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SUPPLEMENTS PROPERTY

MOTORS

GIBRALTAR Opposition “Brexit” statements are misleading

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Merry Christmas

to all our readers and advertisers We would like to thank you all for your continued support and wish you all a prosperous New Year

WHAT’S ON Festive festivities for Christmas and the New Year

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MONEY MATTERS McDonald’s moves non-US Tax HQ to Britain

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PUZZLES & TEASERS

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SPORTS Is England captain’s goose cooked because they were stuffed?

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Simply Media Group is one of the largest English media advertising and publication groups here is Spain. We aim to always give you original editorials and news from not just here in Spain but from around the world. As members of the British Press Association and EFE we aim to ensure that all our news is current, factual and more importantly interesting to you the reader.

Deposito Legal Nº: MA 298-2013 Editor in Chief: Stan Israel Production Manager: Lisa Brown Design & Layout: Jackie McAngus Graphics: Paul Scotton Accounts: Rachael Jones Journalists: Annabel Milnes-Smith Dawn Gudgin Jose Gonzales

2016 SNAPSHOT As 2016 draws to an end we take a look at ten news stories that dominated the year

Sales: Maria Teresa Alves Prieto Dan Coffee Steven Jones Contributors: Reuters The Conversation Property Wire Agence France-Presse Comic Strip Fernando Rebouças The Weekend World reserves the right to make grammatical & spelling corrections as and when deemed necessary and to classify correctly an advertisement. Although every care and attention is made to ensure the advertisement is correct at time of print, regrettably mistakes do sometimes occur.

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Trump earthquake On November 8, Republican billionaire Trump, a 70-year-old populist with no political experience, wins the US presidential election beating Hillary Clinton.

Elsewhere in the world 2016 is also marked by a surge in populism. In Asia, firebrand Rodrigo Duterte overwhelmingly wins the Philippines’ presidency in May, while in Europe, nationalist and farright parties gain ground.

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NEWS

Barriers face migrants

Brexit On June 23, 52 percent of British voters backed a divorce from the European Union at a referendum.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron immediately stepped down, to be replaced in July

by Theresa May. She promises by March 31, 2017 to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the first step in leaving the bloc.

From February, the “Balkan route” leading from Greece to Germany, and taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants the year before, is closed.

In March, the EU and Turkey forge a deal for Ankara to halt the flow of migrants to Europe, an accord which is largely successful in reducing numbers crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.

However the flow of migrants to Italy via the Mediterranean Sea reaches record levels and at least 4,700 people have died or are missing feared drowned this year while trying to cross the perilous sea.

In France, the notorious “Jungle” migrant camp near the port of Calais is finally closed in October, and an estimated 7,000 migrants are evacuated.

Horror in Syria’s Aleppo Syria’s Aleppo is on the point of being completely retaken by regime forces, who with their allies have carried out repeated offensives against rebel districts in eastern parts of the city.

While denouncing “war crimes” and criticising Moscow for blocking UN Security Council efforts to obtain a ceasefire, the West proves unable to end the onslaught. The Syrian conflict has left more than 312,000 dead since March 2011.

Turkey: coup and purges

Terrorism

Overnight July 15-16 a rogue military faction tries unsuccessfully to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The regime says exiled Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen is behind the putsch and tightens its grip on power.

More than 37,000 people are arrested and tens of thousands more sacked in purges. The regime also steps up arrests in pro-Kurdish circles.

As it continues to lose territory in Iraq, Syria and Libya, the jihadist Islamic State claims responsibility for, or inspires, deadly attacks around the world.

Several western countries, including France, where 86 died in Nice (above), the United States (49 dead in Orlando), Belgium (32 dead in Brussels) and Germany are hit by attacks.

Turkey is also targeted by several attacks blamed on the IS or on Kurdish guerrillas which leave dozens dead.

West Africa suffers attacks by Al-Qaeda, notably in Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast.

Shift in Latin America After Argentina in 2015, Brazil in August puts an end to 13 years of leftist rule with the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff for fiddling the country’s books.

She is replaced by Michel Temer of the centre right.

In July, Peru elects Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (above) of the centre right.

And in Venezuela, which is going through a severe economic crisis, the opposition stages mass protests as it seeks a recall referendum on Socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Science breakthrough In February, scientists say they have glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space-time that Albert Einstein predicted a century ago.

Castro dies

Rock: tears and cheers

On November 25, Fidel Castro, the father of the Cuban revolution and international communism’s last great figure, dies aged 90, having been the counterpart to 11 US presidents from Dwight Eisenhower to Barack Obama.

2016 takes three of rock music’s moved loved icons: Britain’s David Bowie, Prince in the US, and Canada’s Leonard Cohen.

Meanwhile, Bob Dylan becomes the first songwriter to win the Nobel Literature Prize.

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NEWS

12 KILLED IN ‘PROBABLE TERRORIST ATTACK’ IN BERLIN CHRISTMAS MARKET D

OZENS more were wounded when ‘WE MOURN THE DEAD’ on Monday a truck tore through the German police have confirmed they were treating Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted quickly, crowd, smashing through wooden as “a probable terrorist attack” the killing of 12 with spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeting: stalls and crushing victims, in scenes remi“We mourn the dead and hope that the people when a lorry ploughed through a packed niscent of July’s deadly attack in the French many people injured can be helped.”

Riviera city of Nice.

Berlin Christmas market earlier this week.

The daily Tagesspiegel said the man behind Police detained the man believed to have the wheel was known to police but for minor deliberately crashed the heavy vehicle loadcrimes, not links to terrorism. ed with steel beams into the festive market Police later identified the passenger as a Polin an area popular with tourists near the capish national, while the Polish owner of the ital’s iconic Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. lorry confirmed his driver was missing.

The man behind the wheel was an asylum “We haven’t heard from him since this afseeker believed to be from Afghanistan or ternoon. We don’t know what happened to Pakistan who arrived in Germany in Februhim,” transport company owner Ariel Zurawary, according to security sources cited by ski said.

DPA news agency.

“He’s my cousin, I’ve known him since I was a A Polish man, thought to have been the kid. I can vouch for him.” truck’s registered driver, was found dead on Lukasz Wasik of the same company said conthe passenger seat, and police said he had tact was lost with the 37-year-old at around not steered the vehicle.

3 pm (1400 GMT).

Twelve people were killed and 48 others injured as the lorry tore through the market HIGH ALERT for as far as 80 metres (yards) in the incident which came less than a week before ChristTraditional Christmas markets are popular in mas. cities and towns throughout Germany and “I don’t want to use the word ‘attack’ yet, have frequently been mentioned by security although there are many things pointing to services as potentially vulnerable to attacks. the markets crushing so many people”. one,” said Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere hours later.

“It’s awful. We were in Berlin for Christmas,” said American Following the attack Berlin police said they presumed the “I could hear screaming and then we all froze. Then suddenly tourist Kathy Forbes. “We also thought it would be safer than lorry was “intentionally steered” into the crowd and called people started to move and lift all the wreckage off people, Paris.” trying to help whoever was there,” she told the Australian the bloody carnage a “probable terrorist attack”.

The crash happened at a square at the end of the KurfuerOne of the survivors, Australian Trisha O’Neill, said she was Broadcasting Corporation. O’Neill said there was “blood and stendamm boulevard in the shadow of the Kaiser Wilhelm only metres from “this huge black truck speeding through bodies everywhere”.

Memorial Church whose damage in a World War II bombing raid has been preserved as a reminder of the horrors of war for future generations.

Europe has been on high alert for most of 2016, with terror attacks striking Paris and Brussels, while Germany has been hit by several assaults claimed by the Islamic State group and carried out by asylum-seekers.

An axe rampage on a train in the southern state of Bavaria in July wounded five people, and a suicide bombing left 15 people injured in the same state six days later. blank firing weapons back to the original lethal ones.

THE European Union has reached an agreement to tightIn another case, a 16-year-old German-Moroccan girl in FebThe directive, which still must be voted on by parliament, en rules on firearms amid a wave of terror attacks but fell ruary stabbed a police officer in the neck with a kitchen knife, bans short semi-automatic firearms with loading devices short of demands to ban AK-47 semi-automatic rifles outwounding him badly, allegedly on IS orders. over 20 rounds and long semi-automatic firearms with right.

The arrival of 890,000 refugees last year has polarised Gerloading devices over 10 rounds. Also prohibited are long The EU’s 28 member states announced it had reached a many, with critics calling the influx a serious security threat. firearms that can be folded or concealed in other ways. political agreement with the European Parliament that The attack in Berlin comes five months after Tunisian exBut the European Commission, the EU executive, said it will tighten laws in place since 1991. tremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a regretted that its proposal for a complete ban of the most “This agreement provides for tighter controls which will crowd on the Nice seafront, killing 86 people. dangerous semi-automatic firearms, including the AK47 help prevent the acquisition of firearms by terrorist and In response to the suspected attack in Berlin, France beefed frequently used by jihadists and the AR15 type, is not part criminal organisations,” said Slovak Interior Minister Robert up security at its own Christmas markets. of the deal.

Kalinak, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

“The French share in the mourning of the Germans in the It also regretted it did not get a ban of assault weapons for The directive includes measures to make it easier to trace face of this tragedy that has hit all of Europe,” President Franprivate collectors or a magazine size limit of 10 rounds for firearms, including standardised marking of components cois Hollande said. all semi-automatic firearms. and requiring prompt electronic registration of weapons The Nice bloodshed - as people were watching a fireworks But commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said it was a sales, with information kept in national data files. display on the Bastille Day holiday on July 14 - further traumajor improvement over the current situation and would It would also ensure that firearms converted to blank firmatised a France already reeling from a series of jihadist atreduce the risk of terror or other attacks from legally held ing ones for use in theatres or television must be registacks. firearms. tered under the same category as the original weapons.

The United States labelled the incident an apparent “terrorist “Of course we would have liked to go further, but I am The European Council, which groups the EU member attack” and pledged its support. confident that the current agreement represents a milestates, noted that the Islamic State fighters who launched President-elect Donald Trump blamed “Islamist terrorists” stone in gun control in the EU,” Juncker said. the Paris attacks in November last year had converted for a “slaughter” of Christians in the German capital.

EU STRIKES DEAL TO TIGHTEN FIREARMS RULES

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EU unveils €321m ‘Space Egg’ HQ

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The Europe Union has unveiled its futuristic new 321-million-euro headquarters, saying it symbolised ‘joy & Unity’’ at a time of rising populist anger against Brussels that helped lead to Brexit.

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GLASS lanternshaped structure inside a cube made of recycled window frames sourced from across the 28-nation bloc, the Europa building has been dubbed the “Space Egg” because of its otherworldly appearance.

At its heart is a huge room decked out in psychedelic rainbow carpets and ceiling tiles where European Union leaders will hold their summit meetings on the multiple crises that beset the bloc.

But the eco-friendly building has faced criticism for its high cost and delays at a time when cash-strapped EU member states are wrestling with spending cuts and Brussels is trying to cut waste.

The Belgian architect, Philippe Samyn, insists however that his building symbolises all that is best about a union formed in the aftermath of World War II to unify the continent.

“I wanted to make a joyful meeting place where people entering with a lot of problems can get some breathing space,” the bow-tie wearing Samyn told reporters in the giant 11-storey atrium.

He said the “symbolism of the lamp is fundamental to the story”, adding that he had come up with the idea in the middle of the night after puzzling over how to put a “friendly” circular summit room in a square building.

3,750 WINDOWS “I always have a piece of paper by my bed, which bothers my wife, and one night I just woke up and dreamed of this lamp shape, and it has stayed ever since then,” the architect added.

The idea for the 3,750 windows on the facade - a cleaner’s nightmare - is also symbolic, said Samyn, reflecting “diversity” because they have come from around the EU and “unity” because they are recycled.

He added that it was also a “very clear message about transparency in the union: with all that is happening, people don’t realise the good that the European Union is giving to people,” he added.

The headache-inducing decor in the summit rooms is meanwhile a “united patchwork”.

The rear part of the Europa building consists

of the old Residence Palace, a refurbished Art Deco block that has variously served as a government ministry and the Nazi headquarters during the German occupation of Belgium.

The European Council is due to hold its first full meetings in the new Europa building in January and its first leaders’ summit in March, after a few trial runs in the past few weeks.

It was commissioned by EU leaders as far back as 2004 to replace the unloved Justus Lipsius building, a hulking concrete slab that was never originally designed to host summits.

GILDED CAGE The original 2004 cost was 240 million euros but that has been converted to 321 million euros in 2016 terms, said William Shapcott, director general at the Council of the European Union.

“There will be a small overrun but nothing very dramatic,” Shapcott said, saying that it would be a “handful of percent” and not the 50-100 percent typical of major construction projects.

The building is also entering into service late because of difficulties in building it over a major subway line, the discovery of oil pollution in the ground and a legal appeal.

Its cost has been criticised.

Britain’s then-prime minister David Cameron described it in 2011 as a “gilded cage” for leaders at a time when austerity was causing pain across a debt-hit continent.

But with Britain now on the way out of the EU after its shock 23 June referendum, officials say the main question for now is what to do with the UK delegation rooms in the Europa building after it leaves.

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 9

UK NEWS

LONDON TRANSLATION FIRM SEEKS EMOJI SPECIALIST

Bah Humbug!

Discontented British workers launch a season of strikes From trains and planes to parcels, British workers are gearing for the festive season with a string of strikes, rounding off a year of action that began with an unprecedented walkout by doctors.

Hundreds of thousands of commuters have been left stranded for three days after staff on Southern Rail, which runs trains from southern England into London, stopped work.

The strike heaped pressure on London’s already overcrowded Tube and bus network and hit train services to one of the capital’s main airports, Gatwick.

Air travellers also face the prospect of disruption after British Airways cabin crew voted to strike over pay.

They have not yet announced a date but the action could begin as early as December 21 - the date that many British schools finish for the Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile workers at the state-owned Post Office, which runs branches offering stamps, mail delivery and retail services, announced five days of strikes during what is the busiest week in the postal year.

The chaos caused by the rail strike has sparked strong criticism of Southern Rail’s management and the government, as well

as the unions.

One lawmaker from Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative party has proposed tougher laws on taking industrial action on critical public infrastructure.

The government earlier this year passed a law requiring unions to have a ballot turnout of at least 50 percent before striking.

“We’ve already passed legislation to provide people with better protection from undemocratic industrial action, and we would keep under review how these measures are working in practice,” the prime minister’s spokeswoman said.

Bookmakers are now seeking to profit from workers’ discontent, publishing odds about the next sector to go on strike.

Top of the list are doctors, who staged a series of unprecedented strikes this year over working conditions and pay in the state-run National Health Service (NHS), followed by bus drivers, police and fire fighters.

“Glorious post-Brexit Britain is doing its best to give those French strikers a run for their money, and with Brits up and down the country experiencing misery we may as well try and make a few quid off the next group to join to the picket line,” said bookmakers Paddy Power.

A LONDON translation agency is advertising for its first “emoji translator” to help meet the “challenges posed by the world’s fastestgrowing language”.

Based in the City of London financial district, Today Translations advertised on its website for a translator whose job will consist of interpreting the miniature images, from smiley faces to pizzas, beloved of smartphone users the world over.

“Emoji translation is itself an emerging field –- but one dominated to date by software, which is often insensitive to the many cultural differences in usage and interpretation,” said the advert.

“We are therefore seeking an exceptional individual to provide the human touch needed where translation software is inadequate.”

Chief executive Jurga Zilinskiene said the company decided to create the freelance position after being approached by a client to translate a family diary from English into emoticons.

“We started looking into it and decided we had to do much more work to understand the culture of emojis across the globe,”.

The recruit will be required to write monthly reports on emoji trends and research cultural differences in usage, as well as carry out

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UK jobless rate steady at 4.8% Britain’s jobless rate is unchanged at 4.8 percent, official data confirms.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the August-October figure - a low for 11 years - matched the reading for the quarter to the end of September.

Market expectations had been for no change.

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Zilinskiene is confident that demand for emoji translation is set to grow.

“We are already seeing a professional use for legal cases where text messages are used as evidence,” she said, adding that interpreting emojis was “even more complex than the written word”.

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UK NEWS

Handwritten J.K. Rowling fairytales sold at UK auction

A RARE collection of fairytales handwritten by J.K. Rowling as a gift to her “Harry Potter” publisher have sold for nearly £370,000 at a UK auction.

The copy of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” reached £368,750 ($467,000, 439,700 euros) in the sale at Sotheby’s auction house in London.

The collection of fairytales was created within the “Harry Potter” series and helped the young wizard and his friends defeat his nemesis Lord Voldemort.

The copy auctioned this week was given in 2007 to publisher Barry Cunningham, who gave his backing to the first “Harry Potter” book and thus launched a global literary craze.

“To Barry, the man who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell... THANK YOU,” Rowling wrote at the front of the book.

The collection is bejewelled with semi-precious stones and features a sterling silver mounted skull on the cover.

Rowling wrote a total of six copies of the tales by hand, which were given to those most closely connected to the “Harry Potter” series, while a seventh book was written for sale at a charity auction.

That copy raised £1.95 million at the Sotheby’s auction in 2007, which was donated to Rowling’s children’s charity Lumos.

Intense interest in the wizarding world continues nearly two decades after Rowling’s first of seven volumes, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, was published in 1997.

Earlier this year a 1930s-era oak chair on which Rowling sat while writing the first two “Harry Potter” books sold for $394,000 through Heritage Auctions.

Rowling received the chair - one of a mismatched set of four - free when she was a young single mother living in subsidised housing in the Scottish city of Edinburgh

BREXIT KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNS AS 2016 DRAWS TO A CLOSE As British lawmakers prepare for the Christmas break, many issues surrounding the country’s divorce from the European Union remain shrouded in confusion. Here are key things known about the Brexit process, and the issues that need to be addressed in the New Year.

KNOWNS BRITAIN WILL LEAVE THE EU Prime Minister Theresa May is currently appealing a High Court ruling that she must seek parliamentary approval before triggering Brexit, with a decision due in January.

The original ruling allows lawmakers, technically, to delay indefinitely the triggering of Article 50, which starts the break-up process, throwing into doubt May’s promise to begin proceedings by the end of March.

However, May was able to get MPs to agree to stick to the timetable - regardless of the appeal ruling - in exchange for agreeing to reveal the government’s broad negotiating strategy to parliament.

UK PLANS IMMIGRATION CURBS May has insisted that Britain would no longer accept the free movement of people to and from the EU on Brussels’ terms, and

also pledged to repatriate legal powers.

“We are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again and we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice,” she told her Conservative Party’s conference in October.

ECONOMY DEFIES EXPECTATIONS Confounding economists, Britain’s economy has grown solidly since the June referendum, household spending has grown faster than expected, while the housing market has remained resilient and unemployment has dropped to its lowest level since 2005.

“For households, the signs of an economic slowdown are notable by their absence,” Bank of England chief Mark Carney said in October.

UNKNOWNS PARLIAMENT NOT SURE TO VOTE If the government is successful in overturning the High Court ruling, the government will be able to trigger Article 50 as planned, without a parliamentary vote.

‘SOFT’ OR ‘HARD’ BREXIT May has revealed little about what Britain will ask for during Brexit negotiations, but her vow to curb immigration and repatriate legal powers suggested she favoured a “hard Brexit”, which would mean Britain leaving the EU’s single market.

Former minister Oliver Letwin last week went further, stressing that “we’ve been very clear what the outlines are, we’re leaving the single market, we’re leaving the customs union.”

A TRANSITION DEAL? Once article 50 is triggered, Britain and the EU have two years to agree the terms of the divorce, while at the same time thrashing out a deal for future trading arrangements between the two parties.

Finance minister Philip Hammond on Tuesday insisted that the government would likely seek a transitional trade deal to smooth the Brexit process after that deadline.

Brexit minister and arch eurosceptic David Davis said such an agreement should be struck “only if it’s necessary” and to imple-

ment gradually a final deal, rather than to extend negotiations.

A parliamentary report to be released on Thursday is also expected to warn that uncertainty over EU single market access threatened 200,000 jobs in Britain’s financial services industry, unless a transition deal is agreed.

Brexit champion Nigel Farage called such a deal a delaying tactic and evidence of “backsliding”.

AN EARLY ELECTION? If May loses her court appeal, and is worried lawmakers will frustrate her attempts to trigger Article 50, she could decide to call an early general election and expose pro-EU MPs - many of whom represent constituencies that voted for Brexit - to public opinion. Bookmakers have slashed the odds of a general election in 2017 to 2/1.

LONG-TERM ECONOMIC PROSPECTS While short-term economic data is encouraging, the Office for Budget Responsibility last month cut its 2017 growth figures from 2.2 percent to 1.4 percent and warned of a knock-on effect on public finances.

Critics also point out that Britain is at least two and a half years away from actually leaving the EU, when any new trade, immigration and other arrangements would come into force.

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UK NEWS

BREXIT IS OFFICIAL!

In the dictionary at least

Jedism is not a religion, charity commission rules JEDIISM, the worship of the mythology of Star Wars, is not a religion, the UK Charity Commission the independent regulator and registrar of charities in England and Wales, has ruled rejecting an application for registration by The Temple of the Jedi Order.

The Star Wars saga is one of the most successful film franchises of all time and according to a 2011 census Jediiism is the seventh largest religion in the U.K., with 177,000 followers making Jediism more popular than Rastafarianism or Jainism.

In its ruling the Charity Commission said Jediism did not “promote moral or ethical improvement” for charity law purposes in England and Wales and “lacked the necessary spiritual or non-secular element” it was looking for in a religion.

It said there was insufficient evidence that “moral improvement” was central to the beliefs and practices of Jediism and did not have the “cogency, cohesion, or seriousness” to truly be a belief system.

The commission said to be classed as a religion it must also have a positive beneficial impact on society in general and raised concerns that Jediism may, in part, have an “inward focus” on its members.

Daniel Jones, leader of the Church of Jediism in the UK, said Jedi would continue to do charity work without any legal status and was convinced “Jediism’s status will change in the next five years”.

Kenneth Dibble, the chief legal adviser at the Charity Commission, said: “The law relating to what is and is not a charity evolves continuously and, as in this case, can be influenced by decisions in other areas. Our role is critical in interpreting and explaining the extent of what the law considers charitable. The meaning of ‘religion’ in charity law has developed over many years, and now encompasses a wide range of belief systems.

The decisions which the Commission makes on the extent of this meaning can be difficult and complex, but are important in maintaining clarity on what is, and is not, charitable.”

WHAT IS JEDIISM? • According to The Temple of the Jedi Order, Jediism is based on the observance of the Force, described as “the ubiquitous and metaphysical power” that a Jedi believes to be the underlying, fundamental nature of the universe • Jedi do not believe in a god, having faith instead “in the Force, and in the inherent worth of all life within it” • They believe in eternal life through the Force and do not become “obsessed in mourning those who pass”.

• Jedi may grieve but are content, knowing they will “forever be a part of the Force” • The definition of Jediism states the religion is an “inspiration and a way of life” for people who take on “the mantle of Jedi” • The Jedi Doctrine acknowledges there is some “scope for followers to simply view Jediism as a philosophy or way of life” and some Jedi prefer to avoid the word religion

IT has been the word on everyone’s lips in Britain since the country voted to leave the European Union, and now “Brexit” has entered the dictionary.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines the portmanteau word as “the (proposed) withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, and the political process associated with it”.

It was first used when then prime minister David Cameron announced in 2013 he would hold a referendum on Britain’s EU membership if re-elected, but entered common parlance as campaigning intensified before the shock June 23 vote.

“Brexit’s inclusion in the OED December update within five years of being coined is highly unusual,” said the dictionary, widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language.

“The speed with which it became widely used and recognized was impressive, fuelled by the fact it filled an empty space in our language, and the growing importance of the

phenomenon it described. By late 2016 it was a global word.”

Brexit has become a “linguistic wellspring”, it added, spawning derivative words such as Brexiteer, although Bregret, Bremorse and Brexodus have not “yet shown sufficient durability to enter the OED”.

The word developed from “Grexit”, describing a similar process in which Greece might leave the eurozone.

Grexit has also entered the dictionary for the first time, with the OED, calling politics “a fruitful area for new words”.

“We can be sure that political words and phrases like these will keep coming,” it added.

Prime Minister Theresa May has frequently batted off questions about how Britain will leave the EU by saying “Brexit means Brexit”, but the OED explained it had not been so easy for them.

“Spare a thought for us lexicographers, having to decide what Brexit means before anybody else,” it said.

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Hotel maids rebel against low salaries Spain is enjoying a surge in visitors, but hotel maids are not reaping the rewards and are rebelling against their low salaries, which can be as little as two euros to clean a room.

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HE country, which welcomed over 68 million foreign tourists last year - its third consecutive year of record numbers - employs around 100,000 hotel maids, according to union estimates.

Over the past two years more and more maids have been challenging their contracts in courts and coming out in the press with tales of exploitation in the world’s third most visited country.

Pepita Garcia Lupianez, who has worked for 40 years in the seaside resort of Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol, is one of the leaders of the fight despite enjoying better conditions than most.

She had a full-time contract and earns 1,300 euros ($1,400) per month, far above the minimum wage of 764.40 euros.

“I am almost ashamed when I meet with colleagues employed by subcontractors who have contracts of four to six hours

and work in reality eight or ten hours,” said Lupianez, 59, a representative with Spain’s biggest union, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO).

“Their employers tells them: ‘Until you have finished, you can’t leave!’”.

Lupianez took part in a protest in the southern city of Malaga Thursday against a reform of Spain’s labour code in 2012 which maids say has led to lower salaries.

The reform made firing workers easier and cheaper and weakened collective bargaining agreements.

Outsourcing of cleaning to less expensive firms has since become widespread.

“In numerous hotels directly-hired staff have been replaced” by employees of service firms, said Ernest Canada, the author of a book on hotel maids.

Maids who work for such firms are not governed by the collective labour agreement for housekeeping staff, but the

one for the cleaning sector, and are paid up to 40 percent less than their peers, according to the CCOO.

400 ROOMS PER MONTH “We say: ‘Enough exploitation!’, said Carolina Martin, a 46-year-old maid in the southwestern city of Seville who has filed a complaint against her previous employer.

“I earned just 700 euros to clean 400 rooms per month, they gave us more or less two euros per room we cleaned,” she said.

She now works 30 hours a week at a four star hotel in Seville, earning 618 euros a month.

The schedule leaves her in “constant stress” with no time to go to the bathroom during her shifts, she said.

The maids often win their legal battles. Of the 58 collective agreements which have been contested since May 2015, 46 have been annulled, according to Spain’s two

EX-MILITANT HELD IN SPAIN WANTED TO COMMIT SUICIDE ATTACK A FORMER anti-ETA militant arrested last week for allegedly disseminating jihadist propaganda had said he wanted to self-immolate in a bus, a court document revealed Friday.

Daniel Fernandez Acena, who served time in jail for the murder of a French railway worker in 1984 as part of the GAL death squads set up to fight ETA Basque separatists, was detained in Segovia near Madrid.

SELF-IMMOLATE In a document ordering that he be remanded in custody, a Madrid court said police had “detected continuous allusions to... ‘wanting to travel to Afghanistan’ and even his ‘intention to self-immolate in a bus in Segovia’.”

The court based this on phone taps on the suspect, whose social media activity was also closely followed by police before being arrested.

The document said he had “clear intentions to commit a terrorist act,” adding Fernandez Acena had converted to Islam after “abandoning his previous life of Western ‘sin’.”

“He displayed to various people his intention to commit a suicide attack in the name of a jihadist terrorist organisation,” it said.

However there was no mention of other, more concrete elements that would suggest the suspect was ready to act, such as buying weapons, explosives, or inflammable substances.

The interior ministry said Tuesday that Fernandez Acena had travelled “to war zones in Afghanistan, Syria and Palestine,” but this was not mentioned in the court document.

Questioned by a judge on Thursday, Fernandez Acena resorted to “his right to remain silent.”

The suspect was once part of the GAL - secret armed squads set up to fight ETA, which long waged a violent campaign for independence for the Basque Country.

The murder of Jean-Pierre Leiba, the French railway worker, was by mistake. He was killed in Hendaye in southwestern France while he was with three Basques.

The GAL - meaning Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups - were accused of 28 killings between 1983 and 1987, most of them in the French Basque region.

According to Spanish authorities, 173 alleged jihadists have been detained since 2015, when Spain increased its terror alert to four out of five.

largest unions, CCOO and the UGT. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government defends its reform of the labour code, crediting it with a drop in Spain’s jobless rate to below 20 percent from a record high 27 percent in 2013.

Spain’s hotel and retail sector accounted for nearly half of all jobs created this year, according to a study by Adecco, the world’s biggest temp agency.

But most new jobs are temporary. One in three Spaniards is employed on a fixed-term contract and the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday identified this large proportion of short-term contracts as a weakness.

It urged Spain to increase incentives for employers to award staff permanent contracts in a preliminary annual review of Spain’s economy.

CHANGE HOTEL STAR RANKING Maids on short-term contracts are becoming more and more common at hotels at PortAventura, one of the largest theme parks in Europe, near the northeastern city of Tarragona, said Esther Rodriguez, a maid who works there on a permanent contract.

They are “young girls, sometimes from Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, who earn 300 euros less than us,” the 54-year-old said.

The president of AC Hotels by Marriott, Antonio Catalan, made headlines last month when he publicly criticised the labour law reform and its impact on hotel maids.

“Today I can fire someone by paying them compensation equivalent to 20 days’ pay for each year worked and then start to outsource. This is what those who exploit maids do,” he told a business forum.

The Spanish hotel federation declined to comment on the issue.

Some maids are distributing fliers to hotel clients to explain their plight.

“It’s the best way to put pressure on hotel owners,” said Angela, 54, who was fired from a big hotel chain for refusing to be outsourced.

She is lobbying to ensure staff working conditions are taken into account when awarding a hotel star ranking, along with criteria such as bed size

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Avda del Sol, (Waterfront Hotel Sunset Beach, Benalmádena) C / de la Cruz 75 (Torremolinos) Avda de las Palmeras, 61 (Estepona) C / Josefina Samper, 2 (Estepona) Shopping Center Pier 1 (Málaga) TM Burger King Corporation. © 2015 Burger King Europe GmbH. All rights reserved.

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FORMER ANTIETA MILITANT TURNED IS BACKER HELD IN SPAIN

Five Catalans who burned photos of Spanish king released

A former member of Spain’s GAL death squads which targeted ETA separatists in the 1980s was arrested for allegedly disseminating propaganda for the Islamic State (IS) group, the interior ministry has confirmed

D

ANIEL Fernandez Acena had “served a sentence for the murder of French railway worker JeanPierre Leiba... in 1984 as part of the GAL armed group,” the ministry said in a statement, adding he was “considered very dangerous.”

Leiba was killed by mistake in Hendaye in southwestern France while he was with three Basques.

The attack was committed by the GAL - secret armed squads set up to fight ETA, which long campaigned for independence for the Basque Country.

The GAL - meaning Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups - were accused of 28 killings between 1983 and 1987, most of them in the French Basque region.

QUESTIONING The alleged jihadist was arrested on Tuesday in Segovia, northwest of Madrid.

Another man who lived in the same house as Fernandez Acena was also detained for questioning to establish whether he was linked to extremism or not, said a spokesman for the interior ministry.

According to the ministry, Fernandez Acena was born in Irun on the border with France, and had adopted ideas revolving around “religious extremism of a jihadist nature and was disseminating propaganda for Daesh,” an Arabic term for IS.

Daniel Fernández Aceña - www.elespanol.com

He was “determined to commit a terrorist attack,” it added.

The suspect had been under police surveillance, the ministry said, having travelled “to war zones in Afghanistan, Syria and Palestine where he expressed willingness to commit suicide attacks if he had the opportunity.”

According to Spanish authorities, 173 alleged jihadists have been detained since 2015, when Spain increased its terror alert to four out of five.

But unlike nearby France or Belgium, the country is less exposed to the return of nationals who went to fight abroad and plan to commit extremist acts on home soil.

Only around 200 Spaniards are estimated to have gone abroad to fight, compared to thousands from France and Belgium.

Five Catalan independence activists who were arrested for allegedly burning photos of King Felipe VI have been released from jail after refusing to answer a judge’s questions in the case. The pro-independence activists were being investigated for crimes against the crown after setting photographs of the Spanish monarch on fire on September 11, during a rally on Catalonia’s national day on September 11.

The suspects refused to testify by video-conference before Spain’s High Court saying it was their deliberate intention to disobey the judge because they did not feel they had committed a crime.

Prosecutors did not request any further legal measures against them be taken, and all five were released.

Since his June 2014 accession to the throne, a symbol of the unity of Spain and its diverse regions, Felipe has issued discreet calls for unity over Catalonia.

Catalans have nurtured a separate identity for centuries, with their own language and customs.

Their long-standing demands for greater autonomy have been exacerbated by Spain’s recent economic downturn, leaving many resenting the amount of taxes they pay to the central government in Madrid to subsidise poorer regions.

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DEBTS TAKE THEIR TOLL Pricey Toll roads run up debts in excess of €5 billion and Taxpayers are left to foot the bill The Spanish government who after two years of talks will be nationalising nine loss-marking privately managed tolls rolls in the New Year is set to burden the Spanish taxpayers with a colossal debt in excess of €5billion No official figures have been released yet but figures released in 2015 put the debt at €5.5billion Public Works Minister Íñigo de la Serna said he believed the roads could be made profitable in the long term and expressed the government’s decision to take over the struggling concessions was out of necessity to ensure the roads were kept open and because the state had acted as a guarantor when the private companies took out the bank loans.

It is believed the banks are still owed €3.4 billion.

The concessions which will be taken over are: The R-2, R-3, R-4 and R-5 ring roads that provide access to the radial routes out of Madrid to Barcelona, Valencia, Andalusia and Portugal, the M-12 link to Barajas airport, the AP-41 which connects Madrid with Toledo, the AP-36 a ring road round Alicante and part of the AP-7, between Cartagena and Vera.

COLOMBIA ASKS MADRID TO REMOVE NETFLIX ‘NARCOS’ BILLBOARD COLOMBIAN leader Juan Manuel Santos warned against praising late drug lord Pablo Escobar “as a hero” as Bogota asked Madrid authorities to remove a giant poster advertising the Netflix series “Narcos”.

Asked about the series produced by the US video on-demand website, which portrays Escobar as a loving family man and ruthless murderer, Santos told Spanish radio that it was a “very good” show.

“But we as Colombians lived through the Pablo Escobar tragedy and suffer from the memories” of a man who had thousands killed, he added.”Pablo Escobar was a murderer who doesn’t deserve to be praised as a hero under any circumstance.”

CONFLICT Santos was on a trip to Spain after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for negotiating a peace deal with Marxist FARC rebels and ending five decades of conflict.

The billboard features a close-up of a sombre-looking Wagner Moura, the actor who plays Escobar in the series, next to the caption “Oh white Christmas” in a thinly-veiled reference to the cocaine that the Colombian drug lord dealt in.

Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin has asked Madrid city hall and Netflix to remove the poster for the negative image it gives her country, a spokeswoman for the Colombian embassy said.

But a city hall spokeswoman said there were “no plans to remove it”, as the poster does not infringe on regulations on

outdoor advertising and the caption was subtle enough not to be seen as making an apology for drug use.

“Narcos” is one of Netflix’s star series and just one of the examples of the film and television world’s recent fascination with Escobar, a charismatic man who rose from middle-class obscurity to run a mighty cocaine cartel that earned him a fortune.

In 2014, Oscar-winning actor Benicio del Toro zeroed in on the more personal side of the cocaine scion in the film “Escobar: Paradise Lost”.

And more Escobar-related entertainment is on the way.

In a film called “American Made”, Tom Cruise will play the American pilot Barry Seal who worked for Escobar’s cartel.

Colombian actor John Leguizamo will have a go at playing Escobar in “El Patron” (The Boss).

And Spanish actor Javier Bardem and his wife Penelope Cruz will star in “Escobar”, based on the memoirs of a journalist named Virginia Vallejo - the drug lord’s mistress.

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Spain dismantles one of EU’s main hubs for fake goods

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“In some of the premises, investigators discovered the existence of secret warehouses hidden behind false walls, used by the criminals to conceal the newest illicit merchandise in case of a police intervention,” said Europol.

UTHORITIES in Spain have dismantled one of the European Union’s main hubs for counterfeit goods, arresting 71 people and seizing close to 270,000 fake watches, jewellery and other goods, as confirmed by police and Europol.

The international gang that acquired and sold the counterfeit products operated in and around La Jonquera in northeastern Spain, a town close to the French border known for its brothels and supermarkets selling low cost alcohol and tobacco.

BLACK SPOT

VIOLATIONS Spanish police told reporters the products seized were worth over eight million euros at market prices - “the biggest (operation) ever conducted in Spain” against violations of intellectual property (IP).

In a statement, European police agency Europol, which assisted Spanish forces in the operation, said they had dismantled a “main European Union hub” for the distribution of

counterfeit goods.

Police staged the operation on November 29 when they made the arrests and inspected more than 40 premises, seizing clothes, shoes, sunglasses, watches, jewellery, leather goods and other products.

FROM HEROIC, DISTRAUGHT FATHER TO ALLEGED FRAUDSTER A WEEK ago Fernando Blanco was a heroic Spanish father who raised over 900,000 euros for his sick daughter, but in a turn of fate he is now behind bars, as an alleged fraudster accused of spending much of that cash on himself.

A judge in the northeastern region of Catalonia has remanded him in custody and stripped his wife of custody of their child for “alleged fraud with regards to the demand for money they made for treatment for their daughter”, a court spokeswoman said.

LIFE-THREATENING The case of the young Nadia Nerea, who suffers from a rare, potentially life-threatening genetic disorder, had moved the country after Blanco went from one media outlet to another to publicise her case, saying a pioneering operation in Houston in the United States could save her life.

Police said on Friday in a statement that her parents had raised 918,000 euros ($969,000) for Nadia’s treatment, but spent close to 600,000 euros of that on other things.

Blanco’s story was tragic: the doctors had told him his daughter would die from trichothiodystrophy, which in mild cases only gives patients brittle hair but when

severe causes delayed development, intellectual disability, and recurrent infections that can lead to death at an early age.

He would not give in, though, and said he had travelled all over the world, contacted the best specialists, including an eminent geneticist who lived in a cave in Afghanistan.

But this week, the Spanish media outlets El Pais and Hipertextual cast serious doubt on the story.

They said there was no proof of his travels, the hospital in Houston didn’t exist, nor did the alleged pioneering treatment, and Edward Brown, the supposed genetics specialist who conceived it, did not appear in any registry.

Following the allegations a judge launched a probe for alleged fraud which has resulted in police detaineing Blanco after he fled a police check near the border with France.

He had on him 1,450 euros in cash, two watches, various electronic devices and a blank firing gun, police said.

Police also raided the family home in the small mountainous village of Figols d’Organya, where they found some 30 luxury watches worth 50,000 euros, three tablet computers, high-end mobiles and marijuana.

The majority of those detained were Israeli or Moroccan.

Chris Vansteenkiste, head of counterfeiting at Europol, said the region was “one of the black spots in the European Union” for this type of offence, along with the border between the Czech Republic and Germany.

The gang “also used a sophisticated network of fictitious companies and front men to launder the proceeds of their criminal activities, which are thought to have exceeded nine million euros”, Europol said.

Many of the products were imported from abroad, in particular China, Portugal and Turkey.

Other products, mainly leather goods and belts, were counterfeited directly in Spain.

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SPAIN TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE BY 8% IN 2017 SPAIN’S minority conservative government has approved raising the country’s minimum monthly wage by 8.0 percent in 2017 to 825.5 euros ($876) as demanded by the main opposition Socialists.

Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro said the rise approved at a weekly cabinet meeting - was “negotiated with other political groups”.

The minimum wage will rise from 764.4 euros to 825.5 euros, an increase of 61.1 euros.

That is higher than the monthly minimum wage of 618 euros in neighbouring Portugal but far lower than the minimum wage of 1,467 euros in France.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was sworn in for a second term last month but this time around his Popular Party lacks a majority in parliament and needs to scrabble for approval from other opposition parties further to the left to win approval in parliament for legislation.

The Socialists had demanded a rise in the minimum wage to back the government’s budget for 2017, which will need to include measures to reduce public deficit targets agreed with the European Union.

“We secured from the government a rise (in the minimum wage) of eight percent,” Socialist party spokesman Rafael Hernando told reporters, adding “this increase is the largest in 30 years”.

Hernando said the rise was an “indispensible condition” for the party’s support for the 2017 budget.

Spain has agreed with Brussels to reduce its budget shortfall to 3.1 percent in 2017 from 4.6 percent this year.

Spain’s two biggest unions, the UGT and CCOO, welcomed the increase but said it was “insufficient”.

Over 5.5 million Spaniards earn the monthly minimum wage, or an even lower salary, and “struggle to make ends meet”, they said in a joint statement.

Spanish court annuls Airbnb fine A SPANISH court has annulled a fine of 30,000 euros ($32,000) imposed by the regional government of Catalonia on Airbnb for advertising lodgings that did not have permits to host tourists.

The Barcelona court justified its decision in a ruling dated November 29 which was released by the home rentals website on the grounds that there is a legal vacuum regarding the regulation of the “sharing economy” in Spain.

“The regulation of this new phenomenon of consumption has been left orphaned... and this can’t be substituted by imposing a fine,” the court said in its ruling after hearing Airbnb’s appeal.

It is the first time that a fine against Airbnb has been overturned by a Spanish court.

Catalonia, home to the seaside city of Barcelona, slapped Airbnb with the fine in July 2014 for breaching local laws requiring any flat or house rented to tourists to be registered with the region’s tourism authority.

The region tightened its rules on hospitality in 2012, saying this was needed to better control the quality of services on offer.

San Francisco-based Airbnb welcomed the court ruling, saying it was “key” to solving its legal issues in Catalonia.

“Airbnb is part of the solution in Barcelona and we want to work with leaders on clear, fair rules for home sharing. We hope this ruling will kickstart a new conversation on how we can work together,” it said in a statement.

Barcelona city hall (above), led by a former anti-evictions activist, last month fined Airbnb and its rival HomeAway 600,000 euros ($635,000) each for marketing lodgings that lacked proper tourist permits.

Airbnb, which lets homeowners share their homes for a fee by marketing them online, has become a popular alternative to hotels and mirrors consumers’ growing reliance on online sharing services in other areas such as transport, including cars.

Catalonia has figured prominently in its growth, with Barcelona consistently ranking as one of the site’s largest markets.

But the company has recently faced mounting criticism from some quarters that it exacerbates housing shortages and squeezes the long-term rental sector.

At the same time, several cities are exasperated by what is regarded as a service which appears to lack the legal and tax constraints of commercial enterprises.

New York, Miami and Berlin are just some of the other cities that have cracked down.

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ABOUR Minister Fatima Banez (above) has vowed to seek a “national pact” to bring Spain’s working day into line with the rest of Europe and make it easier to achieve a work-life balance.

“We want our workdays to finish at six o’clock and to achieve this we will work towards striking a deal with representatives from both companies and trade unions,” she told parliament.

While working hours in Spain vary greatly, a typical day runs from 9 am until 7 pm or 8 pm - or even later - with a late afternoon lunch break lasting up to two hours.

The long midday break was used in the past by many Spaniards to go home for lunch followed by a short nap, or siesta.

But surveys suggest that, at least in cities, people live so far from their offices that few

Spain seeks to shorten its long work day Spain wants to put an end to its distinctive and gruelling work day which hurts productivity - and it may move the country’s clocks back by one hour to the same time zone as London’s to do so. have the time to head home for a snooze.

This schedule means many Spanish workers return from lunch at around 5 pm - when their counterparts in Germany and other northern European countries are already preparing to go home for the day.

To cater to after-work shoppers small grocery stores stay open until 9 pm, dinner is served late and popular prime-time television shows run until midnight.

This means one in four Spaniards goes to

bed after midnight, according to the Sociological Research Centre (CIS).

FRANCO CHANGED CLOCKS Since Spaniards sleep less than their European counterparts they are less concentrated at work, not as productive and have more accidents, said professor Nuria Chinchilla, director of the International Centre for Work and Family at Spain’s IESE Business School.

CHINA’S WANDA SELLS HISTORIC MADRID BUILDING CHINA’S property-to-entertainment conglomerate Wanda has confirmed it will sell a landmark building in Madrid for 272 million euros ($284 million), due to political and market uncertainties in Spain.

The 25-storey building, once the tallest in Spain at 117 metres (384 feet), will be sold to Spanish property developer Baraka Global Investment, a statement released from Wanda’s Hong Kong-listed hospitality arm said.

The disposal was due to “the market and political environment in Spain and the resulting uncertainties on the... development potential of the Madrid property project,” Wanda Hotel Development Co. said in the statement.

Wanda bought the historic Edificio Espana, completed in the 1950s under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, in June 2014 for 265 million euros ($277 million).

But its plans to develop the property into a hotel and shopping centre have encountered hurdles from the local government.

Madrid’s new anti-austerity mayor Manuela Carmena has put investors on edge by vowing to sternly scrutinise big building projects approved by the former conservative council.

According to Spanish reports, city authorities refused to let Wanda,

which has been on a high-profile overseas acquisition spree in recent years, demolish the building’s facade before reconstructing it.

The company, owned by China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, burst into the international spotlight in 2012 by buying US cinema chain AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion.

Wang owns more than 200 malls, shopping complexes and luxury hotels across China.

Their schedules also take a toll on family life, added Chinchilla, a member of the National Commission for the Rationalisation of Spanish Schedules, a non-profit group campaigning to change work hours.

“We don’t have enough children or energy to help them,” she said, in a reference to Spain’s low birthrate - the second lowest in the European Union - and the high school dropout rate.

Contrary to popular belief, cultural norms are not responsible for Spain’s quirky rhythms, said Jos Collin, a Belgian entrepreneur who carried out a study on the issue for the commission which he presented to parliament.

Instead they began in the aftermath of Spain’s 1936-39 Civil War when many people were forced to work two jobs to make ends meet - an official job until 3 pm and another in the afternoon, he added.

During the 1930s Spaniards ate lunch earlier, at 1 pm, and had dinner at 7:30 pm, according to Jose Luis Casero, a businessman and the president of the National Commission for the Rationalisation of Spanish Schedules.

Then General Francisco Franco in 1940 moved Spain onto Central European Time, in line with Berlin and central Europe, from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

That means Madrid is an hour ahead of London even though it is roughly in the same band of longitude yet it shares the same time as Warsaw some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) further to the east.

As a result the sun appears to rise and set later in Spain, which affects people’s habits.

WORK HABITS CHANGING Banez said the government would study the impact of moving Spain back to GMT, a move neighbouring Portugal did after it concluded that four years on Central European Time in the 1990s resulted in a sleepier populace and higher electricity bills.

Work habits have already started to change in big companies.

“The tendency to stay until 9 pm and then have a drink with the boss in the hope of securing professional advancement no longer exists,” said the human resources director at Banca March, Anselmo Martin-Penasco.

Two years ago the family-run merchant bank made working hours more flexible for its 1,200 workers to improve the work-life balance.

While there is a consensus on the need to change work schedules, the different sides disagree about how to go about it.

Spanish business association CEOE has warned against imposing a uniform work schedule saying this would hurt companies’ competitiveness while the UGT union fears ordering the work day to end at 6 pm will just lead to a rise in overtime hours.

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Spanish seek to recover properties seized in Cuban revolution When Arturo Gonzalez’s father fled Cuba half a century ago all he could take with him on the flight to Madrid was a suitcase with his clothes - and his glasses.

M

ILITIAMEN ordered him to strip at the airport before confiscating his watch, ring and all other valuables, Gonzalez said.

“It was total humiliation,” he said. “Everything of value went to the revolution.”

It was 1964 and by then the new communist government of Fidel Castro had already confiscated all of the family’s property, including a farm in the eastern province of Las Tunas and several warehouses in Havana.

Gonzalez’s father died in 1981. Now Gonzalez, a 58-year-old business professor who left Cuba when he was a baby, and his sister are trying to get the property back or, at least, be compensated for the loss.

They are one of 260 Spanish families who lost properties in Cuba after Castro took power in 1959 whose claims for compensation are being represented by the 1898 Company, an investment fund.

The firm, set up in 2001, is in talks to represent over 400 other Spanish families as well.

The claimants see no chance of success as long as Cuba remains firmly in the grips of the repressive political system installed by Castro, who died last month at the age of 90.

But they believe the regime will eventually collapse and they will then be able to press their claims with a new democratic government that will be eager to settle the issue as it seeks much-needed foreign investment.

NEW SCENARIO Castro in 2008 handed over the reins to his 85-year-old brother Raul, who has said he will step aside in 2018. Many analysts question if the regime will be able to survive his retirement or death.

“When the regime will end we don’t know but the process has started,” said Jordi Cabarrocas, the founder and head of the 1898 Company.

“A new system that comes after a dictatorship needs to create a new scenario to draw investment. Returning seized property will reassure anyone who invests in Cuba that their property will be respected.”

The firm analysed 40 other similar cases in other nations such as in Eastern Europe over the past century and 90 percent of the time seized assets were recovered, Cabarrocas said.

Families that sign up with the 1898 Company do not pay any fees but the firm will keep 30 percent of whatever it recovers for its clients.

For now the company is helping its clients prove they owned properties in Cuba to be ready when the opportunity arises to press

their claims.

While four hundred years of Spanish colonial rule ended in Cuba in 1898, Spaniards continued to predominate among the island’s wealthy landowners and shop owners at the time of the revolution.

“The Spanish were a prosperous community. They monopolised the retail sector,” said Consuelo Naranjo Orovio, a historian with the Spanish National Research Council.

No official estimate exists for the total value of assets seized from Spanish families.

Cabarrocas calculates the farms, warehouses and other assets seized from his company’s clients would be worth about $2.5 billion (2.34 billion euros) now.

THE HOUSE IS YOURS Madrid and Havana signed an agreement in 1986 in which Cuba agreed to pay $40 million in compensation for some seized assets - one-third in cash and the rest in goods like tobacco.

Richard Feinberg, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a veteran of posts in the White House who has written extensively about Cuba, said “such an accord normally closes the door on any future claimants”.

“It would require an extraordinary series of events for Spanish property claimants to have another bite at the apple,” he said, but the 1898 Company argues the 1986 agreement was not a final settlement.

The Spanish Supreme Court has since ruled that even those who received some partial compensation under that agreement did not give up their rights to seek further reparation under international law, it adds.

Many claimants say their main motivation is to seek justice for their families, not financial gain since they know seized properties are in bad shape or occupied by others now.

KICKING OUT Jose Manuel Presol, who is seeking to recover the Havana apartment where he grew up, said he has no interest in kicking out the family that likely lives there now if he were to win the flat back.

The 63-year-old retired economist was born in Havana but came to Spain when his parents were expelled from Cuba in 1967 when he was 15.

“I would tell them: ‘Look I ask you for one thing. Let me catch a breeze on the veranda once in a while so I can recall my childhood. The house is yours’,” he said as his eyes welled with tears.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 27

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WEEKEND WORLD - 29

INTERNATIONAL LOCAL AND REST NEWS OF SPAIN NEWS

SPANISH COURT SUSPENDS CATALONIA INDEPENDENCE VOTE

S

EPARATISTS in the wealthy, northeastern region have for years tried - in vain - to win approval from Spain’s central government to hold an independence vote like Scotland’s 2014 referendum on independence from Britain which resulted in a “no” vote.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont (right) pledged in the autumn to hold such a referendum in September 2017, whether or not the central government in Madrid agreed, and the majority-separatist, regional parliament subsequently approved his plan.

DODGE SUSPENSION The court said in a statement it “suspends... the resolution of Catalonia’s parliament that plans a referendum in 2017”.

It also warned Catalan politicians involved in the process, such as parliament speaker Carme Forcadell and Puigdemont, that they

Spain’s Constitutional Court has suspended a resolution by Catalonia’s regional parliament that called a referendum next year on independence from the rest of the country. had a duty to “stop or paralyse” any move to ignore or dodge the suspension, or face “potential liabilities, including at a penal level”.

Catalonia’s former president Artur Mas had already tried to hold such a referendum, but it was banned by the Constitutional Court so he held a symbolic, non-binding independence vote instead in November 2014.

More than 80 percent cast their ballot in favour of independence then - although just 2.3 million people out of a total of 6.3 million eligible voters took part.

But Mas is now due to stand trial for staging

y r r e M hristmfroams C

the vote on charges of serious disobedience and malfeasance, and risks a 10-year ban on holding public office.

In this latest attempt, the Constitutional Court has five months to decide whether to implement the suspension for good, or lift it.

But it is highly unlikely to allow the vote to go ahead, given that it ruled in 2014 that, under the constitution, no region can unilaterally call an independence referendum that will affect the entire country. Catalans have nurtured a separate identity for centuries, with their own language and customs.

Their long-standing demands for greater autonomy have been exacerbated by Spain’s recent economic downturn, leaving many resenting the amount of taxes they pay to the central government in Madrid to subsidise poorer regions.

Calls for outright independence have increased in recent years, and polls show Catalonia, which accounts for almost a fifth of Spanish economic output, is roughly divided in half over splitting from Spain.

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

30 - WEEKEND WORLD

LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

NEED TO CONFESS Spanish police SINS? New app in Spain arrest 200 Chinese in telephone fraud scam finds nearest priest CATHOLICS seeking to confess their sins to a priest in Spain can now turn to a new app to find the nearest available cleric.

Confesor GO detects a user’s location and shows the location of priests around them who are ready to listen to their sins as well as the shortest route to get to him.

It also provides basic information about the priest, including his name, date of birth and the year he was ordained as well as a list of the Ten Commandments.

“The priest may be in a confessional in a church or some place down the street or at a park in your city,” reads the description of the app on Apple’s iTunes store.

The app launched on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a national holiday in Spain which celebrates the belief that the Virgin Mary was conceived without sin.

A beta version has been downloaded several thousand times since it was made available to the public in late September.

The bishop of the northern city of San Sebastian, Jose Ignacio Munilla, is one of around 100 clerics across Spain who have so far signed up to use the app to signal when they are available to hear confession, which usually involves admitting sins to a priest in a confessional booth.

Father Ricardo Latorre, who came up with

S

PANISH police have arrested more than 200 Chinese nationals suspected of running call centres from luxury villas that swindled over 16 million euros ($17 million) from their compatriots in China, officers confirm.

“We are talking about thousands of Chinese citizens, mainly poor families who were robbed of their modest savings and which led some victims to commit suicide,” national police commissioner Eloy Quiros told a news conference.

the app, said he hopes the service will become available in other Spanish-speaking nations in Latin America next year.

“It has generated a great deal of interest and there are many priests from these countries that ask to join. What happens is things take time and it is impossible to do it faster,” he told Catholic news website Verdad en Libertad earlier this year.

While Catholicism remains deeply embedded in Spanish culture, regular church attendance in Spain, like elsewhere in Europe, has steadily fallen.

The majority of Spaniards, 59.3 percent, say they “almost never” attend mass, according to a survey published Monday by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS). Just 15 percent said they went every week.

NEIGHBOURS The gang would allegedly contact people by telephone in China, pretending to be neighbours, friends or family members and warned them of fraud scams.

In later calls member of the gang would pretend to be police investigating the scams and would convince victims to deposit money in bank accounts run by the ring to help the authorities in their investigation.

Police said they dismantled 13 call centres run out of large houses in upscale neighbourhoods around Madrid and the eastern cities of Barcelona and Alicante.

“In each call centre a large number of operators would work - in some cases up to 50 in the same building in great secrecy, without interruption and rest,” police said in a statement.

Over 600 officers took part in the operation carried out on Tuesday in cooperation with Chinese authorities, who alerted Spanish police in July that many Chinese nationals were falling victim to scam telephone calls made from Spain.

Police said all of the suspects who were detained were Chinese nationals who arrived in Spain as tourists and then stayed in the country.

Chinese immigrants make up the fifth biggest foreign community in Spain with almost 170,000 people as of 2015, according to the national statistics institute.

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LOCAL AND RESTNEWS OF SPAIN NEWS INTERNATIONAL

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 33

INTERNATIONAL NEWS INTERNATIONALNEWS

Van Gogh ‘lost’ sketches publisher threatens legal action

T

HE threat follows the publication in six countries last month of “Vincent Van Gogh, the fog of Arles: the rediscovered sketchbook” in which sketches apparently from the artist’s legendary stay in the southern French city are reproduced.

The Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, however, has dismissed the sketches as fakes triggering a war of words with publishing house Le Seuil.

Le Seuil “intends to obtain compensation for the damage they have suffered as a result of an insidious and unfounded campaign” on the part of the Van Gogh Museum, the publisher said in a statement, without elaborating on the exact legal action they intended to take.

The owner of the sketches, who is said to have had them in her possession for 60 years, is also threatening legal action.

In a statement, the art expert Franck Baille, who was involved in the discovery, added that the owner, who has not been publicly identified, “reserved the right to undertake any appropriate action to repair the damage caused by these claims that describe her as a forgerer”.

The French publishers of a book of “lost” Vincent Van Gogh sketches is threatening legal action against a Dutch museum that has questioned the authenticity of the works.

DEBATE RULED OUT Canadian art historian Bogomila WelshOvcharov, who authored the book and is the main expert behind the find, has accused the Amsterdam museum of basing its verdict on photographs of the drawings rather than properly examining 10 originals which

she brought to them.

And in a point-by-point rebuttal of the museum’s damning assessment of the sketch-

book, the experts backing the find have also questioned its “monopoly” on deciding what is and is not by Van Gogh.

Le Seuil has also accused the Van Gogh Museum of twice rejecting work it later accepted as the artist’s.

Australian researcher Felicity Strong of the University of Melbourne told AFP last month “the Van Gogh Museum has been wrong in the past.

“Their unveiling of a long-lost painting ‘Sunset at Montmajour’ was examined by curators at the museum at least twice before they reassessed it in 2012 and changed their minds,” she said.

The museum has ruled out a public debate on the authenticity of the sketches, saying it has sought answers directly from the publisher and that an open debate would not be useful.

“We will need to have all the hard facts first,” it said on November 29.

“We therefore call on the publisher and the author to provide a clear and open response to all our comments, to all the issues in need of clarification and to the questions raised,” it said.

“Until they have, we see no point in a scholarly debate and our contribution to the discussion ends here: we will no longer respond to further questions.”

ERDOGAN OPENS FIRST ROAD TUNNEL UNDER ISTANBUL’S BOSPHORUS President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opened the first ever road tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul from Europe to Asia, the latest project in his plan of transforming Turkey’s infrastructure.

The opening ceremony - which brought together Turkey’s entire ruling elite - went ahead as planned despite the shock assassination of the Russian ambassador to Ankara by a Turkish policeman earlier this week.

Turkey in October 2013 opened the Marmaray rail tunnel underneath the iconic waterway, the first link beneath the waters that divide Europe and Asia.

But the new Avrasya (Eurasia) Tunnel is the

first tunnel for cars underneath the Bosphorus and aims to relieve congestion in the traffic-clogged Turkish megacity.

Erdogan, after cutting the ceremonial ribbon, joined a vast cortege of vehicles making the first undersea car journey between the two continents.

‘WON’T DIVIDE THIS NATION’ The assassination of Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov on Monday was just the latest in a string of shocking acts of violence in Turkey this year.

But Erdogan vowed that his ambitions will not be derailed by the failed July 15 coup

and the swathe of terror attacks Turkey has suffered in 2016.

“Subject us to as much terror as you want, bring in as many villains but you will never be able to divide this nation,” he told thousands at the opening ceremony.

The tunnel required an investment of $1.2 billion (1.15 billion euros), including loans of $960 million, and will reduce driving time for the route from up to 2 hours to just 15 minutes.

It was built by a consortium consisting of private Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi and South Korea’s SK Group.

The project comprises a 5.4 kilometre (3.5 mile) tunnel, with the portion beneath the

Bosphorus 3.4 kilometres long.

The two-storey tunnel was built with a special tunnel boring machine which had a daily progress speed of 8-10 metres (26-32 feet) on average.

With Istanbul lying on an active seismic zone, the tunnel has been designed to withstand a 7.5 magnitude earthquake.

“Praise be that we part of a country and a city that connects two continents,” said Erdogan.

Erdogan said a trip through the tunnel would cost 15 lira ($4.25) until the end of the year, with all the revenues until then going to families of victims of the coup and those who helped defeat it.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS INTERNATIONALNEWS

Britain, Argentina agree on identifying Falklands war dead BRITAIN and Argentina have signed an agreement to exhume and identify 123 Argentine soldiers buried on the Falkland Islands following mediation by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the British government said.

Graves at the Argentine memorial cemetery on East Falkland Island, known in Spanish as Isla Soledad, carry the inscription: “Soldier only known to God”.

After meeting Argentine Deputy Foreign Minister Pedro Villagra Delgado in London on Tuesday, foreign office junior minister Alan Duncan tweeted: “Pleased to sign ICRC mandate... to identify Argentine soldiers”.

The soldiers died in the 1982 war over the islands between Britain and Argentina - a conflict which killed a total of 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders.

The war over the islands, known as Las Malvinas in Spanish, began after Argentine forces occupied them.

Argentina argues it inherited the windswept islands from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century.

But Britain says it has historically ruled them and that the 3,000 islanders have the right to self-determination.

In a 2013 referendum, residents voted overwhelmingly to remain part of Britain.

Galileo, Europe’s own satnav system, goes live A LONG-delayed European satellite navigation system has gone live with promises that it will outperform US and Russian rivals while boosting regional technology and innovation.

On launch day EU Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said in a statement “Today Galileo, the most accurate satellite navigation system in the world, becomes a reality.”

Galileo launches as people have become increasingly reliant on geo-localisation for anything from finding pharmacies or the shortest holiday route to tracing parked cars or lost Alzheimer’s patients.

With 18 satellites in place so far, Galileo’s signal will underperform at first, boosted by satellites in the American GPS system.

But it will grow stronger and more independent over time as satellites are added to the network circling 23,222 kilometres (14,430 miles) above Earth.

Its creators, the EU’s commission and European Space Agency, said Galileo should be fully operational by 2020, providing time and positioning data of unprecedented accuracy.

Named after Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the project was first approved with an initial budget of around three bil-

“Information is not knowledge.The only source of knowledge is experience”

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lion euros and plans to be operational by 2008.

It suffered several technical and budgetary setbacks, including the launch of two satellites into the wrong orbit in 2014.

Its total cost until 2020 is now calculated at about 10 billion euros ($11 billion).

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WEEKEND WORLD - 35

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 37

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

2016, the beginning of the end of a rock era

LIKE JAZZ IN ANOTHER TIME It is obviously coincidence that so many artists died in quick succession. But there is also a precedent - the 1980s and early 1990s, when towering figures in jazz were dying.

In a loose parallel to Dylan’s Nobel prize and the establishment recognition it represents, the US Congress in 1987 designated jazz as “an American national treasure.”

Lawmakers at the time were hoping to step up education and historical preservation of jazz - a process well under way for rock, with Dylan earlier in 2016 announcing that his archive would go to the University of Tulsa, alongside papers of his Oklahoma-born inspiration Woody Guthrie.

Like with jazz in the late 20th century, the deaths in 2016 come at a time when music purists fret that the future will have fewer cohesive albums of the type of Bowie’s final work, “Blackstar.”

The year 2016 began with David Bowie releasing one of the most acclaimed albums of his vast career, a sign of new creative energy from the rock legend. Two days later, he was dead, from an undisclosed battle with cancer.

David Bowie

Prince

The top stars who died in 2016 consciously made music away from the spotlight.

Bowie lived with his family in a New York penthouse and was rarely seen, Cohen retreated to Los Angeles where he spent time in a Buddhist monastery and the prolific Prince secluded himself in his Paisley Park complex in Minnesota.

For Bowie and Prince, “basically for the last couple of decades, they either were in isolation or at least had autonomy over what they were doing,” said Theo Cateforis, an associate professor of music history and cultures at Syracuse University.

“And that seems unusual for a newer artist who has such accessibility and is expected to have a Twitter feed and be in some sort of constant engagement,” he said.

“Their passing allows us to reflect on what careers were like in previous eras - and that that kind of artist may be less and less frequent in the future.”

LASTING INFLUENCES But many of the musical innovations of Bowie and Prince live on. Both recognized the importance of a visual component to their music and embraced MTV in its infancy.

Leonard Cohen

Bob Dylan

Prince and Bowie both became well-known for their collaborations. Kanye West may be the closest contemporary parallel, Cateforis said, with the rapper pursuing his vision by bringing in other musicians.

Among their most lasting legacies, Bowie and Prince were both fluid in their conceptions of masculinity. Each at least suggested an openness to gay relationships and designed outlandish outfits that smashed through gender barriers.

“These two men kind of gave masculinity a gift,” said Rob Lindley, a theater director and actor who recently co-staged a joint concert of Bowie and Prince music at the Chicago Humanities Festival.

“They said it’s okay - you can wear heels and mascara and still be a dude, and there is something really rebellious and rock ‘n’ roll and beautiful about that, and nobody was doing it before them,” he said.

Lindley, 43, said that when he was growing up, he would hear the phrase “gone too soon” and think of earlier times and the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday at young ages.

“Then all of a sudden it becomes your music,” he said. “It’s getting personal now.”

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HREE months after that, another pop icon, Prince who had covered Bowie’s classic “Heroes” at one of his final concerts - also died, succumbing to an accidental overdose of painkillers despite his outward signs of vigor.

By late 2016, Leonard Cohen put out an album ominously entitled “You Want It Darker” - and the storied songwriter and poet, who spent his life reflecting on spirituality and mortality, passed away within weeks.

The past year - so momentous on the political front - also marks a symbolic turning point for rock, with a generation of musical elders starting to exit the stage.

The year culminated with another milestone - the Nobel Committee for Literature endorsed rock as part of the literary canon, selecting music icon Bob Dylan as this year’s laureate and hailing his “new poetic expressions.”

The sense of a rock era’s passing could also be felt in California in October with Desert Trip, a new music festival that is likely to go down as the most profitable in history.

Some 150,000 fans, disproportionately older, came out to hear six top rock acts including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Dylan - with a subtext that it was unclear for how much longer the septuagenarian greats would be playing.

Other major musicians who died in 2016 included: Maurice White, founder of funk all-stars Earth, Wind and Fire; Eagles frontman Glenn Frey; country icon Merle Haggard; two-thirds of the prog-rock trio Emerson, Lake and Palmer (only Carl Palmer is left); Jefferson Airplane co-founder Paul Kantner; and Phife Dawg of hip-hop groundbreakers A Tribe Called Quest.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

38 - WEEKEND WORLD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

FRENCH COURT UPHOLDS VERDICT IN PICASSO-INTHE-GARAGE CASE A FRENCH court has upheld the two-year suspended sentences of Pablo Picasso’s former electrician and his wife, who kept 271 of his artworks stashed in their garage for almost 40 years.

Pierre Le Guennec and his wife (right) were convicted last year of possessing stolen goods for hiding the works from Picasso’s heirs.

At his original trial Le Guennec, who is in his late seventies, claimed that Picasso had presented him with the artworks towards the end of his life to reward him for his loyal service.

But he later changed his account, telling the appeal court that the works were part of a huge trove of art that Picasso’s widow asked him to conceal after the artist’s death in 1973.

He claimed that Jacqueline Picasso later retrieved most of the works but left him a bag containing 180 single pieces and a notebook containing 91 drawings as a gift.

The collection, whose value has not been assessed, includes drawings of women and horses, nine rare Cubist collages from the time Picasso was working with fellow French artist Georges Braque and a work from his “blue period”.

Other more intimate works include portraits of Picasso’s mistress Fernande, drawings of his first wife Olga and a drawing of a horse for his children.

French authorities seized them after Le Guennec presented them to Picasso’s son Claude Ruiz-Picasso in 2010 to try get them authenticated.

Ruiz-Picasso, who represents the artist’s six heirs, subsequently pressed charge.

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EU launches legal action against Germany over VW

T

HE European Commission has launched legal action against authorities in seven EU nations including Germany and Britain for failing to crack down on emissions cheating exposed by the Volkswagen “Dieselgate” scandal.

The commission, the EU’s executive arm, “is today acting against seven member states on the grounds that they have failed to fulfil their obligations” under EU law, said a statement.

The Dieselgate scandal blew open when Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 that it installed software in 11 million cars worldwide that reduced emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides when it detected the vehicle was undergoing tests.

Brussels drew sharp criticism for failing to act against Volkswagen compared to the US, where authorities not only exposed the wrongdoing, but secured a $16.5-billion (14.8-billion-euro) settlement from the Germany-based automaker.

But the Commission lacks the authority to fight Volkswagen. Day-to-day regulation of the auto sector, including approving new car models for the road, remains under the authority of national governments.

“Abiding by the law is first and foremost the duty of car manufacturers. But national authorities across the EU must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the

law,” said EU Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska.

The commission’s so-called infringement procedure is the first step in a long legal process that can see member states sent to EU court for breaking European law.

Germany, the bloc’s most powerful nation, is accused of failing to apply the appropriate penalities when faced with proof of cheating

by Volkswagen.

The commission also accuses Germany, along with Britain, of not turning over to Brussels evidence found in national probes of Dieselgate.

Other countries facing the EU’s infringement action are the Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain.

The Dieselgate scandal exposed that some VW cars spewed out up to 40 times more harmful nitrogen oxide - linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases - than legally allowed in the EU. The European Environment Agency said in a 2015 report that nitrogen oxide was responsible for around 72,000 premature deaths in Europe.

Still, one year after the scandal, nearly 30 million cars on Europe’s roads were still way over air pollution limits, campaign group Transport and Environment said in a report in September.

French museum employee sold stolen fossils online

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A FRENCH employee at the Orleans museum of natural history was found guilty and handed a three-month suspended sentence for stealing hundreds of stones and fossils dating back to the Neolithic era and selling them on eBay. The man was sacked on November 14, after being detained for the theft of 666 archaeological treasures from the museum in the city of Orleans, which is located to the south of Paris.

The 56-year-old museum employee had been a civil servant working for the city of Orleans for 28 years.

The stolen stones and fossils were all part of a collection donated to the museum in 1983.

Most of the items came from Mauritania.

Investigators found 364 items at the employee’s home. Another 100 were returned by their buyers - after they purchased them on eBay for 10 to 20 euros each.

The elaborate scheme was discovered thanks to one of the buyers, who was keen to find out whether the pieces were authentic.

Museum staff had noticed that parts of the collection had gone missing, and were able to identify the thief after the buyer contacted them.

The museum has been shut for renovation since August 2015.

The man admitted his guilt, and told the judges that his “financial situation had become catastrophic” ever since his divorce in 2013.

“I couldn’t pay off my debts to the bank. I panicked at the thought of finding myself living on the streets, and of never seeing my children again. I lost my head,” he said.

While the museum had asked for 10,000 euros ($10,400) damages, the court ordered the employee to pay a symbolic sum of just one euro.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 39

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

G

REEK lawmakers have approved a pension handout that has set the country on a collision course with hard-line European creditors who accuse the struggling Eurozone member of defiance.

A total of 196 lawmakers out of 257 present from across the party divide approved the bill deepening a row that has also brought simmering EU disputes over austerity to the fore.

The handout measure, announced by under-pressure leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last week, earmarks 617 million euros ($656 million) for a one-off payment to poor pensioners.

Athens says the pension handout will come out of a one-billion-euro tax surplus, but European creditors on Thursday said the Greek move raised “significant concerns on both process and substance” regarding the country’s bailout obligations.

NO ‘BLACKMAIL’ In the joint statement, representatives from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the European rescue fund said they would now decide whether to uphold a Euro group decision granting Greece short-term debt relief earlier this month.

Tsipras said as he arrived for an EU summit in Brussels that the situation had to be resolved “without blackmail” on the part of Greece’s creditors.

“I believe that we can have a breakthrough without blackmail and with respect of the sovereignty of each country,” said the leftist leader, who fought with his European peers to within an inch of taking Greece out of the euro last year.

Germany “is the only country, the only Eurozone finance ministry, that raises an issue,” he told reporters, adding that halting the debt relief “is outside the borders of reason.”

After the EU summit Merkel said “a critical discussion has already begun” on the matter, but insisted “it is not my intention to negotiate with Greece about the Greek package”

GREECE APPROVES PENSION HANDOUT DEFYING EUROZONE leaving that to the finance ministers.

France weighed into the debate with uncharacteristic force, led by President Francois Hollande who insisted that Greece be “treated with dignity” in the ongoing dispute.

A spokesman for Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Wednesday said the Eurozone was suspending the recentlyannounced debt relief scheme for Athens in retaliation at not being fully briefed on Tsipras’s handout plans - which also include a lower sales tax for Greek islands sheltering migrants.

The actions “of the Greek government appear to not be in line with our agreements,” said the spokesman for Dijsselbloem, who heads the 19-nation Eurozone, which oversees Greece’s massive 86-billion euro bailout.

The dispute escalated within hours, with both French Finance Minister Michel Sapin and European economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici - himself a former French finance minister - publicly distancing themselves from the Eurogroup decision.

DIVERGING VIEWS Tsipras, who has his own troubles at home with his ratings in decline, has taken a stand on the principle of national sovereignty.

Ironically, Greek pensioner associations have rejected the one-off handout - worth at least 300 euros per person - as “peanuts”.

Hundreds of pensioners staged a protest in Athens on Thursday to criticise the move, as the government is slashing pensions overall.

The 42-year-old PM went a step further on Thursday, telling a preparatory meeting of European socialists in Brussels that Eurozone hardliners were seeking to scuttle Greece’s bailout deal.

“Those calling for a suspension of the Eurogroup decision on short-term debt relief are violating the (bailout) deal,” Tsipras said, according to a Greek government note.

The debt relief in question was agreed by Eurozone ministers on December 5 in the face of criticism by the International Monetary Fund that it fell well short of what was necessary to get Greece back on its feet.

Under the bailout agreed with Eurozone countries, Greece has committed to making a host of economic reforms and must submit to oversight of its budgets and spending plans.

Tsipras has also announced a sales tax benefit for islands sheltering thousands of migrants. This measure is to be discussed by parliament next week.

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

40 - WEEKEND WORLD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Burning ivory & waging war

T

HE largest-ever destruction of ivory, which took place in April, was the pinnacle of efforts to jolt mankind into stopping the slaughter of wildlife, while sending a powerful message to poachers.

As 2016 draws to an end, awareness of the devastation of poaching is greater than ever and countries have turned to high-tech warfare - drones, night-goggles and automatic weapons - to stop increasingly armed poachers.

“We obviously still have a very long way to It was one of the most momentous events in the battle against poaching: 11 giant go, but the level of political awareness we have reached is remarkable compared to pyres of elephant tusks going up in flames in Kenya as the world looked on.

6 years ago,” said John Scanlon, secretarygeneral of the International Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species The rhinoceros fares worse. Black market rhi(CITES). no horn sells for up to $60,000 (57,000 euros) Poaching was somewhat of a niche concern per kilogram - more than gold or cocaine until around 2010 when the massacre of eland in the last eight years alone roughly a ephant and rhino began reaching such levquarter of the world population has been els that conservationists and wildlife activkilled in South Africa, home to 80 percent of ists realised more had to be done to give the the remaining animals. problem wider attention.

CITES estimates the illegal wildlife trade to High-profile names including Britain’s Prince be worth $20 billion (19 billion euros) a year, William were recruited to the cause, while making it the fourth biggest illicit activity afcalls grew louder for a total global ban on ter guns, drugs and human trafficking. the ivory trade.

Some African countries have made the fight The move is slowly paying off, and 2016 saw against poaching a priority, but others behopeful signs that people may no longer lieve there are more important problems be willing to watch as extinction goes unon which to spend scarce resources, such as checked.

Currencies Direct also has a Living the simple life or make a payment to another be over £150), they’ll set up ending conflict, poverty, unemployment or beneficiary. Many customers unique agreement with Caixa Direct Debit for you. It can Currency specialists love use online transfer systems like aBank in Spain, so they’re able China is the main source of global demand be weekly, monthly, quartertalking about foreign curren hunger. this for smaller transactions to open a free CaixaBank acly or yearly. Leaving you free cy.to Andsell they should know that their ivory stockpiles in order to fund but prefer to speak directly to SPECIES count exclusively for all their for ivory and in March the government anto sit back and ‘CHARISMATIC’ enjoy the view most people don’t. It’s like “I think it’s unfair just to leave it to African a person when making larger customers, which allows them ly that you just want to move elephant protection.

With Currencies Di- to have immediate transfers your money and get on with nounced a ban on new ivory imports.

Debates stilltransfers. rage over how best rect it’s up to you. from to Spainfight to UK elewith no countries to take care of that problem, it’s life. Look for a specialist that transfer fees. This can save you They argued that any legal sale stimulates Today’s rates look good, Repatriating funds Then, in early October, CITES strengthened thousands! phant poaching, but conservationists unani- ance an international issue… and it applies to to help you get what you but you don’t need to transfer Let’s face it. We know Spain demand and therefore the illegal trade. want. your money for – say – three Peace mind Nais fantastic - CITES’ there’s a reason protection of other threatened species, inmously refusal toofgrant months? No problem. A welcomed Forthousands of species across the planet,” why you invested and moved When looking for an exCurrencies Direct has Contract is the currency Elephant and rhinoceros, known as the there in the first place all those change provider, you want to friendly and knowledgeable cluding sharks, pangolins and grey parrots.ward world’s version of “buy now, Zimbabwe special authorisation mibia and said Richard Vigne, director of the private Ol years ago. However, home will get the best rates and great pay later”. Just place a small ‘charismatic’ species, are often the poster always be home, and we can’t service. You want someone phone whenever you need deposit to fix today’s exchange blame you for wanting to go to talk to you, to understand them. With a presence in Spain Pejeta conservancy in Kenya. rate and it’s yours for up to a what’s important to you and since back. children for have the anti-poaching movement, 1999, they currently what you want to achieve. But As an example, with attention fixed on elSelling your property over- most importantly, you want to try and are always looking to tending to draw the most attention. seas, moving back to your make sure your funds are in expand. This is a foreign ex ephant and rhino and gorillas, there was home country and repatriating safe hands. After all, it’s your change company with great “The elephant is a flagship for the wider ecoMarbella for €324,999 on 19 your funds doesn’t have to be money we’re talking about. experience and knowledge of widespread shock as it emerged this month a complicated process. Banks the market. system,” said Kelvin Alie of the International Currencies Direct have The euro was trading at 0.84p.

They were recommended to try to get a chunk of your hard- been around since 1996, so that the humble giraffe had seen numbers earned money with hidden they have credibility and lon- with jargon for or hitAnimal you with Welfare (IFAW).

Fund fees and unfair exchange rates. gevity. Both of these are fun- any costs, and any money you plummet by 40 percent and was now also they could achieve in sterling. damental when choosing the transfer should be sent quick This is hardly a secret.

“When you protect the elephant and its The sale went through in midright currency exchange pro- ly. Living the simple life means vulnerable to extinction.

April. The euro had devalued Instead, when you are plan- vider company. you can enjoy the yacht, holi to 0.82, but they still received habitat, all the species living in this habitat ning a move back, it is recomday home or whatever else £272,999 instead of £266,499. mended to use the expertise of Make sure you look for a your money buys you. Let the This put an extra £6,500 in the a currency exchange compa- company that’s established, experts benefit this action.” sort outfrom the foreign ny like Currencies Direct. Not with a good credit score and is currency needed to make it GOOD NEWS only will they provide you with authorised by the FCA for the happen.

According to a World Bank study, internathe guidance you need to un- provision of payment services “The good news is we now know what we derstand all the process, but like Currencies Direct. This ba- Moraira tionalDirect donations to combat wildlife traffickthey can save you up to 5% on sically means the FCA heavily Currencies have to do, but we have to multiply the scale ing have increased tenfold over recent years, of our actions,” said Scanlon. from about $25 million (24 million euros) in Part of that is the increasing use of technol2010 to as much as $250 million (240 million ogy, intelligence and weaponry as well as euros) in 2016. coordination with customs and police services, the adoption of laws with heavy penWORTH MORE alties for poachers and a growing number of THAN GOLD cross-border agreements to halt trafficking.

“We need a holistic approach. If we deploy However some argue the future still looks armed rangers on the ground, we also need gloomy.

Every time you transfer money overseas with your to reduce the demand for ivory and explain “We should not think that the problem is bank you’ll lose money in hidden fees and a poor to local communities there is economic solved because we have recorded a few sucexchange rate. interest in protecting wildlife,” primarily cesses here and there,” said Mark Gately of Use our regular transfer service and you’ll be through tourism, said Andrew McVey of the the Wildlife Conservation Society. making great currency savings!

World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Studies reveal a varied picture.

Across Africa drones, night-vision equipElephant populations are stable, or even inGive us a call on +34 952 906 581 to find out more. ment, helicopter-borne intervention teams, creasing, in South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, Let’s talk currency automatic weapons and special forces parts of Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi trainers are all being brought in to stop the or the W-Arli-Pendjari complex extending poachers. over Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.

“This is a war, this is an unfortunate part of But elsewhere they are declining rapidly, conservation ... We can’t walk around in the and sometimes catastrophically.

Ignacio Paul Johanna Melanie Jill James Alex bush with a stick, gently asking the poachers According to the International Union for Ortega Ellis Gabrielsson Radforrd Gregory Barrett Barrett to drop their AK-47,” said Damien Mander, an Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the African elAustralian ex-soldier who heads the Internaephant population has recorded its biggest tional Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF). drop in a quarter century, with an estimated Get in touch Spain – Marbella Spain – Fuengirola “Humans are capable of reacting quickly population of 415,000 elephants, 111,000 T +34 952 906 581 Avenida de Londres 1ª Plaza de las Orquídeas E costadelsol@currenciesdirect.com Local 6, Urb La Marina C/ Orquídea, Local 6, and strongly if they have been pushed far fewer than a decade ago.

W currenciesdirect.com San Fulgencio Nueva Andalucia enough in the corner. I don’t think we are far And the killing continues at the dizzying Alicante, 03177 Marbella, 29660 enough in the corner to spark that reaction.” pace of about 30,000 elephants a year. be over £150), they’ll set up a Direct Debit for you. It can be weekly, monthly, quarter ly or yearly. Leaving you free to sit back and enjoy the view

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 41

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

42 - WEEKEND WORLD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

T

HE Arctic shattered heat records in the past year as unusually warm air triggered massive melting of ice and snow and a late fall freeze, US government scientists have revealed.

The grim assessment came in the Arctic Report Card 2016, a peerreviewed document by 61 scientists around the globe issued by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The NOAA report covers from October 2015 to September 2016, a period it said the Arctic’s average annual air temperature over land was the highest on record.

“The report card this year clearly shows a stronger and more pronounced signal of persistent warming than any previous year in our observational record” going back to 1900, NOAA Arctic Research Program director Jeremy Mathis told the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, where the report was released.

“Those warming effects in the Arctic have had a cascading effect through the environment.”

The environment has steadily declined since scientists started doing the annual report card, now in its 11th year, co-author Donald Perovich said.

“When it started, you kind of had to listen closely because the Arctic was whispering change,” said Perovich, who works at Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering in New Hampshire.

“Now it is not whispering anymore. It is speaking change. It is shouting change.”

Hottest Arctic on record triggers massive ice melt

WARMING TWICE AS FAST The Arctic region is continuing to warm up more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, which is also expected to mark its hottest year in modern times.

Climate scientists say the reasons for the rising heat include the burning of fossil fuels that emit heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, southerly winds that pushed hot air from the mid-latitudes northward, as well as the El Nino ocean warming trend, which ended mid-year.

The Arctic’s annual air temperature over land was 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit (3.5 degrees Celsius) higher than in 1900, the report said.

The sea surface temperature in the peak summer month of August 2016 reached nine degrees Fahrenheit (five degrees Celsius) above the average for 1982-2010 in the Barents and Chukchi seas and off the east and west coasts of Greenland.

“Warm air and ocean temperatures in the fall led to a recordbreaking delay in fall freeze-up,” Perovich said, noting that the Arctic sea ice minimum from mid-October to late November was the lowest since the satellite record began in 1979. It was also 28 percent less than the average for 19812010 in October.

Scientists added a section to the report about noteworthy records set in October and November 2016, even though that extended beyond the report’s typical time span.

ON THIN ICE More of the ice that freezes in the Arctic winter is thin, made of only a single year’s worth of freeze rather than thicker, more resistant ice built up over multiple years.

In 1985, almost half (45 percent) of Arctic sea ice was called “multi-year ice.” Now, just 22 percent of the Arctic is covered in multi-year ice. The rest is first-year ice.

In Greenland, the ice sheet continued to shrink and lose mass as it has every year since 2002, when satellite measurements began.

Melting also started early in Greenland last year, the second earliest in the 37-year record of observations, and close to the record set in 2012.

RECORD-LOW SNOW The springtime snow cover in the North American Arctic hit a record low in May, when it fell below 1.5 million square miles (four million square kilometers) for the first time since satellite observations began in 1967.

This melting, combined with retreating sea ice, has allowed more sunlight to penetrate the ocean’s upper layers, stimulating widespread algae blooms.

The Arctic’s people and animals are also suffering from the climate changes.

Ocean acidification is adding new stress for ocean creatures that need calcium carbonate to build shells, affecting people in the region who rely on fish for food.

And small mammals known as shrews are increasingly becoming infected with parasites that were once known to infect shorebirds, suggesting a northerly shift of some species.

The Arctic could be free of summer ice by the 2040s, Perovich said, adding that the changing temperatures are already affecting people who live in the region.

Asked by reporters if the report was tailored to the current political environment in the United States - with Presidentelect Donald Trump declaring climate change a Chinese hoax and preparing a cabinet that will include climate change deniers - Mathis said no.

“This is the best possible science that we can do,” he said. “It is beyond reproach.”

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 43

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

S

PACE-faring nations are mostly united in viewing Mars as the next frontier with many still pooling their money and expertise to make the dream a reality, despite souring relations between them.

But the election of Donald Trump - with inevitable impacts on science policy, budgets and diplomatic relations - has cast doubts on the future of space exploration.

Space bosses and investors are waiting on tenterhooks for the US president-elect to spell out his plans for NASA - and to see whether the future will be one of cooperation or competition.

On the campaign trail in the space industry state of Florida, Trump said in October he wanted to “free Nasa from the restriction of serving primarily as a logistics agency for low-orbit activity”.

ORBITERS He did not go into details, but low-orbit programmes include the International Space Station (ISS), the Hubble Space Telescope and Earth-observation satellites.

Among them are NASA science orbiters for climate monitoring, a programme Trump has also threatened to stifle.

He told crowds in Sanford that NASA’s core mission will be space exploration, and promised: “America will lead the way into the stars”. This could be good news for pursing Martian ambitions.

Outgoing president Barack Obama already set the goal of a round-trip mission to the fourth rock from the Sun by the 2030s, with the “ultimate ambition” of creating a settlement there.

That is also the ambition of entrepreneur and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who launched an ambitious plan in September to establish a colony on Mars - sending 100 humans at a

ALL EYES ON TRUMP OVER MARS The year 2016 has seen a rekindling of the human desire to conquer Mars, with public and private interests openly vying to take the first step on the Red Planet, possibly with a stopover on the Moon. time - starting in 2024.

Dutch company Mars One, similarly, plans to send explorers to Mars by 2031, funded partly by a related television reality show.

The route to Mars may very well be via the Moon, analysts say, with the European Space Agency mooting plans for a lunar village - a stopover for spacecraft to destinations further afield.

Going to Mars, said John Logsdon of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, “depends on how quickly the international effort to go back to the Moon can be assembled, how much budget the US

spends on that, what the level of the NASA budget is.

“And all those are unknown right now.”

NEW SPACE RACE? Following years of multinational cooperation, “the current trend is for space-faring nations to strengthen and increase national autonomy in achieving success in space”, says a European Space Policy Institute document.

Countries want their own rockets and launchpads in case “unfavourable geopolitical developments” place their programmes

SORTING HAT SPIDER INDIAN scientists have discovered a new species of spider that looks “uncannily” like the sorting hat in Harry Potter and have named it after its owner Godric Gryffindor.

The ardent fans of the boy wizard came across the seven millimetre (around a quarter of an inch) spider in October last year during a survey of the lush Western Ghats mountain range in south-west India.

GEEKS “My colleagues and I are geeks and we all thought, ‘Hey this curious little spider looks exactly like the sorting hat.’ It was uncannily similar,” scientist Javed Ahmed said. “So we made a pact that if this turns out to be a new species we will name it after the sorting hat,” he added, referring to the magical headwear that assigns students to their houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the hugely popular series.

By June, Mumbai-based Ahmed and his fellow scientists were “100 percent” sure it was a new species so they went ahead and named the pointy-shaped and nocturnal spider Eriovixia Gryffindori.

A review by experts confirmed that the spider, which mimics the shape of leaves to avoid predators, was indeed a newly discovered species.

The discovery was published in December’s Indian Journal of Arachnology and sparked a wave of excitement on social media, with Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling taking to Twitter to express her delight.

“I’m truly honoured! Congratulations on discovering another #FantasticBeast!,” Rowling tweeted to Ahmed.

“How many geeks have the opportunity to describe a species, much less name it, after a pop culture icon and then have the creator of that icon tweet you saying she was congratulated and honoured? I was so thrilled!” said Javed.

The discovery comes after the recent release of the movie “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, a Harry Potter spin-off based on a book Rowling wrote in 2001. It topped North American box offices on its opening weekend, making $75 million.

Gryffindor’s spider is not the first species to be named after a popular icon, fictional or real. In 2009 a yellow spider discovered in Malaysia was named after late rock star David Bowie.

Three years later Australian scientists named a fly with a goldencoloured rear “Beyonce”, while this year scientists named a tarantula they found in Folsom, California after Johnny Cash, the American music legend who sang the “Folsom Prison Blues”.

at risk.

Since the US-Soviet space race launched the first human into Earth orbit in 1961 and placed the first man on the Moon in 1969, the trend has been towards galactic teamwork.

A high point has been the ISS, a joint project - continuously inhabited since 2000 - of America, Europe, Russia, Japan and Canada.

With only Russia able to ferry astronauts to the orbiting science lab today, countries work together on sending cargo.

There are also joint deep-space experiments, such as the European-Russian ExoMars rover planned for 2020.

“It used to be the US and the Soviet Union that had the capability to go into space. Now India can do it, Japan can do it,” said Sa’id Mosteshar, director of the London Institute of Space Policy and Law. Only China is not party to any big international projects, mainly due to its complicated diplomatic relationship with the United States.

But Beijing was nonetheless spending “a significant amount” on space, said Mosteshar.

It has an orbiting space lab, plans for a manned space station by 2022, and could become the second country to place a human on the moon. The last was an American in 1972.

But observers say there is no race, as such - countries, even private corporations, are unlikely to ever have enough money to go it alone.

Most feel space cooperation will continue as it did even at the height of the AmericanUSSR cold war - in spite of what politicians do on Earth.

Trump is seen as likely to be closer to Russia under Vladimir Putin than Obama had been, but has already incurred the diplomatic wrath of China.

“International collaborative space projects are by nature long-term commitments,” said Mosteshar.

“If in the midst of a project there are political differences that arise between the countries involved, it’s difficult to stop the ongoing experiment or other activity.”

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

44 - WEEKEND WORLD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Pope Francis hits 80 - and he’s not slowing down Pope Francis recently turned 80 and shows no sign of slowing down in his drive to reshape the Catholic church to reflect his own vision of compassion and humility.

T

HREE years and nine months after his election, the first pope from the Americas continues to set a relentless pace as he reaches a milestone at which cardinals are ushered into semi-retirement.

Francis has not ruled out following the historic example of his predecessor Benedict XVI, who retired, exhausted, in 2013.

But there is no suggestion that could happen soon.

Like almost every other day of his papacy, Saturday will be a working day for the holiday-phobic Francis: morning mass with cardinals followed by meetings with the Maltese president and a top Vatican official.

In the cerebral Benedict’s place, Francis has

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brought an upbeat Latin tempo, a strong work ethic and the asceticism of a Jesuit missionary to the role of leading the world’s largest church.

This will be the fourth birthday the former bishop of Buenos Aires has celebrated in the modest St Martha’s boarding house he has made his home inside the Vatican’s walls.

The world’s 1.2 billion Catholics are, by now, used to the face Francis displays to the world.

More often than not it is one lit up by a crinkly-eyed, double-chinned smile, at official audiences and meet-and-greets where he displays his ease with people from all walks of life.

There are signs of fatigue, natural for a man of his age who lost part of a lung in his youth, and the occasional grimace bears witness to the sciatic pain that is a near constant companion.

Sometimes his features darken, usually indicating he is addressing issues dear to his heart: Europe’s indifference to migrants drowning in the Mediterranean, the humiliation of the poor or, most recently, the destructive power of agri-business.

ABORTIONS ABSOLVED Born into a family of Italian heritage on December 16, 1936, Jorge Bergoglio became the 266th pope when he was elected on March 13, 2013.

From the off he seemed like a man in a hurry.

Several times he has implied he does not think he will be around for long.

He said he wanted “a poor church, for the poor”. And more broadly his mission has been to recast the church as a compassionate institution, one that seeks to help believers with daily difficulties.

His first Jubilee year was dedicated to the theme of mercy, a quality Francis believes should be at the core of the church’s work, rather than reflexes of condemnation and judgement.

Faced with opposition, in the hierarchy and on the ground in the developing world, Francis has arguably made little headway in reshaping Catholic teaching.

On vexed issues such as cohabitation and

attitudes to homosexual or divorced believers in the church, reviews have ended with ambiguous conclusions that infuriated conservatives and disappointed radicals. But the mood music has undeniably changed.

“Who am I to judge?” Francis asked when asked for his views on homosexuality, long seen as a disorder by the church.

Authorisation to priests to absolve women who confess to having had abortions, a Jubilee initiative, has been extended indefinitely.

CHURCH IS FIELD HOSPITAL Bishops can now grant remarried divorcees communion on a case-by-case basis.

And the church recognises that cohabiting couples might legitimately be prevented from marrying because of financial barriers.

Francis has also recognised the “erotic dimension of love” as a gift from God, while simultaneously trying to move Catholicism away from its obsession with sex.

And, by agreeing to examine the role of female deacons in early Christianity, some see Francis as having opened a door to the possibility of women clergy.

Pragmatic reformer rather than revolutionary, is a common assessment of the soon-tobe octogenarian.

“For him, the church is a field hospital, not a customs barrier,” says Italian Vatican expert Marco Politi.

“But he has not touched doctrine. He is not a progressive in that sense.”

Marco Tosatti, another Vatican watcher, says Francis has “sown a lot of confusion inside the church”.

“He’s a journalists’ pope. He’s given the church a friendlier, lighter image. But summer sales do not attract new customers. The traditional Protestant churches tried adapting to the modern world and look at them: there’s nobody left.”

Politi says conservatives are biding their time.“The goal is not a coup but to lay the groundwork for the eventual successor. Like the Tea Party that spent its time sabotaging Obama and found it was worthwhile when Trump was elected.”

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WEEKEND WORLD - 45

46 - WEEKEND WORLD

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

W

WEEKEND WORLD - 47

EEKEND focuses on SOTOGRANDE & GIBRALTAR WORLD

Opposition “Brexit” statements are misleading and contradictory THE Government regrets that the Opposition continue to play party politics with such an important matter for Gibraltar as is our planned departure from the European Union. The way in which the Opposition have behaved on this issue so far does not inspire any confidence whatsoever on their political judgement or on their ability to even comprehend the intricacies of what is happening.

The overriding objective of the Government is to protect and safeguard the economic stability of Gibraltar and the well-being of its people.

In their recent public statements, the Opposition have shown themselves to be opportunistic and contradictory in nature, often within the same statement or during the same interview.

Their only objective seems to be to undermine the position of the Government even if this makes life more difficult for everybody else.

The first point to be made is that there will be one, single negotiation conducted by the United Kingdom Government. That single negotiation will take into account the information fed into the Department for Exiting the European Union by a number of different interested parties, including Gibraltar. The requirements of industry, of the Devolved Administrations, of London, of the Crown

Dependencies, of the Overseas Territories and indeed of the United Kingdom Government itself are not the same. This means that there is scope for a multifaceted and a differential approach. The UK Government itself acknowledges this.

COMPLICATE MATTERS The Opposition argue that we need to keep it simple. We are keeping it simple. However, no matter how simple we keep it, the truth is that this is a complex process which has to be handled in a tactful and delicate manner.

Indeed, it is the Opposition that continues to complicate matters either through ignorance of the facts or through sheer incompetence.

They have argued that keeping it simple means that the Government should stick to securing a free border flow and single market access. Yet they ignore the fact that this is precisely what the Government has already been doing! There is nothing secret about this, nor do they need to be briefed on this specific matter because the Government have made countless public statements in this regard.

The Opposition then go on to generate further confusion through their misuse of the term “special status”. They do

not seem to have realised that even their own “keeping it simple” solution of border flow and single market access is in itself a “special status”, “a separate deal” or a differentiated solution. It is the substance and not the label that counts.

Moreover, when they say “accept the UK deal”, it is obvious that they have not even thought of the potential effect that it would have on import duty revenue if we had to join some form of Customs Union.

The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, who is responsible for work related to exiting the European Union, said: “The whole of Gibraltar knows that the Government continues to leave no stone unturned in order to safeguard our position going forward. There have been a considerable number of positive meetings in London and in Brussels since the referendum of 23 June and these will continue into the New Year. The Opposition, for their part, can only continue with their policy of scaremongering and negative campaigning which will serve no useful purpose to anyone.

We will continue to work closely with the British Government to deliver a deal that works for Gibraltar. We will avoid entering into unnecessary partisan exchanges with the Opposition as we do that work for all of Gibraltar.”

LAUNCH OF GIBRALTAR COLLEGE LANGUAGE SCHOOL The Chief Minister and Minister for Education has launched the Gibraltar College Language School STARTING next month, the Gibraltar College will offer classes in Spanish, French and Italian to pupils aged between 6 and 16 years of age. Courses will cater for a range of levels and abilities with the aim of developing pupils’ abilities to speak, listen, read and write in a foreign language. These classes will be held at the College from 4pm till 5 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The aim of this venture is to promote bilingualism in Gibraltar’s young people and to build language skills in order to that pupils have the skills necessary to communicate with people of other nationalities and other cultures.

Minister for Education, the Hon Dr John Cortes said, ‘Studies have shown that language skills help learning abilities across all areas and, in adults, bilingualism has been shown to delay the onset of dementia by around

five years. Gibraltarians gain many economic and social advantages from their bilingualism and we should do everything possible to foster our community’s linguistic skills. I am very pleased that this is the first new initiative I have launched as Minister for Education, and I thank my predecessor Gilbert Licudi, and the team at the Department and the College, for their excellent work in this area.’

Enrolment will take place at the Gibraltar College on the following dates: Monday 9th - Wednesday 18th January 2017 between 9 am and 3 pm.

Application forms can be obtained from Gibraltar College reception or downloaded from the Collage website, www.gibraltarcollege.org Enrolment will be on a first come basis and classes will run provided there is sufficient demand.

FOCUS ON SOTOGRANDE & GIBRALTAR

48 - WEEKEND WORLD

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

Welcoming the New Year in style Hotel Almenara in Sotogrande has always been a popular a destination to welcome in the New Year and this year head chef Leandro Caballero had devised a menu that will titillate the taste buds.

The dinner consists of a welcome cocktail reception followed by a three course meal with selected wine

and champagne pairings.

This year the festivities will be held in main restaurant and as always place are limited so to avoid disappointment it is advisable to book early.

For more information visit : www.hotelalmenara.com

ef 31st DECEMBER, NEW YEAR EVE DINNER WELCOME COCKTAIL Traditionally cut Iberian Ham Seasoned Oysters fresh or dressed (Ajo Blanco with Yuzu Citrico, Dark Dashi and Grapefruit) Foie “Grass” in varieties (Mit Cuit-Chocolate and salt flakes) STARTER Scallop Ceviche with vinegar Marinated Vegetables FIRST COURSE Corvina Confitada, Aroma de Jengibre y Menta SECOND COURSE Crispy suckling pig on Mango Salsa POSTRE Handkerchief from White Chocolate Yogurt Filling and Raspberries Coffee and Teas and Christmas Sweets WINES Vino Blanco Martin Codax D.O. Albariño Vino Tinto Pago de Capellanes D.O. Ribera del Duero G.H. Mumm D.O. Champagne LIVE MUSIC Price per person 160 euros

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200 44628

weekendworld@ibexinsure.com 68 Irish Town, Gibraltar

Ibex Insurance Services Ltd 2015. Ibex Insurance Services Ltd, 68 Irish Town, Gibraltar. Registered no. 77247.

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Commission FSC 006 43B

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SOTOGRANDE, will welcome the automobile super-elite to Andalusia in the first event of this kind throughout its illustrious history.

Over five days from Wednesday 24 May to Sunday 28 May 2017 the resort will play host to five major events, rallies, exhibitions and auctions of some of the world’s finest classic cars and premium marques from pre-1965 to today.

The focus for SOTOGRANDE GRAND PRIX® is on flawless mechanics, exceptional workmanship and exemplary car models that demonstrate engineering brilliance from a bygone age through to the near future.

One of the major events is the SO-

TOGRANDE RALLY®, a three-day route through Andalusia starting at the Plaza d’Espagna in Seville, stopping over in the heart of Cordoba and culminating in Sotogrande. For those participating in either a timed race or the more casual promenade, the scheduled route will take in some 300 km each day of Andalusia’s most breath-taking scenery, principally along public roads.

As well as the vintage car festival, SOTOGRANDE GRAND PRIX® will also host exhibitions of premier yachts, polo matches and a performance of the world famous Andalusian horses.

For more information visit: www.sotograndegrandprix.com

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

Anun La Reserva C 230 x 325 mm Luxury Living.indd 1

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29/6/16 10:40

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

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VO Cinema Showings Please check with the cinema for any last minute time changes.

SPONSORED BY CITY FM MALAGA

Cines Teatro Goya Avenida Julio Inglesia, Puerto Banus Tel: +34 951 196 666 Rogue One A Star Wars Story

17.45, 20.15, 10.40 Cinesur Miramar Avenida De La Encarnacion, Fuengirola Tel: +34 952 198 600 Rogue One A Star Wars Story

16.25, 19.10, 21.55 Fantastic Beasts & Where to find them 16.20 Tom On The Farm 20.00 Hacksaw Ridge

16.00

King’s Bastion Cinema Line Wall Road Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 72272 Rogue One A Star Wars Story

18.30, 21.25 Passengers 18.45, 21.30 Ballerina

16.15, 16.30

Broadcasting from Nerja to beyond Calahonda on 106.2FM and from Elviria to Gibraltar via 106.8FM

n CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS IN MARBELLA

Roscón de Reyes for all children attending the party.

24 December Masses in the Parish of Our Lady of the Incarnation at 08.30, 19.30 and 00.00 (Midnight Mass).

5 January The Three Kings of the East arrive with the following protocol: 10.00 Visit to the Hospital Costa del Sol, next to the Hospital Quirón.

12.00 The Three Kings of the Orient arrive at the Marina of Marbella on board the ship “Fly Blue”.

They will then tour the main streets of the centre of Marbella in vintage cars. A welcome to the Three Kings of the Orient in the Town Hall of Marbella (Plaza de los Naranjos) who greet all the attendees from the balcony.

18.00 The Three Kings Parade with the following route: Av. Severo Ochoa (La Zambomba Building), Av. Ramón y Cajal, Av. Ricardo Soriano, ending in Plaza Monseñor Rodrigo Bocanegra (El Pirulí).

25 December Masses in the Parish of Our Lady of the Incarnation at 10.00, 11.00, 12.30 and 20.00.

26 December 11.00 Parade of “Kings” Route: Exit Miraflores Park Building, José Luis Morales Avenue, Calle Mayorazgo, Av. Trapiche, Calle Salvador Rueda, Calle San Francisco, Plaza Santo Cristo, Calle Ancha, Calle Peral, Plaza de la Victoria, Calle Estación, Plaza de los Naranjos, Plaza General Chinchilla, Calle Carmen and Plaza de la Iglesia.

12.00 Children’s entertainment show “Chispitas de Navidad”, in the Plaza de la Iglesia.

31 December 21.00 Afternoons of Tango (free tango dances for all the public) in the Temple of the Parque Alameda.

23.00 New Year’s Eve party in the Plaza de la Iglesia, Marbella Old Town enlivened by the Arenal group.

3 January 11.00 Parade by your favourite characters and many surprises.

Route: Parroquia Divina Pastora, Av. Europa, Calle San Antonio, Av. Peñuelas, Calle Los Naranjos, Av. Europa, Av. Maíz Viñals, ending at the Parque de la Represa.

12.00 Children’s Christmas Party “La Minipandilla” in the Parque de la Represa with different activities for the little ones, Inflatable castles and Pintacaras. Tasting

n BARBIE AND THE HISTORY OF FASHION, SAN PEDRO SALA DE EXPOSICIONES, MONDAY DECEMBER 26 TO MONDAY JANUARY 09 2017

n CHRISTMAS WORKSHOPS, MUSEO PICASSO MALAGA, DECEMBER 27-30, 10am-2pm Activity in Spanish for children and young people from 4 to 15 years.

Hexagons in honeycombs, star-shaped flowers, concentric circles on cobwebs, spirals on snails… Geometry in nature and the way its shapes are used in art particularly in the work of Picasso and Torres-García - will be the starting point for MPM’s Christmas Workshops for kids.

Suited to the ages of the participants, the workshop will familiarize the children with complex concepts such as the golden mean and Fibonacci’s spiral, so that they realize that geometry is part of their nearby surroundings and heightening their curiosity about everything around them.

Based on this knowledge, the kids will visit the exhibition rooms that show the work of Pablo Picasso and Joaquín Torres-Garcia, and will see how these artists also used geometry to make art. Then they will put everything they have learnt into practice in the workshop area, using geometric shapes to construct architectural designs, paintings, sculpture and assemblies, as well as more playful objects such as toys, just at Torres-Garcia himself did.

The workshops will be adapted to each age group.

Price: 15 € per day. 50 € complete (4 days) (15% discount on siblings)

A fun and fashion filled event for the girls in the family! Looking at the history of fashion and everyone’s favourite doll, Barbie.

For further information visit: www.museopicassomalaga.org Palacio de Buenavista C/ San Agustín, 8 29015 Málaga Tel.: (34) 952 12 76 00

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SPONSORED BY CITY FM MALAGA Broadcasting from Nerja to beyond Calahonda on 106.2FM and from Elviria to Gibraltar via 106.8FM

n SNOW WHITE, TEATRO ALAMEDA MÁLAGA, CALLE CÓRDOBA, DECEMBER 28-30, 17.00h Under the script and direction of Eva Martínez, the Alameda Theatre of Malaga is again showing the Disney story: Snow White Jabetín Theatre brings us a new adaptation of the While Rabbit of Snow White, the famous story of the sweat girl of pale skin pursued by her stepmother who wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, but everything changes when Snow White heads into the forest.

This show features mysterious characters, enchanted forests and live songs, for all the family.

Tickets from €9.00 per ticket www.teatroalameda.com n MIMA - XIII CHILDREN’S SHOW IN MÁLAGA MIMA is an event designed for leisure and family entertainment during the Christmas holidays. During these dates, the Palacio de Ferias y congress de Malaga becomes a large amusement park with a variety of play, sports and educational activities for children between 3 and 12 years old to learn to play.

The lounge also has a specific area for parents with activities for them. In addition, during the days 14 and 15 of December MIMA opens its doors to the schools of the province of Malaga and bordering. The lounge will be closed during the days of December 31st and January 1st. for more information visit: www.mimamalaga.com n MUSEO THYSSEN – BORNEMISZA, FRANCISCO BORES. GOUACHES FOR POE’S “THE RAVEN”, NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 05 2017 The Museum presents an exhibition on the series of gouaches that Francisco Bores (Madrid, 1898-Paris, 1972) painted in the first half of the 1960s to illustrate the poem The Raven (1845) by Edgar Allen Poe. Unpublished until recently, these twelve gouaches are now exhibited for the first time alongside a canvas of the same period entitled Summer Landscape(1965).

In contrast to the most celebrated of Poe’s illustrators, such as Édouard Manet and Gustave Doré, Bores eliminated any narrative element. His images of the raven, either alone or with Lenore, recall those of the Symbolist painter Odilon Redon, but deploy a more lyrical and sensual idiom. In these works Bores achieved the maximum degree of expressivity. In comparison to his oil paintings, which are more precisely conceived, these allowed him greater room for experimentation and it could be said that the Madrid-born painter felt freer and particularly at ease when using this technique. In addition, the transparency and matte quality of gouache allowed him to obtain a subtle and harmonious

luminosity. In both the illustrations on display in the exhibition and in the rest of his oeuvre Bores remained true to his conviction that “truth should be expressed in a moderate tone.” n 2017 ANNUAL ART COMPETITION FOR YOUNG ARTISTS, MARCH 2017 Gibraltar Cultural Services on behalf of the Ministry of Culture is inviting local artists to participate in the annual Art Competition for Young Artists that will be held in March 2017.

Closing date for receipt of entries is 6pm on Friday 17th February 2017.

The competition is open to Gibraltarians and residents of Gibraltar attending school in years 9 to 13 (or College equivalent), as well as to young Gibraltarian artists aged up to 24 years old as at 1st March 2017. Works must be original and not previously entered competitively, with the exception of nonwinning entries in the 2016 Spring Visual Arts Competition and 2016 International Art Competition.

Artists may submit a maximum of three paintings/drawings and two sculptures.

Unframed artworks will also be accepted.

All entries will be exhibited at the John Mackintosh Hall from the 1st to 10th March 2017.

Prizes to be awarded are: 1st Prize The Ministry of Culture Prize £ 1,000 2nd Prize The AquaGib Award £ 500 Additionally, there will two awards of £500 each, sponsored by the Alwani Foundation, to the best entry in each of the following age groups: A. School Years 9 to 11 B. School Years 12 to 13 All the winning artworks listed above will become the property of the Ministry of Culture.

Entry forms and full conditions are available from: • Bayside and Westside Comprehensive Schools • Gibraltar College of Further Education • The Fine Arts Gallery, Casemates • Mario Finlayson National Art Gallery, City Hall • The GEMA, Gibraltar Exhibitions of Modern Art, Montagu Bastion, Line Wall Road • John Mackintosh Hall, 308 Main Street • Or via email from: info@culture.gi or on our website http://www.culture.gi Entries may be handed in at the John Mackintosh Hall as from Wednesday 15th February 2017 from 3.30pm to 6pm. Closing date for receipt of entries is 6pm on Friday 17th February 2017. For further information please contact GCS Events Department on 20067236 or email: info@culture.gi

FOCUS ON HOMES

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

EEKEND

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

FOCUS ON MONEY MATTERS

United Kingdom - Financial Markets

WEEKEND WORLD - 53

Spanish banks ordered to reimburse mortgage interest

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Spanish banks must reimburse clients who had signed mortgage contracts that unfairly prevented them from benefiting from a steady drop in interest rates.

The decision by the Luxembourg-based court caused shares in Spanish lenders to fall with small lender Liberbank leading losses, down over ten percent in mid-morning trading.

Spain’s Supreme Court ruled in May 2013 that so-called mortgage “floor clauses”, which impose a limit on how far interest rates in a variable rate mortgage can fall in line with Most Active Stocks the benchmark rate, were unfair because consumers had not been properly informed of the consequences.

Name Last Prev.

High Low Chg. % Vol. But it limited any reimbursements to amounts paid after the s Lloyds Banking 64.12 63.94 64.47 63.58 +0.28% 88.90M date of the its ruling. s Barclays 228.00 227.65 229.28 225.50 +0.15% 32.14M Consumers had asked for the repayment of the sums they t Vodafone Group PLC 199.80 200.95 202.00 199.65 -0.57% 22.30M claim have been unduly paid to banks from the date they t Glencore 270.62 272.65 274.65 269.32 -0.74% 20.10M signed their mortgages.

The European Court of Justice ruled that the proposed time s RBS PLC 227.200 226.300 229.700 224.700 +0.40% 13.47M limit on the refunds is illegal and customers should not be t BP 495.12 495.10 499.65 494.25 0.00% 12.80M bound by such unfair terms. s Tesco 204.75 204.65 205.20 203.60 +0.05% 11.59M “The finding of unfairness must have the effect of restoring t IAG 450.50 452.40 455.00 447.50 -0.42% 9.48M the consumer to the situation that consumer would have been in if that term had not existed,” it said in a statement. t Centrica 228.99 230.80 230.70 228.00 -0.82% 9.21M “Consequently, the finding that ‘floor clauses’ are unfair must allow the restitution of advantages wrongly obtained by the s Legal & General 245.300 243.800 245.700 242.900 +0.61% 8.52M seller or supplier to the consumer’s detriment,” it added.

Most of Spain’s home loans are pegged to the 12 month-euro Top Gainers Top Losers interbank offered rate, or Euribor.

The benchmark has fallen, but thousands of clients with Name Last Chg. Chg. % Name Last Chg. Chg. % mortgage floors did not benefit. s Coca Cola HBC AG 1,688.0 +25.0 t Hargreaves Lansdown 1,209.00 -34.00 +1.50% -2.73% s Ashtead Group 1,581.50 +22.00 +1.41% Hikma Pharmaceuticals 1,785.00 -34.00 -1.87% s Rolls-Royce Holdings 684.50 t Merlin Ent. PLC +8.50 +1.26% 437.10 -5.90 -1.33% s Experian 1,528.00 +19.00 +1.26% t Tui AG 1,114.00 -15.00 -1.33% s Kingfisher 346.90 +3.40 +0.99% t Schroders 2,958.00 -34.00 -1.14%

EU court says Spanish tax breaks illegal

Spain - Financial Markets

Most Active Stocks

Figures correct at 21.12.2016

Name t Banco Popular t B. Sabadell t Bankia t Santander t Caixabank t BBVA t Telefonica t Iberdrola t Repsol t DIA

Europe’s top court have ruled that the European Commission may have been correct in finding Spanish tax breaks on foreign holdings were illegal.

In a case that may give clues as to how judges will deal with more complex tax cases involving Starbucks (SBUX.O) and Apple (AAPL.O), the European Court of Justice said that the lower General Court had erred in annulling the Commission’s decision.

The Court of Justice has now therefore referred the two cases in question back to the General Court.

The European Commission, in two rulings in 2009 and 2011,said the scheme, which applied to Spanish companies holding a stake of at least 5 percent in a foreign company for at least a year, broke EU state aid rules, and ordered Spain to recover the money.

The Spanish scheme allowed a company that is resident in taxation terms in Spain to write down goodwill of a foreign shareholding and deduct this from the corporation

Last Prev.

High Low Chg. % Vol. 0.956 1.013 1.020 0.910 -5.63% 72.57M 1.367 1.388 1.397 1.286 -1.51% 38.94M 0.979 0.986 1.005 0.956 -0.71% 38.50M 4.967 4.995 4.998 4.891 -0.56% 28.31M 3.179 3.219 3.243 3.033 -1.24% 20.03M Spain has set up a commission charged with drawing up 6.426 6.515 6.547 6.362 -1.37% 15.05M incentives to attract London-based financial firms looking to 8.848 8.925 8.940 8.829 -0.86% 7.69M relocate after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

6.072 6.084 6.079 6.040 -0.20% 6.02M The goal is to draw banks and other financial firms based in the City of London seeking a new home should Britain-based 13.440 13.600 13.572 13.398 -1.18% 4.06M firms lose their right to sell financial services across Europe 4.664 4.673 4.709 4.637 -0.19% 3.13M when the country quits the bloc, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said.

“I think there won’t be a stampede but there will be Top Gainers Top Losers relocations. Many financial firms based in London know that Name Last Chg. Chg. % Name Last Chg. Chg. % the risk of losing the financial passport is very high and they are making their plans,” de Guindos told a meeting with the s Gamesa 18.595 +0.325 +1.78% t Banco Popular 0.957 -0.056 -5.53% foreign press. s Ferrovial 17.505 +0.225 +1.30% t B. Sabadell 1.369 -0.019 -1.37% The Spanish capital offers solid transport infrastructure, s Tecnicas Reunidas 38.260 +0.415 +1.10% t BBVA 6.428 -0.087 -1.34% good quality of life, abundant office space, a low corporate tax rate of 25 percent and a competitive income tax rate for s Aena 132.90 +1.35 +1.03% t Caixabank 3.179 -0.040 -1.24% foreigners, he added. s Abertis 13.565 +0.075 +0.56% t Repsol 13.443 -0.157 -1.15% French officials have promoted Paris as a financial capital for Europe that could take over from London while Ireland’s foreign investment agency has written to businesses with Euro exchange rates offers to help them relocate to Dublin.

Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Berlin have also made overtures.

9.04 Norwegian Krone 7.43 Danish Krone 1.44 Australian Dollars To be competitive with these cities Madrid needs a sound 9.72 Swedish Krona 8.11 Hong Kong Dollar 0.84 British Pounds regulatory framework, said Carlos Fernandez, a market 3.84 UAE Dirham 122.66 Japanese Yen 1.40 Canadian Dollars analyst at XTB Broker.

1.04 US Dollars 1.51 New Zealand Dollar 7.26 Chinese Yuan

Spain seeks to lure London financial firms post-Brexit

54 - WEEKEND WORLD

FOCUS ON MONEY MATTERS

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

McDONALD’S MOVES NON-US TAX HQ TO BRITAIN FROM LUXEMBOURG

M

cDONALD’S is establishing a new Britain-based holding company to cover royalties from most licensing agreements outside the United States, shifting its tax base from Luxembourg.

The profits will be subject to British tax, McDonald’s said in a statement that was immediately welcomed by the British government, which is under pressure to preserve economic stability as the country prepares to leave the European Union.

Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to cut corporation tax to 17 percent by 2020 from the current 20 percent, prompting warnings by commentators in continental Europe that Britain is planning to become a “tax haven” post-Brexit.

“We welcome continued investment from companies around the world into the UK, particularly where that’s securing growth and increasing jobs,” May’s spokeswoman told reporters at a daily briefing.

Several tech giants including Facebook and Google have announced investment in Britain since the EU referendum in June but some companies, particularly in the finance sector, are considering relocation to continental Europe as a result of the Brexit vote.

McDonald’s made its announcement shortly after a senior official at France’s markets regulator told BBC television that Paris had received inquiries by large international banks with operations in London.

“McDonald’s selected the UK for the location of its new international holding structure because of a significant number of staff based in London working on our international business, language, and connections to other markets,” the company said.

McDonald’s will move fiscal headquarters for the majority of its nonUS operations to Britain, it said Thursday, following an EU crackdown on tax deals struck by multinationals including the fast-food giant.

McDONALD’S UNDER INVESTIGATION The EU launched a formal investigation in December 2015 into tax deals between the US giant and Luxembourg, saying its preliminary assessment was that they breached state aid rules.

IMF positive on Spanish growth, down on jobs T HE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised up its prediction for Spanish growth but warned “structural weaknesses persist,” particularly in the form of sky-high unemployment.

“The Spanish economy has continued its impressive recovery and strong job creation,” the IMF wrote in a report unveiled in Madrid.

But “unemployment, especially long-term and youth joblessness, is still very high, while the use of temporary contracts for new jobs remains widespread.”

EXPAND In its report, the IMF estimates that Spain’s economy will grow 3.2 percent this year and will continue to expand in 2017, albeit at the more moderate rate of 2.3 percent - still better than its initial prediction of 2.2 percent.

Spain’s economic growth is one of the most dynamic in the eurozone after the country emerged from five years of onand-off recession at the end of 2013 caused by the burst of a property bubble in 2008.

During those years, millions of Spaniards lost their jobs and unemployment reached close to 27 percent in 2013.

The conservative government launched a series of spending cuts and a labour law reform that reduced severance pay and introduced a new permanent contract with a one-year trial period.

This shortened Spain’s jobless queue, and unemployment stood at 18.9 percent in this year’s third quarter, a marked decrease but still the second-worst rate in the European Union after Greece.

The reforms “continue to pay off,” the IMF said, adding they must nevertheless “be expanded to sustain strong growth and employment prospects over the medium term.”

“There is still too much incentive for employers to hire on a temporary basis,” said Andrea Schaechter, mission chief for Spain at the IMF. The organisation called on Spain to continue to make efforts to reduce its public deficit, which is expected to come in at 4.6 percent of GDP this year and at 3.1 percent in 2017 - just short of the three-percent limit set by the European Union.

But in order to be “growth- and job-friendly,” it suggested raising revenues - by for instance reducing value-added tax exemptions or increasing excise duties and environmental levies - rather than cutting more spending.

The case against McDonald’s stemmed from a complaint by trade unions and the charity War on Want that accused McDonald’s of avoiding around one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in taxes between 2009 and 2013, by shifting profits from one corporate division to another, and paying no local tax in Luxembourg.

A McDonald’s spokesperson said the restaurant chain “pays a signficant amount of corporate taxes”.

From 2011 to 2015, McDonald’s paid more than $2.5 billion in corporate taxes to the EU at an average rate of almost 27 percent, the spokesperson added.

The move announced on Thursday means McDonald’s will close operations in Geneva.

McDonald’s Luxembourg office will remain open, but functions related to business outside the country will shift to Britain.

STRUCTURE McDonald’s said the move was consistent with a global reorganisation undertaken by recently appointed chief executive Steve Easterbrook, who has shaken up the structure as part of a turnaround to boost profitability.

Easterbrook was tapped in January 2015 to turn around McDonald’s fortunes after a lengthy slump saw the home of the Big Mac lose ground to other fast-food chains like Wendy’s and high-end brands such as Five Guys and Shake Shack.

With more customers in Europe and elsewhere choosing to eat fast food, McDonald’s reported unexpectedly strong third quarter results in October, despite sluggish growth its US restaurants.

The company pointed to especially strong sales in Britain and Japan, as well as positive results in Australia, Canada and Germany.

Net income for the third quarter dipped 4.4 percent to $1.3 billion. That translated into $1.50 a share, a penny above analyst expectations.

Net sales declined 3 percent to $6.42 billion, better than the $6.28 billion projected by analysts.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

FOCUS ON MONEY MATTERS

WEEKEND WORLD - 55

Bank of England MEPs approve €856,800 in job-search keeps interest aid for 250 redundant rate at 0.25% BANK of England policymakers have voted to keep its main interest rate at a record low 0.25 percent, the BoE said, despite inflation on the rise amid Brexit uncertainty.

The British central bank said all nine policymakers agreed at a regular policy meeting to keep the rate on hold and to leave the amount of QE cash stimulus pumping around the economy at £435 billion ($543 billion, 521 billion euros).

The BoE’s update comes a day after the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates and signalled three more hikes for next year, as the US central bank also positions itself for an expected rise to inflation in the United States.

Minutes of the BoE’s latest meeting noted that “the global outlook has become more fragile, with risks in China, the euro area and some emerging markets, and an increase in policy uncertainty”.

In Britain, official data this week revealed stable unemployment and a jump to inflation.

British annual inflation rose in November to the highest level in more than two years as a slide in sterling since the Brexit vote lifted fuel costs.

Separate data Thursday showed a small increase in British retail sales for November thanks to Black Friday discounts.

The pound tumbled following Britain’s shock June 23 vote in favour of leaving the European Union, striking 31-year dollar lows

and 7.5-year troughs against the euro.

The BoE responded to Brexit uncertainty by slashing its main interest rate to the current level in August, as part of a post-referendum stimulus package as governor Mark Carney warned of recession risks.

So far the British economy has outperformed expectations and last month the BoE hiked its 2017 growth forecast, although it has downgraded guidance for the following year.

“The December... minutes do little to change the view that interest rates are likely to stay at 0.25 percent through 2017,” noted IHS Markit analyst Howard Archer, while some experts are even predicting that the next BoE move will be a rate cut rather than a hike.

“Brexit-related uncertainty is leading to big falls in business surveys regarding investment and hiring plans,” James Knightley, senior economist at ING bank, said after Thursday’s update from the Bank of England.

“At the same time rising inflation is squeezing household spending power and the slowdown in job creation is adding to uncertainty for consumer spending.

“This combination of weakness from both the household and corporate sectors poses downside risks to growth next year. This will reduce inflation pressures in the medium term so we still think that a rate cut is more likely than a rate hike,” Knightley added in a research note.

LLOYDS BANK BUYS UK CREDIT CARD FIRM MBNA FOR £1.9BN BRITISH bank Lloyds has brought Bank of America’s UK credit card division MBNA for £1.9 billion in the first acquisition since its government bailout during the global financial crisis.

The deal, worth $2.4 billion or 2.3 billion euros, will bolster the group’s position in Britain’s prime credit card market, Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) said in a statement detailing its first purchase since 2008.

“The acquisition increases our participation in the expanding UK credit card market with a multi-brand strategy and advances our strategic aim to deliver sustainable growth as a UK focused retail and commercial bank,” said Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio.

MBNA, which has assets of £7.0 billion, was expected to deliver “strong financial returns” and create “significant” cost savings, the bank added.

“The MBNA brand and portfolio are a good fit with our existing card business and we will focus on providing its customers with excellent service and value,” Horta-Osorio noted.

The deal, which will provide a £650 million-a-

year boost to Lloyd’s group revenues, remains subject to approval by regulators and is expected to complete in the first half of 2017.

RESCUED Lloyds, which forecasts cost savings of approximately £100 million per year within two years, added that it would maintain the MBNA card brand.

The lender will buy MBNA from Bank of America subsidiary FIA Jersey Holdings Limited.

Lloyds was rescued by the British government with £20 billion of state money at the top of the notorious global financial crisis.

Lloyds Banking Group was created by a merger of Lloyds TSB and rival British lender HBOS. However, HBOS was saddled with toxic property investments, and LBG subsequently received the vast bailout.

The government gradually sold down its original 41-percent stake in the bank and currently has a seven percent holding.

Recent media reports suggest it could offload the remainder next year.

car workers in Spain

A PROPOSAL to grant Spain €856,800 in EU aid to help find new jobs for 250 former car workers made redundant by 29 firms manufacturing motor vehicle parts in the Valencia region has been approved by Parliament. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid had already been approved by the Council of Ministers on 12 December.

CORE BUSINESS These redundancies followed the bankruptcy and closure of the company Bosal S.A., which made redundant most of the workers concerned. Its core business was manufacturing parts and accessories for motor vehicles. Bosal declared bankruptcy on 15

January 2015 and made its entire workforce of 215 redundant in November that year. It had been in difficulty since 2012, due to the EU automotive industry’s declining output and significant loss of market share over the past decade.

The report by Esteban González Pons (EPP, ES) recommending the approval of the aid request was passed by 613 votes to 82, with 12 abstentions.

The measures co-financed by the EGF aim to help the workers to find new jobs by providing them with active career guidance, job-search support, vocational training and training in transversal skills, promotion of entrepreneurship and contributions to business start-ups.

be over £150), they’ll set up a Direct Debit for you. It can be weekly, monthly, quarter ly or yearly. Leaving you free to sit back and enjoy the view

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SPA - Weekend world 1/4 page - v1.indd 1

05/06/2015 10:44

FOCUS ON MONEY

56 - WEEKEND WORLD

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

legal and accounting solutions

21st Century Fox announces $14.8 bn deal to take over Sky 21st CENTURY Fox has announced that Sky had agreed to a takeover offer worth $14.8 billion as tycoon Rupert Murdoch bids to create a global media giant.

Murdoch’s Fox group said in a statement “that it has reached agreement with Sky plc on the terms of a recommended preconditional cash offer” to buy the rest of the European pay broadcaster, beyond the 39 percent it already owns.

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PURCHASE The deal is worth £10.75 ($13.40) per Sky share, or $14.8 billion (14.2 billion euros ) in total for the cash purchase, the statement said.

“As the founding shareholder of Sky, we are proud to have participated in its growth and development,” 21st Century Fox said in its statement.

“The enhanced capabilities of the combined company will be underpinned by a more geographically diverse and stable revenue base,” the company said.

“It will also create an improved balance between subscription, affiliate fee, advertising and content revenues. This combination creates an agile organization that is equipped to better succeed in a global market.”

21st Century Fox is one of the world’s largest entertainment companies, with a vast portfolio of cable, broadcast, film, pay TV and satellite assets across six continents.

Its broadcasting and cable properties include including FOX, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, National Geographic Channels, STAR India, 28 television stations in the United States and more than 300 international channels.

HEINEKEN TO BUY BRITAIN’S PUNCH PUBS FOR $500M DUTCH brewing giant Heineken has announced it is teaming up with Patron Capital to buy ailing Punch Taverns, hoping it will be able pull profitability from the age-old but struggling British pub tradition.

The Amsterdam-based brewer together with Patron will buy more than 3,000 pubs across Britain at a total cost of 402.7 million pounds (481 million euros, $502 million), Punch Taverns said.

Under the terms of a “back-to-back” deal, Heineken is to acquire around 1,900 pubs at a cost of 305 million pounds, Heineken added in a statement, while Patron will get the rest.

ACQUISITION Heineken already owns 1,049 leased and tenanted pubs in Britain through its Star pubs and bars business since 2008.

The world’s number two brewer, which owns brands such as Strongbow, Bulmers, Foster’s and John Smith’s, said there is a “compelling strategic rationale for enlarging its existing pub business through the acquisition.”

“Heineken considers pubs to be an integral

part of British culture and that high quality, well invested pubs run by skilled and motivated operators will continue to prosper,” it added.

The latest deal will “strengthen Heineken UK’s exposure to sustainable revenue source from rental income” and a “strong platform to improve visibility” for its beer and cider brand sales.

The deal, expected to be completed by the first half of next year, subject to regulatory approvals, will see Heineken become Britain’s third-largest pub business, it said.

Founded in the 19th century, Heineken produces and sells more than 250 brands including Desperados tequila-flavoured beer, Sol and Strongbow cider and employs about 73,000 people around the world.

The debt-laden Punch Taverns has not recorded annual revenue growth since 2007, Bloomberg news agency reported.

Stock has fallen 97 percent since a peak that year as Britain’s pubs struggle with cheaper supermarket liquor, a smoking ban and restrictive drinks-purchasing agreements.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 57

Private Banking on your doorstep We are located in the Main Street in Gibraltar; but we want to bring our bank to you.

At Jyske Bank, you have a relationship manager, tailor-made solutions and an open andrelaxed atmosphere. Feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to pay you a visit and tell you more.

JYSKE BANK (GIBRALTAR) LTD. • 76, Main Street • P.O. Box 143 • Gibraltar Tel. +350 606 33322 • Fax +350 200 76782 • info@jyskebank.gi • www.jyskebank.gi Jyske Bank (Gibraltar) Ltd. is licensed by the Financial Services Commission, Licence No. FSC 001 00B. Services and products are not available to everybody, for instance not to residents of the US.

Ann_250x330_doorstep_Gibraltar.indd 1

04-04-2016 15:47:25

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

58 - WEEKEND WORLD

W TEASERS...

SUDOKU Sudoku is one of the most popular puzzle games of all time. The goal of Sudoku is to fill a 9×9 grid with numbers so that each row, column and 3×3 section contain all of the digits between 1 and 9. As a logic puzzle, Sudoku is also an excellent brain game. If you play Sudoku regularly, you will soon start to see improvements in your concentration and overall brain power.

WORD SEARCH ACROSS 1 Tasty sandwiches 5 Air freshener spray brand 10 Gator’s cousin 14 Reddish horse 15 Quick 16 Irritate 17 Capable 18 __ up; misbehaved 19 Frosted 20 Hoodwink 22 __ twins; lookalikes 24 Acuff or Clark 25 Nourishes 26 French farewell 29 “I’ve got a __ in Kalamazoo...”

30 Piers 34 Hart’s mate 35 Little child 36 Like lesser sins 37 Have lunch 38 Brought back to live

40 Student’s avg.

41 Red blood cell deficiency 43 “__ Along, Little Dogies” 44 GPS screen images 45 Challenged 46 Take to court 47 Actress __ Michelle Gellar 48 Wild brawl 50 Big __; rival of the Whopper 51 Napoleon’s title 54 Soft drink 58 Actor Scott __ 59 Forest home 61 Ordered 62 Helpful clue 63 Take __; undo 64 Hilarious person 65 “__ bigger and better things!”

66 Fido’s restraint 67 Goofs up

Solution to puzzle from issue 26

DOWN 1 Paper fastener 2 Heart division 3 Powder, for short 4 __ at; viewed with scorn 5 Mashed potato topper 6 “Arsenic and Old __” 7 Likely 8 Actor Vin __ 9 Albert or Fisher 10 Shade of red 11 Houston school 12 Spanish cheers 13 Give up land 21 Debtor’s note 23 Found a total 25 Weariness 26 Leading, so far 27 Singer Ross 28 Bury 29 Cuomo or Christie: abbr.

The words listed below are from a familiar Christmas Carol. What is it?

Find and circle all of the words hidden in the grid.

The remaining letters spell the name of the Christmas Carol.

31 32 33 35 36 38 39 42 44 46 47 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 60

Stogie or panatela Phi Beta __ Make long cuts Soothing drink 11/11 honoree Passenger Compete Keepsake Ghoulish Mexican shawl Blue Skin-numbing injection March or May Resound Primary Breathe heavily Gentlemen Twosome Stench Beloved critters Lamb’s cry

Solution to puzzle from issue 26

The hidden song title is: LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS

ALL ANCIENT APPAREL AWAY BEFORE BLAZING BOUGHS CAROL CHORUS

DON FAST FOLLOW GAY HAIL HARP HEEDLESS HOLLY JOIN

JOLLY JOYOUS LADS LASSES MEASURE MERRY NEW NOW OLD

OUR PASSES SEASON SING STRIKE TELL TIDE TIS TOGETHER

TREASURE TROLL WEATHER WHILE WIND WITH YEAR YULE

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 59

W EIRD W ORLD

UK

A woman says she is permanently housebound because she’s allergic to Wifi and phone signals.

Kim De’Atta can rarely see friends and family because electromagnetic waves from modern technology give her migraines, fatigue

and even infections.

The former nurse has to wear a shielded bed net on the rare occasions she leaves her home and can only visit places with poor mobile phone reception.

The debilitating condition has forced her to

CODEWORD Codewords are like crossword puzzles - but have no clues! Instead, every letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a number, the same number representing the same letter throughout the puzzle. All you have to do is decide which letter is represented by which number! To start you off, we reveal the codes for two or three letters.

18 26 15 4 26 7 16 7

9 12 24 2 26 25

26 12 4 15 5 26 26

25 7 17 4 4 6 16 20 5 16 7 25 16 1

16 19 2 11 7 13 16

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7 16 24 19 1

move home twice due to phone masts being built nearby and she now sleeps under a special net.

She hopes that speaking out about electrosensitivity will help people understand her unusual condition and be more sympathetic.

Kim said: ‘Most of the time people think I am mad. It is so difficult because people are not feeling it themselves.

‘I have not seen friends and family for so long. I have had two visitors for half a day each this year. It’s heart-breaking really.

‘The only place I can go is Crewkerne or Lyme Regis as if I go anywhere else I get some serious symptoms.

Kim said her problems started when she was 16 and living in south London and she started to become ill when she was near TVs. It got worse a few years later when she was working as a staff nurse in intensive care and she bought a mobile phone so she could be contacted in an emergency.

AFRICA

26 22 26 7 25 13 16 19 10

24 26 6 2 13

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Y

20 19 7 12 9 9 12

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8 17 17 18 7

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16 26 26 20 25 19 22

14 12 24 2 19 16

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1

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WORD BLOCK From the 9-letter grid, find words of 4 letters or more.

Words must contain the middle letter, and there is at least one nine-letter word.

Target: 31 words

NETHERLANDS

Officers found a whopping £700,000 worth of cocaine hidden in a UK-bound lorry – stuffed among cans of Pepsi.

The foreign truck, which came from the Netherlands by ferry, was stopped at the Port of Dover, Kent, where they discovered 17kg of cocaine.

Paul Morgan, director for Border Force South East & Europe, said: ‘This is a significant seizure which has prevented a large quantity of dangerous substances reaching the UK’s streets.

‘As this case shows, our officers are on constant alert to stop drugs, weapons and other banned goods entering the country’.

Following the seizure on Friday, December 9, the investigation was passed to the NCA. The driver of the lorry, a 40-year-old man with dual Macedonian/Bulgarian nationality, was arrested and released on bail pending further investigations.

Solution to Wordblock puzzzle from issue 26

7 2 19 12 6 5

8 7 16 24 6 19 21

Atlas Mountains. Karim said: “Everyone was stunned to see snow falling in the dessert, it is such a rare occurrence. It looked amazing as the snow settled on the sand and made a great set of photos. “The snow stayed for about a day and has now melted away.”

(Picture: Karim Bouchetata/Geoff Robinson Photography)

For the second time in living memory, snow has fallen on the Sahara desert.

And the pictures are incredible.

The red sands covering the small desert town of Ain Sefra, Algeria, were coated with snow yesterday afternoon.

Meaning that even the Sahara – which has an average 30C temperature – has seen more snow than Britain this year.

Amateur photographer Karim Bouchetata captured the moment that one of the driest and hottest regions of the world became a winter wonderland for the first time in 37 years.

Snow was last seen in Ain Sefra, known as “The Gateway to the Desert,” on February 18, 1979, when the snow storm lasted just half an hour. This time the snow stayed for a day in the town, which is around 1000 metres above sea level and surrounded by the

forwardly - frowardly - forward - froward farrow - dwarf - flawy - flora - flory - foray fado - fard - farl - faro - flaw - flay - flow - foal fold - fora - ford - fowl - fray - frow - fyrd loaf - ofay - wolf Solution to CODEWORD from issue 26 H B W E V I J B A N A N A R A I N D R O P B S N E R O Y B I L K D I S Q U A L I F Y T E E T L U

G U T T U R A L E X H A L E A B E N Y A L M A N A C S T O P G A P L M A O F

A Z A L E A B E A U T I F Y E T Y B E E

A P O T H E O S I S N I C K H O U M O U T

H Y S T E R I A R A S H E R R E S L B E D

Solution to SUDOKU puzzles from issue 26

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60 - WEEKEND WORLD

d on y e m o b fro t rja and .8FM e N M 06 1 F m ro 06.2 via f r g 1 tin on alta s ca nda ibr d oa aho to G r B al ia C vir El

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 61

W CLASSIFIEDS...

FOR ALL YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS NEEDS CONTACT OUR SALES TEAM: 951 127 200 INFO@SIMPLYMEDIA-GROUP.COM n 50 cents per word n If placed in a black & white box - additional € 20.00 + IVA n If placed in a colour box - an additional € 30.00 + IVA

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BUDDYS GROWSHOP is now open in Poligono La Ermita, Marbella. Buddy’s Growshop is a One Stop Shop with easy loading and competitive prices. Products include the most advanced LED technology, low cost and energy saving with proven results. Organic fertilizers, as well as all the top brands such as Plant Magic, Atami, Bio Bizz, Aptus Canna, Guanokalong and many more. Come on down to the store and we will be happy to answer any of your questions or contact us on info@ buddysgrowshop.com. We look forward to seeing you soon. Contact details below.

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REMOVALS

LARGE VAN 2 MEN 35€ PER HOUR LOCAL ALSO GIBRALTAR, UK, FRANCE, PORTUGAL. PLEASE CALL STEVE FOR INFORMATION ON 651 567 447

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

62 - WEEKEND WORLD

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Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

PET CORNER

WEEKEND WORLD - 63

WE INVITE READERS’ COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS ON DOGS AND CATS. PLEASE SEND THEM TO: info@simplymedia-group.com www.vets-now.com

Which Christmas foods should I avoid giving my dog?

C

HRISTMAS is a great time of year and should be fun for all the family, dogs included. Many of us are already aware of some of the potential toxic foods our dogs can come across and take steps to avoid them.

However, the festive period is one where we often introduce all manner of exciting items into the house that we don’t normally have. Some of these things can be potentially harmful to our dogs and it’s worth knowing some of the common pitfalls.

We have tried to give you a few of the most common Christmas poisonings below. It goes without saying, if in doubt contact your vet and they will be able to advise you.

We also have a useful article on general common poisonings as well as some tips on how to avoid it happening here.

COMMON CHRISTMAS FOOD DANGERS FOR DOGS: GRAPES Exactly why and how these are poisonous to dogs is unknown and the exact volume needed to cause symptoms is difficult to predict. Some dogs will eat one or two grapes and become seriously ill but others can eat many of them without apparent signs. The only way to be safe is to keep them out of reach of your dog.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING, CHRISTMAS CAKE AND MINCE PIES These Christmas fancies are bad for dogs for a number of reasons: Firstly - they are jam-packed full of current raisins and sultanas. These are all a variation on the ‘grape’ and as such have the same serious health risks. It is common for them to ingest far more ‘grapes’ in this form than they would fresh grapes because there are so many packed into these cakes and they are smaller.

Secondly - they are full of fat, suet etc which can often give them severe stomach troubles, vomiting etc but also, more worryingly high fat meals are one of the high risk factors leading to pancreatitis. This can be a very serious and costly disease to treat.

Thirdly – they are usually laced with large amounts of alcohol which can cause many of the symptoms of intoxication seen in people.

CHOCOLATE COINS AND OTHER CHOCCY DECORATIONS Most people are aware of the dangers for dogs from eating chocolate and take steps to avoid leaving any near their dogs. However, it is not uncommon for people to forget about the chocolate coins or decorations and leave them in an irresistible location. As well as the dangers of the chocolate the actual wrapping foil can be problematic as they work through the gut system.

BONES At this time of year we often cook far more meat joints than usual and this normally results in many more bones lying about. Once cooked all bones become brittle and splinter easily. This can lead to larger fragments getting ‘stuck’ causing obstructions but also smaller pieces can cause gut irritation and perforation or even just difficulty toileting.

Most people avoid the initial pitfall of your dog ‘borrowing the bones off the work surface’ only to get caught out later on by putting the deliciously tasty smelling carcass/bone into the bin where is gets raided in the night. Make sure you dispose of the string from any meat joints as this can be a tempting toy for your dogs and could be harmful if ingested.

The best thing is to take it straight outside into a sealed bin.

N.B. Birds (turkey/chicken/goose) are all hollow boned animals and as such these bones will splinter either raw or cooked and so must never be given to your dog under any circumstances.

MACADAMIA NUTS Within 12 hours of ingestion macadamia nuts can cause dogs to experience weakness, depression, tremors, vomiting and hyperthermia (increased body

Dangerous foods for dogs at Christmas temperature). These symptoms tend to last for approximately 12 to 48 hours, and as with all the other food groups mentioned if you suspect your dog has consumed macadamia nuts note the possible quantity consumed and contact your vet.

ALCOHOL We tend to use much more alcohol in our cooking at this time of year and so even normal titbits can be potentially problematic over the Christmas period. As it is for people, alcohol is also intoxicating for dogs and can cause similar unpleasant side effects.

If your dog does get into mischief and consumes any of these things then the first thing to do is contact your local vet for advice. Often the quicker treatment is sought the easier and more successful the treatment.

OTHER SEASONAL HAZARDS CHRISTMAS TREES Most species are low toxicity but may cause a mild gastrointestinal upset (vomiting and/or diarrhoea) if chewed. Pine needles in themselves can get stuck in paws and cause irritation as well as potentially causing irritation or perforation of the intestines if eaten. Vacuum daily and ideally keep plenty of water in the bucket to help reduce the number of fallen needles.

DECORATIONS Christmas decorations are designed to look attractive and beautiful, unfortunately this usually means they are also tempting to your furry friends. Whilst not often toxic in their own right they can still cause significant problems if ingested. Baubles will tend to splinter or smash into shards which can cause irritation, perforation or blockages and dogs tend to eat tinsel a little like spaghetti - often consuming an entire ribbon of tinsel in one go! Again these are often not especially toxic (even if not particularly nutritious either) but can bunch up and cause blockages or, more worryingly start to work their way through the guts whilst some is still in the stomach, this effectively runs a thread through the intestines and causes a linear foreign body which can be extremely serious!

Your dog may also get a nasty shock if they chew through the electrical cable for your Christmas lights!

HOLLY, MISTLETOE AND POINSETTIA All of these pretty types of festive foliage are mildly toxic if ingested and can cause vomiting, drooling, diarrhoea to name a few, so should be avoided or kept well out of reach.

BATTERIES Ingestion of batteries is more common at this time of year. If the battery is chewed and pierced it can cause chemical burns and heavy metal poisoning. If they are swallowed whole it is possible they will cause an obstruction. All batteries are potentially toxic so if you suspect your dog has chewed or swallowed a battery speak to your local vet.

PRESENTS One area where people can come unstuck is with Christmas presents. We put a lot of effort in hiding away potential problems but then wrap up auntie Flo’s big box of chocolates to place under the tree. Although we can no longer tell what it is... our dogs can! Apart from the irritation of having them unwrap someone else’s present and having diarrhoea in the living room on Christmas day, there is likely to be an emergency trip to the vets needed.

Make sure any tasty or tempting presents are placed high enough out of the way so that your dog can’t help themselves.

ANTIFREEZE Ethylene glycol (anti freeze) ingestion is very dangerous. It is sweet-tasting and very palatable. Even a relatively small quantity can cause serious kidney damage and can be fatal. Unfortunately, the longer the delay between ingestion of the anti freeze and initiation of treatment the less favourable the prognosis.

PLEASE NOTE: This advice is not a substitute for a proper consultation with a vet and is only intended as a guide.

Please contact your local veterinary practice for advice or treatment immediately if you are worried about your pet’s health - even if they are closed, they will always have an out of hours service available. Find out more about what to do in an out of hours emergency. www.vets-now.com

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64 - WEEKEND WORLD

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

EEKEND focuses on SPORT WORLD

Spanish court confirms Barca’s Neymar transfer deal A SPANISH court has ratified a deal that leaves Barcelona with a 5.5-million-euro ($6.2 million) fine but avoiding trial on tax evasion charges over Neymar’s contested 2013 transfer.

The agreement, reached in July, lifts any threat of Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell facing possible criminal proceedings that could lead to jail terms.

The deal between the club and Spanish prosecutors was confirmed on December 14 after an appeal against it by another former president, Joan Laporta, was rejected.

Neymar’s arrival from Brazil’s Santos has been a huge success for the Spanish champions on the pitch but a judicial nightmare off it.

The 24-year-old Brazilian striker is being investigated in Brazil and Spain over his move to La Liga.

Barcelona originally published the transfer figure as 57.1 million euros, with 40 million euros of that given to the player’s family.

But Spanish authorities believe the true transfer figure was at least 83 million euros.

In November, Spanish prosecutors recommended that the Brazil striker be handed a two-year jail sentence and a fine of 10 million euros for alleged corrupt practices.

The case initiated with a complaint from Brazilian investment company DIS, which owned 40 percent of Neymar’s sporting rights at the time of his transfer.

DIS received just 6.8 million euros, 40 percent of the fee paid to Santos, with the company claiming it was cheated of its real share because part of the transfer fee was concealed by Barcelona, Santos and the Neymar family.

Sentences of two years or less are habitually suspended for first time offenders in Spain.

‘FOOTBALL LEAKS’ PROMPTS FRENCH TAX FRAUD FRENCH authorities have opened a preliminary inquiry into tax fraud and money laundering in the wake of the ‘Football Leaks’ revelations, the national financial prosecutor’s office announced Tuesday.

“Football Leaks” is the investigation led by 12 European media organisations aimed at exposing the sport’s darker side, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho both accused of tax evasion in recent weeks -- charges the pair deny.

“Following the publication...of a series of press articles regarding ‘Football Leaks’, the national financial prosecutor’s office decided to open...a preliminary investigation into the charge of laundering of aggravated tax fraud, facts likely to relate to French tax residents,” read a statement.

The wide-ranging probe of financial documents also claimed Paris Saint-Germain duo Angel Di Maria and Javier Pastore funnelled parts of their income through tax havens, while accusing Manchester United and France star Paul Pogba of stashing away money in the Channel Islands, at the request of his agent Mino Raiola.

Angel Di Maria

Javier Pastore

P Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Chelsea 17 14 1 2 35 11 24 43 2 Liverpool 17 11 4 2 41 20 21 37 3 Man City 17 11 3 3 36 20 16 36 4 Arsenal 17 10 4 3 38 19 19 34 5 Tottenham 17 9 6 2 29 12 17 33 6 Man United 17 8 6 3 24 17 7 30 7 Southampton 17 6 6 5 17 16 1 24 8 West Brom 17 6 5 6 23 21 2 23 9 Everton 17 6 5 6 21 21 0 23 10 Bournemouth 17 6 3 8 23 28 -5 21 11 Stoke City 17 5 6 6 19 24 -5 21 12 Watford 17 6 3 8 21 29 -8 21 13 West Ham 17 5 4 8 19 31 -12 19 14 Middlesbr. 17 4 6 7 16 19 -3 18 15 Leicester City 17 4 5 8 23 29 -6 17 16 Burnley 17 5 2 10 16 28 -12 17 17 Crystal Palace 17 4 3 10 28 32 -4 15 18 Sunderland 17 4 2 11 15 28 -13 14 19 Swansea City 17 3 3 11 20 37 -17 12 20 Hull City 17 3 3 11 14 36 -22 12

Sky Bet Championship Table P Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Newcastle 22 16 1 5 45 17 28 49 2 Brighton 22 14 6 2 35 14 21 48 3 Reading 22 12 4 6 30 29 1 40 4 Huddersfield 22 12 3 7 26 26 0 39 5 Leeds United 22 12 2 8 26 22 4 38 6 Shef Wed 22 11 4 7 26 23 3 37 7 Derby County 22 10 6 6 23 15 8 36 8 Birmingham 22 9 7 6 27 29 -2 34 9 Fulham 22 8 9 5 38 28 10 33 10 Norwich City 22 10 3 9 37 34 3 33 11 Preston 22 9 5 8 30 27 3 32 12 Barnsley 22 9 4 9 38 35 3 31 13 Aston Villa 22 7 10 5 23 21 2 31 14 Brentford 22 8 4 10 27 28 -1 28 15 Ipswich Town 22 7 7 8 22 24 -2 28 16 Bristol City 22 8 3 11 28 27 1 27 17 Notts Forest 22 7 5 10 35 39 -4 26 18 Wolves 22 6 7 9 28 30 -2 25 19 QPR 22 6 5 11 20 31 -11 23 20 Cardiff City 22 6 5 11 24 36 -12 23 21 Burton Albion 22 5 7 10 23 30 -7 22 22 Blackburn 22 5 5 12 27 37 -10 20 23 Wigan Athletic 22 4 6 12 18 27 -9 18 24 Rotherham 22 2 4 16 21 48 -27 10

Spanish BBVA La Liga Table P Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Real Madrid 15 11 4 0 40 14 26 37 2 Barcelona 16 10 4 2 41 16 25 34 3 Sevilla 16 10 3 3 32 21 11 33 4 Villarreal 16 8 5 3 25 11 14 29 5 Real Sociedad 16 9 2 5 28 21 7 29 6 Atl Madrid 16 8 4 4 29 14 15 28 7 Athletic Bilbao 16 8 2 6 22 19 3 26 8 Eibar 16 6 5 5 22 20 2 23 9 Espanyol 16 5 7 4 20 22 -2 22 10 Las Palmas 16 5 6 5 26 24 2 21 11 Malaga 16 5 6 5 25 26 -1 21 12 Alavés 16 5 6 5 15 17 -2 21 13 Celta Vigo 16 6 3 7 25 31 -6 21 14 Real Betis 16 5 3 8 18 29 -11 18 15 Dep Coruña 16 4 4 8 22 27 -5 16 16 Leganés 16 4 4 8 13 27 -14 16 17 Valencia 15 3 3 9 21 29 -8 12 18 Sporting Gijón 16 3 3 10 17 33 -16 12 19 Granada 16 1 6 9 14 33 -19 9 20 Osasuna 16 1 4 11 13 34 -21 7

All results as at 21.12.2016

W

WEEKEND WORLD - 65 Barclays Premier League Table

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

66 - WEEKEND WORLD

SPORT NEWS

Tiger’s return, Palmer’s goodbye & Olympic gold bring an end a fabulous year of golf T

EARS were shed over the death of icon Arnold Palmer in September.

But there was much to celebrate too, including golf’s returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1904, with England’s Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, and South Korean Park In-Bee, a seven-time major winner, capturing gold medals in Rio. But the Olympics was haunted by the withdrawal of several top men’s players, many over Zika virus concerns, and months later by the course’s failure to boost the sport’s impact in Brazil.

Australia’s Jason Day finished atop the world rankings with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy second, American Dustin Johnson third, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson fourth and US star Jordan Spieth fifth.

But only two of them won major titles in the first year since 2011 that produced four firsttime men’s major winners.

England’s Danny Willett won the Masters after Spieth had a Sunday back-nine meltdown while in position to claim back-toback green jackets.

Johnson won the US Open on his way to US PGA Player of the Year honours, ending a series of major near misses.

Stenson won the British Open, outlasting Phil Mickelson in a two-man duel down the stretch at Royal Troon, only to fall short in an Olympic last-day showdown for gold with Rose. Stenson also claimed his second Race to Dubai crown on the European PGA Tour.

American Jimmy Walker was the wire-to-

A golf year featuring four first-time men’s major champions, the return of Tiger Woods and Olympic competition sets the stage for more thrills in 2017.

wire winner of the PGA Championship, edging defending champion Day by a stroke after rain set up a marathon final day and “lift, clean and place” rules.

Day did win three PGA events in 2016, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC Match Play as well as the Players Championship.

Johnson took the PGA money and low scoring awards although it was McIlroy who claimed the FedEx Cup playoff points crown after winning the Deutsche Bank Championship and season-ending Tour Championship.

Woods, a 14-time major champion with

79 career US PGA Tour triumphs, made his long-awaited return in December after a 16-month layoff following back surgery.

Woods finished 15th in a field of 18 at the Hero World Challenge, showing flashes of his peak form but lacking consistency. Watching his fight back to tournament fitness figured to be one of 2017’s biggest attractions.

Another could be Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who won the Challenge for his fourth victory in two months and fifth of the year.

He won twice in Japan and at a WGC event in Shanghai, finishing a career-best sixth in

Clockwise from top left: The late, great Arnold Palmer, Justin Rose, Park In-Bee, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Jimmy Walker , Hideki Matsuyama, Lydia Ko, Ariya Jutanugarn, Brooke Henderson, Brittany Lang, Chun In-Gee

the rankings and serving notice he is a major threat next year.

The Americans defeated Europe 17-11 at Hazeltine to reclaim the Ryder Cup after having lost three in a row and six of the prior seven team showdowns, a US task force assembled after a 2010 defeat bringing a new push for the trophy fight.

But players began Ryder Cup week with heavy hearts after Palmer’s passing. Golfers played with “Arnie’s Army” pins and after the competition attended Palmer’s funeral.

THAI STAR TOPS LPGA Top-ranked New Zealand teen Lydia Ko, who took a silver medal at Rio, won the ANA Inspiration at Rancho Mirage for her second major victory in a row.

But it was Thailand’s world number two Ariya Jutanurgarn who won the LPGA season Race to the Globe and five LPGA events, three in a row in May plus the Women’s British Open for her first major crown and the Canadian Women’s Open. She took the LPGA money crown and Player of the Year honors.

There were a trio of first-time major winners - Canadian teen Brooke Henderson at the Women’s PGA Championship, American Brittany Lang at the US Women’s Open and Ariya.

South Korean third-ranked Chun In-Gee took her second career major at the Evian Championship as well as LPGA Rookie of Year and the Vare Trophy for low scoring average, edging Ko in a fight decided on the season’s last hole.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 67

SPORT NEWS RUSSIA DOPING Barely a week goes by without new cases of doping in Russian sport even as the country battles to get back into international athletics in time for the 2017 world championships in London.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has already extended its suspension of Russian competitors until at least February.

World Anti-Doping Agency chief Craig Reedie confirmed in November that Russia is “quite a long way off” being compliant with international doping statutes.

FIVE SPORTS SCANDALS TO WATCH IN 2017 Sporting scandals that have hit the headlines in the last 12 months look set to continue into the New Year. Here are five scandals to look out for in 2017: CYCLING POWER CHEATS

Russia has passed a new law making doping a criminal offence, but it has strongly denied accusations in the McLaren report of staterun doping.

International experts say the country is in denial, that they are still not getting enough cooperation and that cities closed to foreigners are a doping black hole.

After more than 110 Russians were banned from the Rio Olympics in August, the International Olympic Committee opened two investigations into Russian sport, including one on doping at the Sochi and London Olympics.

Russian weightlifting has also been badly hit and Russia has lost the world bobsled championships because of the scandal.

FOOTBALL CORRUPTION Football’s world governing body has had a mass clear-out since Swiss investigators detained seven FIFA officials at their Zurich hotel in May 2015. US prosecutors have not given up their campaign however and eight key figures in the case will faces trials in New York on November 6, unless talks about possible guilty pleas succeed.

Former FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb (above), who has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering could be sentenced in May. Two other former FIFA vice presidents, Jack Warner and Nicolas Leoz, could be extradited to the United States in 2017.

Forty-one individuals and companies have been charged by US authorities over more than $200 million in bribes. Separately, US and Swiss prosecutors are looking into the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively as well as the activities of former FIFA boss Sepp Blatter.

In April 2016, Femke Van den Driessche (below), a former European youth cyclocross champion from Belgium, became the first person to be banned for using a hidden electric motor. She may not be the last.

Thomas Voeckler, a former holder of the Tour de France leader’s yellow jersey, said he was “convinced” that the motors have been used by professionals but added that it should be easier to detect than doping. Infrared cameras were used on this year’s Tour.

American former champion Greg LeMond has said that all doubts must be ended and suspicions have been cast in the direction of several teams.

FOOTBALL ABUSE British police are investigating hundreds of historical cases of sexual abuse of young footballers by coaches and some top clubs have been implicated.

London police said they have more than 100 allegations of abuse at 30 clubs including four now in the Premier League. Scottish police added 109 cases.

Former Crewe Alexandra player Andy Woodward (above) opened the floodgates by telling about abuse he suffered at the club’s academy 25 years ago. Since then it has been revealed that Chelsea paid a player to stay silent about abuse and that an accused youth coach at Crewe had also worked at Manchester City.

Southampton have also been drawn into the scandal, which English FA chairman Greg Clarke has called the “biggest” crisis he can recall in football.

WEIGHTLIFTING’S DOPING STRAIN Weightlifting, one of the most popular Olympics spectacles, accounted for 48 of the 104 positive tests detected in new analyses on samples from the 2008 Beijing Games and London 2012. The shaming of Kazakhstan’s Ilya Ilyin, who won a gold medal at each Games, highlighted the crisis facing the

sport which WADA diplomatically considers “high risk”. Even the International Weightlifting Federation said that Russia’s and Bulgaria’s multiple doping failures were “shocking” before banning them from the Rio Olympics in August. IWF president Tamas Ajan said in Rio that Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus would be banned for a year because of their high number of doping failures. No official announcement has been made yet however. China could also be at risk from a motion passed by the IWF this year calling for a ban for any country that has three or more failures from the new tests on London and Beijing samples.

68 - WEEKEND WORLD

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

SPORT NEWS

Prep are NEWfor a YEA NEWwith a R BOD Y

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 69

SPORT NEWS

D

UTCH winger Depay and French midfielder Schneiderlin, both signed in 2015 by Louis van Gaal, have been the biggest losers of Mourinho’s first half-season in charge at Old Trafford.

Mourinho said he would not stand in either players’ way if they asked to leave.

“I am always open to listen to offers for every player. More than listen to offers, I am always ready to listen to the players themselves”.

Mourinho said “So any player who knocks on my door and is not happy and wants to move, when the offers are correct, I will never stop a player from leaving, even if it is to a rival. When Juan Mata left Chelsea to come to Manchester United (in January 2014), no problem at all. In my mentality, no problem at all. I am always open.”

Schneiderlin, who signed from Southampton for a reported fee of around £25 million ($31.7 million, 29.8 million euros), is yet to start a league game this season.

The 27-year-old has played just 86 minutes of domestic first-team football - 73 of which came in a League Cup tie against third-tier Northampton Town.

DESPERATE Depay, bought for around £25 million from PSV Eindhoven, has seen 134 minutes of action in all competitions, with his one start, also in that Northampton cup tie, ending after just 55 minutes.

Everton, desperate for a replacement for long-term injury victim Yannick Bolasie, have been linked with Depay and are also reported to be interested in Schneiderlin.

- Jones example “What I can say is that I am happy with the squad I have,” Mourinho added.

Mourinho open to offers for Man Utd outcasts Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says he will listen to offers for unhappy players like Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin in next month’s transfer window.

“I would like my squad to be my squad until the end of the season and I am not going to any player to say, ‘You are going to leave because I am not happy, because I don’t want to have you.’ I am happy with the players I have, even with players that are not having many opportunities to play.”

Mourinho said players currently outside the first-team frame need only look at defender Phil Jones, who has capitalised on injuries to Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling to establish himself at centre-back.

“From my point of view, I am happy to keep everyone and everyone will have a chance, sometimes an unexpected chance,” said Mourinho, whose side are sixth in the table.

“Sometimes the chance is there, you get it like Jones. Unexpectedly, you have Bailly

out, Smalling out, everybody out and comes the game against Swansea and Jones is in and he is still there.”

Mourinho is conscious of the heavy fixture list his team face over the second half of the campaign as they continue their runs in the League Cup and Europa League.

United could feasibly play 65 games this season and Mourinho explained that is one of the reasons behind his apparent U-turn over veteran German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.

The 32-year-old appeared to be on his way out of Old Trafford, but has recently returned to the first-team squad and made a substitute appearance in the recent League Cup win over West Ham United.

Now, Mourinho expects him to remain with

EX-UNITED STAR DONATES £500,000 WORTH OF TOYS TO CHILDREN’S CHARITY FORMER Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has become a real life Santa Claus after donating £500,000 worth of toys to charity to ensure needy underprivileged children receive a present at Christmas this year.

Ferdinand, who retired last year following a decorated career, made the generous gift to Manchester radio station Key 103’s Cash for Kids campaign.

A father of three, Ferdinand said he could not bear the thought of any children going without a present of some kind during the festive period.

Ferdinand also re-

vealed he has made a donation of 11,500 sleeping bags to the homeless community in Manchester.

“As a father myself I couldn’t see children going without opening a present this Christmas Day - the work that Cash For Kids at Key 103 do is truly amazing,” he said.

“I’m glad that my restaurant Rosso and I can be involved in this and certainly help put a smile on locals kids’ faces this Christmas Day. Me and the guys at Rosso have seen what’s been going on in the city, and with obviously it being Christmas we know there are a lot of people less fortunate than we are so we’ve decided to donate £500,000 worth of toys and gifts.

“But Manchester has got to get behind what we are doing, everyone can get involved and donate what they can. We’re not looking for a thank you, we’re just trying to help people out.”

the club in the new year.

“I do,” said the Portuguese. “Unless again the player knocks on our door with a future that he wants to grab with both hands.

“Then I never stop players doing what they want if - I repeat, if - the conditions are right for the club.”

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

70 - WEEKEND WORLD

SPORT NEWS

BRITISH STARS KHAN AND BROOK IN TALKS ABOUT BOUT B

RITISH boxing stars Kell Brook (left) and Amir Khan (right) ‘are in talks’ to fight each other in May 2017, according to IBF welterweight world champion Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn.

Both pugilists experienced chastening defeats when they stepped up a weight division to middleweight - Brook’s bout with the outstanding Kazakh Gennady Golovkin being halted in the fifth round and Khan going one round further with Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Khan and Brook, both of whom are 30-yearsold, said they would not make that mistake again and reverted to welterwight - though it is not known whether Brook’s world title would be at stake.

“There’s a good chance of it (the bout) happening,” Hearn told the BBC. “Amir wants it to happen, so does Kell. We want to put a fight

d on ey m o b fro t rja and .8FM 6 Ne m .2FM a 10 o i r 6 g f 10 tar v n n l ti as a o ibra dc nd oa aho to G r B al ia C vir El

on for the fans. “Kell has proved himself. He beat Shawn Porter and had a good fight with Golovkin. The time is right,” added Hearn.

Certainly both fighters suggested they were enthusiastic to fight each other - Hearn suggested it could take place in Manchester in ‘Manchester Arena or Old Trafford’ - judging by their tweets on Wednesday.

“The 1st man to smash kell brooks face @ GGGBoxing (Gennady Golovkin), standing with him (a photograph of Golovkin and Khan) is the next guy to smash Kell Brook’s face,” tweeted Khan, who earlier this year said Brook wasn’t of high enough stature for him to fight.

Brook responded in kind. “Glad you’ve woken up from your last KO, I believe our teams are talking. Look forward to sending you back to sleep #Queen Kardashion zZzZzZ,” tweeted Brook.

FARAH’S AWARD FLOP MYSTIFIES FELLOW OLYMPIC HEROES OLYMPIC gold medallists Alistair Brownlee and Nick Skelton expressed their surprise British athletics legend Mo Farah was again snubbed by the public for the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Brownlee, who retained his Olympic title in Rio and also gained widespread respect for helping his ailing younger brother Jonny across the line in a triathlon in Mexico this year, finished runner-up to Andy Murray in the poll with Skelton, who won showjumping gold at the venerable age of 58, in third.

For Murray - who garnered almost 250,000 votes over double the total of Brownlee - it was a historic third BBC award.

Farah - despite emulating Finnish icon Lasse Viren (1972/76) as the only athlete to do the Olympic distance double twice (5000/10000 metres) - finished way behind in terms of the popular vote in fourth.

Skelton - whose sport gets barely any mainstream coverage apart from the Olympics - received just over 109,000 votes with the much higher profile Farah getting only 54,476.

Both Brownlee and Skelton said they would have voted for him with the former saying Farah’s personal story was remarkable being brought to Britain from war-torn Somalia as a young child.

“I’m not sure why that is that he hasn’t made the top three,” said Brownlee.

“Maybe some people don’t see him as British. It’s really sad because for me he is the perfect British story.

“It’s what we should be about: a person who comes to Britain as a young man, as a refugee, and an ex-school teacher identifies something that he’s brilliant at and he represents Britain as the best in the world.

“I think that’s a fantastic British story. I would have voted for Mo.” Farah’s best finish is third in the 2011 poll. He has filled fourth spot on two other occasions - including 2012 when he lit up the track in London to secure his first Olympic double and sixth in 2015.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 71

SPORT NEWS

IT’S ALL IN THE GENES!

Soul Stirring gives sire Frankel First Grade I Winner SOUL Stirring, a daughter of the legendary Frankel, solidified her place at the top of Japanese racing winning the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (Jpn-I), the country’s end-of-the-year championship for 2-year-old fillies, and became her sire’s first grade I winner.

Undefeated in three starts on the turf, Soul Stirring who is out of French Oaks winner Stacelita, is trained by Kazuo Fujisawa for the Shadai Race Horse Co Ltd and became the sixth graded/group stakes winner for her sire Frankel, whose first crop are 2-year-olds. In addition to Soul Stirring, Frankel is the sire of Group 2 winner Queen Kindly and Group 3 winners Fair Eva, Frankuus, Mi Suerte, and Toulifaut.

Juddmonte Farm’s undefeated 10-time group I winner and multiple champion Frankel is the leading European first-season sire by worldwide earnings. The son of Galileo (IRE)—Kind (IRE), by Danehill, stands at Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud for £125,000.

NEW STARS, SHOCKS AND TEARS IN F1 YEAR

New blood: Dutchman Max Verstappen. Retirees: Briton Jenson Button and Brazilian Felipe Massa

Rosberg survived and overcame his nerves to finish second in a tense conclusion to a championship that had seen him lead from the front, fall behind and then regain the initiative in the closing months.

Five celebratory days later, the 31-year-old German son of the 1982 champion Keke Rosberg announced he was leaving the sport to be with his family.

Mercedes, the dominant force that carried

him to success on the crest of a third successive constructors’ championship, were left chasing after a replacement.

Team boss Toto Wolff also had to face up to the likely departure of his ever-reliable and even-tempered sidekick technical boss Paddy Lowe who looked set to join Williams.

In typical F1 fashion, it appeared likely that Williams’ star driver Finn Valtteri Bottas was being lined up as Rosberg’s replacement in the most coveted seat in the pit-lane for the faster ‘new-look’ cars of 2017.

The placid Bottas may prove to be a perfect choice, not least because of his temperament. He has plenty of speed, too, but is unlikely to match Rosberg’s run of wins.

As the season came to an end, popular veterans Briton Jenson Button and Brazilian Felipe Massa signed off bringing an end to their long careers as did Ron Dennis who was sadly removed from Mercedes after a board-room shake-up.

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N Formula One, it was the year that had everything and more.

From the arrival of a precocious teenage star to the abrupt retirement of a firsttime champion, 2016 will be remembered as a roller-coaster of surprises, accidents, rivalries and farewells.

Dutchman Max Verstappen, the son of journeyman racer Jos Verstappen, won on his debut with the Red Bull team at the Spanish Grand Prix and went on to dazzle and, sometimes, ignite hostility. A champion was born.

Defending champion and three-time titleholder Lewis Hamilton drove brilliantly, but not often enough to overcome a sequence of setbacks that cost him glory – and handed his team-mate and rival Nico Rosberg the crown.

The Englishman’s 10th win came in November’s season-ender in Abu Dhabi, where he was foiled in a last-gasp attempt to create a trap for his team-mate. No-one has won so many races without taking the title.

Issue 27 Dec 22 - Jan 04, 2017

72 - WEEKEND WORLD

SPORT NEWS

W EEKEND

WORLD

Is England captain’s goose cooked because they were stuffed?

E NGLAND captain Alastair Cook heads home for Christmas with calls for his resignation ringing in his ears after what turned into an embarrassing subcontinental tour.

Cook flagged his possible departure before the fiveTest tour of India and it was a question that became more pointed after England’s capitulation on the final day in Chennai.

England lost six wickets for just 15 runs in a final-session collapse to lose the series 4-0, after they also finished the preceding tour of Bangladesh by folding in the final Test.

Cook’s England threw away 10 wickets in a single session as they slumped to their first Test defeat to the hosts in Dhaka.

Cook admitted it had been a “frustrating” year as he was left ticking off the low points of his captaincy following the defeat in Chennai.

“I think Australia 5-0 (2013-2014) was as low as I could go and Sri Lanka as well at Headingley (2014). We could list a few if you really want,” he said.

“I can’t fault the ef-

fort in the dressing-room. We’ve stayed together as a team. Naturally when things go badly, things can break up.

“But the guys have been brilliant in committing to the cause. We just haven’t been good enough to put India under pressure for long periods.”

Many now expect Cook to relinquish the captaincy in favour of fellow batsman Joe Root, with England heading into a five-month Test break and an Ashes series in Australia looming at the end of next year.

- ‘Tested to our limits’ “End the speculation. He is telling us that the captaincy has tired him out mentally and he has had enough,” said former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott.

DOWNHILL “If that is the case then he should go, which would give Root seven Test matches in England to get used to the job before taking the team to Australia.”

Cook led England to a 2-1 series win in South Africa early this year against a team then ranked number one in the world, but things went downhill from there.

England were held to a 2-2 draw against Pakistan at home in August and then lost in Dhaka to split the series 1-1 with Bangladesh.

But India proved the nadir as England twice lost by an innings after posting more than 400 in their first innings.

“It’s been a frustrating year and to lose that many times with the players we’ve got is disappointing,” said Cook.

“Played some good cricket at times and played some pretty average cricket. We haven’t been very good when we’ve been behind in games,” said Cook.

England slipped from second to fifth in the latest world rankings led by India, but Cook believes it’s not all “doom and gloom”.

“I think everyone can see we are suited to playing in seaming conditions. There’s no point hiding behind that fact. These conditions have tested us to our limits,” said Cook.

England will soon have more opportunities to practise in Indian conditions, when they return for a limited-overs series in January.

FELIPE MASSA UN-RETIRES! FELIPE Massa looks set to return to the F1 circuit following the announcement that a deal for him to return to Williams a month after his retirement has been agreed in principle and it seems it’s all Nico Rosberg’s fault.

Following Nico’s shock retirement from Mercedes

after winning the 2016 championship Mercedes have been clamouring to find a replacement with all eyes focused on Valtteri Bottas, Massa’s former team mate but as Williams’ need for an experienced driver to drive alongside rookie teenager Lance Stroll who was

brought in as Massa’s replacement – bringing Massa back seemed the obvious choice.

Of course Mercedes have sweetened the deal by offering Williams hefty discounts on their Mercedes engines for the new season.