News in Brief - 25.02.2010

News in Brief

A new flight will connect Tenerife with Lithuania 
A new flight, operated by the tour operator Star Holidays, will commence this week from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, with the island of Tenerife.
Tourism insular Councilor and Head of Tourism of Tenerife, Jose Manuel Bermudez, believes "we have had very good news that we will consolidate in this market, composed, in addition to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, where travellers come to Tenerife especially in the winter season in search of our sun and our beaches. " Bermudez added that "only in the month of January 2010 where we increased the arrival of passengers to the island and Lithuanians by 17 percent, which shows we are a destination that is gaining ground in the countries of the East."
The route began on Thursday 25^th February, it will have a weekly slot and will run initially for two months. The flight, which will have a capacity of 142 seats, relatively small, will use the South airport.

The new flight is in addition to promoting the island through Turismo de Tenerife, held in Lithuania in May. The total number of Lithuanians arriving in Tenerife in 2009 amounted to 5,600, which represented an increase of one per cent over the previous year. 

British couple die in freak Granada accident
THE roof of a house in Granada collapsed last Monday, killing a British couple who had been visiting friends there.
Christopher and Christine Martin, from the seaside village of La Mamola, were staying with fellow Brits Douglas and Caroline Brown in the nearby town of Rubite, near Motril, when the tragedy occurred.
The area has been devastated by recent storms and Guardia Civil officers investigating the accident believe the collapse could be attributed to the torrential rain.
The town’s mayor, Arsenio Vázquez, has called for Rubite to be classified as a “catastrophic zone” because of all the storm damage there.
The couple were in the dining room when the roof fell in, while their hosts were in the kitchen making coffee after a meal. They escaped without serious injury.
Mrs Brown was taken to hospital with several minor fractures and her husband had to be treated for shock.
The emergency services received a call from the house and sent police, fire fighters and ambulances to the scene. But they were unable to do anything but recover the bodies from under the rubble. 

 

 

Families forced to flee – ‘Rain in Spain’
At least 1,500 people have been forced to leave their homes in southern Spain after heavy rains submerged large parts of the Andalusia province.
The Guadalquivir river burst its banks in Cordoba and was on the brink of overflowing on several other points throughout the Jaen and Seville provinces which are under high alert.
Traffic on 20 roads in the region of whitewashed houses was brought to a halt due to the weather, while local authorities put 500 rescuers on alert.
The weather is expected to improve over the next day or two but rainfall is forecast to return at the weekend.
The area, which has suffered drought in recent years, experienced heavy rainfall in December and January. Water reserves in Andalusia have now risen to more than 80% of their total capacity.

 

         

Handicraft prize
Tenerife Council has launched a new prize for handicrafts.
Island Councillor for Economic Development, Trade and Employment, Efraín Medina, said, “Remember that this is a prestigious award, which turns 22 this year, it’s a tool for the recognition of efforts made in protecting and promoting local crafts.”
The award, worth 6,000 euros, is open to all eligible, natural and legal persons of Spanish nationality, Portuguese or Latin American who wish to enter.  Submitted entries should address the crafts and folk arts of the Latin American community, with its many aspects, such as investigation, recovery of missing and crafts endangered, promotion, marketing or other aspects that affect the sector.
The work, which may be a formatted thesis will be unpublished and written in Castilian.  It may be accompanied by photographic or audio material to illustrate and complement the text and should have a minimum length of 200 pages.
The deadline for submission of the proposals is next May 30th.
The council agreed to award the prize last year to Tenerife and Research Promotion of Crafts of Spain and America to the Colombian researcher Daniella Castellanos for work entitled: People of the mountain: ceramic and beliefs of a community of potters in the Colombian Andes .  As acknowledged by the Minister island of Economic Development, Trade and Employment, Efraín Medina, on that occasion "it was a well researched, well documented and addressed the artisan production of pottery in this Colombian community, where social relationships , religious behaviors and life generally revolves around the manufacture of china.
         
Iberia records huge loss
 
Spain's Iberia has agreed a deal to merge with British Airways
Spanish airline Iberia has reported a worse-than-expected loss for 2009, which it said was "one of the most difficult periods of its history".
The airline reported a net loss of 273m euros ($368m; £240m) last year, against a 32m-euro profit in 2008.
Iberia also forecast difficult trading ahead, because of high oil prices and doubts over whether demand will recover for lucrative business class seats.
Iberia has agreed to merge with British Airways.
This would create the world's third-largest airline by revenue.
Both airlines have been hit hard by falling passenger numbers during the downturn, and have said that the tie-up will save them 400m euros a year.
  
Invest to avoid power cuts
 
The Cabildo of Tenerife has joined together with the requirements of the Prime Minister of the Canaries, Paulino Rivero, and demanded that Red Electrica of Spain and Unelco Endesa "have all the necessary investments" so that the power cuts of last week will not happen again.
This was stated at a press conference where the vice president and head of island Tourism, José Manuel Bermúdez, recalled that Unelco Endesa and Red Electrica are "private operators who should not only invest in the grid but also their plants with the highest level investment, both in the technical as well as civil works.
For Bermudez, "it’s not worth having a series of electrical towers that are capable of with-standing wind gusts of up to 180 kilometers per hour, then we have plants that are unable to endure a torrent of water", hence we need to insist and request operators "that investment is best.” 
 

Museum fun and games
FOLLOWING the success of the previous “La ruta de las musas” in Santa Cruz, the organisers are again offering free family activities, including workshops and guided tours, at various museums there.
The scheme began last month and runs through until June, every Saturday and Sunday. Parents and children can enjoy an entertaining and enjoyable evening of education and live entertainment.
Each weekend offers a different activity at one of the museums, spread over 21 weekends, which means anyone wishing to repeat the experience may revisit to take part in any activity.
There is no age limit, no restriction on numbers, and you can attend as many activities as you want.

 

Abortion law squeezes through

THE controversial abortion law reform was approved in Spain’s parliament this week – but only just.   There was just a six-vote difference in the Senate, with 132 voted in favour, 126 against, and one abstention.   Since the first draft, the law has been amended and updated regularly. That’s because of the outcry by pro-lifers and right-wing activists.   They considered it to be an excuse for abortion to be used as another form of contraception. Now, though, the changes will enable girls of 16 and 17 to have an abortion without their parents’ consent.   Previously, any woman choosing to terminate a pregnancy could be denied the right if psychiatric reports declared she was not in her right mind when she made the decision, or that continuing with the pregnancy would not cause her or the child physical or psychological harm.   This could mean a child born in circumstances not conducive to its welfare or, in some cases, lead to the baby being abandoned.   Now, up to week 14 of the pregnancy, the woman does not have to give any explanation if she wants an abortion. Up to week 22, she will be expected to justify it only in certain situations.   This means Spain has now joined the UK and a number of other European countries in making abortion fully legal – and an integral right of any woman, up to a certain number of weeks.   The number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies is higher in Spain than in any other EU country, although teenage pregnancies – despite having increased dramatically – remain less common in Spain than elsewhere.       Car sales drop SALES of second-hand cars in the Canary Islands fell by 10.9% last year, with 51,350 vehicles against the 57,650 bought in 2008. It put them in third behind Valencia and the Balearics in the whole of Spain, according to the Market of Sales on Second Hand Vehicles. Yet the Canaries had brighter news this month, when  the second-hand figures rose by 32.3% in the first half of February, even though it was below the national average of 54.4%. The figures were released by the federation of car concession companies (FACONAUTO), who have almost 3.200 official selling outlets. Jobless total increases The Canary Islands had the biggest percentage of family members out of work throughout Spain in the last quarter of 2009. And around 100,000 of the jobless total have been looking for work for over a year. Some 15.2% of Canarian families are all out of work, and the national average of the number of homes in the whole of Spain in this situation has risen to 1,219,915. That is a worrying 9.5% of the total of Spanish families, and a rise of 840,000 more since the beginning of the financial crisis. Bumper cruise crowd AROUND 7.000 tourists, from Germany, France and Italy, will have visited Santa Cruz by the end of the week on various cruise ships. The Costa Marina carries 700 tourists, while the MSC Fantasia and the Costa Serena each has some 3.200 passengers. The Carnival casualties TENERIFE Carnival’s hospital treatment centre in Santa Cruz, set up by the Town Hall and the Red Cross, dealt with 607 casualties – 527 adults and 80 youngsters – which was seven more than in 2009.     'Operation Captura' 50% of UK´s 'Most Wanted' fugitives arrested within six months of latest appeal. One of the UK´s most wanted fugitives has been arrested as he attempted to return to the UK from Spain on Friday 19 January. Jody Flynn, 28, from Merseyside, featured in the most recent Crimestoppers campaign in Spain which was launched in Málaga on 23rd September 2009.  His arrest means that half of the ten serious criminals featured in the latest campaign have now been arrested to face justice in the UK within just six months. Flynn is wanted in connection with offences of Grievous Bodily Harm. The overarching campaign in Spain known as 'Operation Captura' was first launched in 2006 and has helped to achieve 31 arrests over the past 4 years.  Operation Captura identifies serious criminals wanted by UK law enforcement agencies for crimes committed in the UK. Crimestoppers and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) work closely with British Embassy in Madrid and British and Spanish law enforcement agencies.  The campaign highlights appeals for information on criminals who have European arrest warrants issued against them for crimes such as drug trafficking, murder and sex offences. If you wish to pass on information about crime anonymously, you can call Crimestoppers from Spain for free on 900 555 111, or visit their website www.crimestoppers.es For more information about the work of the British Embassy in Madrid, visit ukinspain.fco.gov.uk Vote now – for the worst company in Spain The Consumers Association FACUA has organised the ‘Worst Company of the Year Awards’ for businesses operating in Spain. The final five nominations are Air Comet, Ryanair, Telefónica Movistar, Vodafone and Orange, and consumers can vote for who they consider worst until March 15th, the World Consumers Rights Day. Apart from the Worst Company, there is another award for the Worst Business Practice, and here the nominations are – Clauses in mortgage contracts, charging for responding to questions or complaints, extra charges from air companies, the irregularities in electricity prices at the start of 2009, and phone spam. A third and final category is for the worst advertisement for the year, and here the nominees are:- Actimel from Danone, Frenadol from McNeil, Silueta from Bimbo, Vodafone Passport from Vodafone and the Ministry for Culture’s campaign ‘If you are legal, you are legal’.