Madeira News Blog

Today’s Photo Thanks to Derek … São Lourenço Peninsula

Ireland AM presenter Anna Daly was lucky enough to escape for a few days in the sun to the Madeira Islands. There are 3 videos on this link about her visit, including Porto Santo, and Dolphin Watching. IRELAND AM

"On 10 January, Tom and I departed for 3 weeks in Madeira, looking forward to the “Garden Isle”. Everything went smoothly until we reached overhead the island. Due to adverse weather conditions (!!!) we couldn’t land. We circled for a while, then eventually flew on to the island of Porto Santo, only a few miles away, where we landed, in brilliant sunshine, waiting for a break in the weather at Funchal. There was almost a riot when we were not allowed off the plane (security reasons) and one couple were threatened with arrest when they actually tried to disembark. You can imagine the commotion when the pilot announced that if we couldn’t fly into Funchal within the next half hour, we would have to return to Stansted!" A TOURIST VIEW (skip the first 4 paragraphs)

"Yes, we learned a lot of information, but the problem was that she was the WORST tour guide in history. On this excursion, she droned on and on, saying “uh” over and over again to fill space. She could not let there be one second where she wasn’t talking. And she repeated everything 3 times! Ray was ready to strangle her. Silence would’ve been so much appreciated—at least for a few minutes. She never shut up!!" ANOTHER TOURIST VIEW

"A LOCHMABEN couple have been left stranded in Madeira after airline company Globespan went bust. Robin and Susan Bryden, who both work for the Standard, flew out for a sunshine break on Monday. And less than 48 hours later their tour operator collapsed leaving thousands of people stranded. Susan said: “Lucy [our daughter] rang us on Wednesday to tell us the company had gone bust. “We had no idea before that, and it seems to have come completely out of the blue. The travel agents didn’t seem to have expected it at all.” A STRANDED TOURIST VIEW

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Bosses refuse to increase salaries – The priority is to keep jobs.

Agricultural reserves don’t move from the drawing board.

Fatal adventure in the sea at Madalena – Youth most likely dived in the rough sea and died. (repeated from Elaine’s story yesterday for convenience, as the story is pretty much the same on the Diário website) Body found on rocks east of where the boy was diving. It was a morning of searching to find a youth missing at sea in Madalena do Mar. The authorities were alerted by 6:30 on Saturday. A 17 year-old from Calheta had entered the water and disappeared off the beach in Madalena do Mar. Apparently the youth, who was accompanied by a group of friends, went into the sea which for several days has been stormy. The body of the young man, who was from Calheta, was eventually found to the east of the beach at around 11 a.m. yesterday. The "Schultz Xavier", a vessel of SANAS and the Air Force helicopter Merlin EH-101 were called out. On land were elements of the Marine Police and the PSP.

Today’s main news headline : Paedophiles frequenting Madeira – In four major international operations undertaken by the Justice Police, eight paedophiles were caught on Madeira. The criminals try to evade the investigators in the networks (internet). The four operations over four years that originated in an environment of international cooperation have always resulted in a ‘capture’ on Madeira. The first in 2005 identified two perverts involved in internet child pornography, caught by the JP in Funchal. The Police are reluctant to release exact details, but it is very likely that another two were caught in 2007. Last year another was caught, and last Tuesday another 3 were identified. The paedophiles try and avoid capture by using a range of tricks to disguise their file sharing activities, but the Internet Service Providers (Meo, Netmadeira, etc.) are able to trace the location and identity the criminals through their IP address when illegal material has been identified. The ISPs are obliged under Portuguese law to cooperate with the authorities and provide personal information where requested. The police here also have the technology to intercept suspect emails, and ‘listen in’ on on-line conversations, as well as keeping a close eye on file sharing sites, such as Kazaa. 

Nursing boss removed from office – Health officials do not confirm, but the dismissal at the health centre of Santo António is linked to information leaks in the process of vaccinations against Gripe A. Following the publication of information about the administering of the vaccine for H1N1 swine flu by the health centre of Santo António, the head of nursing there has been relieved of her responsibilities. The news leaked a couple of weeks ago is connected with information about family and friends of doctors and members of the government getting priority vaccinations when not identified as ‘at risk’ cases. The person has been moved to other duties in the health service. The clinical director in the health service says he was not aware of the move, but points out that that is perfectly normal to relocate staff to meet health service operational needs, and it may just a matter of managing human resources. One of the cases identified, was the vaccination of the family of a government vice-president. At a press conference arranged to counter the ´queue jumping’ allegations, it was said that the vaccinations had been necessary for family and medical reasons. Too many ‘ifs and buts’ to be sure, but the Diário certainly suggests that this may be the silencing of a ‘whistleblower’, which may be justified or not depending on how one feels about divulging personal medical information. The article does say however that an investigation was carried out in the health service to identify the leak, so I think I will go with the conspiracy theory.

Today’s main sport / football story : Ronaldo in on the act in the thrashing by Real Madrid. The Madeiran scored in the 6 – 0 home victory for the ‘merengues’ against Real Zaragoza.

The classic Benfica v FC Porto livens up tonight. (SportTV 8.15 pm).

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link Thank you in anticipation.

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