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‘NO TURNING BACK’ As Theresa May triggers Brexit in ‘historic moment’

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rime Minister Theresa May has kicked off the two-year process of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union in what she said was ‘an historic moment from which there can be no turning back’.

Declaring the act ‘the democratic will of the British people’ Theresa May described the UK’s EU withdrawal as one of the ‘great turning points in our national story’.

Mrs May said: “The Article 50 process is now under way and, in accordance with the wishes of the British people, the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union.

“We are going to make our own decisions and our own laws, we are going to take control of the things that matter most to us, and we are going to take this opportunity to build a stronger, fairer Britain - a country that our children and grandchildren are proud to call home.

“That is our ambition and our opportunity.”

In a plea for unity following the ‘divisive’ referendum, Mrs May

vowed to represent ‘every person in the UK’ in the forthcoming talks.

“Let us come together and work together, let us together choose to believe in Britain with optimism and hope. For if we do, we can make the most of the opportunities ahead. We can together make a success of this moment” she said.

stronger, fairer, better Britain “And we can together build a stronger, fairer, better Britain - a Britain our children and grandchildren are proud to call home.”

In Brussels, Mr Tusk sent a message to the UK: ‘We already miss you. Thank you and goodbye’.

Mr Tusk said that the invoking of Article 50 was not a happy occasion and that the two-year negotiation ahead would be a matter of ‘damage control’.

‘There is nothing to win in this process - and I am talking about both sides. In essence, this is about damage control.” he said

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Brexit: The end of a loveless marriage Britain’s relationship with the European Union was always an awkward marriage of convenience rather than a case of love at first sight, and after 44 years -- during which trade ties always took precedence for Britain over closer integration -- London has filed for divorce.

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nand Menon, a professor of European politics at King’s College London University, said the relationship was always “transactional” and therefore the break-up is “pretty logical”.

“It’s been a utilitarian relationship since 1973 and the emphasis was always on the economic dimension, not on the political one,” said Pauline Schnapper, professor of contemporary British history at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

“The sentimental dimension is near-inexistent,” she said.

The path towards today’s European Union began after World War II as the shattered continent tried to rebuild and deepen integration as a way of bolstering the peace.

The project did not immediately appeal to Britain.

“I think we didn’t feel vulnerable enough to join, quite simply,” Menon said.

Britain preferred to focus on its special relationship with the United States and the remains of its empire.

London nevertheless supported the push for closer integration on the European continent: wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for the creation of a “United States of Europe” in his 1946 Zurich speech.

But in the early 1960s, Britain’s fortunes changed for the worse.

Its economic growth started lagging behind that of France and Germany, making the European single market on its doorstep seem an appealing option.

Club of ‘others’ Britain announced last week it would begin the Brexit process on March 29 with a formal notification by letter to EU President Donald Tusk with EU leaders announcing that a special summit will be held exactly one month later on April 29 to discuss Brexit guidelines aimed at making the split the “least painful” for the bloc, President Donald Tusk said.

The divorce will be difficult but joining

the European fray in the first place was not an easy task either.

In 1961, France’s then-president, Charles de Gaulle, vetoed Britain’s first application, seeing it as a “Trojan horse” for the United States and doubting Britain’s European spirit.

Another French veto followed in 1967 and the UK was only finally welcomed into the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973.

Unfortunately for Britain, the first oil crisis struck that same year and so the muchhoped-for economic boost failed to materialise.

Nevertheless, 67 percent of the British people voted to remain in the EEC in a 1975 referendum.

“The fact that we joined late is one of the reasons there are suspicions because obviously there is a sense that we joined a club that others had set up to suit themselves,” Menon said.

Britain and the EEC soon locked horns and London began opting out of the major attempts to step up European integration.

In 1979, London refused to participate in the European monetary system, defending its national and fiscal sovereignty.

Six years later, it refused to ratify the Schengen Agreement -- abolishing internal border checks -- and in 1993, it opted out of the European single currency.

Britain’s anti-federalist approach was spelled out by prime minister Margaret Thatcher during a 1988 speech at the College of Europe in Bruges.

In it, she rejected the idea of a “European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels”.

Not mutually beneficial In the 1990s, Britain’s defiance towards Brussels accelerated further with the creation of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which campaigned for the country’s exit from the EU.

The opposition party’s successes, particularly in the 2014 European Parliament elections when it topped the polls, pushed the government to harden its rhetoric.

The Eurozone crisis, large-scale immigration from the EU and the refugee crisis of the past few years stoked the discontent, pushing Prime Minister David Cameron to call the June 2016 referendum.

In the end, 52 percent of voters opted for Brexit.

Neither side is likely to end up the happier after the divorce, said John Springford, director of research at the Centre for European Reform in London.

“I am not convinced that Britain leaving the EU will help Britain or help the EU,” he said.

Historic event Britain has already lost nearly a month of negotiating time, as EU leaders had been ready to meet on April 6 had May begun the process in mid-March as expected.

The summit will also take place between the two rounds of France’s presidential election, meaning that the political focus of many European leaders will be elsewhere.

The guidelines that the EU leaders will adopt will govern how EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier approaches Brexit negotiations, along with a more detailed set of rules from the European Commission.

Talks are expected to begin with the bill that EU members want to impose on Britain for leaving, the status of EU nationals in Britain and vice versa, and the border in Northern Ireland, before moving on to a future deal.

Britain must negotiate the terms of its departure and a future trade deal by a deadline of March 2019.

Barnier has said a draft deal must be on the table by October 2018 if there is to be time to get it ratified by national assemblies and the European Parliament.

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Turkey threatens to send Europe ‘15,000 refugees a month’ Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has threatened to “blow the mind” of Europe by sending 15,000 refugees a month to EU territory, in an intensifying dispute with the bloc.

Ankara and Brussels signed a landmark deal on March 18 2016, that has substantially lessened the flow of migrants from Turkey to Europe.

But the accord is now hanging in the balance due to the diplomatic crisis over the blocking of Turkish ministers from holding rallies in Europe.

“If you want, we could open the way for 15,000 refugees that we don’t send each month and blow the mind” of Europe, Soylu said in a speech late Thursday, quoted by the Anadolu news agency.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has already indicated that Turkey could rip up the deal and said Turkey was no

longer readmitting migrants who crossed into Greece.

The crisis was sparked when the Netherlands and Germany refused to allow Turkish ministers to campaign in a April 16 referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers, prompting the Turkish strongman to compare them with Nazi Germany.

Soylu, a hardliner considered close to Erdogan, accused The Hague and Berlin of involvement in June 2013 anti-Erdogan protests, October 2014 pro-Kurdish riots and the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt.

“They are trying to complete the work that they did not finish. Who is doing this work? It’s the Netherlands and Germany,” Soylu said.

He accused Europe of failing to help Turkey enter the bloc and of not helping with its fight against terror.

“Europe, do you have that kind of courage...? Let us remind you that you cannot play games in this region and ignore Turkey,” he added.

The European Union had said it expects Turkey to continue implementing the deal, which drastically cut the numbers making the dangerous passage across the Aegean Sea. The mass influx of migrants to Europe in summer 2015 was seen as boosting the support of the far-right on the continent.

A key pillar of the deal were pledges by Turkey to boost border security and break people-smuggling networks, moves that analysts say slowed the migrant flow to a trickle.

Erdogan in November last year already threatened Europe with opening the frontiers of Turkey, which borders EU members Greece and Bulgaria.

Belgium ‘safer’ but returning fighters a threat A year after the Brussels bombings, Belgium is more secure but it faces the threat of battle-hardened jihadi fighters returning home as Islamic State makes its last stand, interior minister Jan Jambon said.

“The question is whether IS will order them to fight to the last man or tell them to go home and cause as much damage as possible,” Jambon said in an interview.

“We have not seen any sign of a mass exodus so far but I can assure you that every intelligence service in every country is working on it,” he said.

Jambon said tighter security had made Belgium safer than it was when home-grown suicide bombers killed 32 people at the airport and a metro station on March 22 last year.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said in November that the cell that carried out the Brussels bombings, and was involved in the Paris attacks, had got its orders from high up in the IS command.

The carnage in Brussels and in Paris in November 2015 involved “IS fighters carrying out attacks aimed at causing the most casualties possible,” he said.

However, with European jihadists finding it harder to get to and from Syria and Iraq, “the IS no longer orders but inspires people to carry out attacks,” Jambon said.

That is the case for attacks perpetrated in the German capital Berlin in December, the French city of Nice in July and the southern Belgian city of Charleroi in August.

A machete-wielding man shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) attacked two policewomen in Charleroi, badly injuring one in the face, before a third officer shot him dead.

“I think we’re in that (new) phase,” said Jambon, a member of the Flemish nationalist N-VA party in a coalition government led

by Prime Minister Charles Michel, a French-speaking Wallon.

Intelligence sharing He said the intelligence services in Belgium and other countries were exchanging information to check for the possible return of jihadists as IS loses territory to regional forces backed by the US and other powers.

Numbering around 500, Belgium is the European Union’s largest per capita source of so-called foreign jihadist fighters, but Jambon said none had left the country for the Middle East since January 2016.

In another development that he described as “dangerous,” Jambon said the lines were blurring between peaceful and violent backers of Salafist ideas exported to Belgium from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Some experts have linked the ideology embraced by IS, Al-Qaeda and other violent groups to Salafism, a Sunni Muslim reform movement that promotes rigid interpretations of the Koran.

EU gives Ukraine €600M to help steady economy The EU has agreed to give the Ukraine 600 million euros in loans as a deadly conflict with pro-Russian rebels continues to sap efforts to stabilise its economy, a statement said.

The payment brings total EU macro-financial assistance (MFA) for Ukraine to 2.8 billion euros ($3.0 billion) since 2014, when Kiev broke decisively with Soviet-era master Russia to focus on building ties with the European Union.

The European Commission said the MFA programme has helped Ukraine raise international finance and supported EU-backed re-

‘Right to think’

Jambon said he believes the Saudi government when it denies it is funding the spread of Salafist ideas to Belgium.

“But that does not mean there is no financing from (private) Saudis to certain groups.”

He said it was difficult to stop money transfers as well as curb the spread of extremist ideas in a democracy where “we have the right to think.”

He said his ministry was training and deploying more police than ever who will increasingly fight the small criminal gangs from which many Belgian jihadists have sprung.

He added the authorities were also benefitting from the cooperation of the Belgian form efforts to root out corruption and restructure the economy. public, including Muslim community leadUkraine had largely kept its commitments, the Commission said. ers, but acknowledged jihadists had support “Ukraine has done a remarkable job of stabilising and reforming from “a small minority.” its economy, despite the armed conflict unfolding on its soil,” Since the attacks, Belgium has also enacted Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said in the statetighter security measures allowing the aument. thorities greater powers to search and moni“With today’s disbursement ... the EU reaffirms its long-standing tor suspects. commitment to support Ukraine in its efforts to maintain stability “So our country is today safer than it was in and ensure economic recovery in the country.” those days,” Jambon said.

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EU companies can ban wearing of religious symbols, top court EU companies can ban employees from wearing religious or political symbols, such as the Islamic headscarf, the bloc’s top court has ruled in a landmark case.

The European Court of Justice said it does not constitute “direct discrimination” if a firm has an internal rule banning the wearing of “any political, philosophical or religious sign.”

The wearing of religious symbols, and especially Islamic symbols such as the headscarf, has become a hot button issue with the rise of populist sentiment across Europe, with some countries such as Austria considering a complete ban on the full-face veil in public.

The ECJ was ruling on a case dating to 2003 when Samira Achbita, a Muslim, was employed as a receptionist by G4S security services in Belgium.

At the time, the company had an “unwritten rule” that employees should not wear any political, religious or philosophical symbols at work, the ECJ said.

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ut as 27 EU leaders without Britain discuss their post-Brexit future, the concept has come to dominate debate on what the union should look like.

What is ‘multi-speed’?

The central idea of a multi-speed Europe is that some member states may choose to go faster, or slower, with European integration than others on certain policies and topics.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made this one of five possible scenarios for the future of the EU in a white paper earlier this month.

Debate has heated up over the idea with national leaders divided between firm backers, including Germany and France, and less powerful members, particularly in the East, that are bitterly opposed.

What exists already?

Ironically, today’s EU is already very much a multi-speed Europe. Some of the EU’s most far-reaching policies are limited to smaller groups of member states, notably the euro single currency with its 19 members, or the visa-free Schengen zone and its 22 countries.

Since its foundation with the treaty of Rome in 1957, the bloc has grown in fits and starts with some countries -- notably Britain and Denmark who joined in the early 1970s -- demanding exceptions and opt-outs as a condition for joining the club.

Moreover, according to EU rules, groups of at least nine member states can embark together on policies in a process called “enhanced cooperation”.

Controversial proposals currently on the table, such as the creation of a European prosecutors office or a tax on financial transactions, have been launched using this procedure.

In 2006, Achbita told G4S she wanted to wear the Islamic headscarf at work but was told this would not be allowed.

Subsequently, the company introduced a formal ban.

Achbita was dismissed and she went to court claiming discrimination.

The ECJ said that European Union law does bar discrimination on religious grounds but that G4S’s actions were based on treating all employees the same, meaning no one person was singled out for application of the ban.

“The rule thus treats all employees of the undertaking in the same way, notably by requiring them, generally and without any differentiation, to dress neutrally,” the ECJ said.

“Accordingly, such an internal rule does not introduce a difference of treatment that is directly based on religion or belief,” it said.

What is ‘multi-speed’ Europe?

The idea has caused division between Europe’s heads of state but the so-called multi-speed European Union is not new, and some might argue that it already describes the bloc in its current form.

Who is for?

Paris and Berlin are the key backers of a multi-speed Europe, with Italy and Spain also on board.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking after talks with her counterparts from those countries last week, urged Europeans to “have the courage to accept that some countries can advance more rapidly than others”.

“Unity does not equal uniformity,” French President Francois Hollande said earlier this week.

Why more?

Who is against?

The EU holds a long tradition of deciding everything by unanimity, which worked when the bloc was a cozy club of a dozen members, not the current 28. Proposals seen as urgent by a majority of member states can easily be vetoed by one.

A multi-speed Europe is seen as a solution to the deadlock.

Tighter groups of member states could deepen ties, with more independent-minded states opting out.

Under this regime, it is thought that the EU could become

Historically, the biggest opponent was always Britain but after Brexit, the Netherlands and Scandinavia are likely to take up the role of the northern Europe awkward squad, fighting against Berlin and Paris.

The newer, former-Soviet members in the east are also strongly opposed, fearing they could be frozen out of decision making which could potentially affect the billions in subsidies they get from Brussels.

more ambitious and pave the way to a more coherent and unified future.

Backers of such ‘multi-speed’ policies believe this is the way that seemingly impossible goals such as harmonised tax polices or an EU army could finally see the light of day.

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NEWS

EU ditches summit ‘family photo’

EU ‘enemies’ should be denied bloc funding

T The EU has ditched the traditional “family photo” of leaders at Brussels summits as it seeks a more modern image for the bloc, European sources said.

Until the end of last year, the 28 European Union leaders gathering for their regular meetings would pose together for photographers in what was meant to be a show of unity.

“Part of the idea was to have a more modern visual image” than just the leaders lined up in rows, a senior diplomatic said.

The decision was also part of efforts by European Council chief Donald Tusk, who was re-elected on Thursday, to “streamline” summits that often drag late into the night, the source said.

“These photos can actually take quite a lot of time.”

DIVIDED EU institutions were trying to offer photographers more time to take pictures of leaders as they get down to business in the summit room, the source said.

The decision comes as the EU is divided on many fronts, with Poland reacting furiously at this summit after leaders re-elected former Polish premier Tusk as EU chief despite objections from Warsaw.

Sources denied it was political at a time when the EU is about to start hosting official summits with both the full 28 members but also at 27 -- when Britain is barred from talks on its impending exit from the union.

Family photos are a tradition at summit meetings of many organisations around the world, often offering a light-hearted moment before leaders discuss serious issues.

It can also be a glimpse into the personal politics and body language behind the political spin as the leaders gather together in one place.

Famously, leaders at the APEC Asia-Pacific summit dress up every year in the national costume of the host country, leading to the sight of US and Russian presidents wearing colourful outfits from around the region.

The EU’s own photo opportunities have not always worked out in the past, with leaders being mocked for going on a ride on a huge luxury yacht in Malta in February during a summit focused on the migration crisis in which thousands of people have drowned in the Mediterranean.

he shock idea comes as anti-EU candidates in the Netherlands and France are expected to make inroads in elections over the coming weeks.

Many of these parties, including the pro-Brexit UKIP formerly headed by Nigel Farage, have a considerable presence in European Parliament, which has become a crucial source for funding.

“The question is whether Europe is stupid enough to fund its enemies,” said Manfred Weber, head of the centre-right European People’s Party, the biggest in the European Parliament.

Weber, who is affiliated to Angela Merkel’s ruling CDU party in Germany, said he sent his proposal for new legislation in a letter to European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

The details would be hammered out over the next couple of months, Weber said.

Europseptic parties bristled at the proposal, which is part of a revamp launched last year on how European parties are funded.

“Raging Europhiles such as Weber have lost the argument and popular support and in their despair now wish to utilise finance as a weapon to hamper patriotic parties,” said current UKIP leader and MEP Paul Nuttall.

“There is no such thing as EU money, it’s taxpayers’ money and Eurosceptic parties have a mandate from their voters

The EU should deny funding to far-right parties that want to “destroy” the bloc, a top European Parliament figure has announced. who pay tax,” he said.

Opposed to a united Europe, major eurosceptic parties have had success winning seats in European Parliament and securing the EU funding that comes with that.

UKIP and France’s Front National, headed by presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, have been targeted for allegedly siphoning off EU funding to pay for national campaigning.

Le Pen has refused to repay nearly 300,000 euros ($325,000) in EU funds that the European parliament, which is based in both Strasbourg and Brussels, said were paid illegally to a party assistant in Paris.

MEPs will hold a debate on the topic during a plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

“What we are concerned with right now are the basic principles: we have got parties hostile to Europe that are enjoying European funding.” Weber said.

UK banks ‘handled’ $740M in laundered Russian money Several British banks allegedly processed nearly $740 million in a multibillion dollar Russian money-laundering scam.

According to documents obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, at least $20 billion was moved out of Russia between 2010 and 2014 in a vast criminal operation called “The Global Laundromat”.

The scam involved over 500 people including oligarchs and Russian criminals with links to the government and the spy agency, KGB. Over that period, British banks including HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Barclays and Coutts reportedly handled over 1,900 transactions -- out

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of 70,000 -- worth nearly $740 million.

A further 373 operations are believed to have gone through US banks, for a total amount of $63 million.

“Barclays complies with the rules and regulations in all the jurisdictions in which it operates and has systems and controls in place to mitigate the risk of the bank being used to facilitate financial crime,” a spokesman for the bank said.

HSBC responded to the allegations saying: “The bank has systems and processes in place to identify suspicious activity and report it to the appropriate government authorities.

“This case highlights the need for greater information sharing between the public and private sectors, each of

whom holds important information the other does not.”

RBS said they were “committed to combating financial crime and money laundering in line with our regulations and have controls and safeguards in place to identify, assess, monitor and mitigate these risks.”

According to The Guardian, while all major British banks will face questions over why they did not raise the alarm on suspicious money transfers, they only processed money that had already been laundered.

The newspaper reported however that American banks, including CitiBank and Bank of America, are the only ones that raise money-laundering concerns.

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UK NEWS

Empire 2.0? Commonwealth eyes post-Brexit trade boost

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embers in the 52-state organisation, which was born out of the British empire, feel the time is right to exploit their common bonds of language and law to a much greater degree.

Britain is gearing up to strike its own trade deals outside of the European single market and is looking to its former global network, in what sceptical London officials quoted in UK newspapers are calling “Empire 2.0”.

The Commonwealth can help strengthen the prosperity and security of the UK and other members “as we look to create a truly global Britain”, Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement to mark Commonwealth Day. Ahead of the celebrations, the body held its first trade ministers’ meeting since 2005, with more than 35 gathering in London.

“A number of countries have come to us as a result of their concern in relation to the impact that Brexit might have on their economic position,” Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said afterwards.

“The challenge that we face globally -- the slowdown and the protectionism -- is a real one. Therefore the Commonwealth as a family has an opportunity to exploit... the de facto Commonwealth advantage.”

- Third of world population The trade ministers’ meeting heard how business between Commonwealth members stands at around £600 billion ($730 billion, 684 billion euros), equivalent to 15 percent of global trade even though member states account for a third of the global population.

“Brexit has had an effect and this is felt very handsomely,” said the Mediterranean island’s economy minister Christian Cordona.

“However, it gives also a lot of opportunities that didn’t exist before,” he said.

Now that Britain has triggered Article 50s, the country and its historic trading partners in the Commonwealth are sizing up an opportunity to boost business.

China No.1 for Africa

The gathering looked at overcoming challenges to trade competitiveness and practical steps to get more commerce flowing.

“I think it’s the right time for a new Commonwealth trading bloc,” Sri Lanka’s international trade minister Malik Samarawickrama told AFP. The Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council’s chairman Jonathan Marland said: “All the UK’s trading arrangements are now up for grabs. So what easier and better place to trade than with countries who have shared associations for many years?”.

When Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, it sidelined its historic trading links with its former empire, causing much hurt in some countries.

Though Britain is “pushing at an open door”, with Commonwealth trade, it must “approach it with a degree of humility”, Marland said.

Malta is uniquely placed to read the shifting sands, chairing both the Commonwealth and the EU Council presidency.

Berlin does not owe any debt to NATO German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (pictured above) has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that Berlin owes NATO “vast sums of money” and must pay Washington more for defence.

“There is no account where debts are registered with NATO,” Von der Leyen, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said in a statement.

She also noted that NATO spending should not be the only criteria used to measure Germany’s military efforts.

Trump recently tweeted that “Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defence it provides to Germany!”

His tweetstorm came after Trump met Merkel in Washington, where the two leaders showed little common ground over a host of thorny issues, including NATO and defence spending.

Merkel said Berlin had committed to increasing its military spending to two percent of GDP, a target NATO member states formally agreed in 2014 to reach within 10 years.

Germany, whose wartime past has led it traditionally to be reticent on defence matters, currently spends 1.2 percent of GDP. Von der Leyen said that Germany’s increased military spending would not only go to NATO but would also be used for participating in UN and European peacekeeping missions and to contribute to the fight against the Islamic State extremists.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) think tank, along with Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Trade Out of Poverty, produced a 10-point plan of possible measures to increase Commonwealth business.

Their recommendations included a Commonwealth trademark, promoting green growth through trade and improving trade governance.

But ODI senior research fellow Maximiliano Mendez-Parra said the intra-Commonwealth trade growth should not be overstated since Africa sees China as its key partner.

“Probably there will be an increase in intra-Commonwealth trade, but it won’t go back to the trade of 60 or 70 years ago,” he told AFP. Pauline Schnapper, a professor of contemporary British civilisation at the Sorbonne University in Paris, said London was failing to acknowledge how much the world and Britain’s place in it had moved on since it decolonised and joined the EEC. “Half of Britain’s trade is with the European continent so the idea that that could be replaced by Australia and New Zealand is absurd,” she said.

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ctual talks between London and Brussels are not expected for another couple of months while the European Union side formalises its position.

Here are the key steps ahead:

48 hours: EU guidelines European Council President Donald Tusk has said he will issue draft “negotiating guidelines” within 48 hours of Article 50 being triggered. These are overall political red lines for the next two years and will be circulated to the capitals of the 27 remaining EU countries.

Diplomats will start preparing for an extraordinary summit.

EU 27 summit The leaders of the 27 will hold a special Brexit summit in Brussels to approve the negotiating guidelines.

The summit is expected to be in late April or early May, if May triggers Article 50 as expected at the end of March.

The guidelines will have a broad political message “but you could probably write them yourself,” as they cover much of what leaders have already been saying for months, a European diplomat told AFP.

Commission recommendation Within 24 hours of the summit at 27, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, will make its first formal reaction to

Next steps after Britain pulls Brexit trigger British Prime Minister Theresa has now triggered Article 50 of the EU’s treaties which will begins a difficult two-year Brexit negotiation process. the start of the Brexit process -- issuing an initial “Recommendation to Open Negotiations”.

Negotiating Directives The EU 27’s European affairs ministers, meeting in the so-called General Affairs Council, will meet to draw up the “Negotiating Directives” in the weeks after the summit.

These are much more detailed than the EU 27’s negotiating guidelines, going into the “nitty gritty” of Brexit, and will largely be based on the Commission’s recommenda-

tion to open negotiations.

The directives will include the three key issues which the EU wants to deal with first, preferably this year: the departure bill Britain will have to pay; the rights of EU citizens in Britain; and the flashpoint border in Northern Ireland.

Barnier mandate, talks actually start Between six and eight weeks after London triggers the process, the EU ministers will approve the negotiating directives and for-

Rare Bowie to be reissued for Record Store Day Two rare recordings from rock legend David Bowie will be reissued next month for the 10th anniversary of Record Store Day, the global celebration of vinyl’s rebirth, his label has announced.

The albums, to be released in limited quantity on Record Store Day on April 22, include a three-LP live album from 1974 called “Cracked Actor.”

The concert in Los Angeles came as Bowie, who earlier defined glam rock, embraced the soul music scene of Philadelphia.

2017-2018: future relationship?

The EU says it will only discuss Britain’s future relationship, including a possible trade deal after the leaving bill, citizens rights and Northern Ireland are resolved.

Britain however says they can start in tandem with the initial three key issues. Whatever happens, the aim is to discuss the broader future in 2017 to 2018.

October 2018: draft deal?

Barnier has set October 2018 as the latest feasible date for a draft Brexit deal to give it time to be approved by the British parliament, by EU leaders and by the European Parliament, which will have the final say.

2019: Brexit Britain will formally leave the EU two years after the notification of Article 50 -- with or without a deal. In theory negotiations can be extended but the EU 27 are unlikely to agree.

European Parliament elections are expected in June 2019.

It is still unclear today whether Britain can annul the Brexit process before the deadline if it changes its mind; and whether the final deal, as well as extension of talks or a transitional accord, also has to be approved by all of the parliaments in the EU states.

SOUL GREAT The 1974 concert featured Bowie sharing vocals with soul great Luther Vandross.

While parts of the show had featured in a BBC documentary, “Cracked Actor” marks the first time the concert recordings have been put together. They were recently remastered by Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti, the Parlophone label said.

The second reissue is “Bowpromo,” a rare 1971 promotional release with alternative versions of tracks that would come out later that year on one of Bowie’s classic albums, “Hunky Dory.”

The B side of “Bowpromo” features unrelated songs by an artist on the same promotional roster as Bowie, Dana Gillespie, an English singer best known for appearing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus

mally give the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, the mandate to start negotiations. This is when the Britain-EU talks actually begin.

It is expected in late May to early June -nearly a year after Britain’s referendum vote to leave the bloc.

Barnier’s talks with the British will be officially be governed by both documents -- the negotiating guidelines from the EU 27 national leaders, and the detailed negotiating directives.

Barnier and Britain must also work out practical issues such as what language the talks will be held in -- Barnier is French -- and the timetable, though some of those issues may be sorted out earlier.

“There’s nothing to stop us talking about procedure before we get the mandate as long as we are not actually negotiating,” one diplomat said.

Christ Superstar.”

Bowie was famous for the constant evolution of his music, even on his last album “Blackstar” which came out last year two days before the rocker stunned the world by dying from an undisclosed battle with cancer.

Record Store Day was launched in the United States in 2007 in a bid to highlight locally

owned stores.

It has since become a worldwide celebration with special releases and events inside stores.

Vinyl sales have soared in the past few years in the United States and a number of European countries, providing a welcome but still tiny boost to the long beleaguered music industry.

A decade of trade talks?

Even if Britain does manage to make a deal with the EU, the accord is likely to be partial or transitional. A full deal for the future relationship will probably take years -- up to seven years according to Tusk, or even a decade, according to reported comments by Britain’s former ambassador to the EU.

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UK NEWS

EU’s Tusk warns against Brexit deal ‘threats’ The European Union will not bow to British “threats” that it is prepared to walk away from Brexit talks without a deal, the bloc’s president, Donald Tusk warned.

T

usk said Britain would come off worse than the 27 other EU members if the two-year negotiation process ended without an agreement on the terms of its departure.

“We will not be intimidated by threats and I can assure you they simply will not work,” Tusk told the European Parliament in Stras-

bourg, France.

“The claims, increasingly taking the form of threats, that no agreement will be good for the UK and bad for the EU, need to be addressed,” Tusk said.

“I want to be clear that a no-deal scenario would be bad for everyone but above all for the UK.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in January that she was ready to leave the EU without a deal on future relations if necessary.

“While I am sure a positive agreement can be reached -– I am equally clear that no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain,” she said in a speech.

The UK Brexit minister David Davis tried

Hounded out: battle to save beloved British dogs Eclipsed in the rush for so-called designer dogs, some famous British breeds are now threatened with extinction, the world’s biggest dog show Crufts warned following its annual showpiece event.

Globally-famous native breeds are being squeezed out by handbag-sized pooches better suited to modern busy lifestyles and smaller homes, said the famous dog show.

But Crufts is trying to raise their profiles to prevent some of our beloved four legged friends becoming extinct “We could see these breeds effectively become extinct,” said Bill Lambert, health and breeder services manager at The Kennel Club, which runs Crufts and is the governing body for all matters canine in Britain.

“We have seen a trend in Britain away from larger dogs to smaller dogs due to lifestyles and people living in cities more.

It’s a vicious circle: they become less popular, then people see them less and forget about them,” he said.

The Kennel Club registers newborn puppies, with Labrador Retrievers (33,856), Cocker Spaniels (21,854) and the increasingly popular French Bulldogs (21,470) topping the charts last year.

But some native former favourites are now down at the bottom and classed as vulnerable British breeds, including Bloodhounds (53), King Charles Spaniels (84) and Mastiffs (102).

World famous to extinct?

Greyfriars Bobby, who held a 14-year daily vigil at his master’s grave in Edinburgh un-

til his own death in 1872, remains a world-famous dog.

But Skye Terriers like him now top the vulnerable British breeds list, with just 28 puppies registered last year.

There are an estimated 600 to 800 left in Britain and only 3,000 worldwide, meaning extreme care must be taken with bloodlines to avoid inbreeding.

“They’ve become unfashionable. It’s horrendous and awful. I wish people would get to know them,” said MarQueen Elizabeth II with her beloved Pembroke Welsh Corgis garet Samuel, a Skye owner and enthusiast who brought “I don’t think Heather would know what along her pet Donald to the 2017 Crufts to do with an otter,” Daryl Brotchie, an Otshow “He’ll lick you to death!” she said. terhound Club committee member, said “They look funny and I think they have of her beloved pet. a sense of humour. They certainly have “They’re very chilled out. Look into their their own opinion.” eyes and they look into your soul.”

Dandie Dinmont Terriers were all the rage Some 400 Otterhounds are left in their in the 1800s, with queen Victoria jumping native Britain and 800 worldwide. on the craze.

“You fall in love with the breed. But the “Dandies were the first celebrity breed,” gene pool is now really small,” said a worsaid owner Kevin Noble. ried Brotchie. Just 40 newborn puppies But only 91 puppies were registered last were registered last year. year. They typically cost around £1,000 Some hope a celebrity owner could revive ($1,200, 1,150 euros). the fortunes of vulnerable breeds.

Dandies were bred to hunt badgers and But even Pembroke Welsh Corgis -- falike Otterhounds, their working purpose mously beloved of Queen Elizabeth II has been outlawed, thus harming num-- are on the vulnerability watch list, with bers. just 393 puppies registered in 2016.

Now in its 126th year, Crufts is an institu‘Chilled out’ hounds tion in British culture and winning Crufts However, Otterhounds have adapted to is like winning Wimbledon – “it’s the pinbecome docile family dogs. nacle.”

to play down the row on Wednesday, telling a parliamentary committee in London that despite some “sharp” remarks, the EU president had emphasised that Britain was a friend.

“We’re not trying to threaten anybody, we’re not trying to do anything heavy-handed, we’re not trying to be coercive,” Davis said.

“We’re trying to ensure that we get something that is in the interests of everybody.”

Brussels is increasingly on edge as it waits for May to formally trigger the two-year Brexit process, which she has promised to do by the end of March.

The EU says it wants to sort out Britain’s bill for leaving, the rights of EU citizens and the border in Northern Ireland, before moving on to talks about a future trade deal.

‘Door always open’ But Tusk, a former Polish premier who was re-elected European Council president last week despite the objections of his home country, said he would work to ensure that Britain and the EU remained “close partners”.

“The EU’s door will always remain open to our UK friends,” he told MEPs. Tusk, whose job involves working to achieve consensus among the bloc’s national leaders, added that he remained optimistic that Britain would be sensible.

“Our goal is to have a smooth divorce and a good framework for the future. And it is good to know that Prime Minister Theresa May shares this view,” he said.

May’s government has promised the British parliament a binding vote on the Brexit deal before Britain leaves in early 2019 -- but only after May has accepted it.

If she decides not to accept it, there is no deal to vote on.

Many MPs fear that May will be pressured by the eurosceptic press and the right wing of her Conservative party into rejecting a deal, with potentially disastrous economic consequences.

But Downing Street fears the EU could give Britain a worse deal if it believes lawmakers might accept it as an alternative to crashing out.

Davis acknowledged that the British government had still not made any assessment of the economic impact of leaving without a deal.

“I can’t quantify it for you yet. I may well be able to do so in a year’s time. It’s not as frightening as some people think, but it’s not as simple as some people think,” he told MPs.

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UK NEWS

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UK NEWS

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UK NEWS

UK introduce laptop ban on airplanes but what’s the threat?

The United States and Britain have banned laptops and tablet computers from passenger cabins on certain airlines’ flights from some airports in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa, citing terror threats.

T

he change affects six British airlines, including British Airways and EasyJet, and eight foreign carriers, including Turkish Airlines and includes phones which are more than 16 centimetres long, 9.3cm wide and 1.5cm deep.

But why?

Normally, decisions taken by American authorities and implemented by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are

the result of specific threats identified by US intelligence agencies, Jean-Charles Brisard, president of the Centre for Analysis of Terrorism said, “Certain groups like Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have been trying for years to adapt to the progressive security measures put in place by the US and their allies, in particular by miniaturising explosives.”

The new measures “will be based on specific threats, without doubt an initiative by AQAP,

one of the most advanced and sophisticated groups -- in particular with regards to miniaturisation of explosive devices,” he added.

Has this happened before?

After AQAP and rebel groups in Syria drew closer together in 2014, the TSA banned devices with flat batteries, saying that passengers could be required to demonstrate that laptops and phones could be powered up before boarding planes, Brisard said.

“The fear, which was based on precise infor-

Brexit puts EU lifeblood of British hospitals at risk With British hospitals already struggling to fill their ranks, Brexit could make life even harder for the National Health Service as EU doctors and nurses either stay away or prepare to leave.

The state-run NHS is hugely reliant on EU immigrants to look after ageing Britons, and the latest data after the Brexit vote has put the sector on high alert.

“We risk facing a serious staff shortage which will only further worsen pressures on our NHS,” Charlie Massey, head of the General Medical Council (GMC), told a parliamentary committee last month.

Some 60,000 EU nationals work in the NHS, representing about 5 percent of its staff of 1.2 million.

A survey commissioned by Channel 4, published earlier this month, showed that 42 percent of them were considering leaving in the next five years, and that 70 percent considered Britain a less appealing place to work in the wake of the referendum.

The number of EU nurses registering to work in the NHS has already plunged by 90 percent since Britain voted to leave the European Union in June, according to figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Only 101 nurses signed up in December, compared with 1,304 in July, in what

Jackie Smith, the council’s chief executive, called “the first sign of a change” after the referendum.

Janet Davies, director of the Royal College of Nursing, the main association of British nurses, commented that the national healthcare system already had 24,000 nursing vacancies and that it “simply could not cope without the contribution from EU nurses”.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has so far refused to grant residency rights to the estimated three million EU citizens living in Britain, saying that this should depend on an agreement on the status of about 1.2 million British nationals in other parts of the union.

Health System would collapse “We want guarantees soon,” said Joan Pons, a 41-year-old Spanish nurse working in Gorleston, Norfolk, who has been living in Britain for 17 years.

In Spain, “all the nurses wanted to come here but they are now looking at other countries like France”.

Pons is a campaigner in The3Million movement, an advocacy group set up following the referendum that wants residency rights for EU citizens.

He said the government’s silence on the issue had helped foster a climate of xenophobia.

“I get called all sorts of things on social networks. The other day a Polish nurse told me in tears that a young patient refused to be treated by her because she was foreign,” he said.

The government has vowed a policy of zero tolerance on hate crime incidents, which increased sharply just before and in the immediate aftermath of the referendum.

Pons has three children aged five, 11 and 14 who were all born in Britain, and they are now worried about whether they will need to move to Spain.

“They are scared that we’ll go on holiday and never come back,” he said.

Pons said that if European nurses leave Britain, and British pensioners now living in Spain return home, “the health system will collapse”.

It would certainly add to the healthcare bill.

Paul MacNaught, director of EU, International and Prevention Programmes at the UK health ministry, has estimated that the presence of 190,000 British pensioners in other EU countries saves the British health system about £350 million (400 million euros, $425 million) per year.

mation, was that the battery’s housing could conceal a miniature explosive of just a few hundred grams,” he said.

Why Arab countries and Turkey?

“The reality is that the main threat will come from the countries listed by American authorities,” said Brisard, adding that TSA regulations were generally followed around the world.

Some countries will not have the same level of security screenings as in the US and other western nations, he added.

Why laptops and tablets?

“These types of electronic devices contain all the component parts of an improvised explosive device (IED) except for the detonator and the actual explosives,” said Sebastien Caron, director general of ASCT, a training centre for airport security.

By adding those two missing elements, it could be possible to effectively assemble an IED, making these devices more sensitive than other electronics, he added.

How can explosives be detected at security inspections?

If airport security have any doubt about a passenger and their baggage they can use a trace detector -- a small wipe -- to check for any explosives, Caron said.

If the electronic device has been boobytrapped, there will be traces of explosive of that can be found. The wipe can be analysed in seven seconds and will warn of any explosives detected, the expert said.

How can they monitor checked baggage?

In France, checked baggage is passed through an Explosive Detection System which can determine whether any explosives are present by analysing the molecules inside the bags.

If the machine estimates that there may be a threat, it alerts airport security who can take the bag aside for a more comprehensive check.

“Out of 100 bags, only 30 percent pass through a human inspection, who will usually be able to clear 25 out of those 30 of having any threat,” Caron said.

“The remaining five percent are sent to an even more sophisticated tomography machine,” which is a very expensive X-ray or ultrasound machine, he added.

What consequences for travellers?

Caron worries that the new measures will cause tension with travellers. “Passengers are mainly business people who need to work or tourists who don’t want to be deprived of their devices to relax or watch a movie. It’s going to be complicated to manage.”

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Race to lead Spain’s Socialists heats up The race for the leadership of Spain’s main opposition Socialists has stepped up a level as the president of the southern Andalusia region launched her bid to head the deeply-divided party.

Career politician Susana Diaz

A

T a rally of some 6,000 party faithful in Madrid, among them former prime ministers Felipe Gonzalez and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, 42-yearold career politician Susana Diaz (right) said she would stand in the May primaries.“I am presenting myself as a candidate because I want to bring back the passion for winning,” said Diaz a plumber’s daughter who since 2013 has been the regional president of Andalusia, a party stronghold.

She will face off against the party’s previous chief, former economics professor Pedro Sanchez, 45, who was ousted in a bitter internal rebellion last year and Patxi Lopez, the 57-year-old former president of the northern Basque Country.

The primaries, to be held on an as yet unspecified date in May, will see some 180,000 activists -- a quarter of them from Andalusia -- vote for their preferred candidate in a choice which will set the future direction of the party.

Plagued by bad results in general and regional elections in 2015 and 2016, and challenged from the far-left by Podemos, the Socialist party is struggling to rise again and impose itself.

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Socialists as the main opposition grouping.

Sanchez has been a staunch opponent of Spain’s conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and insists the party continue in this vein to have any hope of clawing back voters.

“With me as secretary general everyone, first of all Rajoy, will know what will happen after the primaries,” he told a rally of supporters in the Mediterranean region of Valencia.

“We will never again have Socialist votes for rightwing policies in this country.”

But this dogged resistance was his eventual downfall.

In October, high-ranking Socialist party members rebelled against him, arguing it was best to let a Rajoy-led government through rather than go to a third round of elections in poll-weary Spain and risk losing even more votes.

Sanchez resigned, an interim executive took charge and Rajoy eventually returned to power at the head of a minority government that now needs to negotiate many of its moves.

Conservatives fear that if Sanchez again leads the Socialists, his party and its lawmakers will go back into confrontation mode, blocking their bills or policies.

On the other hand, Diaz, who has said she “loves winning,” advocates “moderation” and is seen as being more amenable to negotiating with other parties.

Lopez is also seen as a moderate.

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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

Catalonia again calls for Scottishstyle independence referendum Catalonia’s separatist government have once again urged Spain’s central government to let it hold a legal referendum on independence like the one Scotland staged in 2014 with London’s approval.

“The government of Britain and Scotland agreed on a referendum,” the president of the regional Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, and his vice president, Oriol Junqueras, wrote in an open-letter published in Spanish newspaper El Pais.

“And everything indicates that Scotland and Britain will once again agree on the celebration of a new referendum on independence.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has demanded a new independence referendum by early 2019, once the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union are clearer.

what we desire in Catalonia,” the Catalan leaders wrote in their letter.

“We would like to recall that we have proposed it on various occasions. Today, despite the bad omens and the outright rejection of the Spanish government, we once again insist on it.”

RULED OUT Oriol Junqueras

Carles Puigdemont

She is widely expected to get the Scottish parliament’s support for her quest in a vote on Wednesday but still needs the agreement of the British government to proceed.

In Scotland’s 2014 plebiscite, 55 percent backed staying in the UK. “The scenario of an agreed referendum is

The government of Catalonia, a wealthy region in northeastern Spain that has its own distinct language and is home to 7.5 million people, has since 2010 sought to hold an independence referendum.

But Spain’s conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has repeatedly ruled out giving the region a vote on independence, saying it would be illegal and against the constitution -- a stance supported by the judiciary.

The Catalan government has vowed to hold

an independence referendum by September -- with or without the approval of the central government.

“We will do the unspeakable so that the citizens of Catalonia can vote in 2017 in an auto determination referendum,” Puigdemont and Junqueras wrote.

Demands for autonomy have been fuelled

by Spain’s economic downturn, leading many to resent sending tax money to Madrid to prop up poorer regions.

Recent attempts by Madrid to interfere with Catalan education have further stoked passions as did a 2010 ruling by Spain’s Constitutional Court that struck down part of a 2006 autonomy statute that recognised Catalonia as a “nation” within Spain.

Opinion polls show Catalans are evenly divided on independence, although the vast majority back a referendum.

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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

Street art revives divided spanish village Fanzara is a small Spanish country village whose handful of mostly elderly residents were once so bitterly divided that their allegiance to one camp or the other determined which bar they frequented.

S

O heated became the local tussle over plans to build a toxic waste dump that it aroused old Civil War-era rivalry and prompted neighbours to cross the street to avoid one another.

But, today in Fanzara, the bad blood is almost forgotten and the village has been revived -- thanks to street artists from around the world.

Tourists now flock to admire giant murals created by invited urban artists on the sides of buildings in the village, which has become an open-air art gallery.

To the chimes of the village bell and dogs barking in the distance, Fanzara, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the eastern port city of Valencia, has become a living canvas for colourful artwork.

A three-wall picture depicts a robot with long, thin arms chasing cats, while another nearby mural features a creature with large white eyes holding a tiny planet in its hand.

“We looked for an arts and culture project that everyone could take part in and that would re-establish good relations among villagers,” said former municipal councillor Javier Lopez, one of the project’s architects.

For years, residents of Fanzara -- 70 percent of them pensioners -- had been at loggerheads over the waste incinerator proposal.

It was defeated in the end and the right-wing municipal council promoting the project was swept from power in 2011 elections.

But locals say tensions remained long after the plan was dropped, with supporters drinking in the village’s “upper

bar”, while opponents, who were concerned about the incinerator’s environmental impact, preferred the “lower bar”.

“We would know what side you were on depending on which bar you went to,” said Marc Zapata, a 22-year-old firefighter seated at a table in the “upper bar”.

The feud even stoked old divisions between left- and rightwing families dating back to Spain’s bloody 1936-39 Civil War.

Gain trust So in 2014 the village’s new municipal council came up with the idea to invite local residents and street artists to create one giant mural.

It turned into a street art festival, with 21 artists descending on Fanzara a few months later who ended up decorating dozens of grey walls encouraged by enthusiastic locals. Some could be seen hoisted on cranes as they painted the walls.

Three years later, Fanzara’s annual festival, known as the Unfinished Museum of Urban Art (MIAU), has joined the circuit of street art events, including prestigious festivals in Copenhagen and New York.

Initially many villagers had been reluctant to hand over the wall space.

But the artists gradually gained their trust by working closely with them and designing works that reflect village life.

A Spanish visual artist, who goes by the name of Hombre Lopez, depicted residents’ faces on pebbles at a nearby river.

The mural of the robots chasing cats is near a small street, which has been taken over by stray felines.

“The original goal of mural art is just that: to reach people, take art out of museums,” says Lopez.

- ‘Seeing the change in people’ Since 2015 more than 2,300 children have taken a guided tour of the works, helping to invigorate the life of the village that is home to just 18 schoolchildren.

Fanzara now has 105 works and many residents have embraced the festival. More than 200 artists from around the globe have already applied to take part in its next edition, from July 6 to 9.

“Life is good and peaceful here. There is a pharmacy, a doctor, a butcher’s shop, a bakery... and now with MIAU, it is international,” said resident Elisa Edo. “You open up a lot with all these people who come from elsewhere” to look at the works, the 64-year-old added.

For the second edition of the festival in 2015, several locals even put up the visiting street artists in their homes under a programme dubbed “Adopt an Artist”.

“What I liked the most was seeing the change in people,” said Lopez.

The street art gallery still has some detractors, though.

“We have lost the intimacy that is typical of a village,” said Sara Martinez, 21, as she sat at the “upper bar”.

She complained that, during the festival, artists “paint until nightfall. We hear all the time the ‘bip bip ‘ of the cranes.”

Fanzara’s Socialist mayor Ana Romero said, however: “The village is better.”

“I think the opponents are a minority.”

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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

Spanish parliament defeats dock workers reform Spanish lawmakers have passed a decree that would deregulate the hiring of dock workers at the county’s ports, in a blow to conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s minority government.

The proposed reform, fiercely opposed by dockers who threatened to stage a nationwide strike that would hurt exports if it went ahead, was shot down with 175 votes against, 142 in favour and 33 abstentions.

It is the first major defeat for Rajoy’s Popular Party, which has since October headed a minority government that has just 137 seats in the 350-seat lower house of parliament.

GREEN LIGHT The cabinet gave the green light to the decree more than two years after the EU Court of Justice ruled Spain must reform the sector, or face sanctions.

Currently, domestic or foreign companies can only hire dockers to load and unload ships from specific, already-established

Spanish groups known as Sagebs that select, train and provide personnel, and no other firm.

The decree would allow companies to contract workers wherever they want.

“It is a European directive that we must follow,” Rajoy said ahead of the vote in parliament on the decree.

“We have delayed its approval, we have given all the time in the world to reach an agreement.”

Spain’s 6,150 dockers fear that opening up the sector to competition will put their jobs and salaries at risk.

Over 60 percent of Spain’s exports pass through the country’s 46 main ports.

Spain, with its nearly 6,000 kilometres of coastline, is also a key transit point for exports from Europe to the rest of the world.

The International Dockworkers Council (IDC), an umbrella group of 91 unions in 41 countries, has also threated to stage coordinated strikes around the world in a show of support for Spanish dockers.

Two arrests in Spain after cocaine found in fake bananas Spanish police have confirmed the arrest of two men suspected of smuggling cocaine hidden inside fake bananas made of resin.

The Guardia Civil police force said it made the arrests after agents in November found 7kg of cocaine stuffed inside 57 fake bananas in a shipment of real bananas that arrived from South America in the Mediterranean port of Valencia.

The authorities found another 10kg of cocaine hidden inside the flaps of the cardboard boxes that carried the real bananas, a statement said.

Police arrested two Spanish men on suspicion of drug smuggling and of being part of an organised crime group.

They are investigating a third man, an Italian.

Spain’s close ties with its former colonies in Latin America have made it the main entry point used by drug smugglers to bring cocaine into Europe.

Smugglers have used increasingly ingenious methods to get the drugs past Spanish customs.

In recent years police have found cocaine inside breast implants, a wig, a plaster cast encasing a man’s broken leg as well as inside a 42-piece crockery set.

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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

Spanish Royals to visit Japan in April

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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

European media back plan for search engine payouts European media groups have voiced concern that the European Union could ditch plans to force search engines like Google to pay them when their content is used.

A proposed European directive on authors’ rights prepared by the European Commission included plans to create a so-called “neighbouring right” to such payouts from search engines.

PROPOSAL But a European Parliament report on the proposal does not contain neighbouring rights, a move the board of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) “deeply regrets”, Agence France-Presse (AFP), a member of the alliance, said in a statement echoed by various other European media groups.

The 32 news organisations -which also include Britain’s Press Association, Germany’s DPA and Spain’s EFE -- called on the parliament to reinstate the plan.

AFP noted that search engines and other internet aggregators have been making a profit using content “that they have not created or financed”, which makes neighbouring rights crucial to protecting the content of news agencies and publishers.

“The non-authorised use of media content by search engines and aggregators threatens citizens’ access to quality information and is worrying at this time of ‘fake news’ and disinformation that can distort elections,” the EANA said in a separate statement.

T

he day after Britain voted to leave the European Union last June, British pensioner David Frost noticed his left leg was severely swollen.

He walked over to his local public health clinic in the southern Spanish city of Malaga and was promptly diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, in which a blood clot blocks off blood flow deep in the veins, a potentially fatal condition.

Frost, who has lived in Spain since 1991, received daily injections of expensive blood thinners for several months at virtually no cost to himself until his life was out of danger.

Now the 74-year-old is one of thousands of British retirees in Spain who fear they will be forced to move back to Britain if they lose their free access to Spanish public health care as a result of Britain’s exit from the bloc.

“I couldn’t afford to live here without free health care,” he said as he sat on the sofa of his 13th floor apartment in central Malaga on Spain’s Costa del Sol which offers sweeping views of nearby mountains.

“This is my home now. I want to stay here.

I want to die sitting on a balcony looking at a view, watching a sunset, having a glass of red wine. Not in some miserable grey street in Manchester with grey skies and no view.”

‘Worried and anxious’ Spain is the number one destination for British nationals living outside Britain, far ahead of France and Ireland.

The country is home to just over 300,000 Britons, around a third of them aged over 65. The figure rises to around one million if Britons who live only part of the year in Spain are included.

With British Prime Minister Theresa May expected to invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty on Wednesday to launch the process of leaving the bloc, anxiety is running high among this huge expat community.

“Nobody really knows how it is going to go,” said Julie Payne, 65, of Brexpats in Spain, one of several groups that lobbies to protect the rights of Britons living in Spain, as she sat by the pool of her seaside villa in Benalmadena up the coast from Malaga.

Gloom on Spain’s Costa del Sol as Brexit talks loom

“People are worried and anxious,” added Payne, who moved to Spain in 2000.

Aside from fearing the loss of free health care, many retirees fear their pensions will take a hit when Britain leaves the EU, she said.

‘Cutting out luxuries’ Under existing rules any British state pensions collected in Spain or any other EU nation get the same annual increase to compensate for inflation as those collected in Britain.

But it is not clear if this arrangement will be kept after Britain leaves the bloc.

The annual increases are not paid to Britons living outside of the EU in countries like Australia and Canada, whose state pension is frozen at the amount it was when they left Britain.

British retirees in Spain are already feeling the pinch from the drop of the pound, which has shed about 15 percent of its value against the euro since Britain voted for Brexit in a June 2016 referendum.

“For some this has meant cutting out on luxuries such as having a meal out. For oth-

ers this means not being able to turn on the heating or cutting back on paying for personal care,” said Kelly Hall, a lecturer in social policy at the University of Birmingham who has studied British retirees in Spain.

The drop in the pound was especially hard for the “numerous” British nationals living in Spain who are entirely reliant on a British state pension -- which is capped at around 480 pounds (555 euros/$600) a month -- as their only form of income, she added.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says he thinks a deal can quickly be worked out with Britain to defend the rights of British expats in Spain after Brexit -- a view shared by Mark Sampson, the owner of the Eurobar in Benalmadena which sells pints of beer for just one euro.

“They wouldn’t want us all to leave and take all of our money and wealth out of Spain,” said the burly 50-year-old, who moved to Spain from the northern English seaside resort of Blackpool five years ago and voted for Britain to leave the bloc.

Eight Iraqis saved from refrigerated truck in Spain

Eight Iraqis, including four children, were found crammed inside a refrigerated truck in a service area in eastern Spain, police have confirmed, adding that they had been trying to reach Britain.

The four adults and four children, aged two, five, eight, and 10, were all in good health.

“After we received an anonymous call, agents from the Spanish police opened the back of a refrigerated truck in a lay-by on the A23 motorway and found eight Iraqis inside, all in perfect health,” police said.

None of the migrants carried identification, but police said

they were able to determine that all were Iraqi nationals.

The occupants included one family of two adults and three children, another family of a woman with a two-year-old daughter, and a man travelling alone.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long they had spent inside the truck, but police said they were on their way to Britain when their truck was intercepted in the eastern province of Teruel.

“We do not know yet how these Iraqi families came to be in Spain,” police said.

The driver, a 37-year-old Romanian national, was arrested on

charges of human trafficking.

According to Spanish media reports, a family coming from Iraq was found in a refrigerated truck on the same motorway and in the same province last month.

On August 27, the decomposing bodies of 71 people were found inside a truck at the side of an Austrian motorway in a discovery which sparked a horrified response across Europe as it struggles with its worst migration crisis since World War II. Investigations revealed that the migrants -- mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- had been picked up at Hungary’s border with Serbia and transported to Austria via Budapest.

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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

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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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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

Spain judge orders arrest of former China president Jiang Zemin A Spanish judge has sought an international arrest warrants for former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and four other top Chinese officials as part of a probe into alleged genocide in Tibet.

High Court Judge Ismael Moreno ordered Interpol to issue the arrest warrants for the five for genocide, torture and crimes against humanity as part of a case brought against them in Spain by human rights groups.

“Jiang exercised supervisory authority over the people who directly committed abuses, which makes him responsible for acts of torture and other major abuses of human rights perpetrated by his subordinates against the people of Tibet,” Judge Moreno wrote in his ruling.

“He promoted and actively implemented policies whose objective was to populate the Autonomous Region

of Tibet with a majority from the Han ethnic group, detain thousands of Tibetans during lengthy periods, torture the detained and submit them to other illegal abuses.”

In addition to Mr Jiang, the judge ordered the arrest of former prime minister Li Peng; former security and police chief Qiao Shi; Mr Chen Kuiyan, a former Communist Party official in Tibet; and Mr Peng Pelyun, a former family planning minister.

The High Court in November said it had accepted arguments from Spanish pro-Tibet human rights groups that international reports indicate that the five men may have had a role in human rights abuses and should be questioned.

The case against the Chinese officials was brought by the rights groups under Spain’s recognition of “universal jurisdiction”, a doctrine that allows

judges to try certain cases of human rights abuses committed in other countries.

The doctrine allowed Spain’s former judge Baltasar Garzon to try to arrest and try the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

While very few probes opened under the doctrine have seen people brought to trial in Spain, investigations have irked some countries.

Last month lawmakers from Spain’s ruling Popular Party tabled a bill to limit the Spanish courts’ use of “universal jurisdiction”.

The practice was reformed in 2009 to restrict such cases principally to ones involving Spanish victims or suspects present in Spain.

That change came after a case brought against Israel over bombings in Gaza in 2002, a lawsuit which raised diplomatic tensions.

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LOCAL AND REST OF SPAIN NEWS

Spain’s ETA ‘to fully disarm

by April 8’: source close to talks The Basque separatist group ETA has confirmed plans to fully lay down its weapons by April 8, a source close to disarmament talks has confirmed.

As part of the agreement, ETA would provide the authorities with the location of its arms stockpiles, the source said.

“There is an initiative that has a date: April 8,” the source said.

Before then, “ETA will take steps to make this happen,” more than 50 years after its creation in northwest Spain, the source said.

The comments confirmed a declaration by Txetx Etcheverry, an activist in Bizi, a Basque association, that the group’s disarmament should be completed if possible before France’s upcoming presidential election.

The first round of voting is on April 23.

“ETA has given us the responsibility of disarming its arsenal and, on the evening of April 8, ETA will be completely disarmed,” Etcheverry told the French daily Le Monde.

Also on Friday, Inigo Urkullu, head of the Basque regional government, confirmed the possibility that ETA was ready to give up its weapons and asked both Madrid and Paris to help facilitate talks.

“The Basque government judges credible the potential of a final disarmament in the short-term,” Urkullu said.

“It asks... the Spanish and French governments to show ambitious vision and open direct lines of communication” in order to reach “a goal with historic importance for our society.”

ETA, which is considered a terrorist group by the European Union, is seeking to negotiate its dissolution in exchange for amnesties or improved prison conditions for the roughly 400 ETA members held in Spain and France.

It declared a ceasefire in October 2011 but has refused to give up its weapons.

Spain’s Prado museum gets new director

Spain’s Prado art museum, home to masterpieces by Francisco Goya and Diego Velazquez, on Wednesday appointed Italian Renaissance specialist Miguel Falomir as its director as the world-renowned gallery nears its bicentenary.

Falomir, the museum’s deputy director and long-serving curator, will replace outgoing director Miguel Zugaza who is stepping down after 15 years at the helm of the Madrid museum.

Last month, the Prado’s selection committee unanimously chose the 51-year-old former art history professor to be its new director and the museum’s trustees approved the decision on Wednesday, a statement from the Prado said.

Falomir joined the museum 20 years ago as head of its department of Italian and French paintings and since 2015, he has served as the Prado’s deputy director of conservation and research.

He has been responsible for organising major exhibitions

T +34 952 883 885 | E info@presspreferpublishing.com

at the museum on Titian, Tintoretto, Jacopo Bassano, and Raphael.

Zugaza announced in November that he would leave his post to return to his previous job as the head of Bilbao’s Fine Arts Museum, which he held between 1995 and 2001.

He took charge of the Prado in 2002, vowing to double the number of visitors, with the figures jumped from 1.7 million in his first year to more than three million in 2016.

Zugaza oversaw a transformation of the Prado, opening in 2007 a modernist new annex which offers visitors plenty of natural light and blends in with the original gallery which was built in the early 19th century.

The extension and renovation of the museum -- the biggest in its history -- allowed it to show some 400 additional paintings alongside the 1,000 that were already on display in the permanent collection.

The Prado will mark its bicentenary in 2019.

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WEEKEND WORLD - 27

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS INTERNATIONALNEWS

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 29

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

One month after Kim killing:

What we know H

ere is what we know so far about the progress of the investigation and the unfolding diplomatic crisis:

How did it all kick off?

CCTV footage from the Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 shows two women approaching the exiled half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un and apparently rubbing his face with a cloth.

The 45-year-old died minutes later, according to Malaysian police, who found traces of the nerve agent VX on his face.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, have since been charged with his murder and face the death penalty if found guilty.

It has been over a month since Kim Jong-Nam was murdered with a lethal nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, sparking a fierce diplomatic standoff between Malaysia and North Korea.

Why hasn’t Kim’s family come forward?

Given North Korea’s history of brutal purges, it is not surprising that Kim’s wife and children, who were living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau, staged a vanishing act after the murder. There are fears his 21-year-old son, Kim Han-Sol, could be targeted next.

In what may be the first comments by the family however, a young man identifying himself as Han-Sol appeared in a video that circulated last week. The claim was later verified

by South Korea’s intelligence agency.

But he did not reveal his whereabouts or offer to claim his father’s body.

Who is behind the attack?

Seoul has blamed Pyongyang, saying the regime engaged two outsiders to carry out the brazen Cold War-style assassination following a standing order from leader Kim Jong-Un to kill a man he may have seen as a potential rival.

North Korea has never confirmed the identity of the victim, who was carrying a passport bearing the name of Kim Chol when he was attacked.

What else we don’t know

What’s the latest with the investigation?

Malaysian investigators are seeking seven North Korean suspects, four of whom left Malaysia on the day of the murder while the other three are apparently hiding in North Korea’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur, according to the police chief.

Malaysia on Friday finally confirmed the victim’s identity, but refused to say whether authorities had obtained a DNA

sample from next-of-kin to do so in line with their previous demands.

Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said concerns “for the security of the witnesses” prevented him from revealing further details.

China’s first stealth fighter enters service China has put its first stealth fighter into military service, state-run media have reported, in the latest milestone highlighting the modernisation of the country’s armed forces.

Swift, stealthy, and armed with long-range missiles, the J-20 represents a leap forward in China’s ability to project power in Asia and potentially compete with the United States.

The fifth-generation stealth fighter made its public debut at the Zhuhai Air Show in southern China in November.

In a newscast on state broadcaster CCTV’s military and agricultural affairs channel, an announcer said in a brief statement that the J-20 had “entered” service in the country’s airforce.

The report was widely picked up by Chinese media outlets, which added photos of the fighter.

The J-20 is manufactured by China’s state aerospace

company AVIC, which is also working on a second fifthgeneration radar-evading stealth fighter called the FC31, previously known as the J-31.

It is billed as an answer to the US’s F-35, one of the world’s most technically advanced warplanes.

The television broadcast also said China had put into service its new Y-20 transport aircraft, which can move heavy loads and conduct airlifts in support of military operations.

China also recently sent its first aircraft carrier, an overhauled Ukrainian ship, for a debut voyage into the Pacific.

Beijing is seeking to modernise and upgrade its military both to protect its borders and project power into regions such as the South China Sea, a resource-rich strategic waterway where it has disputes with several neighbours.

A month on, mystery swirls around the assassination.

The two women have told diplomats that they were tricked into believing they were taking part in a TV prank show, with one of them reportedly saying she was paid less than $100 for her role.

Malaysian police have rejected their claims.

The use of VX nerve agent -- a toxin so deadly it is classed as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN -- has also raised questions, particularly since the women did not come to serious harm despite handling it.

The method used to identify Kim’s body also remains unknown, with police refusing to confirm whether they used DNA samples, dental records or fingerprints.

The New Straits Times reported that investigators identified Kim by matching the pattern of 21 moles scattered across his face with photographs taken when he was alive.

Why did diplomatic ties deteriorate so quickly?

Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur had unusually strong links for years but tensions flared rapidly when North Korea denounced the Malaysian investigation as a smear job, insisting that the victim most likely died of a heart attack.

The allegations prompted Malaysia to expel outspoken North Korean ambassador Kang Chol.

Pyongyang retaliated by formally expelling his Malaysian counterpart, who had already left for consultations, and later barred Malaysians in North Korea from leaving the country, triggering a tit-for-tat move by Kuala Lumpur.

Nine Malaysians -- three embassy staff and six family members -- remain trapped in Pyongyang while hundreds of North Koreans are reportedly stranded in Malaysia.

What happens next?

Malaysia hopes to open negotiations with North Korea this week to secure the release of its citizens and resolve its impasse with Pyongyang over the fate of the body.

Malaysia has so far refused to hand over the body to Pyongyang, saying it will only release it to a family member.

As the stalemate drags on, the two women are due to appear in court on April 13, two months after the assassination.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

30 - WEEKEND WORLD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS INTERNATIONALNEWS

Woman in 2001 Israel pizza shop bombing on FBI ‘Most Wanted’ list The US Federal Bureau of Investigation placed a Jordanian woman who assisted in the 2001 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem pizza parlour on its “Most Wanted Terrorist” list The Justice Department unveiled charges against Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, who was jailed in Israel for eight years in the attack that killed 15, before gaining release in an Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas in 2011.

FRUSTRATED US authorities had hoped to have Tamimi extradited from Jordan but said they were frustrated by laws that ban extradition of Jordanian nationals.

The Justice Department said Tamimi, now in her mid-30s, escorted a Hamas suicide bomber to Jerusalem on August 9, 2001, where he detonated a bomb, hidden inside a guitar, in a Sbarro pizza shop.

The bomb killed 15, including two Americans, and wounded another 122.

After her capture, Tamimi pleaded guilty at trial and was sentenced in 2003 to 16 life prison terms.

But she was released in 2011 in the prisoner swap.

The US indictment unveiled Tuesday charges her with “conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US, resulting in death.”

She faces a possible execution or life in prison if she is captured, tried and convicted in the United States.

“Al-Tamimi is an unrepentant terrorist who admitted to her role in a deadly terrorist bombing that injured and killed numerous innocent victims,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord.

“The charges unsealed today serve as a reminder that when terrorists target Americans anywhere in the world, we will never forget,” she said in a statement.

Mona Lisa’s smile decoded: science says she’s happy

I

N an unusual trial, close to 100 percent of people described her expression as unequivocally “happy”, researchers have revealed.

“We really were astonished,” neuroscientist Juergen Kornmeier of the University of Freiburg in Germany, who co-authored the study.

Kornmeier and a team used what is arguably the most famous artwork in the world in a study of factors that influence how humans judge visual cues such as facial expressions.

Known as La Gioconda in Italian, the Mona Lisa is often held up as a symbol of emotional enigma.

The portrait appears to many to be smiling sweetly at first, only to adopt a mocking sneer or sad stare the longer you look.

Using a black and white copy of the early 16th century masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, a team manipulated the model’s mouth corners slightly up and down to create eight altered images -- four marginally but progressively “happier”, and four “sadder” Mona Lisas.

A block of nine images were shown to 12 trial participants 30 times.

In every showing, for which the pictures were randomly reshuffled, participants had to describe each of the nine images as happy or sad.

“Given the descriptions from art and art history, we thought that the original would be the most ambiguous,” Kornmeier said.

Instead, “to our great astonishment, we

The subject of centuries of scrutiny and debate, Mona Lisa’s famous smile is routinely described as ambiguous. But is it really that hard to read?

Apparently not.

found that Da Vinci’s original was... perceived as happy” in 97 percent of cases.

All in the context A second phase of the experiment involved the original Mona Lisa with eight “sadder” versions, with even more nuanced differences in the lip tilt.

SpaceX cargo ship returns to Earth The SpaceX reusable cargo ship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean safely, ending a mission to supply astronauts on the International Space Station, the company said.

The Dragon capsule -- the only such vessel capable of returning research samples and other material to Earth -- remained docked with the ISS for nearly a month after delivering more than two tonnes of food, water and scientific equipment for NASA on February 23.

Before its departure, the crew loaded the cargo ship with old equipment, waste and almost 4,000 pounds of research samples from experiments carried out in the station’s condition of microgravity.

Released by the ISS’s robot arm at 0900 GMT, the capsule undertook a more than six-hour journey back to Earth, landing off the coast of Mexico just before 1600 GMT, its final descent slowed by three giant parachutes.

“Today we said goodbye to the #Dragon!” tweeted the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, one of six crew members, who arrived on the ISS in November.

“She is taking part of us back to the ground with her – important scientific samples, some from the crew!”

In this test, the original was still described as happy, but participants’ reading of the other images changed.

“They were perceived a little sadder” than in the first experiment, said Kornmeier.

The findings confirm that “we don’t have an absolute fixed scale of happiness and sadness in our brain” -- and that a lot depends on context, the researcher explained.

“Our brain manages to very, very quickly scan the field. We notice the total range, and then we adapt our estimates” using our memory of previous sensory experiences, he said.

Understanding this process may be useful in the study of psychiatric disorders, said Kornmeier.

Affected people can have hallucinations, seeing things that others do not, which may be the result of a misalignment between the brain’s processing of sensory input, and perceptual memory.

A next step will be to do the same experiment with psychiatric patients.

Another interesting discovery was that people were quicker to identify happier Mona Lisas than sad ones.

This suggested “there may be a slight preference... in human beings for happiness, said Kornmeier.

As for the masterpiece itself, the team believe their work has finally settled a centuries-old question.

“There may be some ambiguity in another aspect,” said Kornmeier, but “not ambiguity in the sense of happy versus sad.”

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 33

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

‘Carlos The Jackal’

sentenced to life for 1974 attack A French court has convicted the man known as “Carlos the Jackal”, once the world’s most-wanted fugitive, of a deadly 1974 attack on a Paris shopping arcade and sentenced him to life in prison for the third time.

The Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez is already serving two life sentences in France for murders and attacks he was convicted of perpetrating or organising on behalf of the Palestinian cause or of communist revolution in the 1970s and 80s.

His lawyers, who had pleaded for acquittal, said they will appeal the latest verdict - though the third life sentence does not af-

fect how long he will stay behind bars.

A few hours before the decision was returned, the 67-year-old known worldwide as Carlos took the floor one last time and denounced “an absurd trial” for a 42-year-old crime.

He had denied involvement, saying there was no proof against him or direct witnesses.

Five judges found Carlos, the only defendant in the case, guilty of throwing a grenade into a shopping area in the French capital’s Latin Quarter.

Two people were killed and 34 were injured at the trendy Drugstore Publicis.

The Drugstore case, the oldest one formally blamed on Carlos in France, is also probably the last one to come to court, when the police arrived at the scene on that day in September 1974, they found a devastated mall with all the windows shattered, multiple bloodstains and a hole in the marble slab of the ground floor where the grenade fell.

The two men who died were hit by metal chips that perforated vital organs and caused large internal bleeding, according to court documents.

Prosecutor Remi Crosson du Cormier had asked the court to give Carlos a life sentence,

Pope to head to Colombia IN September Pope Francis will travel to Colombia in September, the Vatican has announced, after the pontiff closely followed peace negotiations between the government and FARC rebels.

T

he September 6-11 trip will include stops in the capital Bogota as well as Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena, the Church said, adding that a fuller itinerary for the trip will be published shortly.

The visit is at “the invitation of the President of the Republic and the Colombian bishops”, a Vatican statement said.

President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his work toward a peace accord, said during a news conference Friday that the pope was coming as “a messenger of peace and reconciliation”.

“The presence of His Holiness on our soil, which we look forward to with great hope and excitement, will help Colombians to continue uniting for a more just, more caring, fairer country, and one at peace,” Santos said.

Speaking alongside Santos at the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia in Bogota, the Papal Nuncio or Vatican envoy in Colombia, Ettore Balestrero, said the pope’s visit will be “a religious visit”.

“He has a non-political message” for Colombia focused on family values and unity and against corruption, Balestrero said.

The Argentinian pope has followed Colombia’s peace negotiations closely, having brought together Santos and his predecessor Alvaro Uribe at the Vatican in December in an unsuccessful bid to persuade them to overcome their differences over a deal with the rebels.

Uribe spearheaded opposition to the peace deal signed in November after nearly four years of negotiations to end

more than a half-century of armed conflict.

The former president and his allies argued the deal granted impunity to rebels guilty of war crimes, giving them seats in Congress rather than sending them to prison.

The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, launched its guerrilla war against the Colombian government in 1964, after a peasant uprising that was crushed by the army.

Over the decades, the conflict drew in several leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.

Under the peace deal negotiated by Santos’s government, the FARC will transform into a political party and its 5,700 fighters would demobilise over a period of six months.

The group began disarming last week, which UN monitors are overseeing.

Francis’s visit will be the third by a serving pope to Colombia. Pope Paul VI visited the country in August 1968 and John Paul II in July 1986.

Vatican officials said the visit to Colombia would last from September 6 to 10 and Francis would be back in Rome on September 11.

the harshest sentence in French law, for “the horror of this terrorist attack”.

In a long interview published in Al Watan Al Arabi newspaper five years after the attack, a man presented as Carlos allegedly claimed he had himself thrown the grenade, telling the full details of the operation and the reason why it was carried out.

Carlos later disputed he had ever given that interview.

At the time of the attack, Ramirez Sanchez had not yet been dubbed Carlos the Jackal or become one of the most notorious international terrorists of those decades.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

34 - WEEKEND WORLD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Sierra Leone pastor unearths massive 706-carat diamond

400,000 year-old half-skull points to mystery people The discovery of a 400,000-year-old half skull in Portugal has offered tantalizing hints about a possible ancestor of the Neanderthals.

T A pastor working in the mines of eastern Sierra Leone has unearthed a 706-carat diamond, the government has announced, pledging to hold a transparent auction for the gem in a nation once tainted by “blood diamonds”.

The huge diamond was discovered by pastor Emmanuel Momoh, one of thousands who seek their fortunes in the informal mining sector that dominates the diamond-rich Kono region, the government said in a statement.

“A 706-carat diamond was presented to President Dr Ernest Bai,” the president’s office announced.

“Receiving the diamond President Koroma thanked the chief and his people for not smuggling the diamond out of the country,” it added, referring to the Tankoro chiefdom where Momoh uncovered the gem.

It will be sold in Sierra Leone with a “transparent” bidding process to the benefit of the community and country, the statement said.

EXPLOIT The sale of “blood diamonds” helped finance civil wars across Africa in the 1990s and often funded military dictatorships in a continent that the London Diamond Bourse estimates provides 65 percent of the world’s diamonds.

Sierra Leonean rebels allowed traders to exploit diamond mines and ship the gems abroad via Liberia.

In one of the most notorious cases, former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor was found guilty of supporting the rebels in exchange for diamonds mined by slave labour.

And the district where the 706-carat diamond was discovered is where US-Belgian businessman Michel Desaedeleer, accused of enslavement and diamond trafficking during Sierra Leone’s civil war, is alleged to have committed his crimes.

He died in jail in September before he could stand trial.

The death toll from Sierra Leone’s civil war is estimated at 120,000 in a country that now has roughly six million people, making it one of Africa’s deadliest conflicts in recent history.

The government of Sierra Leone has attempted to crack down on cross-border diamond trafficking to persuade foreign investors that “blood diamonds” are a thing of the past.

The diamond presented Thursday, once confirmed by experts, is expected to rank among the largest ever found.

A 1,111-carat diamond was discovered at a mine in Botswana in 2015, the biggest find for more than a century.

That gem is second in size only to the Cullinan diamond which was unearthed in South Africa in 1905, at 3,106 carats uncut, according to the Cape Town Diamond Museum.

The Cullinan was cut into several gems, including two set into the sceptre and crown of the British Crown Jewels.

he fossil was unearthed from the Aroeira cave site, and marks the oldest human cranium fossil ever found in Portugal, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.

But there is plenty of mystery around the skull. Researchers don’t know if it was from a male or female, how the person died, or even what form of early human it was.

“There is a lot of question about which species these fossils represent. I tend to think of them as ancestors of the Neanderthals,” coauthor Rolf Quam, an anthropologist at Binghamton University, State University of New York, said.

“It is not a Neanderthal itself,” he added. “It has some features that might be related to the later Neanderthals,” including a lump of bone near the ear called the mastoid process.

Researchers say this bone may be related to regulating pressure in the ear, although its exact purpose is unclear.

What researchers can say with certainty is that the skull belonged to an adult, based on the formation of the bones. A couple of teeth found with it appear worn, as if belonging to an adult rather than a child.

They also know its age -- 400,000 years -- based on precision dating of the surrounding stalagmites and sediments.

The same cannot be said for other skulls of its kind found elsewhere in Europe. Some were uncovered years ago, before modern technology existed. In other cases, conditions at the cave site did not allow for precise dating of surrounding rock and sediment.

Researchers have sometimes had to guess at the ages of these skulls, ranging from 200,000 to more than 400,000 years, according to Quam.

The Portuguese skull shares some features with bones uncovered in northern Spain that are some 430,000 years old, and in southern France dating even further back, to around 450,000 years.

“There is a lot of debate currently in the anthropological literature about what species to call these fossils. There is not a lot of agreement,” said Quam, who co-authored the study with Portuguese archaeologist Joao Zilhao and colleagues.

Stone tools Its location is the furthest west of any human fossil ever found in Europe during the middle Pleistocene period.

It is also one of the earliest in Europe to be associated with the Acheulean stone tool industry, a more advanced kind

of toolkit than used among the earliest humans in Europe.

The Acheulean stone tools included tear-drop-shaped hand-axes that were more complex to build than previous iterations.

They originated in Africa and probably made their way into Europe via the Middle East around 500,000 years ago.

To find evidence of these tools 400,000 years ago, all the way over in western Europe, “means relatively quickly the Acheuleans spread through Europe,” Quam said.

Almost missed While there remains much to be learned about the skull, researchers feel lucky that they found it at all. In fact, they almost missed it.

Glimpsed as an outline of a skull in sediment as hard as cement, the skull was found on the last day of an excavation project in 2014.

“I have been studying these sites for the last 30 years and we have recovered much important archaeological data.

But the discovery of a human cranium of this antiquity and importance is always a very special moment,” said Zilhao in a statement.

Workers toiled for a week to cut a block out of the Earth. At one point, a heavy duty demolition hammer broke the skull into pieces.

It took two and a half years to painstakingly extract the skull itself from the block.

Images of the skull show a circular hole, which represents the damage incurred during the excavation.

The fossil will go on display in October at the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia in Lisbon.

In the coming years, experts will dive into the details of the skull and its surroundings “to give a more complete picture of life in the area, life in the cave and the evolutionary place of this human in our ancestry,” said Quam.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 35

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

LuxLeaks whistleblowers get reduced sentences

A Luxembourg court has given reduced sentences on appeal to two “Luxleaks” whistleblowers convicted of leaking thousands of documents that revealed tax breaks for multinational firms.

Former PricewaterhouseCoopers employee Antoine Deltour, 31, received a six month suspended sentence with a 1,500-euro fine, instead of the 12-month jail term given at the original trial last June.

His colleague Raphael Halet, 40, received a 1,000-euro fine instead of a nine-month prison sentence.

Both were ordered to pay a symbolic sum of one euro each to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Investigative reporter Edouard Perrin, who used the thousands of pages of documents to produce two reports for French public television in 2012 and 2013, had his acquittal at the earlier trial confirmed.

“The only satisfying judgement would have been acquittal” for all three, Deltour told reporters after the decision.

His lawyer, William Bourdon, said however it was the first case of its kind.

“It’s the first time in Europe that the judge has given a legal justification to a whistleblower on the main charge that he was on trial,” Bourdon said.

“This is a very important stone that we have laid in the building of protection for whistleblowers.”

The LuxLeaks scandal erupted in 2014 and sparked a major global push against generous deals handed to multinationals, which grew even stronger with new revelations such as the Panama Papers and Football Leaks.

The blockbuster leak revealed the huge tax breaks that tiny EU nation Luxembourg offered international firms including Apple, IKEA and Pepsi, at a time when Jean-Claude Juncker, now head of the European Commission, was prime minister.

‘A good thing’ The revelations ended up prompting the EU to take urgent steps to stop global firms avoiding tax in Europe, including anti-trust inquiries into firms like Apple, McDonald’s and Amazon.

The scandal also pressured Luxembourg into accepting a new law that requires EU member states to share tax deal information with its bloc partners.

But Halet told reporters: “The real trial -- which has never taken place -- should be for tax evasion.”

Several NGOs had demonstrated at the opening of the appeal proceedings and Green MEPs have also called for a change in EU regulations to protect whistleblowers in the workplace.

Luxembourg prosecutors had themselves recommended the reduced sentences following an appeal by the convicted men.

EU Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager appeared to back the whistleblowers in comments earlier this week.

“I think it was a good thing (the leaks),” she told a news conference in Brussels.

“I think it is important when people tell if they find that something is not the way it should be. Then authorities, law enforcers, can do their job and do that in a better way,” she added.

“I think that a lot of people actually have benefitted from them telling what they knew.”

Deltour and Halet had originally faced a maximum penalty of 10 years on charges which included stealing documents, revealing business secrets and violation of professional secrets.

36 - WEEKEND WORLD

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

I

n an interview with Journal du Dimanche weekly, Mayor Anne Hidalgo unveiled a 10-point plan aimed at making cleanliness a “priority”.

The measures include increasing the number of sanitation workers and health inspectors, expanding the hours for garbage pickup, and urging restaurants and buildings to provide more ashtrays at entrances and exit points.

Municipal workers collect more than 150 tonnes of cigarette butts every year in Paris.

“We already allot 500 million euros a year for cleanliness and waste management... and the situation has improved,” she said.

“But it is clear that Paris is not yet perfectly clean.”

“I want to speed up, increase efforts. It is a top priority,” she said.

HABITS “In a civilised city, cleanliness must be everybody’s responsibility,” she said, calling for a change in the mindsets and habits of residents.

“In Tokyo, everything is clean and yet there are no dustbins because people wait to get home before throwing their waste.”

Paris had come under fire in December for allegedly dragging its feet before it launched what has been dubbed its “war on rats”.

Most of the criticism was centred on Hidalgo and the city’s environmental health services chief.

Paris mayor to spend €1.5M for ‘war on rats’ The mayor of Paris has announced the city would spend 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) to rid the French capital of rats and install more public ashtrays to clean up the city’s streets.

The city’s failure to keep the streets clean was also a major sticking point for residents, as a scathing commentary at the time in the conservative daily Le Figaro targeting the eco-friendly mayor revealed.

“New in the Parisian cityscape: filthy streets because of the total and persistent disarray in the cleaning services,” wrote author and politician Serge Federbusch, describing the situation as “Hidalchaos”.

In announcing the 1.5-million euro anti-rodent campaign, Hidalgo said the city would buy new traps for the rats and surround some of the city’s 30,000 rubbish bins with wooden or Plexiglass bases.

The bins are currently lined with flimsy plas-

Bill Gates again trumps Trump as world’s richest man Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates once again topped the Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest billionaires, while US President Donald Trump slipped more than 200 spots.

Gates, whose wealth is estimated at $86 billion, led the list for the fourth straight year.

He was followed by Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett among the top 10 billionaires, a group heavily dominated by Americans, many of whom work in the technology sector. Buffett’s wealth was estimated at $75.6 billion.

Others in the top 10 included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at number three, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg at number five and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison at number seven.

The global billionaire population jumped 13 percent from last year to 2,043, the biggest annual increase in the 31 years since the magazine began compiling the list, Forbes said.

The US led countries with the most billionaires with 565, a product of the swelling value of the American stock market since Trump’s November 2016 election.

China was second with 319 billionaires, and Germany was third with 114.

Trump himself slipped 220 spots on the list to number 544 with an estimated $3.5 billion. Forbes attributed Trump’s drop to sluggishness in the Manhattan real estate market which is responsible for a disproportionate amount of his wealth.

“Forty percent of Donald Trump’s fortune is tied up in Trump Tower and eight buildings within one mile of it,” Forbes said. “Lately, the neighborhood has been struggling (relatively speaking).”

Among others in the Forbes top 10, Amancio Ortega of Spanish apparel chain Zara was fourth, Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim was sixth, the Koch brothers, Charles and David, were eighth and ninth and former New York City mayor and Bloomberg News founder Michael Bloomberg was 10th.

This year it took at least $3.7 billion in wealth to make it onto the list, but only in a tie for 501th place, a group that included Hollywood director Steven Spielberg.

tic bags designed to avert terror attacks by making it harder to hide explosives in them.

The Republican group on the Council of Paris however scoffed at Hidalgo’s measures.

“Anne Hidalgo is attempting to short-circuit her opposition by announcing as of now certain placebo measures, but there is absolutely nothing new,” said the group.

The Republicans said an investigative commission will begin to study the city’s cleanliness problem in May, suggesting that only then can the city come up with the right policies to “know how to remake Paris” into “a clean city”.

The Journal du Dimanche said cleanliness “is the city’s management weak point”.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

38 - WEEKEND WORLD

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Fly me to the Moon: Russia seeks new cosmonauts Russia’s space agency has announced a recruitment drive for young wouldbe cosmonauts who it hopes will become the country’s first on the Moon.

And women are welcome, an official stressed.

In the first such drive for five years, Roscosmos space agency said it is looking for 6 to 8 cosmonauts who will operate a new-generation spaceship now in development and “will become the first Russians to fly to the Moon”.

REKINDLE Russia is keen to rekindle the space triumphs of the Soviet era after a series of embarrassing glitches in recent years.

It has announced plans for its first manned Moon landing by 2031.

“There will be no discrimination based on skin colour or gender,” the executive director of manned programmes Sergei Krikalyov said at a news conference, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

Applications are welcome for the next four months, said the first deputy director of Roscosmos Alexander Ivanov, cited by RIA Novosti.

Ivanov said the new recruits will pilot the first launches of the new-generation Federatsiya manned transport ship and “continue the lunar programme”.

The Federatsiya is designed to fly to the Moon with four people on board. The first manned test launch is planned in

2023 from Russia’s new Vostochny cosmodrome in the country’s far east.

The criteria for applicants include an age limit of 35, height between 1 metre 50 centimetres and 1 metre 90 (4 foot, 11 inches to 6 foot, 2 inches) and weight of no more than 90 kilograms (14 stone, 2 pounds), according to Roscosmos.

IT skills and knowledge of a foreign language are required as well as an engineering degree or pilot training or experience in the aviation or space industries.

A high standard of fitness is a must and would-be astronauts have to crosscountry ski for 5 kilometres. They undergo a barrage of psychological and physical tests including gynaecological examinations for women.

Applicants can apply by post or in person to Star City astronaut training centre outside Moscow, remembering to enclose three passport-sized photographs.

Russia currently has 30 cosmonauts, 14 of whom have never been in space. The oldest is 58-year-old Gennady Padalka, who holds the world record for total time spent in space, while the youngest is 31-year-old Ivan Vagner, according to TASS state news agency.

The first such open recruitment drive -- not just for military pilots and those working in the space industry -- was held in 2012.

Selfproclaimed ‘King of Germany’ jailed for fraud A German court has sentenced Peter Fitzek, the self-declared “King of Germany”, to jail for setting up an illegal bank and embezzling up 1.3 million euros of deposits.

SOVEREIGN Fitzek had installed his “kingdom” on the site of a former hospital in the eastern city of Wittenberg in 2012, and crowned himself sovereign.

He had also illegally set up a bank that he operated between 2009 and 2013.

Around 600 people banked with him, entrusting him with deposits totalling around 1.7 million euros ($1.8 million).

But prosecutors said Fitzek embezzled 1.3 million euros of the deposits for his own use.

Sentencing Fitzek to three years and eight months in prison, presiding judge Ursula Mertens noted that no proper accounting exists of the sums handled by Fitzek.

“Over the years, you’ve muddled along and taken a lot of money,” said Mertens.

“Your investors now have nothing because nothing was hedged,” she added.

Dressed in a blue shirt with a logo of his “kingdom”, Fitzek interrupted the sentencing, shouting “joke”, “scandal” and “lies”.

Some 20 of his “subjects” who were following the proceedings also made catcalls. One man

was eventually escorted out of the courtroom.

Fitzek argued that he had spent the missing funds for the good of his community.

But Mertens retorted: “You, Mr Fitzek, have done nothing for the common good. You have used the money on yourself.”

Fitzek has been in and out of court, including for driving without a licence. He argued that his kingdom had issued the permit.

He has also been convicted of illegally running a health insurance service.

On his website koenigreichdeutschland.org Fitzek says he has also issued his own currency since 2007 called Engelgeld (Angel Money).

Germany’s domestic intelligence service view Fitzek as part of the far-right “Reichsbuerger” or “Citizens of the Reich” movement which rejects the legitimacy of the German republic.

Once dismissed simply as crackpots, the Reichsbuerger movement is being seen as an increasing threat after several members opened fire on police in recent months.

Domestic intelligence service chief HansGeorg Maassen has said the “Reichsbuerger scene” of activists and sympathisers was now thought to number about 10,000, including 500-600 right-wing extremists and 700 with gun licences.

Fitzek denies being part of the movement.

NATO head says more defence spending ‘essential’ to US ties NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has told allies to boost defence spending, as demanded by US President Donald Trump, if they want to preserve crucial transatlantic defence ties.

“This is essential for the continued strength of the transatlantic bond on which our alliance is founded,” Stoltenberg said in NATO’s 2016 annual report.

“For almost 70 years the unique partnership between Europe and North America has ensured peace and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.

“That is an achievement we can never take for granted.”

Trump caused dismay in Europe when he said on the campaign trail that NATO was “obsolete,” and failing to meet the challenge posed by Islamic terror groups.

His administration has repeatedly pressed the allies to meet

a pledge to spend two percent of GDP annually on defence by 2024.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, NATO allies cut defence spending only to find themselves caught out by Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

NATO leaders, pressed by then US president Barack Obama, agreed the two percent target in 2014 and reaffirmed it at a 2016 Warsaw summit to counter a more assertive Russia.

The NATO annual report said only five countries met the two percent target -- the United States, Britain, Greece, Poland and Estonia -- while Washington still accounted for nearly 70 percent of combined alliance defence spending.

Overall, the US-led alliance reversed the downturn in 2015 and last year, defence spending rose 3.8 percent or $10 bil-

lion (9.3 billion euros), it noted.

“In 2017, we must redouble our efforts to sustain the positive momentum and speed up national efforts to keep our pledge,” Stoltenberg said in the report.

Meeting the two percent target has caused some soulsearching in Europe over what the wider impact will be.

Critics cite the example of Germany, currently on 1.2 percent of GDP but an increase to 2.0 percent would put Berlin’s defence budget on a par with Russia’s at around 65 billion euros.

Trump has also called for a $54 billion hike in US defence expenditure, currently at more than $600 billion, winning broad support but also criticism that the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 39

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WEEKEND WORLD - 41

EEKEND focuses on SOTOGRANDE & GIBRALTAR WORLD

Operation Bayview

Gibraltar will ‘be no victim of Brexit’ Gibraltar will “be no victim of Brexit” and will adopt to a new reality outside of the European Union, the chief minister of the tiny British territory has announced.

Fabian Picardo also vowed to fight any attempt by Spain to gain more control over “the Rock” during negotiations over Britain’s exit from the bloc.

“As far as we are concerned, this day brings us nothing to celebrate. But it also brings us nothing to fear and everything to fight for,” he told parliament.

The tiny British overseas territory on Spain’s southern tip has long been the subject of an acrimonious sovereignty row between London and Madrid, which wants Gibraltar back after it was ceded to Britain in 1713.

Spain has offered a co-sovereignty proposal that would allow Gibraltar to remain in the EU in exchange for shared sovereignty over the Rock.

But residents overwhelmingly voted to

remain with Britain in two sovereignty referendums in 1967 and 2002.

Picardo reaffirmed Gibraltar’s wish to remain British “now, during and after” the Brexit negotiations, insisting the territory’s British sovereignty “is not in play.”

“Gibraltar will be no-one’s bargaining chip,” he added.

NEGOTIATE Picardo said he hoped that the trade deals Britain hopes to negotiate with other countries around the world, including the United States, will also benefit Gibraltar.

“Indeed, we are in fact cautiously optimistic that we will be able to grow further and prosper even more in the future than we have in the past in the context of access to those new markets,” he said.

Gibraltar has a population of around 32,000 and 96 percent of the residents who voted in the Brexit referendum voted to remain in the EU.

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ON 17th March 2017 Officers of HM Customs engaged in operation BAYVIEW, This is an ongoing anti-smuggling Tobacco operation targeting the eastside.

Officers kept surveillance of a residential address in Glacis estate that was suspected of being used for the illegal storage, and subsequent distribution of cigarettes that were then smuggled from the area of eastern beach. At approximately 21.05 hrs Officers noticed suspicious movements in the area of the dwelling and deployed mobile patrol units.

A search of the immediate area surrounding

the suspect address resulted in the location of a motor vehicle loaded with 200 cartons of cigarettes with a retail value of £4000.

Officers proceeded to the residential address from where the cigarettes had been seen to be originating. The tenant, a local male in his late twenties, was cautioned and arrested for the illegal possession and storage of the cigarettes.

A search of the premises produced a further 1300 cartons of cigarettes with a retail value of approximately £26,000. Investigations are ongoing and HM Customs have not ruled out further arrests.

Closer to you Underwritten at Lloyd’s of London Up to 65% no claim discount Efficient claims service We can provide cover for Gibraltar, Spanish or UK registered cars, vans and 4x4’s located in Gibraltar or Spain Call into our office in the centre of town or if you prefer we can deal with any type of enquiry over the phone or by e-mail.

Summer Nights to go on tour Gibraltar Cultural Services, on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, is pleased to announce that this year’s Summer Nights events will be going on tour around Gibraltar. Gibraltar Cultural Services is working very closely with GibMedia, who were the successful tenderer, and it is envisaged that the events will take place in Chatham Counterguard, Governor’s Parade, John Mackintosh Square, Casemates Square and Ocean Village.

The idea will allow regeneration of different areas in town, as well as better sharing out of the event with local establishments in other areas. The 2017 Summer Nights will be take place every Thursday and Saturday as from Thursday 13th July to Saturday 12th August 2017. More information on the programme of events will be made available in due course.

Gibraltar

Rachelle, Lynette, Michelle & Lorrain

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.

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***En ABONO PREMIUM de 1950 €, para todas las contrataciones o renovaciones que se realicen antes del 31 de enero de 2017 además de incluir el buggy y academia, se les ofrece un paquete de 8 green fees

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en Almenara Golf. ***En ABONO STANDARD de 1400 €, para todas las contrataciones o renovaciones que se realicen antes del 31 de enero de 2017 además de incluir el buggy, se les ofrece el uso de la academia. ***PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP worth €1,950, all contracts or renewals before 31 January 2017 will include the buggy and academy, and a pack of 8 green fees at Almenara Golf.

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***STANDARD MEMBERSHIP worth €1,400, all contracts or renewals before 31 January 2017 will include the buggy, and use of the academy.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

World Autism Day 2017 – Launch of further inclusive cinema screenings The Minister for Equality, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP (pictured right) is pleased to announce a further partnership between the Ministry of Equality and Leisure Cinemas. Inclusive Cinema Screenings will be launched on 2 April 2017 to commemorate World Autism Day and, will thereafter be available at noon on the first Sunday of every month.

This new initiative commences with the screening of the new film Beauty and the Beast (PG Cert) on Sunday 2 April. The second sensory screening will be held on Sunday 7 May with the showing of ‘A Dogs Purpose’ (PG Cert). Further details may be obtained by contacting Leisure Cinema on 200722725 or 20041933 or on www.leisurecinemas.com

OVER-STIMULATION Inclusive Cinema Screenings are screenings to which a number of adjustments are introduced to reduce over-stimulation and thereby create a welcoming place for people with autism and dementia to enjoy films with their families, friends and carers. Lights are left low, sound is turned down, there are no trailers or advertisements unless embedded in the film and there is freedom to move around and sit wherever individuals like.

Leisure Cinemas will make available, at no charge, a seat for the accompanying adult of the person with autism on the basis that the accompanying person is able to provide appropriate assistance.

The Minister for Equality, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP said, “Being inclusive of people with disabilities is not just about making facilities accessible to individuals with physical disabilities or limited mobility, it is also about welcoming those with sensory or learning disabilities.

‘The introduction of this scheme by Leisure Cinemas is one of the ways a cinema can make reasonable adjustments for disabled guests. For people on the autism spectrum,

WEEKEND WORLD - 43

LUXURY YACHT CHARTERS RYA TRAINING CENTRE YACHT MANAGEMENT

SAIL it is important to allow them to be in a comfortable, low-stress environment where they can simply be themselves. Sensory screenings act as a judgment-free zone where people with autism are allowed to move around, make noise and act in ways that could otherwise be regarded as disruptive. Sensorysensitive screenings can, because of their relaxed environment, benefit more than just people with autism.

Relaxed screenings can also be beneficial to individuals with learning disabilities, movement disorders, young children and their families, as well as those with neurological conditions like Tourette syndrome and those in the early stages of dementia.’

The Minister concluded by adding that the Ministry of Equality was very grateful for the continued commitment by Leisure Cinemas to a community inclusive of people with disabilities and was eager to see other organisations in the private sector introducing initiatives which also promote inclusion.

Odette Benatar, Director of Leisure Cinemas said “This initiative is part of our ongoing commitment to bringing the Cinema experience to the whole of our community. I sincerely hope it proves successful in providing enjoyment to all.”

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Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

44 - WEEKEND WORLD

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

SPONSORED BY CITY FM MALAGA

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n MARBELLA HOLY WEEK Program April 09 - 16, The celebration of Holy Week is another milestone in the cultural activities of Marbella, becoming a religious expression popular with great depth in the population.

In the cosmopolitan context of this city, there remain nine brotherhoods of passion (including those of Nueva Andalucía and San Pedro Alcántara), integrated in the Association of Brotherhoods of Holy Week.

The Palm Sunday begins with the procession of Our Father Jesus of Mercy to his entry into Jerusalem and Maria Lady of Peace and Hope. It emphasizes its passage by the walls of the old castle, the exit and entrance to its Chapel located in the Hospital of San Juan de Dios, the blessing of the palms and olive trees in Plaza Jose Palomo, and the singing of the children in the Bocanegra School to The sacred headlines.

The Holy Monday begins with the parade of Our Father Jesus tied to the Column and the Virgin Virgen Blanca . It emphasizes the exit and closure from the Hermitage of Santo Cristo in the Plaza of the same name and its passage through the streets of the upper district, mainly C / Lobatas and C / Aduar.

On Holy Tuesday , Our Captive Father Jesus accompanied by Mary Most Holy of the Incarnation, Santa Marta and Mary make their way from the Parish of Our Lady of the Incarnation. Santa Marta is the proprietor of the "hoteliers", to emphasize the passage of this Brotherhood by C / Virgen de los Dolores and C / Málaga.

The Holy Wednesday procession Royal, Illustrious and Venerable Brotherhood of Our. Father Jesus Nazareno from the Parish of Our Lady of the Incarnation and is with Mary Most Holy of the Greater Pain that makes its exit from the Place of the Holy Sepulcher, soothes of this Brotherhood. It highlights the large number of promises that accompany

the Nazarene throughout the journey. It is worth the encounter of the two thrones and its passage through the typical streets of the historical center.

The Brotherhood of the Holy Christ of Exaltation and Mary Most Holy of Calvary, leaves on Holy Thursday in procession from the Hermitage of Calvary. It emphasizes the descent of the thrones from the Ermita and its passage by the old walls of the castle.

From the hermitage of Santiago, the Royal, Ancient and Excellency Brotherhood of the Most Holy Christ of Love, the Most Holy Mary of Charity and St. John the Evangelist comes forth. A very special moment is the release of a prisoner in the Plaza del Puente de Ronda Equally emotional is the exit from his little Hermitage in the Plaza de los Naranjos and the meeting of the three thrones at the end of the tour.

Very moving is the procession of silence (transfer of the Cristo Yacente), leaving from the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher passing through the historic center.

On Good Friday, the Brotherhood of the Nazarene returns from the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, this time with the Christ Yacente accompanied by the Band of Horns and drums of the Legion. To emphasize its encounter with the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Soledad, one of the oldest of our city, image with interlocking hands, low glance and in the chest a heart pierced by a dagger.

The end of the Holy Week in Marbella is marked by the Holy Resurrected Christ ,

titular of the Brotherhood of Brotherhoods and that makes its exit from the Parish Ntra.

Lady of the Incarnation until the Hermitage of the Holy Christ.

Capítulo aparte lo constituye la Cofradía del Santísimo Cristo del Perdón y Nuestra Señora del Dolor y la Esperanza de Nueva Andalucía. Sale en procesión el Miércoles y Viernes Santo, si bien el Domingo de Ramos representan en vivo la Entrada en Jerusalén. Destaca la salida de los tronos por el estrecho arco de la iglesia.

San Pedro Alcántara with the Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus Nazareno and María Santísima de la Soledad carries out its processions, which begins on Palm Sunday with the procession of Ntro. Father Jesus at his entrance in Jerusalem "La Pollinica" and Our Lady of the Passion. Holy Thursday, Ntro. Father Jesús Nazareno and Our Lady of Sorrows make their way through the streets of the center of San Pedro Alcántara. It is worth mentioning at dawn on Holy Thursday the Procession of Silence and on Good Friday the procession of the Christ Yacente and Our Lady of Soledad, the final point of Holy Week is marked by the most holy Resurrected Christ. www.nuestrasfiestas.com

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

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 45

SPONSORED BY CITY FM MALAGA Broadcasting from Nerja to beyond Calahonda on 106.2FM and from Elviria to Gibraltar via 106.8FM n Natura Málaga, Friday 31 March to Sunday 2nd April, Venue : Trade Fair and Congress Center, Malaga

Natura Málaga is a fair that shows the growing public awareness regarding the environment, consumption and healthy eating. The event brings together a public with a philosophy of life that combines different areas such as the consumption of organic food, use of renewable energies, consumption of fair trade articles, organic food, handicrafts, recycling, natural and alternative therapies. www.naturamalaga.com n International Jazz Artist Nancy Ruth live in concert, Saturday 1st April 1, 8:30 pm Clarence Jazz Club, Calle Cañón 5, 29015 Málaga Nancy has an incredible story about how she moved to the Costa Del Sol from Canada, on her own with hardly any resources, not even a mobile phone and with zero knowledge of Spanish.

Despite having nothing and no friends here she persisted and fully integrated into the Spanish community here, living as a Spaniard, learning the culture, becoming completely fluent in

Spanish. She wrote an album all about that experience called ‘Sangria Jam’ and today she uses her music to bring together both the Spanish and the various expat communities here on the coast.

As Nancy puts it, “Sangria Jam refers to the way my loves of jazz, flamenco, and latin rhythms come together, as well as my mixed European bloodline, which in part traces back here to Spain. I’m not trying to create a fusion, but rather freely reflect my experience and surroundings.

Sin prisa, sin pausa…this recording has taken its own time and course, just like a typical day here in Spain, where for all the plans you may make, life leads you around unexpected corners.

The idea is to ride the wave… enjoy the phrase, devour the moments, and notice the magic that catches you off guard”.

The frightfully funny comedy thriller Agatha Christie meets The Adams Family. n SALON VARIETIES presents tomb with a view. Friday 07 to Tuesday 11 April.

Teatro Salon Varietes, C/ Emanicipación, s/n, Fuengirola 29640, Málaga, Telephone (+34) 952 47 45 42 www.salonvarietestheatre.com The frightfully funny comedy thriller Agatha Christie meets The Adams Family. Every family has skeletons in the closet....some more than others! By Norman Robbins and directed by Lynn Halliday

46 - WEEKEND WORLD

W

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

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EEKEND

WORLD

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Money Matters is sponsored by 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 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

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United Kingdom - Financial Markets

WEEKEND WORLD - 47

Spain’s Economy Minister ‘not a candidate’ for Eurogroup

Spain’s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos has announced he was not in the running to head up the Eurogroup, whose current chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem is facing calls to resign.

“I am not a candidate to the presidency of the Eurogroup,” he told reporters, without giving further details.

His comments came despite Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy backing de Guindos as potential head of the group of euMost Active Stocks rozone finance ministers in an interview in several newspapers.

De Guindos was the main challenger to replace Dijsselbloem Name Last Prev. High Low Chg. % Vol. as the head of the Eurogroup when his first term expired in t Lloyds Banking 66.58 66.79 67.05 66.39 -0.31% 55.12M 2015 but in the end the Dutchman secured his re-election to s Tesco 191.35 191.20 191.90 189.85 +0.08% 12.34M the powerful post. t Glencore 308.90 311.60 315.25 308.60 -0.87% 12.00M But he has run into controversy since he said in an interview s Vodafone Group PLC 210.65 210.25 211.35 210.15 +0.19% 11.36M last week that southern European countries blew their mont Barclays 226.60 228.10 228.95 226.20 -0.66% 8.24M ey on “drinks and women”. s BP 454.80 453.45 456.95 453.40 +0.30% 7.62M Southern Europeans reacted strongly, with Portugal’s prime minister and former Italian premier Matteo Renzi calling for t HSBC Holdings 654.30 655.30 659.90 653.90 -0.14% 6.55M Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch finance minister, to step down. t Old Mutual 216.80 218.20 219.20 216.50 -0.64% 5.40M His job was already up in the air after his party lost out in elecs BT Group 325.70 324.25 326.60 322.65 +0.45% 5.30M tions in The Netherlands earlier this month. His mandate as s ITV 210.45 210.00 212.00 210.00 +0.19% 4.95M head of the Eurogroup lasts until January 2018.

De Guindos said Dijsselbloem’s comments were “regrettable,” and pointed out that Spaniards are “very under-repreTop Gainers Top Losers sented” in executive positions in European institutions.

Name Last Chg. Chg. % Name Last Chg. Chg. % s London Stock Exch. 3,126.00 +102.00 +3.37% t Fresnillo 1,530.00 -32.00 -2.05% s 3I Group 723.50 +23.00 +3.28% t Randgold Resources 7,045.00 -125.00 -1.74% s Intu Properties t Berkeley 274.90 +3.10 +1.14% 3,172.00 -53.00 -1.64% s Associated Br. Foods 2,637.00 +25.00 +0.96% t Barratt Dev. 538.00 -8.00 -1.47% s BHP Billiton PLC 1,239.00 +12.00 +0.98% t Severn Trent 2,368.00 -34.00 -1.42%

We expect our economy to exceed a growth of 2.5 percent over the next two to four years

Spain - Financial Markets

Most Active Stocks

Figures correct at 29.03.2017

Name t Santander t Banco Popular t Caixabank s Bankia t B. Sabadell t BBVA t Telefonica s ArcelorMittal t Iberdrola t Mapfre

Spain’s economy should grow at a rate above 2.5 percent every year for the next two to four years, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos has announced.

The government will present an update of its economic growth forecasts this week when it presents its 2017 budget proposal, and although it has left the current expectations of 2.5 percent growth for this year unchanged, “The growth forecast included in the budget proposal on Friday is 2.5 percent, a very conservative outlook... We expect it to be much higher,” de Guindos said.

Spain’s gross domestic product expanded by 3 percent yearon-year in the fourth quarter and is expected to have grown by at least 0.7 percent in the first quarter from a quarter earlier.

Last Prev. High Low Chg. % Vol. 5.737 5.760 5.794 5.732 -0.40% 12.87M 0.922 0.925 0.938 0.922 -0.32% 10.56M 3.973 3.998 4.032 3.965 -0.62% 10.54M 1.073 1.094 1.089 1.066 +0.66% 8.41M 1.717 1.724 1.742 1.710 -0.41% 8.24M New data highlights value of tax transparency in the fight 7.228 7.266 7.314 7.221 -0.52% 6.90M against tax dodging 10.447 10.510 10.543 10.432 -0.60% 3.74M Europe’s 20 biggest banks posted profits of at least €25 bil7.808 7.750 7.945 7.770 +0.75% 3.24M lion in global tax havens last year, an Oxfam report has revealed today 6.563 6.588 6.619 6.548 -0.38% 2.91M The report - Opening the Vaults - was only possible be3.170 3.200 3.230 3.167 -0.94% 2.17M cause of new EU transparency rules, requiring European banks to publish a country-by-country breakdown of their Top Gainers Top Losers profits and tax payments, to assess their use of tax havens.

Research by Oxfam and Fair Finance Guide International Name Last Chg. Chg. % Name Last Chg. Chg. % showed that although banks reported a quarter of their s DIA 5.305 +0.051 +0.97% t Merlin Properties SA 10.38 -0.15 -1.47% global profits in tax havens, they registered only 12 percent s ArcelorMittal 7.810 +0.060 +0.77% t Gamesa 22.023 -0.277 -1.24% of their global turnover and seven percent of their global ems Bankia 1.073 +0.007 +0.66% t Mapfre 3.172 -0.028 -0.88% ployees in these countries. s Endesa 21.580 +0.080 +0.37% t Viscofan 48.555 -0.490 -1.00% Spanish banks Santander and BBVA placed 26% of their profits in tax havens, a percentage that is equivalent of around s Aena 144.70 +0.25 +0.17% t Repsol 14.235 -0.100 -0.70% 25,000 million The report also highlights the importance of financial transEuro exchange rates parency as some banks are reporting profits in tax havens while reporting losses elsewhere. For example, Germany’s 9.20 Norwegian Krone 7.44 Danish Krone 1.41 Australian Dollars Deutsche Bank registered low profits or losses in many major 9.55 Swedish Krona 8.38 Hong Kong Dollar 0.87 British Pounds markets in 2015 while booking almost €2 billion in profits in 3.96 UAE Dirham 119.95 Japanese Yen 1.44 Canadian Dollars tax havens.

1.08 US Dollars 1.54 New Zealand Dollar 7.44 Chinese Yuan

Oxfam highlights Spain’s profits in tax havens

48 - WEEKEND WORLD

British inflation surges to 2.3% British annual inflation jumped in February to the highest level in almost three and a half years, driven by increasing fuel costs, data showed Tuesday.

The 12-month inflation rate hit 2.3 percent last month compared with 1.8 percent in January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

Analysts’ consensus forecast had been for a pick-up to 2.1 percent.

The February reading was the highest level since September 2013.

2.3%

FOCUS ON MONEY MATTERS

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

S&P cuts troubled Toshiba’s credit rating

Standard & Poor’s has cut its credit rating on Toshiba again, warning that the troubled company’s finances were quickly deteriorating owing to huge losses at its US nuclear unit.

The ratings agency slashed its outlook on the Japanese industrial giant by two notches to ‘CCC-’, pushing it further into junk status after earlier downgrades in December and January.

EMERGENCY Loss-hit Toshiba, a pillar of corporate Japan, could be running out of options for turning around its business or securing emergency bank funding, it added.

“There is a growing likelihood that Toshiba will become unable to fulfil its financial obligations in a timely manner or will undertake a debt restructuring we classify as distressed in the next six months,” S&P said.

Toshiba’s multi-billion-dollar losses are likely to multiply, it added, as it faces the embarrassing prospect of being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

“The heavy losses and financial burden related to Toshiba’s US nuclear power business will grow further, increasing uncertainty about (its) prospects for restructuring and bank support,” S&P said.

The downgrade comes after Toshiba’s be-

leaguered shares rebounded earlier Friday, closing 3.5 percent higher, on reports that Tokyo is mulling using state money to support the spin off of its prized memory chip business.

The government denied the reports.

“The specifics of its plan to sell its (memory chip) business have yet to be determined and it will be some time before the proceeds of a sale materialise,” S&P said.

Toshiba shares have been hammered this year, losing more than half their value since late December when it first warned of eyepopping losses at atomic division Westinghouse Electric -- and pointed to a possible accounting fraud.

The company is probing a whistleblower’s claims that one or more Westinghouse executives exerted “inappropriate pressure” on the division’s accounts.

This week, Japanese financial regulators gave Toshiba until April 11 to publish its

fourth-quarter results, which were originally due in mid-February.

Toshiba had said it needed more time to probe claims of misconduct at Westinghouse and gauge the impact on its finances before reporting its numbers.

Toshiba has previously warned it was on track to report a net loss of 390 billion yen in the fiscal year to March, as it faced a writedown topping 700 billion yen at Westinghouse.

The crisis comes less than two years after Toshiba’s reputation was badly damaged by separate revelations that top company executives pressured underlings to cover up weak results after the 2008 global financial meltdown.

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

World Bank announces $57 bln in financing for Africa

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The World Bank has announced a $57 billion in financing for sub-Saharan Africa over the next three fiscal years.

Of that total, $45 billion will come from the International Development Association, the World Bank fund that provides grants and interest-free loans for the world’s poorest countries.

The package will also feature an estimated $8 billion in private sector investments from the International Finance Corporation, a private-sector branch of World Bank, and $4 billion will come from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank’s unit for middle-income nations, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.

Germany, which recently hosted a meeting of the G20 countries, said that a partnership called “Compact with Africa” would be a priority of its presidency this year of that club of powerful nations. Of all the countries in Africa, only South Africa is a G20 member.

“This represents an unprecedented opportunity to change the development trajectory of the countries in the region,” Kim said.

“With this commitment, we will work with our clients to substantially expand programs in education, basic health services, clean water and sanitation, agriculture, business climate, infrastructure and institutional reform,” he added.

Kim left for Rwanda and Tanzania on Sunday in a show of World Bank support for the entire region.

The new financing from the International Development Association will target 448 projects that are already underway in sub-Saharan Africa. The region accounts for more than half of the countries eligible for this kind of financing from the IDA, the bank said.

Get in touch T +34 952 906 581 E costadelsol@currenciesdirect.com W currenciesdirect.com

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WEEKEND WORLD - 49

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50 - WEEKEND WORLD

I

ntel will buy Israeli car tech firm Mobileye for more than $15 billion (14 billion euros), the companies have announced, in a deal signalling the US computer chip giant’s commitment to technology for selfdriving vehicles.

Israeli media reported that the deal worth approximately $15.3 billion was the largest ever cross-border acquisition for an Israeli tech firm.

It comes with Intel and Mobileye previously collaborating with German automaker BMW to develop self-driving cars.

Intel and Mobileye said they expected to combine to become a global leader in “autonomous driving” that could provide the technology at a lower cost.

“The combination is expected to accelerate innovation for the automotive industry and position Intel as a leading technology provider in the fast-growing market for highly and fully autonomous vehicles,” it said.

“Intel estimates the vehicle systems, data and services market opportunity to be up to $70 billion by 2030.”

Last year, BMW announced that it was joining forces with Mobileye and Intel on a self-drive project for “highly and fully automated driving” to be commercially available by 2021.

BMW announced in January it would deploy 40 self-driving vehicles for tests in the United States and Europe.

In August, Mobileye and UK-based autoequipment maker Delphi said they were teaming up to develop an autonomous driving system which would be ready for vehicle-makers in 2019.

Nearly all the major global automakers are involved in testing autonomous or semiautonomous vehicles, with some expecting full autonomy within a few years.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

Intel buying Israeli car tech firm Mobileye for $15 bn Intel will buy Israeli car tech firm Mobileye for more than $15 billion (14 billion euros), the companies have announced, in a deal signalling the US computer chip giant’s commitment to technology for self-driving vehicles.

Data centres on wheels Mobileye, whose speciality includes systems for accident avoidance, has concluded an agreement with Volkswagen on road data technology as well.

The Israeli firm was founded in 1999. It has developed real-time camera systems used to avoid accidents with the help of algorithms that interpret the data.

Its proprietary EyeQ5 computer vision processor gets input from the 360-degree surround view sensors as well as localisation.

Drivers may be familiar with its system that warns when they are approaching too closely to another vehicle or pedestrian.

Mobileye co-founder Ziv Aviram said of the acquisition that “together, we will provide an attractive value proposition for the automo-

tive industry.”

“We expect the growth towards autonomous driving to be transformative,” he said in the statement.

“It will provide consumers with safer, more flexible, and less costly transportation op-

Zara owner Inditex profits up on international drive Spain’s fashion retail giant Inditex, owner of popular brand Zara, has announced that its drive to expand internationally helped push up profits last year.

Inditex, one of the world’s largest fashion retailers, said in a statement that its bottom-line profit rose by 10 percent to 3.16 billion euros ($3.4 billion) last year.

Inditex -- whose brands include Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Bershka and Oysho -- therefore beat Swedish rival H&M which booked net profit of around two billion euros in 2016.

But the Spanish group’s profit growth was slower than in 2015 when its bottom line had risen by 15 percent.

Revenues expanded by 12 percent to 23.3 billion euros, “underpinned by growth in all of the geographic

regions where the group is present,” Inditex continued.

By comparison, H&M’s sales topped the 24-billioneuro mark in 2016.

Underlying or operating profit was up eight percent at five billion euros, Inditex said.

Inditex said that it opened 279 new stores in its business year, which runs from February to January, bringing the total number of stores worldwide to nearly 7,300 in 93 countries.

It also created nearly 9,600 new jobs, boosting its worldwide headcount to close to 162,500.

Inditex said it would increase the dividend payout by 13 percent to 0.68 euros per share for 2016.

tions, and provide incremental business model opportunities for our automaker customers.”

The companies said the transaction, approved by the boards of both Intel and Mobileye, is expected to close within the next nine months.

“As cars progress from assisted driving to fully autonomous, they are increasingly becoming data centres on wheels,” the statement said.

“Intel expects that by 2020, autonomous vehicles will generate 4,000 GB of data per day, which plays to Intel’s strengths in high-performance computing and network connectivity.”

Israeli officials were also touting the deal as a sign of confidence in the country’s high-tech sector -- an industry that has given it the nickname the “start-up nation”.

“What’s important now is that the production remains in Israel, where some 300 international companies are located,” Israeli Economy Minister Eli Cohen told army radio.

Intel has long had operations in Israel, opening its first development centre in 1974.

In 2014, the firm announced it was to invest close to $6 billion in upgrading its Israeli production facilities.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

UK industrial output drops at start of year Britain’s industrial output recoiled in January as the nation prepared to exit the European Union, official data shows Industrial output slid 0.4 percent compared with activity in December, with a particularly weak contribution from manufacturing, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

Although moderately better than expectations for a 0.5-percent decline, the latest industrial output data followed a 0.9-percent rise in December.

Manufacturing output, which excludes mining and quarrying, electricity, gas and water supply, slid 0.9 percent in January from December.

WEEKEND WORLD - 51

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Construction activity also shrank by 0.4 percent, which contrasted with a 1.8-percent expansion in the previous month.

The ONS also said that Britain’s deficit in goods and services, the gap between exports and imports, stood unchanged at £2.0 billion ($2.4 billion, 2.3 billion euros) in January.

“The latest economic data for the UK has come in on the soft side, with manufacturing production and industrial production both contracting in January,” noted analyst David Cheetham at XTB brokerage. “The manufacturing number in particular could be seen as a cause for concern with a 0.9-percent month on month decline matching the worst reading since the Brexit vote” in June.

Tourists help Cyprus economy keep growing

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The economy of bailed-out eurozone member Cyprus grew for an eighth consecutive quarter, helped by record numbers of tourists flocking to the Mediterranean island, official figures show.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, maintaining the same pace of growth seen in the previous three-month period, Cyprus’s statistical service said.

Compared with the same period of the previous year, GDP was up 2.9 percent.

Growth was seen in areas including manufacturing, construction, trade, hotels and restaurants.

Last year more than three million tourists visited Cyprus, seen as a regional safe haven at a time when other traditionally popular destinations in the eastern Mediterranean have been hit by political upheaval and security fears.

Cyprus has emerged from more than three years of economic slowdown after the government imposed harsh austerity measures in exchange for a 10-billion-euro rescue package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

The island’s authorities have not yet officially published their estimate for growth for the whole of 2016, but Finance Minister Harris Georgiades expects it to be close to three percent, followed by a similar growth rate this year.

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Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

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FOCUS ON HEALTH & BEAUTY

EEKEND focuses on HEALTH & BEAUTY WORLD

‘Sesame Street’ to tackle autism with new muppet “Sesame Street” has often experimented with new ways of teaching children about social issues as well as their ABCs since its launch nearly 50 years ago. Now it’s taking on a new challenge: autism.

The groundbreaking public television children’s program is introducing a new character, a muppet named Julia who has autism, the show’s creators have revealed.

Diagnoses of autism have risen steadily in recent years to the rate of one in every 68 children, but tackling the topic for children has been far from straightforward.

“The big discussion right at the start was, ‘How do we do this?

How do we talk about autism?’” Sesame Street writer Christine Ferraro said in a recent interview.

“It’s tricky because autism is not one thing, because it is dif-

ferent for every single person who has autism.”

The episode introducing Julia includes some common scenarios.

When Big Bird is introduced to her, she ignores him. And when a group of children decide to play tag together, Julia becomes so excited she starts jumping up and down.

“That’s a thing that can be typical of some kids with autism,” Ferarro said.

But the situation turns into a new game in which all the children jump around with Julia.

“So it was a very easy way to show that with a very slight accommodation, they can meet her where she is,” Ferraro said.

As for other characters, the show conducted extensive research, including consultations with educators and child psy-

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

chologists, and in this case autism organizations, to understand how best to normalize autism for non-autistic children.

Julia’s puppeteer, Stacey Gordon, also happens to be the mother of an autistic son.

“It’s important for kids without autism to see what autism can look like,” she said.

“Had my son’s friends been exposed to his behaviours through something that they had seen on TV before they experienced them in the classroom, they might not have been frightened.”

Although it’s not clear whether Julia will become a major character, “I would love her to be,” Ferarro said.

“I would love her to be not Julia, the kid on Sesame Street who has autism,” she added. “I would like her to be just Julia.”

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Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 53

Could eating yogurt help treat depression?

A new study suggests that there may be an effective alternative to for the treatment of depression: probiotic bacteria found in yogurt.

Researchers have found that Lactobacillus a “friendly” bacteria found in live-cultured yogurt helped reverse depressive-like behavior in mice, this is because once Lactobacillus is in the gut it affects the level of a metabolite in the blood called kynurenine, which has been shown to drive depression.

The studies authors at University of Virginia School of Medicine -claim the findings show our growing understanding of the gut microbiome could allow us to treat mental health naturally, doing away with toxic drugs. lead researcher Dr Alban Gaultier said.

Depression is one of the most common mental-health conditions worldwide, The World Health Organization (WHO) considers depression as the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide, and expects it to become the second leading cause by 2020.

Often ignored as a medical condition, sufferers of the condition often overlook the symptoms of depression as just a by-product of ‘feeling low’ however if left untreated it can lead to problems with sleeping, working and eating – general daily routine.

‘The big hope for this kind of research is that we won’t need to bother with complex drugs and side effects when we can just play with the microbiome,’ said Dr Alban Gaultier.

‘It would be magical just to change your diet, to change the bacteria you take, and fix your health - and your mood.’ he added No research has been carried out on humans yet so people suffering with depression should not stop taking their medications and replace with yogurt just yet.

Think about your eyes on World Health Day Specsavers Opticas on the Costa del Sol are offering free eye tests including a visual health check throughout April for World Health Day. The stores in Marbella and Fuengirola are offering the service for free to raise awareness about the different medical conditions which may be detected using optical equipment and to make people think of an eye test as an important health check, not simply as a test to see whether you need glasses.

Amrik Sappal, Director of Specsavers Opticas in Fuengirola says: ‘The equipment we use is now very advanced and doesn’t just test people’s vision, it’s an eye health check too. We do specific checks for things like cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration and can now photograph the back of the eye using a digital retinal camera, which combines a specialist microscope and camera. This enables us to detect the signs of a range of important health conditions before they become serious.” If necessary, the optician can refer patients directly for further medical examination to their hospital or general practitioner.

Recent research undertaken by Specsavers revealed that millions of people are risking losing their sight unnecessarily because they fail to have regular sight tests and make poor life style choices.

Almost half of all sight loss cases are pre-

ventable – and a simple eye test can be the first step in prevention.

“Take a step to safeguard your health and eye sight and book a free eye test this World Health Day!” adds Mr Sappal from Specsavers Opticas Fuengirola.

All Specsavers Opticas stores in Spain now offer digital retinal photography as part of their complete eye examination.

Visual health checks with digital retinal photography are usually 15€, but are free throughout April.

To find your nearest Specsavers Opticas and book a free eye test visit www.specsavers.es

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54 - WEEKEND WORLD

One in four children will live with water shortages by 2040 Approximately one in four children worldwide will live in regions with extremely scarce water resources by 2040, UNICEF have announced.

In research released on World Water Day, the United Nations children’s agency warned that in just over two decades nearly 600 million children will be living in areas with severely limited safe water sources, as population growth and surging demand for water clash with the effects of climate change.

More than 36 countries are currently enduring extreme water stress, the report said, with water demand exceeding available renewable supplies.

Rising temperatures and droughts can leave children at risk for dehydration, according to UNICEF, while increased rain and flooding can destroy sanitation infrastructure and help spread waterborne diseases like cholera.

More than 800 children under the age of five die every day from diarrhoea linked to poor sanitation and scarce clean water sources, the report said.

Drought and conflict are factors behind water scarcity in parts of Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, the report says. Nearly 1.4 million children in those areas facing “imminent risk of death” from famine.

More than 9 million people in Ethiopia alone will lack access to safe drinking water this year, according to agency projections.

Without water “nothing can grow,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.

“Millions of children lack access to safe water -- endangering their lives, undermining their health, and jeopardizing their futures.”

The crisis “will only grow unless we take collective action now,” he said.

UNICEF urged communities to diversify water sources, and for governments to prioritize access to safe water for vulnerable children.

In another report released Wednesday, the UN said recycling the world’s wastewater -- almost all of which goes untreated -- would ease global water shortages while protecting the environment.

Two-thirds of all humans live in areas that experience water scarcity at least one month a year -- half of them in China and India.

Last year, the World Economic Forum’s annual survey of opinion leaders identified water crises as the top global risk over the next decade.

On current trends, the UN Environment Program forecasts that water demand -for industry, energy and an extra billion people -- will increase 50 percent by 2030.

FOCUS ON HEALTH & BEAUTY

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

Patients take flight as medical tourism booms Medical tourism has grown into a healthy travel sector as people shop beyond their borders for everything from dental work to plastic surgery, say experts at Berlin’s ITB travel fair.

T

his year is the first that the global tourism show has set aside space in the halls of the German capital’s congress centre for the emerging sector.

Health tourism is already worth billions of dollars per year and set to grow at up to 25 percent annually over the coming decade, according to a recent study by Visa and Oxford Economics.

Thanks to the internet, a growing middle class, often from countries without highquality healthcare, “know that there are treatments out there for them,” said Julie Munro, president of the Medical Travel Quality Alliance, which produces a ranking of the 10 best hospitals for medical tourists.

But medical tourism is not limited to a few countries, nor to people from wealthier nations travelling to less pricey ones.

Countries like the United States, Turkey, Thailand, Singapore, Spain and Germany see both inward and outward flows, as patients dodge waiting lists or hunt for care that is either unavailable or too expensive in their

own country.

“You have medical tourism, really, globally,” said Thomas Boemkes of marketing firm and ITB partner Diversity Tourism.

“For example, you have a lot of Germans going to Poland or Croatia doing dental care because it is cheaper.

“But also a lot of Russians and Arabians coming to Germany because we have high-quality hospitals and care they don’t have in their countries.”

Over-diagnosis “We work with travel agencies and offer complete packages” including pick-up from airports, said Jacco Vroegop, head of clinics in Amsterdam and Frankfurt for ophthalmology network Worldeye.

Launched in Turkey before expanding into Germany and, in the future, into the Netherlands, the group says it treats around 50,000 foreign patients from 107 countries each year.

WHO warn of measles outbreaks across Europe Over 500 measles cases were reported for January 2017 in the WHO European Region. This is because Measles continues to spread within and among European countries, where immunisation has dropped below the necessary threshold of 95%.

The respiratory disease, characterised by high fever and small red spots, usually triggers only mild symptoms, but it remains one of the leading causes of death among young children globally.

Severe complications can occur, however, leading to miscarriage in pregnant women, brain swelling or the risk of death by pneumonia.

The virus is spread by coughing and sneezing and by close contact with infected individuals.

France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine were the most affected, accounting for 474 of the 559 cases reported for January.

In these countries, national vaccination

levels against the virus are below the 95 percent threshold considered necessary for protecting the entire population.

Preliminary figures for February indicate that the number of new infections is rising sharply, the WHO said.

Currently, the largest outbreaks are occurring in Italy and Romania.

The number of measles cases in Italy has tripled this year, largely because parents are not getting children vaccinated because of fears of a link between the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination shot and autism, the health ministry said last week.

In Romania, a measles outbreak has killed 17 children and infected thousands more since September.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause potentially serious illness. As measles remains endemic in most parts of the world, it can spread to any country, including those that have eliminated the disease.

Medical tourism offers range from dental care through to plastic surgery, reproductive medicine, cancer or heart treatments, rehabilitation and preventive examinations.

But Munro warns of a “growing problem” that patients travelling abroad are particularly at risk of “over-diagnosis” aimed at swelling their bills.

Medical tourists are also often concerned with security in destination countries.

Worldeye, for example, expects more clients to opt for its sites in Amsterdam or Frankfurt than for Istanbul or Antalya as Turkey struggles with political tensions.

Swelling numbers Dubai has made big bets on medical tourism since 2012, concentrating on seven specialities where the city has the capacity take on extra patients without affecting care for locals.

Some 42 treatment centres have been singled out for their focus on taking in foreign patients.

“We launched a strategy, a brand, Dubai Health Experience, and a website for all tourists to be able to access official information on where they can be treated, and a mobile app,” said Linda Abdulla Ali, a consultant with the city’s Medical Tourism Council.

In 2015, 298,000 people travelled to the biggest city in the United Arab Emirates for care, 30 percent of them from other Arab nations.

“Our objective is to attract half a million medical tourists by 2020,” she said.

Other countries, such as Portugal, are just beginning to dip their toes into the market.

“We’re still preparing our strategy, starting the promotion all over the world,” said Joaquim Cunha of Health Cluster Portugal.

The group plans an offer based on “a modern park of private hospitals,” Cunha said.

“We don’t think that for medical tourism purposes we can use the public hospitals,” he added.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 55

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

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EEKEND focuses on FOOD & FINE DINING WORLD

SEASONAL FOODS:

Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn - within each issue we will look at what fruits and vegetables are in season

Cracking good crab dishes Surprisingly there are more than 4000 species crab, a crustacean notable for its sideways walk, claws and armoured shell. This sweet, light and intense ingredient is just a perfect taste of spring. Many people are put off by the thought of using Crab but it is actually a very versatile

ingredient, something of a two-in-one ingredient for chefs, as they contain both light, sweet white meat and the richer brown meat ideal for use in salads, sandwiches, soups, pasta and stir-fries.

Here we list a few of our favourite dishes…

English crabcakes with tarragon mayonnaise The aniseed notes of the tarragon mayonnaise beautifully complement these luscious crisp crabcakes. They’re perfect for a simple yet sophisticated starter.

INGREDIENTS 200g maris piper potatoes knob of butter 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley 2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon 2 tsp English mustard 200g freshly prepared English white crabmeat (see our howto video below) For the mayonnaise 2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon 190g tub fresh mayonnaise Squeeze of lemon juice Vegetable oil for frying Plain flour for dusting 1 egg beaten egg Fine breadcrumbs to coat

METHOD Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, drain well and allow to steam dry, then put through a ricer into a bowl (or mash very well). Add a knob of butter, then leave to cool completely.

Stir in 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, 2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon, 2 tsp English mustard and 200g freshly prepared English white crabmeat. Season the mixture and shape into 12-15 bite-size cakes.

Chill for at least half an hour.

For the mayonnaise stir 2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon into a 190g tub fresh mayonnaise with a squeeze of lemon juice, then chill.

Heat 0.5cm vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan until shimmering.

Dust each crabcake in plain flour, then dip into beaten egg and coat in fine breadcrumbs. Shallow-fry in batches for 2-3 minutes, turning once, until golden and crisp. Serve warm with the tarragon mayonnaise

Thai yellow fish curry Prawns, crab and fish soak up the bold Thai curry flavours as they cook in this golden-coloured sauce. It’s an excellent dinner party recipe where everyone can dig in.

INGREDIENTS 3 tbsp sunflower oil 2 onions, finely sliced 100g brown crabmeat 400ml can coconut milk Juice 3 limes 2 tbsp palm sugar 2 tbsp fish sauce 200g white crabmeat 300g sustainable tiger prawns, shell on, heads removed 350g sustainable cod or other white fish (skinless and boneless), cut into pieces Large bunch fresh coriander, chopped Steamed jasmine rice to serve For the curry paste 4 green bird’s eye chillies 4 garlic cloves 1 lemongrass stick, outer leaves removed, roughly chopped 2 shallots, roughly chopped

6cm piece fresh ginger, chopped 1 tbsp Thai shrimp paste (from the world food aisle of supermarkets) 1¼ tbsp medium curry powder 1 tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tbsp fish sauce METHOD Whizz the curry paste ingredients with 150ml water in a mini food processor (or pound to a paste in a pestle and mortar). Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions and fry for 5 minutes or until they start to soften. Add the curry paste and brown crabmeat, then cook for 10 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, half the lime juice, the sugar and fish sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the white crabmeat, prawns and cod..Simmer for 5-8 minutes until the seafood is cooked through; stir gently and occasionally to avoid breaking up the fish. Add the coriander and remaining lime juice to taste, then serve with steamed rice, if you like.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

FOCUS ON FOOD & FINE DINING

Seafood Paella

WEEKEND WORLD - 57

Cute little kitchen gadgets that make eggs a whole lot of fun

INGREDIENTS Red capsicums, 1 left whole, 1 finely chopped 1 pinchsaffron threads 2tsp salt 60 ml (¼ cup) tbsp olive oil 1brown onion, finely chopped 2garlic cloves, crushed 1large tomato, peeled and finely chopped 200 gsquid, diced 300 gcalasparra or bomba rice 750 ml(3 cups) hot fish stock 3 tspSpanish smoked paprika 4large green prawns 1blue swimmer crab, quartered 8mussels 12 pippies 100 gcooked peas 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

From frittatas, omelettes to pancakes, eggs are indeed kitchen staples we all can’t live without. These are versatile ingredients that you can cook and use from breakfast to dinner, as well as snacks in between.

But if serving egg has become such a routine for you, you might just need to spruce up your preparation and cooking eggs some more.

METHOD Preheat oven to 200˚C. Place 1 capsicum in the oven and roast for 25–30 minutes until blistered. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to steam for 5 minutes (this will make it easy to peel).

Bring back the fun in eggs by getting some quirky and fun little gadgets to your kitchen. Store the eggs in pairs of cute Sumo egg cups. Or eat your boiled egg serve directly from the Arthur egg cup.

Remove the skin and seeds, chop the flesh into long strips and set aside.

Grind the saffron and salt in a mortar.

Heat the oil in a large paella pan (or frying pan) over medium heat.

Add the chopped capsicum, onion, and garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes until the onion softens. Add the tomato, squid and rice and cook for 1 minute.

Add the stock, paprika and crushed saffron and salt, and stir to combine. Bring to the boil then arrange the prawns and crab on top of the rice. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 12 minutes until the stock has reduced enough and you can see the rice underneath.

Push the mussels and pippies into the rice and cook for 5 minutes until their shells open. Reduce the heat to low, scatter the peas, roasted capsicum and parsley over the top and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Presenting eggs can get more than creative and appetizing. You can make the perfect poached egg on board the Eggondola . The egg floats on the gondola as it cooks and brings out the easiest and yummiest poached egg ever. Want to play some more? Try using the Bready Made Bread Cutter for those perfect “egg in the basket” meals.

Crab tagliatelle Made with time-saving ingredients that are easy to find in any supermarkets, crab tagliatelle is quick, simple and ready to serve in just 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS 100g white crabmeat 3 tbsp Slow-baked tomatoes with chilli, sliced, plus 1 tbsp oil from the jar 200g fresh egg tagliatelle 1 red chilli, finely chopped Large handful of fresh parsley, chopped, plus extra leaves to garnish Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon 3 tbsp breadcrumbs, toasted in a frying pan with 1 tbsp oil, to serve METHOD Put the crabmeat, chilli, chopped parsley, lemo zest and juice, slow-baked tomatoes and oil from the jar into a mixing bowl, then stir to combine. Season well with salt and

Sometimes too, you just want to spruce up things a bit in your plate. The Gregg’s Fried Egg shaper brings new shape to your usual fried eggs, while the Sunnyside pastes a bright smile to your face -- perhaps as bright as the sun beaming down on you. From artistic to sporty, bring out the athletic side of you using the black pepper, then set aside.

Bring a medium pan of salted water to the boil, then add the pasta and cook for 2 minutes. Drain, then return the pasta to the pan and stir through the crab mixture.

Serve in shallow bowls, topped with the toasted breadcrumbs and garnished with extra parsley leaves.

Receipes Courtesy Of Delicious Magazine

Sports Huevos egg shaper for fun and ball-shaped eggs on the breakfast table.

Indeed, nothing beats eggs on any given day and eggs become more fun interesting when you take presentation to the next level! These fun little kitchen gadgets can liven up your kitchen with their eyecatching design and popping colors. And they’re literally handy as well. www.animicausa.com

58 - WEEKEND WORLD

BY ANNABEL MILNES-SMITH

‘I

ndian Flavour’ is centrally located in the heart of San Pedro, just a stone’s throw from the BP Petrol Station, near the San Pedro roundabout and perfect if you wish to have a bite to eat having visited the San Pedro market.

On arrival, we (my flat mate Alex and I) were warmly greeted by the ebullient co-owner fondly known by his nickname Rasal - his full name being Salman Chowdhury. On having spent only a few minutes in his company, I came to the conclusion he makes it his life’s mission to instill happiness in his customers.

This is abundantly clear from the moment you set foot in his restaurant to the moment they depart.

As it was a beautiful sunny day, we were swiftly guided to our table outside and within a matter of minutes we were served with a bottle of the ‘superb fine house wine’– Montes Pina Verdejo 2014 Rueda. On queue a complimentary plate of poppadum’s served with chutney, lime sauce and an assortment of cucumber, onions and chilies arrived to whet our appetites. The authentic ambience, together with the smells emerging from the kitchen of traditional Indian spices, set the stage for a culinary experience.

Whilst bathing in the sunshine, having made our orders from the comprehensive menu, which boasts a staggering 111 menu choices with the prices of main courses ranging from €7.95 to €19.95, the latter being for two people to share, I had a chance to glean the background to opening his latest Indian establishment on the coast.

FOCUS ON FOOD & FINE DINING

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

Indian Flavour – Authentic Indian Bar & Restaurant

KNIGHTSBRIDGE QUALITY WITH MARBELLA PRICES On advice from dear friends of mine, John and Christine Lord, who highly recommended this restaurant to me following a dinner they had the night before. I thought why not, it has been far too long since I have had a sumptuous Indian feast and I have to say in advance, I was certainly not disappointed.

Seekh Kabab, and Chicken Pakora & Meat Samosa) for only €10.95. Customers can also have the choice of a Menu del Dia at €10.95.

Next we had the Chicken Jalfrezi cooked with sliced onions, green & red peppers tomatoes & spices with pilau rice. “This Chicken Jalfrezi was exceptionally succulent, the sauce, spicy and the ingredients complimenting each other perfectly.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL My first question was “When did you open and what is the concept of ‘Indian Flavour’ that sets you apart from the multitude of other Indian Restaurants here”? He replied, “We opened on the 1st February this year and we pay ultimate attention to detail serving the ultimate Indian feast for our clients with unbeatable service. As you will see we have a comprehensive menu, which caters to the many tastes of Indian cuisine from The Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa to Kerela, all different in their many flavours.

The interior reflects the culture of the Indian people, the religion and the history, with traditional Indian colour schemes, paintings and golden Buddha’s the theme is truly Indian in the midst of The Costa del Sol. “What is your background”? “I worked for five years in a restaurant in Madrid and then came to Marbella in 2013 where I opened the first ‘Indian Flavour’ Restaurant in Alhaurin El Grande. That was so successful that we decided to open another restaurant here.

With the long term forecast my business partner Raju Barua and myself want to franchise ‘Indian Flavour’ across Spain, opening up to 10 new res-

beautiful presentation taurants in the next five years. Everywhere you visit you will be able to enjoy ‘Indian Flavour’ with all different types of Indian food to suit the palates of the Spanish, English and all of the other nationalities that have settled or visit Spain. We are an Indian restaurant that caters for all Indian food lovers”.

“Our location is charming, at night the restaurant is candlelit with soothing Indian music setting a romantic mood for the clientele. It is important for us that our customers have a wonderful time, therefore our attention to detail, the quality of the food and promptness of service is all important.

We have a projector screen inside and a flat screen television outside for those who love sport and we do want to attract regular customers who will join

us on the weekends for the big matches. We televise everything from cricket (of course), premier and Spanish league football, horseracing etc. “The USP (Unique Selling Point) is that the Expats can feel at home here, have great Indian food, a few beers and watch their favourite sports”.

Now it was time for our feast to begin cooked by their chef Abu Daher. We started with the Prawn Puri (he imports his prawns from India!) which was pleasantly spicy on fried bread with melt-in-the-mouth garlic Nan bread. Other starters included meat and vegetable samosas, chicken chat, salads, assorted vegetables, onion bhaji, lentil soup and chicken pakora amongst many others.

The list is endless and all reasonably priced from €2.95 to an assorted non vegetable starter to share (Chicken Tikka & Tandoori,

This was followed by one of many Indian restaurants most popular dishes; their traditional chicken tandoori. Beautifully presented and sizzling hot with onions, tomatoes, chilies and green peppers with a lemon on top. “The tandoori chicken was succulent and for those who are not great lovers of spicy sauce – a perfect main course”. It was now time for our second bottle of wine. This time we chose a dry white wine which comes from Condado de Huelva and tasted like a white burgundy. It was very French in taste rather than Spanish and only 11% alcohol. I have obviously been living in Spain too long as I actually preferred the first one!” I have been to some of the best Indian restaurants in the world and I can certainly rate this as being on a par with most of them At ‘Indian Flavour’, Rasal undeniably gives personal service not only for his in-house diners, but as we were about to leave we suddenly saw him running out with a takeaway for a customer who was at the gym! The final words from Alexander Figg following our superb lunch. “Top class”. I could not have put it better myself!

Indian Flavour, Avenida Pablo Ruiz Picasso, 29670, San Pedro de Alcantara, Marbella, Málaga. Tel: 951 969 150 Opening 7 days a week for lunch and dinner. Lunch 12.30pm – 4pm & Dinner 6-12pm. There is plenty of parking.

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

FOCUS ON FOOD & FINE DINING

Tel: 952 92 95 78 · Reservations@magnacafe.com · Calderón de la Barca s/n, Nueva Andalucía, Marbella · www.magnacafe.com

WEEKEND WORLD - 59

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

60 - 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 Our planet 6 __ in; wearing 10 MRI, for one 14 Luau greeting 15 Lasso 16 Lunch spot 17 __ into; eats greedily 18 Goes astray 19 Ceremony 20 Scoured 22 Trimmed, as tree branches 24 Official stamp 25 Gary & Jackie 26 Leah’s sister, in Genesis 29 Cold cereal 30 “...through the night that __ flag was still...”

31 Approaches 33 Good buys 37 Ensnare 39 Tries to lose

41 Small store 42 Long tales 44 High-powered surgical beam 46 1/4 and 3/4 47 Planted 49 Squandered 51 Hot dog condiment 54 Bride’s headwear 55 Whole 56 Building at an airport 60 Actor Sandler 61 __ for; empathize with 63 Escape detection by 64 Racing sled 65 Sightseeing trip 66 Computer geeks, often 67 Observes 68 Sty residents 69 Lovers’ meeting

Solution to puzzle from issue 31

Find and circle all of the Countries of Europe that are hidden in the grid.

The remaining letters spell a secret message. Note: IRELAND and NORTHERN IRELAND are separately hidden and do not overlap

DOWN 1 Sups

29 Tire ridge pattern

2 Actor Baldwin

32 Felt sick

3 Laugh loudly

34 “There’ll be __ time in the old town...”

4 Songbird 5 One no longer popular

35 “The __ Ranger” 36 Ran fast

6 Fish basket

38 Hobbies

7 Actor Jack __

40 Septic tank alternative

8 Spring month: abbr.

43 Zoom skyward

9 Tyrant

48 Yuletide door decoration

10 Ethical misgivings

45 Clothing

11 Actor Michael

50 Dieter’s piece of pie

12 Run __; chase

51 Lunch & dinner

13 Requires

52 Excessive

21 Bundled hay

53 Theater part

23 Highway

54 Swerves

25 Expenses

56 Hoodlum

26 Goes bad

57 __ a soul; nobody

27 Grand mal precursor, often

62 Pigeon’s cry

28 Rugged cliff

58 __ up; tallies 59 In case

Solution to puzzle from issue 31

The hidden message is: CHOCOLATE ORIGINATES FROM THE SEEDS OF THE THEOBROAMA CACAO TREE

ALBANIA ANDORRA ARMENIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BELARUS BELGIUM BOSNIAHERZEGOVINA BULGARIA CROATIA

CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK ENGLAND ESTONIA FINLAND FRANCE GEORGIA GERMANY GREECE

HUNGARY ICELAND IRELAND ITALY LATVIA LIECHTENSTEIN LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG MACEDONIA MALTA MOLDOVA

MONACO NETHERLANDS NORTHERN IRELAND NORWAY POLAND PORTUGAL ROMANIA RUSSIAN FEDERATION SAN MARINO SCOTLAND SLOVAKIA

SLOVENIA SPAIN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND TURKEY UKRAINE SERBIA/ MONTENEGRO VATICAN CITY WALES

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 61

W EIRD W ORLD

USA

to its owner fully intact.

Someone gave the wallet to a Boston police officer on Monday, who then located Connolly’s address on a pay stub found inside.

The police officer then brought the wallet to

It was 2009 when Courtney Connolly’s wallet containing $141 in cash, her social security card, and ID was stolen out of her car while she was working a summer internship.

Now, 8 years later, it has somehow returned

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.

13

14

23

19

20 4 18 9 15 26 16 2

13

16 17

4 20 22 11 19 22

A

11 5 19 2 26 20 4

20 25 25 20 15 22 20 10 8 16

10 16 20 3

8 8

N 14

22

24

10 16 8 15 16 21

20

16

8 15 22 24 16 26 15 16

13 9 8 13

21 19 26 5 9 8 20

1 16 20 8 19 25 13

15 19 12 16

10 8 20 22 3 16 25 13

6 20 24 19 2 20

6 19 8 5 19 20 16

7 20 1 1

15

I

10 26 19 23 22 13 25 19 22 16

1

19

13

16

16 9

15 22 21 8 19 23

15 22 22 9 16 22 2 19

13

25

16

13

25

13 16

A B C D E F G HI J K L MNOP Q RS T U V W X Y Z 1 14

2

3

15

I

16

4 17

5 18

6 19

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: 57 words

7

8

20

A

21

9 22

N

10 23

11 24

12

13

25

26

Connolly’s sister-in-law’s house. When she was told about the return of her possessions, she was shocked.

Nothing had been used, touched, or stolen.

Even the fortune cookie message that was taped inside reading “Soon you will receive pleasant news” was still there.

The timing is more than ideal for Courtney – since she works as a nursing student, she hasn’t had the money to enter a powerlifting competition that she was passionate about.

Coincidentally, the cash that she found in her long lost wallet is the exact amount that she needed to enter the competition.

“Some way or another the universe will come back and say, I see what you’re doing, I know you’re doing well, I know you’re trying to here’s your thank you for trying. I believe whole heartedly what this is,” Connolly told WFXT. www.goodnewsnetwork.org

will be put to very good use with future neonate calves and carers sleeping with these young babies, bringing comfort to both. The love and attention that has gone into each and every blanket we have received is clear to see.” www.goodnewsnetwork.org

SOUTH AFRICA

These orphaned baby rhinos may finally be able to recover from losing their parents thanks to the help of these colorful knitted blankets keeping them warm.

The rhinos at the Rhino Revolution sanctuary in South Africa are actually greatly benefited by the blankets, which are knitted by volunteers at Blankets For Baby Rhinos.

The young mammals, many of whom lost their parents to poachers, find comfort in the blankets, as well as warmth during colder weather. They also help to keep wounds from getting dirty or infected.

RELATED: Villagers Knit Giant Sweaters For Chilly Elephant Neighbors One of the Blankets For Baby Rhinos volunteers, Angie Goody, drove five hours in order to personally deliver five new shawls to the younger orphan residents.

The rhinos pictured above are already older and well-adjusted, but they apparently couldn’t resist giving the blanket’s material a good sniff.

“The blankets we received will be used for future neonate calves that are admitted,” orphanage veterinarian Natalie Rogers told the Dodo. “It was an absolute delight to receive the blankets and you can rest assured they

Solution to Wordblock puzzzle from issue 31 nakedness - dankness - sneaked - kenned kneads - snaked - snakes - sneaks - akees akene - asked - desks - keens - knead kneed - knees - naked - sakes - seeks - skean snake - sneak - akee - asks - daks - dank desk - eked - ekes - kaed - keas - keen - kens knee - sake - sank - seek

Solution to CODEWORD from issue 31

21 16 9 7 7 20 7 4 7 3 23 22 9 4

S Q U E E Z E D E F R A U D

9 8 18 18 22 23 24 22

U N X X A R L A

11 19 12 11 22 8 7 23 26

12 4 12 15 25

C H I C A N E R Y I D I O M

11 1 25 25 10 7 10 22

C V M M B E B A

7 1 7 8 9 2 10 23 12 8 17 12 8 17

E V E N U P B R I N G I N G

21 23 10 13 7 4 7

S R B T E D E

21 26 21 13 7 25

2 22 21 21 14 15 23 4

S Y S T E M P A S S W O R D

22 13 11 6 19 9

A T C K H U

10 22 24 24 23 15 15 25

13 12 2 13 15 7

B A L L R O O M T I P T O E

7 15 23 19 2 8 18

E O R H P N X

22 9 4 12 13 15 23 12 9 25

16 9 12 2

A U D I T O R I U M Q U I P

11 12 19 12 21 5 25 12

C I H I S J M I

19 7 8 8 22

4 12 21 25 7 25 10 7 23

H E N N A D I S M E M B E R

7 17 24 15 22 21 7 7

E G L O A S E E

21 2 15 8 21 15 23

23 7 13 12 23 7 4

S P O N S O R R E T I R E D

Solution to SUDOKU puzzles from issue 31

T

L

A

L

E

E

S

L

T

62 - WEEKEND WORLD

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 63

W CLASSIFIEDS...

FOR ALL YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS NEEDS CONTACT OUR SALES TEAM: 951 127 200 - info@presspreferpublishing.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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DESIGN

AIR CONDITIONING repairs + installation. Tel. Jim 652023012

H MR COOL G

paulscottondesign.com simplymedia-group.com

A Air Conditioning and Refrigeration A Domestic Appliance Repair A Heating and Boiler Maintenance A Electrical

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951 127 200 administration@simplymdedia-group.com

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Call Christian on 629 527 587 email: mrcoolaircon@yahoo.es

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BUSINESS SERVICES ACCOUNTANTS. English and Spanish Accountants for all accounting/ bookkeeping jobs. Tax and company formation.

Professional, reliable, confidential. Tel: 952440773 CURRENCIES DIRECT Get bank-beating exchange rates and fee-free transfers. Call 952 906 581 www.currenciesdirect.com

BUY/SELL SECOND hand shopm buy and sell.

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Man & van removal services. Fast & reliable Call Rich: 639 229 604 / Joanne 649 9777 23

GARDENS GALORE Garden and pool maintenance

With over 10 years’ experience on the coast we offer: 2 Landscaping and reforms 2 Tree works and palm cleaning 2 Fire path and plot clearance 2 Irrigation systems 2 Property maintenance and management 2 Full cleaning services 2 Full garden maintenance

New to Marbella INDOOR GARDEN SPECIALISTS

SPECIALIST IN PRE-OWNED JEWELLERY WANTED Diamond Set Jewellery Quality Watches • Gold & Silver

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Tel: 622 016 757 Avd. De Los Boliches No 14 29640 Fuengirola - Málaga

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HOUSE & HOME CARPET WORLD For all of your carpet, wood, laminate and vinyl flooring needs.

Stockists of Stainfree family friendly carpets, protection against all food and drink stains with a free lifetime guarantee. Call 952 789 277 www.estaponacarpetworld.com BANG & OLUFSEN MARBELLA Home automation and entertainment systems.

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2

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GARDENERS

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.

951 516 219 info@buddygrowshop.com

HEALTH & BEAUTY

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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 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

64 - WEEKEND WORLD

PLEASE MENTION THE WEEKEND WORLD WHEN CONTACTING BUSINESSES

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Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

P R E M I U M

WEEKEND WORLD - 65

V O D K A

Bringing back the Classics

P R E M I U M

V O D K A

Available in: RED | BLUE | BLACKBERRY | CUCUMBER | CRANBERRY & PEPPER

Доступно в: RED | СИНИЙ | BLACKBERRY | ОГУРЦА | КЛЮКВА & ПЕРЦЕМ

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

66 - WEEKEND WORLD

Barclays Premier League Table

P Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Chelsea 28 22 3 3 59 21 38 69 2 Spurs 28 17 8 3 55 21 34 59 3 Man City 28 17 6 5 54 30 24 57 4 Liverpool 29 16 8 5 61 36 25 56 5 Man United 27 14 10 3 42 23 19 52 6 Arsenal 27 15 5 7 56 34 22 50 7 Everton 29 14 8 7 51 30 21 50 8 West Brom 29 12 7 10 39 38 1 43 9 Stoke City 29 9 9 11 33 42 -9 36 10 Southampton 27 9 6 12 33 36 -3 33 11 Bournemouth 29 9 6 14 42 54 -12 33 12 West Ham 29 9 6 14 40 52 -12 33 13 Burnley 29 9 5 15 31 42 -11 32 14 Watford 28 8 7 13 33 48 -15 31 15 Leicester City 28 8 6 14 33 47 -14 30 16 Crystal Palace 28 8 4 16 36 46 -10 28 17 Swansea City 29 8 3 18 36 63 -27 27 18 Hull City 29 6 6 17 26 58 -32 24 19 Middlesbr 28 4 10 14 20 33 -13 22 20 Sunderland 28 5 5 18 24 50 -26 20

Sky Bet Championship Table

W

EEKEND focuses on SPORT WORLD

Euro heartache and vegan lifestyle fuel Defoe Fuelled by the pain of past rejections and revitalised after turning vegan, Jermain Defoe insists he can defy father time by firing England to the World Cup.

L

England manager Gareth Southgate’s plans for the ess than a year ago, Defoe feared his Engforeseeable future. land career was over after Roy Hodgson At an age when many of his peers have faded into ignored the striker’s fine form with Sunobscurity, Defoe looks as sharp as ever and he derland and left him out of the Euro 2016 squad. puts his longevity down to a new-found comDefoe was devastated and the blow was even mitment to sports science and his girlfriend’s tougher to take because Hodgson didn’t deem successful attempt to make him go vegan. it necessary to personally deliver the news.

“I’m into sports science. I want to do things right “I didn’t get a call. I found out on the telly,” he and looking after myself,” he said. said.

“I’ve got a better understanding of my body “I still think about it. It keeps the fire in my belly now. It’s stuff I don’t necessarily enjoy, but because I love playing for my country.”

I’m trying to do it like I’m loving it.

Despite the sting of that snub, the “It’s working because I’m not 34-year-old had always relished feeling fatigued at the end of every opportunity to pull on games. an England shirt and he re“So it’s aquatheraphy, masfused to give up hope of a sage, eating the right things. recall.

I’m trying to turn vegan.

Fast forward to Sunday and it was no wonder Defoe wore a smile as wide as the famous “My girlfriend said I’ve got to do it. She puts on these docuWembley arch when he marked his first England appearance mentaries and stuff.

“It’s a funny one because when I go to my mum’s she’s got since 2013 with his first international goal in over four years.

Steering home Raheem Sterling’s cross with a typically pred- every meat you can imagine on the table.” atory finish, Defoe opened the scoring in Sunday’s 2-0 World In an era when many young players seem to regard England duty as something to be endured rather than enjoyed, DeCup qualifying win over Lithuania at Wembley.

Well aware it wasn’t just Hodgson who regarded him as yes- foe’s delight at his return to the international stage is a welterday’s man, it was a cathartic moment for Defoe and the come tonic.

The blissful sensation of scoring for England in front of his former Tottenham striker said: “I never gave up.

“Never once did I think ‘I’m going to retire from international family and the seriously ill young Sunderland fan he has befriended made everyone of those ice baths, tofu dinners and football’.

“With the previous manager I didn’t really feel I was getting early morning fitness sessions worth the effort.

And he isn’t finished yet. Saving Sunderland from relegation the opportunity. would be a start and there’s still the possibility of making an “Last season I was scoring goals, but I wasn’t selected for the Spanish BBVA La Liga Table impact at the World Cup next year.

Euros even though I finished the season strong.

P Team P W D L F A GD Pts “I’ve worked so hard and I still feel sharp. I always thought if I “I don’t find it hard doing all this. I love the feeling of scoring 1 Real Madrid 27 20 5 2 71 28 43 65 did get selected I could still score goals at this level.” goals,” he said.

“When I get in the ice bath I don’t want to do it, but I think 2 Barcelona 28 19 6 3 81 25 56 63 surely I will be rewarded on a Saturday.

Welcome Tonic 3 Sevilla 28 17 6 5 52 34 18 57 “My mum always said it’s not how you start, it’s how you finHaving scored 14 goals for Sunderland this term, Defoe’s 4 Atl. Madrid 28 16 7 5 52 23 29 55 ish. I’m 34 and still scoring goals for my country.”

5 Villarreal 28 13 9 6 39 20 19 48 strong showing against Lithuania suggests he will remain in 6 Real Sociedad 28 15 3 10 42 39 3 48 7 Athletic Bilbao 28 13 5 10 35 32 3 44 8 Eibar 28 11 8 9 44 39 5 41 9 Espanyol 28 10 10 8 40 39 1 40 10 Alavés 28 10 10 8 29 33 -4 40 Anas made a slip of the tongue that went viSouth Africa-based Ghanaian footballer 11 Celta Vigo 27 11 5 11 40 45 -5 38 ral.

Mohammed Anas was so excited after 12 Las Palmas 28 9 8 11 44 45 -1 35 “I appreciate my fans,” said Anas, “and my scoring twice in a top-flight match that he 13 Real Betis 28 8 7 13 31 44 -13 31 wife and my girlfriend.” thanked his wife -- and his girlfriend.

14 Valencia 28 8 6 14 38 51 -13 30 Realising that he had scored a spectacular The goals for Free State Stars in an away 15 Malaga 28 6 9 13 33 45 -12 27 “own goal”, he added: “I’m so sorry, my wife. league draw with Ajax Cape Town earned 16 Dep. Coruña 28 6 9 13 31 43 -12 27 I love you so much from my heart.” striker Anas the man of the match award 17 Leganés 28 6 8 14 22 41 -19 26 “Two goals, two girls. Mohammed Anas,” from the league sponsors. tweeted Given Zondi.

He got a statuette and a cash prize plus an 18 Sporting Gijón 28 5 6 17 31 57 -26 21 “Mohammed Anas scored two goals plus an obligatory post-match touchline interview.

19 Granada 28 4 7 17 25 58 -33 19 own goal,” said Papago Rapz.

What followed was a hilarious blunder as 20 Osasuna 28 1 8 19 28 67 -39 11

P Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Newcastle Utd 38 24 6 8 70 32 38 78 2 Brighton 38 23 8 7 63 33 30 77 3 Huddersfield 37 22 5 10 47 43 4 71 4 Leeds United 38 21 6 11 52 36 16 69 5 Reading 38 20 7 11 51 49 2 67 6 Sheffield 38 18 8 12 48 39 9 62 7 Fulham 38 16 13 9 66 47 19 61 8 Norwich City 38 16 9 13 65 56 9 57 9 Preston 38 15 12 11 53 47 6 57 10 Derby County 38 14 11 13 41 38 3 53 11 Barnsley 38 14 9 15 55 55 0 51 12 Aston Villa 38 13 12 13 39 39 0 51 13 Cardiff City 38 14 9 15 53 54 -1 51 14 Brentford 38 14 8 16 60 57 3 50 15 QPR 38 14 8 16 46 51 -5 50 16 Wolves 37 12 9 16 46 48 -2 45 17 Ipswich Town 38 10 15 13 38 47 -9 45 18 Birmingham 38 11 12 15 38 54 -16 45 19 Bristol City 38 11 8 19 50 53 -3 41 20 Notts Forest 38 11 8 19 53 64 -11 41 21 Burton Albion 38 10 11 17 39 53 -14 41 22 Blackburn 38 9 13 16 46 57 -11 40 23 Wigan Athletic 38 8 10 20 31 44 -13 34 24 Rotherham 38 4 5 29 33 87 -54 17

All results as at 29.03.2017

Man of the match thanks wife and girlfrienD

Issue 32 March 30 - April 12, 2017

WEEKEND WORLD - 67

SPORT NEWS

Toure’s agent says City star would consider United switch

Atletico Madrid have reached agreement to buy La Peineta Stadium from city authorities for 30 million euros, Madrid Town Hall have announced.

The Spanish giants will move from the Vicente Calderon, their home for 50 years, to the new stadium to be renamed Wanda Metropolitano after their sponsors Chinese property company Dalian Wanda Group.

Wanda have had ties with Atletico since January 2015 when it acquired 20percent of the club.

“The payment will be made in three annual instalments, for a total of 30,422,520 euros, with interest,” a spokesman for Madrid Town Hall said.

“In addition the club will take over the access work, for a total of 29.875 million euros and the construction of 4,000 public parking spaces.”

FAILED BIDS other clubs about the future of Yaya. After that, if Manchester City want, they can start negotiations. If they don’t want then we will find another club.

TOO LATE “Yaya can, tomorrow, sign a contract with another club and after that for Manchester City it is too late.

“From yesterday we officially started negotiating with different clubs about his future.

“We waited until March 15 for what Manchester City will say but until now Manchester City don’t say anything. Before March, we didn’t negotiate with anybody because Yaya does a lot with Manchester City, so we waited.

“But we cannot wait until the last minute, until June, and have no negotiations with anybody.”

La Peineta -- also known as the Madrid Olympic Stadium -- was originally built to host athletics, and was renovated with a view to Madrid’s failed bids to host the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016.

Built in 1904 its capacity will be increased from 20,000 to 73,000 places.

The new ground’s name is also a reference to the club’s first real stadium, the Metropolitano, where they played their first La Liga games before moving to the Vicente Calderon in the south of the city in 1966.

The Vicente Calderon, which hosts the Copa del Rey final on May 27, will be destroyed after the La Liga side have vacated the premises at the end of the season.

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Yaya Toure would consider a shock move to Manchester United if he leaves Manchester City at the end of the season, according to the Ivory Coast midfielder’s agent.

Toure is out of contract once the current campaign is over and his representative Dimitri Seluk has started talks with interested clubs.

The 33-year-old has had a stormy relationship with City boss Pep Guardiola and was surprisingly left on the bench for his team’s Champions League last 16 second leg defeat at Monaco on Wednesday.

Toure hasn’t been offered a new contract by City and the former Barcelona star would even consider becoming one of the few players to move from the blue to the red side of Manchester.

Asked if he would be interested in United, Seluk told Sky Sports News: “Why not? Jose Mourinho is a very good coach. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was together with Yaya in Barcelona.

“I understand this is two clubs who are rivals but for me, for example, this is not a problem from Yaya or from me. This problem will be from Manchester City staff.”

Toure was frozen out by Guardiola earlier in the season after a row between the manager and Seluk, before the situation was resolved in November.

Guardiola has previously said contract matters will be dealt with at the end of the season, but Seluk says there is no guarantee Toure won’t have agreed a deal with another team by then.

“Some clubs have contacted me. Now we have three options.

I don’t speak about Yaya and China or the MLS. He will play in Europe. I have spoken with clubs in different countries - Italy and Spain,” he said.

“I said to Manchester City that we will start negotiations with

Atletico buy new stadium for €30M

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Tokyo hit by new stadium cost fears

A

Late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid’s futuristic plan has since been replaced by Kengo Kuma’s hamburger-shaped design -- a relative snip at $1.5 billion.

But organisers are still sweating over the price tag for the 2020 Games, which experts have warned could hit an eye-watering 3 trillion yen ($26 billion).

Euphoria at winning the bidding war in 2013 quickly faded as public rows over costs and a series of scandals have overshadowed Tokyo’s preparations for its second Olympics since hosting the 1964 Games.

lready under fire over soaring expenses, Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic organisers have sought to downplay fears that further ballooning costs could hit the trouble-cursed main stadium.

Amid media reports that temporary structures at the showpiece venue could more than double in cost from bid estimates, Japanese organisers did little to ease concerns.

DISCUSSION “The estimate for the cost of temporary facilities is not final,” Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Hikariko Ono said. “(It) will be made public after further discussion with parties involved.

“The current estimate has been provisionally set based on procedures outlined in IOC (International Olympic Committee) technical manuals, and figures from previous Games,” she added.

Overlay expenses on top of the construction costs for the permanent structure of the Olympic stadium, including practice facilities such as a running track, could top 10 billion yen ($87 million), according to local media.

The Japanese and Tokyo city governments, along with Games organisers, are looking into sharing costs for mainnd yo be om o r t f rja nd 8FM Ne M a 06.

1 F m ro 6.2 ia g f 10 r v tin on alta s a a ibr dc nd oa aho to G r B al ia C vir El

battle

taining these temporary facilities at the stadium, which is scheduled to be completed in November 2019.

Japan’s new National Stadium has been a major source of controversy since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scrapped the original blueprint in 2015 as costs raced beyond $2 billion.

The Tokyo city government says it expects the Olympics to generate a boost of 32 trillion yen ($280 billion) to the Japanese economy.

However, organisers face a real battle to keep costs below the $20 billion cap demanded by the IOC. As well as the stadium fiasco, embarrassing accusations of plagiarism from a Belgian theatre forced the Tokyo organising committee to bin the original design of the Games logo.

More seriously, French prosecutors are investigating allegations of illegal payments made during Tokyo’s successful Olympic bid. Japanese Olympic officials strenuously deny any wrongdoing.

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Federer focused Magical Memory set to defend York title on seasonal on fitness, not reappearance rankings Magical Memory is set to begin his bid for sprinting honours this Flat season by attempting back-to-back victories in the Duke of York Stakes in May. The five-year-old enjoyed his finest hour in 2016 when lifting the six-furlong Group Two feature on the Knavesmire, but was unable to top that with victory at the highest level.

A setback in the autumn resulted in an early end to that campaign, but connections of the Charlie Hills-trained grey remain optimistic he can prove himself one of the best speedsters around.

“He had a little setback in the autumn. He was going to go for a Group Three at Ascot, but he injured his check ligament,” said Sam Hoskins, racing manager to owners Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds.

ROGER Federer’s impressive return from injury has prompted talk of his possible return to number one in the world, but the 18-time Grand Slam winner says looking after his body is far more important than chasing the rankings positions.

Since coming back from a six month injury lay off, Federer has won the Australian Open and Indian Wells this year and on Monday cruised past Juan Martin del Potro to move into the fourth round of the Miami Open.

On the eve of the tournament his fellow Swiss player Stan Wawrinka said he believed Federer could get back to number one in the world, but Federer said he had other things on his mind.

“It’s not the priority. Health needs to be the priority. That’s why if I were to get there again I have to really win a lot of big tournaments, and I know how hard that is. I tried to do it for the last five years,” he said.

“For me the priority is actually win tournaments at this point in my career. The rankings is very secondary.

“That’s why my schedule is going to be based on what makes sense for my goals of the season, staying healthy, and then also so I can enjoy myself and have a good sort of schedule with the right waves going through the season.

“So as long as I’m healthy, I feel like I can play good tennis, enjoy myself, I can beat - hopefully - some of the best players in the world, or most of them, and win tournaments as well. I think I just have to be a bit more clever in terms of scheduling overall,” he added.

Federer is expected to take a break after Miami and his earliest return to court could be the Rome Masters in early May.

Can’t do it all The 35-year-old said fans would have to get used to him skipping certain events he might have played in the past.

“Unfortunately, I can’t do it all, you know. I can’t chase the Davis Cup and the Slams and play all the Masters 1000s. At some point something has to give, unfortunately.

“I wish I could do it all like when I was 24 years old.

“So I think that’s where I have to take some important decisions that work well for -- well, me as a tennis player, but then also for my family and just for my whole team, that we get the work done, I get the rest that I need, but then also I play enough matches.

“If you don’t play enough normally you kind of lose touch of how to play break points, save break points, the shoulder gets rusty. Who knows what it is?

“You need the right balance. I think that’s more key than ever right now. I mean, it hurts for me, you know, sometimes in the future probably not playing some tournaments that in the past I would always play. Now all of a sudden I just have to skip them for the sake of my health.

“But because it is for a good reason, I’ll get over it,? he said.

“He’s fine now, but that meant he had to miss the Champions Sprint or the Breeders’ Cup. We weren’t sure what to go for.

“Anyway he’s back now and going really nicely. He’s done really well for his extended break. He probably won’t go to Newmarket for the Abernant but is likely to go straight for the Duke of York which he won last year.

“If there was a good time to have a setback, he had his at the right time last year. Hopefully he’ll be the same horse from when we last saw him.

“It should be really exciting. He’s only five, but unfortunately there are a load of other geldings around with Limato and The Tin Man and the fillies Quiet Reflection and Dancing Star, so it’s going to be a tough division. He’s in one piece, that’s the great thing, and we live the dream with him.”

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O’Neill withdraws favourite Minella Rocco from National

Ante-post favourite Minella Rocco will not run in the world’s most famous steeplechase, the Grand National, his trainer Jonjo O’Neill has announced.

O’Neill, who never rode the winner of the National but won the 2010 version as a trainer with Don’t Push It, giving riding legend AP McCoy his only win in the race, is to aim the jumper at next year’s blue riband Cheltenham Gold Cup, after the horse finished second in last week’s version.

absolutely fine “Minella Rocco has been taken out of the Grand National this morning,” tweeted the England-based Irish handler, who turns 65 next month.

“He’s absolutely fine and we’ll aim him at the Gold Cup again next year.”

Owner JP McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry said he would be put away for the season now.

“He’s finished for the year now, he won’t be going to Punchestown either.

“He’s only seven and he had a hard race in the Gold Cup. “It will take him a while to get over it so we felt we’d just look to next year with him,” added Berry.

O’Neill, who failed to land a winner at the Festival last week, also withdrew another fancy and National veteran Shutthefrontdoor, who was McCoy’s final ride in the race in 2015 finishing fifth -- he was a disappointing ninth last year.

O’Neill -- who will run Gold Cup sixth More of That in the National -- will instead aim him for the Irish National, a race he won in 2014.

“Shutthefrontdoor has also been taken out of the Grand National and will head for the Irish Grand National next month,” tweeted O’Neill.

The withdrawal of Minella Rocco sees Vieux Lion Rouge replace him as favourite at 10/1 for the National which takes place at Aintree racecourse on April 8th.

Five things we learned from the Australian GP Mercedes beware, Ferrari are back It was only one race but the nature of Sebastian Vettel’s victory suggests that three years of Mercedes domination may be over. The German’s Ferrari was able to keep pace comfortably with leader Lewis Hamilton in the early stages. “He was relatively close,” Hamilton said. “And if the roles were reversed and he was ahead he probably would have pulled away.” Once Vettel got in front after the pit stops the result was never in doubt.

Significantly, it seems the improved Ferrari engine now matches the power of the Mercedes. “Right now, it looks like we have equal machinery. I hope it turns out that way,” said Vettel.

Faster cars mean harder racing Hamilton said after pre-season testing that the 2017 rule changes — more downforce, fatter tyres with more grip and faster cars — would make it harder to race. He saw no reason to change his mind after Melbourne, saying that the increased turbulence from the car in front makes overtaking more difficult. “It is probably worse now than before,” said Hamilton. “It has definitely not got any better. Last year we had to have a second advantage on the car in front. If it’s one second last year, it’s two seconds this year.”

Ricciardo loses his smile Daniel Ricciardo struggled to find his trademark smile after a home grand prix to forget. A crash in qualifying, a fiveplace grid demotion, a formation lap breakdown and finally retirement on lap 29 left plenty to ponder before China in just under two weeks. “Not the weekend I wanted at home,” lamented the normally ebullient Australian. “For all these things to happen at my home race, that’s probably the most frustrating thing. If any Aussies have a bit of energy left in a few weeks, then come out to China and you’ll hopefully see a better race from me.”

Alonso sees hope for McLaren Fernando Alonso was surprisingly upbeat in the paddock about the new orange McLaren despite a pre-season dogged

by Honda engine problems. “I was driving one of my best races so far and we were surprisingly in the points all race long,” said the two-time world champion, who was involved in a ding-dong battle for 10th place with the Force India of

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Sebastian Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault until he had to retire on lap 50. “I felt confident and I enjoyed driving the car throughout the race,” he said, before injecting a note of realism. “We are last in terms of performance. We need to be more competitive soon.”

Alonso sees hope for McLaren Fernando Alonso was surprisingly upbeat in the paddock about the new orange McLaren despite a pre-season dogged

by Honda engine problems. “I was driving one of my best races so far and we were surprisingly in the points all race long,” said the two-time world champion, who was involved in a ding-dong battle for 10th place with the Force India of Sebastian Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault until he had to retire on lap 50. “I felt confident and I enjoyed driving the car throughout the race,” he said, before injecting a note of realism. “We are last in terms of performance. We need to be more competitive soon.”

‘Great for the fans’ Hamilton will get a quick chance to turn the tables on Vettel when the teams meet again in China. The Shanghai International Circuit will see harder tyres and longer straights, a combination that usually suits Mercedes. Hamilton is relishing the prospect of the two dominant drivers of the last decade, with seven world championships between them, going head to head for the title. “This year we have the best drivers at the front,” said Hamilton. “I know it’s been a long time coming. It shows we are going to have a race on our hands, which we are very happy to have, which is great for the fans.”

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ormula One has returned with the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after venturing into the unknown zone of a long-awaited revamped and high-speed era under new American ownership by Liberty Media and the departure of the sport’s veteran commercial ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone.

This season there has been an overhaul of the technical regulations to usher in a new breed of ‘fatter and faster’ cars. The wider new machines with broader tyres make much greater physical demands on the drivers and hopefully better racing with more passing moves as Formula One bids to appeal to a younger, global, digital and social media savvy audience.

change The retirement of 2016 drivers world champion German Nico Rosberg has also triggered change with Finn Valtteri Bottas switching from Williams to partner three-time champion and pre-season favourite Lewis Hamilton in the champion Mercedes team.

That has been just one of a ripple of moves up and down the pit lane that have added an even greater sense of adventure, and the unknown, to the competition with Ferrari performing well in pre-season testing to suggest they may join Red Bull in mounting a challenge to the dominant German team.

Already, Liberty have relaxed restrictions on teams’ paddock use of social media streaming of their live action during testing and made promises that there will be more substantial changes to come as four decades of Ecclestone’s leadership are dismantled and swept aside.

The sight of the struggling McLaren Honda team switching back to ‘retro’ chassis names and team colours, with the return of a flash of orange, and Force India’s bold introduction of pink livery has added to the sense of a bold new beginning.

But beneath the surface many of the old fears persist amid hushed warnings that only

All change as new owners steer F1 into fast lane has settled in quickly and easily alongside Hamilton.

But the top pre-season story has been the problems at McLaren where a boardroom upheaval led to the ousting of long-term chief Ron Dennis before testing confirmed that Honda’s latest engine –- in the third season of their much vaunted partnership –- lacks both power and reliability.

Embarrassing

F1’s new chairman and CEO Chase Carey discusses his plans for the sport and the changes

a much-improved ‘show’ with better racing will help the sport halt a slow but sure decline in its fan base in a highly-competitive global age of digitalised sport-media.

Despite the changes at Mercedes, that included the departure of technical team boss Paddy Lowe to join Williams who has been

replaced by former Ferrari boffin Briton James Allison.

Bottas, whose switch from Williams meant that the British team had to ask Brazilian veteran Felipe Massa to make a rapid Uturn after retiring and come back to partner 18-year-old Canadian rookie Lance Stroll,

Paris joins Los Angeles in rejecting 2028 Olympic bid Paris 2024 Olympic bid directors have rejected the notion of hosting the 2028 Games, saying their target was the 2024 edition, reflecting the position of rival bidders Los Angeles.

Statements from the two bidders come in the wake of reports the IOC had been planning to resolve the 2024 competition by offering the losing candidate the opportunity to host an Olympiad by doling out the 2024 and 2028 editions at the same time this September.

“We are working on 2024 and there’s no reason for us to talk about 2028 -- we have nothing to offer for that, no project and no proposal,” Etienne Thobois, the Paris 2024 bid director said.

“We would have technical difficulties with the Olympic Village to start with,” Thobois said, explaining deals were in place for 2024 for a site next to the national stadium that would be complicated to extend by four years.

Paris bid spokesman and multi-Olympic gold medallists Tony Estanguet also rejected the notion of hosting the Games in 2028 at a meeting in London on Tuesday.

“There will be no Olympics in Paris in 2028,” the former champion canoeist said.

“It has always been the deal with our partners that this bid was about 2024. Our project is non-transferable to 2028.”

LA 2024 officials have also consistently played down speculation surrounding a possible double award, maintaining that the focus remained on a 2024 bid.

“Los Angeles is the right city at this critical time for the Olympic Movement and is only bidding for 2024,” a statement from LA 2024 said.

“With all permanent venues already built and 88% public support, only LA 2024 offers the lowest-risk and truly sustainable solution for the future of the Olympic Movement in 2024 and beyond.”

While IOC chief Thomas Bach is concerned the bidding process creates “too many losers” it is also feared that in the wake of candidacy withdrawals from Boston, Budapest, Rome and Hamburg for 2024 that quality candidates might be hard to come by next time the tender process is launched.

Two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso has made little attempt at hiding his feelings after a frustrating run of failures during testing.

“There is no reliability and there is no power,” he said.

For one of the sport’s traditional grandee teams, it is an embarrassing situation that new executive director Zak Brown has inherited. And even before the start of the new season, team chief Eric Boullier had to fend off talk that Alonso is looking to move.

“He wants to be competitive and we need to be competitive to keep him happy… if not, he’ll take his own decisions,” he said.

Such discord has been a consistent backdrop to the razzamatazz of Liberty’s takeover which has seen former Benetton and Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn installed as the sport’s new motor sports director, a position created for the multi-championship winning Briton.

His job brief is to make the sport and the racing as attractive as possible despite Mercedes domination –- they have won the last three drivers and constructors’ titles and 51 of the last 59 Grands Prix.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner articulated the feelings of many when he said it was “unpalatable” to consider the prospect of three more years of Mercedes supremacy, but stopped short of insisting on any kind of handicap system.

Brawn acknowledged the problem and rejected any kind of synthetic solution. “The fans will see through an artificial solution,” he said.

“The real core of it is to look at how you level the playing field in terms of financial resources and so forth and that’s why a fiveyear plan must include the funding of the teams, budget control and distribution of funds…. There is a disparity…” he added.

That remains a problem for the future while F1 bids to make a resounding return with a louder and faster show this weekend.

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‘Leicester sacking was biggest shock of my career’, says Ranieri Claudio Ranieri has admitted news of his dismissal as Leicester manager came as a huge shock.

The 65-year-old Italian was removed from his post in February, nine months after leading the Foxes to an unexpected Premier League title.

Ranieri has kept a low profile since, but appeared on stage this week at Rebibbia prison in his homeland in a ceremony to honour regional football coaches in Italy.

And speaking in front of inmates, he revealed his astonishment at being told of his sacking, which came the day after Leicester’s first-leg defeat to Sevilla in the Champions League last 16 - a tie they eventually went on to win.

“Thinking of Leicester, the first thing that comes to mind is the sense of surprise, even more than bitterness,” said Ranieri, in quotes reported by Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I have been through a lot in my long career, but never anything like this.

“It was a shock, but in the end these things are part of football.”

Ranieri also confirmed he would be speak in more detail about his departure from Leicester when he appears as a pundit on Sky Sports during the Premier League clash between Crystal Palace and Arsenal on April 10.

“Until that day I will not talk,” he said. “Because everything took place in England and it seems fitting to talk in England.”

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Mohammad Irfan banned for a year after admitting corruption charges Mohammad Irfan has been banned from all cricket for a year and fined £8,000 after admitting corruption charges during this year’s Pakistan Super League.

The giant left-arm fast bowler was one of three Pakistan international players facing charges in relation to events while playing for Islamabad United in the Twenty20 competition in the United Arab Emirates last month.

But the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that Irfan approached them last week and has since admitted his wrong-doing, and that half of his 12-month ban may be suspended if there

is no further breach and he co-operates with further conditions.

A joint statement by respective PCB and PSL chairmen Shaharyar Khan and Najam Sethi was included in the board’s press release.

It read: “It is important for all players to take note and be reminded of their responsibilities and obligations under the PCB anticorruption code and that no form of corrupt activity shall ever be tolerated by PCB.” Irfan, 34, has 84 international caps across the formats and last played for Pakistan in a one-day international against England at Headingley six months ago.