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The Canary Islands’ biggest fortnightly English newspaper read by thousands of tourists & residents 20th May - 2nd June 2011
Communications cable arrives
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Property Connections Pull Out
An historic day for the Canaries S T
Buying, Selling and Renting
Centre Pages
he CanaLink submarine fibre optic cable which links Europe with the Canary Islands arrived on the coast of the ITER installation in Granadilla, Tenerife on May 16, and was ceremoniously winched onto dry land from the ship which has laid it beneath the sea from Cádiz in mainland Spain. The arrival of this submarine cable forms one of the fundamental phases of the ALiX project which is led by the Cabildo of Tenerife and has the objective of increasing the competitivity of Tenerife in the telecommunications world. While the winching operation was being completed, those present learned about the project which has involved some 2,500kms of submarine cable and another 2,500kms on terra firma. This connection will effectively turn the Canary Islands into the southern gateway of Europe and the nerve centre of communications between Africa, Europe and South America. Cabildo president Ricardo Melchior told those present, “we have needed experience, knowledge, Canarian government support, and a great team led by Carlos Alonso (island councillor for economy and competitivity), who have all fought to achieve this objective”. He also thanked the Granadilla council for their participation and encouragement, and ONO, as well as
Orange and Vodafone who have also supported this project. He continued, “thanks to all these, today we have achieved one of the most important objectives of this century”, and added, “the CanaLink cable will be switched on in two months’ time, and everyone in Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma will be able to connect with a new world as far as quality, price and broadband speed are concerned”. The CanaLink cable consists of four pairs of fibre optics, each pair having 128 wavelengths. Each of these wavelengths has a 10Gbit, with the result that 75 million high quality conversations can be held simultaneously, which is 500,000 times the capacity of the old cable which was installed in 1965. It will be able to support services and applications appropriate for state of the art data centres and investigation centre networks, and be able to link space telescopes in La Palma with the Spanish investigation and university telecommunications networks. It is hoped that with CanaLink in operation, other telecommunications companies will be eager to set up bases in Tenerife, and that this in turn will lead to economic growth, increased employment and cheaper, higher quality communications services for everyone.
Red cross
tenerife
Why racist jokes aren’t funny!
pineapple under the sea? Bob Esponja comes to Tenerife
Sponge Bob Who lives in a
Joking aside Page 04
Page 43
Edition # 643 /
16 Page Pullout
Guide
Pages 08-09
ince the morning of Friday May 13th Tenerife has been in the international headlines for all the wrong reasons. A 60 year old British woman, Jennifer Mills-Westley was murdered, brutally and senselessly murdered, in a manner that was both shocking and extremely macabre. In the days that have followed the story has taken two distinct paths. Family, friends and neighbours of the murdered woman have been followed and phoned by the press looking for statements, and on the other side the media have begun investigating why this happened, if there can be a ‘why’ for such an irrational act, could it have been avoided, and what will happen to the man accused of the crime? The why will, it would seem, take a lot of time and the talents of qualified psychiatrists to unravel. As we go to press there are reports that the accused, 28-year-old Bulgarian Deyen Valentinov Deyanov was, over Christmas and into January of this year, in a mental institution in Cheshire when he was detained during a visit to family members. Upon his release it would seem he returned to Tenerife, though in fact police here cannot say with certainty when he first arrived in Tenerife as he was ‘undocumented’. His first brush with the police wasn’t until January of this year. He was subsequently committed for a brief period to a psychiatric unit here in Tenerife
Los Cristianos murder
Could it have been avoided? following an aggressive attack, but released in February. According to witnesses he was known for his verbal aggression in the Los Cristianos area, and just a few days before the murder of Jennifer MillsWestley a warrant was issued for his arrest and detention by court Nº 4 in Arona, accused of further aggressive behaviour. It is unlikely it was considered ‘extremely urgent’ and the man wasn’t located by police before the fateful day. So what does the judicial future hold for Deyen Valentinov Deyanov? We are told that he has been moved from Tenerife
II prison to a psychiatric unit at La Candelaria hospital. But what his short and long term legal future holds is still a bit unclear. In recent weeks and prior to this case there was speculation surrounding the release of a Briton who has been in prison on remand on suspicion of murdering his girlfriend in Los Cristianos in 2007. It is believed that he is being released due to the fact that he has been found unfit to stand trial. If the mental state of the accused in the murder of Jennifer Mills-Westley is also deemed to be unstable, as all
the current anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest, could a similar fate await? It would be unfair and untrue to say this couldn’t happen elsewhere – of course it could. But how many cases of this nature will it take for a review of the judicial procedures surrounding mental instability to take place and perhaps the establishment of a pan-European alert system when someone is committed for violent behaviour to an institution but then moves country. Could such checks have saved a life? Who knows, but let’s hope the question won’t need to be asked again soon.
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