Date Published: 28/03/2014

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014

Portmán Bay Regeneration licensed, ex-pats must register all vehicles with Spanish plates, evidence found of Roman invasion of Cartagena

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 This week one of the most important pieces of news which will undoubtedly affect Ex-pats living in Spain is the amendment of the traffic and road safety law which has finally been passed by the government. This vast piece of legislation contains many points, which are summarised in a document on the Spanish news site, but the point which will directly affect a number of people living within our community is that all foreign registered vehicles which are kept in Spain for more than a month must now be transferred on to Spanish plates. This is frequently not done by those who either keep a car here for holiday use or have limited financial means, ( or can´t face the administrative hassle) but this new law means that anyone caught driving vehicles which can be proven to have been kept in Spain and have not been re-registered will face substantial fines.

Other points which are important include those relating to children travelling in cars, as this is something which must be taken into consideration when hiring a car for a summer holiday and ensuring that child restraints are requested when booking a vehicle, and also the changes relating to cycle helmets: under 16’s must now wear safety helmets when riding through any urban areas.

Portmán Bay regeneration
There may finally be an end in sight to the long running saga of the Portmán Bay regeneration project in the ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 La Unión municipality, following an announcement yesterday by the Ministry of Environment that permission has finally been given for the contract to be put out to tender. This will happen within a very short time, granting a concession to clear away the sterile deposits dumped in the bay during the years of open cast mining which took place towards the end of the last century, when millions of tons of waste were dumped into the bay. This waste can now be recycled and the residual minerals extracted for sale, before the bay is cleaned up for future development and use as a tourist asset within the municipality, generating much needed employment for La Unión.

There is no new news on the Corvera airport front, although the imminent change of government may change that situation, with wide expectation that President Valcárcel may formally resign today ( Friday) in the weekly regional cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Rajoy has still not officially named the European election candidates, President Valcárcel hoping to be amongst them, and he himself is absent from the national cabinet meeting today following the death of his brother.

Cartagena
Cartagena has enjoyed a fairly busy week in the news, unveiling an exciting discovery in the Plaza de la ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 Merced, which is believed to date from the moment of the Roman invasion of Cartagena, following the departure of Hannibal with his army and elephants off across the Alps to attack Rome, leaving Cartagena virtually defenceless. The Romans took advantage of his absence to sack the city, evidence found in this excavation that the house was destroyed in a sudden fire co-inciding with the date of the invasion sparking excitement that this discovery is evidence of the destruction of the city by the Romans.

There has been a spot of disappointment that the treasure of the sunken ship, Nstra Señora de Mercedes, recovered from the American Odyssey marine salvage team, and won by the Spanish government after a long court battle, which is currently being cleaned in Cartagena at the subaquatic museum will go on show in Madrid before Cartagena, although at the same time the positive benefits of the tourism promotion this will give Cartagena are also being highlighted.

The tourism season begins at Easter, although the first cruise ships of the season have started to arrive in Cartagena. Tourism figures for the region are positive at the moment, the number of foreign visitors has increased, as have the number of nights being spent in hotels, and figures released this morning show that expenditure by foreign tourists is also up, foreign visitors to Murcia having spent 37.3 million euros in the Murcia Region during February, an increase of 23.9% on the same month last year, meaning that the amount spent by foreign tourists in the first two months of the year has increased by 44% on the same two months last year.

All positive for businesses in the region.

Taxi drivers unhappy at airport protectionism
ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 However one sector of the region’s businesses are unhappy, as Alicante-Elche airport takes measures to protect local Elche taxi drivers and bans “foreign” taxis, including those from Murcia, from making more than 6 runs into the airport a month, a bit of a blow for the fully legal taxi drivers who earn a living taking tourists to and from the airport, although the new number plate recognition system being installed at the airport will help to limit the activities of “pirate” drivers who offer a cheaper service for travellers.

Other news stories in Murcia this week include ongoing complaints about the multi million euro Santiago Calatrava bridge in Murcia, which in spite of its hefty price ticket is still causing a headache for the council, an issue also experienced by other cities in other parts of the world who splashed out on avant garde architecture during the boom years.

Murcia has also featured in a child kidnap case, after a Yecla drug runner failed to make her delivery, the penalty being the kidnap of her children. This is the third case reported relating to kidnapped children being taken to Bolivia in a couple of weeks. There was also another story relating to a brothel in Murcia being closed down as police suspected it was being used for money laundering, 500,000 euros sent to China had been traced as coming from the brothel, and when police raided, an abnormally high quantity of jewellery was found.

There are many other local news stories in not only the main news section, but also in the local editions, accessed via the header bar at the top of every page : Mar Menor and Cartagena, South-west Murcia, Murcia Central and North and North-west Murcia.

Murcia what’s on
The region is preparing for Semana Santa and there are a good number of choral concerts starting to appear ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 in amongst the agenda. Work has just begun on translating the Semana Santa programmes, which is a vast job, so as the concerts emerge from the texts, these will be added separately over the next 3-4 days, as will the programmes for the regional auditoriums next month which will also be translated and loaded in the early part of next week.

One particular series of three concerts features Mozart’s Requiem Mass and is being performed as a a fundraiser for Cáritas in Lorca, Cartagena and Murcia, and there is also a cycle of sacred choral concerts in the churches of Cartagena featuring another Mozart favourite, the Missa Brevis.

This weekend there is very little of major note as Lent is traditionally a quiet time, although there is an artisan fair at the sanctuary of Santa Eulalia, ( Totana) a beautiful location in the Sierra Espuña which is a nice morning out and another in Blanca. The same venue in Totana is also the location for a representation of a traditional Auto( passion play) in the church, a religious play, performed in many locations in the run-up to Easter.

Caravaca de la Cruz is hosting a classic car show this weekend and the Club Ruta del Sol are enjoying their weekend route around the region, offering car enthusiasts the chance to admire their vehicles in Torre Pacheco and Cartagena.

Mazarrón has an urban art weekend, with graffiti artists and live music.

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 There is also a solidarity walk in Totana, which offers a gentle route over a distance of 6 kilometres or a 9km route in Mazarrón. The former hydroplane airbase in Los Alcázares has its monthly guided tour this weekend and the Mina Matildes at El Beal is also open this weekend as well. There are guided tours in English available for Cartagena, and for those who enjoy camping and caravanning, Caravanas Sangar are holding open days with BBQ and music over the weekend.

San Javier has a national level Jetski riding championship, which can be watched from the beaches of Barnuevo and Pescador down at Santiago de la Ribera.

There are also a number of tapas routes on offer: Mula is offering guided tours of the newly restored Convent of San Francisco along with its Tapas Route, and there are also routes in Cieza, Totana and Torre Pacheco.

Valencia Today www.valenciatoday.es
This week tourism was the main focus of activity across the border in Valencia, as the regional tourist board ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 focused efforts into the Russian market as being a key development market for the Alicante province. The Russian’s main choice is Cataluña and a great deal of effort is being made to lure them even further down the coast to spend money in Alicante. One interesting story is the news that the AP-7 running through the region from Tarragona in Cataluña will become free of charge from 2019, a move welcomed by the tourist boards, although 2019 can´t come soon enough for others and some councils have called for the tollroad to be made free of charge a lot sooner.

Another infrastructure in the news this week is Castellón airport which this week celebrated its third anniversary after being officially inaugurated: the only wings on this runway, however, are still of the feathered variety and there is now some doubt over the concession recently granted to a Canadian bidder.
Click for the dedicated Valencia Today weekly bulletin, with local news and what’s on for the Alicante province and Valencia region.

Spanish News round-up www.spanishnewstoday.com
The week began with news that the EU Commission are seeking to outlaw abusive roaming tariffs on mobile phones, a source of frequent complaints from beleaguered consumers who object to the additional charges ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 for taking their phones abroad.

Objection has been a popular theme this week, as 100,000 anti-abortion protestors gathered in Madrid, joined by many local protestors in towns and cities across Spain, to show support for the proposed government amendments to abortion legislation, showing that in spite of the much publicised protests against the proposed legislation that there are still many women throughout Spain who want to see abortion prohibited.
Students have also been on strike across Spain, protesting against cuts in education, increased class sizes and increased university fees, and while the protests were largely peaceful, there were some striking exceptions where violence and vandalism marred the protests. Unfortunately violence also marred the Marcha de la Dignidad over the weekend, which united marchers from across the country in Madrid, with many people injured, including a large number of police, after the protests again disintegrated into violent confrontation and street violence.

Fortunately, the border with Melilla has been quieter, although on Friday morning tensions again rose ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 following a series of assaults on the border, but on this occasion very few managed to make it across the fences and onto Spanish soil.

The border with Gibraltar has also been quiet, although the Gibraltan authorities did complain midweek about an incident believed to relate to tobacco smuggling, during which Gibraltan police were pelted with stones by four individuals who climbed back over the border into Spain before fleeing.

The early part of the week was dominated by the weather and the death of the first Prime Minister of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco, Adolfo Suárez, the man who smoothed the transition from dictatorship to democracy and helped to shape the face of modern Spain with the creation of the Spanish Constitution. It’s easy to forget what a young democracy Spain actually is and incredible to think that in the mid 1970’s executions by firing squad were still taking place here. His premiership lasted until 1981, then shortly afterwards there was an attempted military coup, and this week he was buried in Ávila cathedral, with full honours.

The weather also dominated the early part of the week, snow and strong winds starting spring with a snarl, ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 causing severe problems for firefighters in the Almería province where a fire was blown out of control by strong winds. By Friday morning when it was declared officially out, over 3000 hectares of scrubland and mountainside had been burnt in the Sierra de Gádor (Almería).

Fortunately there were no casualties and the damage was limited to woodland, not property, probably a good thing given a report this week which says that not only are almost a third of Spanish homes uninsured, but another 40% are under-insured, figures which have both increased substantially since the onset of the economic crisis.

One property which has also been in the news this week is the hotel El Algarrobico in Carboneras, which could now be legalised following a surprising ruling by the Supreme Court, which contradicted several judgements it has made in the past and opened the way to an avalanche of protests from ecologists by announcing that the land on which the hotel is located could be built on. Not long ago, most people were waiting for the demolition order, so this ruling has put a real cat amongst the pigeons.

Another story which raised a few eyebrows was reported on Thursday afternoon when the BBC mistakenly announced that there had been a plane crash off the Canary Islands. Emergency services leapt into action, sealing off roads and launching emergency plans before it was highlighted that what looked like a crashed plane was in fact a tugboat towing a large barge with a curiously angled deck…..

Lots more stories and property round-up can be found on the dedicated Spanish News weekly round up. Click Spanish News Today round-up

Currency round-up

ARCHIVED - Murcia Today News and Whats On Weekly Bulletin 28th March 2014 Click for this weeks currency round up showing the exchange rate between Sterling and the Euro. If you would like a free quote to see how much can be saved on regular currency transfers such as a pension, or one-off lump sums such as the purchase of a property, call for a no obligation quote.

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