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THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER WITH LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
FRIDAY 17th OCTOBER TO THURSDAY 30th OCTOBER 2014
EDITION 511
MOVIES IN ENGLISH
TENERIFE TIGERS’ GREAT SUCCESS
BLUE TRAIL PREVIEW PAGE 3
PAGE 7
AN EXPERIENCE AT BUSHIDO
PAGE 37
CANARIES URGED TO SAY “NO”
PAGES 55
“Don’t panic” Ebola message “Stay calm, don’t panic, everything is under control and there is no need to cancel your holiday to either Tenerife or the rest of the Canary Islands”.
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Photo: Citizens’ Movement against Surveys
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HE Canary Government has provisionally set the date of November 23rd to hold a referendum over oil exploration as more massive demonstrations are planned. On Saturday, October 18th at 6pm, the “Citizens’ Movement against Surveys” is calling for a seven-island protest against Repsol´s controversial oil drilling proposals off the coasts of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. The organisation warns that if tests go ahead and oil is
found, the Canaries will be “exposed to the constant uncertainty of an accident which could plunge it in to disaster for decades, destroying the economy, resources, land and biodiversity.” All this, they say, simply to satisfy the aspirations of big multi-nationals and aspiring politicians.
The referendum in the Canaries will have no powers in law but the Canar y government wants to prove once and for all that people here ARE strongly against oil exploration which is being allowed by Spain. However, at this stage, the vote is still in doubt as the Spanish Government is going to the courts in a bid to make it null and void. There are also outstanding appeals which, if successful, could force
another five months for further consultations over the oil issue. In this case, says the Canary Government, is would hold the referendum in March. Unions say the vote should go ahead with or without the permission of the Spanish Government as people had the right to expresss their views under a State free from the Franco rule. “We will clearly say no,” said a spokesman for Intersindical Canaria.
HIS is the message being relayed by health chiefs and government leaders as the ebola crisis continues to worry the world.
Both the Canary Government and Spain have assured local people and holidaymakers that every possible step has and will be taken to ensure there is no chance of any epidemic and that the hospitals and police know exactly what they are doing. On Monday, Health Minister for the Canaries, Brígida Mendoza held a round of meetings with the various Cabildo presidents and councils to give first-hand information about how the health service would cope and preventative actions. She also met with representatives of various industry sectors in the Canaries, including unions, businesses, consumer organisations, universities and residents’ groups. Her over-riding message was “a call for calm and tranquillity” whilst stressing there had been NO cases or scares in the Canary Islands and only one confirmed case in Spain, that of 44 year old nurse Teresa Romero. At the time of going to press, she was still in isolation in the Carlos III hospital in Madrid and fighting for her survival. Teresa was one of the nurses who looked after two Spanish priests who died in the same
hospital. As many as 17 other people, including doctors, were at one stage taken in for observation because of their close association either with Teresa or the priests but are so far clear from the virus. There have been demonstrations in many Spanish cities because of the general situation but inflamed by the upsetting episode of Teresa’s dog Excalibur being put down on a court order because of the risk he might have had and spread ebola. The rescue pet had been left alone in her house, with food and water, after her husband was also taken in for checks but despite an appeal to an animal charity, the Spanish Government stepped in and ordered his destruction. The controversy prompted an enormous outpouring of grief and disgust, with some 350,000 peope worldwide signing an online protest petition but to no avail. They said the dog should have been taken into quarantine to see if it had ebola, not put down within 24 hours.
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