Merger to form new low cost Spanish Airline

    Vueling and Clickair have merged after three months of talks to form Spain's third largest airline. The new airline will adopt the name Vueling although it is a merger with equal shares and the new company formed will be independent of its predecessors. The main shareholder in the new company will be Iberia Airlines with about 40 per cent of the shares. The merger has come about due to the strong competition and excessive offer in the sector and the recent rise in fuel prices. In the first quarter of 2008 Vueling made a loss of 32.4 million euros despite a 32 per cent increase in passengers.

    The new airline will have 45 planes and around 300 flights on 112 routes and will be based in Barcelona. The closest airport they currently fly from is Alicante, but they say they have plans to extend operations in the future.

Cabo de Gata Natural Park gets sustainable tourism charter

Almeria's main natural park, the Parque Natural Cabo de Gata-Nijar, has been given the European Sustainable Tourism Charter. This means that the park has been included in the EUROPARC Federation list of 58 protected areas in seven European countries. The Charter commits signatories to implementing a local strategy for 'sustainable tourism' defined as: 'any form of development, management or tourist activity which ensures the long-term protection and preservation of natural, cultural and social resources and contributes in a positive and equitable manner to the economic development and well-being of individuals living, working or staying in protected areas.'

The EUROPARC Federation is a pan-European body formed by organisations dedicated to nature conservation in 38 countries that believes that the biological diversity of European cultural landscapes can only be permanently secured through a sustainable use.

One of the first tasks carried out in order to obtain the charter was the formation of a working group which will serve as a platform for debate on the management and development of the park. The group includes representatives of; the Junta de Andalucia, the respective ayuntamientos, the Almerian Levante Rural Development Group, the Andanatura Foundation and the Natural Park Tourist Services Businesspeople's Association.

    The awarding of the charter will take place at the Europarc general meeting to be held next September in Romania.

 

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Caption: The Cabo de Gata natural park

Albox now has 092 emergency number

    If you want to call the police in Albox you no longer have to look up their number in the phone book. The ayuntamiento has announced that the number 092 now provides an easy to remember way to contact the local police force. The number will either connect to the police station or directly to the patrol in service at that moment in time.

    The mayor of Albox, Jose Garcia Navarro, stated that this provided the residents of the municipality with a greater peace of mind, secure in the knowledge that in any situation they may feel threatened this short number will bring assistance quickly. The Albox local police will also maintain their habitual telephone number, 950 121 080.

Author presents book on the Indalo in Mojacar

    Javier Muñoz, popularly known in art circles as Xaverio, is primarily a painter and sculptor, but he was recently in Mojacar to present the book he started writing five years ago and is now in the bookshops. His book, "Indalo Codex", is more than just another history of the symbol but rather a guide on how to live a better life with the philosophy contained in it reflected in what Xaverio feels is the transcendent meaning of the cave painting code symbol that is the Indalo.

    The Indalo is seen in this book as a universal code found in different ages and civilisations, one of the best known representations of which is Leonardo de Vinci's Vitruvian Man drawn in 1490. The Indalo represents the being in plenitude and harmony with the universe, the ancestral symbol of the universal woman and man.

    The book, whilst not a 'self help' book, offers a guide on how to live a better life following a philosophy based on human rights, respect for the environment, a desire for peace, health of mind and body and that which is good for the planet. This is complemented with a manual of physical and mental exercises which combine the powerful Indalo posture with the "Indalo messages", short statements to be recited like mantras resulting in positive vibrations within and outside us.

    The book, Indalo Codex, is published by Editorial Sirio and costs 36 euros.

 

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Caption: The Vitruvian Man and the Indalo. Are they by any chance related?

Private company to run Cuevas rowing canal

    The ayuntamiento of Cuevas del Almanzora has ceded the management of the rowing canal, constructed for the Mediterranean games in 2005, and of the town's covered swimming pool to the company Celemin Formacion. The company will run these installations for ten years with a possibility of extending their contract to fifty years and will take over their management this summer.    

    The ayuntamiento councillor for sports, Paqui Rodriguez , praised the company's ambitious programme of activities which include making improvements in the swimming pool's infrastructure and the construction of a fitness suite and Padel courts.

    Among the new activities planned for the swimming pool are swimming courses for babies, relaxation classes for senior citizens and therapeutic activities. The rowing canal will host windsurfing, rowing and canoeing competitions, and other activities such as orienteering and archery among others yet to be announced.

    Celemin Formacion will pay the ayuntamiento an annual fee for the use of the installations, although this has been waived for the first five years. The first payment will be for five thousand euros and will increase annually. Each year the company will have to present its prices for all activities and membership which must be approved by the town council. The council reserves the right to us the facilities for special events without charge for five weekends per year.

 

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Caption: the rowing canal in Cuevas del Alamnzora

Cantoria-Almanzora road repairs after years of clamour

    The Al-7102 that links Cantoria and Almanzora is to be improved at a cost of 200,000 euros. The road, which serves a population of around 8,000, is to be reinforced and resurfaced as at the moment, apart from its poor state of repair, it is not prepared for the volume and weight of traffic that currently uses it.

    The local council has been asking the Almerian provincial government for the road to be repaired for over ten years now.

Internet access in all of Almeria by Christmas

    The Almerian provincial diputaton has announced its plans to ensure those towns in the province without internet connection will be online by the end of the year. They are investing 475 thousand euros in the project which involves the installation of dozens of towers and antennas which provide a one MB broadband connection using radio technology.

The towns and villages that are yet to be connected are Oria, Bayarque, Alcontar, Laroya, Cobdar, Benizalón, Senés, Velefique, Olula de Castro, Abla, Beires, Almócita, Ragol, Turrillas, Enix,
Topares and Cañadas de Cañepla. Of these the most problematical to connect is Laroya for which satellite connection is being considered.

Cartagena invests 20 thousand euros in young people

    Juventud Cartagena is the name given to the scheme organised by the Cartagena municipal council which they anticipate will count on the participation of more than four thousand young people this summer. A similar 18 thousand euro scheme this spring drew 4,028 youngsters to the 98 activities organised, with the summer plans involving 101 different activities.

     Te activities to be organised include 81 at weekends, eight specially for 14 to 17 year olds and 12 in the 'quedamos esta noche' (let's meet tonight) section. There is a definite nautical flavour to the scheme with a large number of activities at sea, including diving courses, canoeing, sailing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, water skiing, snorkelling and even a midnight river trip in a semi-inflatable between Cieza and Blanca.

    There are also excursions to the Expo in Zaragoza, to Port Aventura theme park, to Tierra Mitica theme park, to the caves in Sorbas, to the Benidorm and Vera water parks and various others.

    There are also workshops in creative massage, sign language, break dancing, origami and other diverse skills and sports activities.

Huercal Overa sets spending for 2008-07-12

The budget for the council's spending was officially approved in a plenary session of the ayuntamiento of Huercal Overa. The total budget is for 22,412,486 euros of which almost four and a half million is for personnel costs. This does not include the cost of public companies contracted by the ayuntamiento.

    The personnel costs include the four newly created posts for municipal employees. These are an administrative assistant, two police officers and a specialist in sports.

Works start on nursery school in Albox

    The Junta de Andalucia delegate for equality and social well-being, Luis Lopez, laid the foundation stone for the new school on the same day he celebrated his birthday. The school, which will have places for 115 children from new born to three years old, is to be built in the grounds of the Virgen de Saliente public school taking some of its space from the sports facilities there. The building will be about 1,705 square metres in area plus a patio of 935 square metres.

    The current public offer of nursery school places in the town is only 30 in a town with a population of 14,000, and there have been calls for these facilities for some years now. The school will cost 850,000 euros and will be paid for by the Andalucia regional government. The contract for building it was awarded to the Jarquil construction company and the works should be completed in 8 months.

Hospital cleaners union denounces employer

    The CSI-CSIF trades union which represents the workers contracted to clean in the Huercal Overa hospital has condemned Eurolimp, their employer, for its treatment of its workers. Eurolimp, the company sub-contracted by the hospital, has yet to honour the agreement reached last year in the revision of the cleaners' salaries. After several months trying to get the company to pay the increase it had agreed to the union initiated proceedings which resulted in the case being taken to arbitration before the Extrajudicial Service for the Resolution of Labour Conflicts in Almeria, however the company did not attend the scheduled hearing.

    According to the workers' union this was simply another strategy on the part of Eurolimp to delay paying the workers as now the matter will have to go before the courts. The CSI-CSIF commented that the whole situation has arisen as result of a strategy deployed by Ferrovial, the mother company of Eurolimp, to compensate for losses made due to the crisis in the construction industry.