(Source/photo: EuropaSur today) The Jimena chapter of environmentalist group Agaden is holding a course on the local environment -specifically the Hozgarganta river- at their Casa Verde headquarters. Such is the success of this initiative, which goes on until April in a combination of theoretical classes and practical field trips, that the number of places had to be expanded to include all parties interested in getting to know the river and its surroundings. The course leaders are Federico Sánchez Tundidor, botanist and mycologist (photo on field trip);>
(Agencies/Photo: EuropaSur) Campo de Gibraltar residents were on an orange alert for high wind on Wednesday and Thursday. Not surprisingly, winds that reached up to 111 kms per hour, and gusts well over that, caused all kinds of problems throughout the area nearest the coast. Rain and water were also heavily present. Fire rescue units attended over 50 incidents, mostly after 9pm: 17 in La Línea, 12 in Algeciras, 11 in San Roque and 7 in Los Barrios. For example, in Algeciras, an ancient tree in the Reina Cristina Hotel came down onto the access road and a couple had to be rescued from their vehicle on Avenida Príncipes de España; damage to schools and other buildings was considerable. Trees and billboards came down in La Línea as well.>
If you Google 'problems with hotmail' you'll get over 95 million results; 'problems with hotmail today' elicits over 22 million. Not many are dated this very day, most results go back several years. Why do we mention it? Because over the last week or so we've had several local reports that say we have been sent comments, e-mails or photos and we have not received them; nor have several e-mails we sent to Hotmail accounts been received. All of them would have come from a Hotmail account if there weren't a problem. We're trying to find out what the problem is, whether it's global, European or local. If you have any news, please let us know.
J.D.Salinger, author of the 1951 classic book 'The Catcher in the Rye', whose hero Holden Caulfield spoke of rebellious youth and adding what some experts consider to be a new literary genre, died at his home in New Hampshire. He had become increasingly eccentric over the years and, aside from short stories, was never able to match the resounding success of Catcher. There is a theory that a safe at his home contains unpublished work of a similar dimention. (The Guardian's obituary.)
(Agencies/Photo: EFE) A Greek-owned, Panama-registered merchantman ran aground on the beach at Rinconcillo last night in the wind storm. The 'Rhea', which carries no cargo and came from Ceuta, dragged her anchor from just outside the port of Algeciras onto the sand. Operations to pull her off began at midnight last night but heavy seas prevented any success so far. The Port Authority has asked for €200,000 and announced that the ship's papers and crew, mostly Egyptian, are under investigation. Several sailing boats broke their moorings in La Línea and San Roque in the storm as well.
(Agencies / Photo: EuropaSur) The roads into San Martín del Tesorillo (CA-8200 and A-2102) were closed yesterday by the Guardia Civil as the result of flooding. The confluence of three rivers, including the Hozgarganta and Guadiaro, plus the Zabal stream, is a constant source of flooding in the rain. This is at least the fourth time access to Tesorillo has been closed this winter, one of the stormiest in recent memory. The road from Jimena to Puerto Gáliz remains closed for repairs (see item here). Rain was also a feature of the entire Campo de Gibraltar and beyond, of course, with reports of flooding in Guadacorte, La Línea and Los Barrios, among others, and heavy wind worried San Roque's main town, while mud slides were averted in San Roque Estación and Tahivilla.>
(Image: poster for 1st edition, 2001) The tenth edition of the International Music Festival of Jimena de la Frontera is scheduled for the weekend of July 8, 9 and 10, according to the Organizing Committee that met recently to set the dates. The Festival will maintain last year's format: 3 days and 3 venues. The Santuario in Estación will host the Classical section, Llano de la Victoria, the Jazz and World Music and Plaza de la Constitución (El Paseo, or main square), Flamenco and more multitudinous concerts. Street musicians will again be competing this year and the committee proposes to give this section a little more importance within the schedule of events. The organization is now closing contracts with the musicians and groups for the tenth anniversary of the Campo de Gibraltar's oldest music festival.
Work got under way on Monday to repair the damage caused by recent storms to the network of country roads to allow farmers access to their properties, in particular to orange groves as harvesting is at its high point. The roads under emergency repair work are those in the Barranca Bermeja, El Dorado, La Herradura, Los Callejones, Macarro and Vereda Real (GR7) sections. The work is being financed by the Junta's Agriculture Department. Jimena Mayor Pascual Collado (in photo with the provincial delgates for Government and Agriculture, Gabriel Almagro and José Antonio Blanco, respectively) pointed out that local agriculture has suffered double damage: to the orange harvest and to accesses to the groves. On his visit to Jimena Gabriel Almagro also inspected the municipality's public buildings, and announced that technicians from his department will be visiting soon to report and estimate on storm damage there.
Following a report from Castellar Council technicians from the Junta's Heritage Department visited the castle on Friday to evaluate the damage to South West corner of one of the barbicans caused by last week's storms (see item here). They have reported that emergency procedures need to take place immediately or further damage could happen soon. and estimate repairs at 58,000. Access to the area is made difficult by its location although work will apparently not intrude on visitors or residents of this tourist spot.
(Agencies / photo: EuropaSur) Statistics show that the most dangerous stretch of road in the Campo de Gibraltar is the N-340 between Algeciras and Tarifa (See map below). These 46 kms represent over six of every ten fatal accidents on the region's roads, according to figures from 2008 and 2009. Of the last 14 traffic deaths in the area, nine occurred there. This is most notorious black spot in the province, too, where most accidents are head on collisions between cars and lorries, usually on overtaking with limited frontal visibility, and end up on the wrong side of the road.>
(Agencies / photo: EuropaSur) The owner of the 'Kyria', Cantabria businessman Francisco Isa González, had to pay €30,000 to recover his boat, which he had reported stolen in Ibiza early last August and was found a couple of weeks later moored in La Línea. For reasons under investigation, it ended up in Gibraltar, where he was required to pay for its return. The owner refused but, after a lot of hedging by his insurance company and its eventual refusal to cover the so-called 'transport costs', Isa finally paid up. It is now moored at the Club Marítimo Linense. According to EuropaSur, it is common practice on the Rock to ask for 'ransom' on boats thus recovered, though it depends on the boat's condition.
(Picture by 'Haitian Masters') Almost a year after he had apparently disappeared, without warning and no further ado, we get an e-mail from our old friend Alexander Bewick, whose blog was a feature of JimenaPulse for quite a while - until he vanished. His e-mail points to an article on his Soap Box, titled as above and dated today, about Haiti, its history and its people. Hard-hitting, it is well worth a read. (We will keep an eye on it -his blog- and maybe renew his 'featureability'.)
(Agencies / Photo: EuropaSur) The new by-pass road that leads from Miraflores up behind Estación de San Roque toward Castellar, Jimena, Gaucín and Ronda was opened officially yesterday by the Junta's Councillor for Publc Works, Rosa Aguilar. It connects the A-7 coast road with the A-405 without having to traverse Taraguilla or Estación de San Roque and the railway crossing there; and will allow better connections for Section 2 of the Zona de Actividades Logísticas (ZAL) presently under construction. Present at the inauguration, too, were a number of political and business personalities of the Campo de Gibraltar.(See map below)>
(BBC News obituary) British film actress Jean Simmons, who played Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet and sang with Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls, has died aged 80.
We saw this on TioJimeno, one of the CdeG's most prolific sites. By renown cartoonist Forges, it reads something like this: 'THE MAJORITY OF BANKS CHARGE COMMISSION FOR DONATIONS TO HAITI.' "Why shouldn't we charge commissions? We only made €17,590 million last financial year? (*)" (*) Profits by Spanish banks in 2009. "But don't you forget Haiti as they do."
One of the walls at the castle in Castellar developed a 'hole' of some 2x4 metres beneath one of the turrets over last weekend. The area was cordoned off although it is not in an area that is muched used by pedestrians or vehicles. The matter was reported to the Provincial Delegation for Culture, who came back yesterday with an announcement that it is preparing a report on the damage and an estimate for repairs. The municipal Department of Works has in the meantime issued its own preliminary report, which says that, given that the walls are made of limestone rocks and a lack of mortar to hold them together, the result of 'the passage of time',>
(Press release) The Mancomunidad de Municipios del Campo de Gibraltar headquarters was the venue this morning for announcing its 'CdeG for Haiti' fund raising campaign. Regional councils and media have come aboard to raise money for four well-known NGOs: Spanish Red Cross, Médicos sin Fronteras, UNICEF and Cáritas, for whom local banks and building societies will be opening accounts. The Mancomunidad website will be updated regularly to keep the public informed of monies collected. The campaign closes on January 30th. CampoPulse will keep keep you abreast of further developments.
(Sourse: ZDNet / Zack Whittaker) A massive virus attack has hit the University of Exeter resulting in the entire network being shut down both by the virus and the network staff in an attempt to protect the infrastructure. The virus hit the network , which runs Windows Vista, on Monday and is still having major implications even now - two days later. According to an IT support email, “…this is a completely new virus and we are the only organisation in the world to experience it. None of the mainstream virus software suppliers have seen this virus, and as such, there is no fix.” It’s unclear if this virus is entirely unique, but it does highlight the challenges of security.>
Algeciras has a strong historical link with Britain and Gibraltar. The Algeciras-Bobadilla railway line is an example, as is the ReinaCristinaHotel. Another is Villa Smith (photo). Used until recently to headquarter the Mancomunidad de Municipios, it also houses the Casa de los Guardeses (Keeper’s Cottage) that is the municipal museum today. The original grounds were used by several families for agricultural purposes until the 1880s, when they were purchased in 1890 by William James Smith, a shipping agent of Gibraltar and British Vice-Consul in Algeciras, who sold part of them to the Algeciras-Bobadilla Railway Company to build the Reina Cristina Hotel, which was designed by architect William Thompson, who later became the hotel’s director. The hotel was established to accommodate the growing number of people associated with the railway (another similar hotel, the Reina Victoria, can be found at the other end of the line in Ronda, close to the bullring).>
Cinderella is an essentially British pantomime (never mind the story) but, as we reported earlier, Ian and Victoria Cann are directing some fifty people of Castellar in a Spanish version that opens on Friday next at 9pm (check Upcoming Events Calendar for dates and times). As a press release says, "It is little-known in Spain but is acquiring character in Castellar." The Canns, who 'retired' -we use the word advisedly- to the town some ten years ago, have a track record: their first panto effort was Aladdin in 2007, with which they raised €5000 for the purchase of an x-ray machine. This year, they hope to raise even more that will go to the parish church to help curb damp that threatens to damage the Christ image there.
The ongoing acquisition of (British) Cadburys by (American) Kraft brings to mind recent history in the Campo de Gibraltar and on the Rock itself. Not so long ago, maybe forty years ago and before that, chocolate and cheese were two items that were smuggled at good profit from Gibraltar into Spain. Earlier in the 20th century, these and other goodies, including sugar and other essentials, were brought up into the Ronda mountains by mule - some of the places where they were watered and fed still exist in Jimena today much as they were then. More recently, and it must be said that until only a few years ago the quality of Spanish-made chocolate was abominable, Cadbury's bars and sweets were what brightened the eyes of children young and old. As for cheese, the preferred type of local Spanish households was queso de bola, or the red, round Ementhaler still sold all over Gib. Now, of course, you can buy the chocolate and any cheese at your local supermarket. Plus ça change.
A 35 year old man, who had not yet been identified yesterday evening, was run over on the A-405 road near Molino del Conde. He apparently died instantly. The accident is being investigated but sources say that a Toyota vehicle was involved.
A group of Algeciras residents are asking the health authorities not to oblige Dr. Raymond Colimon to retire. Headed by former bullfighter Miguel Ramos 'Miguelete', the group says that although the Haitian doctor is just over the retirement age of 65, he only has eleven months left to get full pension coverage. Dr. Colimon has served the Algeciras community for thirty years and the group are asking that he be returned to his post at the Menéndez Tolosa health centre in the centre of the town.
Our Weather widget forecasts an unstable couple of weeks and a downward turn in temperatures. But full sun is 'scheduled' for the 27th, albeit at temperatures below 0º. The area's weather is notoriously difficult to forecast because we are influenced by both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, being as we are on the 'spine' of Southern Spain that includes the Ronda mountains, Gibraltar and the Atlas mountains of Morocco. Still, it's worth keeping the jumpers and wellies handy...
(Photo: Gibraltar Chronicle) The pride of Gibraltar, Miss World 2009 Kaiane Aldorino, is now in Japan on her first official visit as the new Miss World ambassador. Kaiane got down to sightseeing on her first day in Tokyo, her first stop on a tour that so far includes world wide travel to at least fifty countries. Kaiane was the subject of a massive outpouring of civic pride on the Rock, when she returned home from unexpectedly winning the crown as the most beautiful woman in the world (See CampoPulse item here).
(Agencies) The national spokesperson for Izquierda Unida, Gaspar Llamazares, is livid because the FBI has used his beard and hair to create a picture of what Osama Bin Laden might look like today. Llamazares says that he is not planning to travel to the US any time soon because "My life is in danger, not Bin Laden's." In the meantime he is asking the FBI for an explanation. More pictures>
(Photo: AP) Félix del Amo, head of the fire brigade at Tordesillas, in Castilla y León, is one of several firefighters who has helped rescue five people from the rubble at Port-au-Prince. This is his first humanitarian mission abroad. Spain, one of the first countries to react immediately to the disaster in Haiti, has already sent six planeloads of humanitarian aid to the island. (See also: Cybercriminals use Haiti to profit from well-intended donations)
The Luis Ortega Brú Municipal Culture Foundation of San Roque is offering two classic horror films in a short cycle under the banner 'From Murnau to Coppola'. Both are at the Juan Luis Galiardo Theatre on the main square at 9pm. The first of these is Murnau's Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, on Monday, January 18 and the second, Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, on the following Monday, January 25.
(Source: ZDNet/Security) Cybercriminals quickly mobilized following the news of a massive earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday, by introducing several hundred compromised domains embedded with bogus blackhat SEO (search engine optimization) content related to Red Cross donations and general Haiti earthquake relief information. The sites are already appearing within the first 10 search results on Google (image), and upon clicking on them the user is redirected to one of the most profitable monetization tactic (FBI: Scareware distributors stole $150M) that scammers use these days - scareware also known as rogueware. 
(Agencies) The trasvase, or transfer, of water from the Guadiaro river to the Majaceite on the other side of the province of Cádiz, has moved 23 cubic hectometres since it was opened on December 21. The water thus transferred is used exclusively by the population of the province, according to rules established by the Agencia Andaluza del Agua, which is the equivalent of one million inhabitants or a quarter of the annual water supply in that area. But this is not the only consequence of recent rainfall as the Charco Redondo (photo) and Guadarranque reservoirs have received up to 32 cubic hectometres since December 28.
Our monthly feature on Beatty on Books has just come in. It starts like this: You make a living out of what you get, but you make a life out of what you give! Arguably one of the best of this season’s crop of celebrity biographies, this book’s 6th place in the Sunday Times Business Books Chart sets it apart from the more superficial TV tie-ins: the Dragons’ Den chapters occupy only thirty pages at the back of the book. Its title gives a clue to its popularity: this rags-to-riches autobiography delivers exactly what it promises on the cover – the “real deal”. Last year's reviews: Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom (August); Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (September); The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale (October); The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (November); The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte (December).
(Photo: Red Cross) The moment the world became aware of the magnitude of the tragedy in Haiti, numerous NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) opened special emergency accounts to raise funds not only to help with the purchase of primary need material, but also in the reconstruction of Port au Prince. These are some of the Spanish-based accounts where you can help:>
(Photo: Red Cross) Latest estimates put the dead in the Haiti earthquake at between 30,000 and 50,000. The injured, say some estimates, could amount to a million 'at least'. International rescue and aid organizations, lacking normal communications, have reported widespread pillage and violence in the country's capital, Port au Prince. The injured wander the streets, the only hospital is collapsed ... 
Regular readers of JimenaPulse, our partner site, will remember this FREE service. We are now proud to open it to the whole of the Campo de Gibraltar, considering the times in which we live at present. If you have a service to offer, just e-mail us and we'll take care of it (4 lines maximum and please remember to include a phone number). If you're looking for a service, just call the relevant phone number. How does it work? Go to The Jobs Board, or click on the image left. We'll be leaving it on the sidebar, but it's up to you to make it work.
Algeciras Art School (Escuela de Artes y Oficios) was once the architectural pride of the town. Opened in 1971 (photo), it's Head of Studies, José Antonio Pérez Sequeiros, said yesterday that it is a miracle it is still standing today. The stunning building, designed by architect Fernando Garrido Rodríguez, has been neglected over the years and suffered even further damage during the recent storms; broken windows and severe roofing problems are added to its generalized state. Pérez Sequeiros, who accuses the Junta de Andalucía of 'abandoning' the building, hopes that a recent award given by Algeciras Council will "be a call for the Junta to provide the funds it has promised." (See JimenaPulse item.)
(Agencies) Cocaine use is risky at any time, be it sporadic or usual. So says a study carried out by a forensic team from the Institute of Legal Medicine od Sevilla, which reveals that 3.1% of sudden deaths registered in the province from 2003 to 2006 are directly related to the use of cocaine. The team studied the results of over 2700 autopsies over the three years. There were 668 sudden deaths, of which 21 were caused by the drug. The autopsies were carried out on men between 21 and 45 years of age, with an average age of 34, all of whom had heart problems as the result of cocaine use. The study appears today in the European Heart Journal and, according to its authors, the conclusions can be extrapolated to the rest of Europe, where cocaine abuse has become a growing public health problem. The drug is used by 12 million adult Europeans between the ages of 15 and 4, which is 3.7% of the population, though it is more prevalent in the 15 34 age group.
(Photo: EFE/Radioteleginenhaiti.com) If you haven't been on another planet this morning, you will have heard about it. The poorest country on the American continent and one of the poorest in the world has been devastated by an earthquake, 7.0 on the Richter scale. Thousands are dead and there is as yet no firm number of injured. Spanish NGOs have already sent advance contingents to help in rescue operations; local aid organizations can't operate as most buildings in the capital Port au Prince are rubble. One quote: "If the President's mansion is destroyed, what could have happened to the adobe shacks?" See more photos on RTVE and about Haiti on Wikipedia). Prospero comment:>
Spain's first sex change operation on a minor took place last week at the private Clinic Hospital in Barcelona, after a judge authorized the operation in November, having studied medical reports that favoured the intervention. Sex-change is allowed on over 18s in Spain, but under that age require judicial authorization. The patient had been having hormone and psychiatric treatment for 18 months, and the girl, who had the full support of her parents and the doctors, is doing well. Reports say that the former boy had developed Gender Identity Disorder (GID) at age five.
Ian and Victoria Cann (photo) are at it again. Residents of Castellar for over ten years, the Canns are producing 'Cinderella', an ever-so-British pantomime with lots of touches of Andalucía. The last time they did so, in 2007, not only did they raise money for an x-ray machine for the town, but they also managed to fill the seats for six whole performances, offering a musical genre that is by no means common in Spain (See item here). Now it's the turn of Cinderella, which premieres on Friday 22 at 9pm, followed by another 5 shows. CHECK OUR UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR FOR MORE INFO.
(Agencies) Los Barrios (photo) and Tarifa are at the head of a list of 37 municipalities in Spain in the amounts they owe the Social Security, according to the newspaper Público. The figures come as a result of a parliamentary question tabled by the opposition PP party, using data to August 31, 2009. Los Barrios, where Mayoress Ángeles Ariza (PSOE) took possession in June 2009, owes €27,493,63 in Social Security payments for its employees, to add to the €2 millionalso owed by Council-owned Iniciativa Los Barrios and another €852,000 by Radiotelevisión Los Barrios, the local TV and radio station. That comes to €1,287 per each of the town's 21,362 inhabitants - the highest in the land. For its part, Tarifa owes>
(Gibraltar Chronicle) The Gibraltar Philharmonic Society is proud to announce its forthcoming concert "THE BEST OF ZARZUELA" at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on 20 January commencing at 20:30. The society has been fortunate to invite two of the leading singers in this genre, soprano Sonia de Munck and tenor Alex Vicens, who are regular leading artists in the most important theatre of Zarzuela in the world, the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. (See What's a 'zarzuela'?)>
(Agencies) PSOE Senator José Carracao yesterday revealed that the Spanish government will be taking advantage of its EU Presidency to restart negotiations with the UK on the sovereignty of Gibraltar. "I know that Foreign Minister Moratinos has placed bilateral talks with London," stated Carracao, who also believes that the opinion of Gibraltarians should be heard. The Senator for Cádiz and socialist spokesperson on the subject in the higher chamber, pointed out that "there are only two possible options left: we either make the problem eternal, which would be damaging to Gibraltar itself and the area; or we find a solution and work towards a new future that can put an end to the conflicts that are ever present in the Campo de Gibraltar because of the dispute.">
(Agencies) The Public Prosecutor (fiscalía) has requested an alleged fraud by Air Comet, owned by Gerardo Díaz Ferrán (photo), president of the CEOE (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, or Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations, the overall organization for, mainly, large business). The airline, part of Ferrán's Marsans company, is alleged to have continued selling tickets when it had become inoperative and its planes had been embargoed by a British court, leaving some 7000 passengers grounded over the Christmas holidays. The legal measure supports a denuncia by several consumer organizations. Díaz Ferrán nevertheless continues to cling to his job as president of the CEOE.>
The International School of Tantra, is offering a Tantra and Tantric Touch Workshop in Ronda this coming weekend, January 16 and 17, with a 50% discount for women. In their e-mail to us they offer the following information: "Tantric orgasms: Frequent orgasms can benefit women's sexual health tremendously. However, there is a vast difference in having an ordinary orgasm and having a tantric orgasm. Ordinary orgasms, which are the norm, are of short duration, isolated in the sex organs. Tantric sex orgasms involve the full body, mind and spirit, lasting for hours as well." (much more below)>
(Source: ZDNet/by Ryan Naraine and Dancho Danchev) A prominent anti-spyware researcher is calling on Google to sever its ties with an advertising partner that covers popular sites with pop-up PPC advertisements promoting those same sites. According to Ben Edelman, an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School and a staunch anti-spyware advocate, Google is charging advertisers for what he described as “conversion-inflation” traffic from the WhenU spyware program. Edelman’s expose includes several screenshots, video, and packet log to show that WhenU continues to cover web sites with PPC popups. Crucially, those popups show Google ads — often promoting the very same sites users are already browsing. Here’s a sample of Edelman’s report:>
