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Issue 951

12th - 18th January

Reporting The News

Inside this week...

the best gift of all... a childs smile

P4 BACKLOG: Patients waiting on trolleys as epidemic rages

elderly mother forced to beg by her son

Health system under strain by Steve Collins AS REPORTS in the British media show many hospitals being overwhelmed with the number of extra patients arriving at A&E departments, parts of Spain are experiencing similar conditions. In one day alone, over 3,000 people were treated in the emergency departments within the Murcia region and the health service (SMS) suspended operations in a number of hospitals, such was the strain on resources. During one day, 13 operations were cancelled – 11 at the Hospital Morales Meseguer and two in La Arrixaca – and

two others transferred to other medical centres for their procedures. Such measures aren’t unusual in other winters, but this year it’s happened earlier with the arrival of the flu epidemic ahead of time and hitting people much harder. Of those people treated in A&E during the busiest day on record, 1,461 of those were cases of flu. In the previous week, the total was 3,765 and so far the rate across the country affected is 500 per 100,000 inhabitants. The flu virus began to stretch the limits of the clinics and hospital A&E departments in the week after Christ-

mas, and at that time staff reinforcements hadn’t arrived to help with the influx. Hospital Intensive Care Units (ICU) have also been under strain as a result, with a patient from Caravaca and another from Murcia needing to be taken to the ICU at Quirónsalud due to the lack of beds. Clinics also saw an 11.8 per cent on the number of patients seen by doctors. Figures now released show 28,947 people attended a doctor’s surgery in the Murcia region on Tuesday January 2, the first day after the Christmas and New Year holiday.

P13 Twenty kg for Ryan...

P18

Shoe factories back on the march by Steve Collins AFTER A number of years where local manufacturers suffered from both the economic crisis that hit Spain and competition from cheaper overseas imports, the footwear manufacturing industry is back on the march. Manufacturers in the Alicante province – thanks to the amount of companies based in Elda, Villena, Petrer and Elche – have continued to lead the national scene. Following data supplied by the Federation of Spanish Footwear Industries (FICE) and produced by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE), 56.9 per cent of the shoes made in Spain come from the province, accounting for 58 million pairs of shoes worth €1,146 million. Although shoe production in the Valencian Community fell by 1.4 per cent in 2016 in terms of pairs, the value increased 3.1 per cent when

compared to the previous year. Even so, the overall trend has seen a steady growth in the sector since 2011 when 49 million pairs were made at a retail value of €892 million. President of the FICE, José Monzonís, said that “when making a comparison of the production of footwear in the Valencian Community against that of the national picture, there are several figures that highlight the importance of the production and the contribution made from this region.” These figures are those for 2016, and so not knowing the 2017 equivalents as yet the footwear sector faces this New Year continuing to widen their distribution and look at more international markets. According to the Valencian Association of Footwear Entrepreneurs (AVECAL), a majority of the companies already sell more than 50 per cent of their products outside of Spain, and are already looking to boost the presence of some of the Spanish companies in Russia and Australia.

Stop feeding...but don’t STOP at the signs AIRPORT managers AENA have brought in measures to stop its employees from feeding stray animals that are often seen roaming the Murcia-San Javier Airport.

This follows a number of modifications that have recently been made to security regulations. In addition to not feeding strays, drivers and passen-

gers of emergency and safety vehicles on the airport facilities are now exempt from wearing seatbelts and the requirement of stopping at STOP signs aimed at aircraft.

PRODUCTION: Elche is one of the cities helping the shoe recovery

Cleaning company workers help the neediest

THROUGHOUT the month of last December, a number of different collecting points were set up in the offices and communal areas of a cleaning company to boost the local food bank in Murcia. A total of 1,000 kilos of food was collected by staff at Ferrovial Services to show their solidarity for those most in need in the municipality, and has been presented by Councillor Roque Ortiz to the president of the food banks Bonifacio Fernandez.

TRAM travels over 3 million miles in 2017 DURING the past calendar year and despite all the days and journeys lost due to a series of strikes, the TRAM service based in Alicante covered a total of 3,017,845 kilometres. That distance equates to 75 times around the globe, following the equator! In terms of journeys, TRAM trains and trams made 155,453 trips during 2017 across all five lines operated by FGV, and equates to an average of 425 trains on the network each day.

Councils ban traditional parade sweet throwing by Lynn Whittaker ONE of the main and most looked-forwardto parts of the traditional Three Kings Day parade was stopped by Santa Pola council, among others. For generations, the young children would turn up to watch the annual parade armed with their empty plastic bags and any other receptacle that came to hand to collect the thousands of kilos of sweets that are thrown from almost every float as it passes by. But that has now all been stopped in the interests of health and safety. Other councils also stopped the sweet throwing but were happy to allow streamers and confetti and other ‘soft’ items being tossed around. As for the sweets, they had to be handed out to the children individually instead of the usual free-for-all, which for many was all part of the fun as they boasted to their friends who were able to gather up the most. This measure was part of a number introduced for this year’s parade which also included the driver of any vehicles involved being in a separate and secure cabin to avoid being hit by any of the projectiles and thus affect their control of the floats. The float also had to be accompanied by two guides if the driver’s view was partially blocked by the float’s decoration.

It’s a piece of cake for 2,000 A GIGANTIC 400 metre cake was made especially for the Three Kings Fiesta in Cartagena. The enormous traditional Roscon del Reyes was unveiled at the Palacio Consistorial and cut into more than 2,000 portions that were given out for free to local citizens. There were a number of people who joined the queue early to be among the first to get the chance to find one of the 200 special gifts that are contained inside the roscón mixture.

HANDING OUT: Three Kings now distribute sweets without throwing Finally, any of the floats that carried loud speakers had to ensure that they were di-

rected to the vehicle following behind and not facing the crowds that lined the streets.

The best gift of all ...a child’s smile by Steve Collins CHRISTMAS, and also in the case of Spain, the Three Kings Day on January 6 can be one of the worst times of the year to be in hospital for children. Those needing to spend time as in-patients in the Vega Baja Hospital near to Orihuela received a special visit from the Three Kings - Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar – in the days leading up to January 6 when they distributed a number of toys and gifts to the youngsters but, above all put the most enormous of smiles on their faces. Their majesties spent time chatting with all the children, stopping in each room, and receiving their special present wishes. Many of

Photo credit Twitter

them simply had one gift that they wanted... and that was a cure from their conditions. The Magi were accompanied on their tour of the hospital by the Mayor of Orihuela, Emilio Bascuñana, and the councillor for fiestas Mariola Rocamora. Bascuñana thanked the Magi for their presence, saying “they are here today to be with the children and also to bring health and encouragement to the medical professionals for the tremendous work they do throughout the year.” Councillor Rocamora said: “It was an exciting day for the children as they have had the chance to meet the Magi in the flesh and they have enjoyed the experience enormously.”

Are you feeling it? Drunken THE EARTH continues to move for people living in Murcia. The latest measurements announced by the cartography service of the Ministry of Development show that the region of Murcia is “speeding” North East each year by 2.8 centimetres. The new monitoring system is giving more accurate readings than previously, and is now so precise that the margin of error is measured in millimetres rather than 10 centimetres. Head of department Miguel Ángel Marco, said: “It’s not much, as Australia, for example, moves much more and up to 7 centimetres each year...also to the North.”

passengers disrupt Alicante flight

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PRESENTS: One of the Three Kings in the Vega Baja Hospital A FLIGHT from Dublin and bound for Alicante-Elche had to make an emergency landing en route after a couple of passengers became aggressive and violent on board. The pilot of the Ryanair flight took the decision to land at Santander-Seve Ballesteros Airport to allow the two people off the flight

after they had disrupted the journey and threatened some of their fellow passengers. It’s understood that both were in a drunken state. Once the flight landed they were arrested by the Guardia Civil and were warned that they may be charged under air safety regulations.

Lottery lightning does strike twice by Glenn Scott A SPANISH family living in the Vega Baja town of Benijófar have the largest possible smiles thanks to the country’s lotteries. Not only did Coral Romero win €6,000 on the El Gordo Christmas Lottery drawn on December 22, she has now won a further €75,000

Oops, there goes another rubber tree... A LARGE branch of a rubber tree has fallen against the wall of a building in Murcia. The large tree, located in Calle Ramón Gallud in the city centre fell during the heavy gusts of wind experienced in the area and caused some minor damage. Firefighters from Murcia and members of the local police were called to the scene, immediately cordoned off the area and removed the overhanging branch. There were no injuries reported from people living in the affected building or passers-by. The offending tree and the rest in the area have now been fully pruned to prevent any similar scenarios in the future. The trees were last pruned in October.

Farm blaze stopped from spreading STRONG winds are believed to be blamed for a fire that swept through a farm in Dolores. The origin of the blaze has been traced to a controlled bonfire of stubble that quickly got out of control and burned about 2,000 square metres. Such was the original concern that the fire would spread further that a helicopter from the aerial fire fighting unit was put on alert, but the rapid intervention by brigades from Elche and Crevillente managed to control the inferno and it was stood down.

thanks to the El Niño Lottery that took place on January 6. The first lucky number was 22,253 – one of the fifth prizes in the pre-Christmas draw – and was the followed by number 18,442 which was drawn as one of the second prizes of the Three Kings lottery. But it’s not only Coral that has been the only

fortunate member of her family, as her uncle, Andrés Muñoz, is now also better off to the sum of €750,000. He bought 10 of the tenths of the ticket with the number 18,442, with each tenth worth €75,000. An excellent return for a gamble of €20 per tenth purchased. The family are well known in Benijófar as being very humble and work in the country and on

the market stalls selling oranges and lemons. However, many of the family are unemployed at present and these wins will be lifechanging for them all. As Uncle Andrés said, “Nobody in the family owns their own house. They’re all renting and those that can’t afford to rent are squatting. This will all change now.”

Stop pinching our flags! by Glenn Scott THE MUNICIPALITY of Catral has a flag thief! Once again, someone has stolen the Spanish national flag from one of the public buildings in Catral. The latest occasion takes it to five times and the town hall is getting more than irritated by it. Local councillors have made a public appeal to residents asking them to keep a look out for anyone stealing the flags, but at the same time saying that if anyone is that desperate to get their hands on the national symbol, then they can be obtained through the municipality. At the moment, there are no suspects and the police are trying to work out why people are stealing the flags. Is it a case that they simply hate the flag or are they so proud of it that they need their own copy at home? What is clear is that the authorities in the town hall are fed up with the phantom robber and have asked the culprits to desist. The last flag to be stolen was located on the roundabout at the end of the road that leads to Callosa, and it wasn’t exactly small. This one measured three metres by

FLUTTERING AWAY: Catral council sends out signals to catch flag thief two metres and was fixed on mast several metres high that aren’t easy to climb up. The previous one was affixed in the main square and in addition the European Flag was stolen at the same time. The council was keen to point out that these flags are nothing special,

THE long and the short of it is quite simple. If someone doesn’t meet the basic height requirements to be a local police officer in Spain, they can’t join. However, these restrictions are causing issues in Cartagena where at least two men have had their applications rejected, and is not helping the situation in the city that needs to fill the 19 vacancies for police officers. The law states that the minimum heights are 1.70 for men and 1.65 for women to be local police and this is laid down in a 1990 regional decree. The mayor of Cartagena has said that, as much as she hoped it could be possible,

ORIHUELA’S Councillor for transport, Begoña Cuartero, has reported that local police based in the municipality have detected an increase in the number of illegal taxi drivers. They were discovered touting for business outside of their official designated taxi zones on New Year’s Eve which is against the spirit of the licenses that are issued to drivers. The offending drivers haven’t been identified and it’s not known at this stage if they are going to be traced and fined. However, Cuartero said that they will continue to ensure that this doesn’t happen in the future as the only consequence is the financial damage done to the official and legal drivers and their families that lose out on business.

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OFFICERS of the Guardia Civil in San Javier were greeted with a tragic scene on Tuesday morning with the discovery of two bodies in the same house. They were a brother and a sister. The dead woman was found on the sofa and her brother in one of the beds in the apartment they shared on Calle Isaac Peral. The initial theory is that the brother died first, and then his sister – who was reportedly born severely disabled – then subsequently passed away due to starvation. The tragic scene was discovered after a

neighbour of the couple raised the alarm after she became concerned that she hadn’t seen either of them around for some time. She called the local police and when they went to the house found the bodies. There were no signs of any violence. Local sources reported that the 52year-old woman was found curled up on the sofa and the 43-yearold man lying in bed. Both bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition and forensic investigations are continuing to establish when the deaths took place.

The short body of the law

Police discover illegal legal taxi drivers

Reporting The News

although they aren’t the typical ones that can be picked up in a supermarket for €1. These are made of strong fabric able withstand all weathers and costs around €40; costs that come out of the Catral taxpayers money when they need replacing.

Two found dead in sibling tragedy

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she’s unable to change the official minimum requirements that have been laid down by the Murcia regional government (Decree 82, October 16, 1990). The union UGT has questioned the legislation and is seeking for the minimum criteria to be updated, and this has also been taken up by a family member of one of the applicants that the law has affected. They both state that “it is unfair that someone’s stature should be a reason that disqualifies them.” In response, the Cartagena City Council says that they have no choice but to comply with the law as it stands.

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Liver transplants break through the 200 barrier by Lynn Whittaker THE ALICANTE General Hospital has not only broken the number of liver donations for one year, it’s also undertaken its 200th transplant. In addition, the hospital has also been able to reduce the waiting lists for both kidney and liver transplants and puts them below the national average. Transplant Co-ordinator at the Alicante General Hospital, Carlos de Santiago, said that the 39 organ donors, “is the highest number in our history and represents an increase of 61 per cent when compared to the previous year.” Interestingly, the increase in organ donations has come against a background of the lowering in the number of deaths due to accidents at work and on the road which was previously the main ways of obtaining organs. Nevertheless, the welcome reduction in these deaths has meant the health authorities looking at obtaining donations via other methods. One of the new initiatives introduced in Alicante has been for paramedics to continue with resuscitation methods on a patient that has died suddenly which enables the blood to continue to circulate to the heart

Homeless people evacuated from fire FIRE FIGHTERS from Murcia were called to the scene of a blaze in a building that is occupied by a number of homeless people. They managed to evacuate the squatters from the two-storey block in Calle Isabel la Católica after being alerted to the fire on the second floor of the abandoned building. The alarm was raised by a neighbour in an adjoining block of apartments as at one point the flames were threatening their homes in a an area made up of very narrow streets. Three ambulances were sent to the scene, but it was later reported that there were no injuries of any kind.

Express interest in breast milk bank

RECORD: Alicante Hospital sees 61 per cent increase year-on-year and other organs that can then be immediately extracted on arrival at hospital. There has also been an increase in the number of older organ donors, with some 90-year-olds having organs in perfect condition on their death.

The 39 donations registered during last year at the Alicante General Hospital are among the 98 throughout the province, and these have allowed transplants of kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, intestines, pancreas and corneas.

ALICANTE General Hospital has opened its first breast milk bank for premature babies. During the first month of operation, around 30 volunteer mothers have already donated their breast milk. Throughout the Alicante province, a total of 1,159 babies were born premature last year and in many of those cases they are in a perilous state and having immediate access to breast milk is a vital first stage in helping their recovery.

Beach access improvements almost complete by Lynn Whittaker

Photo credit Ayuntamiento de Orihuela

AWARE: Councillor Luisa Boné

WORK has already been started on a building programme authorised by the Orihuela council to repair a number of beaches and coastal walkways. A total of €240,000 has been budgeted to make good the results of a number of landslides that have caused access problems to many areas. After getting full authorisation from central government – who will be paying for the

Indoor drugs plantation dismantled

NATIONAL Police in Cartagena have arrested a 23-yearold Spanish man in connection with alleged drug trafficking. In addition, he was detained for the cultivation of narcotic substances, specifically marijuana.

According to police sources, the indoor drug plantation was found in a garage in the neighbourhood of San Felix and had recently been cut in preparation for packing as most of the product was spread across the

floor and drying. In addition to the plants growing, a further 26 kilograms of marijuana were found on the premises as well as equipment to aid in its production that included 23 solar lamps.

work – the latest building began last week at Playa Aguamarina. The plans consist of cleaning up the ramp, building a wall to stop the never-ending coastal and weather erosion, and erecting mesh on both sides of that wall to collect any stones before rolling on to the adjoining beach. These works should be finished within the next fortnight and will account for €52,713 of the budget. Now they’re almost finished, it completes the full stretch along

Man rescued after drink-diving

the Cabo Roig cliffs that cost €187,000 which needed the Cala Capitán walkway to be closed for more than three years. Luisa Boné, councillor for the beaches, said that “as the technical services became aware of the existence of new landslides, a contract was raised to repair the stretch of the slope that had eroded and that posed a risk both to those who travelled along the promenade and to those who travelled along the beach.”

A 20-year-old man needed to be rescued after diving into the port of Cartagena while drunk. Police received a 112 emergency call at 3.30am after fellow late-night revellers spotted the man in the water next to the Cartagena Yacht Club. Port officers helped the local police rescue the man and at the same time checked to see no other person was involved. After paramedics helped stabilise the young man, he was taken to the Santa Lucia Hospital suffering from the hypothermia and alcohol abuse.

Have your Say!

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Alicante-Elche Airport is ‘most efficient’ in Spain

reaching 13,859 people with 73 reactions and 30 comments Liz Searle I fly in and out every two weeks from Alicante for work and have never had a problem Marion Lacey E-readers for passport are rubbish, the worst I’ve ever come across slow slow Jim Thomson Other than e-passport system, it’s great. My favourite airport anywhere, in fact I noted someone saying the food is expensive ... seriously? ... compared to UK airports? For an airport of its size the choice is good. 8pm closing is NOT so good

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Eight rescued from balcony after building blaze Dognappers arrested in major swoop Della released back into the wild Alicante-Elche Airport is ‘most efficient’ in Spain Costa Blanca expat community thanked by friends of ‘missing’ Caz

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Christmas road statistics unveiled by Ray Chadwick OVER the Christmas, New Year and Three Kings festive period, a total of six people were killed on roads in the Murcia region. The deaths were in addition to five people that were seriously injured and needed hospital treatment, and 27 with minor injuries treated at the scene that were involved in 22 accidents during the period. The figures were announced by Virginia Jerez – the provincial head of traffic – who said that two of those killed on the main roads were motorbike riders during the time from December 22 to January 7. Officers from the traffic division of the Guardia Civil carried out a total of 8,843 breathalyser tests on drivers during the festive campaign and recorded 112 positive tests that accounted for 1.25 per cent of the total. As for drug tests, 201 were carried out with 35.3 per cent (71 people) being positive but police were quick to point out that these controls were administered on those that were

Virginia Jerez, provincial head of traffic for Murcia Photo Credit: 20minutos

specifically targeted rather than a random selection as with the drinkdrivers. During the same time last year, 10 accidents with injuries or fatalities

were registered in the Murcia region on the main roads with no deaths. Last year, during the same holiday period, 10 accidents with victims were registered.

Teenager rescued after heater fire AN ELECTRIC heater is believed to have been the cause of a fire that broke out in the San Antón district of Elche and resulted in the rescue of a 13-year-old girl. The alarm was raised just after 5.30am by neighbours of affected building in Calle Arcipreste Torres and when members of the fire brigade arrived, discovered the teenager trapped in her room. The house had quickly filled with smoke and severely hampered the rescue attempts towards the young girl. They eventually managed to break their way in to the property which had initially proved difficult as they had to get through security grills and toughened doors. Even thought there were no signs of the girl being hurt in the fire, she was nevertheless taken to hospital for some basic health checks.

Police “distrust” GPS monitoring A SPOKESPERSON for the municipality of Pilar de la Horadada has described as “absurd” the suggestions that police officers are being secretly monitored. The latest spat has come to light after a string of alleged promises between the unions representing the police and the councillor responsible for security in Pilar, José Tomás Saura. It has been alleged that two police cars have been installed with GPS

tracking equipment without the officers being aware of it. Union officials representing the 50 police officers have sent a formal complaint to the mayor of Pilar de la Horadada, Ignacio Ramos, about the installed devices and asking what they’re doing in the police cars. Added to this, they have declared that such action has been seen as intimidatory from Councillor Saura and that they want

the council to be aware of the “distrust and tension that exists.” “The GPS system has been installed for the safety of the police, and there is absolutely nothing to hide,” said Saura. However, reports in the Spanish press are alleging that there is no equipment installed at the police headquarters to monitor the GPS units. If this is the case, one of the officers is asking who is actually monitoring them.

Provisional prison for robber and fraudster by Ray Chadwick GUARDIA CIVIL officers based in Alicante have arrested a serial robber believed to be behind a series of thefts from cars. The detained man is a 41-year-old and is accused of causing damage to and stealing from at least nine cars... all of them in Guardamar del Segura. According to a report from the Guardia Civil, all the robberies were committed at midday and his ‘modus operandi’ was always the same. He would break the vehicles’ windows and then remove whatever was to hand. It’s also alleged that in one of the robberies, he stole documentation belonging to the owner of the car which he then used to commit a further crime of fraud. He is accused of taking out a contract with a mobile ‘phone company using his fake ID and in the process obtained a ‘phone worth €800. During one of the man’s attempted thefts from a car, the owner arrived back at his vehicle without warning and although the thief managed to flee the scene, the car owner was able to supply the police with a detailed enough description of him to enable

Motorcyclist dies in motorway collision AT least one person died and four others were injured in a major car accident that took place on the RM-E11 motorway between Mazarrón and Los Cánovas. According to reports from the 112 emergency control centre, they received a number of calls saying that there had been a collision between a car and a motorcycle and that one person was lying on the road unconscious. Three ambulances were sent to the scene and on arrival could do nothing to save the motorcyclist who was pronounced dead at the scene. Three other people, the driver and the passengers of the car were stabilised at the scene and taken to the Santa Lucia Hospital with non-life threatening or serious injuries.

Thousands of kilos of drugs destroyed in 12 months

STOLEN: A selection of the items recovered with the offending weapons him to be identified. Police discovered where he lived and arrested him which was followed by exercising a search warrant on his home, during which a number of objects stolen in the series of robberies were located.

These were found alongside a number of tools used to break the vehicle’s windows. The detained man has already been sent to prison pending further investigations and future court proceedings.

ACCORDING to figures released by the regional government in Murcia, almost 10,000 kilos of drugs seized by the National Police and the Guardia Civil were destroyed during 2017. Of the total of 9,532 kilos, 6,753 kilos were hashish, 2,767 kilos of cannabis and 12.4 kilos of cocaine, and the final batch for destruction was attended by government representative Francisco Bernabé. In this case 1,603 kilos in total was prepared for incineration, the majority (1,210 kilos) made up of cannabis plants.

All false claims... because he was drunk NATIONAL POLICE officers in Elche have arrested a man after trying to hide the fact he’d crashed into a parked car when drunk. According to reports, the detained man made a series of allegations to the police which, after investigation, were found to be totally false. The 35-year-old man had contacted the police to say that he’d been the victim of a robbery at knife-point by a friend of a girl he’d met on a dating website. He told police that the robber was a drug dealer who had visited him to buy cocaine and during an argument he had a knife placed against his stomach. As a result of these threats, the man stole some jewellery and the arrested man’s car keys. At the time of the ‘crime’ being reported, police were receiving calls of

an earlier incident that involved a car that had crashed into a parked car in the city, totally destroying it. The scenario raised the suspicion of the Guardia Civil and they quickly investigated the incident, firstly by seeking potential witnesses. It was eventually discovered, thanks to one of the witnesses, that the alleged victim of the armed robbery was actually driving the car that crashed into the parked vehicle. After the impact, he was seen to run away from the scene and showed every sign of being drunk. It was at this point that he called the police to ‘report the attack’ on him. Following this case, police have issued a warning to everyone to tell the truth at all times, otherwise they could be liable for a maximum of a 12 month prison sentence.

Taxi passengers trapped after crash

TWO PEOPLE needed to be rescued in the early hours of Saturday morning after the taxi they were travelling in overturned after hitting another car. The incident happened at 6.50am at the junction of Calle Antonio Machado and Calle Zoa de Torrevieja, and left two passengers trapped in the back of the cab although the driver was able to get out on his own accord. Members of the fire brigade took almost 90 minutes to return the scene to normal; such was the difficulty of the rescue operation. Nobody involved in the accident needed any medical assistance.

13 Photo credit: Wikimedia

Elderly mother ‘forced to beg’ by her son by Glenn Scott

ON THE STREETS: ‘Beggar’ refused to identify herself

Collision results in driver trapped in wreckage FIREFIGHTERS from Elche took over an hour to release a man who had been trapped and seriously injured in a crash that involved a car and a van on the N-332, close to the village of La Marina. The 60-year-old man had his legs caught in the collision with

another vehicle which also saw a passenger in his car also taken to Elche General Hospital. The van driver was treated for minor injuries after the incident that caused severe traffic problems on the usually busy stretch of road for more than an hour.

AN 80-year-old woman has allegedly been forced out on the streets to beg...by her son. Reports indicate that he used to drop his elderly mother off in the morning and he picked her up by car at the end of the day before returning to their home in Orihuela. The woman was first discovered begging on the Avenida de La Libertad in the city by members of the SEMAS emergency and social care service on December 23 and 24, but the case has only just been placed into the public domain. The local police were called to the scene and tried to identify the woman who refused to provide her name and address.

Faced with this impasse, they contacted the National Police and with their collaboration managed to finally discover who the woman was via her fingerprints. Once established that the woman came from Orihuela, the social services department became involved in the case and, according to Councillor Conchita Ruiz, the woman was allegedly forced by her son to go out begging. The next stage of the investigation will depend on the report made by the Orihuela City Council to the judicial authorities, which will detail the woman’s current situation and relationship with her son and to discover whether or not he did force her into the street begging.

Concerned neighbours save man’s life

A MAN’S life has been saved after being found in his house in Torrevieja after a neighbour raised the alarm. The 65-year-old Swedish national hadn’t been seen for three days and a concerned neighbour called the police as

it was completely against character. They heard music coming from inside the house and some of the lights remained on. At first, police contacted the local hospitals but once established he wasn’t among the patients, they

requested authorisation to gain access to the ‘missing’ man’s property. Once inside, they found him unconscious and bleeding from his mouth and was immediately taken to Torrevieja Hospital where he continues his recovery.

Serial car robber arrested on verge of next crime

DANGERS: Councillor warns of extra fines for those caught poisoning animals

Cases of stray poisonings up by Lynn Whittaker POLICE in Pilar de la Horadada have issued a warning to pet owners after a number of strays have been found poisoned in different areas of the municipality. Over the past few days, the amount of dead animals discovered has increased and all appear to have suffered as a result of ingesting poisonous substances that have probably been deliberately administered or left lying around.

José Francisco Albaladejo, the councillor responsible for Animal Health has said that such actions are “a very serious attack on public health” and that if anyone is caught having carried out such crimes; they could face fines of up to €18,000. He also announced that the municipality is looking at bringing in a series of new by-laws and increase the fines. Albaladejo went on to say that if any residents are concerned about the issues surrounding the amount

of stray animals in their area, they should contact the Department of Health and Animal Protection (DHAP) directly and not take such drastic measures themselves. The DHAP will then take the appropriate action themselves to resolve the situation. He also asked residents to inform the local police or the council directly if they knew who was behind these poisoning incidents, as they are not only dangerous to animals but could cause serious harm to children too.

NATIONAL Police in Alicante have arrested a 45-year-old man suspected of carrying out several robberies from parked cars in the city centre. It’s understood that as soon as the items were stolen, the suspect went to a string of different places to sell them in exchange for drugs. Investigations began after a series of robber-

ies in the same place and time and with a similar modus operandi were reported. Police set up a surveillance operation with plain clothes detectives which led to the man’s arrest when they saw a man looking suspicious inside the backs of cars. Authorities believe the man may be responsible for at least 38 similar robberies.

Further signs of local construction recovery THE HOUSING recovery continues with the announcement that Torrevieja has seen an increase in construction of 45% during last year. The municipality has granted major building licenses for 730 new homes during 2017 and 4,700 on second hand and resale properties. These are issued each time there is a purchase or sale. These figures have some way to go to beat those of the housing boom between 2000 and 2007, but equally are some way ahead of the years of collapse in the construction industry in 2010, 2011 and 2013.

Over the counter drugs seller detained NATIONAL Police based in Alicante have arrested a 66-year-old local man on alleged drug trafficking offences. The detained man carried out his operation from his shop located in the centre of Alicante city, where it’s alleged he sold cocaine and hashish from a stash hidden behind the counter. He was arrested on the eve of the Three Kings fiesta although this was as a result of an investigation that had begun some time earlier when police started cracking down on some of the

well-known drugs ‘black spots’ in the city. In this latest successful raid in a shop located in the old town of Alicante, officers found ready-made and packaged doses of the drugs ready for distribution. The owner – a Spanish national – was on the premises at the time and he was immediately arrested. The police then searched the man’s home where they found 50 grams of cocaine. This was in addition to the 10 grams of cocaine, 23 grams of hashish and €380 in cash found under the counter.

News from around Europe RUSSIA

NETHERLANDS Abandoned alpaca a huge hit An investigation into an Alpaca found wandering the streets of Haarlem is ongoing but after the local police tweeted asking for tips or information regarding the animal, they received so many calls from citizens wanting to adopt it that they were forced to post another message asking the public to stop contacting them. Rapper under fire 24-year-old Dutch rapper Boef’s performances at several festivals and his cooperation with Coorendon has been cancelled following a commotion surrounding blogs he

posted calling women who gave him a lift home “whores”. In the interest of sport The Dutch representative on the International Olympic Committee has resigned following mounting pressure from athletes and officials over a domestic violence incident in 2015. In a statement issued last Friday, Camiel Eurlings said he is standing down “in the interest of sport and sportsmen and women”. Pervy coach jailed A 28-year-old volleyball coach from Berlicum near Den Bosch has been jailed for eight months, six suspended, for

filming teenage players while they were getting changed and for the sexual abuse of a minor. He was also given 150 hours of community service. Arrested over Marbs shooting A 30-year-old Dutchman wanted in connection with a shooting incident at a Marbella brothel in September has been arrested in Oslo, Norway. According to Spanish media, the man used an automatic weapon to shoot people in the brothel an hour after he had been involved in a fight there. Five people were injured.

FRANCE Treat me like a man French mayor Aude Picard-Wolff has made waves for refusing to greet colleagues with a traditional kiss on each cheek, sending an email in December to the 73 village councillors saying: “From now on, I would prefer to shake hands, like men do.” Eleanor kills skier Storm Eleanor swept across Europe last week causing widespread damage and disruptions. A 21-year-old skier was killed by a falling tree at Morillon in the French Alps while 15 people were injured by the storm across France, four of them seriously. French DAESH fighter arrested Emilie Koenig, a Frenchwoman suspected of recruiting fighters for Daesh who figured on US and UN blacklists, has been arrested by Kurdish forces in Syria.

The 33-year-old daughter of a gendarme is “being held in a Kurdish camp and has been interrogated and tortured,” her mother told the French press. Three years on French president Emmanuel Macron laid a wreath in front of the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Sunday to mark three years since the massacre of its staff in an Islamist attack. Pinching pockets France is among the European nations whose citizens spend the least on their wardrobe, with clothing expenses for the French falling well below those of their neighbours including the British. According to a new study, in 2016 clothing and footwear represented 3.7 percent of the total spending of the average French household.

ICELAND Homophobic attack “in the air” A YOUNG Icelandic man was beaten up for being gay in central Reykjavik “It's always been in the air. I've always endured all kinds of awful degrading comments. I feel like I've always been waiting to experience physical violence as well,” says Úlfar Viktor Björnsson after being attacked. Country loses its fresh status DIRECTOR of the asthma and allergy association in Iceland says that the number of small airborne particles now in the air in Reykjavik that were caused by fireworks on New Year’s

Eve has meant that they are “no longer the freshest country in the world.” Hello, hello black sheep FARMERS based in the Hrunamannahreppur district went on an expedition to find some lost sheep in the Kerlingarfjöll mountains. "We knew about some sheep from the farms that didn't appear this autumn. We didn't find those but found a ewe with two lambs and one sole lamb instead.” 2018 Internet Conference announced THE next Reykjavík Internet Marketing Confer-

ence will be held for the 15th time on March 23. Speakers will address the conference from Domino’s Pizza, SEMrush, DoubleClick by Google, The Engine, Deepcrawl, Bing, and Revlon. The ‘Winter is Coming’ campaign from IKEA will also be launched. Less milk today... FOUNDER of The Icelandic Milk and Skyr Company (TIMSC), Sigurður Kjartan Hilmarsson, has struck a deal to sell his and his friend’s 75 per cent share in the company to French multinational dairy product company Lactalis. TIMSC products are sold in 25,000 stores across all 50 states.

McFiction The Russian Embassy has hit out at the BBC for propagating negative ‘cliches’ of its citizens in its new series ‘McMafia’.The new eight-part series portrays a world where Russians move in a world rife with criminal activity - but the embassy moved quickly to point out the difference between fact and fiction. Not allowed Russia´s supreme court has upheld a ban on the government critic Alexei Navalny from running for president. The ruling came after Russia’s central election committee said that Navalny was not allowed to stand for public office until at least 2028 because of a previous fraud conviction. A tribute– to dumplings A monument to Russian dumplings, called pelmeni, has been unveiled in

the Ural Mountains region of Chelyabinsk.The statue of a bearded merchant with a giant dumpling on a table in front of him was installed outside Russia’s only museum devoted to the classic food. Cop kills jaywalker A police officer hit a jaywalker attempting to cross the Moscow Ring Road last week, killing the pedestrian. The off-duty officer ran into the 20year-old man on the southern stretch of the 100-kilometre highway. Who does that? A nurse is under investigation in Russia after posting pictures online mocking dying patients and boasting: “We tie them to beds.” She used cruel expletives to portray her elderly patients as filthy and disgusting and alleged doctors in the hospital in Sakhalin “only help people they want to help”.

SCANDINAVIA Measles outbreak confirmed GOTHENBURG'S Sahlgrenska University Hospital has urged people not to come to hospital unless it is necessary, as a measles outbreak grew to 22 confirmed cases. Health officials urged people who do not require medical attention to stay away from hospital premises, to avoid the highly contagious disease spreading further. Blood clue to missing woman ALMOST TWO weeks after a 36-year-old mother of two disappeared from her home in the Norwegian town of Brumunddal in the Hedmark County she is still

to be located. Police are still searching for the woman, Janne Jemtland, on a piece of land after traces of her blood were found in two separate places. Rare vodka found... drunk EXPENSIVE vodka that was stolen from a bar in Copenhagen has been found at a construction site on the outskirts of the city – empty. The stolen Russo Baltique vodka, reportedly the only one of its kind and worth eight million kroner (€1.1 million), was found by a member of the public. Boost for foreign workers DANISH Minister of

Employment Troels Lund Poulsen’s recent comments that the government supports improved access for foreigners to the job market has been praised by the Confederation of Danish Industry. Such initiatives are at the top of many companies’ wish lists, and welcome the moves. Cleaner energy sooner rather than later FINLAND will be looking at the possibility of phasing out the use of coal in energy production, by 2025, according to Kimmo Tiilikainen, the Minister of the Environment, Energy and Housing. Their original target was to phase out coal five years later in 2030.

GERMANY Flying higher in 2018 AIRLINE group Lufthansa have announced that it plans to take on more than 8,000 staff during 2018; all part of the company’s latest step to push for further growth of one of the largest carriers in Europe. Over half of the new staff will be flight attendants. Bus bomber confesses A GERMAN-RUSSIAN man has admitted to being behind the bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund football team's bus that took place last April, in a plan to make a fortune on the stock exchange. The blast left Spanish footballer Marc Bartra with a broken wrist. Union calls strikes for rights NEXT Monday will see a series of strikes across the country that has been called by the powerful IG Metall union. Apart from a pay rise, they also demand rights for work-

ers to temporarily switch to a 28-hour week to care for children or elderly relatives. Politician ‘court’ in Twitter outrage AFD politician Jens Maier has been warned by his party over a racist tweet about the son of tennis legend Boris Becker. But Maier, who called Noah Becker a “half-negro”, can remain in the party. The national executive of the right-wing populist party said the decision was unanimous. Flood warnings affect shipping AFTER days of torrential rain and melting snow, the water levels of the Rhine, Moselle and Danube rose considerably, causing authorities to warn that flooding was likely to continue for a number of days. Shipping was halted through Cologne at the weekend after the river breached the 8 metre mark.

Ryanair introduces new baggage policy RYANAIR, Europe’s No 1 airline, has reminded customers of its new baggage policy, as part of its “Always Getting Better” programme and will affect passengers using the Alicante-Elche and MurciaSan Javier Airports. Ryanair has introduced new reduced checked bag fees (and increased check-in bag sizes) to encourage more customers to check in bags and reduce the number of customers with two bags at the boarding gates. As too many customers were taking advantage of Ryanair’s improved two free carry-on bags service, and with high load factors (95 per cent in December) there is not enough overhead cabin space for this volume of carry-on bags, which is causing boarding/flight delays. To encourage more customers to check-in some bags and reduce the volume of carry-on bags, Ryanair has introduced bag policy changes on all flights as follows:

1. The check-in bag allowance has increased from 15kg to 20kg for all bags 2. The standard check-in bag fee has been cut from €35 to €25 for this 20kg bag 3. Only Priority Boarding customers (including Plus, Flexi Plus & Family Plus) will be allowed to bring two carryon bags on the aircraft. 4. All other (i.e. non-priority) customers will only be allowed to bring one smaller carry-on bag on board the aircraft, while their second (bigger) wheelie bag must be placed in the hold (free of charge) at the boarding gate. Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said: “We’re reminding our customers that from Monday, only Priority Boarding customers will be allowed to bring two carry-on bags on the aircraft. All other customers will be allowed to bring one smaller carry-on bag on board, while their second (bigger) wheelie bag will be placed in the hold (free of charge) at the boarding gate. “This will speed up the

Photo credit Twitter

by Glenn Scott

Sales chaos on final Sunday trading day THE SALES season got underway at the weekend in Alicante last Sunday...and it was chaos! The centre of the city, especially along the Avenida Maisonnave and the surrounding streets, opened their doors at 9am to catch the ‘morning-after’ shoppers; the day after the Three Kings Day fiesta and the last day before everything got back to normal on the Monday morning, the first time in almost two weeks. It was a classic first day of the sales with people waiting outside the main shops in large numbers, finding their bargains, and then carrying around the status symbol of this department store or that boutique along the

streets that was no doubt helped by the unseasonably warmer temperatures. Car parking was a nightmare, with some zones reporting long queues just to get in and some drivers waiting around two hours to pay their toll after their shopping experience. Many were also making the most of the fact that the Sunday was the final Sunday trading day in Alicante until June 15 (with the exception of one day in the Spring that has been agreed by the council and the retail establishments. So, for the next two months none of the large commercial establishments will be able to open their doors in the city.

ALLOWANCES: All change from Monday January 15 boarding of flights and eliminate flight delays, alongside our new checked bag policy which offers our customers lower bag fees for a 33% increase in their checked bag allowance.”

Priority Boarding can be purchased for just €5 at the time of booking or added to a booking for €6 up to two hours (on Ryanair.com) and 30 minutes (on Ryanair app) prior to scheduled departure time.

Swimming for Maria and the Pink Ladies/Panthers, AECC

A big well done to the thirteen swimmers who took the plunge on New Years day at Playa Flamenca beach, raising money for Maria and the Pink Ladies/Panthers, AECC. For the fourth year running, Eamon Reilley, the proprietor of The Blarneystone, Zeniamar, gathered together his staff and patrons to take part and help get the fundraising year off to a flying start. To date €1,133

has been raised, and with an ongoing raffle, they hope to reach €2,000 by the presentation night on the 27th January. The swimmers who were brave enough to take on the chilly sea were: Simon Morton, Carl Wilson, Marlene and Ralph Raybould, Lynda Mullahy, Peter Lehner, Graham Phennah, Mandy Thorneywork, John Dynes, Eamon Reilley, Ron and Liz Drennan and Aaron Melia.

Age Concern celebrates Three Kings

A Three Kings celebration party was held on January 6 at the centre of Age Concern in Calle Paganini, La Siesta. This special afternoon was for the benefit of 45 valued beneficiaries who certainly know how to party.

A delicious buffet tea was specially prepared by the staff of The Vestry in Algorfa, and was enjoyed by all who attended. Entertainment was provided by Jerry, who got the dancers dancing and singers singing to

songs from the 60’s and 70’s which created a fun atmosphere. A raffle of a huge hamper of Christmas goodies, generously supplied by the Age Concern Charity shop in Torrevieja, was won by Margaret Dumbleton.

19 Photo credit Twitter

GOOD CATCH: Tourists to experience day-today work of local fishermen

Reeling the visitors in by Ray Chadwick A COMPANY is looking at exploiting the local Torrevieja fishing industry as a potential source of tourism income. The guided tours will begin in the Spring and the initiative will look to show visitors how the fish is caught and auctioned, how the fisherman live, who prepares the nets and ultimately their day-to-day work at sea. There will also be talks on the history and traditions of the local fishing industry. The tours have the backing of and the collaboration with the Torrevieja Fishermen’s Association and the municipality that will actively promote the new activity. The company that are hoping to run these informative tours – which has not been

named – is presently finalising the agreement but is nevertheless already working with the local fishing community to assess their involvement in the project. The objective is to be able to show visitors the three types of fishing that are carried out by the boats that use the Torrevieja port – especially the trawlers – and they will explain how they work, what type of fish they catch... and who knows, people might even get to taste the products once caught. Although everything needs to be rubber stamped, it’s being suggested that there could be two tourist experiences. The first would be to actually spend the day on one of the fishing boats with the crew; the other would be to get aboard a pleasure boat and watch the sea fishing as it happens.

Russia remembers In sombre mood Russia reflects on the centenary of a coup that presaged a bloodbath that claimed the lives of up to 70 million martyrs. There’s hardly a village library let alone city museum that isn’t marking the tragedy that in 1917 befell Imperial Russia. Before the seizure Russians accounted for 8 percent of the world population; today it is 2 percent. In Russia were listed 54,174 Christian churches, 25,593 chapels, 1,025 monasteries, military churches and cemetery chapels. By 1987 only 6,893 churches and 15 monasteries remained. Many times Bolshevism could have been nipped in the bud but to its eternal shame the political elite and corporate dynasties of the West profited enormously from the coup. Lenin said, “Without big banks socialism would be impossible”. He was likely referring to the $20 million ($416 million now) New York based bank Kuhn, Loeb & Co invested in the ‘revolution’. By 1922 the dust had settled. Thanks to Western collaboration Imperial Russia was now in the hands of insurgents with little political but much criminal experience. Western corporations were quick to take advantage of Imperial Russia’s vast resources. The nation’s gold reserves, the largest in the world, disappeared

Michael Walsh

keyboardcosmetics@ gmail.com The opinions published in Mike´s weekly column are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or newspaper sponsors.

rial integrity the war was begun. The spoils of war were divided between the Allies. These included 10 million captive slaves; by 1946 there wasn’t even a bicycle to be found in Germany. Tens of thousands of ransacked trains

and trucks were used to transport millions of new slaves from transferred territories. The silence in the West is deafening. Is this because they want the ground left undisturbed?

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into the bank vaults of the West. The entire Gulag system and Stalin’s 5-Year Plans, in which it is estimated 40 million slaves perished, were made possible and accessible by western banks and corporations. Those in on the kill included Ford, Amtorg Trading Corporation, General Electric, RCA, International Harvester Tractors, Caterpillar; in all over 100 U.S. corporations profiting from Stalin’s slave empire. “This Soviet Russia toils perpetually along on the arm of the capitalist States. She took from them her workers, her engineers, her machines: she drew everything from the capitalists’ states. Communists were surviving only on the non-communist institutions of the world.” The harvesting of human martyrs continued its cruel course. Then, when Bolshevism to all intents and purposes was routed in December 1941 it was rescued by Roosevelt’s Lend Lease rescue package. British aid to preserve Bolshevism likely cost its Far Eastern territories which were left unprotected. In February 1945 Soviet tyrant Joe Stalin added his signature to those of Roosevelt and Churchill’s on the Yalta Agreement. To Bolshevism was surrendered the lion’s share of plunder including 21 European nations. Ironically, they included Poland for whose territo-

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Where’s All the Fan Mail?

Colin Bird The opinions published in Colin’s weekly column are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or newspaper sponsors.

Back in 2008, changes were made to the postal address system here in the Southern Costa Blanca. We were informed that by adding a certain key element, it would simplify things for Correos and that moreover, if our mail did not carry this modified address, then there was a possibility that it would not be delivered. In other words, destroyed. I always say: ‘If it aint broke, don’t fix it’ and having worked for Royal Mail, I could not for the life of me see how, by adding another street name and area number ahead of our regular address, it could possibly improve things. A major flaw was that whilst many properties were covered by the new postal address, the actual mail boxes often carried a different one. Confusing surely for the delivery staff. However, the cartero’s appeared to possess more common sense than the authorities, and continued to deliver the mail to our regular boxes, whether or not it carried the new prefix. I was back in the UK shortly after the change over, so I took the new details of the revised Spanish address to our Building Society, who duly changed the information on the computer in my presence. Then after returning to Spain, we received written confirmation that the Building Society records had been

changed accordingly. Great. Two days later we received another confirmation – an exact duplicate of the first - followed by yet another a few days after that. In total we received five identical letters of confirmation and get this: all carrying the old address. Was it any wonder the banking system had all but collapsed I remember thinking. But crucially, all were delivered to our original address without any problem. By and large, the postal service in the meantime has been quite satisfactory, that is until this past Christmas. Two weeks before the big day, we had received just one of the many cards we normally receive from our friends around the world. On taking delivery of a parcel one day, we asked our charming cartero Eva about this and were told that the instruction was to make parcels a priority and to ignore letters and cards until they had been cleared. Cards began to dribble through shortly after, but now in the second week of January we are without at least a score of cards that we know for a fact were sent. Many of our friends and neighbours have the same complaint and if this applies to others in the Orihuela Costa area, it begs the question: where is all the missing mail?

SAL ON W NO E SAL ON W NO E L SA

Irregular past participles Champions League

Basic Spanish for everyday needs by

Habla inglés

Jane Cronin

We are now continuing our quest to learn how to talk about the recent past in Spanish, and a few other things besides, by forming the past participle of verbs. There are actually quite a few things to say about all of this which will take a few articles. Whilst the picture is still incomplete you will probably have all sorts of questions, but if you wait you may well find them answered as we go along. So for today we will just talk about the formation of the past participle and give a few examples at the end of the sorts of sentences we are aiming at so that you’re not left completely in the dark. We saw last week that in the case of regular verbs, that is most of them, we take the two letter endings off our infinitive verbs and make a simple change with them. The –ar ending becomes – ado; and the –er and –ir endings become – ido. This gives us, for example: to speak -“hablar”, spoken - “hablado”; to drink – “beber”, drunk - “bebido”; to sleep “dormir”, slept “dormido”. Now this is very simple indeed, but there are a few irregular verbs as well to think about. Happily they are very common, so we tend to get to know them quite quickly. Here are some of them:

Ver (to see/to watch) visto (seen/watched) Volver (to return) vuelto (returned)

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I feel I can go no further without giving you actual examples of how these things are used, on the understanding that more will be explained next time, particularly regarding the translation of “have” and “has” in these sentences. Here we go: He hablado con mi vecino. I have spoken to my neighbour. Has escrito una carta. You have written a letter.

o n i c e v i m n o c do

a l b a h e H

Abrir (to open) abierto (opened) Escribir (to write) escrito (written) Decir (to say/to tell) dicho (said/told) Hacer (to make/to do) hecho (made/done) Morir (to die) muerto (died)

Ha dormido bien. He has slept well. Hemos visto la película We have seen the film.

Habéis vuelto de vacaciones You have come back from holiday. Han bebibo mucha cerveza. They have drunk a lot of beer.

n e i b o d i m r o d Ha

Before next week, practise forming some more past participles. Here are some verbs we have already learnt to get you started. They are all regular so you should do them in a jiffy: Trabajar, cocinar, bailar, aprender, comer, firmar, visitar, tener, comprar, conducir, ir, cambiar.

MANCHESTER United have decided to impose some increased charges to fans of Sevilla when they and their team visit Old Trafford in March, and is in response to what they describe as ““unfair and excessive” ticket pricing. They will charge £89 per ticket to attend the last 16 match in the Champions League and say the extra money received will be used to subsidise the Red’s fans when they travel to Spain for the first leg on February 21. Even though Sevilla aren’t breaking any of the UEFA rules – and are even asking their own fans to fork out more – they are charging United’s fans £35 more than they took from Liverpool supporters during the group stage of the competition in November. Following a number of complaints, Manchester United officially published their stance in an open letter released on Wednesday. It read: “In this instance we believe that our travelling supporters are unfairly being subjected to increased/excessive ticket prices from the host club. “Ultimately Sevilla have not agreed to significantly lower the price to what we view as a reasonable level. “Therefore, we have taken the difficult decision to charge Sevilla fans the same amount as our fans have been charged for the away fixture.” In their reply, Sevilla said they will subsidise their fans for the price increase and will “be in contact with UEFA” over the issue. “Sevilla will also look to guarantee that no Sevillista pays a penny more than any Manchester United fan for similar tickets - as competition regulations dictate,” the Spanish club said.

People are capable of almost anything WHO GOES to a dinner party next door and leaves her baby alone in the house? What kind of mother does such a thing? She feels the familiar agony set in – she is not a good mother. You never know what’s happening on the other side of the wall. Your neighbour told you that she didn’t want your six-monthold daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn’t stand her crying. Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You’ll have the baby monitor and you’ll take it in turns to go back every half hour. Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She’s gone. You’ve never had to call the police before. But now they’re in your home, and who knows what they’ll find there. What would you be capable of, when pushed past your limit?

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Spanish bank considers move to London A SPANISH INVESTMENT BANK is considering moving its headquarters from Madrid to London as it believes the UK capital will remain the centre of European business and finance even post-Brexit.

Alantra Partners oversees €3.7 billion of assets and employs 350 people across 21 countries. Two insiders at the bank told Bloomberg it is considering how many people to send to London. Alantra Partners’ move to London would buck the trend as financial-services firms look to move staff from London to Europe over fears Brexit will see the UK lose passporting rights that allow for goods and services to be traded freely throughout the union. Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs and are all said to be preparing for a move to the continent in case the UK exits the EU without a trade deal.

Could London be the centre of European finance post-Brexit?

PM estimates a 3.1 per cent economic growth last year

THE SPANISH PRIME MINISTER said on Tuesday that the domestic economy grew at a rate of 3.1 per cent in 2017. "Spain closed 2017 with an estimated growth of 3.1 per cent," said Mariano Rajoy in a speech at the Spain Investors Day forum in Madrid. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) will publish the official growth data for the fourth quarter and 2017 as a whole on January 30th. Rajoy also pointed out that the government expects a medium-term growth rate of 2.5 per cent until 2020. In the short-term, the government expects the domestic economy to grow at a rate of 2.3 per cent this year, a forecast that could increase as the situation in Catalonia stabilises. If, after last month’s elections, a government is formed soon in Catalonia "that obeys the constitutional order... the growth can be much higher than the current forecasts, probably similar to last year’s figures", said Rajoy. Mariano Rajoy

legal

Registering in Spain by

IGNACIO PELLICER MOLLÁ & PEDRO HEREDIA ORTIZ

LAWYERS

Q A

What is the NIE number and do I need one if I am staying in Spain? The NIE number (Número de identificación de Extranjeros), is the abbreviation given for the Identification Number for Foreigners. The Spanish law requires foreigners to obtain an identification number for several different transactions in Spain, such as purchasing or selling a property, having a mortgage, buying a car or motorcycle, pay taxes in Spain, etc. However if you are a tourist (non-resident in Spain) and you will not be making these type of transactions, then there is no need for you to obtain one. Please note this is only general information for your perusal. The NIE number procedure in Spain has changed very often in the past years and might do in the future. We highly recommend you to discuss it with your lawyer for an up-to-date and accurate advice.

If you have any further questions about this or any other legal matter, please do not hesitate to contact us; we have a team of experts standing by to assist you in any way we can. Call 965 480 737 or email info@pellicerheredia.com Videos at www.pellicerheredia.com

Friday 12th - Thursday 18th January

Pick of the Day

FRIDAY 7:00am 10:15am 11:00am 12:00pm 12:45pm 1:15pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 4:00pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 10:30pm 11:00pm 11:25pm 11:35pm 12:25am

Breakfast Rip Off Britain Homes Under the Hammer Wanted Down Under Close Calls: On Camera Bargain Hunt BBC News BBC London News Doctors Father Brown I Escaped to the Country The Farmers’ Country Showdown Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News BBC London News The One Show A Question of Sport EastEnders Room 101 Would I Lie to You? Mrs. Brown’s Boys BBC News BBC London News The Graham Norton Show Witless

Flog it! Trade Secrets The Farmers’ Country Showdown Antiques Road Trip MasterChef: The Professionals Victoria Derbyshire BBC Newsroom Live The Daily Politics Coast Himalaya with Michael Palin Himalaya with Michael Palin The Great British Winter Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough Flog It! Eggheads Great British Railway Journeys Rick Stein’s Road to Mexico Mastermind A Vicar’s Life Rome Unpacked QI Newsnight Deep Water

7:00am 9:30am 10:25am 11:30am 1:30pm 2:30pm 2:55pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 11:40pm 12:40am

Good Morning Britain Lorraine The Jeremy Kyle Show This Morning Loose Women ITV News ITV News London Judge Rinder Dickinson’s Real Deal Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV News Emmerdale Coronation Street River Monsters Coronation Street Lethal Weapon ITV News ITV News London Totally You’ve Been Framed Gold Through the Keyhole

7:15am 7:20am 7:45am 8:10am 8:35am 9:05am 9:35am 10:05am 10:35am 11:05am 12:00pm 1:00pm 1:05pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:05am

Kirstie’s Vintage Gems 3rd Rock from the Sun 3rd Rock from the Sun Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Frasier Frasier Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA Sun, Sea and Selling Houses Channel 4 News Darts Come Dine with Me The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast The Big Fat Quiz of Everything First Dates Hotel

7:00am 10:15am 12:15pm 1:10pm 1:15pm 2:15pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 4:15pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:35pm 12:05am

Children TV The Wright Stuff GPs: Behind Closed Doors 5 News Lunchtime The Hotel Inspector Home and Away Neighbours NCIS The Perfect Stalker 5 News Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight The Wine Show Costa Del Celebrity Celebrity Big Brother Will and Grace Celebrity Big Brother Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side

7:00am 7:30am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am

Futurama Futurama Monkey Life Monkey Life Meerkat Manor Meerkat Manor Road Wars Stargate Atlantis MacGyver NCIS: Los Angeles Hawaii Five-0 Hawaii Five-0 NCIS: Los Angeles Stargate SG-1 The Simpsons The Simpsons Futurama The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Modern Family Delicious A League of Their Own The Russell Howard Hour

8:10am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:30pm 4:30pm 5:15pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 10:45pm 11:30pm

The Pets Factor Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch The Dengineers Deadly Top 10 Robot Wars Steve Backshall’s Extreme Mountain Challenge Pets: Wild at Heart Hairy Bikers’ Mediterranean Adventure A Vicar’s Life Back to the Land with Kate Humble Rome Unpacked Brendan Foster: A Life in Athletics Flog It! Trust Me, I’m a Doctor Tom Kerridge’s Lose Weight for Good Hugh’s Wild West A House Through Time Dad’s Army Grand Tours of Scotland’s Lochs Live at the Apollo QI XL Madonna Rebel Heart Tour

7:00am 10:25am 10:30am 12:25pm 12:55pm 1:35pm 3:30pm 5:20pm 6:20pm 6:30pm 6:45pm 7:45pm 9:00pm 10:30pm 11:25pm 11:45pm

Childrens TV ITV News Saturday Morning with James Martin Save Money: Good Food Countrywise Dancing on Ice Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home The Chase Local News ITV News The BRITS are Coming Take Me Out The Voice UK Through the Keyhole ITV News Jaws 2

7:05am 7:25am 7:50am 8:15am 8:40am 9:05am 9:35am 10:05am 10:35am 11:05am 11:35am 12:05pm 12:30pm 1:00pm 1:30pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:40am

Kirstie’s Vintage Gems King of Queens King of Queens King of Queens Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Frasier Frasier The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Come Dine with Me Darts A Place in the Sun Channel 4 News Spying on the Royals Queen Victoria’s Last Love Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Transporter 2

7:00am 11:30am 11:55am 12:55pm 1:55pm 2:55pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 6:15pm 7:10pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:30am

Childrens TV Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud Police Interceptors: Deadly Pursuits Police Interceptors The A-Team The A-Team FIA Formula E FIA Formula E Dogs Make You Laugh Out Loud The Wonderful World of Puppies Greatest Celebrity Wind-Ups Ever! Blind Date Football on 5 Football on 5 Celebrity Big Brother Lip Sync Battle UK

7:00am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 12:30pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 6:15pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:00am

Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew Futurama Futurama The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Soccer A.M. Best Pl Goals Hawaii Five-0 Hawaii Five-0 Hawaii Five-0 Gillette Soccer Saturday Gillette Soccer Saturday Gillette Soccer Saturday Harry Hill’s Tea Time The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons NCIS: Los Angeles Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Hawaii Five-0

7:00am 8:00am 8:45am 9:15am 9:50am 10:45am 12:15pm 12:45pm 1:15pm 2:00pm 6:35pm 7:20pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:45am

Coast The Instant Gardener Gardeners’ World Greatest Gardens Countryfile Saturday Kitchen Best Bites Raymond Blanc: How to Cook Well Food and Drink MOTD2 Extra Masters Snooker Ski Sunday Mr Holmes Yellowstone Dragons’ Den The Water Diviner Masters Snooker Highlights

7:00am 10:25am 10:30am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:30pm 2:40pm 3:10pm 3:40pm 5:35pm 5:45pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 9:00pm 11:00pm 11:15pm 12:10am

Childrens TV ITV News River Monsters Peston on Sunday The Martin Lewis Money Show Live The Voice UK ITV News Britain’s Brightest Family The Cruise Death Becomes Her Local News ITV News The Chase Dancing on Ice Vera ITV News Peston on Sunday Next of Kin

7:05am 7:10am 7:35am 8:00am 8:30am 8:55am 9:30am 10:00am 10:30am 1:30pm 2:05pm 2:35pm 3:05pm 4:50pm 5:15pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 1:00am

Kirstie’s Handmade Treasures King of Queens King of Queens Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Frasier Frasier Sunday Brunch Jamie’s Quick and Easy Food The Simpsons The Simpsons Two by Two Channel 4 News Darts The Biggest Little Railway in the World SAS: Who Dares Wins The Big Fat Quiz of Everything Killing Them Softly

7:00am

Childrens TV

11:35am

Football on 5

12:30pm

Football on 5

1:00pm

Blind Date

7:00am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 11:30am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am

The Hour of Power Futurama Futurama The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons WWE Raw NCIS: Los Angeles NCIS: Los Angeles NCIS: Los Angeles Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family Modern Family The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons MacGyver Hawaii Five-0 NCIS: Los Angeles The Blacklist

7:00am 7:30am 8:15am 9:00am 10:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:15pm 3:15pm 4:15pm 5:15pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:05am

The Big Fat Quiz of Everything, 10pm, Channel 4

Saturday 7:00am 11:00am 12:30pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:15pm 4:15pm 5:00pm 6:10pm 6:40pm 6:50pm 7:00pm 7:40pm 8:25pm 9:25pm 10:15pm 10:35pm 11:30pm 12:55am

Breakfast Saturday Kitchen Live Mary Berry Everyday Football Focus BBC News Athletics Money for Nothing Final Score Celebrity Mastermind BBC News BBC London News And They’re Off... for Sport Relief Pointless Wedding Day Winners Casualty BBC News Hard Sun Match of the Day The NFL Show

Hard Sun, 10.35pm, BBC1

Sunday 7:00am 8:35am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:15pm 2:00pm 2:15pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:30pm 5:30pm 6:05pm 7:05pm 7:20pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:20pm 11:30pm 12:30am

Breakfast Match of the Day The Andrew Marr Show The Big Questions Sunday Politics Bargain Hunt BBC News Money for Nothing Escape to the Country The Truth About Looking Good Big Cats Songs of Praise Attenborough and the Sea Dragon BBC News BBC London News Countryfile Still Open All Hours The Coronation McMafia BBC News BBC London News Match of the Day 2 Man Like Mobeen

2:00pm

Will and Grace

2:30pm

Are We There Yet?

4:15pm

Dennis Strikes Again

5:40pm

Garfield 2:

A Tail of Two Kitties

7:10pm

Pixels

8:10pm

5 News

8:15pm

Pixels

9:00pm

Billionaire Babies:

24 Carat Kids

9:55pm

5 News Weekend

10:00pm

Celebrity Big Brother

11:05pm

Grown Ups 2

12:55am

One Night with My Ex

Mr Holmes, 7.20pm, BBC2

Pick of the Day

Monday 7:00am 10:15am 11:00am 12:00pm 12:45pm 1:15pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 4:00pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 12:15am

Breakfast Rip Off Britain Homes Under the Hammer Wanted Down Under Close Calls: On Camera Bargain Hunt BBC News BBC London News Doctors Father Brown Escape to the Country The Farmers’ Country Showdown Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News BBC London News The One Show Inside Out EastEnders Panorama Silent Witness BBC News BBC London News Have I Got Old News for You Miriam’s Big American Adventure

7:00am 7:30am 8:15am 9:00am 10:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 5:45pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:15am

Flog it! Trade Secrets The Farmers’ Country Showdown Antiques Road Trip Antiques Roadshow Victoria Derbyshire BBC Newsroom Live The Daily Politics Masters Snooker More Creatures Great and Small Flog It! Eggheads Great British Railway Journeys Rick Stein’s Road to Mexico Only Connect University Challenge Surgeons: At the Edge of Life Insert Name Here Newsnight Masters Snooker Highlights

7:00am

Good Morning Britain

9:30am

Lorraine

10:25am

The Jeremy Kyle Show

11:30am

This Morning

1:30pm

Loose Women

2:30pm

ITV News

3:00pm

Judge Rinder

4:00pm

Dickinson’s Real Deal

5:00pm

Tipping Point

6:00pm

The Chase

7:00pm

ITV News London

7:30pm

ITV News

8:00pm

Emmerdale

8:30pm

Coronation Street

9:00pm

The Martin Lewis

Money Show

9:30pm

Coronation Street

10:00pm

Next of Kin

11:00pm

ITV News

11:30pm

ITV News London

11:40pm

School for Stammerers

7:20am 7:45am 8:10am 8:35am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 10:35am 11:05am 12:00pm 1:00pm 1:05pm 2:05pm 3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:05am

3rd Rock from the Sun 3rd Rock from the Sun Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Frasier Frasier Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA Sun, Sea and Selling Houses Channel 4 News Couples Come Dine with Me Posh Pawn Countdown Village of the Year A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun Four in a Bed Extreme Cake Makers The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News How to Lose Weight Well The Undateables First Dates Hotel Derry Girls

7:00am

Childrens TV

10:15am

The Wright Stuff

12:15pm

GPs:

Behind Closed Doors

1:10pm

5 News Lunchtime

1:15pm

The Hotel Inspector

2:05pm

Access

2:15pm

Home and Away

2:45pm

Neighbours

3:15pm

NCIS

4:15pm

The Wrong Mother

6:00pm

5 News

6:30pm

Neighbours

7:00pm

Home and Away

7:30pm

5 News Tonight

8:00pm

Car Crash TV

9:00pm

Police Interceptors

10:00pm

Celebrity Big Brother

11:00pm

Not So Sweet Sixteen

12:05am

Celebrity Big Brother’s

Bit on the Side

7:00am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:25am

The Dog Whisperer Monkey Life Monkey Life Meerkat Manor Meerkat Manor Road Wars Stargate Atlantis MacGyver NCIS: Los Angeles Hawaii Five-0 Hawaii Five-0 NCIS: Los Angeles Stargate SG-1 The Simpsons Futurama Futurama The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons David Attenborough’ s Galapagos Mission: Impossible II The Force: North East

Tuesday 7:00am 10:15am 11:00am 12:00pm 12:45pm 1:15pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 4:00pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 12:45am

Breakfast Rip Off Britain Homes Under the Hammer Wanted Down Under Close Calls: On Camera Bargain Hunt BBC News BBC London News Doctors Father Brown Escape to the Country The Farmers’ Country Showdown Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News BBC London News The One Show EastEnders Holby City Silent Witness BBC News BBC London News Love and Hate Crime Stacey Dooley Investigates

7:00am 7:30am 8:15am 9:00am 10:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 5:45pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:15am

Flog it! Trade Secrets The Farmers’ Country Showdown Antiques Road Trip Celebrity Antiques Road Trip Victoria Derbyshire BBC Newsroom Live The Daily Politics Masters Snooker More Creatures Great and Small Flog It! Eggheads Great British Railway Journeys Rick Stein’s Road to Mexico Inside the Factory House of Saud: A Family at War Inside No 9 Newsnight NFL

7:00am

Good Morning Britain

9:30am

Lorraine

10:25am

The Jeremy Kyle Show

11:30am

This Morning

1:30pm

Loose Women

2:30pm

ITV News

3:00pm

Judge Rinder

4:00pm

Tipping Point

6:00pm

The Chase

7:00pm

ITV News London

7:30pm

ITV News

8:00pm

Emmerdale

8:30pm

Britain’s Favourite

Dogs: Top 100

11:00pm

ITV News

11:30pm

ITV News London

11:40pm

The Late Debate

12:10am

Girlfriends

7:20am 7:45am 8:10am 8:35am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 10:35am 11:05am 12:00pm 1:00pm 1:05pm 2:05pm 3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am

3rd Rock from the Sun 3rd Rock from the Sun Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Frasier Frasier Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA Sun, Sea and Selling Houses Channel 4 News Couples Come Dine with Me Posh Pawn Countdown Village of the Year A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun Four in a Bed Extreme Cake Makers The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News The Secret Life of the Zoo 24 Hours in A and E Working Class White Men Before We Die

7:00am 10:15am 12:15pm 1:10pm 1:15pm 2:15pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 4:15pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:05am

Childrens TV The Wright Stuff GPs: Behind Closed Doors 5 News Lunchtime The Hotel Inspector Home and Away Neighbours NCIS False Pretences 5 News Neighbours Home and Away 5 News Tonight Secrets of the National Trust with Alan Titchmarsh Diet Secrets and How to Lose Weight Celebrity Big Brother One Night with My Ex Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side

7:00am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:00am

The Dog Whisperer Monkey Life Monkey Life Meerkat Manor Meerkat Manor Road Wars Stargate Atlantis MacGyver NCIS: Los Angeles Hawaii Five-0 Hawaii Five-0 NCIS: Los Angeles Stargate SG-1 The Simpsons Futurama Futurama The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Harry Hill’s Tea Time The Blacklist Trollied A League of Their Own The Force: North East

Mission: Impossible II, 10pm, Sky1

Britain's Favourite Dogs: Top 100, 8.30pm, ITV1

Pick of the Day

WEDNESDAY 7:00am 10:15am 11:00am 12:00pm 12:45pm 1:15pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 4:00pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 12:15am

Breakfast Rip Off Britain Homes Under the Hammer Wanted Down Under Close Calls: On Camera Bargain Hunt BBC News BBC London News Doctors Father Brown Escape to the Country The Farmers’ Country Showdown Antiques Road Trip Pointless BBC News BBC London News The One Show Match of the Day Live BBC News BBC London News A Question of Sport And They’re Off... for Sport Relief

7:00am Flog it! Trade Secrets 7:30am The Farmers’ Country Showdown 8:15am Antiques Road Trip 9:00am Fern Britton Meets... 10:00am Victoria Derbyshire 12:00pm BBC Newsroom Live 12:30pm The Daily Politics 2:00pm Masters Snooker 5:45pm More Creatures Great and Small 6:15pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Great British Railway Journeys 8:00pm Rick Stein’s Road to Mexico 9:00pm Tom Kerridge’s Lose Weight for Good 9:30pm Trust Me, I’m a Doctor 10:00pm Millionaires’ Ex-Wives Club 11:00pm Mock the Week 11:30pm Newsnight 12:15am Masters Snooker Highlights

7:00am Good Morning Britain 9:30am Lorraine 10:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30am This Morning 1:30pm Loose Women 2:30pm ITV News 3:00pm Judge Rinder 4:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:25pm Party Political Broadcast 7:30pm ITV News 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Britain’s Brightest Family 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm Girlfriends 11:00pm ITV News 11:30pm ITV News London 11:40pm Transformation Street 12:40am Britain’s Busiest Airport Heathrow

7:45am 3rd Rock from the Sun 8:10am Everybody Loves Raymond 8:35am Everybody Loves Raymond 9:00am Everybody Loves Raymond 9:30am Frasier 10:00am Frasier 10:35am Frasier 11:05am Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA 12:00pm Sun, Sea and Selling Houses 1:00pm Channel 4 News 1:05pm Couples Come Dine with Me 2:05pm Posh Pawn 3:10pm Countdown 4:00pm Village of the Year 5:00pm A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun 6:00pm Four in a Bed 6:30pm Extreme Cake Makers 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm Kirstie and Phil’s Love it or List it 10:00pm Kiri 11:00pm 999: What’s Your Emergency? 12:05am 24 Hours in A and E

7:00am Childrens TV 10:15am The Wright Stuff 12:15pm GPs: Behind Closed Doors 1:10pm 5 News Lunchtime 1:15pm The Hotel Inspector 2:15pm Home and Away 2:45pm Neighbours 3:15pm NCIS 4:15pm A Murderer Upstairs 6:00pm 5 News 6:30pm Neighbours 7:00pm Home and Away 7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm Starting Up, Starting Over 9:00pm GPs: Behind Closed Doors 10:00pm Celebrity Big Brother 11:00pm When Beyonce Met Jayz 12:05am Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side

7:00am The Dog Whisperer 8:00am Monkey Life 8:30am Monkey Life 9:00am Meerkat Manor 9:30am Meerkat Manor 10:00am Road Wars 10:30am Road Wars 11:00am Stargate Atlantis 12:00pm MacGyver 1:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 2:00pm Hawaii Five-0 3:00pm Hawaii Five-0 4:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 5:00pm Stargate SG-1 6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Futurama 7:00pm Futurama 7:30pm The Simpsons 8:00pm The Simpsons 8:30pm The Simpsons 9:00pm A League of Their Own 10:00pm A League of Their Own 11:00pm Russell Howard’s Hour 12:00am The Force: North East

7:00am Good Morning Britain 9:30am Lorraine 10:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30am This Morning 1:30pm Loose Women 2:30pm ITV News 3:00pm Judge Rinder 4:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 5:00pm Tipping Point 6:00pm The Chase 7:00pm ITV News London 7:30pm ITV News 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Tonight 9:00pm Emmerdale 9:30pm The Cruise 10:00pm Transformation Street 11:00pm ITV News 11:30pm ITV News London 11:45pm Great Art 12:45am Lethal Weapon

7:45am 3rd Rock from the Sun 8:10am Everybody Loves Raymond 8:35am Everybody Loves Raymond 9:00am Everybody Loves Raymond 9:30am Frasier 10:00am Frasier 10:35am Frasier 11:05am Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA 12:00pm Sun, Sea and Selling Houses 1:00pm Channel 4 News 1:05pm Couples Come Dine with Me 2:05pm Posh Pawn 3:10pm Countdown 4:00pm Village of the Year 5:00pm A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun 6:00pm Four in a Bed 6:30pm Extreme Cake Makers 7:00pm The Simpsons 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Channel 4 News 9:00pm George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces 10:00pm Hunted 11:00pm Derry Girls 11:35pm The Undateables 12:35am Working Class White Men

7:00am Childrens TV 10:15am The Wright Stuff 12:15pm GPs: Behind Closed Doors 1:10pm 5 News Lunchtime 1:15pm The Hotel Inspector Returns 2:15pm Home and Away 2:45pm Neighbours 3:15pm NCIS 4:15pm Her Dark Past 6:00pm 5 News 6:30pm Neighbours 7:00pm Home and Away 7:30pm 5 News Tonight 8:00pm Baby Ballroom 9:00pm Big Family Values: More Kids Than Cash 10:00pm Celebrity Big Brother 11:00pm Celebrity 100% Hotter! 12:05am Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side

7:00am The Dog Whisperer 8:00am Monkey Life 8:30am Monkey Life 9:00am Meerkat Manor 9:30am Meerkat Manor 10:00am Road Wars 10:30am Road Wars 11:00am Stargate Atlantis 12:00pm MacGyver 1:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 2:00pm Hawaii Five-0 3:00pm Hawaii Five-0 4:00pm NCIS: Los Angeles 5:00pm Stargate SG-1 6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Futurama 7:00pm Futurama 7:30pm The Simpsons 8:00pm The Simpsons 8:30pm The Simpsons 9:00pm Duck Quacks Don’t Echo 10:00pm A League of Their Own 11:00pm Delicious 12:00am The Force: North East

Match of the Day Live, 8.30pm, BBC1

thursday 7:00am Breakfast 10:15am Rip Off Britain 11:00am Homes Under the Hammer 12:00pm Wanted Down Under 12:45pm Close Calls: On Camera 1:15pm Bargain Hunt 2:00pm BBC News 2:30pm BBC London News 2:45pm Doctors 3:15pm Father Brown 4:00pm Escape to the Country 4:45pm The Farmers’ Country Showdown 5:30pm Antiques Road Trip 6:15pm Pointless 7:00pm BBC News 7:30pm BBC London News 8:00pm The One Show 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Big Cats 10:00pm Death in Paradise 11:00pm BBC News 11:30pm BBC London News 11:45pm Question Time 12:45am This Week

7:00am Flog it! Trade Secrets 7:30am The Farmers’ Country Showdown 8:15am Antiques Road Trip 9:00am MasterChef: The Professionals 10:00am Victoria Derbyshire 12:00pm BBC Newsroom Live 1:00pm The Daily Politics J2:00pm Masters Snooker 5:45pm More Creatures Great and Small 6:15pm Flog It! 7:00pm Eggheads 7:30pm Great British Railway Journeys 8:00pm Masters Snooker 9:00pm Hairy Bikers’ Mediterranean Adventure 10:00pm A House Through Time 11:00pm The Mash Report 11:30pm Newsnight 12:15am Masters Snooker Highlights

this weeks weather FRI Jan 12

sat Jan 13

sun Jan 14

mon Jan 15

tue Jan 16

wed Jan 17

thu Jan 18

18º 11ºC

17º 5ºC

16º 1ºC

14º 6ºC

15º 7ºC

16º 8ºC

15º 6ºC

Sunshine

Cloudy a shower in the p.m.

Partly sunny

Mostly sunny

Sunny

Hunted, 10pm, Channel 4

health Three must-have nuts for healthy, glowing skin 1. Walnuts - They may be slightly bitter in flavour, but they are known to have anti-inflammatory properties, thanks to the omega-3 fatty acids. A handful can boost vitamin B levels that are particularly responsible for boosting your skin health by keeping age related fine lines and wrinkles at bay. 2. Almonds - Almonds are used almost everywhere, from savouries to snacks and desserts, after all they are packed with essential fatty acids, protein, and fibre. Almonds also provide vitamin E that keeps the blood vessels dilated to keep the skin hydrated and further defend the skin against certain disorders like acne, eczema and dark spots. 3. Cashews - Cashews are known as acne-fighting nutrients. These nuts are high in selenium, which acts as an antioxidant with vitamin E, leaving a hydrated skin and reduced inflammation. The presence of zinc promotes immune function for healing and cell growth that can renew and replenish infected or damaged acne zones.

Make it a New Year resolution – be clearer on cancer

EVERY year, around 17,450 people in England are diagnosed with bladder or kidney cancer. Around 7,600 people die from bladder or kidney cancer in England each year. Both cancers affect men and women, although they are more common in men. Most people diagnosed with these cancers are over 50. Those who have worked in manufacturing jobs that involved the use of rubber, dyes, textiles, plastics or certain other chemicals are more prone to developing bladder cancer. Smokers have a much higher risk of bladder and kidney cancer. People on kidney dialysis are more at risk of developing kidney cancer. If you notice any blood in your pee, even if it is just once, tell your doctor straight away. The chances are it’s nothing serious, but these cancers are more treatable if they are found early. Blood in your pee is a key symptom for both types of cancer, and other bladder cancer symptoms to look out for include pain when urinating. Other kidney cancer symptoms include a pain in the side, below the ribs, that doesn’t go away, weight loss and, as with bladder cancer symptoms, if you notice blood in your pee, even if it’s ‘just the once’, tell your doctor. You’re not wasting anyone’s time by getting your symptoms checked out and, if it’s not serious, your mind will be put at rest. But if it is a condition such as bladder or kidney cancer, early detection makes it easier to treat. Seeing your doctor early could save your life. Some symptoms may be caused by an infection or bladder or kidney stones, all of which may need treatment. But don’t try and diagnose yourself. Go and see your doctor now to find out for sure.

health

Brain foods to help you concentrate Ginseng, fish, berries, or caffeine? Listen to the buzz about foods and dietary supplements, and you'll believe they can do everything from sharpen focus to enhance memory, attention span, and brain function. But do they really work? There's no denying that as we age, our body ages right along with us. The good news is that you can improve your chances of maintaining a healthy brain if you add "smart" foods and drinks to your diet. Caffeine can make you more alert There's no magic bullet to boost IQ or make you smarter -- but certain substances, like caffeine, can energize you and help you concentrate. Found in coffee, chocolate, energy drinks, and some medications, caffeine gives you that unmistakable wake-up buzz, though the effects are short-term. And more is often less: Overdo it on caffeine and it can make you jittery. Sugar can enhance alertness Sugar is your brain's preferred fuel source -not table sugar, but glucose, which your body processes from the sugars and carbs you eat. That's why a glass of OJ or another fruit juice can offer a short-term boost to memory, thinking, and mental ability. Have too much, though, and memory can be impaired -- along with the rest of you. Go easy on the added sugar, as it has been linked to heart disease and other conditions. Eat breakfast to fuel your brain Tempted to skip breakfast? Studies have found that eating breakfast may improve short-term memory and attention. Students who eat it tend to perform better than those who don’t. Foods at the top of researchers' brain-fuel list include high-fibre whole grains, dairy, and fruits. Just don't overeat; researchers also found highcalorie breakfasts appear to hinder concentration. Fish really is brain food A protein source linked to a great brain boost

is fish -- rich in omega-3 fatty acids that are key for brain health. These healthy fats have amazing brain power: A diet with higher levels of them has been linked to lower dementia and stroke risks and slower mental decline; plus, they may play a vital role in enhancing memory, especially as we get older. For brain and heart health, eat two servings of fish weekly. Add a daily dose of nuts and chocolate Nuts and seeds are good sources of the antioxidant vitamin E, which has been linked in some studies to less cognitive decline as you age. Dark chocolate also has other powerful antioxidant properties, and it contains natural stimulants like caffeine, which can enhance focus. Enjoy up to an ounce a day of nuts and dark chocolate to get all the benefits you need with a minimum of excess calories, fat, or sugar. Add avocados and whole grains Every organ in the body depends on blood flow, especially the heart and brain. A diet high in whole grains and fruits like avocados can cut the risk of heart disease and lower bad cholesterol. This reduces your risk of plaque build-up and enhances blood flow, offering a simple, tasty way to fire up brain cells. Whole grains, like popcorn and whole wheat, also contribute dietary fibre and vitamin E. Though avocados have fat, it's the good-foryou, monounsaturated fat that helps with healthy blood flow. Blueberries are super nutritious Research in animals shows that blueberries may help protect the brain from the damage caused by free radicals and may reduce the effects

of age-related conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Studies also show that diets rich in blueberries improved both the learning and muscle function of aging rats, making them mentally equal to much younger rats. Benefits of a healthy diet It may sound trite but it's true: If your diet lacks essential nutrients, it can hurt your ability to concentrate. Eating too much or too little can also interfere with your focus. A heavy meal may make you feel tired, while too few calories can result in distracting hunger pangs. Benefit your brain: Strive for a well-balanced diet full of a wide variety of healthy foods. Vitamins, minerals, and supplements? Store shelves groan with supplements claiming to boost health. Although many of the reports on the brain-boosting power of supplements like vitamins B, C, E, betacarotene, and magnesium are promising, a supplement is only useful to people whose diets are lacking in that specific nutrient. Some

researchers are cautiously optimistic about ginseng, ginkgo, and vitamin, mineral, and herb combinations and their impact on the brain, but more proof is still needed. Check with your doctor. Get ready for a big day Want to power up your ability to concentrate? Start with a meal of 100% fruit juice, a whole-grain bagel with salmon, and a cup of coffee. In addition to eating a wellbalanced meal, experts also offer this advice: • Get a good night's sleep. • Stay hydrated. • Exercise to help sharpen thinking. • Meditate to clear thinking and relax.

Puzzles Code Breaker

Mars skims Uranus and backs up plans you have in store. Heavyweight Mars brings intensity and reward whilst Uranus celebrates your awareness and technique. This time around you seem to have all your eggs in one basket, but then you know that everything now seems right, and you are ready!

Word Pyramid

Allow somebody the benefit of the doubt as you take things in your stride during a week of good fortune and opportunity. Jupiter sextiles Pluto and your ebullient mood serves to inspire others who, quite frankly, need now to take a step into reality. Don’t let your generosity go to you head, but do have fun! Your psychic senses are working overtime but you know that something just isn’t right and you have your intuition to help piece things together. Venus squares Uranus and love will triumph, and you know that. Whatever has to come next is part of the scheme to show others that you are not to be messed with.

Kenny’s Postbag Kenny, another year and I feel as if I am back

to square one again with the same old same old!

WORD fit

Using just logic, can you make all the words fit correctly into the grid?

What can I do? Grace G.

Your skills are sought after the weekend as somebody’s plans go awry, and you are set to save the day. This gives you ample opportunity to show others just what you can do when you have to, as you have a free reign to instigate and create. Actions between Jupiter and Pluto assist you somewhat.

what you need. A combination of these two vital

The sensitivity you muster is inspirational and stems from your soul energies. Whilst there are those who seek to control you; they should be a fuller part of your dreams and portents by respecting that you offer sincerity and the truth. Left alone you have the good guidance you need and a fuller insight into what’s next!

Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 23 represents Q and 25 represents H. Now using your knowledge of the English language work out which letters should go in the missing squares. As you discover the letters, fill in other squares with the same number in the main grid and the control grid.

Well Grace, be unafraid to make the changes

Everything centres around work issues right now, as you seem to have a problem in communicating just what you have in mind. Your vision is inspired and your enthusiasm hard to keep in bounds; but uncertainty won’t help to get this show on the road, nor will it do you any favours whatsoever.

There is 1x11 letter word and 283 others! Make as many 3 or more letter words as you can using any letter combination just once and you must use the central letter in every word!

Mars is in action with Kora, and though this week is truly a delicious break away from routine, so too is it a time to sit down and think. Change for changes sake is pointless but you reap what you sow and it is time that your true feelings were made known; especially since you have other fish to fry!

The entry of Mercury this week allows effective communication to work on your behalf. You are charged and ready but waiting for something to get your teeth into, and so events this week may show you the many options that you have ahead of you. When the time comes you will see exactly what’s in store.

Word Wheel

Mercury’s conjunct with Saturn means that you are leaving no stone unturned this time around. The wisdom of Saturn and the communication enabled by Mercury sees things coming right at last. It has been a long and difficult journey but now you can see light at the end of the tunnel at last!

As the Sun squares on Uranus it is vital that you abandon fear and go for the gold that you so deserve. Life seems to have been a string of compromises just lately, but now that you have rejected second best you are ready to take on that which you deserve. Be distinct and make it clear what comes next.

Start at a letter and spell out a 10-letter word by moving to adjacent letters. Each letter will be used at least once, but no letter will be used twice in a row.

As Venus veers towards Aquarius at the end of the week, the focus is on working with the heart, as you examine clearly the inner you and actually like what you find. Since you have left things open in a relationship issue, the time comes to have a soulful chat to iron away any nagging doubts.

This is not the best of times to retreat into that shell and plan the many nasty nips due to those who have failed to support you. Angry though you may be, this week is all about forging new connections and forgiving the past for what it has done to you. An acquaintance soon becomes a friend indeed!

you would like to make. You will be surprised what happens when you have Spirit onboard. Eliminate

the fear of the future and bring in action to get elements will bring you result and reward; and you

are in need of both! I wish you all that you wish for

yourself and wherever 2018 takes you on this your journey.

Don't forget to email or message me with your Postbag Questions!. Check out my new website: www.kennycorris.net

For Birthday Celebrants Forget the tried and tested and accept that the Cosmos will provide for those who eliminate fear and instigate positive actions. Be prepared to see things from a different angle.

3 letter words AIR DIM 4 letter words BAKE BULL EARN ETCH LOAD TRUE

5 letter words ADAPT BASIC CATCH DIARY DODGE LUCID POLAR SALAD 6 letter words BALLAD CARROT DESIRE NOTICE

7 letter words ABSTAIN APPLAUD CONTROL DELAYED SALIENT SHELTER TEMPTED TRAINED 8 letter words AUDIENCE BASEBALL

More Puzzles

Cryptic

ACROSS 1 Deny policeman’s allegation (8) 6 Go off nonsense (3) 9 Legal centre for solicitor (5) 10 Company car is ordered for island (7) 11 Emperor going round old country could be positive or negative (3-4) 13 God with new thing that’s sharp (5) 14 Reluctant savers expect inclusion (6) 15 Everyone in competition for conscription (4-2) 18 Cushion concerning chaplain (5) 20 Charitable gift for worker on strike (4-3) 21 Needing a cure, do set out for the country (7) 22 Feudal superior in Belgian city (5) 23 Auction item for biblical character (3) 24 Playing darts? Yes, in leisure time (4,4) DOWN 2 Making a terrible scene in anger (7) 3 Economy measure called for by movie director? (3) 4 Secure part in Metropolitan chorus (6) 5 Knit a warm wrap for this writer (4,5) 6 Crumpled horn protecting one animal (5) 7 Loco observer teaches craftsman (5,7) 8 Singer in valley with clan member (4,8) 12 Object in festival for Cockney? (4,5) 16 Conveniences on top of cathedral? Not exactly! (7) 17 Church with weapons? Lucky things! (6) 19 Discourage daughter and parent’s sister (5) 22 Youth leaders in Leeds and Doncaster (3)

Soduku

Quick

Futoshiki

The purpose of the game is to discover the digits hidden inside the board’s cells; each cell is filled with a digit between 1 and 6. On each row and column each digit appears exactly once; therefore, when revealed, the digits of the board form a so-called Latin square. The board may also contain some inequalities between the board cells; these inequalities must be respected and can be used as clues in order to discover the remaining hidden digits. ie > is greater than and < is less than.

Fill the grid so every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9

Quiz 1 James Grieve, Blenheim Orange, Irish Peach, and Ashmead’s Kernel are traditional varieties of: Walnuts; Apples; Plums; or Lemons? 2 RPM on a traditional record player stands for what? 3 A traditional Moroccan house with central atrium courtyard/garden is called a: Riad; Cyan; Triad; or Fad? 4 Junk, Trimaran, Pontoon, and Luzzu are types of: Card games; Boats; Floppy hats; or Indian spiced rice dishes? 5 The Atlas Mountains extend across which three of these countries: Spain; Morocco; Turkey; Algeria; Tunisia? 6 Twelve three-hundredths (12/300) expresssed as a percentage is: 2%; 4%; 8%; or 12%? 7 Sabot and saboton (from French, savate and botte) are respectively a box from which casino cards are dealt, and knight’s armour, equating to a: Shoe; Glove; Hat; or Pocket? 8 Oddly known by its river, Kingston-upon-(What?) was judged by Rough Guides 2016 among the ten best places to visit in the world: Thames; Severn; Hull; or Trent? 9 The traditional pudding of strawberries, meringue and whipped cream is called: Eton Mess; Harrow Crumble; Roedean Chaos; or Westminster Splodge? 10 Flat-top, Pageboy, Mullet, and Bob are: Simpson’s characters; Hairstyles; Plumber’s tools; or Yacht sail configurations?

ACROSS 1 Quandary (7) 5 Doctor’s stand-in (5) 8 Throng (5) 9 Curling lock of hair (7) 10 World’s highest mountain (7) 11 Expertise (5) 12 Light meals (6) 14 Tight-fitting undergarment (6) 18 Sofa (5) 20 Rather old (7) 22 Capital of China (7) 23 Electronic sound reproduction (5) 24 Furious (5) 25 Borne (7)

DOWN 1 Author of “Dombey and Son” (7) 2 Slack (5) 3 Wednesday or thereabouts (7) 4 Charge with gas (6) 5 Connections (5) 6 Temperature scale (7) 7 Accommodation for motorists (5) 13 Comical (7) 15 Veteran (3,4) 16 Gland in the neck (7) 17 Skimpy (6) 18 Hooded snake (5) 19 Hirsute (5) 21 One on horseback (5)

Last Weeks Solutions on page 42

More Puzzles

Giant Crossword Across

Across 1. Ignited (7) 5. Express strong disapproval of (7) 9. Intense emotion (7) 14. Stitched (5) 15. Changed (7) 16. Angry (5) 17. Mediterranean fruit (5) 18. Joke (3) 19. Elevate (5) 21. Departing (5) 22. Highway (5) 23. Oblivious (7) 24. Chuckled (7) 26. Extra (10) 27. Tight (4) 30. Evade (5) 31. Thumb a ride (9) 33. Treasured (9) 34. Large church (9) 35. Make ready (7) 37. Consultant (7) 39. Tenders (4) 40. Hide (7) 42. Administration of the law (7) 43. Weapons (4) 48. Sweepstake (7) 50. Go before (7) 51. Persuaded (9) 52. Clapped (9) 54. Atoms (9) 1

Down

1. Kind of falcon (7) 2. Novel (3) 3. Ridge (5) 4. Hauled (7) 5. Prejudicial (11) 6. Group of sentences (9) 7. Commanded (7) 8. Protocol (9) 9. Inert medication (7) 10. Take a risk for profit (9) 11. Meteorological indicator (6) 12. Currency of Nigeria (5) 13. Forstalled (9) 20. Swamped (9) 5

Jumbo Quiz

25. Paid close attention to (6) 28. Dull pains (5) 29. Strainer (5) 30. Unit of sound intensity (7) 31. Concordance (7) 32. Notion (4) 33. Top line of a hill (5) 35. Serenity (5) 36. Entertain (5) 37. Goes up (7) 38. Dwells (7) 41. Roman god of love (5) 44. Remedied (9) 45. Commenced (5) 46. Rend (4) 47. Chess piece (6) 49. Lukewarm (5) 51. Famous people (11) 52. Astonishment (9) 53. Athletic contest (9) 54. Harbinger (9) 55. Exactly the same (9) 59. Previously (7) 60. Stuck (7) 61. Deference (7) 62. Female performer (7) 63. Buy back for money (6) 65. Used to control a horse (5) 68. Small piece of bread or cake (5) 74. Pool stick (3)

56. Successors (5) 57. Tallies (4) 58. Increase speed (10) 61. Reproduction (7) 64. Sincere (7) 66. Coarse (5) 67. Attempts (5) 68. Trainee (5) 69. Average (3) 70. Deport (5) 71. Dens (5) 72. Repose (7) 73. Male relative (5) 75. Conference (7) 76. Conundrums (7) 77. Pills (7)

18 19

29 30

45 48

63 64

67 69

1 Which of these is the only coastal capital city of South America: Santiago; Lima; Brasilia; Buenos Aires? 2 The poodle dog/name originated in Germany from association with: Shaving; Water; Circuses; or Dung? 3 In Europe which dangerous natural phenomenon exists only in Portugal, Norway, Iceland, Italy and the Canary Islands: Malaria; Volcanoes; Typhoons; or Bears? 4 In maths the cube root of an eighth is a: Sixty-fourth; Half; Ninth; or Three-quarters? 5 Richard Adams’ 1972 anthropomorphic novel Watership Down is about a colony of: Ducks; Kangaroos; Rabbits; or Neanderthals? 6 1960s Thamesmead social housing estate in SE London was the main location for the film: A Clockwork Orange; Thunderball; Batman Returns; or Taxi Driver? 7 The Battle of Jutland was the only (What?) battle of the 1st World War: Air; Tank; Naval; or Cavalry? 8 Lent (Latin Quadragesima) is traditionally a Christian religious fast of how many days: 12; 21; 40; or 52? 9 The expression ‘Book him Dano’ (urging action/reprimand) originated 1960-80s in: The Rocky Horror Show; Hawaii Five-O; Opportunity Knocks; or The Flintstones? 10 In May 2016 the world record for ‘planking’ (a stress position on toes and forearms) was set at: 45mins; 93mins; 2.5hrs; or 8hrs? 11 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay did what in May 1953: Invented Aspirin; First ascent of Everest; Flew faster than the speed of sound; or Discovered the first oil in USA? 12 Baklava, a food in Turkish/Central-West Asian cuisine, is a type of: Salad; Pastry; Stew; or Fish soup? 13 What iconic British brand of matches and tobacco smoking materials is the Roman goddess of the hearth/fire? 14 Grévy’s, Grant’s, Chapman’s, and the extinct Quagga, are varieties of: Lion; Gorilla; Zebra; or Hippopotamus? 15 Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), first identified in willow bark by Hippocrates c.400BC, is better known as what a genericized trademark: Aspirin; Heroin; The (birth control) Pill; or Sugar? 16 What Anglicized German word originally from ‘harm-joy’ refers to pleasure derived from misfortunes of others? 17 The Latin word via originally meant: Travel; Road; Map; or Visit? 18 Anthropomorphic means: Australian; Prehistoric; Feathered; or Human characteristics given to something nonhuman? 19 The Anglicized Italian portmanteau word chiaroscuro refers to a painting style of: Animals and children; Light and dark; Happy and sad; or Fruit and vegetables? 20 Match these South American capitals to their countries: Santiago, Lima, Brasilia, Buenos Aires - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru?

More Puzzles

Squiggly Soduku

American Capitals Wordsearch BATONROUGE OLYMPIA HARRISBURG SALTLAKECITY MONTGOMERY RICHMOND LITTLEROCK HONOLULU NASHVILLE HELENA DESMOINES COLUMBIA MONTPELIER TALLAHASSEE JACKSON PROVIDENCE OKLAHOMACITY SACRAMENTO

Number Cruncher 59752346353552487785112

Did you know?

Across

Down

1. Three times 19 down

1. 12 across divided by eleven

4. 19 down minus five

2. 1 down plus twenty-five

6. 15 across plus eighty-three

3. Minutes in three days

7. 17 across minus 2

4. Dozen in twelve gross

8. 18 down plus thirty-eight

5. Seconds in five minutes

10. 19 across minus sixty-six

9. 17 down minus eleven

12. 3 down plus forty-seven

10. 11 down minus eight

14. 12 across doubled

11. Minutes in three hours

15. 13 down minus 150

13. 3 down divided by twelve

17. 20 down minus sixteen

16. 23 across doubled

19. 5 down minus 133

17. 14 across divided by eleven

21. Minutes in four hours

18. 4 down times three

22. Four times 4 across

19. Months in nine years

23. Five times 10 down

20. 3 down divided by six

• Did you know dreamt is the only word that ends in mt • Did you know the first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON • Did you know a cat has 32 muscles in each ear • Did you know Perth is Australia’s windiest city • Did you know Elvis’s middle name was Aron • Did you know goldfish can see both infrared and ultraviolet light • Did you know the smallest bones in the human body are found in • your ear • Did you know cats spend 66% of their life asleep • Did you know Switzerland eats the most chocolate equating to 10 kilos per person per year • Did you know money is the number one thing that couples argue about • Did you know macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs • Did you know when lightning strikes it can reach up to 30,000

degrees celsius (54,000 degrees fahrenheit) • Did you know spiders are arachnids and not insects • Did you know each time you see a full moon you always see the same side • Did you know stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand • Did you know honey is the only natural food which never spoils • Did you know M&M’s chocolate stands for the initials for its inventors Mars and Murrie • Did you know that you burn more calories eating celery than it contains (the more you eat the thinner you become) • Did you know the only continent with no active volcanoes is Australia • Did you know the longest street in the world is Yonge street in Toronto Canada measuring 1,896 km (1,178 miles)

24 feb - 2 march 2017

clubs & charities

Under privileged benefit from Footwork donation

Bringing to an end a very successful year for the Los Montesinos based Dance Studio, the 10th Anniversary show “ Kaleidoscope “ had a fabulous line up of diverse routines and music and an array of beautiful costumes. To bring such an exciting show together takes an enormous amount of organisation and all credit should be given to all the mums and back stage staff, part of the Footwork family, who contribute to making a wonderful evening of entertainment. Thanks also to John Crabbe who took pictures during the shows. The audience were not left disappointed as the quality of performances and as in previous shows were captivated by the youngest of the students with their routines. During the evening there were many outstanding performances, showcasing the diversity of dance and highlighting the talent within the group. This proving that dance can be for all age groups. The Finale was a particular favourite with the audience and they were invited to participate in a similar way as the last night of the proms, with flags waving and the community singing. During the year the Footwork has obtained great results from two exam sessions with over 90% of the students receiving distinction. Four of the senior girls had the experience of performing in Hungary, Benidorm Palace and locally after being chosen to perform

Erica Dorrill’s presentation to the Mayor of Los Montesinos

with La Sal de Torrevieja .To top this two of the senior girls have been accepted into theatre colleges in the UK as from September 2018, where they will continue their dance and performing arts training. As a result of the generosity of the audience, €800 was donated along with food and essential items

purchased from local supermarkets and pharmacies for to the underprivileged of Los Montesinos. In addition a donation will be made to the Medi Dogs organisation. To find out more about Footwork Dance, you can contact Erica on 662 003 823, or visit the website www.footworkdancestudio.com

Chatters announce January guest by Bill Hulse THE GUEST Speaker at the January meeting of Chatters will be Jayne Hardisty, a well known local artist with an interesting story to tell. During her talk Jayne will also be demonstrating her skills, and wants to show us ‘that anyone can paint’. This meeting will be held on Wednesday January 17. Chatters is open to all and is free of charge. Complimentary refreshments will be served between 10.15am and 10.45am, and the meeting starts at 11am. The venue, as usual is the Las Claras Centre in Los Narejos. As well as Jayne’s talk there will be the usual quizzes and the opportunity to win some modest prizes. Newcomers are especially welcome as Chatters provides the ideal opportunity to meet new friends as well old. Why not come along and see for yourself? Chatters is sponsored by Help at Home, a local charity that is dedicated to providing a little extra help in time of need. Perhaps due to ill health, or following an accident, or simply because you are alone and would welcome some support. We also have an extensive range of mobility aids which are available on loan without charge to locals and visitors alike. Please call for details and, where possible, give us a little notice. We can be reached through our care line, 633 673 034, via Facebook, HAH(Help At Home) – Mar Menor, or by e-mail, helpathomespain@gmail.com Full details of all our activities can be found on our web site www.helpathome.es

Happy New Year from the animals THE Finca San Miguel de Salinas – Happy Animales Orihuela (Spanien) had a good, if not wet and cold start to 2018. Mad, but generous, fund-raisers Tina and Cheryl were looking to collect even more money to go toward the animals by going into the sea on New Year’s Day. The original plan was for them to take the plunge at midday, surrounded by a number of supporters and although the sun was shining brightly it was still, to say the least, a little chilly in the air. Unfortunately, doctor’s orders said that Tina wasn’t allowed to go into the surf so instead her very brave partner Graham volunteered to do it in her place and he joined Cheryl and her sister Karen. Thanks to them and their wonderful sponsors, they raised a superb €571. Money raised goes to feed and look after 50 animals and it’s a never-ending task that costs around €1,500 a month, and that’s without any unexpected vet’s fees. The group also need to get the vehicle repaired that transports the animals food and materials around, and that’s expected to cost around €1,500 as well. If there’s anybody out there that can help with the

repairs, they would be delighted to hear from you via the contact details below. Tomorrow, Saturday January 13, Bar Establo is hosting a fund raising afternoon beginning at 1pm, with all the money raised paying for the upkeep of the animals. Finca San Miguel de Salinas is supported by Happy Animales Orihuela (Spanien), and looks after 8 horses, 4 ponies, 3 dogs, 8 goats, 13 geese, 4 pigs, chickens, ducks, and 27 cats. Every last Saturday of the month there is an Open Day where people can come along and enjoy an afternoon mixing with the animals. Refreshments are available and visitors are asked to bring a donation of some animal foods such as carrots, lettuce, apples, dog and cat food (from ALDI), dog and cat biscuits or a small cash donation, as every euro counts. For more information, call Mona on 616 792 355 or email Sol at nicosolm@hotmail.com You can also become a member of the Facebook group fincasanmigueldesalinas

SKILLS ON DISPLAY: An example of Jayne Hardisty’s work Photo credit: Facebook

Letters to the Editor Great addition RTN is always one of my favourite papers, full of local news and features but what a delight to see the puzzles pages

talk to us

extended. I can now enjoy RTN even longer than before. Marcy Hammond, Torrevieja

Out of place

I normally love your excellent newspaper but the article The Way I See It – A Christmas story? (Issue 948) made me see red. Christmas is a Christian festival and a supportive

article would have been more appropriate with this controversial report completely out of place. Anne (full name and address supplied)

Editor´s note: The article failed to meet the high professional standards demanded for all our published reports, and we apologise for any upset caused.

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24 feb - 2 march 2017

food & drink

Beef mince stroganoff Ingredients

1 (16oz) package egg noodles, 1 pound lean ground beef, 1 (0.75oz) packet dry brown gravy mix, 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, 1 (6oz) can chopped mushrooms, with liquid, 1/2 cup milk, 1 (8oz) container sour cream, 2 (10.75oz) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup

Method

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

2. In a frying pan over medium heat, brown the ground beef until no pink shows, (about 5 minutes); drain fat. 3. Mix brown gravy, cream

cheese, and mushrooms with the mince beef, stirring until cream cheese melts. Add milk, sour cream, and mushroom soup to cooked pasta. Blend

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 clove garlic, minced, 2 cups corkscrew pasta, 1 1/2 cups diced ham, 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain, rinse, and drain once more. Set aside. 2. In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, grated cheese, parsley, milk, and garlic. Mix well. Stir in pasta, ham, and tomatoes. Chill for several hours.

Snappy Ginger Apple Crisp

Ingredients

For the topping: ½ cup plain flour, ¼ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup light brown sugar, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 6 tablespoons butter, cut into ½-pieces, softened, ½ cup oatmeal For the filling: 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ - ¼ teaspoon red pepper, 3 tablespoons corn starch, 6 cups sliced apples

Method For the topping 1. Combine flour, sugars, and cinnamon in large bowl (or food processor bowl). 2. Cut in butter cubes until mixture forms large clumps. (In food processor pulse 8 to 10 times.) 3. Stir in oatmeal and set aside. For the filling 1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a small

bowl combine sugar, cinnamon, red pepper and cornstarch; set aside. 2. Combine apple slices and chopped ginger root. Stir in sugar/cornstarch mixture. Spread apple mixture in a 9-inch square baking pan. 3. Sprinkle topping evenly over the apples. Bake for 45 minutes or until apples are bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Serve with custard, cream or ice-cream.

Slow-cooker pepper steak Ingredients

2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 2 inch strips, garlic powder to taste, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 beef stock cube, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2 large green bell peppers, roughly chopped, 1 (14.5oz) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon white sugar, 1 teaspoon salt

the mince mixture with pasta. Preparation time – 20 minutes. Cooking time – 10 minutes.

Macaroni Salad

Method

1. Sprinkle strips of sirloin with garlic powder to taste. In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat the vegetable oil and brown the seasoned beef strips. Transfer to a slow cooker. 2. Mix stock cube with hot water until dissolved, then mix in cornstarch until dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker with meat. Stir in onion, green peppers, stewed tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and salt. 3. Cover, and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

home & garden

Dark colours and ‘jewel’ tones for that deluxe look WHILE the term “jewel’ may evoke images of bright summer shades, this punchy look has been played down for the winter season and given a deluxe update. Originally inspired by Moroccan and Eastern influences, the collection of colours has evolved over time and can now be introduced through deeper, warmer hues that will give your interior a sense of opulence and grandeur. Although this look might seem like a daunting change from safe neutrals, it’s easy to work in as much or as little as you feel comfortable with and even a few pieces in stand-out shades will have a big impact thanks to their rich colours. Dark interiors have been a hot topic for several seasons now and there’s no better time of year to embrace this look than in the winter

months when it can really make your home feel extra cosy and inviting. When it comes to deciding on which jewel tones to include in your decorating, there are plenty of inspiring palettes to choose from. Indigo blue is perhaps the biggest trend this season, continued on from its more summery counterpart, retailers have made this dark, rich shade a focal point in everything from sofas and armchairs to wallpapers and paint colours. Emerald green also takes centre stage as part of this luxurious winter trend or, for a subtler look, opt for a slightly more muted forest green. For a pop of brighter colour, add in hints of vibrant fuchsia, chartreuse and turquoise to stand out from the darker pieces and don’t be afraid of mixing and matching to really layer up

the look. Accessorising and styling any space is what will really bring your scheme together, so it’s important to consider these details even when buying bigger pieces of furniture at the start. Jewel tones are really brought to life when paired

with metallic touches, particularly gold and brass, as the reflective finish of a metallic helps to lighten up darker colours, as well as giving them a sophisticated and luxurious edge. Pick out hints of gold in anything from lighting to soft furnishings depending

on the type of look you want to create; even a simple

gold-rimmed vase will tie in beautifully.

Jerusalem artichokes - the wonder veg

UNPOPULAR: Treat the Jerusalem artichokes well...and they’ll look after you JERUSALEM artichokes aren't a favourite vegetable among people gardeners that grow their own, but with the right know how they can be surprisingly enjoyable to nurture. Here's why… Jerusalem artichokes don’t have too many fans among the green-finger brigade. They grumble that once established they’re hard to get rid of and quickly dominate an area of their plot. But their longevity and ability to thrive where others falter are reasons why we’re happy to give over some of our land to this nobbly root veg. Here a just a few things that makes the Jerusalem artichoke a vegetable worth embracing: 1. Jerusalem artichokes are one of the most unfussy vegetables you could wish to grow.

2. They start life as tubers, planted at the same time as spuds but, unlike their more popular starchy cousin, they don’t need much attention once they're in the ground. 3. They’re not particularly bothered about soil quality, "earthing up" is not required, and they only need watering in particularly dry spells. So you really can stick them in the ground and forget about them. Once established, your Jerusalem artichokes will come back year after year. It’s all because they can grow from small snippets of tubers, which is why getting rid of them is tricky, so when you harvest them make sure to leave a few bits in situ and you’ll be rewarded with a highly productive perennial crop. Just take a little care when digging to not spread them beyond their designated patch.

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motoring

Nissan Navara takes on the gruelling Dakar Rally “DREAM… DARE… LIVE IT” is the official motto of the worldfamous Dakar Rally – and that’s exactly what one man and his Nissan Navara are currently experiencing. Mindaugas Plukys has bought the pickup, found sponsors to help him modify it and shipped it across the Atlantic Ocean to the start line in Lima, Peru. Timing for this ‘trip of a lifetime’ expedition could not be more perfect for Mindaugas. As the gruelling Dakar Rally celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2018, he will be doing the same thing later in the year. Mindaugas commented: “There is something about the Dakar Rally which has always inspired me, and this adventure has been five years in the planning. I always said I’d do it before my 40th birthday, so getting to South America in January 2018 has been my goal.” Mindaugas lives in Vilnius, Lithuania, and works for Nissan as part of the communications team in the Baltic region. It means the ‘tough and smart’ Nissan Navara was always going to be the vehicle to make his dream come true. The vehicle is a Double Cab model, powered by a 2.3litre 160PS diesel engine linked to a six-speed manual transmission. Finished in Flame Red, the ride height has been raised 4cm with an Old Man Emu suspension system. Nissan side bars and a rear bumper bar have been added to improve styling and durability, while a Rival underbody protection system has also been fitted. Night-time visibility is improved by a Hella LED light bar, while a plastic load liner and aluminium load cover provide secure storage.

On the roof are Thule cross bars and roof rack, plus a Lazer Triple R 16 LED bar for additional lighting. The exterior is finished with 18-inch black alloys and Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx tyres. Inside the Navara is standard apart from a 220V power converter plus the addition of four extra USB sockets. Mindaugas added: “The tough and smart character of the Nissan Navara makes it the perfect vehicle

for this adventure. Apart from the suspension upgrades and body protection, it’s a standard vehicle. Every other new component is there to make life easier. The route through South America will be hard, but I expect the Navara to cope with it.”

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motoring

RELEASE: The Mercedes A-35 likely to include hybrid model

Mercedes A-Class in full production soon MERCEDES has revealed that an AMG model with over 300hp will sit below the AMG A45, called the A35. It’ll bridge the gap between the standard A-Class and the high-performance A45, which is due in 2019 and will have more than 400hp. Thus, Mercedes will introduce a lowerpowered model to slot in between it and the rest of the A-Class range. With competition including the BMW M140i and Audi S3, expect the A35 to offer around 340hp. Initial images released seem to confirm that Mercedes will introduce a hybrid

model into the range. It’s expected to offer an electric range of 31 miles thanks to a 122hp 1.5-litre petrol engine and an 80hp electric motor. Expect it to be available from the launch of the new A-Class in mid-2018. The released images show an interior that looks far more luxurious than the one in the current A-Class. The design is similar to that of larger Mercedes models such as the E-Class. The flowing forms seemingly wrap around the driver’s seat and even entry-level cars get two digital displays on the dashboard, arranged side-by-side –

one replacing the analogue dials and one for the infotainment system. They come in three levels, with screen sizes increasing from seven to 10.25-inches. Mercedes says there’s more passenger space in the back of the new A-Class too, with more head, leg and shoulder room. The boot opening of the older car was annoyingly narrow, and that has been resolved in the new A-Class by using different rear lights. Boot space is up 29 litres on the old car and now sits at 370 litres – 10 more than a BMW 1 Series and 10 less than an Audi A3.

Mercedes’ smallest model will offer largely the same engine choices as the outgoing car – there’ll be four-cylinder 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre petrol engines and a 1.5-litre diesel. Although the engines are the same, they’ll produce more power and better fuel economy. A 2.0-litre diesel engine is also expected, and you’ll be able to choose from either a seven-speed dual-clutch auto or a six-speed manual gearbox. The addition of plug-in hybrid and electric versions will be almost inevitable in the next couple of years.

motoring

Carry on...with no cabby! MITSUBISHI MOTORS, Renault, and Nissan Motor are seeking a number of partnerships for their proposed move into the shared driverless robo-taxi market. The combination of some of the biggest names in the automobile industry plans to unveil who they’re hoping to work with in coming months, said Ogi Redzic, a senior vice president overseeing about 1,000 employees developing connectivity services for the group. The three want to work with technology companies that are already experimenting with self-driving cars, he said. These include, for example, Google and Uber Technologies. “Tech companies aren’t going to build and sell cars to our current customers,” said Redzic, a former Nokia executive. For them, autonomous technology enables and enhances their main businesses, he said. “We envision that partnerships are possible.” Renault, alongside its long-time partner Nissan, and their more recent ally Mitsubishi, plan to develop 15 models with autonomous features by 2022 that includes one fully self-driving vehicle. Combined, the companies spent a total of $8.3 billion on research and development last year which is similar to that of General Motors. The alliance has already reached some agreements to share the R&D burden. Nissan works with mobile-games editor DeNA on autonomous cabs to be tested in Yokohama, while Renault teamed up with French transportation-services provider Transdev to develop self-driving fleets. The alliance signed a deal with Microsoft last year to co-invest on developing backend cloud technology fit for autonomous vehicles. Other automakers have made similar deals. Volvo and Daimler have teamed up with Uber, and a driverless-car alliance has

NO TIPS?: Big three looking to develop driver-free taxis been recently announced pairing Volkswagen Group and Hyundai Motor with the startup Aurora will develop vehicles for Moia, VW’s electric ride-hailing network. To show off the perks of autonomous cars, Renault built a fully-working prototype called Symbioz that is capable of selfdriving on the open highway.

Redzic says drivers will be compelled to pay for a car that lets them take their eyes off the road, allowing them to answer emails, watch movies or recline in their seats. “Autonomous cars will bring more value to our existing customers,” Redzic said. “The vehicle itself is valuable and also services will generate a lot of value. We want to take a fair share.”

24 feb - 2 march 2017

sport

Khan can and will return

A former player, Tony Matthews is now the world’s most prolific author of football books with 150 published since 1975. He has also been a PE teacher, policeman, radio correspondent and is now a quiz-organiser and fund–raiser, for various charities.

Starting with cricket and it’s now Australia 15 England three with regards to Test Match victories down under over the last 12 years! Although they won the Ashes series 3-1 in 2010-11, England were white-washed 5-0 in 2006-07 and 2014-15 and they’ve just lost the latest series 4-0 after the Aussies comprehensively won the final Test by an innings and 123 runs in Sydney. As they say, things can only get better, starting hopefully, with the ODIs which take place over the next fortnight. The next Ashes series is in England in the summer of 2019. The first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year starts on Monday in Melbourne, Australia. Reigning champion Roger Federer is ranked second behind Rafal Nadal, followed by Grigor Dimitrov (3), Alexander Zverev (4), Dominic Thiem (5) and Marin Cilic (6), followed by three Americans, Jack Sock (8), Sam Querrey (13) and John Isner (16) while Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic are standing 9th and 12th respectively. The 2017 women’s champion Serena Williams is out, along with Victoria Azarenka, leaving Simona Halep as the top player, ahead of Caroline Wozniacki (2), Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza (3), Elina Svitolina (4), Venus Williams (5), Karoline Plitskova (6), Jelena Ostapenka (7), Caroline Garcia (8) and GB’s Johanna Konta (9). Injured Andy Murray is also out – he’s had a hip operation – and Kyle Edmund could be an absentee as well. My outsiders to reach the semi-finals at least are David Goffin and Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut and Madison Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe.

BACK IN THE RING: Amir Khan announces he’s “excited” for the future Photo credit: Twitter

AMIR KHAN, the British former light-welterweight world champion, will make a return to the ring on April 21 this year. This marks the first time in just under two years and the bout will take place at Liverpool’s Echo Arena. Promoter Eddie Hearn said that Khan’s opponent will be announced next week and will be Khan’s first contest since the 31-year-old was knocked out in May 2016 by Saul Alvarez from Mexico in a WBC middleweight fight. Plans for Khan to fight Manny Pacquiao in April 2017 were called off. Hearn said: “The target is to provide him with the biggest fights possible with a mouthwatering list of names including the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Kell Brook, Keith Thurman and Errol Spence. “I’m excited to get started and looking forward to a huge night of boxing on 21 April.” He said the long-term plan was for Khan to also fight in August or September “in preparation for a super fight in winter 2018”. At the announcement, Khan said: “I’m really excited for the next couple of years. I’m feeling fit and strong and I can’t wait to get back in the ring.”

Vega Baja Premier Golf League The venue for this month’s league game was the beautiful and well manicured Lo Romero Golf. The weather was very good, sunshine with a cool breeze which calmed down after the first hour. The course must have brought the best out of them as the scoring was very good. Up first was the second placed La Manga RGA

against EuroToffs, which was won by La Manga RGA 3-1. And by a slight margin of 4 points 278 to 282. RGA also took the 2 Bonus points. Next was the table topping Club 25 Golf, who took on third placed La Manga North in an even closer match, with the match ending in a draw 4 points each, with each team taking a bonus point

each. Overall score was La Manga North 276 points to 277 points by Club 25 Golf which gave each of them a Bonus point. Congratulations to all players who played majestically, and to the Staff at Lo Romero, for all their help, and preparing an immaculate course. The next game is at Roda Golf on February 2, First Tee 9.45am

VEGA BAJA PREMIER GOLF LEAGUE AFTER LO ROMERO 5TH JANUARY PLAYED

WON

DRAWN

LOST

BONUS POINTS

TOTAL

CLUB 25 GOLF

LA MANGA RGA

LA MANGA NORTH

CLUB GOLF SERENA

EUROTOFFS

The 2018 Masters Snooker championship in London runs from the 14th to 21st January and once again Ronnie O’Sullivan will be going for glory, and the BDO Darts World Championship at Frimley Green is currently underway and ends on Sunday when Rob Cross, who beat Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor in the recent PDC Championship final, could be victorious again. Onto football… and the biggest shocks in last weekend’s FA Cup third round saw the holders and record 13-time winners Arsenal crash out 4-2 at Nottingham Forest while Coventry beat Stoke 2-1 – a result which led to the sacking of Potters’ manager Mark Hughes. And for Arsene Wenger, it was his first-ever defeat in round three as Arsenal boss. Other excellent wins were achieved by Newport County 2-1 over Leeds, by Peterborough 3-1 at Aston Villa, Liverpool 2-1 against Everton in the Merseyside derby (Reds’ £75m defender Virgil van Dijk headed the winner on debut), Manchester City 4-1 over Burnley, Manchester United 2-0 versus Derby and Spurs 3-0 against Wimbledon. There were also victories for Birmingham, Huddersfield, Middlesbrough (over neighbours Sunderland), Newcastle, Notts County, Preston (5-1 at Wycombe), Southampton, Watford, West Brom and the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, Yeovil who are in round 4 for the first time since 1949. Chelsea, Leicester and toothless West Ham were held 0-0 by Norwich, Fleetwood and Shrewsbury respectively while League One leaders Wigan drew 2-2 at Bournemouth. The 4th round draw is: Bournemouth/Wigan v Shrewsbury/West Ham, Cardiff/Mansfield v Manchester City Carlisle/Sheffield Wednesday v Stevenage/Reading, Huddersfield v Birmingham, Hull v Nottingham Forest, Liverpool v WBA, MK Dons v Coventry, Middlesbrough v Brighton, Millwall v Rochdale, Newport v Spurs, Norwich/Chelsea v Newcastle, Notts County v Wolves/Swansea, Peterborough v Fleetwood/Leicester, Sheffield United v Preston, Southampton v Watford and Yeovil v Manchester United. Ties to be played over the weekend of 26-27-28 January. The first legs of this season’s Carabao League Cup semi-finals involving Manchester City v. Bristol City and Chelsea v. Arsenal took place on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, with the return legs due next mid-week. Also there are the semi-finals of the Checkatrade Cup and the FA Trophy and coming up this weekend, we have PL games involving Bournemouth-Arsenal, Chelsea-Leicester, Liverpool-Manchester City, Manchester United-Stoke City and Tottenham-Everton, plus Barnsley-Wolves and the Sheffield ‘steel’ derby between United and Wednesday in the Championship and in Leagues 1 and 2 it’s Wigan-Peterborough and Chesterfield-Luton. In Spain, the imperious Lionel Messi scored his 365th goal on his 400th appearance for Barcelona who beat Levante 3-0 while Real Madrid drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo. Barcá now lead La Liga by nine points from Atletico Madrid and they are 16 ahead of fourth-placed Real. Messi has now equalled Gerd Muller’s all-time record for most League goals for a European club. Andres Iniesta also made his 650th appearance for Barcá in this latest match. At last, Brazilian Philipe Coutinho has left Liverpool for Barcelona for a fee of £142m (€160m). “It’s a dream come true for me” said the midfielder. Barcelona’s squad is currently valued at £525m (€706.5m). Finally, in Rugby Union, in-form Newcastle Falcons beat Aviva Premiership leaders Exeter Chiefs 28-20. Saracens (38-15 winners over Wasps) are second, five points behind the Chiefs (50-45) while London Irish are bottom (10). And some sad news from Rugby League… the Widnes Vikings’ centre Kato Ottio (aged 23) has died during a training session.