The amount of counterfeit euro notes in circulation has risen by 18% say experts. Last year alone, 27 large scale operations by security forces tracked down a significant quantity of dummy money but despite this, the number of false notes in circulation is on the rise.
The Bank of Spain’s investigators, part of the Judicial Police, made a record 216 arrests last year. The excellent arrest record has been attributed to, among other things, better cooperation with other police forces.
Approximately 860,000 counterfeit notes were taken out of circulation by the European Central Bank, 8% more than in 2008, and 54% more than in 2004.
To spot a fake euro note, do the feel-look-tilt test. Feeling will allow you to spot that some areas of the ink are more thickly printed, holding to the light reveals the watermark, while tilting a genuine note will allow you to see the hologram change from its value to an image of a window or door. Remember that while €50 notes are the most widely forged, you should check all your notes, whether you are accepting payment or change.

Are you in danger of losing your right to vote? Are you concerned about the exchange rate or your pension? If you don’t register in the next FOUR WEEKS you will not be able to take part in the most contested British General Election since World War II.
Find out more by coming to the Virgen Del Carmen Cultural Centre in Torrevieja’s central Calle Ramon Gallud at 6 pm on Wednesday 17th March (ample car parking) where a team of English-speaking experts will explain to you how important it is to vote and how you can cut through the paperwork to register in time. If you bring along your passport (or a copy with the number) and the details of your last address in the UK, the team will assist you with the formfilling there and then. Your vote will then count back in the Constituency where you used to live.
There are over 2 million people outside the UK not registered to vote.
If you are one of them you will kick yourself if the Government elected is not of your choice!
IMPORTANT NOTE
At the last count only 2% of expats in Spain were registered to vote. There are 2.5 million expats worldwide and the greatest concentration of British Citizen in the world living outside the UK is in Murcia, Alicante and Valencia.
Many people do not realize that they can still vote (so long as they have not been away from the UK for more than 15 years). The right to vote comes with being a British Citizen and an adult.
Even those incarcerated in prison in the UK can vote. Helpful websites: www.aboutmyvote.co.uk and www.dontleaveyourvoteathome.com
DON’T MISS THIS IMPORTANT MEETING!!!
ENSURE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE!!!
Centro Cultural “Virgen del Carmen” Wednesday 17th March at 18.00h.

FRANCE
The academic intelligentsia are nursing damaged egos. Their celebrity intellectual, Bernard-Henri Levy, extensively quotes philosopher Jean Baptiste Botul to support his theories. Botul is now revealed as a fictional comic character created by a journo working for a satirical magazine. So Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s Clothes was a skit on pretentiousness.

GERMANY
A thief in the town of Hamelin (of Pied Piper lore) escaped with the loot after threatening the cashier of an amusement arcade with a piping hot cup of coffee. In usual understatement a cop spokesman says: “We don’t want to encourage others to try this.”

ABSURDISTAN
Did the CIA take London’s Daily Mail for a ride? February 11 was Iran’s 31st anniversary; the equivalent to America’s 4th July. The story attracted 257 reader comments of which 152 were American; 95% being pro-war despite 2/3rd of American people rejecting war as a solution. Many Brits were excluded from commenting. As Senator Hiram Johnson (1917) said: “The first casualty when war comes is truth.”

NORTHERN IRELAND
First Minister, Peter Robinson, concluding marathon talks that narrowly avoided a crisis quips: “If negotiating were an Olympic sport, the province’s politicians would win a gold medal and then we shall enter negotiations about what flag and anthem we will use.” The flag won’t be white and the anthem will certainly not be Chopin’s Minute Waltz.

SPAIN
People were not bored, the matador says after fighting in an arena where you’re more likely to be gored. 16-year old matador, Jairo Miguel, is up there with the stars after slaying six bulls in an afternoon. Revenge? The lad nearly died from a horrific goring in Mexico in 2007. The average age for bullfighters is 25 – 30 but Jairo dodged the 16-years old age limitation by learning his trade in Latin America. There are about 800 professional bullfighters in Spain but few match Jairo’s kill rate.

LATVIA
A former Red Army garrison town is auctioned off, ironically to a Russian firm, for 2.2m€; ten times its list price. The package includes 10 apartment blocks, two nightclubs, a shopping centre, kindergarten, barracks and sauna. It is not clear what it will be used for. Billy Butlin, Britain’s ‘good life’ entrepreneur used obsolete army camps to launch his holiday camps.

ITALY
The emergency services are called to attend people suffering from panic attacks and palpitations after watching the movie Paranormal Activity. One 14- year old girl was in such a state of shock after watching a young couple trying to capture video evidence of paranormal activity she had to be given oxygen. The low budget movie has become an international hit, especially with young people.

UKRAINE
Enough raping of our democracy! Four young ladies, protesting against the hijacking and rape of politics by selfserving politicians, make a clean breast of it. The topless babes stormed a Kiev polling station immediately before the arrival of a political contender. Who said politics is not attractive?

THE VATICAN
The pontiff is hopping mad after it was admitted that Vittorio Feltri, editor of Il Giornale; one of Italian Premier Berlusconi’s tabloids, used forged documents to mount a smear campaign to oust Dino Boffo, editor of a Vatican newspaper. Boffo had criticised the Italian premier’s bedhopping debauchery. Maybe those young Ukrainian ladies do have a point (or two).

POLAND
We want to show that the church is not a boring, sad place; that young people can have a nice time among monks: So says Damian Pakowiak, the priest responsible for recruiting youngsters to the Roman Catholic orders Salvatoris. I rest my case.