NEWS SNIPPETS FROM VALENCIA - POPULATION = 4.8 MILLION

Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, opened a painting exposition "Live Painting" in the Colon Market, that will remain open to the public till Sunday 17th February. All the paintings exhibited are the work of mentally handicapped youths, pupils of the Municipal Special Schools, Isabel de Villena and Juan de Garay. Handcrafts by students from the Municipal Occupational Centre Grabador Planes, are also on show.

The Windsurf Club of Santa Pola, Alicante, announced at the recent International Tourism Show in Madrid, that it will host the World Formula Windsurfing in Santa Pola Bay in 2009. Francisco Camps, President of the Valencian Government (fourth from the left in the top photo) and Angelica Such, Councillor of Tourism (fourth from the right), as well a Joaquin Ripoll, chairman of the Alicante County Council (extreme right in the bottom photo), and Miguel Zaragoza, Mayor of Alicante, expressed their support of the event.

Fernando de Rosa, Valencian Government Councillor of Justice and the Civil Service, is visiting Sao Paolo, Brazil, where he met with L. Antonio Guimaraes, State Secretary of Justice and Citizen Defence, and with S. Estanislau Beraldo, State Secretary for Public Management, to offer information on the 24 hour services in Valencia to aid women, victims of violence.

Miguel Dominguez, Town Hall Counsellor for Public Safety and Media Relations, inaugurated the I Congress of the European Federation of Professional Photographers, in the Valencian Convention Bureau.

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.