expect to reach levels of capacity like those seen in 2019.”

Netherlands lockdown THE Netherlands entered a Christmas lock‐ down on Sunday December 19, to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. Non‐essential shops, bars, restaurants, and other public places were ordered to close.

On Monday, December 20, schools also closed, and the lockdown will remain in place until at least January 14, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced.

He said it was “unavoidable because of the fifth wave caused by the Omicron variant that is bearing down on us.”

Elsewhere, ministers in Austria, Cyprus and France have also toughened restrictions on travel and Paris has cancelled its New Year’s Eve fireworks. Denmark has closed its the‐ atres, concert halls, amusement parks and museums for Christmas and regional health ministers in Germany have urged the national government to tighten rules on people arriv‐ ing from the UK. The UK is currently experiencing its highest Covid numbers and there have been talks of lockdowns.

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A load of baubles NANA BAUBLES: Recognised by the Guinness World Records.

New Welsh Covid restrictions PEOPLE in Wales are being ‘strongly advised’ to limit so‐ cialising in the run up to Christmas as the new Omicron variant takes hold.

New Covid restrictions are coming into force on Monday December 27 to try and head off another peak of infection.

First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford set out the new two‐phase plan as the country responds to a double‐head‐ ed Delta and Omicron spike. Omicron is expected to be the dominant form of the virus in the UK by the end of the month.

From December 27, nightclubs in Wales will have to close and there will be new restrictions put in place.

These will include a two‐metre social distancing rule for businesses and maximum capacities in indoor places.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “Delta will continue to be the main cause of coronavirus infections in Wales up to Christmas. But we are seeing cases of Omicron increas‐ ing rapidly every day in Wales ‐ and across the UK.”

SYLVIA POPE, a grand‐ mother from Swansea has broken a festive world record for the largest collec‐ tion of Christmas baubles.

Known as Nana Baubles, Sylvia is the proud owner of 1,760 festive ornaments, a total recognised by the Guinness World Records.

Ms Pope, who turns 79 on Boxing Day, hopes to pass the 2,000 mark this Christmas with her collec‐ tion coming from all over the world. Whenever she travels, she buys baubles, with items coming from as far away as New York.

Ms Pope starts putting them up in September long before any of us even begin to think about Christmas and decorating our homes.

She remembers where most of the baubles come from and has her favourites.

Amongst her favourites are a lobster, a hamburger, Dis‐ ney characters and of course Big Ben. But her number one is a Royal Doul‐ ton Royal Jubilee celebra‐ tion edition, representing her ‘love’ of Queen Eliza‐ beth, who she thinks is ‘wonderful.’

NEWS

BBC cuts content IT has been revealed that the BBC cut content in 2021, with an increase in repeat programming of 22 per cent. The under‐fire national broadcaster had been instructed by the gov‐ ernment to reduce its bud‐ get following the reintro‐ duction of licence fees for the elderly.

The respected broad‐ caster has in the past pro‐ duced many original pro‐ grammes but often at great cost, with seemingly unlimited budgets at times. The growing cost of running the BBC had drawn the ire of the Con‐ servative government.

To meet the demand for reduced overheads a new strategy was introduced limiting the creation of original content and in‐ creasing the incidence of repeat programming. The BBC had said this strategy would account for more than 40 per cent of the sav‐ ings it needed to make, whilst scheduling changes would account for 11 per cent. In addition, the or‐ ganisation said that it would look to increase its revenue from sales.

According to the Nation‐ al Audit Office (NAO), in‐ creased repeats has result‐ ed in the organisation saving over £1 billion so far this year, exceeding its pro‐ jected savings of £800,000.

NATIONAL BROADCASTER: Had to reduce its budget.

Alec Baldwin warrant THE investigation into the death of Halyna Hutchins, who died on the set of the movie Rust, has taken a new turn with a search warrant issued for Alec Baldwin’s phone. The war‐ rant has been issued by a Sante Fe court in New Mexico, where the film was being shot.

Of interest on the phone are messages that are believed to have been exchanged between Baldwin and an unnamed person, which could shed more light on the events of that fatal day.

Baldwin who was filming on set was given a gun that was apparently ‘safe’ however he pointed it at the Director of Fil‐ mography, and it went off killing her and injuring the Direc‐ tor of the western Joel Souza.

With a search warrant issued for the actor’s phone, the story is not yet finished and it would seem there are more revelations to come.

and finally...

MUSIC icon Bruce Springsteen has sold his entire music catalogue to Sony for around $500 million, a record amount for the musical work of an artist, fol‐ lowing in the footsteps of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

The sale covers all the classic compositions of the New Jersey rocker’s records such as Born to Run, Born in the USA and The River.

According to analysts, this money would be the largest transaction ever made for the musical work of an artist.

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First female police chief

Sewell hails from Queens.

M AY O R - E L E C T Eric Adams has named the first female New York police chief in the NYPD’s history on De‐ cember 15. Keechant Sewell, 49, has worked for the Nassau Police Department in Long Is‐

land for 23 years and be‐ came the chief of detec‐ tives there in September 2020. Mr Adams had promised during his campaign run to name a female commissioner and has now come good on his pledge.

Ms Sewell hails from the New York borough of Queens and is a former hostage negotiator, as well as having time served in the Nassau County narcotics and major case units on her CV. She said she was “mindful of the historic nature of this announce‐ ment” and hopes to im‐ prove relations between the police and New York City’s residents.

Ms Sewell will be only the third black commis‐ sioner to take charge of the NYPD, as well as be‐ coming the first female New York police chief.

The NYPD employs near‐ ly 35,000 police officers, of whom approximately 18 per cent are women.

FORMER police officer Derek Chauvin was sen‐ tenced to more than 22 years in prison over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

On Wednesday, December 15, Chauvin pled guilty to federal charges against him saying that he violat‐ ed Floyd’s civil rights.

Floyd was suffocated in an attack that lasted for over nine minutes. By pleading guilty Chauvin will avoid facing a federal trial early next year.

According to WCCO‐TV, Chauvin had planned to plead not guilty to the federal charges. The judge though warned him that he could spend the rest of his life in prison if he pleaded not guilty.

Chauvin appeared at the Saint Paul city court‐ house to make his plea in front of federal judge Paul Magnuson. Chauvin was asked if he understood his plea and he replied: “Yes, your honour.”

For his own safety, the former cop has been in solitary confinement since last April. He is be‐

NEWS

Officer pleads guilty ing held at Minnesota’s maximum security state prison.

Chauvin drove his knee

into Floyd’s neck causing him to suffocate. He also did not provide medical care.

ITV changes THE Spanish government has announced ITV changes for 2022, bringing the roadworthy test in line with new technologies that are incorporated in many modern vehicles.

In addition to the Technical Inspection Card and the vehicle’s licence, you will have to show the identity document of the owner and provide proof of insurance. The minimum insurance re‐ quirement will be damage to third parties.

Many of today’s vehicles are fitted with sensors and cameras along the body of the vehicle and in the windshield. Current ITV tests do not check that these are operational. The changes will re‐ quire these to be working and properly calibrated, something that will now be checked as part of the inspection. Drivers of the vehicle being tested will need to provide the ITV with the necessary access and documentation for them to carry out the in‐ spection.

A European directive (2014/45) which obliges member states to test noise levels from 2023, will be included in the inspection. The test is expected to focus on those who have modified their vehicle and on motorcycles.

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Tesla taxi crash Model 3 cars suspended.

A TAXI firm in Paris has suspended the use of Tesla Model 3 cars in its fleet following a crash involving one of the vehicles. An in-

Heathrow charges to rise PASSENGERS at Heathrow may have to pay increased charges of more than 50 per cent from January 1.

This comes after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ap‐ proved price rises to “reflect the uncertainty of the recov‐ ery of passenger volumes from the pandemic as Heathrow has made a loss of £3.4 billion since the start of the pandemic.”

Although the charges are paid by the airlines, they are usually covered in passengers’ airfares.

A spokesperson for Heathrow has said the cap range of £32 to £43 has left them “extremely disappoint‐ ed.” They also said it “relies on rushed analysis and will un‐

dermine passenger experi‐ ence.”

The cap will increase or de‐ crease depending on passen‐ ger numbers and commercial revenue.

vestigation has been launched by French police after the Tesla reportedly collided with a cyclist, three pedestrians and a van.

The company, G7, which has 37 of the Tesla vehicles under its name, has said it will halt usage until the investigation is complete.

The French Transport Minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, said on December 15 there was no suggestion

that a technical problem was to blame for the incident.

Yann Ricordel, the deputy chief executive at G7, said the driver was off duty when the accident happened and was taking his family to a restaurant.

According to the driver, he tried to brake but the car accelerated instead. It was unclear if the car was in autopilot mode during the Tesla taxi crash.

Apple home-worker bonus THE technology giant Apple has suspended the return of all its workers to its offices indefinitely. In addition, it will give all of its employees $1,000 each (around €884 at current exchange rates) so that they can equip their home offices and continue working from home.

Tim Cook, the CEO of the company, announced this plan by email to his employ‐ ees on December 15. The decision was made due to concern about the increase in Covid‐19 cases, and the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant.

A return to offices was planned for February 22, 2022, but the company has now left the return to office date open. Other large companies, such as Google, Uber, and Amazon, have also delayed their return to the offices for the same reason and many have offered similar packages to support home working.

NEWS

Piers Morgan revelation PIERS MORGAN believes he caught Covid‐19 at the Euro 2020 final in July and has revealed he is still bat‐ tling long Covid months lat‐ er.

The 56‐year‐old former Good Morning Britain host said he is thankful that he was double jabbed when he was infected. He comment‐ ed on the effects of long Covid during a Twitter ex‐ change with Sky News Tech‐ nology Correspondent Row‐ land Manthorpe who revealed he had “a nasty case of long Covid. Eight months and counting.”

Morgan replied: “DM me, I had the same for five

months, but new meds seem to be cracking it.”

Piers previously told fans about his symptoms: “Aside from ongoing tedious fa‐ tigue and inability to taste wine, all the coughing’s caused a ‘posterior vitreous detachment’ in my left eye.”

Shortly after catching the virus, he wrote in his col‐ umn: “Been a week now and although the fever’s long gone, the fatigue keeps overwhelming me like a so‐ porific tidal wave.

“I haven’t even read a newspaper since developing symptoms, which for a news junkie like me is unprece‐ dented.”

and finally...

NASA has made history as the Parker spacecraft offi‐ cially ‘touched’ the sun. On December 14, NASA con‐ firmed that Parker had made its way through the sun’s corona. The historic event happened in April but it has taken months for the data to return from the spacecraft due to the distance. Parker was launched in 2018 and is named after astrophysicist Eugene Parker.

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Pension rise in 2022 AS stated in the new pen‐ sion law being processed by Parliament, pensions in Spain will rise by 2.5 per cent next year, which is the inflation rate registered be‐ tween December 2020 and November of this year.

Spain has returned to the formula of linking incomes and prices, a modus operan‐ di that was applied in the 1990s and replaced by the Revaluation Index in the 2013 reform.

In previous years, the in‐ terannual inflation registered in November served to ad‐ just the rise applied in Jan‐ uary so that pensioners did not lose purchasing power.

These are once again the ref‐ erence.

With the 2.5 per cent in‐ crease, the average retire‐ ment pension (€1,195) will increase by about €30 per month (€420 per year) and the ‘pay’ that the retiree will receive in a single payment at the beginning of the year to compensate for the devia‐ tion in prices will be €268.

NEWS

German police raids Forqué suicide

POLICE have conducted raids in Germany’s eastern state of Saxony after Premier Michael Kretschmer received death threats for backing Coronavirus measures. The officers searched several properties in the state capital Dresden and nearby Heidenau, after Covid extremists were discovered to be organising violent at‐ tacks.

The far‐right activists are suspected of plot‐ ting violence with crossbows and other weapons. This occurred after Mr Kretschmer

rescinded his statement from last year warn‐ ing people of Covid “hysteria” and has now gone on to back strict Coronavirus measures.

The state of Saxony has the lowest vaccina‐ tion take‐up of all of Germany. The police in the state released information about the raids and security forces, including the special Soko Rex anti‐extremist unit which raided several locations following a German TV documen‐ tary drawing attention to the death threats last week.

JFK documents declassified THE United States Govern‐ ment has lifted the veil of the official secrets act from 1,491 documents related to the death of former presi‐ dent John F Kennedy in Dal‐ las, Texas in 1963. There are still documents hidden un‐ der the act by the govern‐ ment which means there are still some secrets to be re‐ leased.

Legislation said that reports of the killing should have been made public within 25 years, which would have been 2017. There is a clause, however, that there can be

postponement for security concerns.

Donald Trump ordered the disclosure of 2,800 docu‐ ments while he was in office but decided to keep hun‐ dreds of others secret. In to‐ tal, the National Archives have released more than 90 per cent of the documents on JFK’s assassination.

Kennedy’s death has in‐

trigued people since it hap‐ pened, and still has amateur sleuths from around the world scratching their heads.

The Warren Commission, the official report into the shooting, said that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but many historians and scholars continue to raise doubts about this version of events.

STATS

1

Your mouth produces 1 litre of saliva a day.

confirmed

POPULAR actress Verónica Forqué died at her home in the Chamartín district of Madrid, aged 66. A post‐ mortem was carried out and it was confirmed on December 16 that she committed sui‐ cide.

The actress had performed in films such as Kika and Sé in‐ fiel and she also appeared in Much loved actress.

Spain’s sixth season of Celebri‐ ty Masterchef.

No traces of any toxic substances or pills were discovered in her body. The cause of death has been confirmed as mechani‐ cal asphyxia by hanging. The actress’s body showed no signs of violence. Verónica was discovered by her maid after she had taken longer than usual in the shower. The maid entered the bathroom and discovered Verónica was unconscious. The emergency services were called immediately.

Antonio Banderas took to Twitter to pay tribute to Verónica.

He commented: “Goodbye to Verónica Forqué. I worked with her years ago and my memory is that of a sweet, spiritual woman and a good companion. RIP.”

Passport ruling

GENDER neutral passports have been rejected in the UK de‐ spite a campaign from Christie Elan‐Cane, who is non‐gen‐ dered.

Following the verdict for ‘X’ gender markers in British pass‐ ports, Christie Elan‐Cane said: “Justice was not served.”

Elan‐Cane’s landmark battle, which argues that it is discrimina‐ tory to force non‐binary and non‐gendered citizens to falsely de‐ clare themselves to be male or female for the purposes of a trav‐ el document, became the first‐ever trans civil rights case to be heard by the UK’s highest court.

Lord Read announced that the Supreme Court agreed with the government’s decision that making ‘X’ gender markers avail‐ able on passports would have “adverse implications for the se‐ curity aspects for the use of passports” and “result in substantial administrative costs.”

NEWS

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23 - 29 December 2021

Suitcase scam

THE Spanish Internet Securi‐ ty Office (OSI) has warned people about a new type of fraud growing in popularity, known as the retained suit‐ case scam, or suitcase fraud.

In this scam, the cybercrimi‐ nals pose as a family mem‐

ber or friend of the target and make contact through social media sites such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter and Facebook.

According to the OSI, the fraudsters pretend to be someone known to the vic‐

Norway fines Grindr IN what is the highest fine ever imposed by the Norwegian Da‐ ta Protection Authority, dating app Grindr has been charged with sending sensitive personal data of users to hundreds of potential advertising partners without consent. They have also been handed a fine of $7.16 million.

The Authority said that Grindr had breached the EU’s data protection regulations, which are also enforced in Norway al‐ though the country is not a member of the bloc. The original complaint was filed in 2020 by Norway’s Consumer Council who said that the company shared details including GPS loca‐ tion, IP addresses, ages, and gender details of users.

According to the Authority “users were forced to accept the privacy policy in its entirety to use the app” and were not asked specifically if they wanted to allow their data to be shared with third parties.

STATS

6

The average bed contains over 6 billion dust mites.

Suitcases used in fraud.

tim who is supposedly abroad. They then tell the target that they are on the way to Spain and either that their suitcases are being held at the airport, or that they have missed their flight, but the suitcases are on board.

The criminals then ask the victim to transfer money to a specified account provided, and mark the amount ‘cus‐ toms costs’. This amount will then supposedly release the suitcases so they can be re‐ united with the owner.

As people can make fake profiles easily on social me‐ dia, this is where the scam is really taking off. The cyber‐ criminals skim information from people’s profiles to make the request seem more believable.

Once the target believes the scam message, they are usually asked for between €500 and €1,500.

Correos recruitment drive CORREOS, the Spanish postal service has announced they are starting their biggest recruitment drive in decades, in which 5,377 jobs with indefinite contracts will be available. The roles will be across many different opera‐ tions within the company, including distribution, classification and cus‐ tomer service.

The company will make the rele‐ vant information and agenda known to the public in the first half of 2022 so that people know how and where to apply. The tests will then take place next November. A statement

released by the business said the hir‐ ing process will be developed shortly, guaranteeing the principles of merit, ability and equal treatment of wom‐ en and men.

There is another current hiring pro‐ cess happening within Correos for which more than 60,200 people have been registered. These are for tempo‐ rary seasonal positions in their opera‐ tions throughout Spain which begin from February 1.

Further information on the job roles and how to apply will be posted on www.correos.com.

UK schools prepare to close SOME schools are al‐ ready preparing to hand out laptops in prepara‐ tion for possible clo‐ sures in January.

The number of Omi‐ cron cases in the UK is growing rapidly and schools are preparing for online learning again.

According to recent data from the govern‐

ment, more than 200,000 pupils were off school in the last couple of weeks due to the virus.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has already admit‐ ted that there are “no guarantees” that schools will be able to remain open in January if cases of the Omicron variant continue to rise.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has encouraged people to ensure their children are jabbed as soon as possible. He commented: “We know how crucial it is to keep children in schools so let’s all make sure our children and young peo‐ ple are vaccinated be‐ fore they go back next term.”

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EUROPEAN PRESS

EUROPEAN PRESS DENMARK

Spies arrested

Mink fiasco

DANISH authorities have arrested four current and former employees of the country’s intelligence service for alleged spying following a lengthy investigation.

Names have been withheld and the country for which they were supposedly spying for has also been kept secret.

A YEAR after the Danish Government decided to cull around 15 million minks due to unsupported fears that they might transmit a mutated form of Covid-19 to humans, the matter is still being reviewed and the prime minister quizzed by a parliamentary committee over the culling.

THE NETHERLANDS Farmers’ protest

Sensitive documents

A CONVOY of some 200 tractors travelled to Schiphol airport to hand over a contract to purchase and decommission the airport to reduce nitrogen pollution as a protest against government plans to buy out agricultural landowners as part of a package of measures to fight nitrogen use.

INDICATING a change of tactics, a hacking ransomware group LockBit placed details of 39,000 files online which included sensitive documents for Dutch police, emergency services and security after the technology company Abiom refused to pay a ransom to keep the files secret.

BELGIUM Keeping abreast

Rainbow zebra

THE Wheel of Care, which provides health care in the home, wants mothers to be able to breastfeed in more hospitality outlets in Brussels and is producing an online map and asking pubs and restaurants to display a sticker to confirm breastfeeding mums are welcome.

FLEMISH Highways and Traffic Agency (AWV) has announced that it is happy to paint and maintain one rainbow zebra crossing in each of the 300 Flemish municipalities if requested to do so. Rainbow pedestrian crossings have already appeared in some municipalities as part of pride celebrations.

GERMANY Danger UXB

New weapon

WHEN a 250 kilo US made bomb dropped on Berlin during the Second World War was unearthed by workers extending the Jewish Hospital in Iranische Strasse, authorities knew that they would face a significant challenge to evacuate around 15,000 residents so it could be defused.

OFFICERS were out in force to police a demonstration against Covid restrictions in Hamburg armed with the latest weapon of crowd control, a 1.5-metre long red and white stick used to ensure that protestors observe proper social distancing whilst complaining about the rules!

FRANCE Referendum result

Greek deal

THE Pacific territory of New Caledonia voted in a third and final referendum on independence with 96.49 voting against, but as the independence parties boycotted the referendum, saying the pandemic prevented a fair ballot there was a small turnout of just 43.9 per cent.

AFTER losing out to the USA in the supply of submarines to Australia, the French Government has announced that despite the USA offering to supply four frigates to the Greek Navy it was too late as a deal had been signed with the French.

NORWAY Oil wealth

Peace prize

IN order to help every home in Norway during the winter months when daylight can last for just five hours in some parts of the country, the Norwegian Government will be using funds from its oil income to give automatic discounts on electricity costs.

THIS year’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo was heavily curtailed due to rising rates of Covid-19 with a planned double event to honour the 2020 and 2021 winners. In the background former winner Aung San Suu Kyi has been arrested in Myanmar.

EUROPEAN PRESS

www.euroweeklynews.com

EUROPEAN PRESS FINLAND

Odd betting

On track

RESEARCH by the Finnish national gaming agency Veikkaus has confirmed that online betting habits have seen a major change as horse racing, especially trotting has overtaken football and ice hockey in popularity because whilst trotting in Finland was banned due to the pandemic, it carried on in Sweden.

AFTER having been suspended for around 18 months, the first train from St Petersburg in Russia left for Helsinki on Sunday December 12, with the few passengers on board serenaded by a Russian railway brass band. There will now be two services each day.

IRELAND Special gift

United Island

THE Irish Government is considering a proposal to give every household in the Republic €100 in the New Year by reducing their first 2022 electricity bill, as there have been 35 price rises in energy bills during 2021 according to a report from the Central Statistics Office.

A NEW study carried out by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft online, which canvassed 3,301 adults from Northern Ireland suggests that 46 per cent of voters would vote for Irish unity tomorrow and even more think that it will happen at some time in the future.

ITALY Surprise nativity

Bah humbug

SWEDISH climate activist Greta Thunberg has been included in a large nativity scene in Naples and named person of the year. She is shown alongside the baby Jesus and Three Wise Men wearing her trademark yellow raincoat holding her ‘Skolstrejk for klimatet’ (School strike for climate) placard.

A BISHOP in Sicily has been condemned by parents after he told his church congregation which included a number of small children that there was no such person as Father Christmas and that gifts were given by parents before criticising Coca Cola for promoting him.

PORTUGAL Bike lane

Driving licences

AS more major cities introduce expanded bike lanes in order to try to reduce pollution, it appears likely that the Lisbon City Council plans to remove the Almirante Reis bike lane and a petition with more than 2,600 signatures has been sent to the Council to keep it open.

RECOGNISING that electric batteries can add significantly to the weight of vehicles, the Portuguese Government is introducing a new law allowing category B licence holders to drive vehicles weighing up to 4,250 kilos (up from 3,500 kilos) provided that they use alternative fuels.

RUSSIA Not happening

Taxi driver

A PROPOSAL raised in the UN Security Council which wanted to recognise a link between climate change and global security as part of conflict prevention strategy was vetoed by Russia as well as India with both arguing that the link was not tenable.

A NEWLY filmed interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former member of the KGB security service, sees him saying that he deeply regretted the fall of the USSR and following this he had to become a taxi driver in order to ‘make ends meet.’

SWEDEN Two arrested

Royal cop

FOLLOWING a major collision between a British and a Danish cargo vessel, one sailor is still missing. Swedish authorities have revealed that two people have been arrested on potential charges of causing the death of another person, gross negligence in maritime traffic and ‘drunkenness’.

PRINCE Daniel of Sweden, husband of Crown Princess Victoria, is well-known as an advocate of the Swedish police and his latest show of support saw him accompany a police patrol in Skarholmen, a suburb of Stockholm which has been in the news due to serious gang crime.

23 - 29 December 2021

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FINANCE BUSINESS EXTRA Trade deal THE British Government has entered into a new free trade deal with Australia which it claims will be worth an additional £10.4 billion and is the first to be reached which doesn’t reflect pre‐Brexit arrangements. Farmers however worry about the potential for cheap Australian imports.

Home working THE Spanish Government has introduced a new law which will allow civil servants in areas of low population to voluntarily work from home for 90 per cent of each month as it believes those areas with low populations do not need regular face to face consultations with staff.

Xmas hackers SAINSBURY’S staff were worried after a US cloud payroll service Kronos was the subject of a cyber attack and according to a BBC report, an estimated weeks’ worth of information on 150,000 staff disappeared. The supermarket has confirmed that they will be paid by Christmas.

Reduced forecasts MUCH as expected, the Bank of Spain has reduced its GDP forecasts for both 2021, dropping 1.9 per cent and 2022 moving from 5.9 per cent to 5.4 per cent and now doesn’t expect the economy to return to pre‐pandemic levels until 2023.

Blue Banana ONLINE ethical clothing company Blue Banana was started by two Spanish friends who said they know little about fashion and use the slogan ‘We make noise not clothes.’ Despite their lack of expertise, they took the next step and opened shops in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, promoting their brand logo a large X. In 2021, they said their product would become the first Spanish carbon‐ negative fashion brand by collaborating on environmental projects endorsed by the United Nations and are now purchasing their stock from manufacturers in Spain, Portugal and Asia.

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STAT OF WEEK

price paid by US venture capital group Carlyle €1.9 billion isto the take over Spanish company Grupo Altadia.

Iberia Airlines pull out of deal IAG, parent company of Iberia Air‐ lines has confirmed via the Spanish CNMV (National Securities Market Commission) that it is suspending talks with Globalia over the purchase of Air Europa, although it hopes to renegotiate some form of deal dur‐ ing 2022.

This decision to enter into an agreement to purchase was an‐ nounced in November 2019 and modified in January 2021 and IAG has made a second payment of €35 million (in addition to the agreed €40 million) as a sign of commitment and to eliminate any pending claims.

In the event that a sale does take place, then the entire €75 million will be offset against the final purchase price.

IAG explained in a press release via Iberia that the decision was made due to the problems caused by the pandemic and the ongoing fragility of the tourist market to and from Spain, as well as the current state of the Spanish economy.

As it is a key operation for the country and very important for both companies, Iberia has committed to exploring different alternatives for shareholder structures to try to

LEGALLY SPEAKING

Can they stop noise?

Can you tell me what the law is regarding noise from neighbours working (hammering) at cer‐ tain times of the day or can they do it at any time? I live in Mijas Costa.

J G (Costa del Sol) Standardly DAVID SEARL the general rule all over Spain is YOU AND THE LAW that noisy work IN SPAIN cannot start before 8am and must end before 10pm. The rules for each indi‐ vidual municipality are set by the town hall. You can find these rules by going to the Mijas website and searching for Ordenanza Municipal Reguladora de la Emision y Re‐ cepcion de Ruidos y Vibraciones. This should tell you what times noise is allowed and what intensity is permitted.

The rules in Marbella, for example, state that noise lev‐ els as heard inside your building with the windows closed must not exceed 30 decibels during the day. However, be‐ fore you start measuring decibels, you should speak with the people doing the hammering. You may find them willing to help. Perhaps they can muffle the sound in some way. If you live in a community and they are ham‐ mering directly on your wall, you can ask your president to speak to them. Finally you can go to court. There are various laws to prohibit noise.

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

THE Spanish fashion chain Inditex re‐ vealed huge profits for 2021 as rev‐ enue amounted to €19.33 billion in the first nine months of its fiscal year.

Net profit over that same period came in at €2.5 billion, compared with €671 million in 2020 which is a massive increase of 273 per cent, al‐ though it recognises that 2020 was exceptionally low due to internation‐ al lockdowns.

come to some form of agreement to obtain the operation of Air Europa.

A new letter of intent has been signed by both parties to evaluate al‐ ternatives and other structures that may be interesting for both compa‐ nies, offering similar benefits for their shareholders, customers and employees, before the end of Jan‐ uary 2022.

In parallel, Iberia intends to work with the government of Spain to continue improving the country’s connectivity and to strengthen the Madrid hub to make it competitive with other European airports.

Which funeral plan from Golden Leaves?

FUNERAL experts Golden Leaves of‐ fer pre‐paid fu‐ neral plans for expats in Spain, to prevent your loved ones hav‐ ing to organise a Which is the right plan for you? funeral in a differ‐ ent country and another language.

Providing several different types of plans, Golden Leaves will be able to find you the right pre‐paid plan for you, helping you to organise the service you want.

Golden Leaves also guarantees 100 per cent of the costs of the arrangements specified in your Funeral Plan.

There are no hidden extras or administration charges for your family to deal with when the time comes.

But which is the right Golden Leaves plan for you?

The Opal Plan is designed for those who just want a simple cremation service.

The Pearl Plan is designed for those who would like a traditional funeral service for cremation or burial and provides a comprehensive funeral service.

And the Golden Plan is designed for those who wish to be repatriated to a country other than their current country of residence.

Contact Golden Leaves today to find the right funeral plan for you.

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

Inditex reveals huge profits As the recovery continues, the 2021 profits compare favourably to 2019 when in the same period, the company made €2.73 billion.

Inditex’s Executive Chairman, Pablo Isla, said: “These results are very satisfactory and demonstrate once again the solidity of our busi‐

ness model, the quality and commit‐ ment of our teams, and the potential being realised by our strategy of fully integrating stores and online.”

It should be noted that when it was announced that Isla was due to step down in April 2022 to be re‐ placed by Marta Ortega, the 37‐year‐

LEGO futures FORGET gold and wine, in‐ vest in LEGO says a Russian University research paper.

Members of the faculty of the Moscow Higher School of Economics (HSE) have published a paper in the Research in Interna‐ tional Business and Fi‐ nance journal which makes this astonishing claim.

The authors of the paper looked at the prices of 2,322 unopened LEGO sets from 1987‐2015 and came to the conclusion that after two or three years, their value on the secondary market grew annually by an average of 11 per cent outperforming many tradi‐ tional investment options.

Growth for a number of Star Wars related models was significantly higher than the average.

Gin wars SANTA may not be amused by the fact that Marks and Spencer are about to launch a law suit against Al‐ di over what it claims is a copy of its light up musical snow globe gin liqueur that contains edible gold flakes marketed for Christmas.

The Aldi version is con‐ siderably cheaper and M&S want all stock destroyed as well as seeking damages for potential lost sales.

This is not the first time that it has taken action against Aldi, the last being over their Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, which Marks and Spencer claimed was identical to their Colin the Caterpillar. old daughter of founder Amancio Or‐ tega, shares immediately dropped in value and they fell again despite the announcement of the enormous profits.

The new president’s challenge will be to manage the fall in profit mar‐ gins caused by ever increasing manu‐ facturing and transport costs and the growth in Spain of Chinese competi‐ tor Shein.

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C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 20

COMPANY PRICE(P) 3I Group 1.400,50 Abrdn 231,30 Admiral Group 3.083,0 Anglo American 2.882,0 Antofagasta 1.319,00 Ashtead Group 5.896,0 Associated British Foods 1.900,0 AstraZeneca 8.471,0 Auto Trader Group Plc 715,80 Avast 614,60 Aveva 3.226,0 Aviva 398,10 B&M European Value Retail 608,80 BAE Systems 525,60 Bank VTB DRC 1,224 Barclays 179,00 Barratt Developments 704,40 Berkeley 4.646,0 BHP Group 2.152,50 BP 326,00 British American Tobacco 2.758,5 British Land Company 512,00 BT Group 164,05 Bunzl 2.860,0 Burberry Group 1.739,0 Carnival 1.209,2 Centrica 66,26 Coca Cola HBC AG 2.438,0 Compass 1.506,00 CRH 3.723,0 Croda Intl 9.992,0 DCC 5.958,0 Diageo 3.954,0 DS Smith 378,60 EasyJet 498,70 Experian 3.476,0 Ferguson 12.725,0 Flutter Entertainment 10.863,3 Fresnillo 894,20 GlaxoSmithKline 1.591,40 Glencore 359,25 Halma 3.061,0 Hargreaves Lansdown 1.357,00 Hikma Pharma 2.221,00 HSBC 441,40 IAG 128,26 Imperial Brands 1.564,50 Informa 479,60 InterContinental 4.370,0 Intermediate Capital 2.107,00

CHANGE(P) 1.407,00 233,70 3.094,0 2.883,0 1.331,00 5.904,0 1.911,0 8.474,0 718,40 615,20 3.229,0 398,10 610,00 526,40 1,226 179,30 712,60 4.679,0 2.155,50 326,20 2.767,0 512,40 165,80 2.863,0 1.739,5 1.232,8 66,30 2.461,0 1.514,50 3.729,0 10.005,0 6.016,0 3.956,0 381,50 499,80 3.479,0 12.735,0 10.951,3 915,00 1.596,00 359,95 3.067,0 1.358,00 2.221,00 443,00 128,68 1.571,00 480,90 4.392,0 2.108,00

% CHG. 1.383,00 228,70 3.058,0 2.826,5 1.286,50 5.778,0 1.861,0 8.349,0 706,20 606,60 3.177,0 393,20 598,20 517,40 1,206 176,88 698,00 4.611,0 2.125,00 320,60 2.719,0 504,40 162,70 2.806,0 1.689,5 1.177,0 65,02 2.408,0 1.479,50 3.660,0 9.740,0 5.910,0 3.893,5 374,90 483,60 3.431,0 12.475,0 10.739,1 888,00 1.574,80 354,10 2.997,0 1.319,50 2.183,00 434,00 124,40 1.547,00 467,50 4.314,0 2.071,00

NET VOL 82,83K 684,79K 33,54K 776,37K 324,74K 239,77K 422,09K 279,50K 160,31K 307,41K 37,65K 2,49M 408,55K 745,06K 610,34K 4,44M 241,68K 29,61K 1,30M 9,16M 706,58K 342,03K 4,16M 110,82K 220,30K 236,05K 2,18M 101,61K 390,75K 240,35K 34,69K 119,86K 400,35K 354,69K 1,73M 125,19K 70,64K 2,96K 270,77K 1,17M 8,21M 76,53K 85,84K 59,17K 4,01M 11,83M 223,04K 1,14M 93,31K 57,16K

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

5.506,0 106,35 274,10 1.934,5 740,40 283,10 45,42 6.716,0 733,60 145,25 1.784,50 1.057,60 216,50 7.708,0 29,10 1.708,50 2.692,0 630,60 1.236,50 6.219,0 2.333,00 548,40 765,20 4.797,5 110,00 7,51 1.566,40 1.566,4 1.567,2 816,00 1.602,00 15,44 3.404,0 1.347,00 1.384,00 2.922,0 1.215,00 1.526,00 15.345,0 1.603,50 1.595,00 427,90 163,90 285,20 208,10 3.978,0 1.094,50 112,00 2.742,0 1.080,50

CHANGE(P)

% CHG.

NET VOL

5.524,0 106,50 274,10 1.935,5 741,00 283,50 45,55 6.780,0 734,80 145,45 1.797,50 1.061,20 217,00 7.722,0 29,11 1.736,00 2.719,0 634,40 1.239,00 6.232,0 2.337,00 548,40 770,00 4.801,0 112,60 7,53 1.567,51 1.567,4 1.567,6 817,80 1.609,50 15,59 3.406,0 1.351,00 1.386,00 2.931,0 1.227,00 1.526,50 15.355,0 1.606,00 1.598,50 428,40 166,10 285,30 210,00 3.986,0 1.097,50 113,00 2.746,0 1.080,50

5.426,0 104,30 269,10 1.880,5 731,20 279,90 44,83 6.648,0 731,00 142,05 1.761,00 1.051,00 213,70 7.564,0 28,80 1.705,50 2.672,0 626,00 1.218,00 6.160,0 2.298,00 528,60 753,20 4.719,0 107,12 7,47 1.543,70 1.542,0 1.541,6 800,00 1.601,00 15,33 3.357,0 1.331,00 1.360,00 2.892,0 1.204,00 1.506,50 15.045,0 1.586,00 1.572,00 421,20 162,10 281,30 204,30 3.932,5 1.082,00 111,36 2.676,0 1.062,50

30,94K 1,56M 529,91K 112,34K 146,55K 2,61M 38,58M 88,63K 623,66K 948,33K 124,40K 1,08M 4,46M 27,81K 179,57K 158,02K 79,59K 606,48K 823,44K 141,35K 461,78K 2,43M 226,53K 453,27K 12,70M 237,96K 742,85K 749,62K 1,66M 294,76K 7,96K 2,41M 16,51K 957,65K 281,19K 42,59K 262,69K 134,93K 10,38K 305,87K 269,55K 1,04M 1,70M 253,14K 1,19M 699,63K 188,36K 8,77M 97,77K 310,61K

1.17128

0.85365

Units per €

US dollar (USD) ......................................1.12655 Japan yen (JPY)......................................127.919 Switzerland franc (CHF) ...........................1.0407 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4362 Norway kroner (NOK) ...............................10.215

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 D ECEMBER 20

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

PRICE 174,75 2.856,06 3.400,35 222,50 171,14 192,63 201,37 113,60 60,46 57,73 381,80 387,98 205,17 127,40 50,62 168,23 156,76 261,70 75,69 333,79 323,80 161,36 157,46 252,93 932,57 487,12 53,17 211,88 138,75 148,76

CHANGE 178,32 2.889,20 3.417,97 224,16 173,47 194,77 205,25 116,46 60,79 58,92 393,67 397,98 210,11 128,64 51,02 170,78 159,38 264,85 77,74 337,11 324,92 162,86 161,72 253,90 960,66 493,13 53,22 213,21 143,95 149,84

CHANGE% VOLUME(M) 174,34 3,92M 2.835,76 2,05M 3.312,27 4,25M 219,32 6,32M 169,69 193,76M 187,88 12,48M 201,23 5,88M 113,53 22,17M 59,78 60,54M 57,70 51,15M 380,63 6,97M 387,42 11,02M 204,71 5,49M 125,21 10,20M 50,01 48,56M 167,66 16,01M 155,18 27,77M 260,88 5,56M 75,50 27,82M 330,75 39,49M 317,25 47,36M 160,55 7,63M 157,31 23,55M 246,79 11,89M 909,04 30,55M 486,38 5,52M 52,36 53,74M 207,79 11,36M 138,39 25,66M 146,57 13,45M M - MILLION DOLLARS

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 20

COMPANY

CHANGE NET / %

VOLUME

Most Advanced Cable One Inc. Biglari Holdings Inc. Cl A Boston Beer Co. Cl A Carvana Co. Cl A HubSpot Inc. Ubiquiti Inc. Bank of America Corp. 7.25% Non-Cum. Perp.

Chemed Corp.

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. Twilio Inc. Cl A Wayfair Inc. Cl A

3.14% 3.42% 4.11% 9.54% 2.74% 5.60% 1.04% 2.81% 0.86% 4.88% 6.47%

88.23K 364 404.39K 6.78M 1.09M 287.08K 5.6K 295.89K 250.19K 3.49M 2.09M

-2.47% -2.15% -2.25% -1.17% -6.11% -4.61% -3.92% -3.04% -3.46% -0.74% -4.69%

2.33K 43.86K 94.85K 11.45K 625.31K 2.56M 7.07M 588.5K 567.31K 342.17K 2.29M

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

Danaher Corp. 5% Mand. Pfd. Series B TopBuild Corp.

Estee Lauder Cos. Cl A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. W.W. Grainger Inc. Teledyne Technologies Inc. AutoZone Inc. Equifax Inc.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

Credit: Liz Truss Twitter

Liz Truss targets cooperation with Spain

WORKING TOGETHER: Liz Truss met José Manuel Albares in Madrid.

BRITISH Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has made Spain her latest target as she trav‐ elled to Madrid on Wednes‐ day December 15 to meet her Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares.

The foreign ministers dis‐ cussed how the UK and Spain can work together more closely on many dif‐ ferent matters including business relationships and NATO. This meeting comes just two weeks after their meeting in Riga, during the NATO Foreign Ministers Summit, at which both Ministers underlined their commitment to a Political Framework for a UK‐EU Gibraltar Treaty.

It has now been con‐ firmed that following a fourth meeting in London, the parties (Spain repre‐ senting the EU, UK and Gibraltar) the matter will continue to be negotiated during 2022 with the hope

that a final agreement is reached by Easter.

During the visit, which comes within her first 100 days in office, Foreign Sec‐ retary Liz Truss will also seek to boost the UK’s eco‐ nomic ties with Spain and hosted an event with lead‐ ing Spanish investors and British businesses in Spain.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “I want to work with allies like Spain to cre‐ ate a network of liberty based around closer eco‐ nomic, tech and security ties.

“We’re significant trading partners, with the UK as Spain’s biggest European in‐ vestor, and the UK as the top destination for Spanish investment. By boosting our trading ties even fur‐ ther, both Spain and every region and nation of the UK will benefit.”

As part of her two‐day visit, the Foreign Secretary also launched a new report

Rising inflation FOR the second month running, Spain’s rate of infla‐ tion in November climbed to its highest for 29 years at 5.5 per cent according to the National Statistics In‐ stitute (INE).

This was 0.1 per cent up on the record October fig‐ ure and is blamed on significant rises in the price of food and fuel prices.

If one removes the food and energy rises, then in‐ flation settles at a more acceptable 1.7 per cent for November, although even that is an increase over October figures.

The European Central Bank and Bank of Spain however believe that these monthly price rises will be short lived.

on scientific collaboration between the UK and Spain.

BUSINESS EXTRA Boohoo sad ONLINE UK fashion brand Boohoo believes that many people who had purchased designer dress‐ es to wear at Christmas and New Year events dur‐ ing November are getting ‘cold feet’ and returning them for credit which could knock up to 3 per cent from forecast profits.

Qatar news SPANISH ambassador to Qatar, Belen Alfaro has said that the past year has been really turbulent and challenging at the global level in terms of health and economy, but the bilateral relations be‐ tween Qatar and Spain remain excellent, inspired by the strong affection between both royal fami‐ lies.

Major blow THE outbreak of the Omi‐ cron virus in the UK seems likely to have dis‐ astrous effects on the hospitality industry in the run up to Christmas and according to the BBC, the Bar 44 chain, which has four outlets, has reported that 3,200 people have cancelled December bookings.

23 - 29 December 2021

EWN 33

34 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

23 - 29 December 2021

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT THEY are still arriving ya know.

Just because the biased British media has decided to stop reporting it, hundreds of migrants are still traversing the channel to the UK’s ‘promised land’.

Most have been in France for months and in a few cases years.

With the majority still appearing to be young fit men, does it not strike anyone as suspicious how they manage to survive with no visible means of support?

Many are wearing designer gear and trainers, and just about all seem to carry expensive phones. They also must find the equivalent of three to five thousand pounds to pay the smugglers.

Most, if not all, have travelled through several countries in their quest to reach soft‐touch Britain. How did they manage to eat over the many months these treks lasted?

They are supposed to have come from war‐torn

Ulterior motive impoverished countries ‐ so where does all their money come from? Someone somewhere is bankrolling them. This raises the question as to why? Whatever the reasons, you can bet your lives it’s not from the kindness of somebody’s heart. There must be an ulterior motive.

Well, I personally think someone is generating a sleeping army. There are now thousands of these young Middle Eastern men entrenched all over the UK. If a non‐friendly nation is paying the bills, you can rest assured, they will also have underground contacts creating arms caches and bomb factories everywhere.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Russia didn’t have a financial source in there somewhere; wouldn’t Putin love to have a clandestine army sleeping in the UK! Whatever the reasons, I think the ever‐growing presence of

these young men is being taken far too lightly. Putting them up in hotels and lavishing them with benefits is verging on lunacy.

They should all be put into camps and interrogated as to their origins, and where their finances are coming from.

You can rest assured that if it ever does become necessary for them to pay their piper, the UK could finish up like Beirut.

The irony of that scenario is they will then have managed to turn the UK into something resembling the places they’re all supposedly trying to run away from!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Keep the faith Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com expatradioscotland.com Mon and Wed 1pm till 4 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

TV & Film Review by Laura Kemp

Streaming now: The Unforgivable

DESPITE mixed reviews, Sandra Bullock shines in this new Netflix movie based on the 2009 mini‐se‐ ries Unforgiven.

Ruth Slater, played by Bullock is released from prison after a 20‐year sen‐ tence for murdering a po‐ lice officer.

The Unforgivable follows Ruth as she attempts to re‐ integrate into society in Seattle and reconnect with her sister Katie, played by Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones).

Ruth finds that she will always be seen as a cop killer as she is judged by ev‐ eryone where she once lived. Her only hope for re‐ demption lies with her es‐ tranged younger sister who now lives with her adoptive mother (played by the amazing Viola Davis) and father.

The sons of the officer that Ruth killed 20 years

previously are out for re‐ venge. The plot that has some unexpected twists and turns and although her crime is ‘unforgivable,’ Bul‐ lock is successful in making the audience feel empathy and pity towards Ruth, as we see her isolated and alone in dreary Seattle.

The present day is meshed with flashbacks from Ruth’s and Katie’s past in the country house they were forced to leave behind.

Some of them are dreamy summer memories of Katie growing up, while others reveal why Ruth ends up in prison.

This movie portrays the idea that not everything and everyone is as they seem and although there are some plot holes and parts of the narrative are quite implausible, the end‐ ing will leave many welling up.

THURSDAY 23/12 FRIDAY 24/12

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Superman & Lois BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The Weakest Link Christmas Special The Wall v Celebrities: EastEnders Christmas Special EastEnders Ghosts

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Dolittle Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather Weather The Repair Shop at Christmas EastEnders

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Mary Poppins Returns Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special Michael McIntyre's Christmas Wheel Blankety Blank Christmas Special 2021 Call the Midwife EastEnders Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special

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Beauty and the Beast Paddington Around the World in 80 Days Around the World in 80 Days Death in Paradise Christmas Special A Very British Scandal EastEnders BBC News Weather

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Countryfile BBC News BBC London News; Weather Weather Paddington 2 EastEnders MasterChef: The Professionals Rematch 2021 A Very British Scandal BBC News

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The BFG Pointless Celebrities BBC News BBC London News; Weather Weather The Weakest Link Worzel Gummidge: Twitchers EastEnders A Very British Scandal BBC News

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A Dog's Journey Pointless Celebrities BBC News BBC London News; Weather Weather The Weakest Link Worzel Gummidge: Calliope Jane The Repair Shop A Star Is Born BBC News

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Upstart Crow Blackadder's Christmas Carol University Challenge Blackburn Sings Christmas with Gareth Malone Last Christmas Top of the Pops 1984: Big Hits Elton John's Christmas Concert: Old Grey Whistle Test

9:00pm

To Catch a Thief North by Northwest Dad's Army Carols from King's University Challenge Gardeners' World Winter Specials Vienna Blood A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Mezzotint Amazing Grace

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The Two Ronnies: The Studio Recordings Quentin Blake: The Drawing of My Life The Queen's Christmas Broadcast The Adventures of Robin Hood The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show 1971 The Morecambe & Wise Show 1970 - The Lost Tape

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Some Like it Hot Final Score The Two Ronnies at Christmas The Perfect Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special Anything Goes: The Musical Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Christmas Fishing Adele: The BBC Sessions Tina Live!

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Calamity Jane West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic West Side Story The Hairy Bikers Go North for Christmas Only Connect: Christmas Special University Challenge Blade Runner 2049 Highlander

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Evil Under the Sun Death on the Nile Inside the Factory Only Connect: The Birds and the Bees Special University Challenge Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby Mock the Week End of Year Special Joanna & Jennifer: Absolutely Champers

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Sean Connery: Talking Pictures The Great Train Robbery Murder on the Orient Express Wild Tales From the Village Only Connect: Cold Special University Challenge Inside the Factory XL: Diggers Frankie Boyle's 2021 New World Order

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Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights Winterwatch 1963 - The Big Freeze The Last Igloo Lucy Worsley's Christmas Carol Odyssey 60 Years of Carols From King's Winterwatch 1963 - The Big Freeze

5:00pm

Top of the Pops: Christmas 2002 Top of the Pops: Christmas Hits Tom Jones & Beverley Knight's Gospel Christmas Country Christmas 2021 Country at the BBC The Turn of the Screw Whistle and I'll Come to You

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Penguin Post Office: Natural World Winter Journey: Schubert's Winterreise Eric and Ernie - Behind the Scenes Their Finest Mrs Dickens' Family Christmas What We Were Watching: Christmas 1991

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The Chronicles of Erne Dancing the Nutcracker Inside the Royal Ballet La Boheme from the Royal Opera House Moonstruck Mark Kermode's Christmas Cinema Secrets The Chronicles of Erne The Turn of the Screw

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BBC Proms Sondheim at the BBC Sunday in the Park with Stephen: Omnibus Face to Face with Stephen Sondheim Life of a Mountain: A Year on Scafell Pike The Great Mountain Sheep Gather Sunday in the Park with Stephen: Omnibus

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Australia: Earth's Magical Kingdom Royal Institution Christmas Lectures West Side Story Into the Woods: Stage to Screen Australia: Earth's Magical Kingdom Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

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Australia: Earth's Magical Kingdom Royal Institution Christmas Lectures Billy Connolly: Made in Scotland Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime Williams: Formula One in the Blood Handmade in the Pacific: Pou

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Tipping Point: Lucky Stars Christmas Special The Chase Celebrity Christmas Special ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale A Merrier Christmas?

Tonight Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow Christmas Special

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Tipping Point: Lucky Stars Christmas Special ITV Evening News ITV News London The Chase Celebrity Christmas Special Gino's Italian Family Adventure: A Festive Feast Emmerdale Royal Carols: Together at Christmas

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Santa Claus ITV News and Weather Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs at Christmas The Masked Singalong Emmerdale Coronation Street The Larkins at Christmas ITV News and Weather Love Actually

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Saturday Night Takeaway Presents: Double Trouble The Chase Celebrity Christmas Special Celebrity Catchphrase: Christmas Special Emmerdale Coronation Street All Star Musicals at Christmas Billy Connolly: My Absolute Pleasure

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In for a Christmas Penny Family Fortunes Christmas Special Emmerdale The Voice Kids Coronation Street ITV News at Ten and Weather ITV London Weather Bradley & Barney: Breaking Dad at Christmas

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The Chase Lingo ITV Evening News ITV News London Emmerdale The Voice Kids Coronation Street ITV News at Ten and Weather ITV London Weather All Star Musicals at Christmas

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Tipping Point The Chase Lingo ITV Evening News ITV News London Emmerdale Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs The Voice Kids ITV News at Ten and Weather ITV London Weather

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Chateau DIY at Christmas Kirstie's Handmade Christmas The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Christmas at Holkham Hall One Night in the Natural History Museum

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It's a Wonderful Life Channel 4 News The Snowman The Snowman and the Snowdog Home Alone The Greatest Snowman 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Christmas Special The Last Leg Christmas Eve Special

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The Snowman The Snowman and the Snowdog The Alternative Christmas Message Channel 4 News Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Terry Pratchett's the Abominable Snowbaby The Great Christmas Bake Off 2021

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The Simpsons Home Alone 3 Crocodile Dundee Channel 4 News Britain's Scenic Railways at Christmas Escape to the Chateau at Christmas All I Want(ed) for Christmas The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2021

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The Great Christmas Bake Off 2021 Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Crocodile Dundee II Travel Man: 96 Hours in Iceland Jon & Lucy's Christmas Sleepover 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Christmas Special

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Christmas at Castle Howard Location, Location, Location The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Sarah Beeny's New Life in the Country Extraordinary Escapes at Christmas with Sandi Toksvig

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Playing With Fire Christmas at the Plaza Sarah Beeny's New Life in the Country The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Billionaire Blooms Kirstie and Phil's Love it or List it Britain's Most Expensive Houses

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Finding Santa 12 Pups of Christmas Entertainment News on 5 12 Pups of Christmas Matilda 5 News Update World's Strongest Man 2021 Police Interceptors Christmas on Cannon Hall Farm

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Christmas with the Kranks Deck the Halls 5 News Update Deck the Halls Ball & Boe: Back Together World's Luxury Cruise Ships at Christmas All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special

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

Sky Sports News Live: Good Morning Football NFL Bitesize Highlights Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Sky Sports News

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23 - 29 December 2021

FEATURE

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THE last year has been a challenging one for most of us, as our lives and liv‐ ing patterns have been disrupted by the tragic pandemic. One of the most highly affected areas is shopping, with many people opting to shop online.

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With many online purchases, when things go wrong, this can be the start of a very frustrating process that is fre‐ quently not solved to the customer’s satisfaction, However, Neater Heater accept that occasionally mistakes and accidents happen. Sometimes it is hu‐ man error, but usually it is out of their control. They will do their utmost to personally solve any problems their cus‐ tomers may have. In over a decade, they have never failed to honour a gen‐ uine warranty complaint.

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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.

RESCUED CATS Two four-month-old kittens were left at the bins in a box with a scrappy note saying ‘Sorry can’t take to UK’. They were so very lucky to have been found by a caring lady who decided to take them to Maz’s Canine Rescue shop (Almeria) which isn’t geared up for receiving poorly animals. However they were taken to Maz’s home and she took them in, even though the house is bursting at the seams.

Named Dasher and Dancer as it’s Christmas they were taken to the vet as they were quite poorly. Their eyes were closed with weepy eye syndrome, a dreadful case of worms, mites etc… thankfully have been given treatment and are improving.

The point is how sad is it that people can do this… it is left to the generosity of good-hearted people to stump up for the costs incurred… there is literally no room at the inn… as it’s the festive season… are there any of your readers that could possibly help out the Reindeer Kittens… I was really hoping that this might be newsworthy and that you could make a feature out of this very sad story … yours sincerely…

Pam

Anyone else?

Please can you highlight the lack of urgency in administering booster vaccinations at OCMC, residents are having to queue for up to two hours to book an appointment for a booster and are currently being given dates for April 2022. This means some re-

WOMEN’S SPORTS: Have they been left out in the cold?

Lucy Francesca REINDEER KITTENS: Dasher and Dancer are looking for a new home.

sidents will have waited 12 months between their second vaccination and their booster.

We in Orihuela Costa feel like we are being forgotten about and being pushed to the back of a very long queue for services.

The health service has deteriorated so much over the years which is mostly due to the constant building of new properties along the coast without the infrastructure in place to co-

THANK YOU TO ALL THIS is the last edition of Euro Weekly News before Christmas and we would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our wonderful readers and advertisers for their support during the pandemic.

We know how hard it has been for everyone, especially as whenever we appear to be climbing out of the problem, something new appears and Omicron is the latest problem to be tackled.

Despite the fact that so many advertisers had to temporarily withdraw their adverts at the height of

CORRECTIONS

From our Facebook

pe.

Slowly but surely Orihuela Costa is being starved of money and services.

Yours hopefully Jane

Peter John Colin Why - don’t even get enough spectators at the moment, when it becomes more popular then yes ok.

Sheree Ruiz

Beware!

A warning to anyone buying and eating Turron this Christmas. Anyone know a good dentist?

Freddie

OUR VIEW

the pandemic and the lockdown, we have continued to issue Euro Weekly News every week without fail, albeit with a reduced number of pages.

In addition, we have continued to populate our website with local and international stories and kept readers alert to both major breaking news and a number of heartwarming stories closer to home and have never asked a single reader to contribute to keep us going.

Readers will have noticed that

Yes of course they should! The women’s teams do so much better than the men’s and the women are hard as nails when it comes down to sports. We go hard or go home and we take injuries and tackles! We don’t just fall on the floor and fake it.

the size of the papers has been growing on a regular basis and that is thanks to the fact that so many advertisers have either returned or started advertising for the first time and we wish them every success with their diverse businesses despite the constant problems.

It remains only to wish everyone who reads EWN either in paper form or online (as we have so many overseas readers) all the very best to you and your loved ones in 2022 and to hope that it will be a better year for us all.

To command a prime time slot it has to draw the sponsors’ money, and get the viewing numbers/ratings, so advertisers will buy advertising slots. There are many sports, both men’s and women’s that for purely commercial reasons never make it to prime time viewing or make it into the exclusive sports channels.

Dawn Giddings They simply won’t get the viewing figures!

James Golt Only if they take their tops off when they score.

Joe Pritchard Nah, and while we’re on about it, hoy them off commentating as well.

Janet Murray Yes, it’s time you show women’s footie on prime TV, we have been left out in the cold long enough.

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

23 - 29 December 2021

www.euroweeklynews.com

HEALTH & BEAUTY

Advertising Feature

Your perfect smile at OdontoStetic THE professional team at OdontoStetic Dental Clinic in Garrucha and Los Gallardos have been transforming smiles for more than 26 years. Led by dentist Dr William El‐ jadue Lopez, the clinic is known for its expe‐ rience, training, new technology, and per‐ sonal treatment.

One of his latest satisfied customers shared his thoughts on his new smile after Dr William transformed his smile.

He said: “I am very satisfied that all the work that has been done has made a very significant improvement. For many years I had very crooked teeth and now they are obviously very gleaming and new and ev‐ eryone thinks I look like a film star.”

OdontoStetic offers dental treatments in Almeria, including implants, endodontics, dental aesthetics, teeth whitening, or‐ thodontics, Invisalign, periodontics, oral surgery, prostheses, preventive dentistry and children’s dentistry.

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Unhappy client before treatment.

for each patient. Being invisible, inside the brace there are accessories to help align the teeth to the desired position. One of the ad‐ vantages of Invisalign is that it can be re‐ moved to eat or according to the needs of each patient.

The dental aesthetics at OdontoStetic al‐ so allows them to transform your smile

Satisfied client after treatment.

through different procedures, including teeth whitening, designing Feldspathic ve‐ neers or other aesthetic materials that al‐ low them to give the patient their perfect and ideal smile.

OdontoStetic is also able to offer tradi‐ tional braces, as well as other types of den‐ tal work, including oral surgery.

Dr William leads the team.

The team of professionals in their practice takes part in continuous training to be able to offer the highest levels of dental care.

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For more information, visit www.odontostetic.es.

HEALTH & BEAUTY

www.euroweeklynews.com

Sleeping beauty

IT HAS been said many times that in order to look and feel our best we need our, ‘beauty sleep.’

However, recent research suggests that not getting enough rest can lead to more is‐ sues than simple irritability or bags under our eyes.

An alarming new study suggested that some sleeping tablets‐ used by millions who struggle to drop off‐ would cause most peo‐ ple to sleep through a fire alarm. The report, compiled by Japanese researchers and pub‐ lished in Frontiers in Behavioural Neuro‐ science, showed that many commonly‐pre‐ scribed sleeping pills kept around half of the study’s participants asleep through a range of loud noises, including someone vacuum‐ ing next to their bed.

So given this news‐ as well as the other concerns a lack of sleep could compromise our immune systems, lead to overeating, and even damage our hearts‐ what other ways are there to help us get enough sleep?

The National Sleep Foundation suggests there are several other alternatives to taking medication, including sticking to a sleep schedule and going to bed and waking up at the same times every day, even at week‐ ends.

The organisation also suggests putting in

BEAUTY SLEEP: A lack of rest can cause serious problems.

place a relaxing bedtime routine, such as taking a bath with aroma therapeutic oils, and avoiding reading the news or watching anything energetic for several hours before you try to get to sleep.

The environment in your bedroom is also important, and the National Sleep Founda‐ tion suggests making sure the temperature is not too warm, which may wake you up later, and that bedding, mattresses, and pil‐ lows are all comfortable.

Finally, avoiding alcohol often helps im‐ prove sleep, as does exercise, which also re‐ duces overall stress levels.

23 - 29 December 2021

EWN 47

48 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

23 - 29 December 2021

FEATURE

GO LOCAL THE EURO WEEKLY NEWS has urged its readers to support lo‐ cal businesses in the community by shop‐ ping locally in recent times. Now things are heading back to nor‐ mal, we challenge you to maintain that habit by supporting local high streets, markets, butchers, greengrocers and all of the wonder‐ fully quirky inde‐ pendent businesses in your area.

Local businesses make our villages, towns and cities what they are. They add unique character. They are convenient. And they offer excellent produce from known suppliers. The joy of shopping locally means that independent busi‐ nesses can support the local community. You may find something a euro or two cheaper online but have you considered where your money is actually go‐ ing?

By shopping locally you’re putting food on a local family’s table

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

and there is nothing better than giving back to the communities that have given us so much. Local stores sup‐ port charities and they sponsor local sports teams. In many cases, they are much more than just a business, they’re a legacy. They may have supported generations of the same family. Like‐ wise, brand new local stores and bars may help the genera‐ tions of the

future fulfil their dreams and ambitions.

Remember, your local store is going up against multi‐ nationals and chains.

They can’t win that battle on their own. So give

them your support.

Spending your mon‐ ey locally will make a real differ‐ ence to the local econo‐ my. Local businesses recirculate a g r e a t e r share of ev‐ ery euro they receive at lo‐ cal level.

They create locally owned supply chains and they invest in their employees.

So remember.

When you go shopping ‐ go local!

To advertise here contact us on:

951 386 161

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

23 - 29 December 2021

Property of the week

Advertising Feature VOSS HOMES

Villa Amorosa near Huercal-Overa AN immaculately maintained, large, recently modernised and decorated, three bedroom, two bathroom villa with H&C air con throughout, large Florida style outdoor living enclosure, sun roof and carport on a beautifully cared for walled and gated garden of 592m2. Walking distance to two cafe / restaurants, bar, school and doctors. Ten mins drive to Huercal-Overa town and 35 mins drive to the coast.

This quality, property is in a quiet cul-desac position on the edge of the popular village of Urcal, close to the thriving market town (Mon and Thurs) with hospital, numerous shops, supermarkets, sport and leisure facilities, parks, squares, historical buildings and churches etc.

The light and airy Villa Amorosa consists of a covered porch with a recently fitted quality front door, spacious, open plan living room / dining room with cast iron log burning fire in a feature fireplace with granite plinth and seasoned wood beam above and H&C aircon. From the living room are double doors leading in to the large Florida style outdoor meshed living area with Jacuzzi and BBQ. This makes an excellent

A light and airy villa in a quiet position.

all year round living / dining / relaxing room which looks out onto the gardens.

Just off the dining area is the generously sized recently fitted, bespoke, high quality kitchen with high end appliances plus back door and window looking out towards both the garden and garden room.

A corridor leads down in to the three larger than average double bedrooms (all with fitted wardrobes). The master bed-

room has an ensuite shower room and there is a family bathroom. All three bedrooms have H&C air con and both bath-

EWN 49

Ref. VH1925

169,000 euros

rooms have been recently updated.

All windows are all double glazed with fly free screens, window blinds and attractive security grills.

Outside is a beautifully maintained walled and gated garden of 592m2 with a variety of colourful plants and fruit trees (all with weed deterrent membrane and newly installed irrigation system) plus driveway, wooden pergola to keep the sun off the car and large sun terrace to enjoy the views. There are two small storage rooms for tools and bikes etc.

Voss Homes is a British family-run business with offices in the thriving, market town of Huercal-Overa and La Alfoquia (Zurgena). We are the main selling agent for the HuercalOvera, Zurgena, La Alfoquia and Taberno area. We look forward to helping you find your ideal property in Spain.

For more information or to arrange a viewing of VH1746 please contact Voss Homes on 0034 950 616 827 or 0034 678 002 006 or email us at enquiries@vosshomesspain.com.

50 EWN

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23 - 29 December 2021

CLAIRE GORDON FINDING BALANCE IN AN UNEVEN WORLD AS a fresh wave of infection sweeps across the globe, a horrible sense of déjà vu is creeping in. Case numbers are rising and whole countries are shutting down just in time to separate people from their family and friends during the festive season. While the need for measures to curb the spread of Covid is necessary, I can’t help but feel that various governments have tunnel vision when it comes to what to do.

My main gripe since the pandemic began has been the short-sightedness of the response. Especially in countries that can choose what path to take, instead of having to scramble to save themselves by any means necessary.

In March 2020, England was asked to stay inside for two weeks while the government organised itself into an all-singing, all-dancing testing machine. Or so they said.

Putting aside the fact that Boris Johnson’s sheer arrogance had delayed any kind of response at all until after Coronavirus was well and truly spreading through the community,

Travel

Duty of care they then managed to ignore the efficacy of one of the greatest things that the UK still has going for it (just).

The NHS has been the jewel in the crown of the UK for years and had all the provisions already in place to test, trace and track most of the country.

Instead, the Tories saw fit to bundle cash to a private company who then failed to deliver what was promised.

And this was just the beginning of similar issues there, and across the world, as governments asked for sacrifice from their population without looking at the bigger picture.

As peaks and troughs of the infection rate came and went, people and small businesses were battered by the waves.

Immunocompromised people were asked to shield indefinitely and forgot about when things started to open again. Businesses with no outdoor space were given no assistance when restrictions meant no one was allowed to sit inside. If you were not in the direct line of sight of ministers (ie, rich enough to hold sway), any help was

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

TONI C. EASTWOOD OBE, MBA

#TheWomanBeyond IN his brilliant book Spartan Up! Joe De Sena (founder of Spartan Race) ‐ in which by the way the first chapter is ti‐ tled From Here to Insanity ‐ this gives you a clue.

Joe tells us the ridiculous story of Göran Kropp.

Imagine your friend inviting you on an adventure.

They tell you, “Hey! I have this idea.

Let’s jump on our bikes and from our homes in Sweden, ride to the base of Mount Everest, then hop off, ascend to the summit without oxygen or a sherpa and then come back down and ride back home!!! Are you in?!”

If you’re like me, you’d probably say, “Dude. Are you crazy!!”

You might even be tempted to say that’s impossible.

But it’s not impossible.

It’s just REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hard.

And there is a huge difference be‐ tween the two.

Cueva del Agua, Jaen

lost, and people went under the radar and then under the water.

With this strain, the panic is worse, even if the symptoms are not. As I see the mental health of people deteriorate at the thought of another Christmas alone, and the cancellations list grows for friends with small businesses suffering under unclear guidance, I despair.

In Andalucia, we waited for a BOJA to clarify new restrictions right up until the moment it was due to be enforced! People’s health and livelihoods hang on words the government can’t even prepare ahead of time.

While I understand the situation is ever-changing, if thoughts do not turn to the long-term plan of how to escape this merry-go-round with people and businesses intact, there are going to be many more casualties than just those who catch the virus.

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

FEATURE

CAVE OF WONDERS: There are various viewing points.

THE spectacular Cueva del Agua (water cave) is located near Quesada in Jaen. It is al‐ so known as La Cueva de la Virgen de Tíscar (tradition has it, the Virgin appeared there in 1319). It is also re‐ ferred to as the Cave of Won‐ ders.

This natural cave is formed from limestone at the point where the Tiscar river and the Monte del Caballo rock meet. This has created a hid‐ den oasis of fountains, streams, and waterfalls which have shaped the cave over thousands of years.

The cave is accessed by a narrow tunnel and there are wooden steps that descend

to various viewing points.

Legend has it that the Moors, who once ruled the Castle of Tíscar, threw an im‐ age of the Virgin Mary into the cave and broke it into a thousand pieces with a sword after it kept reappear‐ ing after being discarded.

Later, the Christians recov‐ ered the pieces and took them to Toledo for repair, but the Virgin miraculously returned to Tíscar, and a chapel was built to worship her.

Today the cave hosts mu‐ sic concerts on the second Saturday of August, which take advantage of the mag‐ nificent acoustics.

REALLY HARD VS IMPOSSIBLE Really Hard vs Impossible.

Do you have any ‘impossible’ dreams that need to be redefined as simply re‐ ally (really!) hard?

Yes? Which one?

This is the season for sharing our hopes and dreams and for setting our intentions for the year ahead. What one big thing would you dare to dream (and do) if you knew you couldn’t fail?

I’ve been thinking about mine recent‐ ly, with a brilliant team away day last week, before we went off for the holi‐ days.

Come on what’s your Biggest Most Audacious Goal? Think about it. Dream about it. Get fired up about it. Then go WOOP it (you remember WOOP from a few weeks ago? Wish, Outcome, Ob‐ stacles and Plan) Then get to it!

I’m reminded of some great wisdom, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” ‐

Thomas Edison I also love to remember Seneca’s wis‐ dom: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”

It may be difficult or really, really hard, but nothing is impossible if you really want it.

And in case you were wondering ‐ Göran Kropp, did achieve the impossi‐ ble and he tells his own story in his book, Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey.

Stay Focused, Keep Positive and Choose to +1 in Every Moment.

Ignite Your Passion, Fulfil Your Dreams and Awaken Your Greatness!

Love, Hugs, High Fives and Fist Bumps Toni x Toni Eastwood OBE, MBA #The‐

WomanBeyond PS. Want to ignite your passion and purpose? To get laser focused on your Biggest Most Audacious Goals? Grab one of the last few places on my Vi‐ sionary Women Programme for Jan‐ uary 2022. In just four, three‐hour on‐ line sessions you could make 2022 Your Best Year Yet. Twenty five per cent off for Euro Weekly News readers ‐ Just Quote Offer Code EWN25 ‐ for more info and to book, head on over to https://quantumvantage.co.uk/vi sionarywomenprogramme Don’t hold back another moment.

You could be just one step away…

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

Please do get in touch if you have any questions. Follow me, chat and share your thoughts and network with other fabulous women in my Visionary Women Facebook Group.

@tonieastwood

@SixSecretsToSuccess @VisionaryWomen

tonieastwoodobe

sixsecretstosuccess

PETS

52

www.euroweeklynews.com • 23 - 29 December 2021

SPONSORED BY

Need someone to cherish your pets?

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

Perhaps you are already mak‐ ing plans for a staycation get away. Even if you are planning just a short trip, you’ll know that you simply can’t travel with some pets. Young pets in particular may benefit from staying behind so they can fol‐ low their routines at home. So, plan ahead.

Take a moment to plan ahead for pet and house‐sit‐ ters, if you have trips planned later this year.

Now is the time to get ready.

We will help you as much as we can. Our philosophy is that we are all in this together. These are the steps to take: 1. Register as a homeowner on HouseSitMatch.com 2. Choose a Premium ac‐

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How does it work?

HouseSitMatch can help you find suitable sitters. Join our network for a small annual fee.

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Our chatty feathered friends PERHAPS not the best choice for anyone with a feline prowling the house, a bird can be a fantastic, life‐long companion.

With their cheerful

and inquisitive na‐ tures, many people don’t realise how much a bird can add to the home. They are incred‐ ibly social animals, of‐ ten compared to hu‐

man toddlers in terms of their big personali‐ ties.

The most popular feathered pet is the common parakeet, or budgie, and it makes a wonderful companion for anyone new to keeping birds. They are gentle, docile, and qui‐ eter than other par‐ rots, but can learn to mimic speech.

The budgie is also budget friendly, their

diets extending to fresh fruits and vegeta‐ bles. Their smaller size also makes them a lit‐ tle easier to clean up after than their larger cousins.

For those that don’t mind a noisier home environment, a curious Cockatiel is ideal.

Caring for a bird is a life‐long responsibility, with average life ex‐ pectancies spanning from 10 to 20 years.

BUDGIES: Gentile and docile.

CLASSIFIEDS AIR CONDITIONING

Chaplaincy of Costa Almeria and Costa Calida web page.

Or contact Tony Noble 950 069 103. (10002)

54

ELECTRICAL

TURRE EVANGELICAL CHURCH We meet every Sunday at 10.30. For worship. We believe you’ll find us ‘relaxed’, welcoming’ and ‘informal’. Find us on Turre’s main street, towards the motorway at the far end on the left. To know more contact 617 614 156 (10021)

BUILDERS ALMERIA BUILDERS: Fully Legal, Fully Insured, All Work Guaranteed. 659 685 133 w w w. a l m e r i a b u i l d e r s . c o m (253556)

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

CARS FOR SALE

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 to The Anglican

BUILDERS

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.britishlegion.org.uk/coun ties/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 zurge narblsecretary@yahoo.co.uk (253989)

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23 - 29 December 2021 • www.euroweeklynews.com SPONSORED BY

prices in the market. For the most competitive quotes in English, call Linea Directa on 902 123 309. (200726)

NAUTICAL INTERNATIONAL SKIPPER LICENCE: Courses held in English and starts soon.

RYA VHF and Radar Courses. 626 245 098 (294236)

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

Tel: 950 137 208 / 638 010 691 (293950)

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 HuercalOvera, 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 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) STAY SAFE! Abbeygate Insurance Call 971 277 455 For your security www.abbey gateinsure. com

LANGUAGE CLASSES

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SOLAR ENERGY 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

PROPERTY MAINTENANCE

THE FIVE BONE HOTEL, TURRE. Little dogs €7, medium dogs €7.75, big dogs €8.50, cats from €6.25 a day.

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PLUMBERS KNOWLES PLUMBING No 1 for all plumbing jobs big or small. Central heating, solar hot water and water deposits.

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Avoid winter fines THE Directorate‐General for Traffic (DGT) is very ac‐ tive right now ensuring drivers follow the rules of the road in Spain. There are specific rules and regu‐ lations that we are all very aware of while driving, but sometimes there is one that surprises us, and the result is a fine.

With the current weath‐ er patterns during winter, traffic police are control‐ ling how drivers circulate within the law, and are clamping down heavily on road safety. There are a number of rules relating to the use of correct lighting while behind the wheel of

a vehicle. Most drivers will probably be aware of them, but we thought we‐ would share them with you anyway.

• While driving at night on urban roads, or out of town, if you do not have the low beam or dipped headlights on, you can re‐ ceive a fine of €200.

• If you drive at any time of day, through a tunnel or underpass, a reversible lane, or in adverse weather conditions, without low beams or dipped beams, you can receive a penalty of €200.

• If you activate the high beams and dazzle the rest

DRIVING AT NIGHT: Make sure you dip those beams.

of the road users who cir‐ culate in the opposite di‐ rection, you can receive a fine of €200.

• If your car’s rear li‐ cence plate light does not work, you can be fined €200.

23 - 29 December 2021

EWN 55

SPORT AN emergency meeting was called on Monday De‐ cember 20, among the ex‐ ecutives of all 20 English Premier League clubs. It was held in order to decide whether to continue play‐ ing football matches, in view of the recent upsurge in Covid cases that has seen several games postponed.

As a result, it was voted by a majority decision to continue playing the sched‐ uled matches after Christ‐

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23 - 29 December 2021

to read more visit www.euroweeklynews.com

Football to continue mas. Although it may yet be decided to play the matches behind closed doors once again, as a pre‐ cautionary health measure.

Included in the meeting were discussions to cancel this season’s fixtures com‐ pletely, but this was report‐ edly voted against unani‐

mously. Liverpool had also suggested rescheduling blocks of fixtures. While this proposal gathered the support of some clubs, it was eventually voted down, due to the complexi‐ ties involved.

Cancelling the full season would bring huge financial

UEFA boot Tottenham IN a sensational turn of events on Monday, December 20, football’s governing body in Europe, UEFA, has eliminated Tottenham Hotspur from the Europa Conference League.

This comes as the result of their having ‘for‐ feited’ their recent clash with Ligue 1 club, Rennes.

After an outbreak of Covid had decimated their squad ‐ losing nine of their first‐team, along with coaching staff, and even the un‐ der‐23 squad ‐ Spurs had no option but to pull the match, after being left short of play‐ ers.

Club officials had hoped that a compromise could be found that would allow them to

play the match at a renewed date. But it was not to be. UEFA handed the French team a 3‐ 0 default win, and Dutch club, Vitesse, will re‐ place Tottenham in the next round.

Club officials from Rennes were under‐ standably upset at the cancellation, which oc‐ curred after they had travelled from France to London.

Tottenham responded with a statement shortly after, “We are disappointed by the ruling of the UEFA Appeals Body, and the re‐ fusal to allow more time for the match to be rescheduled. We have to accept this ruling, however, and our focus now turns to the competitions we remain in.”

complications due to the new deal brokered with Amazon Prime Video. The quarter‐finals of the League Cup are being played mid‐ week, and then the next scheduled Premier League matches are not until De‐ cember 26 and 27.

The meeting was held on the same day a report was released claiming that 16 per cent of Premiership players are unvaccinated, meaning they have not had even the first jab.

Meanwhile, 92 per cent of players and staff have had either two, or three doses already.

This pales in comparison to clubs in Europe, where it is reported that in Italy, 98 per cent of all Serie club players and staff have been fully vaccinated.

In Germany’s Bundesliga, it is a similar situation, with 94 per cent fully jabbed, as reported.

Lewis Hamilton knighted F1 legend Sir Lewis Hamilton finally received his knight‐ hood. His sporting achievements were recognised at Windsor Castle on Wednesday December 15.

The knighthood, given by the Prince of Wales, comes just three days after he controversially missed out on a record eighth world title to Max Verstappen.

Hamilton, 36, was given the knighthood in the 2020 New Year Honours list and was also awarded an MBE in 2008 following his first championship win.

Having claimed a further six world championships and a record 103 race wins since, he becomes the fourth F1 driver to be knighted, after Jack Brabham, Stir‐ ling Moss and Jackie Stewart.

He not only leads by example on the track, but also uses his platform to raise aware‐ ness for equal rights, anti‐racism, and environmental causes.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff praised his driver saying: “Lewis is one of the very greatest racing drivers of all time and the most successful British sportsper‐ son of his era.

“The UK can be very proud to have a cham‐ pion and ambassador of the calibre of Sir Lewis Hamilton.”

Sir Lewis Hamilton.