Axarquia 20 - 26 October 2022 Issue 1946

MAGICAL COFFEE MORNING

Betty Henderson

AN enormous €2,500 was raised for Cudeca during a charity coffee morning in Competa. Cudeca volun teers organised their eighth ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ on Mon day October 3, which saw delicious treats being served up for record num bers of visitors.

Generous volunteers supplied delicious home made cakes and treats for the coffee morning which took place at the Restau rante Siddhartha on the Rock in Competa. Cakes rapidly sold out during the morning which saw a record 178 guests enjoy coffee and a chat with friends.

Local businesses also do nated exciting prizes to a raffle and tombola, includ ing a three‐course dinner for two, with wine from Hotel Finca El Cerrillo, €50 meal voucher from Casa Paco, a Chimney Sweep meal, a wine tasting menu for two from La Plaza in Canillas, a beautiful col lage by Jilly Whitbread,

and six bottles of wine.

Guests enjoyed brows ing handmade gifts and ar tisan products at stalls that were set up around the restaurant, selling chocolate, jewellery and handicrafts. Live guitar

music by Aki Riihimaki en tertained guests as they shopped and socialised.

Cudeca is a local charity run by British Cindy Jones to support local patients with terminal illnesses with compassion and care.

Cindy has raised a stagger ing €35,000 since 2015 with the help of her dedi cated volunteers.

The money raised dur ing the event will be split between MacMillan Can cer Support and Cudeca.

Beach facility upgrade

SEASONAL improvements have be gun to upgrade beach facilities in Ner ja. The mayor of Nerja, José Alberto Armijo announced the awarding of the public contract worth nearly €190,000 to a local business.

Improvements include a new emer gency service building which will house a first aid post and rescue equip ment and a block of seven public toi lets with a storage facility.

The facilities will be accessible, in cluding for disabled users. Nerja busi ness Transportes Antelo is set to com plete the upgrade programme over the next three months.

Local councillor for Beaches, María del Carmen López, added saying “The

Famed Frigiliana

AN Axarquia town has just received a prestigious nomination. Frigiliana was recognised on the Nation al Geographic’s exclusive ‘50 Essential Getaways to Discover Spain’, released on October 12.

The illustrious magazine made the choice due to the traditional Andalucian charm of the town and its winding, flower adorned streets. Frigiliana’s strong cultural heritage, combined with its beauty was a crucial aspect to the nomination on the list.

The famed travel magazine made the list of un missable destinations for travellers wanting to dis cover the real Spain and its rich cultural heritage.

Travel industry experts compiled the list of destina tions which also aims to showcase the ‘creativity of civilisations’ that have occupied Spain throughout the centuries.

The ranking is excellent news for the local tourism industry which suffered losses during the pandemic.

project will improve our beach facili ties and increase the sand space on the beach for visitors and locals to enjoy.”

The project was voted through by all councillors who participated in the vote.

The National Geographic recognised Frigiliana’s charm and beauty in a national travel list.

Nerja

upgrades

season.

Photo credit: Botond Horvath shutterstock.com

A record numbers of guests enjoyed a coffee and a chat during the coffee morning.

Photo credit: Ayuntamiento de Nerja

Photo credit: Cudeca Volunteers by email

Halloween family fun

A SPOOKY Halloween night of fun is coming to Torre del Mar! Family fun activities are set to take place from 6.30pm on Monday October 31, with interactive activities for children of all ages.

Celebrations will kick off with themed dance perfor mances by various talent ed young performers in cluding La Carpa Teatro, Feel The Music and Step Dance in the Plaza de la

Paz from 6.30pm.

Visitors can then try the ‘terror tour’, on Paseo de Larios from 8.30pm. Organ isers promise thrilling sur prises on the tours.

Stalls will also offer visi tors fun Halloween themed products and ac tivities, including a photo booth, face painting and balloon shape making workshops.

Deputy mayor, Jesús Pérez Atencia explained the council’s plans, “Hal loween is one of the most popular events in Torre del Mar, our streets are always filled with colour, costumes of all kinds and a buzzing at mosphere on October 31”.

Atencia added “Hal loween is a dynamic ele ment of the local econo my, our streets, bars and restaurants are always packed. We invited the whole community to come and experience our Halloween fun event.”

Roaming Roman ruins

Betty Henderson

A FASCINATING trip saw Lux Mundi Ecumenical group from Torre del Mar enjoy a five day excursion in Murcia. The group of international friends spent four nights tour ing Roman sites in Cartagena and Murcia itself.

The friends stayed in Carta gena, at a completely refur bished hotel, and spent a de lightful first day relaxing before exploring the town’s numerous Roman sites the next day.

On the third day, the group enjoyed a visit to Murcia, the

Guests were treated to a fas cinating tour of the Roman Amphitheatre in Cartagena.

seventh largest city in Spain. Members of the group strolled around the beautiful cathedral, built in 1394 on the site of a former mosque. The group enjoyed Cartagena on the fourth day before heading

AXARQUIA is showing its dedication to fight ing climate change with new energy saving street lighting. Authorities announced a pro ject to light up 18 local towns with new sus tainable bulbs on Sunday October 16.

The project will see old, wasteful light bulbs in almost 2,000 lampposts replaced with advanced, environmentally‐friendly LED lights. The replacement will result in brighter lighting, which is better for safety, and a reduction of almost 420 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

home the next day.

A spokesperson for the group said “Lux Mundi would like to thank all who support ed this excursion, which en ables them to continue with their charitable work and we hope to see you all again at fu ture events in the Centre and excursions.”

Lux Mundi Torre del Mar is based at its centre on Avenida Moscatel 1’I’, (Jardines Viña Malága/Antigua Casa de la Viña), the centre opens during Wednesday and Friday morn ings only, from 10am until 1pm.

Bright idea

The bulbs have been introduced across Axarquia in towns including Competa, Peri ana, Riogordo, Frigiliana and Arenas. The towns will see a combined saving of almost €185,000 on energy bills with the new effi cient bulbs. The action forms part of a global ly‐minded strategy by the Andalucian Gov ernment to reduce pollution which has involved a €1.7 million investment.

Ageing with grace

Betty Henderson

AN exciting active pro gramme for the elderly was launched on Mon day October 17 in Nerja and Maro. The ‘Active Ageing’ programme of fers a broad range of ac

tive classes and activities for local older people.

The programme aims to maintain elderly peo ple’s fitness to avoid health problems and al so to combat issues like loneliness following the

pandemic. The social programme features a varied range of activities including taichi, hiking trips, pool activities and gymnastics ‐ there is something for everyone!

The initiative has been launched by the local council ‘to improve qual ity of life’ for local elder ly people with more than 300 people already signed up to take part, showing its popularity.

Activity classes are al ready getting underway, but the programme will run until mid‐2023, so there is plenty of time to get involved!

The programme is aimed at locals aged 65 and above, or retired people aged 60 and above.

Those interested in registering should visit the Office for the Elder ly, on the ground floor of Nerja Town Hall be tween 8am and 2pm on Mondays to Thursdays.

Photo credit: Lux Mundi via email

Cancer support

NERJA showed support for World Day Against Breast Can cer on October 19. Local chari ties organised a whole host of activities to show its support for sufferers and to advocate for a cure. The Plaza de An dalucia was also dyed pink.

Street food

A STREET food event in Rincon de La Victoria will offer visitors the chance to try varied dishes from diverse global cuisines in cluding Venezuelan arepas, German sausages and Argen tinian empanadas. Live music will also take place at the Food Trucks Xperience this week end from October 21 to 23.

Charity sports

A COALITION of local authori ties have offered up their sporting facilities to the Chil dren’s Oncology Department of Malaga Hospital so patients and their families can enjoy a three day event of sports, games and fun. The move is part of a long‐running partner ship to bring some joy and fun to sick children.

Space fireball

HUNDREDS of residents along the Axarquia coast claimed to spot a giant fireball in the sky at around 8.45pm on Friday October 14. The sighting was confirmed by An dalucia Astrophysics Institute, who said the phenomenon occurred when a rock from an asteroid entered our atmo sphere, at around 53,000 kph.

Retro music

A REGIONAL youth music fes tival will have an exciting twist this year, as the youth musi cians will play a range of popu lar songs from the 70s and 80s, and paying tribute to fallen stars including Olivia Newton John and Freddie Mercury.

Malaga lights up

THE Christmas lights switch‐on ceremony in Malaga will take place on Saturday November 26, a day later than is custom ary and the lights will be lit for two hours less each day than before ‘to raise awareness about energy saving’.

Sustainable endurance challenge

Betty Henderson

THE Balcony of Europe was the starting line for an exhila rating endurance challenge on Friday October 14. Ath letes taking part in the SIN‐PLÁSTICOS‐ZAMOS are trav elling a whopping 1,500km along the coast after leaving from Nerja last Friday.

Thirteen ultra‐distance ath letes are travelling along the coast in 150km segments in the extreme environmental challenge. Athletes will battle difficult terrain along the

Maternity masterclass

A PIONEERING initiative is providing mothers with cru cial support in Rincon de La Victoria.

The ‘SOS, Mum you’re not alone’ programme, an nounced on Monday Octo ber 17, gives mothers help on a range of topics often overlooked by traditional healthcare or social ser vices. ‘SOS, Mum you’re not alone’ provides customised services for mothers run by the local Department for Social Welfare.

Services include classes and workshops on topics like breastfeeding, regain ing body confidence after pregnancy and tools to help raise children.

The programme lends a hand to many mothers, ranging from mothers of newborn babies to mothers of teenagers. Since the start of the project last year, more than 50 mothers in the town have received personalised help.

Councillor for Social Wel fare, Elena Aguilar, high lighted the programme’s success and added that it aims to “improve mothers’ self‐esteem, empower them, restore confidence, and help them to live their motherhood to the full.”

To get involved with the programme, send an email to: sosmamarincon@ gmail.com.

coasts of Andalucia and Mur cia during the run. They will also complete sustainable ac tivities along the way, includ

ing river clean‐ups, litter picks and talks for schoolchildren.

This is the fourth edition of the challenge which aims to

Roles reversed

A UNIQUE opportunity saw regional travel agents and jour nalists receive a special cultural heritage tour of Axarquía, discovering gourmet food and cultural highlights.

The regional government’s tourism agency offered tour guides the experience to ensure high quality tourist experi ences in Axarquia and promote its opportunities, it an nounced on Monday October 17. Visitors toured unmissable cultural attractions including farms, vineyards and traditional workshops where they had direct contact with farmers and artisan food producers who gave the group exclusive tours.

Four travel agencies and several journalists enjoyed two days following a wine trail, of the famed Malaga grape. They experienced sustainable and responsible tourism, interact ing with producers to authentically enjoy Axarquian culture.

Representative for the government agency, Turismo Cos ta del Sol, Margarita del Cid explained the tour aimed to showcase the wealth of opportunities in Axarquia, saying “Tourism in Axarquia has always revolved around grape pro duction, so collaborating with travel agents ensures tourists have quality experiences.”

Breast Cancer History

AS the world marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month with fundraising activities and events to raise awareness and pre vent breast cancer, we take a look at the history of the month.

The iconic breast cancer pink ribbon was created in 1991 at the Race for the Cure in New York when the Susan Komen Foundation handed out pink ribbons to competitors.

Then, a campaign by Estée Lauder in 1992 handed out 1.5 million pink ribbons accompanied by a card on breast self‐ex ams from its beauty counters.

They explained the colour choice, “For women who expe rience cancer as predominantly a loss of womanhood, what better colour to pin on than pink ‐ girlie, pretty, healthy pink?”

Breast cancer was detected as long ago as 1600 BC. Now, scientists encourage preventative action including living a healthy lifestyle to reduce risks of breast cancer. Survivor, Emma, now advocates for healthy lifestyles, saying “people should have the information they need so they can make an informed choice for themselves.”

raise awareness about one of the most serious global pollu tants, plastic. Organisers en courage the community, and particularly children, to get involved in sustainable prac tices to conserve local ecosys tems and prevent waste.

The mayor, Francisco Arce greeted the athletes before the start of the challenge and thanked the athletes for choosing Nerja as the starting point, highlighting the town’s commitment to sustainability and conservation.

Water saving

FOLLOWING years of con cern over Axarquia’s wa ter supplies, authorities are taking emergency ac tion in Iznate to protect water supplies.

The council adopted saving measures on Octo ber 17, which aim to re duce water consumption by 20 per cent to resolve the situation. Prolonged drought conditions and lack of rainfall during the summer have created a drinking water shortage in Iznate. To combat the sit uation, the council is pro hibiting the use of drink ing water for activities not strictly necessary.

Steps include banning filling swimming or pad dling pools, cleaning pave ments, streets or walls, and car washing outside of car wash facilities.

Internet hits

THE tourism industry is evolving and the local in dustry in Velez-Malaga is adapting to follow suit.

The Department for Tourism in Vélez-Málaga recently introduced an in teractive map, which gives users real-time in formation about events in the region.

The map is evidently al ready enjoying success as 10,000 visits to the map were recorded during cel ebrations for La Magna de Velez-Malaga festival from October 11-16.

Local councillor for Tourism, Jesús Pérez Atencia and the councillor for Technology, Juan Car los Muñoz reported the data, saying the map had experienced 10,787 visits during the six-day peri od.

The Department for Tourism added “We are delighted with the re sponses we have had to this new technology. This tool will allow us to pro vide real-time information about any event we cele brate in our community.”

The map is thought to be a useful tool to attract tourists that have already visited the town, who can keep up with events in their absence and be en couraged to visit again in the future.

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Athletes prepare to take on the gruelling 1,500km challenge.

Fundraising film night

AN inspirational charity evening is set to return for its second edition on November 19. The Gala for the Fight against ALS will be held by a whole host of local organisa tions at the seafront prome nade in Torre del Mar.

Two films will be shown dur ing the evening to raise aware ness about ALS and to raise funds for research into the condition. Event organiser, Jorge Montoro wants to give visibility to sufferers who live with the condition. Montero explained that 4,000 people are affected by the condition in Spain, which has no cure and a life expectancy of just four years.

The gala will feature a film screening of the documentary, ‘Roca’ and ‘42 Reasons to Fight Against ALS’ will premiere dur ing the evening.

Team triumph

Betty Henderson

VICTORIOUS Nerja Moto nautical Club dominated the podium during two national competitions over the weekend Octo ber 15 to 16.

The Nerja team battled it out at the Spanish Na tional Jet Ski Champi onships and the ‘Copa del Rey’ National Champi onships in Murcia.

Club star, Ismael Rojas flew to victory in the GP2 category, taking second place in Copa del Rey and the GP0 categories. Rojas was previously runner‐up in both the World and Eu ropean championships.

Meanwhile, Kiko Aguil era took gold in the Su percupJet category, Jesús

Cabello won gold in the GP4 category and Adrian Albuera won silver and bronze. Nerja was also tri umphant in the Wom en’s category, with Eva Vega winning the Yama ha SuperjetCup as well as gold in the GP0 Fem cate gory. Nerja’s youth talent was also on show, broth ers Sandro and Diego Aguilera took home silver

and bronze in the Jet GP3 JR category, the Copa del Rey and the Yamaha Su perjetCup.

Nerja mayor, José Al berto Armijo, and council lor for Sports, Daniel Ri vas, congratulated the team saying “It’s a great honour for our communi ty to see our town reach the highest level in na tional competitions.”

Buddha biking challenge

A GRUELLING mountain biking challenge will test the limits of 450 athletes on Sunday October 23.

The Buddha Challenge will return to Velez‐Malaga for its eighth edi tion with participants including Tour de France cyclist, Aimar Zubeldia.

The 67km race will traverse scenic mountain and seafront landscapes with climbs of more than 2,000 metres, starting and finishing in Torre del Mar. Local deputy mayor Jesús Pérez Atencia explained the significance of the challenge saying it is a crucial chal

lenge in the national cycling calen dar. Atencia also referred to the significance of the race for Velez‐Malaga as it will “revitalise social and economic opportunities” in the area. The president of Vélez Cycling Club, Juan Francisco González highlighted the chal lenges the club has faced in organ ising the event, particularly due to the pandemic. The challenge has not been held since 2019 and is due to start back in style with fa mous professional athletes includ ing Zubeldia and Pablo Guerrero, a high level runner, participating.

TESTING LIMITS: More than 450 cyclists will race in a scenic mountain bike circuit in Velez-Malaga.

Photo credit: fotoliza / shutterstock.com

Nerja Motonautical Club took home the silver ware from two national competitions.

Photo credit: Ayuntamiento de Nerja

Fine Arts Museum

Betty Henderson

A NEW fine arts museum in Riogordo will enrich the town’s cultural attractions. The Antonio Rojas Museum of Fine Arts opened on Satur day October 15, showcasing a diverse catalogue of sophisti cated and fascinating art. The museum opened at 7pm on Saturday with a cer emony, and is now open to

the public.

The artwork in the muse um comes from local, Tarifa born artist, Antonio Rojas’ pri vate collection. Rojas is an An dalucian painter, known for his pioneering and distinctive painting style of marine scenes.

Items include regal portraits of figures including the late Queen Elizabeth II, King Felipe VI and Queen Consort Sofía.

The exhibition also features unique sculptures of figures including Plato, Aristotle and the Lady of Elche and other pieces including historical books and antiques.

The museum adds to Rio gordo’s rich heritage and es sentially Andalucian culture, with an acclaimed flamenco festival, olive oil production and traditional religious cele brations.

Energy saving activities

AN interactive workshop will get the whole family involved in saving energy in Rincon de La Victoria. A collaboration of local envi ronmental groups are gathering to celebrate World Energy Saving Day on Friday October 21 with a programme of engaging activities.

The local Department for Environment is organising an entertaining day, in

cluding exciting scientific experiments for children, games with sustainably powered toy cars and bal loon decorating using stat ic electricity. Games are designed to show that en ergy is never created or de stroyed, but only trans formed.

The family workshop will be held at the Huerta Julián from 5pm until 8pm on October 21 to coincide

with World Energy Saving Day.

The workshop aims to show the causes, conse quences and solutions of different environmental problems and particularly energy use, considering the increasing cost of energy.

Find out more informa tion about the event at: https://www.programaeducacion­medioambien tal.com

Extraordinary instruments

CLASSICAL music lovers are in for a treat as celebrated musician, Bastian Uhlig will tour Axarquia in an exciting programme to get locals and visitors engaged with music. Uhlig will perform two concerts in the region on October 21 and 27, showcasing fascinating historical musical instruments.

The unique programme ‘Encounters with Artistic Heritage’, will bring historical instru ments and musical techniques to life for au diences.

The programme hopes to commemorate and maintain Axarquia’s rich cultural her itage. Bastian Uhlig will pay tribute to local classical geniuses, including Joaquín Tadeo

de Murguía, playing their music on their in struments and giving audiences informative talks to pass on historical cultural knowl edge.

The German musician is performing in two distinguished Axarquian artistic venues during the exciting programme, in Santa María la Mayor Church in Velez­Malaga, and Casa Fuerte Bezmiliana in El Rincon de la Victoria.

The concert in Velez­Malaga will take place on Friday October 21 and in El Rincon de la Victoria on Thursday October 27. Both concerts start at 8pm and have free admis sion.

Photo credit: TellMeATale / shutterstock.com

BASTIAN UHLIG: The German musician will play rarely-seen instruments including harpsichords and unusual organs.

EUROPOL confirmed on Friday October 14 that with the support of Eurojust, the Spanish National Police and Tax Agency they have dismantled an organised crime group believed to be running Eu rope’s biggest ‘narco‐bank’.

Composed mainly of Syrian nation als, the criminal network provided fi nancial services to criminal organisa tions linked to drug trafficking in

‘Narco-bank’ dismantled

more than 20 countries.

Active since 2020, this criminal gang is believed to have laundered over €300 million per year.

Over 200 law enforcement officers raided a total of 21 locations in the Spanish provinces of Malaga and Tole

Brits’ voting rights

DESPITE uncertainty over the issue following Brexit, Brits living in Spain will still be able to vote in local elections following a reciprocal agree ment agreement between the two countries. The next round in Spain is on May 28, 2023 and the time to register your intention is drawing near.

To vote in these elections you must be over 18 years and not be the subject of any official restrictions on your right to vote. You must also be registered on the Padron, have residencia, and have lived legally in Spain for three or more years.

Voters can register online

at https://sede.ine.gob.es, at their town hall, or by post to the Spanish electoral office (OCE). The OCE will also be sending out letters at the end of October to anyone al ready registered with them containing a password al lowing voters to register on line.

To register at their town hall, voters will need to take their residencia, passport, and a certfificate showing how long they have lived in Spain from the Oficina de Ex tranjeria or National police.

Registration will be open to Brits between December 1, 2022 and January 15, 2023.

GOOGLE CLOUD has launched Dual Run, a new product built on top of unique technology developed by Banco Santander.

Banco Santander is work ing with Google Cloud to help other companies across mul tiple industries simplify their transition from legacy main frame systems to the cloud,

do, resulting in 32 arrests and the seizure of almost €3 million of criminal assets.

The sum of €428 205 in cash, 19 cryp tocurrency accounts worth €1.5 million, 11 luxury vehicles, 70 kilos of hashish, 1.2 tonnes of marihuana and a planta

tion with 995 marihuana plants were seized.

Organised crime groups could make payments, receive funds and even have their proceeds laundered by this inter nationally structured financial network.

The criminals ran their money laun dering activities from a local restaurant where their customers would come to deposit or collect bulk cash.

Product launch

Santander confirmed on Thursday October 13.

The Dual Run technology, which will be made available to customers exclusively by Google Cloud, has proven ap plication in the highly‐regulat ed financial services industry,

and Santander has begun util ising Dual Run to bring data and workloads onto Google Cloud’s trusted infrastructure.

Santander will also take ad vantage of Google’s deep knowledge and tech abilities in the use of Cloud and soft

ware to accelerate its digital transformation.

In the next few months, Google Cloud will host a se ries of customer events to showcase their Dual Run ser vice with the help of software developers and engineers from Santander who have been involved in the bank’s unique technology.

Fuel discount review

SPAIN’S government is considering whether to retain the fuel discount in the new year or to make it available only to select ed groups. According to a national news site, First Vice Presi dent of the Government, Nadia Calviño, said on Monday, Oc tober 17 that the discount will be reviewed in the coming months. Outlining the high cost to the government but also to the general population, Calviño said: “Let’s see, here at the end of the year, how the situation evolves.

“The current discount, in principle, ends on December 31, but there is a discussion to be had about whether you must keep it for all or just focus on a collective more affected.”

The news that Spain’s government is considering whether to retain the fuel discount next year will come as music to most people’s ears, but it is unlikely that any announcement will be made until closer to the time given the fluidity of world markets.

Iberdrola’s volunteers

MORE than 7,000 people joined the International Vol unteer Week with Iberdro la.

Iberdrola’s volunteers have thrown themselves in to the more than 90 initia tives that have been devel oped throughout the week in the different countries where the company is based.

More than 7,000 volun teers wanted to participate, 40 per cent more than last year, from Spain to the United States, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Ger many, France, Belgium, Japan and Australia.

Under the slogan ‘Togeth er we build the world we want’, from October 1 to October 9, solidarity pro jects related to environmen tal care, the inclusion of vul nerable groups and social assistance were carried out.

In Spain, native species were planted in the munici pality of Solosancho in the province of Avila. There, more than 100 Iberdrola volunteers, together with 60 members of the AMAS Foundation and the Ande Foundation, collaborated in

the planting of 800 native trees.

The trees were planted in one of the municipalities af fected by the Navalacruz fire in 2021, which devastat

ed nearly 22,000 hectares.

The chairman of Iberdrola himself, Ignacio Galan, trav elled to share the reforesta tion day with the volun teers.

Film festival aid

THE Ministry of Culture and Sport has granted aid of €1.3 million for the organisa tion of film festi vals and competi tions in Spain.

Aid has been granted to 64 or ganisations promot ing film festivals and events that will devote special attention to the programming and dis semination of Spanish, EU and Latin American cine ma, as well as special attention to animated films, documentaries and short films.

€1.3m has been granted for film festivals.

Thanks to the funds, the grants cover the digitisa tion and sustainability costs of the beneficiary festi vals.

These grants are the first call for applications made by the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) with new assessment criteria, such as the contribution of festivals and competitions to sustain ability, the promotion of effective equality of women in the sector, the attraction and training of new audi ences and the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Ukrainian refugee plea

A NUMBER of Ukrainians, mainly women with chil dren, managed to drive out of the country and find sanctuary across Eu rope following the Rus sian invasion.

Those who arrived in Spain after often gruelling journeys were welcomed with open arms, but are suddenly facing an unex pected and expensive problem.

Under Spanish law, once they have remained in Spain for six months, they are required to change the registration on their car to a Spanish one at considerable expense or face a potentially sig nificant fine if stopped by the police. One person caught in this situation,

Margaryta Pugachova has launched a petition on change.org explaining the problem and points out that she and many other refugees want to return to their homeland when the war is over but will then be forced to change the number plate back again when they return at further expense.

Money is not easy to come by and Margaryta is pleading with the Spanish authorities to follow the lead of Germany and Poland to allow Ukraini ans to continue to drive their cars without chang ing the registration until the war is over and it is safe for them to return home.

Credit:

BY

Image: Spanish Govern ment/Culture and Sport

Booking.com complaints

THE Spanish National Mar kets and Competition Com mission (CNMC), confirmed on Monday October 17 that it was initiating ‘antitrust pro ceedings’ against Booking. com for possible anti‐compe tition practices affecting on line travel agencies and ho tels.

Two complaints have been filed with the watchdog by the Regional Hotel Associa tion of Madrid and the Span ish Association of Hotel Man agers claiming that booking.com has taken ad vantage of its dominant posi tion in the market, according to the CNMC.

The complaints noted that the booking website had

levied unfair conditions on hotels located in Spain and in troduced policies that could lead to exclusionary effects on other online travel agen cies and online sales chan nels.

These practices ‘may amount to unfair competition acts affecting public interest due to the distortion of free competition they have pro duced’, the watchdog said.

Booking.com has claimed that it has been the target of several ‘unfair competition’ investigations in recent years, especially in the European Union.

The CNMC now has a max imum period of 18 months to conclude its investigation.

Transplant breakthrough

Peter McLaren‐Kennedy

THE impossible has been achieved in Spain where doctors performed an in testine transplant on a child taken from a donor in cardiac arrest.

A report by a national news outlet on Wednesday, October 12 said the oper ation is a world first with the transplant of intestines not deemed possible due to the risk of infection.

The chief of paediatric transplanta tion at the Hospital of La Paz, Madrid, said: “The transplant of the intestine is unachievable: they said it couldn’t be

An organ transplant first.

Image Dan Race / Shutterstock.com

After three years of work in prepar ing for such a transplant along came Emma. Her small intestine was shorter than normal, which means that she can’t take in enough food. That meant intravenous feeding.

Emma who received the transplant ed organ is, according to her father a happy girl and is already learning to crawl.

done due to the high bacterial load. “It is more susceptible to ischemia, lack of oxygen.”

After two months postoperatively, doctors said: “Her quality of life is excel lent,” having shown curiosity in every thing that is around her in the hospital.

Healthy school meals

Betty Henderson

THE Spanish government is launching a new healthy eating initiative, tasked with improving healthy eating in schools, including boosting the fruit and vegetable content of school meals to 45 per cent from 2023. The project which was announced on Monday Oc tober 10 also aims to improve nutri tion education in schools. The govern ment initiative includes reducing the amount of fried food served in schools

CORPORATE and household debt fell slightly in the second quarter of 2022 year‐on‐year by 0.7 per cent.

More significantly as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), debt fell to 132.2 per cent.

Household debt increased by €5.7 bil lion, but fell in terms of GDP to 56.5 per cent of GDP in the second quarter of 2022 which was standing at 61.5 per cent a year earlier.

and increase organic food consump tion by 5 per cent in schools.

The project also has an education fo cus, dedicating resources to helping students learn about the origins of their food to increase healthy and well‐informed diet and well‐being choices.

The British School of Barcelona has created its own education programme to coincide with the government scheme and ‘Global Be Well Day’.

Falling debt

Households’ gross financial wealth in creased by 0.7 per cent in the last year, declining in terms of GDP to 210 per cent

Teachers promoted sustainable nutri tional values to children through prac tical activities which hope to change attitudes towards healthy eating. Classes, workshops and assemblies with Saned organisation also revealed the environmental impact of food choices and involved interactive activi ties on subjects such as ‘food miles’, in corporating a range of school subjects to engage as many children as possible and create a comprehensive response.

of GDP, down from 228.9 per cent a year earlier.

The Financial Accounts of the Spanish Economy, published mid October, show that the consolidated debt of firms and corporations reached €1,679 billion in the second quarter of 2022.

This figure is 0.7 per cent lower than the figure of €1,691 billion a year earlier and 4.2 per cent higher than at the end of 2019 before the pandemic began.

The ultimate Mick Hucknall tribute

WELSHMAN Mick Bassett looks and sings like Mick Hucknall and is just wait ing to get back to Spain with his Red Mick tribute.

The former boy sopra no, like many of his Welsh counterparts, was born to sing and several years ago after selling shares that he had earned whilst working for Tesco, he purchased his own PA system.

The band he played with supported other Welsh bands Catatonia and Su per Furry Animals at con certs but as there wasn’t enough work, he went so lo and became a singer at Butlins before returning to Wales to think about his future.

“The fact that I looked so much like Mick Huck nall prompted me to take on the alter ego of ‘Red Mick’ and I started to per fect the voice which was

difficult as his tone and range is so very distinc tive, but reviews suggest that I have pitched the voice absolutely correct ly,” he told Euro Weekly News.

He had a great deal of success with gigs around the UK either with a band or as a solo act which meant that he was soon booked for cruise ships and later found himself playing at El Oceano in La Cala de Mijas, where he met up with Martyn Wood of Big M Promotions who booked him for eight dates across the Costa del Sol in early 2020.

Looking back, Mick said “It went really well and we were talking about an other possibly longer tour when the pandemic really hit and that was the end of my musical career for quite a while.

“I had to work to live and took a job in a meat factory and then became a driver delivering vital medicines during lock down and now I’m back singing, although a num ber of pubs and other venues simply went out of business but I’m still work ing mainly solo and finding gigs.”

His repertoire includes all of Simply Red’s top numbers including, If You Don’t Know Me by Now, Star, Fairground, Money’s too Tight (to Mention) and the autobiographical Hold ing Back the Years which was inspired by the up heaval following Hucknall’s mother leaving the family when he was just three.

Red Mick hasn’t met Simply Red Mick as yet but did get to play at Bil ly’s Pub run by the son of the lady who

used to look after him when his father was at work as a barber and ap parently his act went down very well.

Now that the Costa del Sol is seeing such a resur rection with tourists flock ing in, despite Brexit and with Simply Red drawing

large crowds and great re views whenever they play here, Red Mick hopes that next year will see him per forming in Spain again.

GREAT REVIEWS: Red Mick is the star of the show.

Credit: Red Mick Facebook

Simply the best.

Advertising Feature

NEW REGULATIONS

PRESSEUROPEAN

DENMARK

Inflation fight

CREATED to fight the cost-of-living crisis, new Danish discount supermarket Basalt is opening 10 stores which will only sell basic products such as pasta and toilet paper whilst replacing fresh milk with long-life in order to cut down the need for fridges and use of electricity.

THE NETHERLANDS

Mistaken identity

FINLAND

National Service

A SURVEY by the Uutissuomalainen newspaper group found that 35 per cent of those responding were in favour of introducing military conscription for women although nearly half were against. Currently all males are required to spend up to one year in some form of national service.

IRELAND

Side stepping

MANDATORY SPANISH DRIVING LI CENCE

New regulations governing the manda tory issue of Spanish driver’s licence for British citizens is an issue that’s causing concern for some of our English expatri ate customers.

Our Legal Assistance service will keep you fully updated on all the latest news and provide details on driving schools closest to your home, where you can pre pare for the exam in English, consult the registration fees and raise any questions you may have.

In this article we’ll explain the regula tions and procedures that you’ll have to follow, and the possible sanctions for non-compliance. If you need more infor mation or you’d like to speak to our Legal Assistance team, please call 919 180 022 and we’ll be happy to assist and advise you.

AUTOMATIC LICENCE EXPIRY AFTER APRIL 30, 2022

As of December 31, 2020, the UK ceased to belong to the Euro pean Union, and regula

tions that allowed driving in Spain, with a British driving licence, ceased to be appli cable.

UK issued driving licences were only au thorised to drive in Spain until April 30, 2022, and are now not valid. All existing agreements on highway regulations that protect the Member States of the Euro pean Union have ceased to be valid and applicable. However, those British drivers who do not have their main residence in Spain and travel for periods of less than six months (tourist type), may continue to drive in Spain, during that period, with their original permit.

ENGLISH FOR SPANISH LICENCE SWAP

Residents with a British driving licence, had until December 31, 2020 to swap and redeem theirs for a Spanish licence. Con sequently, they must now obtain a new Spanish driving licence from scratch, sub mitting to the requirements and tests es tablished in Spain for obtaining said li cence.

Call their English-speaking cus tomer service staff on 952 147 834 or get a competitive quote now at lineadirecta.com.

SIMILAR to the UK’s Long Lost Family, Spoorloos, a Dutch TV programme traces and reunites family members but it has now admitted that in at least two of the shows, the wrong person was identified and now the programme makers are investigating a further 12 suspect cases.

BELGIUM

Cat scam

CAT lovers in Belgium were so worried about the chance of their four-legged friends catching Covid-19 that they spent an average of €3,000 per animal to purchase what turned out to be a banned drug which didn’t work and now six people have been arrested.

GERMANY

War damage

GERMAN taxpayers could be in for a financial shock if a Polish government claim for €1.3 trillion in war reparations is recognised although the German government has rejected the claim relying on the fact that in 1953 the Soviet Union persuaded the communist Polish government to drop all claims.

FRANCE

Ulterior motive

A YEAR after President Macron said Algeria had “hatred towards France” things have changed and after his peacekeeping visit earlier this year, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said her recent trip had nothing to do with a need for vital liquid gas, just a chance to cement friendship.

NORWAY

PRICE.

COVER.

Too good

A REVIEW by financial magazine Kapital has concluded that Erling Haaland who has taken the UK Premier League by storm (and actually has a humorous petition calling for him to be banned from playing for Manchester City) is likely to become Norway’s first Krone billionaire.

FOR some time, those behind Riverdance have been supporting and advertising with the CLRG which arranges Irish Dancing competitions, but it has now announced that until allegations of judges fixing competitions are completed it will have to suspend all advertising with the organisation.

ITALY

Winter fashion

ITALIAN athletes taking part in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo will be competing in outfits designed by Giorgio Armani for his EA7 line operated under the Emporio Armani brand name thanks to a deal with the Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI).

PORTUGAL

Airport fees

HOLIDAYMAKERS can expect their trip to Portugal to become more expensive from February 2023 as the airport authority Aeroportos de Portugal is pushing to increase landing and take off fees by around 15 per cent, although this is currently being fought by airlines.

UKRAINE

Custom bikes

RALEIGH, the British bicycle brand, is supporting Alans BMX and the charity Bikes4Ukraine by creating two custom Raleigh Burner Bikes in Ukraine colours which are being auctioned on eBay to raise funds for the charity so refugees can be supplied with bikes.

SWEDEN

Nobel Prize

THE 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Swedish scientist 67-year-old Svante Paabo, for his years of study to discover how to extract DNA from the bones of Neanderthals to compare similarities with Homo Sapiens who became the dominant human species.

SPANISH DRIVING LICENCE: Now mandatory if you live in Spain permanently.

PC decline FINANCE

BUSINESS EXTRA

Crypto tax

TRYING to control the in creasing investment in cryp tocurrency, the 2023 Por tuguese budget includes a proposal to implement a 28 per cent tax on profits if cryp tocurrencies are sold within 12 months of acquisition and this will be the first step in a crack‐down.

Mortgage freeze

A REPORT by a Spanish newspaper suggests that the recently created Caixabank is in the process of discussing with other Spanish commer cial banks the possibility of freezing variable interest rates on mortgages for one year in a bid to try to cushion the finances of homeowners.

Bad news

ACCORDING to Pierre‐Olivier Gourinchas, Chief Economist at the International Mone tary Fund, the euro area will continue to stall in the com ing year with the energy cri sis caused by the war contin uing to take a heavy toll, reducing growth to 0.5 per cent in 2023

More workers

EVEN though pay levels con tinue to fall in many indus tries, unemployment in the UK has dropped to its lowest level in 50 years with a total of 29.7 million employees on registered payrolls at the end of September, an increase of 69,000 in a month.

Numbers up

SPANISH airport manage ment group AENA has an nounced that by the end of September it had handled 98 per cent of the number of passengers than it forecast for the year, showing the re silience of the Spanish tourism industry following the travel difficulties caused by the pandemic.

STAT OF WEEK €135 billion

is the value of Spain’s tourism gross domestic product in 2022 according to a forecast by industry association Exceltur which is 88 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

Economy is stressed

WHAT goes up must come down is a maxim which is proving true in the world of personal computer (PC) sales worldwide according to a report by Gartner Inc.

With the boom in home work ing during the pandemic, PC sales (including Apple products) under standably shot up but according to this latest report, in the third quar ter of 2022 worldwide sales of 68 million units was down 19.2 per cent over the 2021 quarter.

This is the largest market decline since Gartner began tracking the PC market in the mid‐1990s and the fourth consecutive quarter of year‐on‐year decline which has not been helped by problems with supply chain disruptions.

McColl sale

ATTRIBUTED to former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, the phrase “a week is a long time in politics” cannot be more appropriate than the week which saw the sacking of UK Chancel lor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng and a reversal of most of his policies.

After the Chancellor blamed the problems with the September 23 mi ni‐budget on the death of the queen, Business Secretary Jacob Rees‐Mogg told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it is possible that the problems were caused not by the Treasury but by the Bank of England for not raising

interest rates in line with the USA.

The new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has acted swiftly in order to try to re store confidence in the British econo my and on Monday October 17, de molished almost every plan put into place by Kwarteng which had not al ready gone through parliament.

The basic rate of income tax will re main at 20p indefinitely instead of be ing reduced to 19p as he considers it wrong to borrow in order to fund such a reduction and this will only be changed when he believes that the government can afford to do so.

The cap on energy bills is now only guaranteed until April next year and will then be reviewed rather than keep it in place for two years as previ ously promised.

The announced cuts to stamp duty and National Insurance will however be kept in the hopes that these will help to stimulate the housing market and the economy.

All in all, the promises that Liz Truss made when campaigning against Rishi Sunak have effectively been dec imated and this cannot help her credi bility one iota.

More energy security plan

SPAIN has approved the More Energy Security Plan (+SE) to strengthen the pro tection of consumers against the rise in prices caused by the war in Ukraine.

The initiative also seeks to reduce gas consumption, improve energy autonomy, increase the competitive ness of the economy and increase energy exports.

Minister for the Ecologi cal Transition and the De mographic Challenge, Tere sa Ribera, confirmed on Tuesday October 11 that it is a plan that will continue to be updated, given the uncertainty of the evolution of the war and its conse quences, and a monthly re

port will be published which will monitor the effi ciency and savings in elec tricity and gas from the dif ferent measures.

The Plan contains 73 en ergy security measures grouped around six major objectives: savings and effi ciency; transformation of

the energy system; exten sion of protection to con sumers, especially the vul nerable; fiscal measures; transformation of the in dustry thanks to renewable energies or hydrogen, and cooperation with the rest of the European countries.

To guarantee and im

prove the protection of the population, the granting of the electric social bonus and the thermal social bonus will be expanded, in creasing the volume of the protected population.

The energy bills of 1.6 million households with community boilers will also be reduced with a view to next winter and families will have fiscal support to implement renewable air conditioning systems, cost allocators in centralised heating will be encouraged and smart natural gas me ters will be installed.

A further billion euros will be made available in or der to implement all of the plans.

THE Competition and Markets Au thority (CMA) has announced its initial findings after investigating the Morrisons reported £190 mil lion purchase of stores owned by McColl’s Retail Group plc.

It has now confirmed in princi ple that it doesn’t believe that the deal would harm the vast majority of shoppers or other businesses, but it raised competition concerns in 35 areas.

Morrisons has now offered to dispose of 28 of McColl’s stores to a purchaser or purchasers to be approved by CMA and assuming that an acceptable deal can be put in place then the CMA expects to approve the amended sale.

Lashing out

THE mayor of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, a respected member of the Partido Popular, has accused the government of Pedro Sánchez as being akin to Argentina’s “Peronist government.”

She told the Madrid Assembly that the plans to impose a tempo rary additional tax on Spain’s rich est residents is an attack on free dom as “here in Spain people want to be free.”

In her opinion, this is a form of ‘fiscal popularism’ which will harm the economy and see an increase in unemployment and she said that she would investigate appeal ing to the Courts to negate the ‘sol idarity law in Madrid.’

FINANCE to read more FINANCE scan this QR Code

INITIATIVE: Minister Teresa Ribera announced the plan.

Credit: HM Treasury flickr

POLICY REVERSAL: The new Chancellor quickly spoke with Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England.

Credit: La Moncloa flickr

C OMPANY OMPANY

3I Group 1.090,50 1.109,00 1.078,50 305,83K

Abrdn 142,65 143,00 137,95 1,72M

Admiral Group 1.950,0 1.949,0 1.911,5 51,17K

Anglo American 2.669,5 2.722,0 2.652,0 357,69K

Antofagasta 1.083,50 1.104,50 1.074,00 168,77K

Ashtead Group 4.285,0 4.309,0 4.170,0 129,91K

Associated British Foods 1.321,0 1.322,5 1.292,0 878,33K

AstraZeneca 9.930,0 9.945,0 9.800,0 478,06K

Auto Trader Group Plc 534,40 536,60 523,60 520,38K

Aveva 3.150,0 3.176,0 3.150,0 4,77K

Aviva 401,20 401,70 394,80 6,88M

B&M European Value Retail SA316,70 317,80 308,10 1,24M

BAE Systems 829,60 831,20 815,60 2,99M

Barclays 145,50 148,88 143,64 19,26M

Barratt Developments 352,68 355,40 346,45 344,29K

Berkeley 3.401,0 3.416,0 3.341,0 116,31K

BHP Group Ltd 2.236,50 2.250,50 2.211,00 139,98K

BP 463,05 465,50 460,24 5,45M

British American Tobacco 3.298,0 3.320,5 3.284,5 825,93K

British Land Company 335,90 341,70 326,90 1,09M

BT Group 122,40 123,10 121,15 3,28M

Bunzl 2.731,0 2.734,0 2.688,0 95,65K

Burberry Group 1.850,0 1.880,0 1.799,5 422,29K

Carnival 558,2 572,8 545,4 388,33K

Centrica 72,97 72,97 70,30 680,22K

Coca Cola HBC AG 1.992,8 1.998,0 1.965,0 1,99M

Compass 1.820,00 1.821,50 1.799,00 41,46K

CRH 2.886,0 2.938,0 2.843,0 173,16K

Croda Intl 6.464,8 6.560,0 6.357,4 8,29K

DCC 4.721,0 4.745,0 4.663,0 22,94K

Diageo 3.677,0 3.682,0 3.638,5 383,27K

DS Smith 268,00 273,52 266,31 338,13K

EasyJet 308,00 308,30 294,55 982,77K

Experian 2.674,0 2.681,0 2.610,0 168,22K

Ferguson 9.606,0 9.686,0 9.496,0 68,79K

Flutter Entertainment 10.485,0 10.505,0 10.305,0 632,11K

Fresnillo 728,00 739,00 721,60 270,56K

Glencore 491,55 500,30 489,40 8,19M

GSK plc 1.348,60 1.354,60 1.335,40 1,99M

Halma 2.085,0 2.096,0 2.030,0 243,59K

Hargreaves Lansdown 826,80 835,40 813,20 282,73K

Hikma Pharma 1.287,50 1.300,50 1.264,50 134,76K

HSBC 461,85 464,25 456,25 15,28M

IAG 110,42 112,30 108,42 7,44M

Imperial Brands 2.010,00 2.026,00 2.009,00 512,17K

1,39M

Intermediate Capital 992,19 1.019,50 971,00 245,56K

Intertek 3.674,0 3.698,0 3.626,0 122,14K

ITV 63,00 63,67 61,64 1,73M

J Sainsbury 180,77 182,60 178,15 1,84M

Johnson Matthey 1.843,7 1.859,0 1.816,0 75,04K

Land Securities 511,80 519,20 500,40 554,19K

Legal & General 223,79 225,55 219,12 2,26M

Lloyds Banking 43,24 43,61 42,42 30,51M

London Stock Exchange 7.348,0 7.384,0 7.236,0 94,07K

Melrose Industries 103,05 103,90 100,50 3,51M

Mondi 1.392,50 1.417,50 1.372,50 576,88K

National Grid 884,12 885,40 872,40 1,61M

NatWest Group 231,00 238,24 229,71 3,70M

Next 4.835,0 4.838,0 4.670,0 204,52K

Norilskiy Nikel ADR 9,10 9,10 9,10 0

Ocado 484,20 484,20 439,00 1,77M

Persimmon 1.235,5 1.242,0 1.206,0 476,68K

Phoenix 531,71 537,60 527,20 1,52M

Prudential 892,20 912,80 884,80 1,19M

Reckitt Benckiser 5.882,0 5.910,0 5.786,0 762,14K

Relx 2.202,00 2.209,00 2.167,00 1,78M

Rentokil 502,20 503,40 491,90 1,72M

Rightmove 478,00 478,60 460,80 2,28M

Rio Tinto PLC 4.899,0 4.964,0 4.877,0 396,66K

Rolls-Royce Holdings 71,50 71,88 69,94 8,34M Rosneft DRC 0,20 0,20 0,20 0

Sage 695,00 695,80 681,00 613,48K

Samsung Electronics DRC 981,00 981,80 971,20 9,92K

Schroders 373,8 376,1 368,2 639,96K Scottish Mortgage 744,21 748,60 729,40 1,17M

Segro 740,80 740,80 718,60 943,60K

Severn Trent 2.343,0 2.349,0 2.262,0 246,00K Shell 2.295,0 2.322,0 2.288,5 4,24M Smith & Nephew 998,80 1.007,50 992,60 2,33M

Smiths Group 1.528,50 1.544,50 1.512,00 160,20K

Spirax-Sarco Engineering 10.640,0 10.670,0 10.415,0 67,05K SSE 1.495,00 1.499,50 1.467,00 1,81M St. James’s Place 980,40 982,60 968,60 276,82K

Standard Chartered 549,00 557,80 543,80 1,06M Taylor Wimpey 89,50 90,04 87,22 6,99M

Tesco 205,20 207,00 203,00 4,51M Tui 116,90 119,45 114,70 946,65K

Unilever 3.902,0 3.917,5 3.857,0 702,42K United Utilities 865,15 869,80 839,20 690,95K

Vodafone Group PLC 100,24 101,52 99,54 12,86M Whitbread 2.514,0 2.521,0 2.457,0 166,73K WPP 748,78 757,60 738,80 929,51K

DOW JONES

3M 114,26 114,83 4,77M

American Express 141,55 142,55 130,65 4,59M

Amgen 251,66 252,37 242,84 3,29M

Apple 142,99 143,59 134,37 112,74M

Boeing 132,40 134,70 124,17 7,72M

Caterpillar 183,14 184,95 172,71 3,73M

Chevron 165,28 165,99 156,35 10,19M

Cisco 40,61 40,80 38,60 26,19M

Coca-Cola 55,87 56,08 54,26 16,20M

Dow 45,92 46,50 42,91 8,26M

Goldman Sachs 307,07 308,76 287,75 2,69M

Home Depot 282,83 284,83 268,73 3,88M

Honeywell 177,55 178,39 169,22 3,22M

IBM 121,79 122,15 115,54 5,84M

Intel 26,42 26,83 24,59 62,26M

J&J 165,15 165,99 160,75 6,46M

JPMorgan 109,37 109,90 101,76 22,15M

McDonald’s 246,75 249,30 234,46 5,01M

Merck&Co 92,49 92,72 89,27 9,37M

Microsoft 234,24 236,10 219,13 42,39M

Nike 89,56 89,81 86,05 9,23M

Procter&Gamble 126,31 126,75 122,92 6,90M Salesforce Inc 145,44 146,34 137,59 6,54M

The Travelers 165,51 166,55 155,72 1,95M

UnitedHealth 509,91 513,47 487,74 3,99M

Verizon 36,40 36,59 35,04 33,11M

Visa A 184,66 185,37 174,60 8,36M

Walgreens Boots 33,65 34,01 31,77 21,39M

Walmart 132,28 132,94 128,37 6,83M Walt Disney 96,64 96,97 90,71 10,94M

Most Advanced

Nutex Health +72.40% 42.58M

Fednat Holding Co +56.48% 40.97M

Digital Brands Group +44.93% 21.99M

Digital World Acquisition Wnt +42.57% 1.28M

Laser Photonics Unt +40.96% 45.18M

American Virtual Cloud +35.82% 16.21M

Epiphany Technology Acquisition +30.00% 23.47K

Ambow Education +28.48% 255.84K

Service Properties +27.31% 8.66M

Oblong +26.53% 5.15M

Digital World Acquisition +23.79% 5.58K

Most Declined

Relmada Therapeutics -79.57% 19.47M

Insu Acquisition -58.59% 3.75K

Otonomy Inc -53.46% 13.43M

Hippo Holdings -45.90% 185.18K

mCloud Technologies -35.90% 684.79K

9F -33.86% 906.61K

Happiness Biotech -23.64% 335.64K

Maiden Holdings -22.01% 4.05K

Pintec Tech -21.62% 2.79M

iPower -19.80% 108.75K

Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation -18.98% 4.93M

BUSINESS

EXTRA

Bond sale delay

FOLLOWING a report from the Financial Times on Tues day, October 18 stating that the UK government planned to delay the sale of some of its bonds through its quanti tative easing (QE) stimulus programme, a spokesper son for the central bank was quick to deny the allega tions.

J&J Q3 results

JOHNSON & JOHNSON re ported sales growth of 1.9 per cent to $23.8 billion (€24.2 billion) with opera tional growth of 8.1 per cent and adjusted operational growth of 8.2 per cent. The company also reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.68 (€1.71) increasing 22.6 per cent and adjusted EPS of $2.55 (€2.60) decreasing by 1.9 per cent.

Horse gambling

NORWAY’S Ministry of Agriculture and Food pro posed regulations on the distribution of profits from gambling on horses on Tuesday, October 18. The proposed regulation states profits from gambling on horses must go to organisa tions that promote eques trian sports, horse keeping and Norwegian horse breeding.

Eradicating polio

THE Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged on Sun day, October 16 to invest a further $1.2 billion (€1.22 bil lion) in worldwide efforts to eradicate polio.

“Polio eradication is within reach. But as far as we have come, the disease remains a threat,” Bill Gates said after announcing the pledge at a summit in Berlin.

A spokesperson for the Foundation said: “Despite historic progress, interrup tions in routine immunisa tion, vaccine misinforma tion, political unrest, and the tragic floods in Pakistan in 2022 have underscored the urgent need to finish the job against polio.”

Royal Mail job cuts

ROYAL MAIL plans to axe up to 6,000 roles, according to reports on Friday, October 14.

The company blamed delays in improving productivity and falling parcel volumes were to blame for the loss of £219 mil lion (€251 million) for the first half of this financial year.

Roughly £70m (€80m) of the loss was directly attributable to three days of industrial action, the company said, after 115,000 employees went on strike over pay and conditions.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it would seek an urgent meeting with Royal Mail to discuss the planned re ductions.

A statement issued by the union said that it wanted to put forward an alternative business plan saying that “gross misman

agement” was to blame for the issues.

CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “The announcement

is the result of gross misman agement and a failed business agenda of ending daily deliver ies, a wholesale levelling‐down

El Corte Inglés donation

of the terms, pay and conditions of postal workers, and turning Royal Mail into a gig economy style parcel courier.

“What the company should be doing is abandoning its asset‐stripping strategy and building the future based on utilising the competitive edge it already has in its deliveries to 32 million ad dresses across the country.

“The CWU is calling for an ur gent meeting with the board and will put forward an alterna tive business plan at that meet ing.

“This announcement is hold ing postal workers to ransom for taking legal industrial action against a business approach that is not in the interests of work ers, customers or the future of Royal Mail. This is no way to build a company.”

Huge Jet2 order

JET2 announced on Tuesday, October 18 that “to meet the future anticipated growth of its Leisure Travel business and to refresh its existing aircraft fleet, the company has entered into an agreement with Airbus to purchase 35 new firm‐ordered Airbus A320 neo aircraft with the ability for this to ex tend to up to 71 aircraft.”

“The firm‐ordered aircraft deliveries stretch over three years until 2031 and at base price represent a total value of approx imately $3.9 billion (€4 billion), with a total transaction value for up to 71 aircraft of ap proximately $8.0 billion (€8.1 billion),” though the company negotiated significant discounts from the base price, it said.

“This order, in addition to the A321 neo aircraft orders announced in 2021, means Jet2 now has a total of 98 firm‐ordered air craft, which could eventually extend to up to 146 aircraft,” it concluded.

Anglian Water fined

EL CORTE INGLÉS donated €72,000 to UNICEF Spain thanks to the funds obtained from the ‘Solidarity Toys’ cam paign, carried out both in El Corte Inglés stores and on its website over the past year.

This was the 12th consecu tive campaign, which has been very well received by the public every year, the company said on Monday, Oc tober 17.

El Corte Inglés’ ‘Solidarity Toys’ campaign consisted of a large selection of toys, which were reduced in price by up

to 70 per cent.

Twenty per cent of the sales obtained were donated to UNICEF Spain as part of a col laboration agreement be tween the two.

El Corte Inglés is reportedly the first Spanish retailer to in corporate the Children’s Rights and Business Principles into its corporate policies.

“These Principles provide a general framework for under standing and addressing the impact of the business world on the well‐being of chil dren,” the company said.

The €72,000 donated by El Corte Inglés will make it pos sible to bring water, food, vi tamins and vaccines to the most vulnerable children, provide hygiene and sanita tion services and promote ac cess to education for children and adolescents.

The company said it “sup ports the organisation’s work on behalf of children to en sure that the rights of chil dren and adolescents around the world are fulfilled and to improve their living condi tions.”

ANGLIAN WATER has been fined £350,000 (€402,000) after a pumped sewer burst for the sixth time in several years, the UK government announced on Tuesday, October 18.

Anglian Water appeared at Cambridge Magistrates Court on October 12. It was charged with causing poisonous, noxious, or polluting matter to enter inland freshwaters without an environmental permit. This is con trary to regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

In sentencing, District Judge Ken Sheraton found that there had been “no effective sur veys” of the pipe in question. He went on to say that had there been surveys, the two air valves would have been noticed.

ROYAL MAIL: Blame strikes for recent loss of revenue.

Credit:

CHARITABLE DONATION: El Corte Inglés make it possible to bring water and food to vulnerable children.

Image:

I WAS terribly saddened by the an nouncement of the death of vocal ist Loretta Lyn. This delightful, hit producing country singing icon re cently passed over at the grand old age of 90 and will be sorely missed by her family and masses of adoring fans. I actually met Loretta on a number of occasions and found her to be a great character and ex tremely interesting companion.

We first met in 1968 when I had been invited over to America to ap pear at the Grand old Oprey in Nashville. The week I was there I al so attended the presentation of the Country Music Association awards which were scooped by Johnny Cash for his classic recording of Fol som Prison Blues among others.

My own appearance at that ter rific venue, which has now become a country music shrine, was a little earlier in that week; after I finished the act I made my way to a small bistro type restaurant situated at the rear of the building. Many of the artists would go after the show and enjoy the pure country repasts

A great character

that were on offer. After 10 min utes or so I was approached by Mervyn Conn, the English impre sario who produced the Wembley Country Music festival and was ac tually considered in in the UK as ‘Mr Country Music. “Hey Leapy” he said, “there’s someone over here who would like to meet you.”

I peered through the gloom to where he had been sitting. To my surprise I spied none other than Johnny Cash, sitting with his (then pregnant) wife June Carter and a number of others. Naturally I was delighted to meet up and joined them at the table where I was in troduced all around to the guests, one of which turned out to be Loretta Lyn.

Little Arrows was actually racing up the American country charts and they all seemed to like it. What fol lowed was a great session of drinks (Jack Daniels I seem to remember!) and jokes, which lasted far into the night. I got on very well with Loret ta and she told me she was coming over to do the Wembley festival which I had also been booked for.

When the show took place she

duly arrived and, after managing a short lunch, I invited her and her fe male companion to a party I threw in my lovely new Ascot home (them were the days!) She stayed until very late and although it would have been nice to meet up again, our schedules unfortunately could n’t make it happen. Shortly after this terrific and extremely success ful interlude, my life changed some what drastically, (it’s in the book!) and we never saw each other again.

Loretta Lyn, a wonderful lady, a great talent, and a pure ‘Country Coalminer’s Daughter’. Sadly missed. Thanks for all your corre spondence. Not able to always re ply, but certainly read them all. Keep ‘em coming. And always.

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

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The daftest research studies I’ve heard yet!

NORAJOHNSON BREAKINGVIEWS

DISTURBED sleep can lead to demen tia! This is according to the latest re search that a single night of disturbed sleep increases levels of a brain pro tein linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

But perhaps it’s drink ing too much coffee that causes us to sleep badly, and reportedly increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s? But worry not as, according to an other study, drinking coffee might prevent de mentia and even help us ‘live longer’!

Let’s look forward to the next bit of research showing that the two balance each other out. So, we end up living as long as we would have lived if we’d rarely drunk coffee and always

got our eight hours. But wait! Didn’t I read somewhere eight hours is too much... or not enough?

Well, let’s end where we began: on a low note. According to yet another survey, a fifth of people believe toad‐in‐the‐hole has REAL toads in it and a half that bangers and mash is a made‐up dish. And if you think that’s bad enough, don’t even get them started on spot ted dick...

PS. Am writing this at the starry Cheltenham Literature Festival where I’m hoping to meet fellow crime writ ers: watch this space!

Nora Johnson’s criti cally acclaimed psycho logical crime thrillers (www.nora‐johnson. net) all available online including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.

NoraJohnson’sopinionsareherownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

Noraistheauthorofpopularpsychological suspenseandcrimethrillersandafreelancejournalist.

Nora’s latest thriller.

LeapyLee’sopinionsarehisownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

OTHERS THINK IT

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT

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YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION

Letters should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments on our website: 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.

SCARY HALLOWEEN NIGHT

ON a dark and scary night

There was a loud bang tonight

And the little children Ran with fright so scared tonight

And there’s laughter in the air tonight

And it’s a cold dark lonely Scary Halloween night

And the moonlight is blue and bright

And it’s a ghostly night

A cold breeze blowing all night

And there’s another loud Bang tonight

And the little children are Running with fright it’s just Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls

Tonight and the howling

Of the crazy werewolves tonight

And the dead Zombie’s walking through the Streets on this cold dark lonely

Scary Halloween night.

David P Carroll

Online reading

I have started receiving and reading all the papers from the Costas via email and just want ed to say how I enjoy Leapy’s column. We are based in Birm ingham, but are hoping to buy something in Spain in the next couple of years. Keep up the good work, it’s on point social ly and still raises a smile.

Peter Matthews

Driving licence issue

Thank you for a continuing, well‐produced newspaper. (Only one in the Balearics). I got my residency in the early 90s. My UK driving licence was

issued as a ‘European Model’ and was valid in Spain. It cov ered cars, motorcycles and light goods vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes. I changed it to the Spanish licence in 1993.

At the time, I did not notice the Spanish licence covered only cars and motorcycles and that my ‘C1’ classification (‘light goods vehicles’) had been

omitted. I recently asked Trafi co to reinstate the missing clas sification, pointing out that when I obtained the Spanish version, the UK was at that time IN the EU. They are cur rently refusing to do so. I won der if this problem has come up with any other readers? Keep up the good work!

Norm MacLoud

OUR VIEW

ARISE KING CHARLES

MAY 6 next year is the date set for the coronation of King Charles III which happens to also be the fourth birthday of his grandson Archie, the son of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, so could be the time for one rift in the family to be repaired.

Charles at 74 will be the oldest British Monarch to be crowned and this will be the first Saturday since 1902 that a coronation has taken place and may mean that the public won’t enjoy another bank holiday unless that planned for the previous Monday, May Day is moved to allow a long weekend.

His wife Camilla will be 75 and she will also take part in the ceremony at Westminster Abbey as she will be crowned Queen Consort (as was Charles’ grandmother in 1937), so although it is expected that the entire ceremony will be more modern than that for Queen Elizabeth II, it could last some hours.

Assuming that the cost-of-living crisis is still with us, the Royal Family and their advisors will have to walk a thin line to ensure that the coronation is not seen to be too extravagant, whilst at the same time still being in keeping with tradition and the expectations of the world that will be watching.

It is more than likely that although Charles will swear an oath to “maintain and preserve inviolately” the establish ment of the Church of England, the ceremony will embrace a number of different religious leaders in recognition of the diversity of faiths within the country.

Hopefully this will be a time for the nation to celebrate and for the world to once again be impressed by the pomp and ceremony of the occasion.

THINKING ALOUD

... AND time can do so much. The lyrics of ‘Unchained Melody’.

Time and space are both limitless as defined by the concepts of eternity and infinity. Otherwise they are poles apart. We are free to move in space, upward or downward, forward or backward, left, right, straight ahead or in circlesand at a chosen pace. Time, of course, is one­dimensional; only relentlessly for ward and at an unvarying pace.

Time only exists in the present mo ment ­ the Now. Yesterday does not ex ist and never happened, except in its past manifestation as today. Likewise tomorrow will never exist until it be comes today. Yesterday exists merely as memories conjured up in the present moment, and tomorrow merely as an ticipation ­ also conceived in the pre sent.

As Eckhart Tolle explains in ‘A New Earth’, our entire life unfolds in the con stant Now. Past or future moments only exist when we remember or anticipate them in the only moment there is: this one.

Time goes by so slowly...

Eckhart Tolle acknowledges that “clock time” is essential to our way of life. Without it, we cannot make ar rangements or fulfil our purpose in life. But “psychological time” is the preoccu pation in our minds with past and pre sent, which is the cause of so much mental suffering; regret and remorse from the past and fear or anxiety about the future.

Space or places, however, exist, whether we are there or not. The fact that I am no longer in Cadiz doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, and I can go back again to prove it.

But I can’t go back to the time I was

last there because that moment no longer exists.

The past and future are thoughts in our heads and may be positive or nega tive. It’s nice to reflect on the joys of youth or pleasing experiences and rela tionships of the past, so long as we don’t feel bitter about growing older or regret their passing. It’s also natural to look forward to the future if we expect the best outcome. If we dwell on what could go wrong we are punishing our selves with fear and apprehension.

Although “clock time” advances at a fixed pace, “psychological time” varies in accordance with circumstances. When we are enjoying an idyllic holiday or our team is striving for a late winning goal, the days or the seconds pass much too quickly. If waiting for an appoint ment for medical treatment, languish ing in prison or if our team is clinging on to a narrow lead, time goes by so slowly

All good things come to an end

MIKE SENKER

Views of a Grumpy Old Man

I HAVE a problem and that is that my trivial grumps seem insignificant in the s**t show that is going on in the world at the moment. I have voiced my opinions recently about a cashless soci ety and Covid vaccines and I’m still convinced we were lied to big time. Test and Trace didn’t work and it has now been admitted the furlough sys tem never worked either. We were conned and lied to as usual. The whole ‘no jab no job’ spouted by the likes of Piers Morgan is probably one of the worst things to happen. It has been confirmed this week by some bigshot at Pfizer that the vaccine was never tested on preventing transmission. Get vaccinated for others was always a lie.

The only purpose of Covid passports was to force people to get vaccinated. I have no problem with getting vaccinated but tell me the truth. I’m watching my savings being decimated because of a raving lunatic in Russia and a useless non-voted for Prime Minister in the UK. I remember Martin Lewis in 2012 explaining how we could, if we were clever, get a 20 per cent discount on a duvet cover from Debenhams. Now he’s saying, “I don’t know

how to save you from eviction. You need to pre pare to pack up your family belongings.” Even worse is there isn’t even a Debenhams still open to buy a friggin duvet!

So, as they say, all good things must come to an end and after six years I’ve decided to hang up my Euro Weekly News Mr Grumpy hat for the fore seeable future. Over this time I have written over 320 columns and moaned about cars, scooters, bikes, noisy kids, yappy dogs, coffee, tea, cola - so many things. The only things I moaned about more than once would be Trump and UK lying toe-rag politicians. I have had literally hundreds of emails, nearly all of them agreeing with me and/or sharing a moan. I have had people speak to me in restaurants and stores and that was always lovely.

Thanks to my good friends Michel and Stephen Euesden who, over lunch all those years ago, asked me to put my grumps into a column. My biggest thanks goes to my wife Patti who actually types this up and edits it so it makes sense be cause if you saw how I really write you would un derstand why I got kicked out of school! Keep smiling.

Time drags slowly for those in prison...

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

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CLASSIFIEDS

songs, relevant sermons and a modern but reverent service. During this time of uncertain ty, God’s word reminds us that the Gospel shines brightest in times of darkness. We are a Bible based Church communi ty continuing to help people find their way back to God.

Sunday Service 11.00am Prayer Meetings Wednesdays 11.00am Pasaje San Miguel, Nerja, 29780 Email: info@nlc nerja.com Website: www.nlcn erja.com Facebook: www.face book.com/nlcnerja

CARS FOR SALE FOR SALE/WANTED

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INSURANCE

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MASSAGE

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CHURCH SERVICES

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

NEW LIFE CHURCH, whether you live in Nerja or are visiting our area, we would be delight ed to welcome you to New Life Church. Our meetings are characterised by uplifting

THE ANGLICAN Chaplaincy of Nerja & Almunecar. Every Sun day there is a Holy Communion service at midday in San Miguel church in Nerja. Every Wednes day morning at 9.30 we have an online ‘Zoom’ HC serviceplease contact Fr Nigel with an e-mail address if you would like to join us. Priest in Charge, Fa ther Nigel Thomas. Tel: Church House - 951 815 736, Mobile: 608 695 756, e-mail: cofenerja@gmail.com

NERJA. Yuliana, friendly at tractive masseuse offers relax ing body massage, peaceful stress relief. 645 898 573 (FU 2773)

MISCELLANEOUS

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FOR SALE

WE ARE currently the market leader in our country in the sale of direct car, motorbike, home and company fleet insurance. Since we started out in 1995, our philoso phy has always been to offer an excellent service with the best prices in the market. For the most competitive quotes in English, call Linea Directa on 952 147 834.

SOLAR ENERGY

SOLAR BLINDS ES Ideal for Large Glazed Areas to Reflect Heat / Glare and Stop Furniture Fading and Still Keep The View. Save Heat in the Winter to Improve Your Living Environment. ian@so larshadetinting.com Tel Ian 958 496 571 / 644 546 176 (258409)

MALE /Female viagra, cialis, kamagra jelly all areas. Mixed trial packs available. Delivery or mail order available 604 385 476. viagra4you19@gmail.com

MOTORING OTHERS PROPERTY TO LET

TORRE del Mar. Rent 1 room with bathroom. 35€/day. 693 996 352 (FU 2571)

SITUATIONS VACANT

DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS wanted for Costa del Sol and Costa Tropical. One day per week. Must be legal to work in Spain, have own transport, know the areas and be reli able. Please send CV with cov ering letter to Martyn by email mab021262@gmail.com (292475)

FED UP PAYING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR MOBILE PHONE CALLS? THEN CONTACT TELITEC TODAY. CALLS TO SPAIN 7C PER MINUTE INCLUDING MOBILES. CALLS TO UK 5.3C PER MINUTE. NO MONTH LY FEES, NO CONTRACT. WWW. TELITEC.COM TEL: 902 889 070

TELECOMMUNICATIONS WINDOW TINTING

MOBILE SERVICE. ITV Legal. Solar Reflective tint for glass cur tains, balconies, yachts. Stop fad ing, heat & glare. 958 496 571644 546 176 ian@solarshadetint ing.com (287972)

BUY & SELL CHARITY

It’s anyone’s game

MALAGA Walking Football Club make the trip to Parque Verano Azul on Sunday Oc tober 23, to play Nerja Utd in both cate gories over 50&60 of the Euro Weekly Walking Football League.

Both clubs will be in a confident mood, and Nerja has run a social media campaign to get as many people down to watch and support the game as possible. Kick off is 11.00am and more details and a location pin can be found online via Facebook walking footy.com.

East Costa del Sol team and ex‐ league champions, Aston Viñuela have made the difficult decision to not continue in the league this season. Manager Steve George said that he has made the decision with “a heavy heart,” but will regroup, and hope fully be back next season, “bigger and stronger.” We wish them well.

Calahonda side, the Walking Dead con tinue their work very much under the radar after winning their opening games in over 50 and over 60. AC Benahavis join Malaga and the Walking Dead as the three clubs who have taken maximum points from their first rounds of games, and new boys El Cañadon are also unbeaten.

Updated league table will be in next week’s edition. All clubs are currently wel coming new players. The areas that we have clubs are: Competa, Viñuela, Torrox, Nerja, Fuengirola and Calahonda. The women’s teams operate currently in Be

nalmadena and Competa. Contact us on Facebook for more details. Torrox Torna does over 60 are currently running another session on Tuesday evenings at Algarobo stadium, contact Steve Lynton on their Facebook page for details.

Club director mourned

THE former director of Real Club Deportivo Es panyol and the founder of the TV production com pany BRB Internacional, has died aged 82.

Real Club announced the death of Claudio Biern Boyd on Monday, October 17 in a tweet. Biern was director of the club for the periods 1986‐1989, 1993‐1994, and 2004‐2006.

Biern, who was born in Palma de Mallorca to a Catalan father and Scottish mother studied law studies at the University of Deusto in Bilbao and Barcelona, between 1957 and 1962, before moving to Madrid.

There he went to work as Head of Promotion and Marketing of the multinational Lever Iberian, a position he held until 1968. In 1972 he estab lished BRB International, winning the rights to manage such series as ‘Tom and Jerry’.

In 1977 he started to produce his own series of cartoons and went on to produce ‘Football in ac tion’ (1982) which featured Naranjito, the mascot of the football World Cup in Spain.

Real Club Deportivo Espanyol have paid tribute to the former director, saying that they and the fans mourned his passing.

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NERJA UNITED: Come along and support your local team.