Whilst insurance companies are still calculating the material costs of the damage caused by the recent flooding across the region, and friends and families still mourning those who lost their lives, the department of justice has already counted 1,450 animals that perished in the waters caused by the DANA. The regional minister for justice, Gabriela Bravo, presented the startling account …

Officers from the Guardia Civil are investigating the circumstances which led to the body of a woman being found in Torrevieja on Sunday morning. The woman, believed to be around 30-years-of-age, was found dead and naked from the waist down on the steps of a building located in an industrial estate where numerous clubs are located on the outskirts of …

An Open Letter to The Mayor of Orihuela Costa I have just seen a man being pulled, unconscious, from the sea by strangers and then dragged across the rocks. He looked dead. The day before, I had witnessed 8 people – men, women and children &nda...

Levante UD 0 – 0 Elche CF Elche CF closed out their, at times, turbulent season with a goal-less draw from their dead rubber with near(ish) Valencia neighbours Levante. The fact the match kicked-off two hours before the rest of the games on th...

Dear Editor:
Next June 8 is the 43 anniversary of the photo where a girl appears naked and terrified, running down a dusty road in a village in Vietnam, when she was 9 years old.

This image, which perpetuated the horrors of the Vietnam War, has appeared many times through various media and, especially all the TV networks in the world. The girl named Kim Phúc, is now an ambassador for UNESCO and runs a foundation to help the children victims of war and violence.

Far left her 17 operations to cure burns that Napalm caused in 65% of her tiny body. Nick Ut, author of the photo that won the Pulitzer in 1973, took her to the clinic and saved his life. She remained hospitalized for over a year.

She fainted every time the nurses put her in the bathtub and cut the dead skin of her wounded and small body. But she did not die. "Inside me, she says, was a small, strong girl, who wanted to live, and I got over it all, thanks to the love of my family and God."

One of the lessons she has learned from this experience is to forgive. When she read for the first time, the words of Jesus to "love your enemies", she did not know how. I'm human, I have much pain and many scars. She thought it would be impossible. "I had to pray a lot and it was not easy but in the end I got it," she testifies, moved.

In 1996, the Foundation for the Memory of Vietnam Veterans asked Kim Phúc to travel to Washington, where she could talk to one of the crew who were involved in the attack on Trang Bang, her village.

Kim Phúc publicly forgave him saying "Forgiveness is more powerful than any weapon in the world".
"My picture is a symbol of war, but my life is a symbol of love, hope and forgiveness," she said. Forgiveness exalts the spirit and gives strength to go on.

clementeferrerrosello@gmail.com
Author and journalist Clemente Ferrer has led a distinguished career in Spain in the fields of advertising and public relations. He is currently President of the European Institute of Marketing.



Another severely neglected mare rescued from a Granada breeding yard by the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre has given birth to a healthy foal. The birth on April 6 came just a week after a second mare from the same rescue operation also gave birth to a ...

Los Montesinos, Alicante, sports reporter Andy Atkinson looks back to snooker legend Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins in the wake of the UK Championship beginning in York. "Alex was something else!," said Andy, who often sat with Higgins - drinking in the VIP lounge during the UK Championship at Preston Guild Hall.

Twice world champion Higgins died, aged 61, in July 2010, after a long battle against throat cancer. He was found dead in his flat in Belfast. Higgins flew to Spain in a quest to undergo surgery - to get new teeth he lost during cancer treatment.

However Higgins was regarded as not fit enough to have the surgery, and was said to be too frail to have an operation by the medical profession in Spain. Fellow snooker professionals had raised £20,000 to help Higgins undergo the surgery in Spain - who weighed seven stone - and had to have his food pureed.

"I was at Preston Guild Hall in 1987 - when Alex head-butted WPBSA tournament official Paul Hatherell - of which he was fined £12,000 and banned for six months," recalled Andy. "On the other side of the coin Alex could be great company.

I once sat down next to him in the bar and he started singing to me: 'If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake', said Andy.

One of the aims of The Royal British Legion is to perpetuate the memory of those who died in the service of their country; not only in the two World Wars but also in all of the conflicts that have taken place since those terrible years. Here in Spain...

A Salvamento Marítimo ship took part in the rescue and recovery of a dead dolphin and its companion after it had become trapped in fishing net off the Balearic island of El Toro at the weekend. The live dolphin was clearly distressed by the sit...

Leading Partido Popular member of León, Isabel Carrasco, has been shot dead in public on her way to the party offices from her home on Monday. Born in 1955, the former delegate of the PP board, ex-councillor for finance of the regional governme...

Elche CF 0 - 0 FC Barcelona What were we all worried about ? With a game to go, away next Sunday to Sevilla, Elche secured their Primera División future with another unspectacular, yet still solid, performance to shut out the mighty Barcelona. ...