The News in English May (13)

The News in English 

Fibre Optic cable arrives in Ametlla 

1. This last Friday May 18th was the official presentation of the fibre optic cable service in Ametlla. The presentation was done in the prescence of the mayor of Ametlla Andreu Marti. The representatives of the project have expressed their conviction that the use of fibre optics will place Ametlla right up there with the best in terms of IT technology and will bring benefits to businesses, local associations, the council and private users. If you would like to know more about the services they offer then you can contact them at info@lacalafibra.net 

Rasquera, El Perello and Tivenys will ask for subventions to help recover after the recent fires. 

2. The mayors of the three villages have said they will ask for government money to help in the recovery of the areas affected by the recent fires. This will be in addition to the normal amounts available as compensation for fire damage. They have pointed out that the last fire in the area, seventeen years ago, combined with this one mean that serious investment is needed to be able to help in the recovery of the Serra de Cardo el Boix and avoid another repetition of the fires in the future. 

Neighbors with investments in the Cooperative in Aldea will direct the new institution 3. Jordi Gas, the spokesperson for the neighbors whose money is still tied up in the cooperative, will lead the new institution together with eight other people. This new leadership has still to be approved by the whole cooperative in an assembly on June 4th next. Gas has announced a new plan for the viability of the cooperative and the local council has programmed a series of sporting and cultural activities to try to collect some money for the neighbors who still haven’t received their investments.  

Agusti Pallares touches the summit on Everest 

1. The mountaineer from La Cala has come just short of the top of the world’s highest mountain in his latest attempt to climb it. Agusti, forty-nine and a fireman started his final ascent at the end of last week after bad weather had kept him at base camp for several weeks. He was finally obliged to give up after strong winds prevented him from reaching Camp three at seven thousand two hundred metres last Friday. His fellow climber on this expedition Jesus Klimber was luckier and was able to climb to the summit itself at eight thousand eight hundred and forty-one metres with the help of his Sherpa L’Akba in the early hours of Sunday morning.  

The traditional bull running in Terres de l’Ebre has already received its first legal challenges 

2. The Association against the mistreatment and torture of Animals has accused the bull running group of Mas de Barberans for cruelty to a bull involved in the traditional “bou embolat”. The association has denounced that various people who were obviously drunk took part in the celebration and that cloths were thrown at the bull when its horns were still burning with the intention of setting the animal on fire, actions which could have seriously injured the bull’s sight. 

The teachers’ and students’ strike has a patchy response 

 3. As is now traditional after any large strike there has been a great difference in the figures given for participation in the strike in education this last Tuesday. Here in the Terres de l’Ebre the education department has given 15 per cent as the number of teachers who actually went on strike, ten per cent less than the figure for the whole of Catalunya. The unions have said that twenty to twenty-five per cent of people went out on strike most of those in secondary schools were the numbers were nearer 50 per cent.