NEWS SNIPPETS FROM VALENCIA - POPULATION = 4.8 MILLION

Esteban Gonzalez, (fifth from the right), Popular Party candidate to represent Valencia in the Spanish Government elections on the 9th March, was accompanied by Alfonso Rus (fourth from the left), chairman of the Valencia County Council, and by Rafael Blasco (fourth from the right), Valencian Government Councillor for Immigration, when he visited Almassara for a meeting with the Mayors of the towns to the north of Valencia - all members of the Popular Party - with one exception.

Almassara's Mayoress, Laura Roig, hosted the event.

Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, attended the opening of the "Ninot" exposition that displays one single "Ninot" or papier mâche effigy from each of the almost 400 bonfires that will burn on the 19th March at the end of the Fallas Fiestas. Top photo shows the Mayoress and the senior and junior Fallera Queens posing with books on the 2008 Fallas, while in the second photo the Fallera Queens cut the ribbon to open the exposition and in third photo they tour the exposition itself. In the last photo, the Mayoress of Valencia laughs at an effigy of herself dressed in a Formula I outfit, because her public relations triumph to bring the Urban Formula I to Valencia, is well known and applauded.

Alfonso Grau, deputy Mayor of Valencia, received in the Town Hall of Valencia, a visit by Ojo Maduekwe, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, accompanied by Eineje E. Onobu, Ambassador and Director of Regions (Europe, Asia, Middle East Pacific, and America) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria.

Felix Crespo, Town Hall Counsellor of Fiestas, attended the ceremony in which the junior and senior Fallera Queens received the typical Valencian costumes they will wear during the upcoming Fallas Fiestas that end on the 19th March. Belen Juste, Valencian Government Councillor of Industry and Trade, also attended the event.

Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, inaugurated a home for the elderly in Benimamet, a town on the outskirts of Valencia.

Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, received J. Carlos Aparicio, Mayor of Burgos, in the Town Hall of Valencia, where they spoke of the many historic connections between Valencia and Burgos, especially the fact that 600 years ago the Valencian Dominican Friar Saint Vincent Ferrer, converted the Rabbi of Burgos, Selomo Ha-Levi, to Catholicism. He later became Bishop of Burgos with the name Pablo Santamaría, and a relative of his was one of a group that started the construction of the Cathedral of Burgos. In the photo, Mayoress Rita Barbera receives a copy of this Cathedral as a gift from Mayor Aparicio.

We advise our readers that a fault in the electronic system of the gear shift of Fiat automatic drive cars, causes sudden stoppages that can produce whiplash to the driver. This has been the experience of our editor while driving an automatic Fiat Stilo Abarth. The stoppages are also highly dangerous if they take place when passing out another vehicle, or in heavy traffic.