Weekender Alicante North Issue 117

12 FRIDAY 15TH NOVEMBER 2019
www.weekender.news
Promoting the
Alicante diet
by Simon Russell
THE Alicante University
(UA) and City Council are
collaborating to promote
the gastronomy of the city
and further increase its
burgeoning tourist industry.
This includes the Mediterranean
Rice and Haute Cuisine
Master project which
the UA already promotes.
This opens new lines of
research into innovation
within the Alicante gastronomic
sector, focusing on
what visitors are looking for
while recognising the importance
of the world famous
Mediterranean diet.
Mayor Luis Barcala
signed an agreement for a
grant of €4,000 to help pay
for this research.
Racist tweet under
investigation
THE Prosecutor’s Office in
Valencia has denounced
the local far right Vox party
for an official party statement
on social networks
that was clearly meant to
incite a racial backlash.
The message on Twitter
referred to the sexual
abuse of a woman by five
youths on a naturist beach
by Simon Russell
in Cullera in June.
The Vox statement said
that the men were “Magrebies”
(of sub-Saharan origin)
when in fact they were
all Spanish nationals and of
Spanish extraction.
Although the group went
to court the next day almost
five months later the Vox
statement is still on-line and
has never been corrected or
deleted.
TELECOMS operator Telefonica
is to appeal a six
million euro fine lodged by
Spain’s antitrust watchdog
CNMC last week, over accusations
of discriminating
against competitors when
carrying out repairs on its
high-speed networks.
A 19-year-old woman died
in a car accident on the CV-
50 in Catadau (Valencia)
last Thursday, as reported
by CICU, the emergency
information centre.
The event took place at
around 7.30 in the evening
when the car the victim was
travelling in hit a truck,
turning over and blocking
the road.
A 25-year-old male was
badly injured in the crash
and is in Valencia’s La Fe
Hospital on a life support
machine.
Driving conditions were
said to be good at the time
of the accident and an investigation
will be opened into
the cause of the tragedy.
Unemployed helping
with clean-up
ABOUT 400 people in the
Valencian Community who
are currently registered
as unemployed will be given
temporary work to help
with the massive clean-up
operation following the
recent storms.
Those areas receiving a
by Simon Russell
government grant for this
project include the Vega Baja,
Baix Vinalopo, l’Alt Vinalopo,
el Comtat, La Costera and
the Vall d’Albaida.
The selection process has
already started and those
POLICE in Elche have arrested
a man who locked
his daughters, aged 12 and
15, in an office building for
more than three days.
The man had joint custody
with the girl’s mother,
who was told last Sunday
that someone had seen the
young pair in the office,
shouting for help to release
them.
She called the police who
managed to access the building
after being unable to find
the girl’s father. They broke
the door down and released
the children into the care of
their mother.
The authorities said that
the office completely failed
to meet habitability laws,
having no bathroom, beds,
kitchen or even lighting.
The children said that
they had been in the room
chosen will be hired for six
months.
The total of the grants
given for the work is €5.8
million and applicants
need to apply via the Valencian
Employment and
Training Service website
www.labora.gva.es
Three days locked in office
by Simon Russell
Telefonica rapped
since Thursday and their
father came and gave them
food at lunchtime before
leaving on their own again.
He would then return in the
evening and spend the night
before leaving again.
The girl’s phones had also
had their batteries taken out.
A man has been charged
with abandonment of minors;
the motive for his actions
is unknown at this
stage.
Teenager dies in lorry smash
by Simon Russell
by Alex Trelinski
The company, which is
mainly branded as Movistar
in Spain, said it planned to
appeal the fine in the High
Court, saying that it had
spotted bias in the regulator’s
investigation.
Telefonica, which owns
telecommunications networks
throughout the country,
is obliged to share its
grid with competitors at
regulated rates and under
terms set out by the CNMC.
It was fined for delays by
the CNMC, dating back to
2017 and 2018, on repairs
when answering breakdowns
on telecommunications
networks rented
to competitors.