Euro Weekly News - Costa de Almeria 3 - 9 March 2016 Issue 1600

A MYRIAD of issues were discussed by tourism experts in Mo-jacar who said no to the tourist tax and predicted a splendid 2016for the town.

ISSUE NO. 1555 // 23 - 29 APRIL 2015ISSUE NO. 1600 3 - 9 March 2016 WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COMCOSTA DE ALMERA YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION

THE old town hall in Albox is set to be transformed into aterrific new cultural centre flush with a museum, l ibraryand multimedia room.

VERSATILE community centre on the cards

Culture vultures

Summer lovincomin to you

REJECTION of idea key part of Mojacar

No tourist tax

See page 8

DESPITE the incumbent be-ing embroi led in a disputeover his court ordered depar-ture, replacements have al-

ready surfaced with a strongchance the town will see itsfirst female in charge.

Whos your pick?

BLISSFUL strolls along the new promenade are the real deal

MOJACARS new section ofpromenade is well on schedulefor a pre-summer opening, ac-cording to the council.

Initial works on the projectbegan when the first stonewas laid by Mayor Rosa MariaCano at a special ceremony inMarch last year, and construc-tion began shortly afterwards.

During the event, a time-capsule was buried, the boxcontained a selection of thedays newspapers, coins fromthe 2015 mint and a lettersigned by all attending digni-taries.

The 990,000 project willextend the existing promenadeby some 880 metres, from theCueva de Lobo beach, along tothe Red Cross building.

The new phase will includea pedestrian walkway, cyclepath, landscaping, beach accessand a parking area. Some resi-dents have expressed their con-

cern about how the new prom-enade will affect parking in thearea.

Construction workers havebeen on site from morning un-til night, including some week-ends, keen to ensure the prom-enade opens on time.

Much of the stone wall at the

edge of the path has been builtand work continues on layingpaving stones.

The final stages will includesoft landscaping and installa-tion of lighting.

Tourism Councillor andDeputy Mayor, EmmanuelAguero told the Euro Weekly

News: The work is well onschedule and we expect thenew section to be open byMay, June at the latest.

Cheeky locals have, howev-er, reportedly started up asweepstakes on whether thework really will be finished ontime.

By Adele Land

See page 67

See page 72

ALBOX mayoral race heats up

A MOBILE health unit is available to women in Mojacar for a tem-porary period only and will be offering screening services for thoseof a certain age.

WOMENS screenings in Mojacar

Health matters

See page 17

Foreign criminals areexpelled from Almeria

A BOOK on various episodes of Cuevas del Almanzoras past by lo-cal history expert Enrique Fernandez Bolea and an exhibition of theoriginal drawings by Francisco Javier Gonzalez Gallego which illus-trate it will be presented at the Teatro Echegary on Saturday, March 5.

Villaricos cathedral, the discovery of a giant fossil in the Rambla deCirera and different ceremonies and traditions are some of the thingsfeatured.

ACCORDING to information releasedby the Provincial Police in Almeria, atotal of 142 people of foreignnat ional i ty were expel led fromthe province during 2015 af terei ther being convicted of cr imes(120) or following release from prison(22).

The majority of these criminals werefrom North Africa including Algeria,Libya, Morocco and Tunisia and this issaid to be due to the relative proximityof those countries to the south coast ofSpain.

The report went on to say that thethe percentage of criminal foreignersis a minimal quantity in respect to thetotal number of foreigners who live inthe province and that whilst severalhundred more people had been ex-pelled, this was due to irregularities intheir identity documents rather than

any criminal activity.In many cases, people had been re-

fused entry by alert border control of-ficers at the airport and port.

NEWS3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN2

ALMERIA Province hotels end-ed up near the bottom of theheap in a recent online qualityranking.

Trivago, a metasearch enginewith a spotlight on hotels, tallied

up the feedback it received fromcustomers and assigned an aver-age rating out of 100 to each ofthe Spanish provinces.

Almeria came out with a pal-try 77.9.

Bottom of heapLOCAL NEWS

Book presented

SPORTS men and women inCuevas del Almanzora willstake their place in history byappearing on a series of base-ball cards. A collection of stick-ers is to be produced featuring

sporting pupils from neighbour-hood schools.

The initiative, Cromo Kids,will feature players from Cuevasdel Almanzora football club andthe stickers will be collectible.

A place in history

MAJORITY were from North African countries close to the south coast

By John Smith

ALMERIA PORT: People refused entry by alert border control officers.

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3NEWS 3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN

NOW that the British governmenthas declared that the Cameronagreement with the EU was a mas-terstroke, and that he is totally sup-portive of the country remainingwithin the European club, thestatements and counter statementshave started.

A government sponsored reportissued so quickly that it disprovesthe concept that civi l servantsspend all of their time drinking teaand dreaming of knighthoods, hasgiven plenty of ammunition to bothsides of the argument.

The basic concept of the reportis that Article 50 of the Treaty onEuropean Union says that anyMember State may decide to with-draw from the Union in accordancewith its own constitutional require-ments, and that it has two years tonegotiate an alternative relation-ship with Brussels and its 27 mem-bers.

What the report goes on to say is

that the average time to negotiatetrade agreements and the like canbe more than eight years, and itconcludes that i t would take atleast 10 years before al l agree-ments could be signed with all par-ties, but if there are only two yearsto negotiate then expats living andworking within the EU could findthemselves in serious difficulty.

This gave David Lidington, theEurope minister, the chance towarn that a British exit from thebloc would be a massive risk and

everything we take for grantedabout access to the single marketwould be in question.

He said: Trade deals betweenthe EU and other countries and bi-lateral trade deals of any type nor-mally take six, seven, eight yearsand counting. Everything we takefor granted about access to the sin-gle market trade taking placewithout customs checks or paper-work at national frontiers, the rightof British citizens to go and live inSpain or France those would allbe up in the air. It is massive. It ismassive what is at risk.

Those in favour of the Brexithave responded angrily to both thereport and the minister s com-ments, which they dismiss as spec-ulation and scaremongering.

The debate will continue on adaily basis and it is up to each per-son allowed to vote to decide whatthey want to achieve from the ref-erendum, and which side has themost compelling and believable ar-gument by June 23.

FEATURED NEWS

Ticking time bomb willaffect future generations

By John Smith

DAVID CAMERON (pictured with Mariano Rajoy): British government has declared the agreement with the EU was a masterstroke.

2 million is the number of expats estimated to be living inthe EU of which a large

number would be eligibleto vote.

Uneasy bedfellows

PERHAPS unsurprisingly, LordMandelson, former Trade Commis-sioner who has always been pro-EU,has confirmed his belief that an exitwould be bad for the economy as it islikely Britain would lose preferentialtrading status around the world.

Last month, the G20 states meet-ing in China supported DavidCameron and his anti-Brexit stance.

SUPPORT for Cameron

For more than 40 years,membership of the Euro-

pean Union has been goodfor the prosperity and well-being of individuals, fami-

lies and communitiesacross the country.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish first minister

Quote of the Week

Your papers,your views

Non votersAnyone who has the right tovote who does NOT use ithere in Spain, or indeed any-where in Europe, should bedeported back to live inBritain and stripped of all oftheir benefits and entitle-ments. Hannah

No expectationI have lived abroad on main-land Europe for 13 years, and Ido not expect 64 million Britishto vote to stay in because ofmyself and two million others.Peter G

Another treatyMy understanding is of anotherinternational treaty, where itstates if countries change theirtreaties it does not affect theliving standards of persons whohave moved to another climate,including pensions and healthcare. Percy

Make it clearThe UK had a trade deficit withthe EU of over 55 billion lastyear... and the government istrying to tell people they willtax us! Hopefully the OUTcamps, along with others suchas business leaders that dontget payments from the EU, willget themselves together tomake things clear to the Britishpublic before the vote. Mike inESP

No NIE or taxThere are hundreds of thou-sands of British expats livinghere who have never botheredto apply for an NIE or registerto pay tax among other things.If they do not possess an NIEand they spend more than threemonths here, and if Britainleaves will they not become il-legal immigrants? Brian

Unable to voteWe cannot vote in Spain forthis and those of us who havelived in Spain for more than 15years cannot vote at all in theUK. Sue

Our readers have been ex-pressing their views and con-cerns on what the outcomes ofthe referendum could mean tothe expat community on

Here are just a few of yourcomments and dont forget ifyou are legible to vote in thereferendum, visit www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

www.euroweeklynews.com

THE gloves are off in the countdown to the referendum

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MEASURES to improve the railwayinfrastructure have been delayed due tonative tortoises in Levante. A newhigh-speed train route is having to berethought as the protected area where itwas originally planned is, in fact, hometo the endangered Spur-thighed tor-toise.

Almeria senator Eugenio Gonzalvezand national party representative JuanJose Matari have been in talks with theInfrastructure State Secretary JulioGomez Pomar, to discuss key issues re-lating to the railway infrastructures inthe province of Almeria. It is in thehope of improving and building extratrack between Pulpi and Cuevas del Al-manzora, without too much disruptionto the at risk tortoise population.

The Spur-thighed tortoise has onlythree habitats in its native Spain, twoof which are near Almeria and the oth-er in Mallorca. It appears on the cata-

logue of endangered species. Eugenio Gonzalvez stated that the

new demands of the Almeria Railway

Board will be sent to the DevelopmentMinistry. Improvements to the levelcrossing in Gador were also discussed.


INDEXNews 1 - 30

Featured News 3

Finance 33 - 40

Stocks 34

Leapy Lee 41

Our View 42

Colin Bird 42

Letters 50

Daily TV 52

Time Out 56 - 57

Health & Beauty 62 - 63

Social Scene 64 - 66

Albox 67 - 72

Property 75 - 76

Homes & Gardens 78 - 79

Pets 80

Classifieds 81 - 83

Motoring 84 - 85

Sport 86 - 88

WORK on the infrastructure is moving at a tortoises pace

Plans to improve therailway network

By Emily Chettle

ENDANGERED: Spur-thighed tortoise has its home in Almeria.


ALMERIAS mosquitopopulation is rapidly bal-looning out of control, andmunicipal experts have senta report to the Junta de An-dalucia regional govern-ment demanding some-thing be done.

The problem stemsmainly from the AndaraxRiver, which has turned in-to a perfect breedingground for the loathsomepests due to a few key fac-tors. Chief among them isthe stagnant water in theriver, which is an ideal en-vironment for mosquitoes.

Add to this the lack ofrainfall and the presence ofweeds in the riverbed, andthe situation has quicklytransformed from a nui-sance into a nightmare forthe many Almeria residentswho live near the river.

In the document sent tothe Junta, the experts havepetitioned for the elimina-tion of the stagnant water,the clean-up of spillages,and the removal of weedsand vegetation that areclogging up the river.

Out ofcontrolmozzies

No partyorganisedin Albox POLITICAL oppositionparty Partido Popular (PP)in Albox has slammed thesocialist (PSOE) councilfor failing to organise anycelebrations to mark An-dalucia Day.

The group lamented thatAlbox was one of only afew towns in the provincewhich did not have any of-ficial events.

Andalucia Day fell onFebruary 28 and townsacross the province cele-brated with music, dancing,giant paellas and other ac-tivities.

A PP spokesperson sug-gested it wasnt an eco-nomic decision and notdue to lack of personneleither.

MOJACAR has become the official headquar-ters for the Belgian Cycling Federation as thefirst groups of Belgian cyclists arrive for thespring training season.

Sports travel agency, Kortweg, organises theevents which last throughout the wintermonths.

Agency manager and professional cyclist,Jan Almeye, said Mojacar ranked as one ofthe top destinations for cycling, along with

Mallorca and Calpe.Rabobank trainer, Piet Kuijs, agreed, saying

the area had a fantastic range of challengingroutes.

More than 100 amateur and professional cy-clists are currently in situ in the official hotel,the Marina Beach.

The hotel provides a range of facilities forthe cyclists including mechanical areas, thera-py rooms and special early breakfasts.

Mojacar is nowthe official HQ THE area around Alme-ria Citys bullring has

seen some remarkableremodelling works takeplace over the past fewyears and the progressreached a c ivi l ianpleasing crescendo withthe complet ion of anew childrens park.

Two phases of workhave been finished at atotal cost of 1.2 mil-l ion which has a lsoseen the renovation of

infrastructure , newpublic lighting, pave-ment improvements andbrand new sign posts.

These are the high-l ights of a job wel ldone.

BELGIAN cyclists arrived for training session

CYCLING SEASON: The area has a fantastic range of challenging routes.

Plaza progress atAlmeria bullring

1.2million has been

spent on renovations

3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.comEWN6 NEWS

Forest flamesA HELICOPTER, fire en-gines, specialists and fire-fighters were dispatched totackle a rampant blaze inthe Sierra Alhamilla after20 people reported seeingthe flames from as far asthe motorway.

Sent downARMED robbers wholaunched a violent assaulton a pub in Viator weresentenced to five yearsand three and a half yearsin prison apiece. Wearingbalaclavas and brandish-ing knives the men stole1,500 plus phones, wal-lets and jewellery.

Fire escapeTWO people were evacuat-ed and taken to Torrecarde-nas Hospital following afire in an Almeria resi-dence. A bedroom burnedin the blaze which occurredin the Plaza Mula area.

NEWS EXTRA

MEMBERS of the Asprodalbaadult occupation centre in Verahave been preparing for the diade la vieja by making man-nequins for the event whichwill be on display in the towncentre and some will be sold inshops in the town.

Dia de la vieja, or day of theold is celebrated throughoutAndalucia, where childrenmake dolls resembling old peo-ple, fill them with sweets andthen throw stones to break openthe dolls.

Families throughout the re-gion hold parties in the country-side where the children takepart in the tradition and then en-joy a picnic or barbecue.

Asprodalba has been makingdolls for more than 20 yearsand local children eagerly awaitthe opportunity to buy them.

The dolls come in all shapesand sizes and can be bought forbetween 5 and 12.

Asprodalba is an associationwhich works with people withlearning difficulties by helpingthem into employment and giv-ing general support.

ROSMARI CANO, the mayor of Mo-jacar, has had a meeting in Almeria withthe delegate of the environment, Anto-nio Martinez Rodriguez to request onceagain, the construction of the new treat-ment plant in Mojacar. The project willalso affect the channelling and cleaningof river waters and watercourses that af-fect the municipality.

The current treatment plant for Mo-jacar, which is located on the road fromLos Gallardos to Garrucha, has facilitiesthat are no longer adequate due to thepopulation growth that Mojacar has seenin recent years.

The mayor has held several meetingsin order to try to get this project movingsince 2007, when an agreement for theconstruction of new facilities was firstsigned. As for the channelling andcleaning of the Rio Aguas, the depart-ment of the environment has proposedthat the Mojacar Council requests the

Southern Hydrographic Confederationto include those activities within theGeneral Plan of the province for 2016.

As for the proposed clean-up of thedry river beds that are in the municipali-

ty, the lack of budget at the agencymakes it difficult to afford, howeverthey will try to address it, as far as pos-sible, at the request of the mayor of Mo-jacar.

Making dollsin preparation

By John Smith

Mayor calls for a newwater treatment plantFACILITIES are no longer adequate due to the population growth

RIO AGUAS: Needs to be channelled and cleaned up.

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Stem centrePLANT health productsuppliers are training up 20unemployed people inAlmeria to kick start theircareers. They will learnnew skills which should behighly adaptable to thehomes and gardens marketas well as agriculture.

Magic showTHE theatre in Vicar puton a magic show to helpraise money to assist poorchildren across the world.Several local elementaryschools attended alongwith the local mayor.

Hard time FOUR men have been sen-tenced to prison over a vio-lent robbery which sawthem injure and rob a manin his Velez Rubio home atknifepoint. They stole hispassport, phone and cash.

NEWS EXTRA

DEMOLITION plansare afoot after the Span-ish Supreme Court de-cided to order the de-struction of theinfamous El Algarrobicohotel. The building, con-sidered one of the ugli-est in the world, wasbuilt on non-devel-opable land in a pic-turesque natural parknear Carboneras.

Nigh on a decade oflegal wrangling, protestand mayhem culminatedin the decision lastmonth to finally destroythe notorious eyesore.

Both the court and theAndalucian governmentagree that the sparksshould fly sooner ratherthan later, and the gov-ernment has agreed topurchase the land.

Tearbuildingdown

THE town of Carboneras has long feltan acute embarrassment at not havinga marina. Whether the emotion wasfelt quite so dramatically among resi-dents as in the bright lights of counciloffices is unclear, but there has beenpalpable discontent at the unpalatablesituation.

For more than 20 years people havebeen reflecting that it is a very strangestate of affairs indeed that a town closeto the sea, with a long coast, would nothave a marina to call its own, especial-ly when mari t ime proximity is thetowns primary tourist draw.

Fortunately those dark days are nowover as Carboneras is on the verge ofseeing i ts dream come true with i tsvery own marina. There is now a meet-ing scheduled between the mayor andthe manager of the Andalucia PublicPorts Agency for March 4.

If the project is completed it will be-come the eighth town in Almeria tohave a marina after Villaricos, Gar-rucha, San Jose, Roquetas, Almerimar

and Adra, as well as Almeria City.The process would essentially entail

spending 4 million on rearrangingthe current fishing port so as to enablethe docking of leisure boats, the hall-

mark of any marina worth i ts sal t .Around 270 platforms would conceiv-ably become available and the workwould also see a great deal of refur-bishment.

CURRENT fishing port would have to be rearranged

Marina, marinaBy Matthew Elliott

CARBONERAS: Soon to have its very own marina if plans are approved.


OFFICIAL day scheduled for October 1

Official prettiestvillage competition

VOTING is under way in theofficial most beautiful villagesin Spain competition.

Following on from a recentregional campaign, the race ison to name the prettiest villages

in the country.One official day to mark the

event is scheduled for October1, when the list of villages willbe announced.

Mojacar currently sits 12th inthe voting line-up, with some18,000 votes, while nearby Lu-

cainena de Las Torres is insixth.

Mojacar or Lucainena-loverscan vote by visiting lospueblosmasbonitosdeespana.org.

Both villages have alreadyappeared in the list in previousyears.

By Adele Land

Let the carnivalparade continueRESIDENTS of Garrucha will finally be able to enjoythe closing ceremony of the towns annual carnival.

The parade is scheduled to take place on SundayMarch 6, starting at 5pm at the esplanade of the port.

The original event in February was cancelled due towinds of up to 80 kilometres and organisers feared itwould be too dangerous to continue.

A number of trees had fallen into the road and it tooka number of days for the area to be cleared and madesafe.

Drugs bustTWO people have been arrested forpossession of large quantities ofmarihuana, with alleged intent tosupply.

The individuals aged 35 and 20were apprehended by Guardia Civilagents in a garage in Antas.

Agents reported smelling a strongodour of marihuana and immediate-ly searched the premises.

The stash, approximately half akilogramme, was found in a bin bagin the boot of a car.

Mojacar hotelierspredict excellentseason approachingMOJACAR Tourism councillorEmmanuel Aguero attended awork meeting on Thursday,February 25, with members ofthe local hotel sector to discussthe approaching Easter period.

These meetings are held peri-odically with an aim to improv-ing Mojacars status as a toptourist destination.

This time the meeting washeld at Hotel El Puntazo and at-tended by directors and repre-sentatives from all the main lo-cal hotels.

Items on the agenda includedmotions presented by the So-mos Mojacar opposition partyincluding creation of a touristtax for people spending thenight in Mojacar. This proposalwas rejected by the hoteliers,

who unanimously declared theidea was a bad one and coun-tered with a number of argu-ments against the tax, includingthe fact a tourist destination likeMojacar should not and cannotcharge tourists a tax, no matterhow small, as this would dam-age the towns image and haveserious and negative effects.

The Tourism councillor theninformed the hoteliers on mat-ters of interest including pro-motion of the destination, theincrease in budgets for tourismrelated matters for 2016 andcurrent municipal projects toconsolidate tourist sectors in-cluding culture and sports.

Regarding the beach area,they were informed of the ex-tension of lifeguard services,

new cleaning schedules andguidelines for the beaches andother aspects including installa-tion of new walkways, trafficarrangements, creation of moreparking spaces and other newsof interest to the sector.

The hoteliers said their ex-pectations for the upcomingseason are excellent as a num-ber of international travelagents have shown increasedinterest in Spain, especiallyfrom the UK, and interest fromthe national market is also high.

They also wished to thankthe council, on behalf of theircustomers, for the excellentstate of the town which, due toits cleanliness and maintenance,has been highlighted by manysatisfied visitors.

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Cruise traffic upARRIVAL of passengers will be a boost for local tourist sites and businesses

THE port authority of Alme-ria has predicted the arrivalof more than 30,000 passen-

gers on cruise ships and thecouncil has jumped on thenews as a means of boostinglocal tourist sites and busi-ness with all the tools they

need to reap the rewards. Cruise traff ic has been

steadily increasing over theyears and now 36 ships areexpected to stop in the capi-

tal throughout 2016. Thefirst to arr ive wil l be theGerman ship Berlin whichhas the capacity for 412 pas-sengers.

By Matthew Elliott

ALTHOUGH mankind haslearnt to cope with earthquakesthroughout thousands of yearsof lowly rumbling and spectac-ular destruction, scientists inAlmeria are not content withsimply attributing them to an-gry gods and being done withit. Now researchers at the uni-versity are working on ways toanticipate serious tremors andpotentially mitigate damages.

A key part of their investiga-tions is related to measuring theresponse of the soil to a quakeand extrapolating an effect ondifferent buildings. If success-ful they will be able to map outfuture quakes and have somelevel of anticipation to secureagainst the horrendous damagescaused chiefly by surprise.

The emergent science hastraditionally lagged behind oth-er fields, with the science of theearth and oceans in their infan-cy. Researchers know startling-ly little about what happens be-neath our feet, whether it is theincredible creatures of theocean floor, or the goings on atthe earths molten core.

Almeria tothe rescue

ALMERIA PORT: Expects more than 30,000 cruise passengers to visit.

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Mayor welcomesmotorhomersTAKING part in the annual boules tournament

Pawning memoriesA WOMAN has been sentenced to five months in prison and or-dered to compensate her sister-in-law with 6,585 for stealingher jewellery.

She regularly visited her relative over the years and during thattime managed to swipe a serious amount of swag. Later she soldthe loot to various pawn shops across the entire province ofAlmeria.

Speedingup theprocessTHERE are more than4,000 people in Alme-ria due dependency al-lowances who havenot yet received themdespite a new pro-gramme aimed atspeeding up theprocess.

At present there areroughly 17,000 peoplein the province receiv-ing some form of de-pendency allowance,with the Junta de An-dalucian regional gov-ernment taking care of72 per cent of thegrants and the nationalauthorities the remain-ing 28 per cent.

Procedures have be-come faster as of latebut there are clearlymany people still outof the loop and in needof valuable assistance.

HUERCAL-OVERA welcomed a largegroup of Scandinavian motorhomers whicharrived at the municipal camping ground.

More than 200 campers from northern Eu-rope travelled to the town to participate inthe annual boules tournament.

Some travelled directly from their homecountries and others from different parts of

Spain where they have holiday homes.Mayor Domingo Fernandez and tourism

counci l lor Monica Navarro greeted thegroup and wished them well in the champi-onship.

Fernandez said that the campers played animportant par t in the towns economy,adding that during the winter months such alarge group of tourists is quite rare for thetown.

By Adele Land

CAMPERS: Play an important part in the towns economy.


WOMEN in Huercal-Overa can enjoy a week ofactivities designed with them in mind as the townplans its International Womens Day celebrations.

With the motto think about you, this yearsevent is bigger than ever with activities to suiteveryone.

Women can enjoy spa sessions, massages,dance classes and a range of workshops, coveringsubjects from brooch making to skin care.

All activities are free apart from the trip to Zu-jar spa which costs 5. Reservations can bemade at the womens centre or by visitingwww.huercal-overa.es.

Activities are running from March 1 to 11.

A celebration ofwomen all weekWORKSHOPS include brooch making and skin care

By Adele Land

New exchangeprogramme THE University of Almeria hasarranged a new exchange programme toallow students to travel overseas andbroaden their studies for periods of be-tween five and six months.

Agreements have been signed with15 universities in Korea, Albania, Jor-dan, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Arme-nia and Moldova under the Erasmus+programme, and students can presentapplications until March 19.

Various grants will be available.

Mojacar one ofthe most popularMOJACAR is one of Spains most sought-after des-tinations according to an online poll.

According to the survey undertaken by travelagent, Click Viaja, Mojacar was listed as one of themost popular resorts , alongside Benidorm andMadrid.

According to the survey the average duration of avisi t during 2015 was 3.2 nights, with visi torsspending on average 370.

The Costa de Almeria was also highlighted as anarea of rapid growth in terms of national tourism.


ALMERIA Provincial Council will supportthe third edition of the Ultra Trail & BTTTabernas Desert race which will take place onMarch 5 and 6.

This race has strengthened its hand duringthe last two years as it was able to gather 800sportsmen from all over the world. On this oc-casion, 85 per cent of the competitors comefrom outside of Spain including countries likeArgentina, Italy, Denmark and Mexico.

The event is composed of two differentraces through the Tabernas Desert. One ofthem will be a running competition where theparticipants will be able to choose betweendifferent itineraries of 105km, 65km and25km. On the other hand, there is a bike race

with two itineraries of 70km and 115km.The sports event has become a major

tourist attraction for Almeria Province, withthe astronomical number of athletes from allover the world filling all of the hotel roomsnearby since last November.

Tabernas extreme race has strengthenedSPORTING event has become a major tourist attraction for Almeria ProvinceBy Matthew Elliott

EMERGENCY serviceswere kept busy by awave of fatal accidentsacross the province overthe last few days.

On February 27, aforeign 39-year-oldman, and a 59-year-oldwoman from Vicar, wereabruptly killed in afrontal collision of twovehicles on the A-358motorway in the Daliasmunicipality. Two elder-ly women and a 10-year-old child were inthe other vehicle andwere taken to Torrecar-denas Hospital with seri-ous injuries.

Just days before, amassive four car pile-upcaused miles of trafficjams on the A-7 motor-way. The Guardia Civilwere deployed to thescene to ensure that traf-fic eventually recoveredfrom the dramatic hic-cup which fortunatelysaw no injuries.

Then on February 29a man overturned his carin the early hours of themorning near Gador.Guardia Civil troops,health workers, mainte-nance and road opera-tors and firefighterswent there to deal withthe situation and help re-lease the victim from thecar. After overturning,the vehicle had fallen in-to a ditch leaving theman trapped inside.

Unfortunately the res-cuers were too late tosave the man.

A waveof fataltrafficaccidents


TWO expatr iates could face up to eightyears in prison for allegedly beating up androbbing a retired couple at their home inPartaloa.

The defendants, named as PJM and DRM,of Irish and British descent, are accused ofbefriending an elderly British couple, enter-ing their home, beating them up and lockingthem in the property.

The two individuals allegedly stole 75in cash, a mobile phone and the landline

phone which they ripped from the wall sothat the couple could not call for help afterthey had left.

According to witness reports, before leav-ing the property, the defendants spent somefour hours dr inking alcohol which theyfound in the house, while the victims werelocked in another room.

In addition to the prison terms, the publicprosecutor is seeking for compensation tobe paid to the victims.

EXPECTANT mothers in Mojacar can take advantage of parenting and childbirth coursesorganised by Mojacar Council in collaboration with council colleagues in Garrucha.

The courses begin this week and will take place every Thursday at the medical centre inMojacar Pueblo.

Women in their second and third trimester of their pregnancy can find out information re-lating to childbirth, breastfeeding, care of the new-born baby and their rights as new parents.

Healthcare professional Maria Luz Alonso will host the courses.

Prison sentence loomsfor two expat robbers

Childbirth classes forwomen of Mojacar

THE ongoing water situation in Turre is al-legedly causing a rift between the politicalalliance of the socialist PSOE party andleft-wing Izquierda Unida (IU).

The Turre water supply has been at thecentre of debates for many years leavingresidents with a sub-standard water supply.

The water situation in the town has beena complicated affair with part of the townbeing supplied by water company Galasaand the remaining part, with water pipedfrom wells located in the mountains.

An agreement was reached, despite out-standing debts to the supplier, for the wholearea to be supplied by Galasa and for allproperties to be connected to individual me-ters.

A vote on whether to transfer the watersystem to Galasa was scheduled to takeplace during a council meeting earlier thismonth but this had to be postponed when acouncillor failed to attend the meeting.

The councillor was allegedly in favour oftransferring the supply to rival companyCodeur and is said to have a relationshipwith Codeur following his dealings with

joint owner, property developer, Keymare.Any improvement to the water quality

will come as some relief for the towns resi-dents.

RESIDENTS are desperate for improvement to the quality

Council drowningin water problems

By Adele Land

MURKY WATER: Residents have suffered with poor quality.


Unusual fame forlittle-known parts

TABERNAS and the Sierra delos Filabres have been chosenby a specialist travel magazine,Hola Viajes, as one of Spains52 weekend routes through lit-tle-known parts of the country.

Whereas in the past theprovinces beaches and coastal

areas have been the main at-traction for visitors, inland ar-eas are now well on their wayto finding fame thanks to fea-tures such as the current one,entitled From the Desert to theStars.

Crossing the TabernasDesert, the feature explains,the most unsuspected land-

scape of Almeria Province isdiscovered, with high moun-tains, pine forests and whiteMoorish villages. At the top,the best telescope of continen-tal Europe. And on the otherside of the Sierra, the greenvalley of the Almanzora riverand the marble quarries ofMacael.

FROM the desert to the stars

By Eleanor Hawkins

Breast-screeningTHE mobile, womens health unit willbe in Mojacar from now until March 13.

The unit provides breast-screening forwomen between 50 and 69 years of agewho have received appointments fromtheir medical centre.

The unit will be located on MojacarPlaya and will be open mornings andevenings.

Women who think they may be duefor a screening should contact their doc-tor for an appointment.

The missing link?AN early candidate for the Darwin Awards from ElEjido decided to hang from the roof of a 105 metretall building without any safety measures in a bid toappear on a television show. The 14-year-old dangledfrom the Torre Laguna building in a stunt designed toattract the attention of Discover Max, a show de-picting people practising risk-taking sports.

The video of the teenager performing his auda-cious feat is making the rounds on social media andLocal Police have now opened an investigation intothe affair.


WITH the British voting on whether to leavethe EU, the Scots looking likelier than everto escape the UK, Catalonians edging closerto autonomy and al l manner of peoplesfighting for self determination across theworld, it was high time that Almeria got inon the action. While the majority of towns-folk were celebrating Andalucia Day on Feb-ruary 28, a group named Accion por Almerialaunched a counter protest arguing thatAlmeria is not Andalucia and demandingautonomy from the region.

United under the slogan 28F - nothing tocelebrate the group lamented the 1980 refer-endum which saw Andalucia become an au-tonomous region as rigged.

The group secretary pointed out that votesin favour did not actually reach a majority,but rather a mere plurality. President of theprotest movement Jesus Munoz said everyyear more Almerienses take the blindfold offtheir eyes and realise that Almeria is muchmore than what they have been selling us fordecades.

Almerienses are not second-class citizensand we should shake off once and for all ourpassivity and our inferiority complex, wedont want to be any more or any less thanany other Spaniard, but we have the right todemand an equal deal, of demanding that ourculture doesnt disappear or the legacy ofour ancestors.

A DEAD sea turtle was washed up on a beachin Almeria at the weekend.

The animal, a loggerhead turtle, was thefirst of its kind to be found dead in theprovince for many months. Volunteers from amarine rescue group attended the scene to takephotos and register the details of the animal.

The team also checked if the creature hadpreviously been microchipped, an indicationthat the animal had been attended to in thepast, the test proved negative.

An Equinac spokesperson thanked thepasserby who called the emergency servicesand reminded the public of the importance ofcalling 112 in the event of finding a sea mam-mal on the beach.

Freedom for Almeria as itdemands an equal deal

DEAD TURTLE: Animal checked for microchip.

By Adele Land

First dead turtlefor many monthsVOLUNTEERS from marine rescue attended the scene

PHOT

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FROM time to time, we comeacross stories which are so sadthey have to be shared, not justbecause they are newsworthybut because it is necessary tohighlight the way in whichsome people act and whoknows, we might even be ableto help the elderly lady in-volved if a reader spots her andher son somewhere in the areaswhere we publish.

The story itself goes back 15years to when Ann Clarke wasawarded 775,000 by a courtwhich found the NHS guilty offailing to help her, despite thefact she was depressed and hadtried to commit suicide on morethan one occasion, including

throwing herself under a bus.Just two days after winning

the compensation, Ann Clarkeran in front of a lorry and suf-fered incurable brain damage.Whilst some of the money wenttowards the purchase of ahouse, her son Michael startedto spend some of it on visits toSpain, which became more andmore regular, using his motheras the reason for the travel andusing her money to pay for it.

Her two other children wereso upset by the way he was act-ing they made a formal com-plaint, and a court deputy wasappointed who was required toallow her reasonable amountsof money for living expenses,but these turned out to be60,000 a year, which was a

considerable sum for an elderlywoman confined to a wheel-chair.

By 2012 the money had runout but Michael Clarke contin-ued to enjoy the high life, trav-

elling to Spain and even toThailand with his mother, whohad only the income from the

house (she has left it to Michaelin her will), which is rented outand state benefits to live on.

Three years ago, he was sen-tenced to three months impris-onment in absentia for disobey-ing the orders of the Court ofProtection, which has taken aserious interest in the case, andhe and his mother have beentravelling around without re-turning to the UK ever since.

It is known they were inBenidorm in July 2014 and inBarcelona in July 2015 as hehas a habit of posting hiswhereabouts on Facebook,where he also complains aboutBritish justice and the judiciary.

So worried is the Court ofProtection about the financialsituation of 75-year-old Ann, ajudge declared on February 24that the property she still ownsmay not be sold and he com-mented: All that can be said isit is unlikely to be in her bestinterests to be kept out of hernative country. If the propertywas sold, the proceeds wouldbe spent in whatever wayMichael Clarke chose.

Although he boasted in De-cember 2015 they were goingto travel to Cambodia, there isevery possibility that the easilyrecognisable pair could still bein Spain or may return, so withthe words of the judge ringingin our ears, we hope that if thecouple are spotted that readerswill report their whereabouts tothe Local Police, who would nodoubt check with British au-thorities as to how to proceed.Dial 092 for Local Police, 091for National Police.


A sad story about a vulnerablepensioner and her fugitive sonIF anyone spots the easily recognisable pair in Spain, authorities have asked you to report them to police

MICHAEL CLARKE: Travelling around with his mother.

By John Smith


VOLUNTEERS holding thefort at the Dog House Founda-tion, following the death of itsfounder, were delighted to re-ceive much-needed funds tohelp feed, vaccinate and re-home the remaining dogs.

Following the success of acanine photo shoot in Mojacar,organiser, Brad Swift, travelledto Huercal-Overa to hand overa cheque for 335 raised fromthe event.

Volunteer, Shirley Crawford,gratefully received the cheque.

Brad toured the centre dur-ing his visit and reported that

the rehoming was going welland that everyone was working

hard to find homes for all theanimals.

Cheque for the Dog House EVERYONE working hard to find homes for the dogsBy Adele Land

GRATEFUL: Much needed funds handed over to volunteer, Shirley Crawford.

THE fourth edition of theValley of Almanzora Cupmotor racing challengewill feature some changesfrom previous events.

The first stage of theevent will be in Huercal-Overa instead of Laroya,the date for this event willbe March 5 and 6.

The next sector will bestaged in Somontin on Au-gust 6 and 7, followed by

Sierro on November 7.The grand finale and

closing ceremony will takeplace in Cantoria on De-cember 18.

During the closingevent, competitors andguests will be invited toenjoy local meat andcheese products and theoverall winner of the com-petition will be presentedwith a new Ford car.

Motor racing event inthe Almanzora valley

A PAIR of chancers allegedly scammed more than 1,500 in ad-vance payments by pretending to be workers for an electricity com-pany offering generous terms for advanced air conditioning sys-tems. Almerias capital court finally issued a warrant for their arrestand the devilish duo are now in custody.

Officers had initially become aware of the crime spree when theyregistered multiple cases of customers being unable to contact simi-lar looking employees who had promised to install air condition-ing. Six reports were made in all with amounts typically being hun-dreds of euros.

Chancers arrested in airconditioning scam


NO longer merely a sporting event, the annualColor Rain de Almeria is now a momentousparty that defines the city. With thousands up-on thousands of participants, the popular race,which sees runners painted in colour, smashedall the records for attendance and saw thebiggest party in its history.

Kicking off at the Recinto Ferial on Sunday,February 28, there were more than 800 peoplemore than last year. The arena was so brim-

ming with paint, flesh and sweat that 500 un-lucky souls were declined entry to save space.

With a spectacular atmosphere, excellentweather, DJs blaring rambunctious Spanishpop, lotteries, food, and all manner of excitingstalls, it truly was a day to remember. Colourextinguishers ensured that everyone was coat-ed in a vibrant rainbow whether they wererunning or just enjoying the spectacle.

This year the race was circular and cannonspacked with hundreds of pounds of multi-coloured dust blasted the runners.

By Matthew Elliott

Color Rain was asparkling successTHOUSANDS of participants took part

Bumperquiz forPawsTONY MATTHEWS (EWN/Spectrum Radio) will be thequestion-master for a bumperquiz in aid of PAWS to beheld at Miraflores, CampingLos Gallardos on TuesdayMarch 22 at 8pm.

Maximum of six membersin a team; 2 per person, andmeals (including special pies)will be available from 7pm.Please attend - its for a goodcause.

Tel. 650 418 954 (or call inpersonally) to reserve yourtable.

TAKING the audience on amagical trip through the gold-en ages of music, renownedsinger Ruth Rubi will take tothe stage at the MunicipalSchool of Music and Art in

Almeria on Saturday March 5at 10pm.

The local singer has exper-tise in rock, soul, flamencoand bossa nova and will beaccompanied by the band Ul-

timo Rocko. It will be a per-sonal project for the artistwho has devoted herself tomusic since her teens.

Tickets are 7.50 in ad-vance, 10 on the night.

Rubi rocks as she takes audiencethrough the golden ages of music


THE Guardia Civil has bustedopen a large drug smugglingoperation between Spain andthe African continent with thearrests of 25 people. The drug-trafficking group intended tosmuggle marihuana from NorthAfrica into Spain hidden in thehulls of modified boats.

The police operation namedBatelo/Sol Naciente took place

in Malaga, Melilla and Almeriaprovinces. Most of the arrestedmen have Spanish nationalityand were responsible for man-aging the operation, storage, lo-gistics and distribution of thedrugs. Charges include severaldrug-trafficking offences, be-longing to a criminal organisa-tion and possession of illegalweapons.

The band of smugglers tookvessels from Spain to the north

of Morocco where they loadeddrugs before returning to Spain.The established procedure sawa network of people involved inthe hiding of boats and drugsand the onward distribution.

The undercover operation bythe Guardia Civil included in-spections in Malaga, Almeriaand Melilla. The Malaga townsof Frigiliana and Velez-Malagawere where most of the drugcartel was based.

Drug-traffickingring is broken upSMUGGLERS took vessels from Spain to Morocco

By Emily Chettle

FIGHTING for their right not to party, a broadswathe of Almerias citizen groups have gath-ered together to demand that police focus theirefforts on capturing and punishing noise pol-luters. Council members have pushed for agreater police presence in sensitive zones, ar-guing it would have the added bonus of pro-

viding extra neighbourhood security.In a self referential parody worthy of a

comic sketch, the meeting of councillors, resi-dent groups and schools has advocated thecreation of a technical board to study the prob-lem. They also advised establishing an inven-tory of existing activities in the noisiest zones.

Noise brigade want more police


Your Belgian estate agent at the coast!Your Belg

Up in smokeIN a daring swoop on asweet shop in La Mojoneraand a phone shop in Berja,Guardia Civil officersseized 250 packets of ciga-rettes. The offending arti-cles came from abroad,were of different brands,without seals and naturallyhad no taxes paid on them.

Childs playIN a sign of times tocome, some children fromthe Atalaya de la Villaprimary school met themayor of Nijar and pre-tended to be councillorsfor the day.

Washed upA FEMALE pilot whalethat measured more thanfour metres and a smallstriped dolphin wereamong many sea creaturesto have washed up onAlmerias beaches in recentweeks.

NEWS EXTRA

AN Almeria man who al-legedly murdered 17 pro-tected birds by slyly captur-ing them with invisiblenetting could face up totwo years in prison afterbeing arrested by officerscarrying out a routine in-spection of his livestockproduct business.

He is being charged withcrimes against fauna for theillegal hunting of the birdsand also faces a ban fromhunting and a significantfine. The laws are in placeto protect endangeredspecies which are beingdriven to extinction by cap-italist hunters and their ilk.

THE hard work strengtheningthe bell tower and chapel of theCortijo del Fraile in Nijar hasbeen completed through thecollective effort of local envi-ronmental groups.

The end product has been de-scribed as a radical transforma-tion and the groups have askedthat renovation projects be al-lowed to continue and thrive.

The Cortijo is an old buildinglocated within the natural parkCabo de Gata which had falleninto a pitiful state of serious di-lapidation with the harsh pas-sage of time. Local residentsand environmental groups hadbeen protesting against its con-dition for years and in 2010 itwas finally recognised as aplace of cultural interest by theAndalucian government.

The farmhouse has spread its

wings far beyond Almeria, be-ing featured in the backdrop offilms including The Good, theBad, and the Ugly and A Fistfulof Dollars. It was also the siteof the infamous crime of Ni-jar which inspired the poem

Bodas de Sangre (Blood wed-ding) by the famous Spanishauthor Federico Garcia Lorca.

In the hot summer of 1928, awoman due to be wed tried toelope with her cousin but thetwo were found by her family

and the man stabbed threetimes in the head.

The bride was later foundwandering around the townwith the pallor of a ghost andher white satin gown stainedwith the blood of her slain love.

By Matthew Elliott

Hard work pays off asrenovations completedBUILDING has been featured in the backdrop of several famous films

CORTIJO DEL FRAILE: Located within the natural park in Cabo de Gata.

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DISABLED passengerswere taken care of in theirlegions by staff at Alme-ria airport who attendedto 7,832 people with re-duced mobility in 2015.

Helping the physically,visually and mentally im-paired is a key responsi-bility of employees.

Airport aid

LADIES group, The Damesin Turre , held a special

meet ing this week withguest speakers and repre-

sentatives from local chari-table groups.

The meeting took place inthe usual venue at theHostal Rural and was at-tended by more than 50members.

First on the agenda wasthe handing over of chequesfor funds raised by variousevents over the past months.

The Dames in Turregroup is well-known for itsexcellent fundraising andhas handed over much need-ed funds to local charitiesincluding MACS, PAWS,the Red Cross and other or-ganisations.

Fanny Davies accepted acheque for 2,000 for hercarers group, SteppingStones. Fanny also encour-aged members to get in-volved by volunteering atthe weekly meetings.

Vera Orphanage received

a fantast ic donat ion of5,000, much of which willgo to making improvementsin the sanitary blocks of thefacility.

A cheque for 500 washanded to Los Gal lardosbased group ASADAS, andfinally, Dames committeemember, Doreen Woolton,accepted a cheque for 500on behalf of the Asprodalbacharity in Vera.

A big thank you was giv-en to Doreen who will soonbe heading off to live in theUK after many years of ser-vice on the Dames commit-tee.

The morning closed witha meeting of the committee.For more information aboutthe Dames In Turre, pleasecontact , secretary PamSmith on 677 543 031 orpresident Lesley Barlow on950 095 980.


A busy meeting for theDames in Turre ladies

MOJACAR played hostthis week to the associa-tion of families of peoplewith Down Syndrome.

Delegates f rom thegroup along with theJunta de Andalucia dis-

abilities delegate, Gon-zalo Rivas, met in theMarina Beach hotel forwhat was the 14th meet-ing since the associationbegan.

Representatives fromMojacar Counci l wel-comed the group.

Family gettogether

By Adele Land

MEETING UP: Family members and professionals.


THE Employment and SocialSecurity Minister, FatimaBaez, has highlighted Alme-ria as a motor of recovery inthe economy of Spain andan example of innovation,because, as she has explained,its generation of employmentis growing at a rhythm of 9

per cent which is threetimes above the national aver-age.

On February 23 Baez vis-ited the facilities that theDutch multinational RijkZwaan has in Almeria.

She was accompanied bythe president of the ProvincialCouncil of Almeria, GabrielAmat, and the mayor of the

capital, Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco.

For the minister, the fu-ture of the country in eco-nomic and work matters is inthe labour force, talent, andwell-paid and qualified pro-fessionals, as well as in in-novation because it is goingto be a fundamental andcompetitive element.

EMPLOYMENT is growing at 9 per cent

Engine of thelabour forceBy Matthew Elliott

POLITICAL opposition party Partido Popular(PP) in Lubrin has lambasted the socialist(PSOE) council for what it calls the neglect ofthe town. PP councillor, Rocio Lopez, referredto reports of rubbish-strewn streets, derelictchildrens playgrounds and crumbling roads.

Lopez also lamented the deterioration ofthe paddle tennis court and football ground.

The councillor urged mayor, DomingoRamos, to clean up the town, adding that if thetown was improved it could compete in theprettiest village in Spain competition, alongwith neighbouring Mojacar and Lucainena delas Torres.

The PP recently proposed a clean-up planwhich was rejected by the PSOE council.

PP in Lubrin urges clean-up


For more local news from our five other regions see www.euroweeklynews.com EWN top for all the news from Spain.

NEWS FROM OUR FIVE OTHER REGIONS COSTA DEL SOL

ChesstournamentAN activity programmelaunched in Estepona will seea chess tournament take placeon March 12 at 10am in RealStreet. There are 150 spacesavailable and only playerswho are members of chessfederations can register.

Womans touchTONI LEDESMA, the firstwoman in history to be ap-pointed mayor of Alhaurin elGrande, has vowed to keepthe ball rolling and provideresidents with all the essentialservices they need in the af-termath of the former may-ors resignation.

Halal paellaTHE mosque in Benalmade-na held a benefit event for lo-cal disabled people whichsaw childrens activities, facepainting and a bouncy castleall help raise funds for a goodcause. An enormous paellawas also whipped up for allthose in attendance.

Car troubleA MAN had to be rescued byemergency services aftersomehow managing to traphis leg underneath one of thewheels of his car. After beingextracted by firefighters hewas taken to a Malaga hospi-tal for treatment.

Human rightsAUTHORITIES in Marbellawill pioneer a new pro-gramme in schools aimed atpromoting the equality andwelfare of the LGBTQ com-munity. There will also beseveral conferences on deal-ing with hate crimes.

Burn outAN arson attack saw threecars and a motorbike setablaze in the provinces capi-tal. Luckily no one was in-jured and firefighters werequickly on the scene, evacu-ating a nearby building as aprecaution.

COSTA BLANCA SOUTH

Nantes visitGUARDAMAR has been represented atthe international tourism fair in Nantes,France. French tourists represent 14 percent of Guardamars foreign visitorsevery year.

New chiefDOCTOR Felix Gutierrez has been ap-pointed as new Chief of Internal Medi-cine at Elches General Hospital, follow-ing the retirement of Dr Alberto MartinHidalgo.

Hiker rescued A HIKER was rescued after an accidentin the Sierra del Carche, Jumilla. Fire-fighters and a forestry agent assisted af-ter a rescue helicopter located the manwhen he fell and dislocated his knee.

Wacky races ENTRANTS are wanted for a WackyRaces event in San Juan de los Terreros.The Wacky Races and Family Fun Daytakes place on March 19 when there willbe mini petanque, mini golf, prize drawsand stalls as well as the kart race.

Improved service ORIHUELA is awaiting approval fromthe Ministry to provide a regular and im-proved bus service in Entrenaranjos, tounite buses with the coast and offer a ser-vice to Torrevieja Hospital.

MALLORCA

Cyclist diesAN 86-year-old cyclist died on Friday(February 26) while riding on the roadfrom Algaida to Sencelles. A car turningright hit the cyclist causing the man to falland hit his head. He died at the scene.

Hotel theftsTHE Guardia Civil has arrested two menfor a wave of thefts in hotels in the areaof Calvia. After forcing entry, they stoleelectronic devices. A third man has beencharged with receiving stolen goods.

New ferryTRANSMEDITERRANEA added anew ferry to its fleet. The ship Forza cancarry around 1,000 passengers and 2,200linear metres of cargo. The ferry left thePort of Valencia on its maiden voyage toPalma on February 23.

Nobel Prize winnerMALLORCA will celebrate the 100 yearanniversary of the birth of Nobel Prizewinner Camilo Jose Cela who lived onthe island for many years. Awarded theNobel prize for literature in 1989, Celaproduced much of his work whilst livingin Mallorca.

Park to closeSA COMUNA DE LLORETS caravanarea will in all probability be shut down.The news caused a great stir in Lloretwhich has had caravans staying there formore than 35 years. It is one of only twoareas on the island with special facilities.

AXARQUA

NeighboursevacuatedTWENTY-FIVE residents of a blockof flats in Torrox had to be evacuatedfor safety reasons after a fire broke outin a fourth floor flat last week. Luckilyno personal injuries were reported.

Karate in FrigilianaTHE 29th provincial karate circuit, inwhich locals and competitors from sixother Malaga municipalities took part,was hosted by Frigiliana. Thirty peo-ple competed in the event, with 20 ref-erees and approximately 500 specta-tors went along to watch.

Eggs-iting event THERE will be an Easter Bazaar atthe Lux Mundi Centre in Torre delMar running from 11am to 1pm onFriday March 11 where there will be achance to buy small gifts, preserves,cakes, tasty food, second hand goods,books and local arts and crafts.

CelebratingAndalucia DayBENAJARAFE was just one of the lo-cal towns and villages which took An-dalucia Day (Sunday February 28) se-riously, with music, songs and dancingalong with paella for all near the townhall.

COSTA BLANCA NORTH

Better late...EARLIER plans to turn Noveldas SanFelipe chapel into a cultural centreshelved by the previous council havebeen revived. The town hall has askedfor 100,000 to restart the project.

Driving forceACQUIRING a driving licence in theValencian Community costs 723 com-pared with the national average of 629if the applicant passes first time. Thecheapest place in Spain is La Corua(Galicia) where it costs 500.

Long arm of lawTHE National Police, complying with aninternational arrest warrant, detained a49-year-old Dutch woman in Altea. Sheis wanted in Holland for money-launder-ing, false evidence and belonging to adrug-trafficking group.

Work experienceDENIAS UNED centre and Masymas-Fornes supermarkets have signed anagreement to allow degree students toobtain work experience within thechains management departments.

Mango gin THE group Dianium Wines & Spirits, aDenia business exporting wines andliquors has launched a new gin range toinclude the worlds first mango gin.

Pigeon population explosion PIGEONS are making pests ofthemselves, Moraira residents

complained.The Environment department at

Teulada-Moraira Town Hall has re-sponded by installing traps on topfloors where the birds can be caughtalive and removed.

The public have also been askednot to feed the birds in the streets andpublic places or to leave out food intheir gardens or balconies.

Local pigeons enjoy an excess offood and water, an Environmentspokesperson said, and the absenceof predators is a l lowing them tobreed unchecked.

WELL FED: Too few natural predators for Moraira pigeons.

COSTA BLANCA NORTH

TRAPS have been installed so the birds can be caught alive and removed

By John SmithTHE director of the Treasury Santi-ago Menendez has congratulatedhis staff on their success in the fightagainst fraud during 2015, whichhas seen an increase in the amountrecovered by no less than 27 percent, and the money has been a sig-

nificant boost for the Spanish econ-omy.

He advised that they have beenconcentrating their resources onlarge taxpayers who have previous-ly been able to reduce their pay-ments by use of legal loopholes, il-legal avoidance and the black

economy, where payments aremade in cash.

Now that there are agreements inplace with nearly 80 countries to al-low for the exchange of financialinformation, the director believesthat the amount recovered will con-tinue to increase.

RYANAIR: Carried the largest number of passengers.

LONDON - FTSE 100 DOW JONES NASDAQ-0.59% -0.34% -0.13%CLOSING PRICES FEBRUARY 29

IBEX 35 -0.56%

THREE directors of the ChineseBank ICBC, who were arrested inMadrid as part of an investigationinto money laundering, have eachbeen released from prison followingthe payment of 100,000.

The bank insists that it is continu-ing to operate normally within Spainand is cooperating with the Spanishauthorities in their investigations.

ANYONE who invested in theairport management companyAENA when it was privatisedin 2015, has made a very goodreturn for the money spent.

With its network of 46 air-ports including London Luton,it has reported that 2015 sawan increase in profit to 833million, which is an increase

of 74 per cent over 2014 prof-its.

The Spanish governmentbenefitted from receipt ofmore than 200 million in2015, and it was revealed thatover 207 million passengerstravelled through its airports,with Ryanair carrying thelargest number at 35 million.

AENA a huge success

Nissandisables appNISSAN has disabled one ofits own apps as it could havebeen used to hack i ts Leafelectric cars.

Although it has known forsome weeks about the flaw inthe sof tware, which couldhave allowed a hacker to rundown the battery and reviewdetails of recent journeys, thecompany did not considerthis a serious problem, buttook action once news of theglitch was posted on socialmedia.

Bimbo strikeTHIS is not an unusual walkout by flighty women, buta strike of bread workersusing the slogan without afuture there wil l be stalebread, in order to try topersuade the owners not toclose the Bimbo factory inPalma, Mallorca.

There are s ix strikesplanned initially, starting inPalma and rol l ing out toother bakeries in the groupincluding Madrid.

THE Ciudad Real airport has still not been sold,despite at least two previous announcements thatit was. Now interested parties have been invitedto submit new bids for the entire property, with aminimum starting price of 50 million.

They were given just three days to submit theirbids to the court, which is controlling the sale, butafter all of these months of waiting, it does ap-pear slightly unusual to give such a short dead-line.

Airport back on runway

is the amount that the Spanish Trea-sury claims that it has recovered

from fighting tax fraud during 2015.

Quote of the WeekIt is easy for consumers to be lulled into complacency by amplestocks and low prices but they should heed the writing on the wall.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

CLOSING PRICES FEBRUARY 29CLOSING PRICES FEBRUARY 29CLOSING PRICES FEBRUARY 29

15.64 billion

Three Chinesebankers havebeen bailedTHEY were successful in their fight against fraud in 2015

Spanish Treasury boosts economy

BUSINESS EXTRA

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FINANCEbusiness & legal

33Costa de Almera EWN

A EURO WEEKLY NEWS 6 PAGE SPECIAL SECTION // WWW.EWNBUSINESS.COMSTAT OF WEEK

3 - 9 March 2016

9 billion is the amount that Abengoa SA is said to owe in the US which has resulted in it filing forbankruptcy protection in America.

MMM 3M 158.27 -0.72 -0.45% 1.8MAXP American Express 55.38 -0.01 -0.02% 5.9MAAPL Apple 96.91 +0.15 +0.16% 29.0MBA Boeing 118.16 +1.34 +1.15% 3.8MCAT Caterpillar 66.87 +0.40 +0.60% 4.1MCVX Chevron 84.35 -0.95 -1.11% 9.4MCSCO Cisco 26.41 -0.19 -0.71% 18.1MKO Coca-Cola 43.14 -1.02 -2.31% 18.4MDIS Disney 95.31 -0.34 -0.36% 5.3MDD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co 61.51 +1.09 +1.80% 4.2MXOM Exxon Mobil 81.75 -0.26 -0.32% 14.3MGE General Electric 29.40 +0.17 +0.58% 29.3MGS Goldman Sachs 150.25 +2.00 +1.35% 5.9MHD Home Depot 126.26 -0.60 -0.47% 4.6MIBM IBM 132.03 -2.47 -1.84% 4.4MINTC Intel 29.80 +0.18 +0.61% 19.9MJNJ Johnson & Johnson 105.78 -0.60 -0.56% 9.0MJPM JPMorgan Chase 57.54 +0.53 +0.93% 20.9MMCD McDonald's 117.06 -1.31 -1.11% 5.2MMRK Merck 50.64 -0.36 -0.71% 9.3MMSFT Microsoft 51.30 -0.80 -1.54% 36.0MNKE Nike 62.60 +0.22 +0.35% 8.9MPFE Pfizer 30.23 -0.36 -1.18% 42.9MPG Procter & Gamble 81.10 -1.24 -1.51% 9.3MTRV Travelers Companies Inc 108.46 -0.81 -0.74% 1.8MUTX United Technologies 97.69 -0.38 -0.39% 14.7MUNH UnitedHealth 121.33 +0.13 +0.11% 2.9MVZ Verizon 51.02 -0.09 -0.18% 13.0MV Visa 72.73 -0.54 -0.74% 6.7MWMT Wal-Mart 66.51 -1.53 -2.25% 11.0M

Kleinwort Benson Elite PCC Ltd

Kingfisher PLC 333.05 -3.30 -0.98 157.20Land Securities Group PLC 999.00 -7.00 -0.70 80.61Legal & General Group PLC 224.70 -1.40 -0.62 541.96Lloyds Banking Group PLC 71.28 -0.84 -1.16 7,183.80London Stock Exchange Grp 2725.00 -92.00 -3.27 98.85Marks & Spencer Group PLC 418.00 -4.30 -1.02 213.76Merlin Entertainments PLC 452.10 3.20 0.71 74.41Mondi PLC 1272.00 -9.00 -0.70 78.72National Grid PLC 959.10 -10.80 -1.11 443.82Next PLC 6712.50 -55.00 -0.81 10.82Old Mutual PLC 166.60 -2.30 -1.36 463.49Pearson PLC 843.25 6.50 0.78 169.25Persimmon PLC 2199.00 -19.00 -0.86 46.38Provident Financial PLC 3219.00 -10.00 -0.31 19.66Prudential PLC 1239.50 -7.00 -0.56 328.68Randgold Resources Ltd 6577.50 170.00 2.65 60.16Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC 6548.50 -55.00 -0.83 53.41RELX PLC 1242.50 -6.00 -0.48 211.72REXAM PLC 607.75 -1.00 -0.16 67.19Rio Tinto PLC 1864.75 4.50 0.24 491.97Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC 675.00 -4.00 -0.59 295.32Royal Bank of Scotland Grp 222.85 -3.70 -1.63 1,242.73Royal Dutch Shell PLC 1628.50 -7.00 -0.43 364.41Royal Mail PLC 453.45 -4.20 -0.92 59.94RSA Insurance Group PLC 429.85 -6.00 -1.38 120.09SABMiller PLC 4161.00 -9.00 -0.22 195.52Sage Group (The) PLC 587.00 -3.00 -0.51 61.35Sainsbury (J) PLC 250.85 -1.80 -0.71 306.49Schroders PLC 2588.00 -54.00 -2.05 29.14Severn Trent PLC 2109.00 -20.00 -0.94 18.94Shire PLC 3860.50 -37.00 -0.95 62.02Sky PLC 1045.50 12.00 1.16 436.47Smith & Nephew PLC 1169.50 -7.00 -0.59 51.02Smiths Group PLC 997.50 -2.00 -0.20 26.90Sports Direct International 392.55 -5.20 -1.31 75.38SSE PLC 1377.50 -11.00 -0.79 123.97Standard Chartered PLC 413.00 -16.45 -3.83 1,005.51Standard Life PLC 329.50 -3.40 -1.02 115.95St James's Place PLC 857.00 -12.50 -1.44 76.16Taylor Wimpey PLC 184.55 -1.04 -0.56 367.24Tesco PLC 180.15 -4.05 -2.20 2,146.83Travis Perkins PLC 1768.50 -5.00 -0.28 23.03TUI AG 1069.00 -10.00 -0.93 39.09Unilever PLC 3066.25 -31.00 -1.00 218.42United Utilities Group PLC 914.75 -12.00 -1.30 74.70Vodafone Group PLC 217.45 -1.40 -0.64 2,259.45Whitbread PLC 3852.00 -28.00 -0.72 16.64Wolseley PLC 3672.50 -16.00 -0.43 16.92Worldpay Group PLC 294.90 2.00 0.68 294.78WPP PLC 1506.00 -9.00 -0.59 107.41

Most AdvancedRR Media Ltd. $ 13.07 4.37 50.23%Scientific Games Corp $ 8.50 2.19 34.71%Stamps.com Inc. $ 116.51 20.26 21.05%Histogenics Corporation $ 2.56 0.37 16.89%Presbia PLC $ 5 0.71 16.55%Immersion Corporation $ 9.03 1.27 16.37%Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. $ 9.17 1.28 16.22%2U, Inc. $ 21.83 2.93 15.50%HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. $ 3.09 0.41 15.30%Editas Medicine, Inc. $ 27.49 3.54 14.78%ATA Inc. $ 4.89 0.62 14.52%Most DeclinedCara Therapeutics, Inc. $ 4.76 2.15 31.11%PTC Therapeutics, Inc. $ 7.99 3.33 29.42%Acacia Research Corporation $ 2.98 0.80 21.16%PRA Group, Inc. $ 22.63 4.26 15.84%Pershing Gold Corporation $ 3.75 0.62 14.19%Ovascience Inc. $ 5.12 0.83 13.95%NutriSystem Inc $ 20.77 3.05 12.80%Universal Display Corporation $ 43.99 5.69 11.45%MediciNova, Inc. $ 5.74 0.68 10.59%EnerNOC, Inc. $ 5.76 0.63 9.86%region $ 11.41 1.06 8.50%

CCOMPANYOMPANY PPRICERICE((PP)) CCHANGEHANGE((PP)) % C% CHGHG.. NNETET VVOLOL

DOW JONESCLOSING PRICES FEBRUARY 29

3i Group PLC 434.25 -5.10 -1.16 46.43Aberdeen Asset Mng PLC 240.70 -1.30 -0.54 412.44Admiral Group PLC 1739.00 -6.00 -0.34 28.00Anglo American PLC 454.75 4.45 0.99 1,170.14Antofagasta PLC 489.05 5.10 1.05 157.33ARM Holdings PLC 975.75 -2.44 -0.25 132.04Ashtead Group PLC 903.75 1.50 0.17 119.85Associated British Foods PLC 3341.50 -23.00 -0.68 21.27AstraZeneca PLC 4153.25 -51.00 -1.21 114.86Aviva PLC 432.40 -3.50 -0.80 478.14Babcock International Group... 916.00 -7.00 -0.76 30.25BAE Systems PLC 510.25 -2.00 -0.39 213.54Barclays PLC 167.30 -1.80 -1.06 2,223.97Barratt Developments PLC 580.25 -7.00 -1.19 88.22Berkeley Group Holdings 3325.50 -21.00 -0.63 43.64BHP Billiton PLC 714.00 -2.20 -0.31 959.80BP PLC 346.10 -3.55 -1.02 2,291.29British American Tobacco PLC 3912.25 -2.00 -0.05 135.46British Land Co PLC 654.75 -4.50 -0.68 200.76BT Group PLC 485.45 0.30 0.06 981.58Bunzl PLC 1937.50 2.00 0.10 37.34Burberry Group PLC 1266.00 -3.00 -0.24 58.60Capita PLC 1017.00 -13.00 -1.26 46.30Carnival PLC 3533.50 -14.00 -0.39 14.08Centrica PLC 206.70 -4.50 -2.13 968.68Coca-Cola HBC AG 1358.50 -10.00 -0.73 29.55Compass Group PLC 1248.00 -1.00 -0.08 170.46CRH PLC 1811.00 -6.00 -0.33 43.80DCC PLC 5690.00 -35.00 -0.61 3.72Diageo PLC 1868.25 3.60 0.19 221.78Direct Line Insurance Group... 387.40 -1.40 -0.36 165.89Dixons Carphone PLC 431.10 -2.30 -0.53 37.69easyJet PLC 1481.00 -13.00 -0.87 38.84Experian PLC 1168.50 -3.00 -0.26 81.35Fresnillo PLC 1007.50 11.50 1.16 72.24GKN PLC 270.65 -1.90 -0.70 95.98GlaxoSmithKline PLC 1412.00 2.00 0.14 728.93Glencore PLC 130.70 2.40 1.87 4,769.51Hammerson PLC 543.75 -4.50 -0.82 56.66Hargreaves Lansdown PLC 1243.00 -14.00 -1.11 30.89Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC 1839.00 -65.00 -3.41 67.54HSBC Holdings PLC 455.12 -12.05 -2.58 2,605.37Imperial Brands PLC 3756.50 -14.50 -0.38 91.22Inmarsat PLC 983.50 3.00 0.31 68.90InterContinental Hotels Grp 2668.00 -25.00 -0.93 30.84International Consolidated ... 537.25 -3.50 -0.65 440.97Intertek Group PLC 2921.00 -4.00 -0.14 19.29Intu Properties PLC 290.60 2.40 0.83 306.85ITV PLC 248.80 -3.20 -1.27 826.60Johnson Matthey PLC 2515.00 -11.00 -0.44 8.43

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FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de AlmeriaEWN34 www.euroweeklynews.com

EWN36 FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.com

IN a very unusual move, it is reportedthat the leader of Ciudadanos,AlbertRivera,was invited to visit the BritishAmbassador to Spain, following an at-tack on the agreement reached betweenGreat Britain and the other 27 Heads ofState in the EU, which he made in a ra-dio interview.

In his direct manner of speaking, heclaimed in the interview that the EU haddropped its trousers before Cameron,and that he was very sorry that theSpanish government had publicly sup-ported the concessions granted to theUnited Kingdom.

With the fact that he may one day be-

come part of a ruling coalition in Spain,and in the assumption that Britain willremain within the Union, it would ap-pear that Ambassador Manley wanted totake the opportunity to clarify Britainsposition, and remind Mr Rivera of thevalue of British investment in Spain,and of course vice versa.

Ciudadanos upset the British

ALBERT RIVERA: Was invited to visit the British ambassador to Spain.

A Bank of Spain warning By John Smith

THE latest economic report fromthe Banco de Espaa (Bank ofSpain) indicates i t s bel ief that2016 is likely to be difficult, andin i t s words complex for thevolatility and uncertainty in themarkets.

I t forecas ts a t igh ten ing ofcredit to business as well as anincrease in debt , which wil l bemade worse if the price of crudeoi l does not recover, as lossesfrom the energy companies willhave a knock-on effec t on thebanks.

When these factors are coupledwi th the fac t tha t g loba l s tockmarkets are performing as poorlyas they have done for years, thenthe recipe for 2016 is not encour-aging.

Add to this the continued wari-ness of foreign investors, whilstboth the matter of the establish-ment of a stable government andthe Catalan difficulty remain,which is low profi le at the mo-

ment but is ready to raise its headagain at any point, it can be seentha t the puta t ive recovery inSpain could well come to a halt

quite quickly, although Spain didmanage to sell a large volume ofbonds during February.

Finally, to add to the financial

woes, the European Union is in-sisting that the 2016 budget be re-viewed and resubmitted by Aprilof this year, even if there is to be

a new election, which could re-su l t in a new government whowould be likely to amend the pre-vious budget anyway.

IT forecasts a tightening of credit to business and an increase in debt

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LATEST REPORT: Indicates its belief that 2016 is likely to be difficult.

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37FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL EWN3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de Almerawww.euroweeklynews.com

By John SmithTHE tax a r rangement tha t theBritish government was so happy toboast about, whereby the Exche-quer received 130 million (165mil l ion) to cover a per iod of 11years dur ing which the in te rne tsearch engine earned 24 bil l ion(30 bi l l ion) , has not only beencr i t ic i sed by Par l iament , bu t i slooking more of a joke when com-pared to what the French authori-ties are now demanding.

Following investigations into thecompanies activities in France, thegovernment there i s ask ing tha tGoogle pay 1.6 bi l l ion in backtaxes, and this will no doubt be thematter of some discussion betweencompany CEO Sundar Pichai whois visiting France and will be meet-ing the French economy ministerEmmanuel Macron.

It is not known whether this is anegotiating ploy by the French gov-ernment, which would be content toaccept a lesser payment, but it wasonly ear l ier in February that Fi -nance Minister Michel Sapin statedthat he would not enter a deal withany global company that owed backtaxes.

As has been previous ly an-

nounced, Brussels is also scrutinis-ing the way in which these large,mainly American companies are

able to siphon money off to legiti-mate EU-based tax havens, to thedetriment of the countries in which

these goliaths are trading.Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler were

told they must pay back up to 30

million in taxes, but even this rela-tively small amount is being disput-ed, and Starbucks has declared thatit will appeal the decision, whilstother investigations into tax dealswith companies like Amazon andApple, continue.

It is to be wondered whether therelatively low-key announcementof the appointment of new seniorofficers at HMRC has anything todo wi th the c r i t i c i sm tha t theBrit ish government has receivedover the Google dea l , and i t re -mains to be seen whether these newappointees will take more stringentaction against other companies.

In the meantime, Spain appearsto be biding its time, waiting for astable government and watchingthe results of other members ac-tions.

Google now in trouble with France

GOOGLE: French government have asked the company to pay 1.6 billion in back taxes.

FINANCE MINISTER stated he would not enter a deal with any global company that owed back taxes

Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler were

told they must pay back up to

30 million in taxes, buteven this relatively smallamount is being disputed

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EWN38 FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de Almera www.euroweeklynews.com

AT the turn of the year it seems like theGreat British Pound made a New Yearsresolution to move lower. The heady levelsof GBP/EUR over 1.40 seen late 2015 nowseem like a distant memory. The pound hasalso tumbled against a basket of othercurrencies demonstrating an overall weaktrend. So what is behind such a sharp movelower given we now see GBP/EUR in themid 1.20s?

As normally is the case with the currencymarkets we have a few independent driversthat have together created a perfect storm forthe pound.

Firstly the significant fallout in the globaleconomy, particularly from China andfalling oil prices has created a ripple of fearthat has permeated the markets. In anenvironment of fear the pound tends to getsold and we have seen this selling pressurealmost constantly in 2016 due to volatile andnegative global conditions. To add to this wehave also had clarification on the EUreferendum vote which is set for June 23.The uncertainty behind this vote has alreadystarted to undermine appetite for the pound.

A potential Brexit may or may not be agood thing for the UK economy and that isthe point - we just do not know and this

uncertainty is draining value from thepound. This week we received news thatLondon Mayor Boris Johnson is backing thecall for a Brexit and this support increasesthe chance of a Brexit vote, the pound hasdropped sharply this week after this news.

The final reason for a lower pound isdown to sentiment from the Bank ofEngland, who have hammered home thepoint that interest rates are not set to movehigher any time soon.

You could argue that the pound wasovervalued anyway in late 2015, and thismove lower is a welcome correction whichwill support exports and help drive the UKeconomy and reduce the deficit. GBP/EURin particular has also fallen due to a strongereuro. The euro has gained an appetite as afunding currency, and it has also emerged asa safe haven currency of choice along withthe US dollar, Japanese Yen and SwissFranc. Looking ahead we are set for a veryinteresting few months. We have the run upto the referendum vote and the markets willlook to get an idea of how polling is leaning.

However confidence in polling will belower due to the fact that polls werecompletely wrong in forecasting the UKgeneral election. We also have the prospectof further easing by the European CentralBank (ECB) in March to curb fallinginflation. The ECB will be keen to defendagainst a stronger euro and will be keen topush the euro lower.

Throw into the mix the activity of the USFederal Reserve and ongoing marketvolatility and it is set to be a bumpy rideahead!

Uncertainty is drainingthe value of sterling

THE POUND: Has demonstrated an overall weak trend.

Visit us at our Spanish offices in Costa del Sol, Costa Almeria, North CostaBlanca and South Costa Blanca.

Telephone: UK +44 (0) 207 847 9400 SPAIN +34 950 478 914 Email:[email protected] www.currenciesdirect.com

Ask theexpertPeter Loveday

Contact me at [email protected]

SO much to say and so little space to say it in.Not generally a problem with the old boysscribbles, but a definite drawback in this issue.

Column content has to stretch from thisweeks CND demonstration, an event attendedby Corbyn, where in defence of their views,one couple arrogantly remarked that somecountries at war at the moment had nuclearweapons, but werent using them anyway!

Well of course they werent. Thats thewhole idea. Nuclear weapons are A deter-rent! Do you think America would have atomicbombed Hiroshima or Nagasaki had Japan alsobeen a nuclear power?

On to the subject of Americas next presi-dent, which looks increasingly like beingTrump or Clinton. The USAs choice betweena somewhat unhinged business tycoon, whoseextreme ideas could just possibly be the an-swer. Or a power mad, proven liar, with more

skeletons in the cupboard than Winnie Man-dela. An individual who apparently, when shewas first lady, ordered White House employeesto make no eye contact with her, and was so

unpleasant, that staff renamed the presidential747, broomstick one! (Devils and deep blueseas come to mind).

To the subject of more political correctness

gone mad. Apparently, among other insanities,you can no longer advertise for barmaids,handymen or paper boys as it may be consid-ered sexist!

Moving smoothly on to the increasingly bor-ing subject of Brexit. Irrespective of the diffi-culties that could ensue for us expats, I am,nevertheless a proud Brit who truly believesthat our great country may just be able to retainthat hard won distinction, should it free itselffrom the ever increasing, arrogant shackles ofthe EU.

And finally squeezing in, and making nocomments whatsoever, on Tony Blackburnswitch-hunt. Fat cat charity bosses, Tony Blairsimmigrant welcome mat and the woman whotripped in a pub, broke her wrist, and could re-ceive 4.2 million pounds in compensation! Etc.Etc. Sorry no more space. (I can hear the sighsof relief from here!)

Lost two dear and wonderful entertainersthis week. Richard (Dicky) Fox and VinnieScott. RIP old friends. Sadly missed.

Keep the faith. Love [email protected]

So much to say this weekLEAPY LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT

THE USA election, political correctness gone mad and Tony Blackburns witch-hunt

OPINION & COMMENT EWN3 - 9 March 2016 / Costa de Almera 41www.euroweeklynews.com

DONALD TRUMP: A somewhat unhinged business tycoon.

THERE is supposedly an old Chi-nese proverb which says be carefulwhat you wish for. You just mightget it and this seems to apply toNigel Farage and UKIP.

Really, what is going to happento UKIP after the June referendum?If the result sees a withdrawal fromthe European Union, then they canhang around for a while givingsound bites about what the exitagreements should consist of.

But, if the decision is to remainwithin the Union, then their daywill have come and gone and theirideas will have been rejected, sounless they want to act like a packof dogs snapping at the ankles ofthe victorious government thenonce again they become a spentforce.

Those in the conservative partywho campaign for an exit are play-

ing roulette with their political fu-tures and if the bal l fal ls on theright colour, their futures are as-sured and all they will have to do isagree which of them will take theroll of prime minister and who willtake the other top jobs in cabi-net.

If the ball falls intothe losing slot, thenthey wont evenhave a viable UKIPto join and will haveto set up their ownparty, which is like-ly to have fewmembers as thoseon the backbenches who se-cret ly supportedthem, are likely to seea sinking ship and jump it.

A lot is going to happenbetween now and June andwith limited budgets, boththe for and against exitparties are going to haveto be very careful withtheir funds and veryclever with their propa-ganda if they hope to in-

f luence the media and the elec-torate.

At the moment, the polls seem tobe running neck and neck and foronce the overseas vote may have a

role to play. There are plentyof people living outsideof the UK, both in andout of the EU who willhave their own decisionsto make, provided thatthey can be bothered or

are allowed to vote.Will they be self ish

and think only of theirown futures or selflessand think of their chil-

dren and grandchildren,as any decision is likely to

last for a number of genera-tions but one thing is certain, if

the vote goes for an exit , i t wil ltake years for the actual exit to becompleted and there will be a lot ofchanges for expats all through theUnion as well as Europeans work-ing and living in the UK.

It is very easy to register tovote and costs nothing, sodont give up the chance to helpmake the decision.

THE Princess and I celebrat-ed our wedding anniversaryrecently, and it brought backthe day that I first met her ona beautiful Bermuda beach.

She had remarked upon anumber of discernible scarson my abdomen, and havingshown some false reluctanceto talk about

Documents

Euro Weekly News - Costa de Almeria 3 - 9 March 2016 Issue 1600