SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Saturday February 27 2010 TENERIFE'S government launched its emergency plan for the third time in a month on Friday in response to the latest storms. by JAMES TWEEDIE The Cabildo Insular activated the plan at 2pm on Friday after Spanish State Meteorological Agency warned of winds of up to 120 kph (75 mph) heading to the archipelago from Madeira to the north. Roads to the Mount Teide national park were closed to the public over the weekend, with predictions of gusts of up to 160 kph (100 mph) in the mountains. The Cabildo warned residents to remain at home with their windows shuttered, to remove objects from roofs and balconies which could be blown off and to avoid all unnecessary travel. The hot winds hit Tenerife at 1am local time (GMT) on Saturday. Brief but heavy showers followed after sunrise. The bad weather did not stop Saturday's sold-out Spanish Premier League football match between CD Tenerife and Real Madrid in the island's capita...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Thursday February 25 2010 THE SPANISH Meteriological Office on Thursday warned of more storms in the Canaries this weekend. by JAMES TWEEDIE The authority predicted that a strong low pressure system approaching from Madeira - where freak storms killed more than thirty people last week - would bring winds of up to 120 kph (75mph) to the archipelago in the early hours of Saturday, with more bad weather set for Sunday. The latest weather warning follows previous heavy storms and flooding on February 1, 17 and 18.

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday February 24 CANARIANS will have the chance to drive super-cars around a race track this April, event organiser LM Productions boasted on Wednesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE LM Productions CEO Leopoldo Mansito (pictured, left) announced at a press conference in the regional capital Santa Cruz that he was bringing his GT Emoción driving experience to Tenerife and Gran Canaria. The event will come to Tenerife's Karting Club in Arona from April 8 to 11. He was joined by Arona council mayor José González Reverón (centre) and councillor for tourism Angel Herrera (right). Mr González said that the council, which is backing the event, hoped it would help promote the municipality and the island. Mr Herrera pointed that GT Emoción was the latest of many “first-rate” sporting events held in Arona, following last year's Football 7 tournament featuring retired top-flight players from around the world. GT Emoción allows ordinary motorists to drive exotic high-perf...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sunday February 21 2010 THE FINAL day of the Santa Cruz carnival began in style on Sunday with the vintage car competition and rally through the city's streets. Photos by JAMES TWEEDIE Click on the images for the full-size photo:

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Friday February 19 2010 CHICHARREROS filled the streets of Santa Cruz on Friday for the funeral of a giant sardine. by JAMES TWEEDIE The baroque funeral cortège of the deceased 10-foot long oily fish wound its way through the narrow streets of the regional capital, accompanied by a phalanx of priests and hordes of lady mourners – most of them men. One of the more unusual events of carnival calendar, the Sardine's Funeral symbolises the death of the past and the birth of the future. The sardine has special significance in Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz. Residents bear the derogatory moniker of  chicharrero from the time when the town was home to poor fishing folk, who could only afford to eat the worst of their catch – a small species of sardine called a chicharro . In keeping with the spirit of irreverent political satire which pervades carnival, this year's funeral was turned into an impromptu protest against Santa Cruz council's controversial P...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Friday February 19 2010 A public signpost in the Ofra district of Santa Cruz bent over by the high winds TENERIFE'S Cabildo government lifted the state of emergency on Friday morning following two days of storms. by JAMES TWEEDIE The island's PEIN emergency civil defence plan was stood down at 8am after the Canarian regional government lifted its Orange Alert in force since Tuesday. All roads closed due to the storm were reopened, with the exception of those in the Mount Teide national park in the centre of the island. Repair teams teams were  working with local councils to ensure that all essential public services  affected by the storm  were restored as soon as possible. Emergency services concentrated their 900 staff and 200 vehicles  in the South and West of the island and the  Santa Cruz-La Laguna metropolitan area  during the 100kph (60mph) storm and heavy rains The Fire Brigade   responded to  almost 300 calls, ...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Thursday February 18 2010 AUTHORITIES declared a red alert as 100 kph (60mph) winds and thunder storms swept across the Canaries on Wednesday and Thursday. by JAMES TWEEDIE Following a weather alert from the Canarian government and the Spanish Met Office, Tenerife's Cabildo government kept its emergency plan  –  activated on Tuesday  – in effect. It closed one lane each of the TF-1 motorway from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon as a precaution against high winds and a section of the TF-82 due to rock falls. The capital Santa Cruz' Tranvia tram system suffered severe delays. The Cabildo advised residents and businesses to avoid all unnecessary journeys, to stay indoors, keep windows and doors shut and ensure that all electrical appliances were switched off before locking up premises. The force 10 storm was still blowing hard on Thursday morning. Gusts of up to 120 kph (75 mph) overturned portaloos set up for the Santa Cruz car...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Tuesday February 16 FORCE 10 winds battered the Canary Islands on Monday and Tuesday, disrupting flights. by JAMES TWEEDIE Winds of up to 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour) swept across the archipelago. Some regional airline flights were cancelled, to the benefit of ferry operators. The Canarian government declared an orange alert in response to the rough weather, which follows the February 1 flash floods and February 6 earth tremor.

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Saturday February 13 2010 Los Rebeldes junior murga  take part in the carnival procession TENERIFE'S capital Santa Cruz celebrated the first night of the 2010 carnival in a riot of music and dancing on Friday. by JAMES TWEEDIE Residents young and old turned out to participate in the huge cavalcade and street party. Elaborate floats carrying the winners and other contestants in the child, adult and senior carnival queen competitions were interspersed troupes of dancers and drummers, murgas – Tenerife's satirical pantomime-opera choruses – and mixed cohorts of locals in fancy-dress. Groups – many of them made up of children or senior citizens – styled their costumes in a plethora of occidental and oriental themes, from the Aztecs and Mayans of Central America to Arabia, India, China and Japan. Regular one-man acts such as 'Miss Piggy', 'Harpo Marx', 'Charlie Chaplin' and and 'Fidel Castro' were all present, along with re...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Friday February 12 2010 Santa Cruz Carnival Queen and University of La Laguna medical student Alicia San Juan McNulty meeting the press yesterday CARNIVAL will commence on Friday evening with the opening procession through Tenerife's capital. by JAMES TWEEDIE The procession of floats, dancers and musical groups - led by the junior, adult and senior carnival queens crowned on Wednesday - will pass through the main avenues and squares of the city. The parade will start at 8 pm in Avenida Bélgica and will pass through Plaza de la República Dominicana, Avenida de la Asunción, Ramón y Cajal, Galcerán, Plaza Weyler, Méndez Núñez, El Pilar, Villalba Hervás and La Marina to Avenida de Francisco La Roche. The parade will end with a fireworks display, after which there will be music and dancing with performances from Pepe Benavente y Trío Diamante and Ray Castellano and the Acapulco Orchestra in Plaza Candelaria. The group Kimbara and DJ El Flaco will entertain the...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Thursday February 11 2010 TENERIFE'S Cabildo government announced the reopening of the island's domestic violence centres on Thursday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The Cabildo, through the Instituto de Atención Social y Sociosanitaria (IASS), said it had reactivated all of the Integrated Specialised Intervention Services for Women Victims of Domestic Violence. The network was forced to close in January after funding body the Canarian Foundation for Social Development (Fundescan) revealed that it had amassed debts of over €8 million since 2005. The Candelaria, La Laguna and La Orotava offices reopened on Monday, followed by Adeje on Wednesday. Those in Los Silos, San Miguel and Santa Ursula opened on Thursday. IASS president and Cabildo social welfare minister Cristina Valido said that Tenerife's Insular Corporation had been working to find a solution since it was informed of the problem on January 12. Opposition Socialist Party (PSOE) Canarian parliamentary dele...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Thursday February 11 2010 A NEW government campaign will warn Santa Cruz carnival-goers of the dangers of drug abuse, it was announced on Thursday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The Canarian Health and Welfare Foundation, in collaboration with with the General Directorate of Drug-Dependency, has launched a campaign to to prevent narcotics use over carnival week – when the supply of drugs in the capital increases. Under the slogan “The carnival does not disguise reality – it always ends badly with drugs”, the campaign is especially targeted at young people. During last year's carnival celebrations the capital's hospitals treated 386 people – 44 of them children – suffering from alcohol and narcotics poisoning. Tenerife Cabildo health minister and foundation president Antonio Alarcó stressed the importance of such initiatives, warning that experimenting with drugs can lead to very harmful addiction from which it is difficult to escape. He said: "They start experim...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday February 10 2010 TWO youths were facing trial for the murder of British businessman Peter Cockshutt in southern Tenerife on Wednesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE A spokesman for Tenerife's Guardia Civil, which is investigating the killing, confirmed that the two youths aged 14 and 16 were arrested on Tuesday following the discovery of their fingerprints at the crime scene in Costa del Silencio. The 14 year-old boy, from Chile in South America, was arrested at his school at 2 pm. The 16 year-old, from Uruguay, was arrested separately at 10 pm. The youths were being held at the Guardia Civil station in the nearby resort town of Playa de Las Americas on Wednesday. They were transferred to the Valle Tabares juvenile detention centre in La Laguna on Thursday, awaiting preliminary hearings at the juvenile court a few miles away in Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz. The Guardia Civil spokesman said that the two would be charged with robbery and the murder of 71 ...

CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday February 10 2010 Workmen with mechanical diggers clear mud and rocks washed down by the February 1 floods from the Barranco de Santos (Saints' Ravine) by the General Serrador Bridge in the centre of Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz on Wednesday: The same scene on February 3:

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday February 10 2010 From left: Juan Carlos Pérez Frías, Manuel Ortega and Jacobo Kalitovics TENERIFE transport company TITSA announced that it would buy 69 new buses over the next year. by JAMES TWEEDIE These will include 17 inter-city 15 metre-long buses, 24 12-metre suburban buses – with low floors and disabled ramps – and 28 minibuses to serve low-volume routes. The new 'guaguas' – as buses are called in the Canaries – will cost over €12 million. They are part of TITSA's fleet renewal plan and will replace vehicles purchased in 1999 with more than 2 million kilometres on the clock. The buses will be fitted with safety and comfort features such as ABS anti-lock disc brakes, air conditioning and LED information displays already seen on some buses. Their engines will conform to the latest European Union emissions regulations for smoke, hydrocarbons and nitrous oxide. TITSA manager Juan Carlos Pérez Frías said that the new vehicles would redu...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday February 10 2010 TWO suspects were arrested late on Tuesday in connection with the murder of British businessman Peter Cockshutt in southern Tenerife. by JAMES TWEEDIE A spokeswoman for Tenerife's Guardia Civil, which is investigating the killing, refused to confirm any other details ahead of its official press release set for 5pm that day. Mr Cockshutt, from Brandesburton near Driffield in East Yorkshire, was found dead in his home in Costa del Silencio on Tuesday morning. He had suffered three stab wounds. The Guardia Civil said that two windows had been forced open and that the inside of the house was in a 'disordered' state, suggesting a burglary.

GRANADILLA DE ABONA, Tenerife, Tuesday February 9 2010 THE FOUNDATION stone of Tenerife's new regional internet hub was laid in Granadilla on Tuesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The NAPWACI (Neutral Access Point for West Africa and the Canary Islands) will provide non-preferential access to all telecommunications companies, said Tenerife's Cabildo government. Scheduled for completion in 2011, it is intended to exponentially increase internet connectivity between the archipelago, its African neighbours and the developing nations of Latin America. Submarine cable stations will also improve telecommunications between Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma and the Spanish mainland. The hub will also connect to a new fibre-optic ring to allow businesses and households Tenerife to benefit from the improved connectivity. As well as acting as a hub for internet connections within the region and to the rest of the world, the NAPWACI is also designed to provide data storage infrastructure for companies...

ARONA, Tenerife, Tuesday February 9 2010 AN ELDERLY British man was found stabbed to death in his Costa del Silencio home on Tuesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The man, identified by the British Foreign Office as 71-year old Eco Aqua Solutions director Peter Cockshutt, had suffered three stab wounds, two to the chest and one to the leg. The Guardia Civil's Judicial Police department were investigating the killing. They said that Mr Cockshutt was found alone in his home. Two windows had been forced open and the interior was in a state of disorder, leading to speculation that he had been murdered by one or more burglars. His wife Patricia was apparently at their home in Brandesburton near Driffield in East Yorkshire, where they spent roughly half of each year.

COSTA TEGUISE, Lanzarote, Monday February 8 2010 Six British soldiers were arrested on Monday after starting a fight in a restaurant on Lanazarote. by JAMES TWEEDIE The trouble began when the sqauddies attempted to steal several bottles of wine from La Vaca Loca (the crazy cow) restaurant in Costa Teguise. When restaurant owner Hernán Martín attempted to stop the soldiers they assaulted him and his waiters. A German and an Italian tourist who tried to calm the soldiers down were also attacked. One waiter and the two tourists were left with facial bruises and cuts. On Wednesday February 10 it was announced that the soldiers had been remanded in prison without bail awaiting trial.

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE CARNIVAL, Saturday February 6 2010 Joint murga competition winners Los Mamelucos THOUSANDS crowded into Santa Cruz' waterfront on Saturday for the final of the 50th annual carnival Murga contest. by JAMES TWEEDIE The murgas – half-hour mini-operas with humorous and satirical themes sung to classical, stage-musical and popular tunes – are the most anticipated spectacle of the city's massive carnival. The packed audience were standing on their wooden folding seats for much of the performance, regardless of which group they were rooting for. The 12,000 tickets to the final at the open-air Recinto Portuario sold out in three hours on January 13 and were selling on the internet at up to a ten-fold mark-up. Murgas have their origin in Cadiz in mainland Spain, where the contest still takes place every January. The art form spread to the Canaries, Uruguay and Argentina. According to one participant, the great popularity of the Murgas goes back to the era of the ...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Friday February 5 2010 TENERIFE'S ruling Canarian Coalition on Friday rejected Socialist Party criticisms of its handling of Monday's storm and floods. by JAMES TWEEDIE The CC group in the island's Cabildo government issued a statement denouncing its critics two days after a press conference where Cabildo president Ricardo Melchior was inundated with difficult questions about the response to the emergency. The nationalists accused the PSOE of not “rising to the circumstances in the most critical moment” but of opportunistically using the crisis for political point-scoring. Mr Melchior's party rejected socialist allegations that it had failed to take necessary precautions and had spread panic amongst the population, as well as their demands that the CC should take responsibility for the damage done. Instead the nationalists levelled the same allegations against the opposition, accusing them of "inaction and lack of commitment" to t...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Friday February 5 2010 MOVIE-GOERS worldwide will see the scenery of Tenerife – masquerading as ancient Greece – in 3-D this spring with the release of Clash of the Titans. by JAMES TWEEDIE Producers Warner Brothers have announced that the remake of the 1981 classic will be released in both two- and three- dimensional versions on April 2. Some 20 per cent of the film starring Ireland's Liam Neeson, Britain's Ralph Fiennes and 'Avatar' star Sam Worthington (pictured) was shot on location in Tenerife. The film tells the Greek myth of the hero Perseus – played by Worthington in the new version – and his epic quest to rescue the princess Andromeda. Filming took place in the Mount Teide National Park and on the coast at Icod de Los Vinos, Buenavista del Norte and Guía de Isora, in addition to some pine woods and mountain areas. Tenerife Cabildo vice-president and tourism minister José Manuel Bermúdez welcomed the announcement. He said: “Promot...