• Issue No. 2003 • 23 - 29 November 2023
Good manners
Credit: Andratx Council
EVEN though there have been numerous cam paigns across Mallorca, some uncaring and self ish dog owners allow their animals to do their business in the streets and don’t bother to clear up after them. It is quite clear that owners should carry with them plastic bags to collect faeces and wa ter bottles to squirt on urine which is corrosive and can over time dis solve metal such as lampposts and street furniture. Rather than becom ing overly tough, the An dratx Council has invest ed in producing a number of bright and quite cheerful signs which make it clear that all owners should clear up their mess and also ensure that their dogs are chipped and kept on a lead. Adhesive signs have been stuck to walls, whilst metal versions have been affixed to lampposts, but there is a ‘sting in the tail’ as the council makes it clear that those caught break ing the rules can be fined up to €1,500.
One of the new signs.
SLIM WIN FREE
ILMAINEN
GRATIS
GRATIS
GRATIS
VRIJ
FREI
Credit: National Business Women’s Awards
Mallorca
Margaret shows off her top award.
IT was in 1969 that Margaret (MilesBramwell) Whittaker OBE founded Slimming World in the UK after struggling with her own weight problems since childhood. Now, more than 50 years later, the Mallorca resident is still very much at the helm of what has become a hugely successful multimillion pound company and contin ues to receive industry and personal accolades. On November 15, she at tended the National Business Women’s 2023 awards where she had a number of nominations and not only was she the winner in the large business category (for companies with a turnover in excess of £25 million) she was also named overall Business Woman of the Year. The awards were created to recognise women who’ve achieved significant accom plishments in their career,
honouring inspiring innova tors and visionaries which cer tainly applies to this successful entrepreneur. On accepting the award, she said: “I’m immensely proud to have been recog nised with this award. I’m ac cepting it not just for myself though, but for the bigheart
ed Consultants who run our groups all over the UK and Ire land, and our wonderful members who transform their lives with our support, too.” In addition to her business interests in the UK, she is the founder of the House of Son Amar situated in Palmañola.
GRATUITO
G GRATIS
LIVRE E
F FREE
GRATIS S
G GRATUIT
Greater speed WHILST speed limits of roads around the world are generally getting lower, the decision to increase that on the Via de Cintura has come in for some criticism. What is effectively the Palma bypass covers just 11 kilometres and currently has a speed limit of 80kph, but the Consell de Mallorca has advised the DGT that with effect from December 18, it will rise to 100kph. The reasons given were that primarily this increase was that according to traffic experts, by increasing the limit there would be a reduction in CO2 emissions and that there will also be a reduction in the amount of fuel used which will be to the benefit of the transport industry and taxi drivers. This was part of the election manifesto of the ruling party in the Consell de Mallorca, but local opposition party Més Per Mallorca disagrees completely and argues that the decision is counterproductive and will see an increase in noise pollution and with the planned increase in the number of lanes on the bypass, CO2 pollution will also increase.
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23 - 29 November 2023
Credit: Manacor Council
Children’s Day
Some of the 600 children learning their rights.
By Jessica Sweeting TO celebrate World Chil dren’s Day on Monday November 20, Manacor Council commissioned artist Pere Reus to create a giant mural the exterior of the Master Pere Garau de Son Macià school. Prior to that, the council entertained 600 boys and girls from the fifth grade of local primary schools and explained that all children regardless of where they lived were entitled to have the right to equality, with out distinction of ethnicity, religion or nationality. The long list of rights which was explained to the children included the right
to special protection ensur ing free and healthy mental and social growth; the right to a name and a nationality; right to adequate food, housing and medical care; the right to special educa tion and care for children with functional diversity. Added to this is the right to understanding and affec tion by families and society; right to free education; right to have fun and play; right to preferential attention and help in case of danger; right to protection against abandonment and ex ploitation at work; right to receive an education that promotes solidarity, friend ship and justice among all.
By Michael Cano ON Sunday November 19, the Football Mascot Olympiad took place at the Butarque stadium, home of CD Leganes in the Communi ty of Madrid. Organised by LaLiga and the CD Laganes, club mas cots (in their full glory) from all over Spain took part in a series of six events, 100 me tre hurdles, 100 metre dash, cucumber throw, MLS (Ma jor League Soccer) style penalty (starting from the centre of the field) in which each mascot had to beat a legendary goalkeeper and an obstacle course. In addition, fans had been invited to vote online and in advance for their favourite
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music, Mascot Olympics Lights, and action Credit: Real Mallorca X
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FOOTBALL MASCOT: Determined runner up Dimonió.
mascot, although this only counted for a small part of the eventual result. The winner was Rat Penat from Valencia but runner up was Real Mallorca’s very
By Paul Edwards EVERY year since 2007, the Palma Aquari um has organised a special charity week end where residents gain entry for the special price of €11 and €1.50 is donated to charity. The ‘Me Too’ event sees the funds be ing raised for the Asnimo Foundation, the first in Spain to be dedicated to compre hensive care for people with Down syn drome and the funds raised this year will be used for the upkeep of its four super vised homes. Visitors were able to enjoy a
own Dimonió who walked away with the Silver Medal (as well as winning the ob stacle race) and in third place was Indi representing Atleti co Madrid.
Charity weekend whole raft of different activities, aimed primarily at families and children and these included sea face painting, Brazilian drummers, tales of the ocean, a magic show, shark feeding, theatre and much more. In addition, there was a special raffle with a large number of prizes ranging from hotel reservations to adventures at the Aquarium.
THE responsibility of creating a selection of stunning Christ mas lights in Palma has been entrusted to newly appoint ed Head of Music and Per forming Arts, Rafel Brunet. With a budget of more than €60,000 and a great deal of expectation on the shoulders of the popular lo cal actor, the one area that he cannot control is the weather. Due to be unveiled tonight (Thursday November 23) the forecast at the time of writ ing is quite good and al though rain had been fore cast for Wednesday morning, it was expected that Thursday would be dry, somewhat humid but with temperatures around 13° in the evening. Although being turned on a few days later this year, the lights will sparkle at 5.30pm, the day before Black Friday and will be accompanied by acrobats, circus acts and live music which will turn the capital of the island into a sparkling fairyland.
NIBS EXTRA Royal rental MUCH of series six of The Crown which is being shown on Netflix was filmed in Mal lorca and those who fancy renting one of the locations in Port Andraxt where Princess Diana supposedly stayed with Al Fayed can do so via Airbnb for a price.
Pointless mess MINDLESS vandalism was a problem which has been partly solved in Palma, but now scribbled graffiti has been reported at more than one site in Camí de Caubet, on the outskirts of Bunyola, which means that the coun cil will have to remove it as Local Police investigate.
Plane trouble WHEN a problem was dis covered with the brakes on a Eurowings flight from Palma to Dusseldorf on Saturday November 18, passengers accepted that there would be a delay whilst a replace ment aircraft was found. Un fortunately for 31 passen gers it was a smaller plane and they were left behind!
No point IN March of this year, the Al cudia Council demanded that the Balearic Ports Au thority remove at its ex pense the so called ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ which was built in late 1990s and actually had no purpose. Work will start shortly to dismantle it.
Off season WHILST businesses in tourist areas do well during the summer, but they need local support out of season which is why Calvia Council has made an appeal to residents to give them custom so they can continue to trade.
Muted demo CONSIDERING the island’s close links with Catalonia, it is not surprising a public meet ing called to protest at the amnesty deal that Pedro Sánchez has entered into with the Catalonian Sepa ratist Party only attracted around 300 demonstrators.
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YOUR EWN HAS
Christmas market 94
By John Smith THE Calanova Cancer Care Christmas market which was held on Saturday November 11 was report edly a great success. There were many visitors who clearly enjoyed them selves and the sum of €2,000 was donated to As panob, the local children’s cancer charity. There were nearly 40 stalls selling a huge range of products from cakes, clothes, paintings sculp tures, Christmas items as well as Moet Chandon Champagne and the finest
Credit: Calanova Cancer Charity
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The Christmas market was very busy.
Russian Caviar. Two choirs, those of the Belver School and Sofia put everyone in the Christmas
mood and the first tickets from the Christmas Raffle went on sale and can still be purchased from the
charity shop until Decem ber 22. A number of wrapped Christmas presents all indi cating whether for a boy or girl and the appropriate age were handed to the charity, but anyone who wishes to add to the gifts is invited to leave the wrapped present at the charity shop in Calanova. The charity shops in Avin guda de Joan Miró have a wide selection of Christmas gifts as well as trees, lights, baubles and are open 10am to 2pm Monday to Saturday.
Celebrating 25N No show fine TO celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Consell de Mallorca hung two banners from its balcony on Monday Novem ber 20. They will remain in this prominent position for the full week and until the actual day which will be cele brated on Saturday November 25 at which time, the names of the 39 women murdered in Mallorca will be read out followed by the observation of a minute of si lence and the introduction of a tree and plaque memo ry of them all. This is part of the recognition of the fight against gender violence which in Spain is promoted under the banner 25N and this year underlines the concept with the phrase ‘Now Spain is different’, highlighting the change in attitude to violence against women. An increase in funding of 6.62 per cent will be allo cated for the fight in 2024 although the total of just over €5.25 million is hardly enormous and part will be used for the promotion of equality for all genders as well as the fight against gender violence.
IT is good news that corpo rate Christmas celebrations in Mallorca’s restaurants are reportedly starting ear lier but more and more ‘no shows’ are occurring. This seems to be a partic ular problem in Mallorca where people often make numerous bookings and then decide at the last minute which restaurant to actually eat at and this is becoming an increasing hindrance for many restau rateurs. According to a local news source, Alfonso Robledo president of the CAEB Restaurants Association has indicated that as many
Tourist quality IN preparation for the drafting of a new law to prohibit or punish outlandish tourist be haviour a subcommittee now includes the British Consul General in the Balearic Islands. This is a large committee with interested parties from many different walks of life and its makeup includes representatives from the town councils of Palma, Sant Antoni, Calvia and Llucmajor as well as the Councils of Mallorca and Ibiza and the National Gov ernment Delegation. Others involved include the National Po lice, Guardia Civil and Balearic Government departments, as well as representatives of
the hotel trade, restaurant and leisure feder ations, neighbourhood associations and trade unions. The expectation is that with such a large number of experts who have direct experi ence of the problems of unacceptable visitor behaviour that a workable plan will evolve which can then be the basis for the new law. Whilst tourism is still a very important part of the economies of both Ibiza and Mallorca, the government believes that it has an obli gation to residents and wellbehaved visitors to ensure that they are not inconvenienced by the unacceptable conduct of others.
as 20 per cent of all restau rants in Mallorca now re quire credit card details when customers reserve a table and this is likely to in crease. In the event of the client not turning up, then a charge is made to their card which goes some ways to compensating the restaurant for the loss of direct income and also pos sible wastage of fresh food. Another string to the restaurant owner’s bow is the introduction of an App which can inform users should the same name ap pear on multiple bookings for the same time and day.
STORIES IN THIS WEEK’S EDITION
Travellers beware IF you are thinking of fly ing in or out of Palma Mallorca during the long weekend break made possible by the two na tional public holidays, on Wednesday December 6 (Constitution Day) and Friday December 8 (Im maculate Conception) be prepared for long delays. The UGT union repre senting handling staff at Son Sant Joan Airport has called for a strike at that time, designed to put pressure on AENA and the new company responsible for operating the service. The union alleges that over a period of seven years, there have been numerous breaches of the rights of workers and that whilst individuals and their union have had to resort to lawsuits and strikes, AENA has not in troduce any recognised procedure to allow for disputes to be officially referred to arbitration.
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Delivering fresh food as part of the campaign.
By Jessica Sweeting AS people get older, espe cially if they have settled in a new country such as Spain, they lose contact with family and often if a partner dies, they can be come isolated and alone. Age Concern Mallorca exists to help older people with a wide range of issues related to their life in Spain and volunteers are avail able to assist with transla tion of paperwork, hospital visits, and home visits. Advice on understanding
By John Smith IN Germany and some other parts of Europe, Saint Nicholas is not associated with Santa Claus and his feast day is December 6. This is a day that is celebrated by Catholics and in several countries, chil dren dress up as bishops and go around begging for gifts, whilst in others, the stocking is filled on the date rather
Food for All than Christmas Eve. The Lions Club in Palma has a number of German members and they will be enjoying their St Nicholas Party from 7pm on December 5 at Orlando’s Eat and Meet in Portals Nous. Guests will enjoy a welcome cup of
LOCAL NEWS
Gluhwëin, and a threecourse meal (choice of fish, meat or vegetarian) to include soft drinks, beer or wine at a cost of €59 per person as well as a tombola with proceeds going to sup port the Lions ‘Comida para todo’ (Food for All) campaign. Advance bookings can be made through the Lions Club of Palma web site.
Age Concern Christmas markets the system and healthcare is also given and if Age Concern cannot help, they will try to put the person involved in contact with somebody who can. On Saturday December 9, they are organising a special Christmas Lunch where many of their clients can get together and enjoy meeting with friends, old and new at
Bistro 49, El Toro (Calvia) from 1pm. Cost, which has to be paid in full by November 30, is €50 per person and guests will enjoy a three course meal, half bottle of wine, live entertainment and a visit from Santa. To reserve your place and find payment details as well as information on the menu call 678 352 040 or email: mallorca@age concern.org.es.
By Paul Edwards ALONG with the Christmas lights, visitors to Palma can also enjoy visiting the traditional Christmas markets. Whilst they are not as lavish or full of stalls as the Madrid or European Christmas markets, they are still good fun and offer customers a choice of unusual handmade or exclusive gifts. The Christmas market in Puerto Portals is due to open to the public on December 14
NOVEMBER has been a particularly busy month for the Spanish Association Against Cancer of the Balearic Islands, with many different councils and groups undertaking a series of events to raise funds. These initiatives have included marathons, bike ride, a very successful raffle, gala dinner and fundraising walk. On the morning of Monday November 20, representatives of the AEEC journeyed to Andratx Town Hall to receive a cheque for €10,551.50 collected thanks to the charity concert ‘Together against Cancer’ which was held
Credit: Pueblo Español market Facebook
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Credit: Lions Club Palma de Mallorca
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A busy scene from last year’s Pueblo Español market.
and with possible Christmas Day closure will welcome buyers until January 6, when the need for Three Kings gifts
Raising money in Port Andraxt on Friday October 20. At the ceremony, the Council confirmed its commitment to supporting initiatives of this type which are for the common good and singled out the port restaurateurs and traders who gave their support to this special event.
PROVERB OF THE WEEK “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” This proverb, that encourages a positive attitude in the face of adversity, is a paraphrase of a 1909 quote by the Christian anarchist writer, Elbert Hubbard: “A genius is a man who takes the lemons that Fate hands him and starts a lemonade-stand with them.”
will have passed. Expect to enjoy browsing the items on sale from more than 40 stalls, decorated with fairy lights and surrounded by Christmas trees. Another fantastic option is the market in Pueblo Español which is home to replicas of Spain’s most famous buildings and the market is open from noon to 11pm from December 1 to December 17 and attracts large numbers of people, even though it costs €10 for adults and €2 for children (although those under five get in for free).
1 in 400 trill. The chance of being born, considering the combination of factors that lead to a unique individual.
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Valtònyc sentenced By John Smith ON Tuesday November 21, Mallorcan rapper Valtònyc (real name Josep Miquel Arenas) appeared in a court in Sevilla to be sentenced. He was already in trouble for composing a song which called for vi olence against certain politicians and members of the Spanish Royal Family and was facing charges for glorifying terrorism. Then in March 2018 at a concert in the Andalu cian municipality of Marinaleda, he was heard inciting concert goers to “Kill a damn Guardia Civil officer tonight. Drive to a vil lage where there is the Guardia Civil and kill one.” If that wasn’t enough, he also incited members of the audience to deto
Credit: Òmnium Cultural CC
New home
By Michael Cano ARRANGEMENTS were made on Friday November 17 for the Palma Council to hand over a bird of prey to the Tramuntana Falconry As sociation. The Harris’s hawk (Parabu teo unicinctus) had been res cued by the Local Police and kept at the Son Reus Animal Welfare Centre for several years, but it was realised that it needed special care which it could not receive at the centre which is primarily con cerned with looking after do
mestic animals. As part of the adoption process, it was specified that the bird may not be used for experimentation of any kind, nor be subjected to any type of abuse or treatment con trary to the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act. In addition, the Tra muntana organisation had to guarantee that it must have accommodation suitable for its species, must be main tained in good, hygienic con ditions and would be al lowed freedom to fly.
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How stylish
ONE young man decided that if he was going to become a squatter he might as well squat in style after discovering that a luxurious chalet in the Son Vida area of Palma was empty. More than a year ago, he managed to gain entry to the property which is valued at around €3 million and once he was in, he decided that to pro tect ‘his new property’ he should install a burglar alarm. He managed to remain in the property for a year but on Monday November 20, a local court agreed he should be evicted and he went without a fuss.
RAPPER: Valtònyc in black t-shirt.
nate a bomb at the pub lic prosecutor’s office and soon after, having discovered that legal ac tion was to be taken against him, the rapper fled to Belgium where he remained for five years. Having returned to Spain this year, prosecu tors had called for a fouryear prison sen
tence and a fine but having apologised to the Court and Guardia Civil, he was given a twoyear sentence and the Judge confirmed his expecta tion that due to the Spanish laws on impris onment, the 29yearold would be unlikely to be incarcerated, although this is subject to final confirmation.
Mercadona makeover
By Paul Edwards THE Mercadona supermarket chain goes from strength to strength and invested €4.8 million in renovating its store in the Mercat de l’Olivar in Palma. This is part of an ongoing reconstruction of all of its Mallorcan branches which started in 2017 and each new opening takes advantage of latest developments. This branch which reopened to the public of Friday November 17 boasts wider aisles, more checkout areas and if you purchase ready
cooked meals, there is a new area which allows you to eat them on site. It was 20 years ago the Valencian supermar ket chain opened its first store in the Mercat de l’Olivar and today’s energy efficient store is a far cry from the original, now boasting better insula tion, environmentally friendly freezers and LED lights. This store now employs 50 people but the entire workforce on the island numbers some 2,700 employees and the company reported a €200 million turnover for Mallorca in 2022.
Cartoon Nadal IF you wonder what Rafael Nadal, David Bowie, Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, Mother Theresa and Charles Dick ens have in common, then you need to be a child! They are all the subject of cartoon books about their lives which are pub lished by Barcelona based Alba Editorial in a series aimed at those aged six years and up un der the collective title Pe queña/o & Grande. This story follows the young man born in Man acor in 1986 and tells how he became one of the most successful ten nis stars of all time whilst still retaining a charm and commitment to the is land of Mallorca. Written by María Is abel Sánchez Vegara and illustrated by Ro Ledesma the 32page tome costs a rather surprising €16 to purchase.
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Cat lovers
CHRIS and Natasha moved to Mallorca over 13 years ago and quickly noticed a huge problem with abandoned street cats on the island. From day one they have been feed ing, castrating, medicating, res cuing and rehoming the stray, street cats from the roads. Since arriving on Mallorca they have rescued, castrated and rehomed close to 200 cats all with their own finances which has at times been challenging. Currently they are looking after 60 to 80 cats daily and all funding comes from their own pockets as they are not a regis tered charity or association, al
STRAY CATS: Around 60 to 80 cats are looked after daily.
though they hope to gain asso ciation status shortly. Although a constant strug gle they have received a great deal of support from the com pany Chris works for, Whites Moving & Storage SL. who,
IN the event that you have an emergency it is important that you can call the emergency ser vices, but their phone lines were down for two hours on Tuesday November 21. It appears that the problem was caused by a fault on the lines provided by Telefónica and this meant that no calls were being connected to the 112 or 061 numbers between 11am and 1pm. The emergency services affected included
over the years have made a number of donations; paying for biscuits, tins of food or do nating items clients have left. Chris and Natasha are open ing a GoFundMe page in the coming days if you can help.
112 down the Fire Services, Local Police, Guardia Civil and Medical Emergencies. An X (Twitter) post advised anyone with a genuine emergency to continue to dial 112 and await a return call from a switchboard operator using their mobile phone, so there was at least some cover.
By Michael Cano THE relationship between taxi drivers and Uber drivers has been simmering for some time since Uber appeared in Mallorca. To some extent because Uber prices were generally much higher than those charged by taxis, especially to and from the airport, there was little reason for major complaint. This may all change now however with the forthcom ing Uber X service which uses smaller and less luxurious ve hicles than Uber Go, but prices are much lower. It is anticipated that the Uber X price to travel from the centre of Palma to the air port will actually undercut the
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Uber X Credit: Antekbojar CC
LOCAL NEWS
Palma taxis may try to fight Uber X.
average taxi fare although in the case of taxis, the price can depend on volume of traffic. With longer journeys, fare discrepancies could be much greater and therefore it is ex pected that there will be demonstrations from the taxi associations in the not too dis tant future.
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Binter’s bargain flights Historic Journey Motor BINTER has just announced their latest offer, flights from Mallorca to the Ca nary Canary Islands for un der €30. Launching its Flight Friday promotion, Binter an nounced significantly re duced fares for flights be tween Mallorca and the Canary Islands. This special offer is valid for travel from January 11 to March 31, 2024. The announcement was made recently, under scoring Binter’s commit ment to providing afford able travel options. Alongside the promotion, Binter is offering an enticing prize draw. Customers who book their tickets by November 27 can enter to win one of 100 roundtrip tickets to any destination in the Canary Islands. The offer is valid for travel between January 1 and June 30, 2024. The lucky winners will be chosen in a notarysupervised draw in December. During the winter, the air
home ban Credit: Palma.es Credit: Bintercanarias/Facebook.com
A tour of Palma’s notable establishments.
BINTER: Launched its Flight Friday promotion.
line aims to strengthen its connection between Mal lorca and the Canary Is lands, with six weekly flights. From November to March, flights to Gran Ca naria (LPA) are scheduled for Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Flights to Tenerife North (TFN) are available on Wednesdays and Sundays, providing flexible travel op tions to both Balearic and Canary Islands residents. Binter takes pride in of fering a premium inflight experience. Passengers can enjoy the comfort of the
new Embraer E195E2 air craft, notable for its quiet, efficient performance and spacious seating arrange ment. Additionally, the airline offers a highend onboard service, including a gourmet snack, enhancing the travel experience for all passen gers. The promotional fares are available until Novem ber 27, 2024, for travel be tween January 11 and March 31, 2024. Tickets can be purchased through Bin ter’s website and at travel agencies.
PALMAACTIVA has recently unveiled its latest initiative, ‘Em blematic, a Journey through History’, in collaboration with the In terculturality Area. This unique event is designed to introduce Pal ma’s emblematic establishments to newcomers, blending a rich historical narrative with a tour of the city’s most storied shops and spaces. Historian Gaspar Valero was at the helm of the event, offering a talk that delved into the origins of trade in Palma. He skilfully re counted the development of guilds, the emergence of the first shops, and the history of local squares where commodities like straw, oil, and wine were traded. This enlightening talk set the stage for a guided tour of approximately 30 emblematic locations in Palma, providing a tangible connection to the city’s vibrant past. Lupe Ferrer, the councillor for Economy and Commerce, high lighted the council’s commitment to local commerce in her ad dress. She emphasised the integral role these establishments play in daily life, noting their reputation for quality, competitive pricing, and personalised service. ‘By buying from small businesses, we help their survival and at the same time bring wealth to our city; this trade creates jobs, promotes the local product...,’ Ferrer said.
Saving the Med SAVE THE MED FOUNDATION is local and active in keeping our sea and beaches healthy. Their research boat RV Ondine is at sea throughout the year, connecting people, projects and places. It helps to rescue and release turtles, study endangered species, monitor wildlife in marine reserves, remove illegal and hazardous fishing gear from the water and take students out to sea. Sadly, the engine has been deemed beyond repair. Wanting to help are a group of artists offering their work for sale for the benefit of Save the Med. At this moment artists include Connie Mildner, Fiona Bruce, Kay Newton, MaryLynne Stadler, Sarah Cosentino, Tom Schaal, Tamu Golmer, Dan Mandelbaum, Sunny Strapp. Pieces range in price from €5 to €3,000. It’s the per fect place to buy Christmas gifts all local, unique and hand made. In addition, they are holding a raffle which will be drawn at 5pm on Sunday December 3. For raffle tickets or more information, call Connie on 602 214 038.
Tourism tips THE Council of Mallorca’s Minister of Tourism, José Marcial Ro dríguez Díaz, recently met with his Bulgarian counterpart, Zaritsa Dinkova, to discuss future tourism projects and initiatives for Mal lorca. Dinkova, keen to understand Mallorca’s thriving tourism policies for Bulgaria’s growth as a European tourist hotspot, was accompanied by Sofia airport’s aviation expert, Maria Kafelova. A significant topic discussed was the potential for direct flight routes between the two nations. Both ministers expressed their satisfaction postmeeting. Rodríguez mentioned, “Dinkova showed an interest in learning firsthand the tourism policies that Mallorca is implementing.” They’ve vowed to remain in contact over the upcoming months.
M OT O R HOME owners, both resi dents of Mallorca and visitors, are going to find it more difficult to park up overnight in the areas of Can Picafort and Son Serra de Marina. There appears to be a concerted ef fort by the coun cils of Muro and Santa Margalida to keep their streets clear of these large vehi cles following complaints from residents. It is argued that it is unfair on resi dents who have properties with at tractive views to have these blocked by lines of large white mobile homes, so the ban will be enforced quite rigorously. Action is being taken however to create a council owned and run site which will have water, elec tricity and waste drainage in Can Pi cafort, but there appears to be no space for anything similar in Son Ser ra. A l r e a d y t h e A s sociation of Friends of Mallor ca, Menorca and Ibiza in Caravans, Campers and Mo torhomes (AM MICCA) which has around 1,200 members has ex pressed its disap pointment and disagreement with the decision and has asked the rele vant council to re consider the situa tion.
FEATURE
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As we say goodbye to one UK pension allowance, two new ones replace it The pensions Lifetime Allowance and resulting tax charges was abolished under the UK’s 2023 spring budget. But life is never simple with UK pensions and new tax-free limits are set to replace it.
2) The Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (LSDBA) will apply to lump sums paid on death and is £1,073,100 (the same as the old lifetime allowance).
The budget only reduced the Lifetime Allowance charge to nil from 6 April 2023. HM Revenue & Customs has now published the draft legislation to fully abolish it, and this legislation also sets out how lump sums will be treated from April 2024. The details may change before the legislation is finalised but, given the short time frame before implementation, it is worth seeking clarification on how the proposed rules could impact your planning, in case you wish to take action. With effect from 6th April 2024, two new allowances will test lump sums and lump sum death benefits against a limit.
Under current rules, if you die before age 75, subject to meeting the designated to drawdown rules, your beneficiaries do not pay tax on the death benefits they receive. From April 2024, the age of death is no longer relevant. In all cases, lump sum death benefits paid from uncrystallised or crystallised benefits will only be tax-free if below the deceased’s remaining LSDBA. When a lump sum is paid above these limits, the excess is taxed at the recipient’s marginal rate of income tax.
1) The Lump Sum Allowance (LSA) will apply to payments made during your lifetime and be set at £268,275 (25% of the old lifetime al-
By Cathal Rochford, Partner, Blevins Franks
lowance). This covers pension commencement lump sums (PCLS), uncrystallised pensions and trivial commutation lump sums, and winding-up lump sums (but not transfers to QROPS). Currently, you can take 25% of your pension (the PCLS) tax free. Under the new rules, you will need to have sufficient LSA for it all to be tax free.
No planned inflation increases The draft legislation contains no mechanism for increasing these allowances. It is therefore likely that, over time, the spending value of the tax-free proportion of your pension fund will be eroded by inflation and investment
growth. Lifetime allowance protection The above limits apply to those without Lifetime Allowance protection. If you have taken out protection, this is carried over. Your new Lump Sum Allowance and Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance will be based on your protected Lifetime Allowance. Looking ahead The new rules could be changed or be overturned by a future government. When the Lifetime Allowance was abolished in March, the Labour Party were quick to pledge to reinstate it. With the polls looking encouraging for the Labour Party and the elections having to be held by January 2025, it may not be long before the UK has a new government. There may be limited opportunity to transfer your pension out of the UK and avoid any future lifetime allowance charges. This is a good time to consider how you may use your pension benefits in future and how any balance will be
passed onto your family. Can you take steps now to protect or improve your pensions? Pensions are personal. Your decisions should be based on your circumstances, objectives, risk tolerance and tax implications in the UK and Spain. Taking the wrong approach could have unwelcome consequences, so take specialist cross-border advice covering pensions and taxation. This is a brief summary of complex draft legislation. Seek clarification on how the rules would affect your pensions. Tax rates, scope and reliefs may change. Any statements concerning taxation are based upon our understanding of current taxation laws and practices which are subject to change. Tax information has been summarised; an individual should take personalised advice.
Keep up to date on the financial issues that may affect you on the Blevins Franks news page at www.blevinsfranks.com.
10 EWN 23 - 29 November 2023
DENMARK Royal silence CROWN PRINCE FREDERIK of Denmark, married since 2004 to Australian Mary Donaldson, with whom he has four children, was seen in Madrid recently with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova. The royal household issued a statement maintaining that it “did not comment on rumours or insinuations” without referring to Casanova, who insisted the allegations were “malicious” and “false”.
euroweeklynews.com
EURO PRESS NORWAY
Photo credit: Arctic World Archive
Park life
African presence DENMARK has reversed plans to close its embassy in Tanzania after announcing in 2021 that the government intended to phase out the mutual development plan between both countries. Tanzania’s Foreign minister January Makamba revealed on November that the decision to remain was the outcome of “a very fruitful” meeting in Algiers with Danish officials last October.
SWEDEN
Independence and historic documents. Cold, dry and without natural light, the disasterproof Arctic World Archive was created to store physical and digital artifacts from all over the world for future generations.
NORWAY: Visitors to the Arctic World Archive.
Safe and sound A DISUSED mine 300 metres below ground on an island in the Svalbard archipelago has since 2017 housed the original Mexican flag, together with the 1821 Declaration of
GERMANY
AFTER 11 years of delays, political infighting and hostility from sheep farmers concerned about wolves, Oslo will have a national park in the Ostmarka area popular with skiers and hikers. The 53.9-square kilometre park, smaller than originally planned, would be “good for nature, good for people and good for public health,” Environment minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said.
FRANCE
NEWS
IRELAND Bank glitch BANK OF IRELAND customers complained on November 15 of problems with the online service, with the bank recognising that there had been issues when logging into accounts. The technical hitch was one of several so far the bank has suffered this year, including last August when the bank’s chief executive Myles O’Grady apologised for a “significant technology outage.”
Surf’s up MULLAGHMORE HEAD (County Sligo) on the Atlantic coast attracts surfers from Hawaii and Australia in search of some of the heaviest waves found anywhere in the world. “People spend time in Ireland to brave the elements and hopefully get these waves once or twice a winter,” said Conor Maguire, renowned for catching Ireland’s biggest wave in 2020.
PORTUGAL
Going nuclear
Drunk in charge
Pedal power
Home sweet home
THE Swedish government announced on November 16 plans to construct two new conventional nuclear reactors by 2035 to meet the growing demands of industry and transport for clean power, while meeting some of the cost. By 2045 the government intends to have built 10 new reactors, some of which are likely to be small modular reactors (SMRs).
GERMANY’S maritime police revealed that the woman who was steering a freight barge which rammed and destroyed a lock on the Rhine near Iffezheim on November 11 was "very intoxicated" at the time. She is now under investigation, police said, for endangering shipping and causing damage costing €1.5 million in repairs that could take a year to complete.
NEXT year’s Tour de France commences in Florence (Italy) on June 19 although for the first time ever it will end in Nice, not Paris, due to the 2024 Olympic Games held in the French capital. The organisers have now revealed that the 2025 race will set out from Lille in northern France as it did in 1960 as well as 1994, with the date to be announced on November 30.
CRISTIANO RONALDO’S future neighbours in Cascais are complaining about noise and disruption during construction of his mansion, which at $22 million (€20.6 million) will be one of Portugal’s most expensive properties. Due to be finished by June 2024, the player is not expected to occupy the four-storey luxury home until his Al Nassr contract ends in June 2025.
Ferry nice
Not for sale
Spike charge
Make a move
A SILENT electric ferry presented in Stockholm recently hovers one metre above the water and saves energy obtained by going airborne on foils, which give the speed and range needed for functioning on batteries. At 56 kilometres per hour it is faster than other passenger ferries as it leaves no wake, which exempts it from the usual 22 kilometre per hour speed limit.
OLAF SCHOLZ, Germany’s chancellor, called for further legal restrictions on sex work, adding that the sale of sex “was not acceptable” and should not be normalised. During a question-andanswer session in the German parliament, he maintained on November 15 that it was not right for men to purchase women. “It is something that has always morally angered me," he said.
FRENCH senator Joel Guerriau, aged 66, was charged on November 16 with spiking MP Sandrine Josso’s drink, intending to assault her while possessing and using substances classed as drugs, police said. Josso said that she began to feel unwell after accepting a drink on November 14 at the home of the senator, with whom she was not in an intimate relationship.
PORTUGAL’S government revealed that it plans to extend its Non-habitual Resident Scheme (RNH) providing tax advantages for foreign residents by a year. Insiders said this is clearly meant as an invitation to investors disenchanted with the re-election of Spain’s Pedro Sanchez who has already announced that the rich would now pay more tax than in the past.
FINLAND
BELGIUM
ITALY The real deal ITALY’S parliament voted in favour of banning the production, sale or importation of cultivated meat or animal feed, in a session preceded by rallies for and against the veto and scuffles between farmers and MPs. Infringing the law will bring a €60,000 fine, although to date only Singapore and the United States have approved lab-grown meat for human consumption.
Poverty grows CATHOLIC charity Caritas said in its annual report on poverty and social exclusion, published on November 17, that poverty was “deeply embedded in Italy”, with more than 5.6 million people living below the poverty line, compared with 357,000 in 2021. A further 14.3 million, 24.4 per cent of Italy’s population, were at risk from poverty and social exclusion, Caritas said.
THE NETHERLANDS
Stay-at-home dads
Drug restricted
A DUTCH trawler whose three crew members sent out a distress signal off the African coast on November 5 was located and towed to port by the Nigerian navy on November 17. The local authorities are in touch with the Dutch police but nothing is yet known about what happened or why it took 12 days to find the boat which had bought by a Congo church community.
FINLAND’S Family Reform recently gave the parents of newborns individual entitlements of 160 weekdays of leave, with the option of transferring up to 63 days to the other parent. By late September, fathers were taking more time off than in 2022 although official figures showed that most were generally transferring their leave allocation to the mother.
BELGIUM’S Federal Medication and Health Products Agency (FAMHP) ordered doctors and pharmacists to prescribe Ozempic solely for patients who have Type 2 diabetes, after announcing a ban that continues until June next year. Owing to growing demand there is now a shortage of the drug, which is increasingly used to treat obesity and assist weight loss.
Slight increase
Hands tied
Horse loose
AT present prisoners in Finland cannot be handcuffed during transport unless there is a risk of violence or escape, although police hope for a change in the law which would permit the use of cuffs or cable ties. Problems often arose when groups of up to 10 prisoners were driven from jail to appear in court, said Kari Tolvanen, an MP with a police background.
A LIEGE-BOUND 747 cargo jet had to turn round in mid-flight and return to New York after its pilot informed air traffic control that a horse had escaped from its stall in the hold, 30 minutes after take-off. The aircraft was then given permission to make a U-turn off the Boston coast, after first dumping 20 tons of fuel to ensure it could make a safe landing in New York.
Boat mystery
NETHERLANDS unemployment rose from 3.5 to 3.6 per cent in 2023’s third quarter although it still has one of the EU’s lowest rates. Most of the 16,000 people now jobless worked in healthcare, business and trade, the National Statistics office said, while the 18-25 age group was the most affected, with the previous quarter’s 8.2 per cent unemployed rising to 8.7 per cent.
FINANCE THE Avon cosmetics company announced that it would open shops in the UK for the first time in 137 years. The compa ny had to change its selling strategy, Avon’s chief execu tive Angela Cretu said, now that there are fewer stayat home wives and mothers, with most women working outside the home.
Going down FOR the first time in 18 months, Spain’s yearonyear food inflation dropped below 10 per cent in October to 9.5 per cent although olive oil rose by 74 per cent. Lower prices helped the Consumer Price In dex to remain at 3.5 per cent, unchanged from September’s figure, Spain’s National Statis tics Institute (INI) said.
Don’t do it PURCHASE scams are responsi ble for the majority of banking sector fraud cases, said online bank Monzo. “Unless you pick up the goods at the same time, don’t even think about it if a seller on Facebook Market place or a similar website in sists on a bank transfer, how ever plausible it sounds,” Monzo said.
Not so good BETWEEN April 1 and Septem ber 30, Vodafone España’s rev enue fell 1.8 per cent to €1.93 billion, owing to lower earn ings for serviceproviding which fell 2.8 per cent to €1.7 billion. Pretax profits for the company, which was recently acquired by Zegona, dropped 11.16 per cent to €394 million.
Cold comfort ICELAND FOODS paid an ‘un precedented’ £94 million (€107.6 million) increase in en ergy last year, as Russia’s inva sion of Ukraine affected prof its. As a result, the company’s adjusted earnings before inter est, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the year end ing March fell by 17 per cent to £105.8 million (€121 million).
STAT OF WEEK
paid by Inditex founder Amancio Ortega’s investment company Pontegadea for the purchase of a 49 per cent stake in Repsol’s Spanish windfarms and solar power plants.
€490 million
UK inflation satisfaction Linda Hall THE UK’s annual inflation rate for October dropped from September’s 6.7 per cent to 4.6 per cent. Cheaper gas and elec tricity were responsible for the biggest fall in more than three decades, sur passing the 4.8 per cent figure that had been pre dicted by a poll of economists carried out for Reuters. The announcement of the October figures also prompted an immediate 1.1 per cent surge in the FTSE 100 stock index. Al though the encouraging inflation figures did not in dicate that prices fell in Oc
Photo credit: Rishi Sunak
Ding-dong gone
euroweeklynews.com • 23 - 29 November 2023
RISHI SUNAK: Prime Minister delivered on inflation pledge.
tober, it meant they rose more slowly than forecast, boosting hopes that the Bank of England could cut the interest rate next year. Core inflation, which ex cludes energy and food amongst other volatile el ements, also fell more
Linda Hall GERMANY’S government announced a €15 billion rescue package including €7.5 billion in state guarantees for wind farm manufacturer Siemens Energy. The company employs around 26,000 people inside the country and al though the ailing company has €110 bil lion in orders it needs help to sustain them. The move also affects Spain as Siemens Energy’s subsidiary, Siemens Gamesa, is one of the world’s leading wind turbine makers. Headquartered in Zamudia (Vizcaya), the company has nine factories that provide jobs for 4,600 people.
than analysts expected but still remained high at 5.7 per cent after slipping from 6.1 per cent, short of the 5.8 per cent predicted by the Bank of England and the City. Food price inflation is now at its lowest since
2021 following last month’s fall to 10.1 per cent in the annual increase rate. This was down from 12.2 per cent in Septem ber and last March’s high of 19.2 per cent, the high est annual rate in more than 45 years, the Office for National Statistics re vealed. “In January I made halv ing inflation this year my top priority,” Sunak said on November 15. “I did that because it is, without a doubt, the best way to ease the cost of liv ing and give families finan cial security. Today, we have delivered on that pledge.”
The subsidiary, which has large oper ations in Denmark as well as Spain, has had major problems with some of the
turbines it supplies, involving failures in the enormous blades that have led to high repair costs. Siemens Gamesa has also been ham pered by deals agreed in the past at prices that were subsequently affected by galloping inflation. Siemens Energy took over Gamesa in December last year after acquiring the remaining third of the company’s shares which it did not already control. Spain’s Industry, Commerce and Tourism ministry announced on November 14 that the government was also working on a possible series of guarantees for new international con tracts.
Pfizer loses its fizz
Of great interest
Down the drain
PFIZER intends to cut 500 jobs at its Sandwich (Kent) laboratories to reduce costs by £2.8 billion (€3.2 billion). As demand falls for its Covid drugs, the US pharmaceutical gi ant plans to cease its Pharmaceuti cal Sciences Small Molecule (PSSM) operations where re searchers turn experimental molecules into medicines for clini cal trials. Pfizer said the decision to halt PSSM work at Sandwich followed discouraging sales of Covid treat ments, with the company now ex pecting fullyear revenues of be tween $58 billion (€53.47 billion) and $61 billion (€57.7 billion). It previously predicted of revenues of between $67 billion (€63.26 bil lion) and $70 billion (€65.5 billion).
WITH interest rates in the UK at their highest in 15 years, people are increas ingly anxious to learn about potential changes. Figures released by analysts at L&C Mortgages revealed that Google searches asking, “When will interest rates change?” have now reached a 58,000 monthly average. “Ultimately, there is no way of know ing when interest rates will fall or change,” L&C Mortgages said. “Usually, rates change every six weeks. However, the Bank of England has kept the rate at 5.25 per cent for a second month. This is done to tackle re cent high inflation figures, a significant problem in the UK. “Rates could increase by a further 0.25 per cent or 0.50 per cent, potentially peaking at 5.75 per cent and then falling over the next five years as inflation eas es.”
ROCA lost almost €120 million following the February 2022 Ukraine invasion. Although Russia accounted for 7 per cent of Roca’s total revenues, with a 2021 turnover of €141 million and profits of €19.5 million, it was one of the first companies to leave, selling up to its four Russian sub sidiaries in June 2022 for €169.3 million. In late 2022 these were val ued at €154.1 million, bringing €12.5 million in capital gains al though this was swallowed up by the depreciation of the rou ble against the euro, resulting in losses of €84.3 million which, added to a further €35.5 mil lion in impairments, finally cost Roca €119.9 million.
Rescue for Siemens Photo credit: Siemens-Gamesa
BUSINESS EXTRA
12
SIEMENS GAMESA: Manufactures wind turbine blades.
Royal Mail fail COMMUNICATIONS watchdog Ofcom has fined Royal Mail for not achieving first and second class delivery targets over the last financial year. The UK’s postal service, now owned by International Distribu tion Services, must pay £5.6 mil lion (€6.4 million) for failing to meet goals. Royal Mail should complete 99.9 per cent of daily delivery routes on the required day, but last year delivered only 73.7 per cent of firstclass mail and 90.7 per cent of secondclass mail on time. Complaints of late and irregular deliveries continued to grow and Ofcom suggested that the service had not yet recovered from inter ruptions during the pandemic.
Shares rise TELEFONICA BRASIL accounts for 56 per cent of parent compa ny Telefonica’s capitalisation. Shares are now worth 50.6 reales (€9.45), up 32 per cent since the beginning of the year, compared with Telefonica’s 10 per cent. That gives the sub sidiary a total worth of 84 billion reales (approximately €16 bil lion). When added to Telefonica Deutschland’s €5 billion, this means that between them the two subsidiaries account for practically 80 per cent of Tele fonica’s capital. In contrast, Spain, the UK (Virgin Media 02) and Latin America’s Hispam contribute just 20 per cent.
Parents’ help HELPFUL over50s in the UK have handed £98 billion (€112.4 billion) to their chil dren over the last five years. A study carried out for the SunLife financial services company found that parents had spent £36.5 billion (€41.8 billion) on helping off spring to buy a property, while giving £2 billion (€2.3 billion towards paying basic household bills. Other contributions were for school fees or to buy a car, although in some cases parents said that they gave money to their children “be cause they could afford to.”
FINANCE
14 EWN 23 - 29 November 2023
euroweeklynews.com
LONDON - FTSE 100
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY WITH US See our advert on previous page
CLOSING PRICES 20 NOVEMBER
COMPANY
PRICE(P)
CHANGE(P)
% CHG.
NET VOL
COMPANY
PRICE(P)
CHANGE(P)
% CHG.
3I Group
2.158,00
-12,00
-0,55%
129,77K
Abrdn
171,65
-0,55
-0,32%
573,35K
Admiral Group
2.621,0
+22,0
+0,85%
Anglo American
2.237,5
+3,5
+0,16%
Antofagasta
1.394,00
+15,00
+1,09%
159,48K
Ashtead Group
4.615,0
-629,0
-11,99%
Associated British Foods
2.346,0
-34,0
AstraZeneca
10.096,0
-164,0
NET VOL
InterContinental
6.122,0
+26,0
+0,43%
31,16K
Intermediate Capital
1.516,00
+8,00
+0,53%
289,20K
53,35K
Intertek
3.827,0
+18,0
+0,47%
32,86K
271,41K
ITV
61,74
-0,18
-0,29%
764,79K
J Sainsbury
266,90
+0,70
+0,26%
414,48K
1,21M
Johnson Matthey
1.518,0
-6,0
-0,39%
128,86K
-1,43%
189,19K
Land Securities
654,40
+1,20
+0,18%
143,23K
-1,60%
225,58K
Legal & General
230,80
+1,00
+0,44%
1,75M
43,17
-0,20
-0,46%
13,32M
8.584,0
+34,0
+0,40%
80,89K
1.14245
0.87615
Units per €
US dollar (USD) ........................................1.0926 Japan yen (JPY)........................................162.05 Switzerland franc (CHF) ...........................0.9652 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4558 Norway kroner (NOK) ...............................11.737
Auto Trader Group Plc
710,60
+3,80
+0,54%
265,96K
Lloyds Banking
Aviva
421,90
-0,40
-0,10%
774,06K
London Stock Exchange
B&M European Value Retail SA538,20
+0,80
+0,15%
86,88K
Melrose Industries
522,92
+1,00
+0,19%
475,66K
currenciesdirect.com/mallorca • Tel: +34 687 906 226
BAE Systems
1.064,00
+9,00
+0,85%
2,85M
Mondi
1.394,00
+3,00
+0,22%
189,07K
THE ABOVE TABLE USES THE CURRENT INTERBANK EXCHANGE RATES, WHICH AREN’T REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RATE WE OFFER
Barclays
142,44
-0,36
-0,25%
4,85M
National Grid
1.024,50
+8,50
+0,84%
937,53K
Barratt Developments
486,10
+2,10
+0,43%
267,20K
NatWest Group
207,90
+0,10
+0,05%
2,03M
7.740,0
+26,0
+0,34%
28,59K
+30,40
+5,42%
749,46K
Berkeley
4.537,0
+16,0
+0,35%
9,21K
Next
BHP Group Ltd
2.462,50
+20,50
+0,84%
81,08K
Ocado
591,75
BP
479,85
+2,15
+0,45%
4,09M
Persimmon
1.241,0
-2,0
-0,16%
72,75K
278,36K
Phoenix
491,20
+0,70
+0,14%
245,64K
Prudential
937,06
-8,00
-0,85%
360,77K
British American Tobacco 2.533,5
+12,0
+0,48%
British Land Company
368,17
+1,00
+0,27%
514,57K
BT Group
119,44
+0,55
+0,46%
1,63M
Bunzl Burberry Group Carnival
2.934,0 1.600,5 1.044,5
-11,0 +36,0 -5,5
-0,37% +2,30% -0,52%
55,22K 169,03K 58,42K
Centrica
151,90
+0,20
+0,13%
1,78M
Coca Cola HBC AG
2.108,0
-9,0
-0,42%
42,22K
Compass
2.003,00
-89,00
-4,25%
1,25M
CRH
4.802,0
-18,0
-0,37%
107,00K
Croda Intl
4.590,0
-8,0
-0,17%
55,48K
DCC
5.284,0
-64,0
-1,20%
18,35K
Diageo
2.830,5
+21,0
+0,75%
338,11K
DS Smith
288,33
+0,30
+0,10%
289,47K
EasyJet
434,90
-0,80
-0,18%
430,61K
Experian
2.951,0
+18,0
+0,61%
163,90K
Ferguson
13.225,0
-145,0
-1,08%
13,76K
Flutter Entertainment
12.845,0
+150,0
+1,18%
43,85K
Fresnillo
548,40
+4,00
+0,73%
88,84K
Glencore
462,73
-5,00
-1,07%
5,57M
GSK plc
1.408,48
-2,40
-0,17%
467,83K
Halma
2.097,0
+44,0
+2,14%
117,22K
Reckitt Benckiser
5.402,8
+6,0
+0,11%
134,54K
Relx
2.989,00
+5,00
+0,17%
391,45K
Rentokil
469,00
+5,30
+1,14%
330,65K
Rightmove
502,80
-0,40
-0,08%
347,24K
Rio Tinto PLC
5.460,0
+14,0
+0,26%
306,61K
Rolls-Royce Holdings
246,11
+2,10
+0,86%
3,50M
Sage
984,20
-0,20
-0,02%
237,23K
Samsung Electronics DRC 1.402,00
+16,00
+1,15%
2,16K
Schroders
404,4
-2,7
-0,66%
110,86K
Scottish Mortgage
718,60
+4,20
+0,59%
440,48K
Segro
827,15
+4,60
+0,56%
171,99K
Severn Trent
2.699,0
+2,0
+0,07%
36,97K
Shell
2.629,5
+21,0
+0,81%
881,12K
Smith & Nephew
1.023,50
-1,00
-0,10%
128,93K
Smiths Group
1.652,18
-0,50
-0,03%
29,62K
Spirax-Sarco Engineering 9.166,0
+226,0
+2,53%
22,23K
SSE
1.802,87
+7,50
+0,42%
203,19K
St. James’s Place
682,00
-5,40
-0,79%
223,16K
Standard Chartered
664,80
+4,80
+0,73%
912,89K
Taylor Wimpey
126,17
+0,50
+0,40%
1,50M
Tesco
276,30
+0,30
+0,11%
982,26K
Tui
514,50
+13,40
+2,68%
227,64K
Unilever
3.820,5
+4,5
+0,12%
500,07K
1.089,00
+5,00
+0,46%
138,62K
Hargreaves Lansdown
720,40
-5,40
-0,74%
173,97K
Hikma Pharma
1.762,00
+2,50
+0,14%
43,18K
HSBC
614,95
-0,30
-0,05%
3,60M
United Utilities
IAG
163,55
+0,85
+0,52%
2,47M
Vodafone Group PLC
75,01
-0,04
-0,05%
5,84M
Imperial Brands
1.845,00
-7,00
-0,38%
200,23K
Whitbread
3.345,0
+3,0
+0,09%
29,59K
Informa
752,00
+3,00
+0,40%
240,02K
WPP
708,20
-4,80
-0,67%
184,43K
DOW JONES CLOSING PRICES 20 NOVEMBER
COMPANY
PRICE
CHANGE
CHANGE% VOLUME(M)
3M American Express Amgen Apple Boeing Caterpillar Chevron Cisco Coca-Cola Dow Goldman Sachs Home Depot Honeywell IBM Intel J&J JPMorgan McDonald’s Merck&Co Microsoft Nike Procter&Gamble Salesforce Inc The Travelers UnitedHealth Verizon Visa A Walgreens Boots Walmart Walt Disney
95,34 162,56 265,39 189,69 208,04 253,07 144,46 47,76 57,26 51,70 339,19 307,27 191,21 152,89 43,81 149,79 152,82 275,75 101,75 369,85 105,96 151,07 221,22 171,82 536,29 36,23 249,56 21,22 155,35 94,15
-0,37 +3,51 -3,61 -0,02 +1,44 +4,86 +2,69 -0,29 +0,11 +0,26 +2,52 +0,83 +0,50 -0,17 +0,46 -0,31 +1,37 -0,37 -0,24 -6,32 -1,65 -1,76 -0,23 +0,13 -3,53 +0,05 +0,99 +0,47 -0,69 -0,36
-0,39% 2,54M +2,21% 2,97M -1,34% 2,62M -0,01% 49,41M +0,70% 3,53M +1,96% 2,78M +1,90% 10,85M -0,59% 32,57M +0,19% 14,36M +0,51% 3,29M +0,75% 1,38M +0,27% 2,62M +0,26% 2,16M -0,11% 4,42M +1,06% 49,60M -0,21% 6,76M +0,90% 7,68M -0,13% 2,59M -0,24% 6,76M -1,68% 39,45M -1,53% 6,06M -1,15% 8,43M -0,10% 3,60M +0,08% 857,89K -0,65% 2,66M +0,14% 19,09M +0,40% 7,23M +2,27% 11,91M -0,44% 14,09M -0,38% 12,16M M - MILLION DOLLARS
NASDAQ CLOSING PRICES 20 NOVEMBER
COMPANY Most Advanced The Gap, Inc. CRISPR Therapeutics AG Structure Therapeutics Inc. Globant S.A. Sigma Lithium Corporation Beam Therapeutics Inc. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. Fastly, Inc. Tenet Healthcare Corporation Venture Corporation Limited Qifu Technology, Inc.
CHANGE NET / %
VOLUME
+30.58% +14.64% +12.14% +11.85% +11.56% +10.81% +10.67% +10.58% +9.63% +9.03% +8.91%
69.085M 6.546M 1.06M 1.244M 2.107M 2.617M 8.646M 3.445M 4.097M 22,500 1.314M
-11.81% -7.06% -6.74% -6.20% -5.91% -5.78% -4.81% -4.67% -4.58% -4.02% -3.99%
3.211M 1.699M 774,753 9.197M 3.316M 5.564M 5.254M 40,739 828,100 18.92M 30,331
Most Declined Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. Dolby Laboratories, Inc. Haemonetics Corporation ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. VinFast Auto Ltd. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. Vodacom Group Limited Banco do Brasil S.A. Applied Materials, Inc. Prosus N.V.
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BUSINESS EXTRA Train gain THE value of Talgo shares shot up to €4.53 on November 16 after a Hun garian business group made a preliminary public offer to acquire all of the Spanish train manufactur er’s shares. The group, which Talgo declined to name, would pay €5 per share, a 28 per cent pre mium on the November 15 closing price.
On spec UK shoppers sent back more than £4.1 billion (€4.68 billion) of clothing bought online last year, said GlobalData, predict ing a 16.7 per cent in crease before 2027. Or dering several items and returning some after mak ing a choice has risen 46 per cent compared with 33 per cent in 2021, ac cording to returns logistics company ZigZag.
23 - 29 November 2023
More woes for Britishvolt Linda Hall RECHARGE INDUSTRIES, Britishvolt’s new owner, could face legal proceedings over an exemployee’s unpaid wages. According to the Financial Times (FT), the Australian com pany, which acquired British volt last January, was served with a statutory demand to pay the wages. If Recharge In dustries does not settle within three weeks, the former em ployee can take further legal action and launch bankruptcy proceedings against the com pany, the FT said.
Photo credit: British Volt
FINANCE
BRITISHVOLT: Taken over by Recharge Industries in February.
Making headway LOWCOST telecoms firm Digi out stripped its rivals during the first nine months of 2023. Turnover for Telefonica, Orange, Vodafone and MasMovil grew slowly or languished, while the Romaniahead quartered company reported a record €466 million. This was 30.5 per cent more than dur ing the same period last year and in line with the €166 million recorded in this
year’s third quarter, 29.9 per cent up on 2022. Uncomplicated cheap offers, no ‘small print’ and personalised attention for clients, a service that other opera tors generally outsource, are key to Di gi’s success, analysts said. Meanwhile, the company is waiting to learn if it will be chosen to acquire assets sold off within the framework of the OrangeMasmovil merger.
Staff members had not been paid for months, another employee said. Britishvolt, now headed by Australian businessman David Collard, was founded four years ago and planned a £3.8 billion (€4.35 billion) gigafacto ry in Blyth (Northumberland) to supply batteries for UKbuilt electric vehicles. The company could have counted on £100 million (€114.5 million) in conditional funding from the UK govern ment but went into adminis tration after running out of cash. Most of its 300 staff were made redundant. Recharge Industries bought Britishvolt for £8.6 (€9.8m) in February, making an initial payment of £6.1m (€6.98m). In August, Britishvolt’s ad ministrators EY announced the final payment was ‘unpaid and overdue’, with Recharge In dustries in default of the busi ness sale agreement. Scale Facilitation, the New Yorkbased parent company of Recharge Industries, denied defaulting on the deal.
EWN 15
Sweet treat USBASED confectionery com pany Mars is buying Hotel Chocolat in a £534 million (€609.5 million) agreement that will help the UK chocolati er expand internationally, both companies said. Mars, which paid 375p (€42.80) per share on November 16, 170 per cent more than the previous night’s 139p (€15.87) closing price, said the deal brought “a much loved brand into its portfolio.”
New era UNICAJA shareholders ratified a new board of directors and the appointment of Isidro Ru biales as new chief executive at an extraordinary general meeting in Malaga on November 14. Their approval completed the renovation of Unicaja’s board following the 2021 Liberbank merger and brought to an end former dis agreements on both sides that resulted in a wave of res ignations.
16 EWN 23 - 29 November 2023
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Being gaslighted LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT THIS week’s blurb has been partially drawn from the input provided by a member of my ever welcome band of faithful contributors to whom I shall be eternally grateful. It is for those of us consistently bamboozled by the pure guff put out by some of our main media outlets; those large numbers of reports that we know have almost no resem blance to actual events. Have no fear, you are not going crazy you are being ‘Gaslighted’! Gaslighting is a form of brainwashing, aimed at con trolling people by altering reality to a point where those targeted begin to doubt their own sanity. The term comes from a 1930s play, where the main char acter drives his wife insane by slowly dimming the gas powered lights. When she notices the lights are dimming, he not only denies it, but convinces her it is her imagination to a point where she questions her own sanity.
We are constantly being told by the media of situations which are at com plete odds with what we are seeing with our own eyes. We witness disruption and rioting and are told it is peaceful protesting, We see murderers running amok, chanting their beliefs while killing innocent people and are advised they are not terrorist related. We are in formed that integration and diversity is working, yet perceive whole areas being taken over by foreign cultures. We observe neighbourhoods of our cities being terrorised by ethnic teenage gangs and are advised that it is the fault of the police. You spend your life trying to treat all individuals as equals and ab hor racism, but are accused of being a privileged racist purely because of the colour of your skin. You know you are not and that the accusation in itself is racist, but when you try to defend your self, it is declared that your defence is proof of your racism. You are told you live in an environ ment of true freedom of speech, yet when you speak out you are accused of bigotry and discrimination. Worry not. You are not losing your minds. Crazy
people don’t question their sanity. These media perpetrators deal in lies and psychological coercion. What their ultimate aims are is utterly beyond my comprehension. What I do know how ever is that we have to believe the evi dence of our own eyes. Trust your own observations; believe what you perceive as the truth. You’re not crazy. You’re be ing Gaslighted. Good luck everyone! Many thanks to the readers who have written to express their concerns over the onslaught of laws and regulations regarding the idiot ic introduction of electric cars. Facts show, that although the local woke brigade will be preening over the reduc tion of carbon monoxide being pro duced by the UK , the actual production of many electric vehicle components, particularly the batteries, will cause oth er countries carbon emissions to rise (and profit) dramatically. I dunno, just what are this woke brigade actually up to? The gas lit mind truly does boggle. Keep the faith. Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com.
Leapy Lee’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.
FEATURE
Lion escapes By Kevin Fraser Park “HELP, a lion has escaped from the circus.” It sounded like a joke, one of those in bad taste that run on social media. But no, a lion had re ally escaped from the circus and was calmly strolling through the streets of Ladis poli near Rome. And for a whole day, he had the po lice, circus organisers, zoo guards, volunteers, the fire brigade, even a police heli copter involved in his recap ture. The mayor warned: “Don’t leave home. Please pay the utmost attention and avoid going out until further notice.” The es capee was reported around 3pm on Saturday Novem ber 11 by the Rony Roller Circus. Unsuccessful searches took place in the afternoon, before darkness fell. A heli copter, using infrared de vices, managed to locate the animal in a reed bed near the railway and
Photos: Facebook / Shutterstock
Lion strolled the streets.
around 8pm the lion was shot with a sedative from a rifle, but it seemed to not take effect and the animal once more fled. It was final ly tracked down at 10pm after seven hours on the loose. Meanwhile, controversy broke out. “The episode,” wrote the International Or ganisation for the Protec tion of Animals, “highlights the danger of circuses with animals from the point of view of public safety and above all the discomfort of the animals.” The organisa tion added, “We hope to see the introduction of a law to ban the use of ani mals in circus shows.”
Green pioneers MALLORCA’S environmen tal vanguard took the stage at the 30th ANEPMA Tech nical Conferences held in Carmona, Sevilla. Deputy Mayor Llorenc Bauza, EMAYA’s president, along side Antoni Bennasar, head of Institutional Relations and CSR, engaged with in dustry leaders to exchange pioneering strategies on waste collection and recy cling. Bennasar also chaired a panel probing into ‘The new challenges of domestic, commercial and industrial waste management,’ which analysed regulations and public sector implementa tion. In a spirited display of skill, EMAYA’s Eva Maria Fa jardo and Pedro Egea show cased remarkable expertise in the sixth edition of the ef ficient driving contest, navi gating collection vehicles with ease.
euroweeklynews.com
23 - 29 November 2023
Sleeping Beauty SATURDAY November 25 will be the last chance for a while to enjoy the musical Sleeping Beauty which has been created by the Mallor ca So Company. It’s a very wellknown fairy tale and this musical version which is presented in Catalan follows a contem porary version of the tale which doesn’t ignore the magic and charm of the original story. Targeted at children and families, the show lasts 75 minutes without a break and has a cast of nine char acters including the obliga tory evil witch.
FAIRY TALE: The cast of Sleeping Beauty.
If this was just a play, it would not really be suitable for children who don’t speak or understand Cata lan, but as it is a musical with dance, songs, 3D back projection and bright cos tumes, provided the basis of the story is explained before the show, this could be a
IN a bid to enhance road safety in Son Servera, the Council of Mallorca has vowed to address the dangerous sections of the Port Vell road, notably the treacherous ‘curves d’en Mariano’. Known for its poor visibility and notorious accident record, swift action is being fasttracked. Additionally, plans are afoot to reconstruct the heritage site, Pont d’en Calet, which itself
was partially destroyed in an accident. This landmark holds significant sentimental value for locals. Galmes met with Mayor Jaume Servera and other municipal groups, providing insight into the Council’s initiatives for the is land’s town councils.
“Spain is a land of opportunity” AS part of our ongoing conversations with Europeans who have chosen to settle in Spain, it is the turn of Swedish national Niklas Söderström who moved to the Costa del Sol in 2014. UP until then, he had run a building company in Sweden, but was effectively head hunted by a real estate company based on the Golden Mile in Marbella. It took Niklas a full seven days to decide to accept the offer and having landed in Spain nine years ago, he literally hasn’t looked back. “I love it here as compared to Sweden not only is the weather and lifestyle so much better, it really has been for me, a land of opportunity,” he explained. Adding “Apart of course from family there is really very little that I miss about Sweden and I have made my life here and I am enjoying it.” Now very competent in Spanish, Niklas revealed his secret, first he found out the Spanish name for everything in his apartment and stuck post-it notes on each item so that he would remember the words. Next step (which wasn’t just to learn the language) was to find a Spanish girlfriend and his vocabulary expanded considerably. “Once I had some idea of what I was saying, I decided that I would have to have the guts to just go out, speak my version of
very good way of getting to understand a little of the lo cal way of doing things. The show starts at 6pm at the Auditorium Sa Maniga in Sant Llorenç des Cardas sar and tickets which cost €10 and are selling quickly can be purchased at Ticket IB.
Road revamp
INTERVIEW
Niklas Söderström loves it here.
Spanish and not be afraid to make a fool of myself and it worked, as because I tried, people helped me to get better.” The only slight negative (which many people find) is bureaucracy but Niklas shrugged and said “you learn to live with it.” Now living in La Cala having moved from Marbella, he finds it quieter but more real and has made a number of friends, mainly English and Spanish as well as some Swedes and would recommend any compatriot considering moving here from Sweden to do so.
EWN 17
Kids council Credit: Mallorca So Facebook
FEATURE/NEWS
THE 15th Council of Children and Adolescents organised by the Palma Council took place at City Hall on Tuesday November 22 to coincide with International Children’s Day. The idea was to endeavour to educate children to the obligations that they have to wards society and also what society should be committed to in order to help them. Those present were given a glimpse of the fiveyear plan that is being put in place in or
der to ensure that young peo ple can enjoy the quality of life that they are entitled to. A separate visit on the same day saw the mayor Jaime Martínez Llabrés re ceive a party of children from the Sant Francesc school who have been undertaking a study on vandalism. With their teacher, Jordi Carulla, they have carried out a census of graffiti in suburb of Canamunt, and made a count of 535 items of graffiti on building facades.
Re cycling THE Catholic charity Cáritas Mallorca operates a bicycle repair workshop which is located in Inca and takes old bicycles which it then repurposes for use on the island. On November 20, a new batch of recovered bicycles was handed over to the workshop by officers from the Local Police covering Pollença and Campos. The workshop has a dual role as it is also a training centre for young people who want to learn about mechanics, with a few hoping to finding future employ ment. If you want to pay to have your own bike repaired, want to donate an old bike for recycling or want to buy a restored bike, email economiasocial@caritasmallorca.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM
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20 EWN 23 - 29 November 2023
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FEATURE
COMMUNITY
COMMENTS
AS France debates the possibility of granting second home owners who hold non-EU passports the right to a special visa allowing them to spend 180 days continuously in France, second home owners in Spain are taking heart from a report that the Spanish caretaker Minister of Tourism favours something similar. In an article on the Euro Weekly News website which has received 10s of thousands of views, the concept of what is being considered is explained and a condensed version also appeared in edition 2002 of the paper editions. https://euroweeklynews.com/2023/11/12/can-spain-changeVisit schengen-rules/ to view the full story and see below some of the many comments, which have been received.
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Absolutely that or not charge us local taxes for the months we are not allowed to be there - can’t have it both ways!!! Toni Eastwood Obe
Allowing second home owners to spend six months at a time would be a benefit to all. People would be more likely to buy property to winter in if they could do so unrestricted. It’s not really a change in the amount of time they could spend here, just a movement of when. It would still be six months a year as it is now.
Stays over 90 days are outside the purview of the Schengen Agreement. It is up to each Schengen member state to decide whom to allow to stay for over 90 days on the basis of their national law. Nothing in the Schengen Agreement forbids France and Spain to allow British citizens to stay longer than 90 days. Spain could, for example, create a simplified procedure for British citizens to get a Spanish national visa which would allow them to stay for over 90 days in Spain. Jan Kowalski
Spain is in a right sad and sorry state. High unemployment, especially mega high youth unemployment of about 25 per cent and wages are notoriously low. Cobblers to them, they are causing their own problems, it’s hilarious.
Second home owners have invested in the country and even while they are not in their second home using resources, they continue to pay - council tax, imputed tax (on imputed income should you rent your home even if you don’t), standing charges on utilities which are not being consumed, service charges on any urbanisation or resort the second home might happen to be located on. lt is outrageous to lump second home owners in with tourists and l hope the Spanish government/EU sees sense soon!!
Joe Ace
Margaret Atkins
Well , that’s Brexit . You voted out , but still want to be in ?
Unfortunately many people in the UK wanted to exit the EU. They were fed misleading information about many aspects of this. I agree with the idea to change to 180 days but at the same time it smacks of that ‘special treatment’ that the UK seemed to be constantly pushing for when they were members of the EU. One hundred and eighty days, yes, after that don’t try for anything more is my view. The UK left and it has to get over many things that will change over time.
Andy Solomons
I suggest it may be illegal to be charged for services you are not legally allowed to use. Bryan Colling
Vera Nilsson
Ninety day rule is killing Brit tourism, people now going to other destinations as getting complicated here in Spain, I’ve been here 35 years in business, I couldn’t believe Brexit, the damage it’s done and doing, the vote was a disgrace as Brits were totally misinformed and now paying the price of freedom, a majority vote would have been more realistic for such an important decision. I would love to see a re-vote as out of interest all the tourists I’ve asked would definitely vote different. Spanish economic dependence is hugely affected by tourism, someone get their act together. Kevin Burns
Keith Lott
This is an ok idea for the retired … People who work don’t come anywhere near the 90 day rule … Who has 90 days holiday anyway ?? Liam
Comments 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.
FEATURE
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23 - 29 November 2023
Advertising Feature
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EWN 21
Ask the Optician - Eyes on Diabetes WORLD DIABETES DAY took place on November 14 and this year’s theme is ‘Know your risk, Know your response’. Un derstanding diabetes and its side effects is the first step towards preventing it, manag ing it and reducing the risk of complications. According to the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF), around one in three peo ple with diabetes develop some form of eye health complication , so we’ve asked Martin Blake from Specsavers Ópticas in Santa Ponça to answer some of your ques tions on this important topic. How many people have diabetes? Unfortunately, diabetes is one of the fastest growing health conditions today fu elled by record levels of obesity, excessive sugar consumption and sedentary lifestyles. Spain has the second highest diabetes preva lence in Europe and over five million people are living with diabetes, with 30.3 per cent of people living with diabetes in Spain being un diagnosed and at risk of developing serious eye health complications and even sight loss. What are the complications of diabetes? People living with diabetes have an in creased risk of developing diabetes complica tions which can affect the heart, blood ves sels, eyes, kidneys, nerves, teeth and gums. How can diabetes effect eye sight?
Understanding diabetes.
Diabetes can affect the small blood vessels and capillaries of the body if it is not properly controlled. Diabetic changes can occur in the blood vessels at the back of the eye, causing diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in working age adults, so it’s hugely important that dia betes is detected early and monitored cor rectly to minimise the risk of avoidable sight loss. What can we do to prevent damage to the eye from diabetes? In order to avoid problems with sight, it is important that blood sugar levels, blood pres sure and cholesterol levels are controlled. Not all diabetes causes sight loss, but it is impor tant to have regular screenings and eye tests so that any problems or changes can be mon itored.
Visit www.specsavers.es to find your nearest store and request an appointment.
www.euroweeklynews.com • 23 - 29 November 2023
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PETS
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Harmful ENSURING your dog’s health and wellbeing involves not only providing proper nutrition but also being aware of foods that can be harmful. Some hu man foods, no matter how tempting, should never be fed to your pet. 1. Chocolate: Containing theobromine, chocolate can be toxic to dogs, leading to vomiting and diarrhoea. 2. Grapes and Raisins: These seemingly harmless snacks can cause kidney failure in dogs. 3. Onions and Garlic: Mem bers of the allium family, these can damage a dog’s red blood cells, leading to anaemia and other health complications. 4. Xylitol: Found in sugar free gum and some peanut butter, xylitol can cause insulin release, resulting in liver failure. 5. Alcohol: Even small amounts can cause intoxica tion, leading to coordination is sues and respiratory failure. Exercise caution and stick to a balanced canine diet to en sure your pet’s safety.
A dog-sitter playmate when you’re away RECENTLY one of our dogsitters Robin moved in to care for Blair and Lean for five weeks in the owner’s home. The pets were re laxed and entertained in their own home, and all was well until the owners returned after their holiday. We help to match petsitters with the pet owners for free safe pet care in the pet’s own home, for free! If you’re planning a trip in 2024 register now to find petsitters in time. Earlier is better than later. Whether your trip is short or long, get organised ahead of time. All pets benefit from staying at home, so they can follow their routines undisturbed. Join our pet and housesitting network, and the sitters come for free! Choose Housesitmatch.com for affordable travel, home and pet care. These are the steps to take:
Meet Blair and Lean who love their HouseSit Match dog-
1. Register as a homeowner on HouseSitMatch.com 2. Choose a Standard account (£69 per year) to ensure you can help online when needed 3. Create a profile with photos of your pet and the house 4. Post an advert for the dates when you want to go away. Sit ters apply and you choose.
How does it work? HouseSitMatch can help you find suitable sitters. Join our net work for a small annual fee. You get ID checked for safety and then build your advert saying when you are going on holiday. House sitters see your advert, they re spond and you choose the sitter who’ll care for your pets. Trustpilot Testimonials 4.9 / 5 Excellent Pure Joy I have completed two housesits so far, so early days. Both sits have been well suited to me and my dog. Thoroughly enjoyable experi ences with beautiful homes and wellrounded animals. I’m looking for more! Lisa Stimpson, Petsitter from the UK How do you join? Please register online via our website www.Housesitmatch.com
Need a pet or house-sitter? Get in touch. House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and pet-sitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either house-sitter or homeowner with a 20% discount using coupon code 20EWN – Reader exclusive offer. To find a house or pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com
Spanish dog breeds SPAIN, a land of diverse landscapes and vibrant cul
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ture, has contributed sever al unique and remarkable dog breeds to the world. These breeds embody the rich history and varied en vironments of the Iberian Peninsula. 1. Spanish Water Dog: Originally bred as a herding and water dog, this versa tile breed boasts a curly or wavy coat, making it well suited for various terrains. Known for intelligence and agility, the Spanish Water Dog thrives in both rural and urban settings. 2. Ibizan Hound: This ele gant and athletic hound is renowned for its striking
appearance and exception al hunting skills. With a slender build and large ears, the Ibizan Hound has been a favourite among Spanish hunters for cen turies. 3. Galgo Español: The Galgo Español, or Spanish Greyhound, is a sighthound known for its grace and speed. Historically used for hunting, it has a sleek, mus cular physique and a gentle temperament, making it an excellent companion. 4. Perro de Presa Ca nario: A robust and power ful breed, the Perro de Pre sa Canario was originally developed for working with livestock. This Moloss ertype dog is known for its protective instincts and loy alty to its family. Celebrating the diversity of Spain, these dog breeds not only reflect the coun try’s rich history, but also showcase the unique quali ties that make them cher ished companions world wide.
Playtime with your cat.
Pawsitively essential ENGAGING in playtime with your feline friend goes beyond the joy of watching them pounce and bat at toys it’s a crucial aspect of their physical and mental wellbeing. 1. Physical Exercise: Reg ular play sessions provide essential physical activity, helping to keep your cat in optimal shape. Interactive toys and activities encour age movement, preventing obesity and promoting a healthy heart. 2. Mental Stimulation: Cats are natural hunters, and play mimics this in stinct, offering mental stim ulation. Puzzle toys and in teractive games engage their problemsolving skills, preventing boredom and reducing the risk of behav ioral issues. 3. Bonding and Socialisa tion: Playtime fosters a strong bond between you and your cat. It’s a shared experience that builds trust and deepens the connec tion, enhancing the overall quality of your relationship. 4. Stress Relief: Play serves as an excellent stress reliever for cats. It allows them to release pentup energy and reduces anxi ety, creating a calm and contented feline compan ion. 5. Prevents Behavioural Problems: Regular play can curb destructive be haviours such as scratching furniture or excessive me owing. It provides an ap propriate outlet for your cat’s natural instincts, pro moting a harmonious living environment. Investing time in interac tive play with your cat not only enhances their physi cal health but also nurtures a happy, welladjusted, and loving companion.
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If you can read it, so can your clients. Contact us and have your business grow at + 34 951 386 161
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24 EWN 23 - 29 November 2023
Djokovic’s seventh ATP title SERBIAN tennis superstar Novak Djokovic claimed a sev enth ATP Finals title in Turin on Sunday, November 19. In a dominant display of nearperfect tennis, he took one hour and 44 minutes to beat Italy’s Jannik Sinner in straight sets, 63 63. The 22yearold Worldranked No 7 was simply no match for the Serb, who is 14 years his senior. Sinner was the first Italian tennis player to ever reach the ATP Finals and had defeated Sunday’s opponent in their group match earlier in the week. Speaking with Amazon Prime after his win, the champ described this year as: “One of the best seasons I’ve had in my life, no doubt. It’s very special. To crown it against a hometown hero in Jannik this week is phe nomenal. Tactically I played differently today than in the group stage against Jannik. Overall, a phenomenal week.” As a result of Sunday’s victory, he broke his deadlock with Switzerland’s nowretired Roger Federer, who had won the title on six occasions previously. Next up for him is the International Tennis Federation (ITF) 2023 Davis Cup Final. The tournament is being played at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in Malaga from Tuesday November 21 until Sunday, Thursday 26. Serbia face England in their first match today, Thurs day November 23, with the winners advancing to play the victors of the match between Italy and the Nether lands. That could see Djokovic meeting Sinner again.
euroweeklynews.com REAL MADRID golden boy, Jude Bellingham is literally that after he secured the pres tigious 2023 ‘Golden Boy Award’. Jude Bellingham, the 20 yearold English football sen sation, has been honoured with the 2023 Golden Boy award. This prestigious recog nition, granted by the Italian sports journal Tuttosport, cele brates the most exceptional young talent in European foot ball under the age of 21. The Italian magazine en thused: “When an interna tional jury made up of 50 au thoritative journalists from the most prestigious European newspapers awards a 20 yearold 485 points out of a maximum of 500, you just have to take your hat off.” The accolade recognises Bellingham’s outstanding con tributions to England, Borussia Dortmund, and Real Madrid. Real Madrid’s manager, Carlo Ancelotti, acclaimed Belling ham’s influence, and stated that he was, “the player who’s making the difference.” Tuttosport expanded on Bellingham’s remarkable achievement. The magazine explained that in 2017, when
SPORT
Madrid’s Golden Boy Credit: charnsitr/Shutterstock.com
REAL MADRID: Celebrating exceptional young talent.
Mbappe was declared Golden Boy, he too grabbed 97 per cent of the votes, the identical percentage obtained by Bellingham. At the time there were only 30 jurors, not the 50 that they have today. For this reason, they said the English midfield er is the ‘king of kings’ of the Golden Boy trophy. His remarkable form, high lighted by scoring 13 goals in
his first 13 games for Los Blan cos has elevated him above his peers, including Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala and Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde. The Golden Boy title signi fies a bright future in football for Bellingham. It aligns him with past winners like Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi, indicating his po tential to reach similar heights. The Golden Boy award will be
presented at a gala in Turin on December 4. His recent Kopa Trophy vic tory at the Ballon d’Or awards as the best under21 player re inforces his emerging status in world football. Despite facing challenges, including a shoulder injury that caused him to miss Madrid’s 51 triumph over Va lencia and withdrawal from the England squad for Euro 2024 qualifiers, Bellingham’s persistence and talent shine. His ability to overcome these setbacks exemplifies the re solve and dedication charac teristic of elite athletes. Bellingham’s achievements at such a young age are not just personal triumphs, but al so a source of inspiration. His journey, marked by resilience and exceptional skill, sets a benchmark for aspiring foot ballers worldwide. His Golden Boy award not only highlights his current prowess but also points to wards a promising and im pactful career in the sport.
WITH preparation for the Las Vegas Grand Prix underway, Carlos Sainz’s first practice ses sion ended up going down the drain. In a significant setback, the first practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was aban doned. The reason behind the incident has meant a consider able amount of embarrass ment for Formula One man agement. The disruption occurred un der the dazzling lights of the Las Vegas strip. Spanish For mula One driver, Carlos Sainz encountered a mechanical fail ure in his Ferrari, causing the session’s suspension with just eight minutes having elapsed. Sainz’s Ferrari came to a halt due to an unforeseen issue.
Credit: cristiano barni/Shutterstock.com
Incident halts F1 practice France run riot
MAJOR SETBACK: Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
After a wait of 11 minutes, it was declared that the session wouldn’t continue. The cause of the stoppage was later identified as a dislodged man hole cover. Sainz was clearly seen being jolted as the cover struck his vehicle with speeds approach ing 200mph on the Las Vegas Boulevard. In what many see as an un
duly harsh sanction, a news source reported that Sainz was subsequently given a 10 place grid penalty by F1 stew ards following the incident. Ferrari’s mechanics replaced the chassis and the engine, something that according to the letter of the law is not al lowed in such circumstances. The incident had a ripple ef fect, with, French driver, Este
ban Ocon colliding into the scattered debris. The collision which took place amidst the iconic Caesars Palace, Bellagio, and Venetian hotels, and re sulted in considerable damage to his Alpine car. Ferrari re ported ‘extensive’ damage to Sainz’s car, and Alpine an nounced the need for a new chassis for Ocon. Frederic Masseur, Ferrari’s team principal, expressed his dismay, stating, “He (Sainz) said ‘I hit something on track’, and he didn’t know what it was. It is just unacceptable for F1.” Meanwhile, an FIA spokesperson revealed, “Fol lowing an inspection, a con crete frame around a manhole cover has failed. We now need to check all of the other manhole covers which will take some time.” The incident underscored the unpredictable nature of street circuits, especially in a highstakes environment like Formula One. Sainz is currently lying sixth in the overall drivers championship.
FRANCE racked up their biggestever win on Satur day, November 18 after they thrashed Gibraltar 140 in their Group B Euro 2024 qualifying match at the Al lianz Riviera Stadium in Nice. The score also eclipsed the previous highest score recorded in the European Championships set in 2006 when Germany destroyed San Marino 130. A cross from Jonathan Clauss was put into his own net by Gibraltar defender Ethan Santos after only three minutes. The lead was dou bled by Marcus Thuram one minute later. PSG’s Warren ZaireEmery, making his debut aged 17 years, eight months and 11 days, became the youngest player to represent his coun try since 1914. He crowned his historical moment by bag ging the third goal of the match. Things went from back to worse for Santos when he was shown a red card in the
18th minute. Kylian Mbappe then got his first of the evening as he tucked a penal ty home in the 30th minute. Clauss hit a fourth for the French four minutes later, with Kingsley Coman and Youssouf Fofana both on tar get to send the hosts in 70 ahead at the break. A goal from Adrien Rabiot started the second wave af ter 63 minutes. Coman notched his second of the match before Ousmane Dembele equalled France’s previous biggest ever win of 100 against Azerbaijan in 1995. Mbappe broke that record by rounding off his hat trick. Spotting goalkeeper Dayle Coleing off his line, the French superstar proceeded to score a stunner from all of 40 yards. Olivier Giroud scored twice in the dying minutes, making it 140, with the French rack ing up a massive 38 shots on goal compared to none by Gibraltar.