Euro Weekly News - Axarquia 15 - 21 July 2021 Issue 1880

News

The people’s paper Issue No. 1880

15 - 21 July 2021

Drugs Drone recovered THE Spanish National Police have been working with the French National Police under a European Investigation Order from the International Cooperation Prosecutor’s Office in Malaga.

Jointly the officers have dismantled a criminal organisation and have arrested four people for drug trafficking, one of whom was based in Almachar. The drone, with a wingspan of over 4m, was designed to carry drugs between Morocco and Spain.

The flight range of the drone is a staggering seven hours.

AXARQUIA - COSTA TROPICAL • WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM

HOMELESS EXPATS’ APPEAL

Miss and Mister Malaga COMPETA is set to host the Miss and Mister Malaga Pageant, an event which will attract participants from across Axarquia and Malaga Province. The event is set to be held at the IES Almijara from 8pm in the courtyard on Sunday, July 18. The event will see representatives from towns within the province announced and they will be presented with a sash so that they are ready to go forward to the Grand Final which will take place on August 7 in Competa.

Young entrepreneurs aid NEW regional grants have been approved through the programme ‘Innovactiva 6000’ for young people, aged between 18 to 35, wanting to start a business in Nerja.

Anybody interested in applying for these regional grants can obtain information at Calle Almirante Ferrandiz, number 12, Monday to Friday from 10am to 2pm.

FREE • GRATIS

Nerja leads the way on hotel occupancy NERJA is the area of the Costa del Sol with most hotel book‐ ings this summer, it has emerged.

According to the Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs (Ae‐ hcos), Nerja’s hotels will reach an occupancy rate of 72 per cent in August.

Nearby Axarquia towns of Frigiliana and Torrox will also see occupancy of more than 63 per cent.

Jose Luque, the head of Aehcos, said it was: “an improve‐ ment in the evolution of reservations and an increase in de‐ mand for the Costa del Sol, which we hope may rebound even more in the near future, in order to at least offset the losses caused by the restrictions of countries like the United Kingdom during the last months.”

The move by the UK government to allow vaccinated na‐ tionals to fly back without quarantine from amber list coun‐ tries, including Spain, has reportedly sparked an increase in bookings on the Costa del Sol. Nerja, one of the Costa del Sol’s most popular tourism destinations, is now set to have the highest hotel occupan‐ cy rates following an increase in travellers to the area.

Meanwhile, occupancy in August now stands at 62.03 per cent across the Costa del Sol.

HOMELESS: Melvin and Elizabeth Goddard are living in their car.

EXPATS Melvin and Elizabeth Goddard are trying to raise funds after ill-health has left them homeless and in need of funding for the medical care they need.

The couple, left the UK for a life of travel in 2013, have started a GoFundMe page to raise the funds after Melvin’s serious spinal problems left the expats stuck in Spain on their way back to the UK, without access to health care and homeless.

The couple went travelling in 2013 before living in Portugal.

While there, Elizabeth claims she worked and funded the couple, however last year they were

forced to try to make their way home to the UK when Melvin became ill and was rushed into hospital with doctors discovering he had had a stroke.

In addition to his stroke, Melvin was diagnosed with inflammatory disease and doctors revealed that his degenerative disc disease had deteriorated, leaving the couple determined to drive back to the UK after he was told it was far too dangerous to fly.

On their drive back through Spain the couple say they found the travelling made Melvin too ill however, and were forced to stop

in Granada Province.

While living in Granada the pair rented a property, but Elizabeth’s inability to work while she cares for Melvin left them unable to pay rent, and the couple say they have become homeless after being evicted from their property and are now living in their car.

The couple are now asking the public to help fund Melvin’s health care and their trip back to the UK. To read more about Melvin’s medical condition, and for the details of their fundraising page, visit www.euroweeklynews.com.

NERJA: Has seen an increase in hotel bookings.

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15 - 21 July 2021

Guided tours in Los Toscanos THE Velez‐Malaga Tourism Board has announced that guided tours of the Los Toscanos site will take place for free this summer.

The tours will take place every Monday in July and August in groups of 20 in Velez‐Malaga.

Councillor for Tourism, Jesus Perez Atencia, and Maria Victoria Naranjo, a representative of the Society of Friends of the Culture of Velez‐Malaga (SAC), announced the move.

Councillor Atencia said: “Today’s announcement shows the gradual recovery of activities that the Depart‐ ment of Tourism carried out after they stopped due to the pandemic.”

He added: “It must be remembered that a series of ac‐ tions have been carried out in the area by the council’s Department of Environment and Culture. This has made it possible to partly improve the visibility, image and cleanliness of the area.”

He also thanked SAC for its commitment to the pro‐ motion of Los Toscanos in Malaga.

Hot sauce from algae!

UNUSUAL SAUCES: Products which also assist in helping out a serious problem.

AN innovative chef has made a hot sauce from invasive algae blighting the shoreline of southern Granada.

Chef David Chamorro has unveiled two hot sauces made from Rugulopteryx Okamurae, an invasive Asian alga which has been blighting the coast of Motril and elsewhere for almost a decade.

In January, Motril Council called for urgent action to prevent the algae from making a ‘catastrophic’ take over of the coastline, but the algae now threatens the entire Andalucian coastline. The algae spoils

coastlines rendering them unusable for fishermen and holidaymakers alike.

Scientists on Tuesday, July 6, called for innovative solutions to the encroachment including devising ways in which the algae could be used as food.

While not the most likely of ingredients, renowned chef David Chamorro, who runs the Food Idea Lab, devised a way to make the algae into two different types of hot sauce.

“Considering its sea flavourings, in the first place, and also its bitterness and spiciness, it seems like a seaweed that

NERJA Council has agreed a plan with the Andalucian Health Service to begin work on the town’s new health centre.

The plan was announced by the mayor of Nerja, Jose Alberto Armijo, who said that the plan set out who would finance the health centre as well as the equipment to be used in the centre.

doesn’t want to be eaten,” he said.

But it was the algae’s spiciness, which Chamarro said is unusual for most sea-grown plants, that inspired him to make a condiment from it.

Cooking up two sauces, a sriracha sauce and a Tabascotype sauce called ‘Tabanco’ in homage to the typical bars of Jerez, Chamarro said, “These are products which can be used by the gastronomy industry, but they’re also products which can assist in pointing out a serious problem. We’re doing our bit to help out.”

Health centre moves forward Mayor Armijo said: “This new health centre has been long-requested in our municipality and was never attended to

NEWS

RBL’s generous donation THE Nerja Royal British Legion has handed over a donation of nappies to the Nerja Solidaria food bank.

The association has held its Nerja Royal British Legion Armed Forces Day Lunch and asked members and friends attending the lunch to bring along a packet of nappies to be donated to Nerja Solidaria.

Dorothy Allen, who organised the donations, said: “That was one of the items they were short of at Nerja’s Solidaria food bank.” She added that in addition to the nappies brought in to the lunch, “another generous person donated €50 which was spent on packets of nappies.”

Nerja Solidaria thanked the Royal British Legion for its donation. It said: “Many many thanks to the Royal British Legion Nerja branch for the fantastic donation of nappies today. The support you are giving us is amazing and we really appreciate all that you are doing to help our families.”

by previous autonomous governments.” The plan sets out that the Andalucian Health Service will pay for the building of the health centre, as well its equipment.

Meanwhile, Nerja Council will carry out the works to urbanise the plot of land the centre will be built on in Nerja.

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NIBS EXTRA Airport growth MALAGA Airport gained further passengers in June, reaching 645,820 travellers and 31 per cent of the traffic seen in 2019.

The airport’s passenger figures had been down during travel restrictions in the pandemic, however they are beginning to rebound, with 7,912 flights operating at Malaga Airport in June.

Motril hospital THE former head of a department at Motril Hospital has died. Dr Miguel Angel Diaz Castellanos was a director at the hospital before his death.

Doctors at the hospital have come out to praise him for his work.

Police recruitment A TOTAL of 149 aspiring candidates have applied for three positions in the Nerja Local Police. Nerja Council is recruiting to increase the number of staff in its Local Police to around 30 officers.

The council will now put together a tribunal to put the candidates through their paces before hiring the new officers.

Beach death A MAN with spina bifida has died on a beach in Nerja after his wheelchair overturned in the water and he drowned. Two doctors tried to rescusitate the man, however the 36-year-old died.

The man was at the beach with family and friends when the accident took place.

Malaga murder A MAN in Malaga has been found guilty of killing his 81year-old mother and trying to murder his sister. Prosecutors are now asking for 27 years in prison after the man shot his mother dead in Puerto de la Torre in Malaga.

€15,000 Grant THE Axarquia Association of Women with Breast Cancer has donated €15,000 to Malaga Biomedical Research to be used in its fight against breast cancer. The funds will go to research into a new type of treatment for breast cancer led by the director of the Oncology Clinical Management Unit of the public hospitals of Malaga.

15 - 21 July 2021

Climber falls in canyon THE mountain rescue team of the Guardia Civil were called out to rescue a climber who had fallen while climbing the Pared de la Virgen in Granada. The climber was climbing a canyon near Velez-Benaudalla.

The N-323 passes through the El Tajo de los Vados canyon and many climbers looking for an adrenaline kick climb solo in the area without ropes. The area does have iron rungs though to aid climbers who want to be safer.

The accident happened on July 5, at around 7.30pm. The two climbers had been tackling a face of the gorge when one of them

HELICOPTER: Was sent in to rescue the climber. fell. The climber who fell suffered a fall of 10 metres. The other climber was not out of danger though and was left hanging from

his rope and was not able to help the injured climber.

Emergency services rushed to the scene of the accident including

an ambulance, the fire service from Motril, the Guardia Civil and the mountain rescue team. A helicopter was also dispatched.

The climber who was injured had ended up resting on a ledge, but the helicopter was not able to get close enough to rescue the climber.

This meant that the helicopter had to ascend and send down a rescuer using a rope.

The climber was discovered to have an open femur fracture and a fractured hip. Rescuers were able to winch the climber to safety and he was transferred by helicopter to Granada’s PTS hospital.

Lux Mundi thank you for donations LUX MUNDI Ecumenical Centre, Torre del Mar, Avda. Moscatel 1”I”, (Jardines Viña Malága/Antigua Casa de la Viña), Torre del Mar, 29740. Open mornings only Monday and Wednesday 10.00 till 13.00 and Fridays as usual 11.00 ‐ 13.00. We would like to as‐ sure you that we are complying with all the Covid regulations to make your visits to our centre as safe as possible.

Identification beach bracelets TORROX Town Council will again make identification bracelets available to families using the beaches of the municipality.

This initiative, that makes identification bracelets available, will make the beaches much safer. Children will be easier to locate in cases of confusion which will also add value to families who choose this area not only for having the best climate in Europe, but also for its tranquillity. The councillor in charge, Veronica Muñoz, said that this initiative, originally launched in 2014, has always been very well received because it is an object that is easy to carry and that minors do not usually take it off.

The contact details are also written in various colours which makes it easier to quickly identify which area your family is located in. Children often cannot remember the contact details of their family and, in many cases, language barriers are an added issue.

The bracelets are available free of charge at the tourist information points on the beaches of Ferrara and El Morche, as well as at the lifeguard watchtowers.

For further information please contact the Centre, Torre del Mar Tel. 952 543 334 E‐mail: luxmundi@lux‐mundi.org Website: www.lux‐mundi.org.

Lux Mundi, Torre del Mar were pleased to welcome 36 friends to the lunch, organ‐ ised by the administrator Gloria, at the Sa‐ fari Lounge restaurant in Torre del Mar. It was a great opportunity to be together

again with such a great big family and share a few hours outside the Centre. The food was excellent and the weather was kind to us.

Lux Mundi would also like to thank you for your kind donations of €200 which was collected for our funds which is very impor‐ tant and means a lot for the future of the Centre.

Nerja on culture track NERJA Town Council has approved a col‐ laboration with the Cueva de Nerja Public Services Foundation to improve its cultur‐ al ties and promote its history.

The council will work with the Museum of Nerja along with the Research Institute of the Cueva on cultural activities and projects, as well as work in urban devel‐ opment and infrastructures in relation to

the conservation, protection and research of the Historical Heritage.

Nerja Council and the foundation will coordinate the programming of cultural activities and exhibitions, they will grant each other spaces for holding events, and they will provide technical advice on the management of history, culture and her‐ itage. The plan was approved July 8.

Feria takes place from today

Voi has 300 scooters

THE feria in Rincon de la Victoria will go ahead from today, Thursday July 15, with concerts by Maria de la Colina and Las Soles.

Taking place until July 18 the feria’s concerts will be based in Plaza Al‐Andalus and in the Plaza de la Constitucion between 8.30pm and midnight.

The attractions will be based in Huerta Ju‐ lian, closing at midnight. On July 16 and 17 they will close at 1am.

The council will also be offering 300 tickets for attractions to families in Rincon de la Victo‐ ria. Councillor for Ferias, Carla Perles, said: “From the Department of Culture, Fairs and Festivities we will continue to aid the cultural sector.” Acts at the feria will include the Estrel‐ la Diaz Dance Academy and the Estrella del Al‐ ba Association in Rincon de la Victoria.

SWEDISH company Voi Technology is re‐ turning to Malaga and is set to deploy 300 scooters during July.

The company had previously been seen in Malaga in 2018, although this ended quickly when after only a few short weeks it had to withdraw its 60 scooters from the city.

The Malaga City Council had to request that the scooters were withdrawn as regu‐ lations within Malaga meant that they could not be parked on pavements.

Last week Voi returned to Spain and launched its scooter service in Sevilla.

Malaga is now the second city where the company have reintroduced their scooter service.

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Flamenco workshop T H E councillor for Education and Culture Gema Laguna has announced a new free introductory flamenco workshop for melodic instruments organised by the M unicipal School of Music and D ance in N erja, which will be taught

by A lberto B ueno who specialises in flute. T he course will begin on J uly 16, until August 15.

E nrolment will take place from July 15 at the school headquarters, located at Calle Hernando de C arabeo, number 80, from 10am to 2pm. “ T his workshop, with which we intend to value flamenco as an artistic heritage, is open to all those people from the municipality interested in training in this musical discipline, so it is not necessary to be previously registered as a student in one of the courses offered by our school,” L aguna said.

T he councillor stressed that students will learn to interpret flamenco melodies, as well as assimilate the main elements of the flamenco musical language such as harmony, palos, rhythms and scales, from the hand of Alberto B ueno from Nerja.

The workshop will be held individually or in small groups, in weekly sessions of 60 minutes, complying at all times with the Covid-19 safety and health protocol in force at the Municipal S chool of Music and Dance.

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IN less than 10 years 65 per cent of Spain will have problems with drinking water supplies and this is something that is affecting the world all over.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the world is

Drinking water problems experiencing an increased scarcity of water. The organisation believes that one half of the population of the world will suffer from restrict‐

Police brings down internet fraud THE Guardia Civil has arrested 16 people from a criminal organisation dedicated to internet scams.

The organisation allegedly infected the computer equipment of the victims and impersonated the Post Office, the Tax Agency, the Treasury or the DGT. The organisation would use malicious software that would be in‐ stalled in victim’s computers using a technique known as ‘email spoof‐ ing’. They then would be able to steal large amounts of money from the victim’s account.

In the operation, known as Aguas Vivas, officers were able to block transfer attempts of €3,500,000, after analysing over 1,800 emails. Twen‐ ty crimes of fraud have been found, with a total amount of €276,470, of which €87,000 have been recovered.

They also carried out two searches in Madrid in which documenta‐ tion, mobile devices and computer equipment have been seized. The in‐ vestigation began over a year ago following several complaints filed by various official bodies across Spain of the infection of their computer equipment with some type of malicious software.

ed access to safe and clean drink‐ ing water in only a few years’ time.

In Spain, by 2030 65 per cent of the population will have difficulty with their supply of fresh water.

The Korea Institute of Civil Engi‐ neering and Construction Technol‐ ogy (KICT), have a possible solu‐ tion. They have developed a way of speeding up water desalination with a new method using nanofi‐ bre membrane. The membrane can filter out 99 per cent of the salt in seawater, and this could mean humans are able to get clean drinking water in a few minutes.

It is hoped the new technology could ease the water crisis across the world. The new technology would need to be commercialised first though. At this moment in time the World Health Organisa‐ tion believe that nearly 785 million people across the globe do not have access to safe drinking water.

Rashford responds to abuse A MURAL of the young star was defaced in his hometown of With‐ ington, Manchester, but it was quickly covered up with messages from supporters.

Rashford tweeted, “The mes‐ sages I have received today have been positively overwhelming and seeing the response in Withington had me on the verge of tears.

“The communities that always wrapped their arms around me continue to hold me up. I’m Marcus Rashford, 23‐year‐old, black man from Withington and Wythen‐

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YOUNG STAR: Mural was defaced.

shawe, South Manchester.

“If I have nothing else, I have that.

For all the kind messages, thank you. I’ll be back stronger. We’ll be back stronger.

“I can take critique of my perfor‐ mance all day long, my penalty was not good enough, it should have gone in, but I will never apologise for who I am and where I came from. I’ve felt no prouder moment than wearing those three lions on my chest and seeing my family cheer me on in a crowd of tens of thousands,” he added.

Rashford was one of three Eng‐ land players who missed penalties on Sunday night, all of them suf‐ fered racist abuse online.

Twitter said there is “no place” for the racist abuse of English play‐ ers after their loss to Italy in the EU‐ RO 2020 finals on July 11.

“In the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine automa‐ tion and human review, we have swiftly removed over 1,000 tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules.”

Readers divided over Spain’s ‘national service’ plans SIXTY‐FIVE per cent of our readers do not agree with Others said that it is “bl**dy disgusting” and Spain’s plan for a so‐called ‘national service’ in the called it a “cross between a dictatorship and com‐ event of a crisis. munism at its worst. All about power and control Under a new security law reform anyone over 18 over of the masses for the benefit of the elite.” residing in Spain would be obliged to carry out ‘per‐ One reader predicted “This will happen the world sonal tasks or benefits’ as required by the authori‐ over, it’s what it's all about.” ties.

We asked ‘Do you think the State should be able to seize personal assets and force citizens to carry out tasks if there is a ‘State of Crisis’?’

While those who think it is a good idea said that it never did anyone any harm and recalled that “they had conscription a few years back in Spain, I think it’s a good thing in this day and age with what’s going with other rogue countries threat‐ ening peace.”

DIVIDED: Over new national service plans.

Business meals now an expense THE Supreme Court has ruled that autonomos can deduct meals with clients as an ex‐ pense, until now it was a grey area for freelancers.

The ruling was made in March but only released on July 10.

“Expenses that are colloqui‐ ally known as customer ser‐ vice or personal and promo‐

tional services are de‐ ductible,” the ruling said Lawyer Andrea Torner said the ruling is a “great ad‐ vance”.

“Before any inspection, businesses will only have to prove to the Administration official that the person they had invited to eat, or to whom they have sent a gift, is

someone who either collabo‐ rates in their activity or with whom they want to start a business, even if it doesn’t end up being carried out later.

“These demonstrations are as simple as an email, a mes‐ sage or WhatsApp, a phone call or having their name ap‐ pear in your portfolio of regu‐ lar customers,” Torner added.

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Quality of life is tops in Finland

FINLAND has been named the best country in the world for Quality of Life, according to the latest C EOWORLD magazine 2021 report.

Scandinavia did very well in this report with Denmark second and Norway third, Belgium fourth and then Sweden fifth.

The rankings measure global per-

ceptions of 165 nations chosen because they contribute most to the world’s GDP. More than 258,000 people around the world are asked to evaluate the countries based on 10 metrics ranging from stability to transparency to equality The C EO W O R L D report explained that being safe, politically

Police officer killed in helicopter crash A POLICE officer has been killed in a helicopter crash while chasing an alleged drugs boat in San Roque, Cadiz. The incident took place at 12.20am on Sunday, July 11, next to Sotogrande beach.

The 60‐year‐old customs surveillance officer reportedly died after the helicopter they were using to carry out surveillance crashed into the water to prevent drug traffickers from entering the coast of Cadiz.

Despite wearing a life jacket the deceased offi‐ cer was trapped inside the helicopter without being able to get out while it sank.

A Customs Surveillance boat, which was also participating in the pursuit, rescued the two sur‐ vivors and recovered the body of the officer.

stable, and having a well-developed public health system drove Finland’s quality of life ranking to the top of the Best Countries 2021 list. Sixth to 10th places were taken

by Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Germany and Japan respectively with the UK coming in at 11 and Spain 20, whilst the worst

countries included Syria, Sudan, North Korea and surprisingly the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat which is placed 50 lower than war torn Yemen. In order to determine the rankings, researchers at the CEOWORLD magazine analysed and compared 165 countries across 10 key categories:

PSOE wins Granada mayoral race PSOE candidate, Francisco Cuenca, has been elected mayor of Granada after a tumultuous month in the Nasrid city.

Two Ciudadanos (Cs) councillors, former mayor Luis Salvador and his deputy, Jose Antonio Huertas, voted against their own party’s instructions for PSOE and now face being expelled from the Cs over the July 7 vote.

There were no abstentions. Fifteen votes in favour of Cuenca, 10 from the PSOE, three from Unidos Podemos and two from the Ciudadanos, compared to 12 for the Partido Popular (PP) candi-

date Francisco Fuentes, who had six from his own party, three from Vox and the remaining three from independent councillors. Vox’s candidate, Onofre Miralles, who put himself up as runner just 24 hours before the ballot, voted for Fuentes in the end. Cuenca is now Granada’s fourth mayor since 2016.

The political crisis which led him to power was precipitated by the Partido Popular (PP) abruptly withdrawing from a coalition with the Ciudadanos (Cs) in June when the Cs mayor, Luis Salvador, refused to rotate the post with the PP.

Affordability, Economic stability, Family-friendly, A good job market, Income equality, political neutrality and stability, Safety, cultural influence, Well-developed public education system, and Welldeveloped public health system.

Each attribute was graded on a 100-point scale.

Rare albino stag A RARE albino stag has been spotted by hunters in forests in Malaga Province. The video which Club de Caza, Spain’s largest hunting mag‐ azine obtained, shows the stag in all his glory, his coat completely white and his antlers are pale pink as opposed to the usual brown.

According to Jera y Sedal the stag is extremely rare as it is estimat‐ ed that only one in 30,000 deer suffers from albinism and they are highly prized among hunters. As far as the magazine knows the video was shot in Malaga Province. It is not the first time the animal has been seen, but the magazine says this is the best recording of it they have seen. Albinism is the result of cells that cannot produce melanin, the pigment needed to colour skin, scales, eyes and hair.

This genetic condition gets passed to offspring when both parents carry the recessive gene. When albinism is present, the animal can appear white or pink. Aside from appearance, these animals often have problems related to albinism, such as issues with eyesight.

Melanin helps eye development, so without it, irises, retinas, eye muscles and optic nerves may not form properly.

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15 - 21 July 2021

Cheers to beers!

ACCORDING to a study carried out by a group of Spanish researchers from the Spanish National Research Council CSIC, in collaboration with the Forum for Beer and Lifestyles Research (FICYE), and published in the current edition of medical journal Nutrients, one or two beers a day is the amount that has been established as ideal, according to the study.

Dr Ascension Marcos is the director of the Immunonutrition group of the Department of Metabolism and Nutrition of the Institute of Science and Technology of Food and Nutrition (ICTAN), of the CSIC, and one of those responsible for the study into moderate beer consumption and cardiovascular health.

“The available scientific evidence supports the health benefits of moderate beer consumption in adults, and according to the review, a moderate alcohol consumption of 196g a week for men, and 112g a week for women would set the daily margin on one or two beers - between 400ml and 700ml - if you break the weekly total down into well-distributed amounts,” the researcher said. Moderate beer consumption leads to a lower cardiovascular risk, and lower mortality in general, a lower risk of diabetes in men, an increase in the density of bone mass, reducing the risk of fractures, especially in the elderly. And they say beer is not associated with general or abdominal obesity.

New national service

NEW GUIDELINES: A document outlines the reform of the National Security Law. ANY person residing in Spain of the legal age shall soon be obliged to carry out so‐called ‘personal tasks or benefits’ as required by the authorities, following new guidelines being drawn up by the National Security Council ‐ if a state of crisis is declared in the country.

Should this happen, again, all

citizens ‘without exception’ must comply with the orders and in‐ structions issued by their local au‐ thorities.

This order is being established in a document outlining the reform of the National Security Law that is being prepared by the government which incorporates some of the lessons learned during almost a

Sanchez condemns Haiti death THE President of Spain, Pedro Sanchez condemned the assassina‐ tion of Jovenel Moise, the president of Haiti. He has called for unity in the country in a bid to overcome the crisis. Moise died during an attack on his residence by a group of unidentified people. Sanchez took to Twitter on Wednesday July 7 and voiced his condolences to Moise’s family. “Spain firmly condemns the assassination of the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise,” said Sanchez and expressed Spain’s solidarity “with the Haitian people”.

year and a half of the health crisis.

In the event that a state of crisis is declared in Spain (‘situation of in‐ terest to National Security’ is the name given by law), the authori‐ ties may seize any type of proper‐ ty. What the articles do make clear is that the measures adopted will be gradual and proportionate to the situation to be faced and will be limited to the time strictly nec‐ essary to overcome the crisis situa‐ tion.

The duty concerns not only all citizens but also companies and le‐ gal entities to collaborate with the authorities to overcome whatever crisis faces the country. The text is based on Article 30 of the Constitu‐ tion, according to which ‘Spaniards have the duty and right to defend Spain’.

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Investment scam OFFICERS of the Spanish National Police and Mossos d’Esquadra, in an operation coordinated by Eurojust and Europol, have dismantled a boiler room scam that used the name of famous Spanish celebrities and others to lure investors into their fraudulent money schemes.

Eight individuals have so far been arrested, two of them in Malaga and Madrid, five in Bulgaria and one in Israel. All have been accused of fraud and money laundering throughout Europe using fraudulent investment schemes after having more than 300 complaints registered against them in Spain.

Investigators estimate that the total amount of money netted by the criminals exceeds €8 million in Spain and €30 million across the rest of Europe and was obtained between 2018 and 2019. In business, the term boiler room refers to an outbound call centre selling questionable investments by telephone. It usually refers to a room where salespeople work using unfair, dishonest sales tactics, sometimes selling penny stocks, private placements or committing outright stock fraud. The investigation began with the receipt of several complaints, through Euuopol and from different countries throughout the European Union - all of them regarding investment scams involving cryptocurrencies and diamonds.

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15 - 21 July 2021

Jet2 targets Mum’s fear over Samuel Amber countries JET2 has announced it is reopening flights and holidays to amber list countries following the government’s announcement that vaccinated travellers will not need to quarantine after coming back to the UK. The airline confirmed it will be offering holidays to 40 green and amber list countries this summer.

“This is the news that UK holidaymakers have been looking forward to, as it finally signals a meaningful restart to international travel,” CEO of Jet2, Steve Heapy, said.

“We will be restarting flights and holidays to all Amber List destinations from July 19 onwards and we are ready for the wave of demand that this long-awaited and very welcome news will bring. We know how many customers want to jet off on our flights and ATOL protected package holidays, and we are ready to fly them away.

“Our team of colleagues could not be more excited to take customers on their much-awaited holidays and to deliver our award-winning VIP customer service.”

“With the government looking to unlock restrictions from July 19, we have been calling for international travel not to be left behind,” he said.

JET2: Restarting flights.

T E N S I O N S are high after the recent death of Samuel Luiz in La Coruña, with one mother sending a shocking message to her gay son that shows her fear for him and for others.

So far, police have arrest‐ ed four people as alleged perpetrators of the horrific attack. According to some the crime is not being con‐ sidered as a homophobic at‐ tack, but Samuel’s friends said that he was beaten while his attackers shouted ‘faggot’. His friends certainly consider the attack to have been homophobic.

Samuel had his whole life to live and was working as a nursing assistant helping others. He had been out

Samuel was beaten. with his friend Lina and the pair had decided to make a video call to another friend Vanessa and this was when everything went wrong.

The reaction of the LGBTI community saw thousands of people take to the streets on Monday, July 5, to con‐ demn discrimination and the shocking crime which took place at the weekend when

Samuel was beaten to death.

Many people in the LGBTI community are now afraid and they have shown this in messages posted across so‐ cial media networks. Fami‐ lies are also fearful for their loved ones.

One son took to Twitter to share a message that his mother had written to him via WhatsApp. It reveals the shock that many people are feeling at the moment, and their fear.

“In Coruña they have killed a boy for being homo‐ sexual. Please, no kissing in the street, no holding hands, no nothing,” said the mes‐ sage from the young man’s mother.

Creation of insect-sized robots ENGINEERS have created an insect-sized robot that can swerve and pivot with the agility of a cheetah, giving it the ability to traverse complex terrain and quickly avoid unexpected obstacles.

Small, robust robots like these could be ideal for conducting search and rescue operations or investigating other hazardous situations, such as scoping out potential gas leaks, US researchers said on July 7.

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Doses for 70 per cent of EU THE European Commission says that it will have enough doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 to be able to vaccinate 70 per cent of the adult population of the EU by the end of July.

“We have set a goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of the adult population,” said Stefan De Keersmaecker, Health spokesman for the Community Executive said on Tuesday July 6.

“We believe that a sufficient number of doses will be administered this month to allow the member states to achieve this goal,” he said.

Almost 62 per cent of the adult population in the EU already received at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 40 per cent of those over 18 years of age are fully vaccinated, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. But there are disparities. Belgium leads the table among the EU states, having already vaccinated 88 per cent of the adult population with at least one dose, Bulgaria has only some 17 per cent of first doses administered.

Spain, for its part, has vaccinated about 65 per cent of those over 18 years of age with at least one dose.

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Delta variant dominant

THE Delta coronavirus vari‐ ant is now dominant in at least four regions in Spain, and it is spreading rapidly despite the ongoing coron‐ avirus vaccination pro‐ gramme.

The strain was originally discovered in India and is now spreading throughout Spain at astonishing speeds.

The delta variant is domi‐ nant in at least four regions of Spain: Valencia, Navarre, Madrid and Catalonia.

Reports from the Ministry of Health regarding coron‐ avirus variants on June 14, show that from the samples they analysed 11 per cent of infections were due to the strain. Many experts though

England charged by UEFA UEFA have launched an investigation after Kasper Schmeichel, the Danish goalkeeper appeared to have been targeted with a laser pen at the Euro 2020 semi-final on July 8.

A laser pen apparently targeted the goalkeeper shortly before England’s Harry Kane took a penalty. England are being investigated for other issues too such as crowd disturbances and fireworks going off during the game. England will also be investigated as fans booed the Danish national anthem.

European football’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body have confirmed that they have launched disciplinary proceedings against England.

If England are found guilty of the offences, then the English FA could face a variety of fines from €500 for each firework that went off, up to an €8,000 fine for the laser pen.

The fact that the Danish national anthem was also booed

by England fans could gain a further financial penalty too.

think that the strain is spreading at a faster rate.

But the situation has changed drastically in the following 14‐day reporting period.

The number of young peo‐ ple being infected by the coronavirus is rising rapidly and the 14‐day cumulative incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 814 in the 20‐ 29 age group.

According to data collated

by Spain’s autonomous re‐ gions it is believed that the Delta strain is actually re‐ sponsible for 32 per cent of new infections. This is con‐ siderably higher than the Ministry of Health’s figure of 11 per cent.

Experts worry that young people will spread the virus onto elderly people. “The point that’s worrying is that young people could spread the virus to the elderly, even if they are vaccinated,” said the head of Microbiology at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, Tomas Pumarola.

NEWS

Sanchez questions Catalan fund PRESIDENT Pedro Sanchez said Madrid will study the legality of a Catalan public fund cre‐ ated to cover the fines imposed on ex‐officials by the Court of Auditors.

If the €10 million fund is legal, the courts can accept the money; if it is not, it cannot be used to pay fines imposed on dozens of offi‐ cials for their roles in promoting and facilitat‐ ing Catalonia’s 2017 independence bid, Sanchez said.

“We have always maintained that every‐ thing that is approved by all the regional gov‐ ernments has to be subject to the law. There‐ fore, we are going to study the decision that has been taken and, from there, if it is subject

to the law, we have no objections; and if it is not subject to law, then obviously we will have to appeal it. It’s been subjected to an objective study right now. I cannot say anything else,” Sanchez said on July 6.

Meanwhile opposition to Barcelona’s pro‐ posal is mounting among Spain’s opposition parties charging that it amounts to a great swindling of the Spanish public purse.

On July 7, the government of Catalonia cre‐ ated a €10 million fund to cover fines meted out to former officials. The Court of Auditors in Madrid said they have until July 15 to pay up.

Forty former officials were handed fines, some in excess of €2.5 million on June 30.

Health experts curfew THE Alert Report of the Ministry of Health has pro‐ posed that Spain close nightlife and study the pos‐ sibility of applying a new curfew in the face of rising coronavirus infections.

Health technicians on July 5 said they consider it nec‐ essary to take measures “urgently” to stop the trans‐ mission of the virus, and

they want to limit operating hours for bars and restau‐ rants.

In addition, they advocate suppressing the celebration of mass events if compli‐ ance with prevention mea‐ sures cannot be guaran‐ teed.

The health experts also said that hotels and other areas of accommodation

should be used to quaran‐ tine people if they can’t property isolate at home.

“While the increase in transmission continues, the action protocols must be adapted to a mitigation sce‐ nario that allows the priori‐ tisation of resources and flexibility of processes for adequate monitoring of the situation,” the experts said.

NEWS

www.euroweeklynews.com

15 - 21 July 2021

UK labour shortage UK employers are struggling with the worst labour shortage since 1997 as the number of overseas workers drops due to Brexit and Covid. The labour market is also being hit as the UK reopens from lockdown.

Employers in Britain are struggling to recruit staff as British businesses reopen after lock‐ down. Businesses are also seeing recruitment issues as the number of overseas workers has dropped too.

The Recruitment and Employment Confeder‐ ation (REC) and the accountancy firm KPMG have both issued warnings over the potential risk to the UK economy and its recovery. The UK is currently experiencing acute labour short‐

ages the likes of which had not been seen since 1997.

Many areas of the economy are facing this is‐ sue and top of the list are areas including trans‐ port and logistics, hospitality, manufacturing and construction.

The issues are also found in higher paid sec‐ tors such as IT, finance and engineering.

“We need action from businesses and gov‐ ernment to reskill and upskill furloughed and prospective workers now more than ever, as the increasing skills gap in the workforce has the potential to slow the UK’s economic recov‐ ery,” said the head of education, skills and pro‐ ductivity at KPMG UK, Claire Warnes.

Climate change fears A NEW Eurobarometer survey shows that European citizens believe climate change is the single most serious problem facing the world.

More than nine out of 10 people surveyed consider climate change to be a serious problem (93 per cent), with almost eight out of 10 (78 per cent) considering

it to be very serious. When asked to pick out the single most serious problem facing the world, over a quarter (29 per cent) chose either climate change (18 per cent), deterioration of nature (7 per cent) or health problems due to pollution (4 per cent). In terms of policy response, nine out of 10 Europeans (90 per cent) agree that

greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced to a minimum while offsetting remaining emissions to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050. The survey was released on Monday July 5. Close to nine in 10 Europeans (87 per cent) think it is important that the EU sets ambitious targets to increase renewable energy use.

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New Picasso at the Prado

PICASSO: A newly acquired painting.

THE Prado Museum in Madrid has unveiled a newly acquired painting by Pablo Picasso, Buste de Femme 43, painted in 1943.

The painting is a donation to American Friends of the Prado Museum from the Aramont Art Collection of the Arango Montull family.

The Prado Museum has also been gifted the Portrait of Philip III by Velazquez by American Friends of the Prado Museum. “American Friends’ actions are certainly great news for Spain and all those who visit our country attracted by our artistic and cultural heritage. A painting from one of

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

During this lockdown, we chal‐ lenge you to rediscover your local high streets, markets, butchers, greengrocers and all of the won‐ derfully quirky independent busi‐

our greatest artistic geniuses which up to now had been in a United States’ private collection will be displayed in public thanks to the Arango Montull Family’s and American Friends’ generosity, for all of those who love Picasso’s work, our museums and culture,” said Javier Solana, Chairman of the Board on Tuesday July 6. Because of Covid-19, the Prado’s revenues declined 75.5 per cent from €33.1 million to €8.1 million due to an 84 per cent decline in ticket sales from an all-time record of visitors in 2019 and a 90 per cent decline in Prado Store and restaurant revenues.

Farmers fury at meat campaign A NEW campaign launched by the Minister for Consumers, Alberto Garzon, encouraging Spaniards to eat less meat has been met with stiff resistance and ridicule.

Spain’s Minister for Consumers, Alberto Garzon, on July 7 launched a Twitter campaign #MenosCarneMasVida - less meat more life - however the move has angered the Minister for Agriculture Luis Planas, the opposition, the Junta de Andalucia, and livestock farmers across Spain.

Garzon told media outlets that livestock farming is bad for the environment, that people should eat meat less frequently and only buy quality meat from sustainable farms. Agriculture Minister Luis Planas was quick to point out that Garzon had not consulted him ahead of launching the campaign.

EU’s Single-Use Plastic (SUP) Directive came into effect on Saturday July 3, which means that many common items made with single-use plastics are now banned in the bloc. Cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, stirrers, chopsticks, straws, expanded polystyrene single-use food and beverage containers, and all oxo-degradable plastic products are on the list of products that are banned from being placed in establishments across the EU. The objective of the EU Directive is “to prevent and reduce the im-

Planas, a member of PSOE, said the campaign “does not make sense” and “this campaign is as wrong as the one that sugar kills.”

Garzon is the leader of Izquierda Unida, who joined the government as part of Podemos, who in turn formed a coalition with PSOE placing Pedro Sanchez as President. Right-wing Vox lambasted Garzon’s campaign for “demonising the consumption of meat” and said his pronouncements underscore how out of touch the ruling socialist coalition is with ordinary Spaniards. Six livestock associations have penned an open letter to Garzon against the campaign.

“It is worrying that a minister of the Government of Spain makes a series of erroneous or unfocused statements, and through public channels, trying to create an artificial confrontation with a sector,” they wrote.

Bye-bye plastic ear buds and straws pact of certain plastic products on the environment, in particular the aquatic environment, and on human health, as well as to promote the transition to a circular economy with innovative and sustainable business models, products and materials.” Single-use plastic products are used once, or for a short period of time, before being thrown

away. The 10 most commonly found single-use plastic items represent 70 per cent of all marine litter in the EU, and up to 85 per cent of all marine litter in the EU is plastic. “This is the latest in a series of measures we’re taking to reduce plastic waste and better manage the waste we do produce. Our future depends on us rapidly changing the way we produce products; this will contribute to a much wider effort to address climate change,” said TD Alan Farrell, Fine Gael Climate Action Spokesperson.

GO LOCAL

nesses in your area.

Due to the Covid‐19 pandem‐ ic, you may have to support many local businesses by order‐

ing online and making use of any click and collect services they can operate if you are unable to get out due to health reasons or lockdown restrictions.

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

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

By shopping at an indepen‐ dent store you’re putting food on a local family’s table, and there is no better time than now to give back to your community by mak‐ ing a small gesture and shopping in this way.

Many local stores support lo‐ cal charities, support and sponsor local sports teams and in many cases the small independent stores are actually much more than just a small high street shop, they’re a family’s legacy, often passed down through numerous generations and support not just

the current owner but the gener‐ ation before.

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

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

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

change their career path.

As people are struggling with finances thinking about what friends and family may actually need is important too. Whilst it’s nice to give a glamourous gift perhaps pre‐paying a family member’s phone bill for the month would actually be a better gift. Helping people alleviate stress and worry , give the gift of peace of mind through these dif‐ ficult times. Choosing to spend your money locally will really make a difference in the recovery of the local economy. When we buy local, our money stays lo‐ cal, and it strengthens the local economy in two ways. First, buy‐ ing local keeps money circulating within the local economy. Stud‐ ies have shown that local busi‐ nesses recirculate a greater share of every euro as they create lo‐ cally owned supply chains and in‐ vest in their employees.

Data shows that local retailers return 52 per cent of their rev‐ enue back into the local econo‐

NEWS

Ryanair sets up a panel RYANAIR has announced its Customer Advisory Panel, comprising seven customers from six European countries. Having received over 10,000 applicants from 16 countries across Europe Ryanair’s seven successful candidates will travel to Dublin for the first of the Customer Advisory Panel meetings in September 2021, coming together to provide feedback and recommendations that will help Ryanair continue to improve its guest services.

While interest was strong across all markets, the UK trailblazed ahead with almost a third of applicants, closely followed

by Ireland (20 per cent) Although the airline has not revealed the participants’ second names, the group includes Jaime, 47, from Ibiza and Naomi, 34, from Belfast, now living in Madrid. my, compared to just 14 per cent for national chain retailers.

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

For example, let’s look at a local farmer growing produce. First, they sell to a local restaurant, which in turn prepares the fresh produce and sells it to local cus‐ tomers. The farmer pays its local employees and the restaurant uses revenue from sales to buy supplies from a neighbourhood hardware store.

This example illustrates how the recirculation of money in the local economy leads to a stronger financial foundation for our neighbours and communi‐ ties. Buying local also fuels new employment and job opportuni‐ ties for people within our com‐ munity.

Studies show, locally owned businesses employ more people per unit of sales and retain more employees over time. A fantastic example of how to support your local community is with a Charity Gift certificate, why not donate to your loved one’s favourite cause.

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

NEWS

www.euroweeklynews.com

Advertising Feature

THE RIGHT BIKE INSURANCE

GOOD TO GO: Take your bike for a drive and listen to the engine noise.

BACK ON THE ROAD As Spain eases restrictions due to Covid, many riders are looking to get their bike back on the road. But before turning the key we recommend you check your motorcycle is good to go. Fluid levels may have dropped. Check your oil and coolant levels.

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

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

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

WHY LÍNEA DIRECTA? Línea Directa has been providing comprehensive motorbike, car and home insurance to British expatriates and residents in Spain for over 20 years. Backed by a leading Spanish financial group Bankinter, with over three million customers nationwide. All services and documentation is in English.

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OPTIONAL EXTRAS Travel Assistance from Línea Directa provides extra protection when you need it most. On-the-spot emergency repairs will be carried out on your bike if it is immobilised. If you run out of fuel, then your bike will be towed to the nearest petrol station.

In the event of loss or theft of the keys, then Línea Directa will do everything in its power to obtain duplicates and dispatch them as quickly as possible to you.

BEST PRICE. BETTER COVER.

15 - 21 July 2021

EWN 11

Renewing your UK passport WHILST there have been horror stories of people waiting months for a new passport and even the UK Gov website warns that it could take up to 11 weeks, the re‐ ality appears to be much better at the moment.

There are a number of ways of applying for a new passport and many large towns have business‐ es which for a reasonable fee will facilitate the renewal on your be‐ half, but if you are computer savvy, then it is also possible and fairly easy to renew online.

Provided that you are a British National and want to simply renew your expiring passport, then visit https://www.gov.uk/ over seas‐passports.

You will be asked a number of short questions and then taken to the actual application form where you will be required to complete and submit an accept‐ able digital photograph (which you can either take yourself or obtain from a local photogra‐ pher). There are very clear rules about what is acceptable and you can even check if the photo you have is ok and it will either be accepted or what is wrong with it.

Once you have complet‐ ed all of the documen‐ tation and submit‐ ted your photo, you need to pay the current fee of £86.00 + £19.86 re‐

Credit: Andrew Parsons / No10 Downing Street

EASY TO APPLY: Boris Johnson has his own new passport.

turn courier fee for a standard adult passport if submitted online (paper applications may cost more). Once all of that is done, you will receive a confirmation that the order has been accepted and an address to which to return the passport being replaced which includes the reference number of your application. To be on the safe side, it is best to send the passport via some form of registered postal delivery or courier.

Once received by the passport office, they check that you are en‐ titled to a replacement and issue the new passport.

At all times, they will keep you updated on developments from the date of applying for the pass‐ port to actual receipt which most recently have been just three weeks.

There are slightly different re‐ quirements for the replacement of lost passports, first time pass‐ ports and children’s passports, but all are clearly explained on the website and it is even possible, al‐ though expensive, to obtain a temporary, one use only, pass‐ port for emergencies.

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NEWS

New sexual consent laws S P A I N ’ S government has approved tougher laws on sexual consent with the new bill known as ‘Only yes means yes’.

The government hopes to crack down on sexual ha‐ rassment and sexual vio‐ lence with this new legisla‐ tion. The ‘Only yes means

yes’ proposed law includes laying out the offences re‐ lated to sexual consent and it is hoped that the sexual culture of Spain will change with the proposed law.

“Consent is recognised only when a person has freely demonstrated it through actions which, in

9,000 called violence hotline in June

OVER 9,000 calls were made to the phone service for victims of gender violence in June.

The telephone service for victims of gender violence 016 received 9,049 calls in June, 10 per cent more than in May and 6 per cent more than in the same month of 2020, a figure that is the second-highest since this phone service started operating in 2007.

The minister against Gender Violence, Victoria Rosell, said that the highest figure was registered in August 2016, when 9,916 people called the service.

Couple or ex-partner issues account for the majority of calls - 87 per cent - Rossell said on Wednesday July 7.

Support is also provided through WhatsApp on the number 600 000 016 and minors can contact the ANAR Foundation telephone number 900 202 010.

the context of the circum‐ stances of the case, clearly express the person’s will,” says the new bill.

The bill went to Parlia‐ ment to be voted on after it was approved by Spain’s cabinet on Tuesday, July 6.

It will probably take several months before it passes through Parliament though.

Maria Jesus Montero, a spokesperson for the gov‐ ernment considers the pro‐ posed law to be “a decisive step forward” to protect women. She also believes that it will “make us, with‐ out doubt, better as a soci‐ ety.”

“We have to transform our sexual culture, placing women’s consent at the centre of how we see things,” said Montero.

With current laws in Spain victims need to prove how during an attack they were the victim of violence or prove how they fought against their attacker. For many this new bill cannot come soon enough.

Reality is reality THE Archbishop of Granada, Javier Martinez, believes that Spain is “on the way to a third dictatorship, in one way or an‐

other, because laws are im‐ posed that go against the com‐ mon good.”

He also said Spain’s new eu‐

Carer emptied senior’s bank account

NATIONAL POLICE in Madrid have arrested a domestic worker who, when the elderly man she cared for died from coronavirus, emptied more than €35,000 from his account and used his bank card for online shopping.

The pensioner’s family denounced the fraudulent transactions from the bank account of their relative, who died in March 2020, in the middle of May of this year. The fraudulent purchases were made between the months of March and September 2020 when the funds ran out. The complaint was filed late because of pandemic-related delays.

The researchers found that the card charges came mostly from purchases on the internet that included appliances, furniture and food.

The investigations targeted a 45-year-old Spanish woman of Ecuadorian origin who had cared for this person for a long time.

The woman was charged with fraud and other offences on Wednesday July 7.

thanasia law was “an offence to human reason.”

The archbishop made the re‐ marks in his sermon on Sunday July 4 in Granada.

“The trans law, for example, converts sentiment into a legal category. It is not the first time it has happened. In the 30s and 40s of the last century, the feel‐ ing of superiority of the Aryan race resulted in millions of deaths when it became law,” he argued.

Believers, he said, must start “learning anew to be free in the face of these two laws, which are also an offence to human reason in many ways.”

“This does not mean any judgement on any person, of any kind, or transsexual of any kind.

But reality is reality, it cannot be changed. Whoever is born a man will always be a man. Whoever is born a woman will always be a woman. Regardless of the hor‐ mones that they put in them, or the operations that they do to them,” he added.

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

EUROPEAN PRESS

www.euroweeklynews.com

EUROPEAN NIBS DENMARK

FRANCE

Tree huggers

Fire damage

AFTER activists occupied a tree for three weeks on Amager Fælled a 223-hectare nature reserve in Copenhagen protesting about planned construction, they were removed by police but the Planning Appeal Board ruled that work must be halted until January to protect vulnerable wildlife.

AS if losing Notre Dame Cathedral to fire wasn’t bad enough, the Paris city authorities and public health officials have been named in a legal complaint for failing to safeguard the health of people living nearby due to lead pollution caused by the fire.

THE NETHERLANDS Musseling in THE Dutch mussel industry has been granted €900,000 by the European Union in order to fund a marketing campaign to persuade youngsters in the Netherlands to include the crustacean in their diet.

Some 10 million kilos of mussels are gobbled up each year mainly by those over 50.

BELGIUM

NORWAY High flyers NORWAY’S Trade Minister Iselin Nybø took the unusual step of publicly criticising the senior management of Norwegian Air after it transpires that despite using public money to support the airline and making segments bankrupt, two directors were each paid bonuses of Kr11 (€1) million.

FINLAND Nasal vaccine

TWO armed men entered a camp run by the Flemish scouts and guides for children aged nine to 11 in the early hours of July 6 and stole credit cards, wallets and mobile phones from various adults who were awake using threats of violence before escaping.

ROKOTE Laboratories has been promised some €9 million to enable further development and to start clinical trials on a nasal spray which will act as a Covid vaccine. The vaccine has been formulated by the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland.

GERMANY

SWEDEN

Big Brother

Suspected murder

FROM August 2, the authorities will require all German citizens applying for a new government-issued ID card (currently 62 million exist) to give their fingerprints which will be stored electronically on the card. Until now, this was a voluntary procedure for ID cards although obligatory for passports.

AN express train running from Malmö to Hässleholm, travelling at around 180 kmh hit and killed an adult and two children who were on the track. Although Swedish police have been reticent to release much information, they are investigating the possible murder of the children.

Be prepared

15 - 21 July 2021

EWN 13

FINANCE BUSINESS EXTRA Corte Ingles card IN order to take advantage of the resurgence of consumer spending in Spain, Financiera El Corte Ingles (which is 51 per cent owned by Santander Bank) wants to expand its in store credit card so that it may be used to purchase goods from other companies.

Inflation target FOR the first time in more than a decade, the European Central Bank has reviewed its economic strategy and confirmed that although it wants to keep inflation at 2 per cent, it concedes that this may not be possible and can fluctuate.

Bank merger HAVING received shareholder approval four months ago, the merger of Unicaja and Liberbank is still pending as although it has now received approval from the CNMC, it is still awaiting the formal Spanish government ok but hopes that it will be forthcoming by the end of July.

Ocado expands UK grocery technology company Ocado has signed an agreement with the Alcampo group in Spain to develop a Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) to serve the Madrid region from 2024, with additional CFCs to be announced. They will also co-operate on improving delivery to online customers.

Italian problem ALTHOUGH highly successful, Barcelona based food delivery company Glovo is rarely out of the news as different governments take exception to some of its activities. Having been told by a Spanish court that its workers should be treated as employees not self-employed it now finds one of its overseas arms under scrutiny. A report by Reuters reveals that the Italian Data Protection Agency has given its subsidiary Foodinho 150 days to change its computer algorithms in order to avoid discrimination against staff.

14

STAT OF WEEK

www.euroweeklynews.com • 15 - 21 July 2021

€12.877 billion

is the amount that the Spanish Tax Agency says that it collected in 2020 through its actions to fight fraudulent tax evasion.

Morrisons may soon be American AMERICAN money seems destined to find a home in Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain Mor‐ risons which unlike oth‐ ers mainly generates its own produce.

Last month it turned down a bid from private equity firm Clayton, Du‐ bilier & Rice (CD&R) worth £5.5 billion (€6 bil‐ lion) claiming it did not accurately reflect the worth of the company.

This month however it

has accepted in principle, subject to shareholder approval, a £6.3 billion (€6.9 billion) bid from an‐ other US equity firm Fortress Investment Group.

Fortress in particular appear to be anxious to ensure that they are not seen as pirates or asset strippers and their pro‐ posal appears to be couched in terms which will satisfy both the unions representing the

LEGALLY SPEAKING

supermarket’s 110,000 staff as well as the UK Government.

Now, a third US in‐ vestor, Apollo Global has indicated that it may be interested in launching its own bid but has not as yet made a final decision.

In the meantime, in an‐ ticipation of a higher price, Morrisons shares have risen from around £1.80 (€1.98) in January to £2.67 (€2.94) on July 5, the day after the offer

was made which was 5 per cent higher than the offer price.

One of the many at‐ tractions to investors is the fact that Morrisons hold a contract with Amazon UK for same day grocery supply to cus‐ tomers ordering online and with Amazon already opening its own super‐ market in London, there are some expectations that it too may enter into the bidding fray.

Planning your own funeral

Was policy mis-sold?

For 10 years I entrusted an insurance agent with my household and two car policies. Pre‐ miums increased after a few claims for burst or leaking pipes. My agent reduced my premium by reducing the building value. When claiming for a burst pipe 10 months later, they deducted 17.5 per cent due to un‐ der insurance. The agent’s calculation was under‐val‐ ued by 17.5 per cent. In other words they under‐sold the policy, but the agent ducked the error. To add fur‐ ther insult, the agent sent me a renewal policy for the following year which showed the same mis‐selling er‐ ror. What are my rights against the agent?

Your rights against an insurance company YOU AND THE LAW include seeking com‐ IN SPAIN pensation if they have underpaid a claim or if you can prove that they failed to inform you fully. In your case, the first misunderstanding is that your ‘agent’ is not an agent; he is an insurance broker. He may deal with several different insurance companies. There is no error of calculation here. However, if the broker did not ex‐ plain to you that under‐valuing your property means that your payment is reduced by the same percentage, then you have a possible case.

DAVID SEARL

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

THE British Financial Institutions are looking for ways of attracting money back to London and on Wednesday July 7, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw a historic first.

Following a practice which is not unknown in the USA , a Fintech company simply called Wise be‐ came the first ever direct listing of a tech company on the LSE.

ONE of the advantages of having a pre‐ paid funeral plan with Golden Leaves is being able to arrange the funeral that you real‐ ly want.

By planning your own funeral, not only will you get the send‐off you want, you will relieve your family of the burden, both financially and with regards to making decisions.

Planning the details of your own funeral will give you more time to think about what you want, including the following: Where would you like it to be held?

Do you want it to be religious or not?

Who do you want to lead the service?

What readings or music would you like?

Do you want a theme?

What would you like to be wearing?

Do you want any special flowers and/or donations?

Do you prefer burial or cremation?

What type of coffin, headstone or urn do you prefer?

Where do you want to be buried or want your ashes to go?

Most importantly, let your family know you have a funeral plan and give them a list of contacts you want to be informed of your death.

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

Wise now worth £8 billion The founders of the company, two Estonians took the company public using a direct listing, which does not involve raising new capi‐ tal or bringing in new investors like in a formal IPO launch.

Many investors remember the recent relative failure of the tradi‐ tional IPO launch of Deliveroo

which due to its structure did not attract investment by large institu‐ tions.

This was effectively a three‐hour long auction which saw prices start at £1 and shoot up to £10 for shares priced at £8 and this raised a staggering £8 billion (€8.8 bil‐ lion).

Sanchez under pressure SPANISH President Pedro Sanchez is under pressure to provide tax breaks to encourage companies to return to Catalo‐ nia after an exodus to Madrid following the region’s 2017 inde‐ pendence bid.

He has a political dilemma as a failure to do so could cost him the support of Catalan national‐ ist parties who prop up the PSOE in government, Spanish daily ABC reported on July 8.

Any tax breaks will rankle Madrid which recently re‐elect‐ ed Madrilenian president Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the Partido Popu‐ lar as the community has bene‐ fited from the exit from Barcelona.

Other autonomous commu‐ nities such as Andalucia are also unlikely to be impressed.

Catalonia’s debt is also con‐ cerning, as the region is €79.1 billion in the red.

Spain and UAE AS President Pedro Sanchez visits the Baltic States, his Secretary of State for Trade, Manuel Muñiz held a virtual meeting with his op‐ posite number from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi on July 7.

With the participation of pro‐ fessional bodies from both coun‐ tries, a memorandum of under‐ standing was signed to confirm the wish that the UAE has to work more closely with Spain to organ‐ ise cross investments.

“The signing of this agreement will contribute to achieving sus‐ tainable growth in investment flows between the two countries, and allow the creation of perma‐ nent channels of communication between Emirati and Spanish business owners,” said Dr Al Zey‐ oudi.

According to Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus who founded the company in 2010 when they were both working in London, Taavet was being paid in euros and Kristo in sterling, but both hated the thought of paying exchange commission to banks so created their own exchange and transfer company with low customer charges.

16 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

15 - 21 July 2021

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

LONDON - FTSE 100

See our advert on previous page

C LOSING P RICES J ULY 12

COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) 3I Group 1.195,00 1.202,00 Admiral Group 3.220,0 3.316,0 Anglo American 2.913,5 2.977,5 Antofagasta 1.395,50 1.440,00 Ashtead Group 5.564,6 5.570,3 Associated British Foods 2.140,0 2.180,0 AstraZeneca 8.706,0 8.711,0 Auto Trader Group Plc 648,80 649,80 Avast 500,40 500,60 Aveva 3.973,0 3.975,0 Aviva 400,20 406,90 B&M European Value Retail SA552,20 553,20 BAE Systems 533,33 537,48 Bank VTB DRC 1,284 1,318 Barclays 169,32 172,87 Barratt Developments 692,20 708,60 Berkeley 4.737,0 4.772,0 BHP Group 2.231,00 2.255,00 BP 305,92 310,50 British American Tobacco 2.768,0 2.773,5 British Land Company 507,20 518,60 BT Group 185,00 187,95 Bunzl 2.570,0 2.571,0 Burberry Group 2.036,0 2.092,0 Carnival 1.519,4 1.557,2 Centrica 52,04 52,40 Coca Cola HBC AG 2.570,0 2.572,0 Compass 1.488,00 1.527,00 CRH 3.578,0 3.641,0 Croda Intl 7.694,0 7.704,5 DCC 5.886,0 5.968,0 Diageo 3.441,5 3.452,5 DS Smith 418,40 426,80 EasyJet 895,62 946,81 Experian 2.974,3 2.976,3 Ferguson 10.365,0 10.400,0 Flutter Entertainment 12.660,0 13.000,0 Fresnillo 795,20 808,20 GlaxoSmithKline 1.429,60 1.430,79 Glencore 312,30 318,90 Halma 2.815,0 2.814,0 Hargreaves Lansdown 1.661,00 1.667,00 Hikma Pharma 2.622,00 2.632,00 HSBC 405,68 411,10 IAG 177,95 184,96 Imperial Brands 1.588,00 1.591,50 Informa 495,90 509,00 InterContinental 4.726,0 4.832,0 Intermediate Capital 2.142,00 2.149,00 Intertek 5.612,0 5.622,0

% CHG. 1.191,00 3.182,0 2.904,0 1.389,00 5.525,2 2.139,0 8.614,0 638,60 495,60 3.915,0 399,10 543,80 529,60 1,282 169,02 692,00 4.727,0 2.225,00 305,85 2.756,5 505,40 184,60 2.550,0 2.030,0 1.518,8 51,70 2.559,0 1.488,00 3.575,0 7.633,2 5.858,0 3.425,0 417,30 895,26 2.941,8 10.300,0 12.660,0 792,60 1.418,61 310,87 2.768,0 1.650,50 2.615,03 405,68 177,81 1.580,66 495,50 4.723,0 2.133,00 5.578,0

NET VOL 89,83K 96,02K 332,03K 218,25K 6,58K 151,34K 336,35K 297,97K 169,58K 38,92K 1,16M 340,82K 78,37K 61,76K 1,59M 208,26K 25,70K 720,58K 934,53K 276,97K 212,56K 2,14M 77,73K 89,77K 196,90K 1,52M 45,39K 349,51K 60,74K 8,90K 22,44K 267,93K 398,61K 427,40K 16,18K 20,19K 31,14K 107,01K 224,59K 1,07M 80,08K 78,92K 8,70K 385,82K 1,74M 39,51K 502,85K 36,41K 37,46K 28,00K

COMPANY

PRICE(P)

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

122,05 280,70 3.089,0 683,00 264,50 46,00 7.945,8 436,10 155,35 1.966,50 942,24 200,10 7.764,0 33,15 1.937,00 2.948,0 687,20 1.353,00 6.491,0 2.021,00 511,06 654,40 6.046,4 97,44 7,64 1.443,4 1.443,20 1.416,2 698,80 1.743,00 16,16 3.591,0 1.323,22 1.181,00 2.652,0 1.561,50 1.619,36 14.127,9 1.538,50 1.524,50 446,10 280,50 160,50 234,17 347,87 4.290,0 1.039,00 118,14 3.051,0 959,20

CHANGE(P)

% CHG.

NET VOL

124,22 284,90 3.157,7 690,40 265,40 46,65 7.958,0 445,70 159,25 1.976,00 945,20 202,90 7.882,0 33,15 1.942,00 3.016,0 692,00 1.377,00 6.512,0 2.021,00 511,20 654,80 6.118,5 100,74 7,71 1.459,4 1.458,31 1.429,2 700,00 1.757,50 16,34 3.607,0 1.326,00 1.182,50 2.660,0 1.570,00 1.633,48 14.128,6 1.543,00 1.527,00 452,70 283,40 164,05 238,36 358,00 4.305,9 1.041,00 119,06 3.142,0 968,60

121,75 280,70 3.089,0 681,40 262,70 45,92 7.858,0 434,80 155,05 1.955,95 938,00 200,00 7.762,0 33,05 1.908,00 2.946,0 682,95 1.350,50 6.418,0 2.003,00 507,84 647,94 6.023,0 96,63 7,60 1.443,0 1.443,00 1.411,8 690,01 1.740,00 16,14 3.579,0 1.313,50 1.170,50 2.608,0 1.559,50 1.610,42 13.959,3 1.525,50 1.515,75 445,90 279,50 160,20 234,10 346,27 4.270,0 1.027,40 117,78 3.047,0 959,00

148,37K 883,58K 8,50K 38,72K 612,91K 10,55M 58,16K 258,36K 998,48K 7,44K 953,51K 2,54M 16,57K 0,19K 146,43K 43,67K 168,26K 312,86K 119,98K 37,35K 30,21K 23,81K 38,15K 6,40M 230,71K 844,98K 46,69K 1,45M 40,44K 5,62K 149,60K 20,48K 404,64K 42,80K 65,45K 291,82K 24,75K 4,31K 179,96K 14,17K 827,57K 511,46K 353,01K 1,36M 409,58K 38,83K 50,52K 8,03M 95,07K 210,90K

1.16777

0.85519

Units per €

US dollar (USD) ......................................1.18524 Japan yen (JPY)......................................130.495 Switzerland franc (CHF) ...........................1.0855 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4372 Norway kroner (NOK) ...............................10.344

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

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES J ULY 12

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

PRICE 201,00 2.591,5 3.719,34 245,20 145,11 239,59 217,42 104,07 53,74 54,46 350,42 371,76 322,09 224,34 141,52 55,99 169,75 155,77 235,68 77,99 277,94 161,00 137,03 245,06 656,95 412,11 56,07 238,47 140,30 177,04

CHANGE 201,90 2.597,0 3.748,00 245,93 145,65 240,38 218,59 104,23 53,93 54,52 350,71 372,15 323,31 224,60 141,98 56,11 170,37 156,15 236,23 78,69 278,05 161,96 137,65 248,00 658,91 413,25 56,23 239,45 140,84 177,52

CHANGE% VOLUME(M) 199,25 2,45M 2.578,9 755,47K 3.693,40 3,75M 241,71 1,61M 142,65 99,89M 236,22 12,39M 214,40 3,16M 102,36 8,57M 53,29 14,67M 54,18 10,85M 345,27 13,02M 364,95 2,64M 320,18 2,59M 220,74 2,16M 140,84 3,90M 55,31 18,71M 169,24 6,12M 152,58 13,69M 233,06 2,56M 77,94 6,01M 275,32 23,92M 160,51 5,00M 136,84 5,95M 244,09 4,21M 644,69 18,14M 410,64 2,08M 55,62 13,76M 237,42 5,62M 139,93 5,06M 173,93 7,87M M - MILLION DOLLARS

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES J ULY 12

COMPANY

CHANGE NET / %

VOLUME

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

Biglari Holdings Inc. Cl A Shopify Inc. Cl A Markel Corp.

AutoZone Inc. Direxion Daily Retail Bull 3x Shares BlackRock Inc. Direxion Daily Regional Banks Bull 3X Shares Snowflake Inc. Graham Holdings Co.

2.47% 3.41% 5.83% 2.16% 2.31% 1.76% 11.39% 2.83% 12.67% 7.67% 2.80%

1,187 41.02K 1,150 1.258M 75.89K 177.50K 64.19K 764.50K 477.45K 9.867M 28.27K

Most Declined U.S. Bancorp Dep. Pfd. -1.80% Capital Senior Living Corp.

-8.90% Cable One Inc. -0.19% Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. -6.62% PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index ETF-2.06% ResMed Inc. -1.22% MediaAlpha Inc. -6.57% Vanguard Extended Duration ETF -1.75% Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x Shares -8.34% S&P Global Inc. -0.57% Eli Lilly & Co. -0.90%

425 17.22K 29.94K 62.594M 44.55K 623.35K 366.31K 122.22K 2.547M 1.535M 4.030M

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

Credit: WH Smith Press Centre

WH Smith’s airport stores

AIRPORT-BASED: InMotion is a major presence in the USA. IT was announced on July 8 that WH Smith will open 18 technology and accessories stores at UK airports.

Following the decision by Dixons Carphone to close all of its UK airport concession stores in April of this year, WH Smith applied to take over some of the vacant outlets and will operate its InMotion subsidiary in a number of ma‐ jor UK airports including Lon‐ don Heathrow, London Stanst‐ ed, Manchester, London Luton, Birmingham and East Midlands.

InMotion is the largest air‐ port‐based digital accessories retailer in North America, comprising 117 stores across 43 airports in the United States, with a presence in nine of the top 10 and 22 of the top 25 busiest US airports.

It sells a range of technology

and digital accessories from the leading brands in the cate‐ gory, includes premium head‐ phones and earbuds, travel ac‐ cessories, mobile power, portable speakers and action cameras from suppliers such as Apple and Samsung.

The company expects to in‐ vest around £15 million (€16.5 million) up to August 2022 in refitting and stocking the shops but says that in a fully recovered travel environment, it anticipates that these stores will deliver sales of c.£60 mil‐ lion (€66 million) per year.

Although business has suf‐ fered in its travel division with sales running at around 48 per cent of 2019, its High Street shops are seeing much better results at 86 per cent of 2019 turnover.

The liquidity position re‐ mains strong and at the end of

Looking up THE Spanish economy is forecasted to grow by 6.2 per cent in 2021 and 6.3 per cent in 2022, according to the EU’s latest interim economic forecast.

The EU’s economy is forecast to rebound faster than previously expected, as activity in the first quarter of the year exceeded expectations and the improved health situation prompted a swifter easing of pandemic control restrictions in the second quarter, the European Commission said in a statement on Wednesday July 7.

“The EU economy is set to see its fastest growth in decades this year, fuelled by strong demand both at home and globally and a swifter-than-expected reopening of services sectors since the spring,” said Paolo Gentiloni, Commissioner for Economy.

June 2021, the company had cash in hand of £95 million (€105 million) and their re‐ volving credit facility of £250 million (€275 million) remains undrawn.

BUSINESS EXTRA Huge fine THE European Commission has imposed a fine of €875 million on three German car manufacturers, Audi Porsche, BMW and Volkswagen, all part of the same group, accusing them of violating anti-cartel regulations with regards to their technology to reduce diesel emissions.

Pandemic profit ON July 8, UK based Watches of Switzerland reported full-year sales of more than £905 million (€995 million) and increased profits as sales of luxury watches increased by 16 per cent. It now plans to expand into Europe and strengthen its position in the UK and USA.

First purchase BRITISH investment fund Stirling Square Capital Partners has made its first major venture in Spain by purchasing Sustainable Agro Solutions (SAS), a Catalan based natural fertilizer group for an undisclosed amount which is understood to be in excess of €150 million.

15 - 21 July 2021

EWN 17

18 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

15 - 21 July 2021

FEATURE

DO YOU BELIEVE UFOS EXIST?

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT I BELIEVE that to deny there are other forms of intelligent life in the universe is either breathtakingly arrogant or an almost frightening naivity.

The human brain is not actually geared to take in the vast numbers of planets and stars, or even conceive the sheer volume of galaxies that exist in the endless expanses that we refer to as ‘space.’ If you could count the grains of sand on this planet of ours, which includes all the deserts and vast depths of our oceans, you still wouldn’t even be coming close to the sheer magnitude of stars that could be capable of sustaining some form of life in the infinite reaches of the universe.

It stands to reason that these beings could be thousands, possibly millions of years in advance of us in intellect and intelligence. To the manifestations existing in these unknown dimensions, travelling through time and space would be a mere bagatelle. Distances themselves

Trip to Pluto anyone?

would have no meaning and even time, as we perceive it, would have ceased to exist.

Is it not then perfectly feasible that these advanced races would welcome some time to chill out, in much the same way as we need to occasionally switch off and relax?

Vacations and scientific expeditions would, I think be something of a priority in the worlds of these ancient wonders of creation, and I can truly visualise some holistic ‘Happy Holidays’ brochure informing its

customers that you can partake of the ‘Grand Planetary Tour,’ which takes in a selection of other worlds at different stages of their evolution.

Naturally, any set of beings advanced enough to have access to this type of holiday, would be far too intelligent to ‘interfere’ with any other primitive races they would be observing on their galaxy cruise.

This is why I believe that most of the thousands of UFO sightings reported over the years have probably been glitches or errors on

the part of the organisers. (These cheapo travel companies are all the same!)

The wonders of creation are fully intended to be beyond our wildest imagination; but to maintain we are the only cluster of beings that exist and there are no other ultra‐ intelligent manifestations ‘out there’ I actually find totally inconceivable!

‘Where shall we go this year darling?

Shall we do the Earth, Pluto, Sun all inclusive? Too passé? Well what about a trip down that newly

discovered Black Hole’? ‘Ok, that’s a great idea; just make sure we don’t have to isolate when we get there!’

Is this Patel woman for real? Her new mind boggling smoke and mirrors solution to the ‘boat immigration’ problem is to introduce prison sentences of up to four years for those deemed guilty of this ‘offence’.

At the moment it costs £45,000 a year to keep one person incarcerated.

This amount could probably be tripled if you take into account the legal fees and court cases that, due to the UK’s ludicrous ‘uman rights policies, would automatically precede any punishment. Just what planet does this particular alien exist on?

‘Beam me up Scotty.’

Keep the faith.

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

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

20 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

15 - 21 July 2021

FEATURE

ARE MASK-DITCHERS THE NEW ANTI-VAXXERS NORA JOHNSON BREAKING VIEWS Nora is the author of popular psychological suspense and crime thrillers and a freelance journalist.

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

WITH the government easing Covid restric‐ tions, is England being condemned to be split into two hostile tribes between mask‐ wearers and mask‐ditchers ‐ beset by dis‐ trust and maybe violence?

But then this is an age when people define their identity not by what they are for, but who they are against ‐ ‘the other’. Once more, it's Leave / Remain; Right / Left; Nanny State / Libertarianism; Pro‐Vaxxers / Anti‐ Vaxxers. All the good people are on one side.

Again.

Whether you’re a right wing culture war‐ rior or a left wing libertarian, invariably ‘the other’ is not only ‘stupid’ but ‘malevolent’.

Any vital nuanced thinking and debate are buried under an avalanche of lazy, polarised opinion.

Basically, accept risk and accept the conse‐ quences! If you’re considered at a level of risk

TWO SIDES: Don’t belittle others for being cautious. and aren’t jabbed (voluntarily) and become infected: tough luck. Don’t blame others or the system. If your employer demands you are jabbed and lose your job: tough luck. You made a choice ‐ don’t blame them for doing what they also feel is right.

If you wish to wear a mask still, do that. It’s absolutely OK. If you chose not to, then that’s OK too.

Don’t belittle others for being cautious.

They may have lost loved ones in the most painful and loneliest way. It may also have

been your actions (or lack of) indirectly that killed them.

Finally, I’d like to see more police on the streets to provide a reassuring face to this re‐ turn to ‘normality’. To push back against any rise in personal physical attacks in a poten‐ tially toxic atmosphere of acrimony, distrust and quite possibly violence and to be able to recognise the troublemakers walking down the streets. People with agendas can bleat on about convenient ‘facts’ to support an argu‐ ment, but they’d be better off spending their energy looking forwards not backwards.

This is a steady walk to victory not a race for the finish line. So, as the great face mask face‐off begins in England, which camp are you in?

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

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

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

It’s absolutely disgusting!

MIKE SENKER IN MY OPINION Views of a Grumpy Old Man WELL it’s not coming home - unless you live in Italy - and that’s all I was going to say about that. But it can’t be left at that because of the absolute scum that went on social media to racially abuse the young black players that were involved in the penalty shootout. They should have their accounts banned immediately and the people involved should be found and nicked.

It’s absolutely disgusting!

They are the same people that boo the opposition’s national anthems and probably went on to social networks to say how disgusting it was that none of the Spanish players sung their national anthem. Of course, being so stupid, they didn’t check or know that the Spanish national anthem doesn’t have any words!

Lawyers, accountants, estate agents, management agents - people forget they work for us and unless I go for a specific piece of advice, should do what they are asked to do and do it in a reasonable time scale. My daughter, back in November,

asked her management company for permission to install an electric car charging unit. The snotty person she’s dealing with still hasn’t got round to making a decision.

So now, because of his inaction, lawyers will have to get involved which is more expense for everyone, all because one person just won’t do the job they are paid to do.

I am about to sell a property but because of travel restrictions the buyer has given his lawyer Power of Attorney. We know the purchaser and his family and he knows the property. We are selling it complete as it’s a rental apartment and the agent has taken photographs of all fixtures and fittings and sent the lawyer 49 pages of coloured photographs. We printed out the last page and signed it. Next day we get a ‘phone call telling us that the lawyer, not his client, won’t accept it and we have to print out all 49 pages and sign each item individually. I, of course, said no problem, my pleasure no, hold on what I actually said was no, go and do one! If it’s not acceptable don’t buy the apartment and we will all move on. The point is it’s not the client asking this, it’s the lawyer who has got busy all the way through the transaction with nit picking what should be a very simple deal. I haven’t heard anything more so I presume all is OK. Email: mikesenker@gmail.com

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

FRIDAY 16/07

4:00pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:05pm 9:35pm 10:00pm 11:00pm

Escape to the Country My Unique B&B Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News at Six; BBC London News The One Show Would I Lie to You? Not Going Out EastEnders Death in Paradise BBC News at Ten

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SATURDAY 17/07

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Escape to the Country My Unique B&B Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News at Six BBC London News The One Show Would I Lie to You? Not Going Out EastEnders Death in Paradise BBC News at Ten

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Weather for the Week Ahead Songs of Praise International T20 Cricket BBC News BBC London News Weather Countryfile Antiques Roadshow Baptiste BBC News

MONDAY 19/07

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Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News at Six BBC London News The One Show Panorama EastEnders Garden Rescue Gold Rush BBC News at Ten Regional News Weather

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TUESDAY 20/07

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Escape to the Country My Unique B&B Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News at Six BBC London News The One Show EastEnders Holby City Would I Lie to You? Uprising BBC News at Ten

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Pointless BBC News at Six BBC London News The One Show The Bidding Room The Repair Shop NewUprising BBC News at Ten Regional News and Weather Jade Jones: Fighting for Gold

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THURSDAY 15/07

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Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The One Show EastEnders Eat Well for Less?

Our NHS: A Hidden History BBC News at Ten Regional News

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Great British Menu Gorilla Family and Me Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Animal Park Monty Don's Japanese Gardens Golf: The Open Highlights Live at the Apollo: The One About Newsnight

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

Great British Menu Great British Menu Gorilla Family and Me Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Animal Park Monty Don's Japanese Gardens Golf: The Open Highlights I'll Get This Newsnight

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Classic Mary Berry My Million Pound Menu Best Bakes Ever West Side Story West Side Stories - The Making of a Classic Flog It! To be Announced The Tropic of Cancer Golf To be Announced Mayans M.C.

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Horizon Scott of the Antarctic Elephant Family and Me Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Animal Park Gold Town Only Connect University Challenge Killing Escobar Newsnight

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FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

DAVID WORBOYS THERE are plenty of reasons for pride in one’s country without being jingo‐ istic, arrogant or naively hopeful.

During my lifetime, my country’s greatest achievement took place not on English soil but in the skies above it. The heroes of the Royal Air Force, supported by the Royal Navy, who fended off the threat of hostile occu‐ pation by winning the Battle of Britain in 1940, take my top spot.

For the last 50 years I have realised that, to the majority of our popula‐ tion, national pride is identified as pride in the England football team, based simply on victory in one match 55 years ago.

For so many people this was our greatest national success of the last century and led us to believe we are a leading footballing country.

And sadly, we cling on to it. To set this brutally in context, the victorious 1966 team played all its matches at Wembley while the great Portuguese side (14 goals in four matches), whom we beat in the semi‐final, had to trav‐ el around the country to Manchester

15 - 21 July 2021

FOOTBALL CRAZY

GARETH SOUTHGATE: An inspiring leader and only one tragic blunder failed him. and Liverpool for two matches in each. Their semi‐final match against England was scheduled for Liverpool but changed to Wembley to spare the hosts leaving their home‐base.

For the final against Germany, Eng‐ land remained at Wembley. And in the recent Euro 2020, only one of

England’s seven matches was not played at Wembley! Is this what is meant by ‘football’s coming home’?

All the other World Cup winners have succeeded on foreign soil. Apart from Spain, they have all won it more than once ‐ and they have also ap‐ peared in more than one final. Since

1966, the great rivals, Germany and Italy, have each prevailed four times.

UEFA Euro has been won by Denmark and Greece, but not England.

Gareth Southgate, an inspiring leader, has over‐achieved. He reached the 2018 World Cup semi‐fi‐ nal away from Wembley in Russia and

EWN 23

the UEFA final this year, which Ger‐ many, France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium failed to do. Only one tragic tactical blunder failed him ‐ the last‐ minute substitutions. These penalty‐ takers had hardly kicked the ball.

Pride in one’s national football team, regardless of its achievements, can be visibly and passionately ex‐ pressed (often with violence and hooliganism). There are many other potential sources of pride in one’s country. People would not drink, roar, hug each other and wave flags in eu‐ phoric, inebriated crowds at the thought of having litter‐free streets and a low crime rate.

It would be nice to be able to show pride in a statesmanlike Prime Minis‐ ter, an efficient and reliable health service, no slums, no homelessness, a mature media and a healthy and edu‐ cated population.

It’s all a matter of proportion. By contrast, the RAF fighter command, outnumbered in aircraft and pilots, battled against the odds to preserve our liberties and our way of life.

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

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

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

ROSE TINTED GLASSES Dear Leapy, Your article Rose-tinted glasses, has echoed observations myself and many others have noticed over the last few years. This is a very worrying trend which in no way reflects real life.

Well done and keep up the good work.

P Manser

Brits in Spain

Authorities’ view is clouded.

The way in which some Brits are being treated by the Spanish authorities is a disgrace.

Consider. An English couple who are keen to move to Spain receive an email which is in Spanish, is protected so that one cannot copy and paste it to a translation site. The couple are told by telephone that their application is rejected and there is no right of appeal. Their application was rejected because they were one day late registering with the Padron. One day late because the office was closed. They meet all the requirements to support their application but because of the one day when the Padron’s office was closed they now have to return to England and start the whole application process again. Sadly, although most Spanish people are caring and considerate, there are some who are ‘not very nice’.

Kind regards Tony Gee

Council Tax Exemption for Prayer Rooms In reply to G Nicholson’s letter asking whether it is true that ‘any Muslim in the UK who declares his house a place of worship is no longer required to pay council tax’. This is in fact untrue.

Such rumours have been spreading across social media and forums for well over a decade, and over the years have inspired a number of different versions. However, despite this rumour’s persistence, it isn’t based on reality.

In 2013 this rumour sparked a petition on the No 10 website which garnered 272 votes before it was removed as being misleading and factually incorrect.

In 2018 this rumour surfaced again with a question in the House of Commons. The reply is available in the House of Commons Library and states that this claim and others like it have ‘no basis in Council Tax law’. It added: ‘It is not possible for owners of domestic property to avoid council tax by claiming that their property, or part of it, is used for religious purposes’.

NOT THIS TIME IT seems unlikely that Gareth Southgate will receive a knighthood which would have been a good bet had England not been defeated once again by penalties.

Love it or hate it, the football has been a pleasant (for most) distraction from the problems that continue to affect most of the world.

There is also a major learning opportunity as to whether allowing such large crowds at both Wembley and Wimbledon will see even greater spikes in Covid-19 infection and either way, those who were effectively guinea pigs will have helped the scientists construct new

CORRECTIONS

From our Facebook

In 2021 this rumour was given another lease of life after a TikTok video of someone asking a smartphone assistant the question as to whether Muslims can avoid paying Council Tax via the aforementioned loophole went viral. In the video the smartphone assistant appears to confirm the rumour. However this video - if anything - demonstrates the unreliable nature of asking questions to smartphone assistants.

In this case the voice assistant merely parroted the archived and discredited petition mentioned above, giving the impression that the assistant was answering the question and using the UK government as its source.

It is true that ‘places of worship’ are exempt from Business Rates in the UK. However, those looking to become exempt and wish to certify their building as a place of worship have to register according to the ‘Places of Worship Registration Act 1855’.

This Act requires that those registering provide comprehensive details regarding the property including a floor plan and details of an average weekly timetable of events taking place in the building must be provided. In addition details of fire precautions and access, ventilation and lighting and other health and safety issues normally associated with public access would be required under the Health & Safety At Work Act. It is also likely that planning permission would be required as this is a change of use and this would require details of issues such as parking and access and the council would have to take into account the effect on the amenity of the area.

It is worth noting that in general only Public places of worship are exempt from Council Tax and that this exemption applies to all religions. There are other exemptions relating to accommodation attached and used solely to support the act of worship to cover things such as convents and monasteries.

The reality is that merely setting aside a room in which to worship in an otherwise residential address doesn’t exempt you from Council Tax, regardless of which religion you follow.

Best regards C Browning

OUR VIEW

ways of planning for contagion.

By and large it was a relatively trouble-free event although how ticketless ‘fans’ could break in to Wembley and stay to watch the match is beyond belief.

Apart from the disappointment for England with the result, the worst thing has been the racial abuse on social media to the three black players who did not score from the penalty spot.

This is sadly an example of how cowardly fools hide behind computer screens to spew out hatred assuming that they will remain anonymous and let’s hope that the

police will discover their identities and charge them.

Here in Spain, those bars and restaurants offering access to watch the matches have certainly done very well out of the campaign and certainly the British spend will have been a very welcome boost for the owners who suffered so much from lockdown.

There is at least one consolation for the three lads who didn’t score as Gareth Southgate alongside teammates Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle earned a decent crust from their Pizza Hut advert in 1996.

RACIAL ABUSE: Followed the penalties of the EURO 2020 final.

Kate Faet Smith Absolutely disgraceful behaviour.

Sharon Terry Ban all of them from social media, and fine them.

Avril Butt Not a football fan but guys you all did your best, so well done for your achievement.

Brian Francis If they absolutely have to blame anyone it should be the manager who failed to see the obvious. That the Italian substitutions were taking the game away from us. He failed to bring on a couple of pacey players until it was too late. Well done Mancini for having the courage to go for it. You made your own luck.

Elke Bailey Unbelievable. There are too many hooligans calling themselves fans.

Linda Tubb They are not football fans, they are ignorant racist morons.

By all means criticise a footballer for missing a penalty but I fail to see what that has to do with the colour of their skin!

Antonio Aragonés Don’t pay them the compliment of calling them fans. They aren’t interested in the football. It’s just a vehicle for their xenophobia and ignorance.

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

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

15 - 21 July 2021 • www.euroweeklynews.com

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www.euroweeklynews.com

15 - 21 July 2021

Nissan Micra Tekna ROAD TEST

by Mark Slack IT’S one of those cars that’s been a staple of city streets for decades, the preserve of young first time drivers and more mature drivers who have downsized as their motoring require‐ ments lessen. In its latest form though the Nissan Micra bears no resem‐ blance to its forebears. Gone are the rather dumpy, bug eye looks in favour of a modern, sharply styled city car.

Prices start from €16,711 (£14,340) with four trim levels, just one engine, a 1.0‐litre, three‐cylinder turbocharged petrol, and a choice of five‐speed manual or CVT auto‐ matic gearbox. All have four doors and the Micra looks particularly snazzy when you open the door.

My top‐line Tekna model was finished in optional Passion Red paintwork (€670/£575) with an interior that had light grey highlights on the seating and dash.

Standard fare is good with even lead‐in models equipped with auto lights and wipers, Bluetooth, air conditioning, power door mirrors, tyre pressure monitoring sys‐ tem and a plethora of safety kit. My Tekna model (€22,614/£19,405) added a Bose sound system, navigation, Apple Car Play and Android Auto, parking sensors, cruise control, rear view camera, automatic air conditioning and keyless entry and start. It’s a smart place to be with plenty of room at the front and, considering its diminutive size, reasonable space for the rear passen‐ gers, so the Micra fits a lot in to its small frame.

A sharply styled car.

The steering is a little light on the move, better in town, but responds well enough and the ride is pretty decent even over rough surfaces. The CVT automatic gearbox is a smooth operator but rather slow to re‐ spond and lengthens the 0 to 100 kph dash by two seconds over the already moderate performance of the manual. Ease the right foot and the auto box is fine, but try a more spirited start and things get quite noisy and not much in the way of forward motion.

Personally, I would opt for the manual gear‐

box to make the Micra a really useable and likeable city car.

With such a lot of competition the Micra has its work cut out against the likes of Ford’s Fiesta and Vauxhall’s Corsa, to name just two. However, the Micra beats, signifi‐ cantly in some cases, the competition on price.

It also has the more edgy and unusual looks, plus higher levels of tech. It’s moved into a car for the young and trendy with equipment to match.

Facts at a Glance Model: Nissan Micra Tekna CVT Engine: 1.0-litre 3-cylinder turbocharged petrol developing 99hp Gears: CVT automatic Performance: 0-100 kph (62 mph) Petrol 10.9 secs Maximum Speed Petrol 183 kph (114 mph) Economy: Petrol 5.6 l/100km (50.4 mpg) WLTP Emissions: 105g/km WLTP Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets.

EWN 31

Huge fines for car companies THE European Commission found that Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen group, Volkswa‐ gen, Audi and Porsche, breached EU antitrust rules by colluding on technical develop‐ ment in the area of nitrogen ox‐ ide cleaning.

The Commission has imposed a fine of €875,189,000. Daimler was not fined, as it revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission. All parties acknowl‐ edged their involvement in the cartel and agreed to settle the case. “The five car manufactur‐ ers Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche possessed the technology to reduce harmful emissions beyond what was legally required under EU emis‐ sion standards,” said Executive Vice‐President of the Commis‐ sion Margrethe Vestager on Thursday July 8. “But they avoid‐ ed to compete on using this technology’s full potential to clean better than what is re‐ quired by law. So, today’s deci‐ sion is about how legitimate technical cooperation went wrong. And we do not tolerate it when companies collude. It is il‐ legal under EU Antitrust rules.

“Competition and innovation on managing car pollution are essential for Europe to meet our ambitious Green Deal objectives.

And this decision shows that we will not hesitate to take action against all forms of cartel con‐ duct putting in jeopardy this goal,” she added. The car manu‐ facturers held regular technical

meetings to discuss the develop‐ ment of the selective catalytic re‐ duction (SCR)‐technology which eliminates harmful nitrogen ox‐ ide (NOx)‐emissions from diesel passenger cars through the in‐ jection of urea (also called ‘Ad‐ Blue’) into the exhaust gas stream. During these meetings, and for over five years, the car manufacturers colluded to avoid competition on cleaning better than what is required by law de‐ spite the relevant technology be‐ ing available. More specifically, Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen group reached an agreement on AdBlue tank sizes and ranges and a common understanding on the average estimated Ad‐ Blue‐consumption.

They also exchanged com‐ mercially sensitive information on these elements. They there‐ by removed the uncertainty about their future market con‐ duct concerning NOx‐emissions cleaning beyond and above the legal requirements, so called ‘over‐fulfilment’, and AdBlue‐re‐ fill ranges. This means that they restricted competition on prod‐ uct characteristics relevant for the customers. That conduct constitutes an infringement by object in the form of a limitation of technical development, a type of infringement explicitly re‐ ferred to in Article 101(1)(b) of the Treaty and Article 53(1)(b) of the European Economic Area (EEA)‐Agreement. The conduct took place between June 2009 and October 2014.

SPORT

32

15 - 21 July 2021

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WALKING FOOTBALL CLUBS TAKE A BREAK WELL most do! With July and August the two play a friendly against WFS Calahonda at the Mu‐ hottest months of the year and temperatures nicipal Stadium, San Pedro Alcantara tomorrow Fri‐ reaching 47/48º in some places, all but Benahavis day July 16, kick off 10am. will close their doors until early September when Ian Flynn will referee as he adds to his experi‐ they will resume for Pre Season Training with the ence in combining refereeing with playing once he League due to start on Sunday September 19. is fully fit after a difficult back operation.

The Pproposal put forward by NerJa that the And finally, this week our ‘old friend’ Howard League be split into A and B Leagues was not dis‐ (Dasher) Condor will be heading to the UK soon to cussed at the League Management Com‐ take part in England Trials for teams aged 70 and mittee meeting on Tuesday July 6 ‐ over 75s. Howie as he is known to his col‐ due to internet problems. It took leagues has amazed many people with his re‐ place on Tuesday July 13. Report in covery from Covid and a lung problem back next week’s Euro Weekly News. in February when it was touch and go as The argument for a seperate B to whether he would survive. league is that B teams con‐ He has been attending walking foot‐ sist of ‘older’ players and ball sessions in preparation for players of less ability who his trial matches. Good Luck in the A League would Howie!!! struggle and lose heavily.

Walking Football sessions As stated above, the at Benalmadena, Cala‐ LMC meeting did not honda (Finca Naundrup), take place due to inter‐ Benahavis, Viñuela and net problems. It was de‐ Nerja. bated at the LMC meet‐ Also at El Canadona, ing on Tuesday July 13 Coin Road, Fuengirola. without coming to a conclu‐ For days and times sion and will be debated at a check the websites separate meeting in the next www.walkingfooty. com Howard Conrad of WFS few days. and www.walkingfootball Calahonda, nickname As stated earlier, Benahavis has spain.com and Facebook ‘Dasher’. not closed down as yet and will pages.

Italy are the new Champions of Europe THE moment was finally upon us, England versus Italy at Wembley Stadium, the culmination of one month of international competition, leaving just two nations standing to battle it out for the trophy England have never won, and that Italy last won back in 1968, having since been runners‐ up in 2000, and 2012.

Gareth Southgate had tweaked his team slight‐ ly, going with a five‐man defence that featured Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Trippier, who replaced the young Arsenal striker Buyayu Saka in the starting 11, apart from that, he started with the same team that played Denmark in the semi‐final.

Southgate must be able to predict the future, because the player he had introduced was respon‐ sible for an incredible ball across the box that found Manchester United’s Luke Shaw in space, and he thundered a shot on the half‐volley beyond the stranded Azzuri keeper Gianluigi Donnarum‐ ma, scoring the fastest goal ever in the history of the tournament, after only one minute and 57 sec‐ onds.

Both teams pressed but there were no real clear‐cut chances, as both sets of players defended their lines so well, and England’s midfield was su‐ perb, as they went in 1‐0 at the break.

Incredibly, in the 64th minute, England had only their second attempt on goal, as John Stones rose

to meet a corner, forcing Donnarumma into a fin‐ gertip save.

And then came disaster for England, as Chiesa won a corner in the 66th minute, the ball was crossed to the far post where Marco Verratti’s header was brilliantly blocked by Pickford, only for the ball to bounce to veteran defender Leonardo Bonucci who couldn’t fail to score, and Italy were level.

Southgate dealt a card in the 70th minute, swapping Kieran Trippier for Saka, and then Hen‐ derson replaced Declan Rice, but try as they may, there was no way through a very solid Italian de‐ fence, and the game drifted towards an extra 30 minutes of play.

Extra time saw Jack Grealish take the field, re‐ placing Mason Mount, and Mancini surprisingly swapped Verratti for Locatelli, after Verratti had dominated the middle of the field for the Italians for a lot of the second half.

A last throw of the dice saw Man United pair, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford enter the field of play, with three minutes left on the clock, it looked like going to penalties.

And so, with Pickford saving two penalties, Don‐ narumma saved penalties from Rashford, Sancho, and finally Saka, for Italy to be crowned the new champions of Europe.