Madeira News Blog

Today’s Photo : Thanks to Eiryl … Azulejos tiles at the entrance to old house in Santa Maria Maior, Funchal

Thanks again to Elaine of course for yesterday’s top stories :

Ilhas Afortunadas, ‘Fortunate Islands’ at New Year. The contract for the end of year fireworks display has been awarded to Macedo’s Pirotecnia. The theme this year will be the ‘Fortunate Islands’. The eight minute display will be divided into 21 separate ‘pictures’, each directly inspired from an element of fauna and flora of Madeira, e.g., agapanthus, banana, firecrest, dolphin, sea urchins etc. The aim is to draw attention to the Laurissilva and the importance of preserving the heritage of biological diversity in the region – International Year of Biodiversity is 2010. Estimated cost is just over 1 million Euros. It was in 2007 when Macedo’s helped to get Madeira in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest firework display in the world. The Secretariat of Tourism will present the Christmas and New Year program to the media on November 24. The first phase of the illuminations starts on November 27 and the second on December 4. —– €1 million spent in just over 8 minutes!

Diário wins two European Newspaper Awards. Awarded a prize in the category ‘Front Page’ for the cover of the July 15 2009 edition and ‘Sector in Front Page’ award for two pieces on pages 2 and 3 in the 21 March 2009 issue and the December 8 2008 issue. The Portuguese ‘I’ won the award in the category of ‘Best Newspaper Designed in Europe’ and the ‘Expresso’ achieved various distinctions.

Negligence causes gas explosion. An explosion by a gas cylinder yesterday morning in the Piornais Levada in Funchal caused a huge scare but no casualties or damage. The accident occurred when a woman was changing an empty bottle and the connection was not secure but fortunately it was the empty cylinder that exploded and the flame did not reach the full one.

Illegal parking. Complaint of continual illegal parking near the entrance/exit to the highway at Ribeira Brava, despite road signs.

Infamous development in Porto Novo. A controversial development built on top of a steep cliff. This area contains 48 apartments spread over three blocks and was built by the company JSP Franca. It was subject to court action in 2000 and since then, the complex for public housing has been vandalized while the case has been going through court. The problem is that the land is part of the public maritime domain belonging to the Government and therefore the private properties along the coastline are illegal. The other interpretation of the law, favoured by the Government, is that the land has been recognized by them as private for more than 100 years and therefore detached from the public domain and the development is legal.

Technical problem at the port costs €3 million. The embarking / disembarking equipment bought for the new port is designed to operate in ports where the tidal range is less than 2 metres, which is not always the case in Madeira. The technical solution costs an additional 3 million Euros. The ports authority invested a total of 8 million with a loan and there are questions raised as who will pay the 600/800 thousand Euros per year to finance and operate the service. The shipping agents are concerned that the passenger rates may increase 50%. The doubts about paying the loan are that only 2.5% of port passengers need to use the formal boarding arrangements for checking luggage and other procedures, which will be those starting or ending a cruise in Funchal. Those using Naviera Armas or the Porto Santo Line will not require it. The International Passenger Terminal will not be opened until March next year, instead of this December, due to structural changes in the building.

Tunas festival dates. Tuna Universitaria da Madeira (TUMa) will keep alive the Regional Meeting of Tunas, from 3 December to June 5 this time. The XV Meeting program dates in Funchal are: Thursday December 3 – reception at the Town Hall followed by a tour of the city centre. Saturday December 5, 21.00 – Praça do Municipo.

Madeira Wine awarded silver medal.  Justino’s Madeira Malvasia 10 Years Old was awarded the Silver Medal in the competition Fortified Wine Challenge sponsored by the magazine ‘Drinks International’. This was in the category Madeira, Marsala and Other Styles. This wine has achieved Gold Medals in the International Wine Challenge (2001), the VII Wine Masters Challenge (2006), and The World of Malvasia (2009).

100 hospitalized children will go whale and dolphin watching. The Foundation of Gil has made an agreement with the company Rota dos Cetaceos (Whale Route) to allow children hospitalized for long periods to go on whale and dolphin watching trips.

Porto Moniz Council worker accused foreman of assault. While cutting the roadside vegetation, some workers came across a wasp nest. One man hesitated as he had previously been stung, causing his leg to swell. The foreman said this would not happen again and then the worker inadvertently touched the nest with his podoa (curved sickle for pruning trees). Provoked, the wasps swarmed and attacked the workers. The foreman grabbed the worker by the shoulders and pushed him onto the road and then down a 1.5 metre bank. When pushed over, the worker fell on top of his podoa and had small cuts near his eye and he also cut his right arm. The doctor at the Health Centre provided written evidence for the police and the foreman denies the assault. —- Anyone else fallen on their padoa?

Residents fear using a road in Lazareto. The instability of the slope has caused small landslides onto the road when it rains. These have caused problems to motorists and pedestrians. Small stones can also come loose at any time and are of concern to residents waiting at the bus stop. The council know about the problem and wanted to enlarge the road but this was too expensive.

Retired police commissioner might be subject to disciplinary action. Continuation of the saga about the pre-election violence. On the 2 October during the opening of the expressway to the port, clashes between the populares and the PND required the presence of the BIR. Jardim disputes the inaction of the PSP and accuses the Regional Commissioner of being under "the control of Lisbon" and not adequately protecting the opening. On the 14 October, the Diário learnt that a police officer requested a transfer out of the Region because he believes there are no conditions for performing police functions in the Region where the Government offends the honour, dignity and impartiality of men and women who are in the service of the Regional Command of the PSP. There are now two more similar requests for transfers. The retired commissioner Manuel Felix is said to be in "clear conscience". He has not yet been asked to give evidence to the PSP or Public Ministry. Although he is retired, he might face disciplinary action for neglect of duties. The penalty could be a fine or loss of pension rights.

Front page headlines from today’s Diário de Notícias :

A nice easy job for me today, with just one important story in the eyes of the Diário, which has devoted almost the complete front page to the matter :

África Nossa (our Africa) – Portugal beat Bosnia and qualified for the World Cup Finals 2010. The draw takes place on 4th December. Portugal won 0 – 1 on Bosnia’s home soil, with a very fine goal early in the second half by Raul Meireles. Tricky game, but Portugal reverted to their more natural attacking game and it paid off. I thought the match was going to be called off after some trouble with the crowd in the second half with objects being thrown at players and officials, with a linesman getting hit, but it just prolonged the game another 5 minutes. What a relief, and a what a tonic for the Portuguese sanity.

Slovenia and Algeria, the teams of Nacional’s players  Pecnik and Halliche, are among the 32 teams that qualified.

There were a couple more headlines just about squeezed in at the bottom of the page :

Court Annuls Judgement – High Court sets aside the decision of the Court of Funchal that sentenced a mother to 16 years in prison for the death of her daughter. The court ‘Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa’ annulled the judgement of the court ‘Vara Mista’ in Funchal, that had sentenced a young mother to 16 years in prison for the death of her 2 year old daughter in November 2007, for qualified homicide. The allegation was that she poisoned her whilst she was institutionalised, using biscuits and fruit juice, a fact proved by the autopsy.

Government unties knot in Campanário. The photograph shows that rather awkward junction of the via rápida in Campanário. The government is to put the problems right to ease traffic flow and to improve safety in the problem area. Work to correct the problem area should start early next year, and is being progressed with some haste, even though it has been like that since construction 12 years ago.

‘Case of the suitcase’ has connections to Madeira. This is about a suspended MP in the Assembly of the Republic, António Preto, accused of fiscal fraud. It seems he is involved in the real estate company in Funchal ‘Serbro-Construções Imobiliárias, S.A.’. Did I mention that Senior Preto is a member of the Social Democratic Party? No, well he is, so I can only deduce that such behaviour must run in that orange blood.

44 sympathetic institutions display art. Feel free to send me in a translation for this story.

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