I saw this photo on Flickr titled ‘Natures Fireworks’, which I thought was very clever and appropriate. It was taken in the Farmers Market in Funchal.

Many thanks to Tom for sending in this link : “The Greek debt crisis has spread to Spain and Portugal in a dangerous escalation as global markets test whether Europe is willing to shore up monetary union with muscle rather than mere words … Credit default swaps (CDS) measuring bankruptcy risk on Portuguese debt surged 28 basis points on Thursday to a record 222 on reports that Jose Socrates was about to resign as prime minister after failing to secure enough votes in parliament to carry out austerity measures … Parliament minister Jorge Lacao said the political dispute has raised fears that the country is no longer governable. “What is at stake is the credibility of the Portuguese state,” he said”. UK DAILY TELEGRAPH It had 112 comments by 9 pm yesterday! 

Many thanks to Elaine once again for yesterday’s top news stories :

DIÁRIO 07/02/2010

MADEIRA

Laurissilva among the favourites. The list of 77 candidates for the next stage of the competition, ’7 Natural Wonders of Portugal’, will be released today for public voting between 7 March and 7 September. These have been chosen from the original 323 entries and there will be 11 chosen for each of the seven categories.

The nine wonders of the region
Ilhas Selvagens – Located about 163 miles from Madeira, they represent the extreme south of the country. The Nature Reserve of Selvagens was established in 1971 and is one of the oldest reserves in Portugal.

Ilhas Desertas – Biogenetic Reserve since 1992 and Nature Reserve since 1995, the Ilhas Desertas are one of the last strongholds of Lobo-marinho. They are also an important centre for nesting seabirds.

Floresta Laurissilva – Considered World Natural Heritage by UNESCO and classified as a Biogenetic Reserve by the Council of Europe, the Laurissilva is endemic to Macaronesia.

Cabo Girão – Located in the municipality of Câmara de Lobos, it is the highest promontory in Europe with a height of 580 metres. The viewpoint of the site is one of the most sought after.

Fajã dos Padres – Narrow strip of land along the coast, under a cliff about 250 metres high, this fajã is located on the south coast of Madeira and is endowed with an agricultural area of excellence.

Pico Ana Ferreira – About 283 metres above sea level, it is the highest point of the western part of the island. At its peak there have developed a spectacular set of prismatic columns known as ‘piano’.

Praia do Porto Santo – Stretching over six kilometres between Vila Baleira and Ponta da Calheta, the golden sandy beach is one of the attractions of Porto Santo and the sand has therapeutic capabilities.

Cabeço dos Laranjas – On the islet of Cima (Porto Santo), you can see a spectacular outcrop of fossils of red algae, known locally as ‘oranges’ for their striking resemblance to that fruit.

Galerias do Ilhéu da Cal – In the largest island of Porto Santo, where the limestone mining industry began in the XVIII Century, today there are wonderful galleries where you can see subaquatic lava flows and volcanic ash.

1,000 participants in the Carnival of Câmara de Lobos. 18 groups will participate in this traditional parade held on the evening of February 15th. This year it will include the Associação de Animação Geringonça and  Malta do Furor (Achada de Gaula) and two other newcomers: Banda Filarmónica do Caniço e Eiras and the Escuteiros de São Martinho. Participants from various institutions, of all ages. The parade begins at 21.30, starting at Avenida Nova Cidade and ending at the car park of Baía de Câmara de Lobos.

Plans for Vila Giorgi and Castanheiro in discussion. From 18 February to March 17, plans for the redevelopment of this area of Funchal will be available online. The mayor noted that this is a very balanced plan when it comes to shopping, houses and services as it sets a percentage for each. In between Rua das Pretas and São Pedro, there will be a plaza of 1,700 square metres under which there will be a car park with 450 spaces, and 150 of these will be reserved for local traders. Vila Giorgi is a private development consisting of a five star hotel with 44 rooms and a block of 33 apartments. The detailed plan of the area Ornelas will be available between 18 February and 10 March.

Court establishes that the driver responsible for a fatal accident had no licence.  The accident occurred on the 25 October 2008 near the viewpoint of Cabo Girão. At around 3 am, the car hit a stone wall causing the death of one of the occupants, an 18 year old man and the other was seriously injured. At the time, it was a popular location to practice dangerous manoeuvres. The driver had no licence and the car was uninsured. The driver was still learning at a driving school and had only been in possession of a car for a short period of time.

PT and PSP used in ‘phishing’. If there is an e-mail in the mailbox with the logo of the police and PT (shown), it should be deleted immediately. Clicking on one of these logos takes the user to a copy of the website and an executable file is immediately downloaded.

ECONOMY

430,000 Euros for the Open de Golfe and Rali Vinho Madeira. Turismo de Portugal will provide 330,000 Euros for the Golf Open and 100,000 Euros for the Madeira Wine Rally. This is 30% of the total needed for the golf tournament at Porto Santo, and the Regional Budget will provide an additional half a million Euros. The Wine Rally also needs 1 million Euros in funds and will receive 650,000 Euros from the government.

JORNAL DA MADEIRA – FRONT PAGE NEWS

‘Healer’ takes money and gold at Caniçal. A case of doorstep fraud. A woman and her son knocked at the door of a house where a 40 year old woman lived with her son. The visitors tried to sell clothing but the resident was not interested. The street vendor then changed the course of conversation, claiming that she was a registered healer, reading palms, tarot cards etc. She wanted money for powerful remedies which would be fully effective. Over a period of several days, the victim handed over 3,500 Euros in cash and gold items, totalling 5,000 Euros. The police have found the two suspects, assumed mother and son, and some of the items but not the money. The local people commented on the ridiculous way in which this has happened.

EVENTS

Five robberies in Calheta. Five burglaries in recent days but the assailants have not been caught. Most of the damage has been by the forced entries rather than items stolen. Two houses at Ledo, two at Palheiros and the Junta de Freguesia have been robbed.

ECONOMY

Loja do Cidadão and Dolce Vita have a new innovation. A new information system will be installed in these two areas in Funchal. The user of the Loja do Cidadão can find out their place in the queue for their chosen service and estimated waiting time. The service is also accessible on the second floor of the Dolce Vita commercial mall, so the user can shop or consume food while waiting. This service will be inaugurated at 18.00 on Monday February 8th.

CULTURE

Cortejo folião animated “Festa dos Compadres”. This was the first time this parade has taken place in Santana during the Festa dos Compadres. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, 16 groups from the primary and secondary schools took part. The parade was followed by musical entertainment. Prizes were awarded to the best participating groups and the best participant. The Ball of Compadres followed at 22.00. Many, including families, watched this procession especially as it was the initial one. It is to be kept as a separate additional event from the main parade, which is on the following Sunday afternoon (this afternoon).

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

500 waiting for tobacco consultations. The search for help in quitting smoking grows, but Madeira cannot provide an adequate service, lacking facilities and doctors to cope. [Why is a doctor needed I wonder?]. Outside of Funchal, only Câmara de Lobos can actually offer consultations to help smokers. It has been two years since the publication of the directive of the Directorate General of Health, which called for the creation of specialized clinics in all health centres and hospitals, but decentralization has still not happened.

In politics : Social Democratic Party and Socialist Party without proposals since the Summer – The two biggest parties only came up with two projects of decree in the current legislative session. It’s a good point actually. With the distractions of the regional and national elections, Christmas, the PS leadership election, the Regional Finance Law, and the bad weather, it seems that the politicians here have taken the opportunity for a verrrrry extended Summer holiday.

Many [suffer] damages without the right to compensation. The majority of the storm damage caused over the past weeks, will not be covered for repair or replacement. Natural disaster damage can be covered, such as that experienced recently by thousands of people, and can be remedied, but only for those who have appropriate insurance. The other option for some, is to find someone else to blame, but Saint Peter (São Pedro) himself is exempt from such claims. This is pretty much the situation facing those who are victims of natural phenomena, that may or may not be worsened by human intervention. And the problem is that, except for compulsory insurance associated with bank loans for house purchase, the majority of homes in the region (especially rural) are not insured. The article also has a helpful ‘Question and answer’ session fielded by the Insurance Institute of Portugal, as well as citing various laws that cover this area with insurance policies.  Just for Martin’s benefit, after raising the subject at the weekend.

Today’s main news headline : Bad debt threatens health – The Regional Health Service owes 147 million Euros to suppliers, that admit withholding supplies from the hospitals and health centres. With wisdom the people say : health doesn’t have a price. But the truth is that on Madeira it costs plenty, more than the money that the Region makes available. The shortfall is paid through the long waiting lists, as well as from the medical suppliers whose ‘financial health’ for a long time has been connected to the [life support?] ‘machine’. At the end of 2008 the Regional Health Service (SESARAM) had to pay €147 million to the suppliers, a scary figure if one considers the impacts on the suppliers of essential products to health centres and hospitals. Several other large figures are presented, all related to various categories of debt, or lack of equity, and the Diário once again labels another major organisation as ‘technically bankrupt’. 60% of the health budget on Madeira is used to pay doctors, nurses, and other staff. Skipping through the meat of the article, the Diário changes tact somewhat, and then reports that the average costs of public expenditure per head of population here (in general terms) is 36% higher than in the Azores. In medical terms the two archipelagos compare differently, with Madeira with 2.5 doctors and 7.7 nurses per thousand of population, and the Azores with 2 doctors and 6.7 nurses for the same numbers of people. Both sets of numbers are however well lower than the European average. Madeira spends on health an average per head of population of €1,312 [per year?] compared to €960 on the Azores. So where does that leave us you ask, with a health service in technical bankruptcy? What can we do to protect ourselves in our times of greatest need. Whilst we can all do things to lessen our risk of needing health care, like Uncle Bertie packing in those toppling Cuban cigars for instance, the answer of course lies in Poncha. More research and investment is needed in Poncha, and I am prepared to do my bit to help. Where health facilities are being starved by suppliers of essential medical supplies, low cost Poncha substitutes are the key. We could allocate different flavours for different illnesses for example, with the traditional lemon being used to treat problems with stress and depression, whilst the rather more sickly maracujá flavour could be used for ladies with problems.The main sport / football headline today : What lacked in the paint remained in the points – The game in Barreiros was delayed because one could not see the lines on the pitch. But neither that, nor a barely tolerable performance stopped Marítimo beating União de Leiria [1-0], and overtaking Nacional, defeated  [1-0] in Olhão. The unimpressive photo with this story has the lions share of the front page of the Diário, with the rather bizarre scene out on the football pitch, of a solitary man and a pot of paint and a brush, repainting the seemingly non existent white lines on the pitch. It could only happen here … a premier league match, a cut field with goalposts, two football teams, a refereeing team, a couple of thousand fans, … but someone had forgotten to mark out the pitch, and nobody noticed until it was too late!!! Luckily the game wasn’t televised, as this embarrassment can hopefully be maintained on Madeira. It must have been quick drying paint too. The plot of distraction obviously worked as Marítimo overcame the opposition to win. Well done lads, good tactics (said through gritted teeth).

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. All contributions much appreciated. 

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to Der at blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

This weekends football : Nacional visit Paços de Ferreira tonight. 8.15 pm on SportTV1. Marítimo host Rio Ave on Sunday. 4 pm, but not televised.

Parliament: Law regulating financing of autonomous regions under national scrutiny. The Azorean Parliament’s Economy Committee is studying the legislation that regulates the financing of the autonomous regions to determine whether the new proposal put forward by Madeira may cause the Azorean archipelago to lose the positive discrimination it currently enjoys. Madeira president Alberto João Jardim never accepted the changes to the calculations of State revenues apportioned to the Autonomous Regions, despite those being passed by the Assembly of the Republic in 2007. Until these changes were made, Madeira had always received more money than the Azores, a situation that Prime Minister José Sócrates rectified in order to redress uneven development in the nine island of the Azores. Now that the PS has lost its absolute majority at national level, the Madeira PSD brought out an old proposal which could restore the pre-2007 legislation setting out financing for the autonomous regions. MORE ON RTP AZORES

The new Regional Finance Law is due to be voted on in Lisbon tomorrow, and it is going to be very tight, with the governing socialists voting against, the social democrats voting for, and various smaller parties sitting on the fence because of the situation in the Azores. It may even be a 97 – 97 tie.

Many thanks to Elaine once again for yesterdays top news stories :

A classic in port. The Port of Funchal hosts since the beginning of yesterday afternoon, one of the most emblematic mega yachts ever on a routine visit and allowing medical treatment of a member of the crew. The Talitha G sailed from Gibraltar and is bound for Antigua. It will moor until 12.00 on Friday. The mega yacht was built in 1927 and named Reveler until 1937 when it was renamed Chalen. It served with the USA Navy during the second world war under the title USS Beaumont. After the war, the boat was privately owned and renamed Elpetal and was a favourite of Winston Churchill. In 1983, due to a change of owner, it became the Zezebel. There was a serious breakdown in the main engine during a crossing from the USA to Europe in 1993 and it had to be towed to Lisbon where it was repaired and refurbished and renamed the Talitha G. It has a crew of 18 and can host up to 20 people.

Santa Cruz will have a ‘low-cost’ petrol station.  A new petrol filling station will open at Tendeira in Caniço next year. It will be the third low-cost station in the country and the first in the region. The group of companies (AECCP) who run these stations want to try to combat rising fuel prices. The station is placed in Santa Cruz as "The county offers strategic conditions so they can offer Madeiran businessmen fuel at a lower price than they currently have." The proposals will only benefit members of ACIF (Association of Commerce and Industry) who must be associated with AECCP whose membership costs ten Euros. The Mayor of Santa Cruz is pleased with this project as the Council is a strategic partner and will benefit from more competitive prices.

Wild globalization responsible for crisis. Conference at Machico yesterday, The Wild Invasion of the Commercial Area of Madeira by Trade of the ‘Rising Sun’. The President of the Union of Businessmen of Small and Medium Businesses in Portugal, Pedro Fernandes, made the accusation that globalization and public policy makers are responsible for the current global crisis. These two are responsible for widespread unemployment, the debt of the country, ruin and poverty, family imbalances, social exclusion, desertification and imbalance of public accounts. He discussed the unfair competition of the Chinese market and the impact it may have on Machico. The conference was attended by some of the top businessmen who have invested in the city, including Jorge de Sã. The speaker had been a textile firm manager for 50 years and said his factory closed due to lack of government support. Machico does not require the installation of a large area of Asian trade and the opening of the Chinese store will ruin traditional trade. The Chinese stores are exempt from taxes for 5 years.

Arrested alleged drug dealer was attempting to escape justice. A 20 year old man was arrested on Monday at the airport while attempting to fly to England. He was trying to escape the Autonomous Region and Portuguese Justice. He was involved in several cases under investigation relating to seizures of hashish this year, amounting to 7,000 doses. That was why the police were at the airport to prevent him leaving. He is now on remand in prison.

Police seize more than 1 kg of heroin.  900 grams or enough for 10.500 doses if left unprepared, was seized last weekend in Livramento in Funchal. A 35 year old man from Guinea-Bissau was arrested. The police action was after over two months of investigative work which had led to two other arrests for drug trafficking. These two were also of Guinean nationality and had in their possession 2,100 doses of heroin. The third man was a cousin of the first two arrested and the heroin was found in the carcass of a television set in the house which the other two had previously rented. He initially argued that the television did not belong to him but was eventually charged. The drug has a high state of purity and the number of doses could be increased by cutting and processing to increase profits but make it less harmful to the consumer. The police think the heroin was destined for consumption over the holiday season at several locations in Madeira.

Pinheiro adorns the sea. Since last Saturday, the divers near the Hotel Pestana Palms have been surprised by an underwater Christmas tree. The new initiative came from the Madeira Diving School, ‘Tubarão Madeira Mergulho’. The manager said, "Funchal is already decorated and we wanted to do something fun for all customers when they come to dive." They placed the tree on the sea bed then decorated it, not a long or difficult operation because the tree was already prepared and the Christmas balls filled with water so they do not drift off. To secure the tree, they took a wooden ladder down and braced the tree until the decorating was finished. In the past few days, the tree has remained unaltered and until the fish became accustomed to the decoration, they tried to eat the balls. They will keep the tree on the sea bed until the New Year and if still in good condition, it will be put back in the same site next year. —- Plenty of photos and a video on Diário site. (The type of story I love to read).

SWAT training in Madeira. Eight elements of the Marine Police Force, 4 from the Azores and 4 from Madeira, are this week attending a Special Weapons and Tactics training course. Yesterday’s training at Caniçal was successful; they approached a suspected vessel at speed to test entry into the vessel, the control of suspects, searching and seizure of materials. The course also involves weapons training, situations and risk assessment and decision making. The Marine Police are responsible for maritime safety, preservation of the marine eco-system and the fight against crime at sea, especially trafficking.

PS unhappy about ‘fantasy’ budget figures. The Socialist Party have criticized the budget planned for 2010. The budget is unrealistic with inflated revenues and excess indebtedness, direct and indirect. They say 40% of the budget revenue comes from unproven sources and only 60% can be accounted for, leading to more debt. Their figures indicate 1,200 million Euros of direct debt and 1,500 million Euros of indirect debt (not the stated 1,100 million) and with other debt, the total will reach 5,000 million Euros which exceeds the GDP of 4,700 million Euros, (125% GDP). It is difficult to see how Madeira can pay these debts without jeopardizing quality of life. —- There is at present political panic in Madeira over the vote on the budget amendment to the Law of Regional Finances in Lisbon tomorrow, which will allow a 129 million loan needed to pay suppliers. If only the PSD and PCP vote in favour, the PS vote against and the CDS-PP and BE refrain, there will be a tie with 97 against and 97 in favour.

Christmas news. From today until January 6 in the streets of Funchal, there will be 8 people dressed as Santa Claus selling balloons and 8 food / drink vendors. Between 14 – 24 December, 3 toy sellers and 15 vendors of seasonal foliage. Christmas Market opened yesterday at the Regional Directorate of Youth, Rua 31 de Janeiro in Funchal. 15 youth associations have combined forces and there will be on sale until December 11, cribs, liqueurs, bolos de mel, handicrafts and embroidery. An exhibition of ‘ecological cribs’ opened today in the lobby of Funchal Town Hall and will be there until 7 January. The cribs are made from recyclable materials by members of 26 institutions, from schools to community centres and homes. SATA announced today that it will increase flights from Madeira between December 29 – January 4. More than 28 flights corresponding to over 5,300 seats. TAP has already announced an increase in flights to Lisbon (96 flights, 14,248 seats) and 54 flights between Madeira and Porto (7,318 seats). SATA will operate another 120 flights (10,500 seats) to the Azores. TAP increases flights to the island of Horta, Pico and Terceira.

Radical Laurissilva plan. The Municipality of Porto Moniz is to promote the Laurissilva in relation to tourism. To promote walking activities, tourist paths will be recovered and signposted. Areas for canyoning, paragliding and surfing, waterfalls, ponds, viewpoints and levadas will be indicated on a comprehensive route map.

Casa d’Avo Beatriz.  Jardim inaugurated the new unit for Rural Tourism in Gaula yesterday. The Casa d’Avo Beatriz resulted from an investment by one of Beatriz’s grandchildren, António Rodrigues, with additional funding. The house has seven double rooms and will open on January 1 2010. It is a traditional country house adapted for tourism, including a swimming pool, while keeping the original features. The house is situated in Rua D. Felicidade, no 12, in Achada de Gaula de Cima.

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

PSD social democrats try to avoid two failures in São Bento – Luís Miguel França could be decisive in the approving of the Regional Finances Law. The negotiations continue today itself. The story has already been covered in part above, and no doubt later today we will know how the voting went.

Today’s main news headline : Bad debt triples – The debts to the banks grew in the last year. On Madeira they already represent €180 million and confirm that individuals and companies are living in stressful situations. They are the more prominent numbers during the crisis. In September the bad debt situation hit the highest level on Madeira in recent years, hitting 3.7%. A year ago the percentage of bad debt was 1.25%. The disturbing figure remains below the figure nationally of 4.4%, but in the last two quarters alone the figures have galloped  on by 0.9 and 0.8%. According to statistics from the Bank of Portugal, loans granted on Madeira amounted to €8.06 billion, but applications are slowing. That final figure seems to be just for company and individual loans, but it is not made absolutely clear that regional and local government borrowings are excluded.

The main photo on today’s front page shows children and teachers looking through a high fence at a sports court : It has been ready four years but was never used – A disagreement between the Madeira government and Metropolitana impeded the use of the enclosed court in Porto da Cruz. The children in the adjoining schools (pre-school and basic) were never given the all-clear to use the sports facility built by the Sociedade Metropolitana de Desenvolvimento (SMD), and in fact no one has ever used it. The SMD says that it is now trying to negotiate with the Secretary for Education to change that, so the school children can use it, and it can stop being a ‘deposit’ for various types of rubbish. A spokesman for SMD wouldn’t go into reasons for the long delay, but no doubt someone somewhere will add this to the long and growing list of Uncle Bertie’s ‘white elephants’.

‘Market Night’ expanded into more streets - Requirements to accommodate  street sellers soar. The base area for ‘Night Market’ in Funchal will be extended this year. The news was announced by counsellor, Rubina Leal, who justified the council decision with the growing number of applications for trading spaces on the night of 23rd December. Details are not all available yet, but as well as the usual streets and locations (the area surrounding the farmers’ market, and also Rua Dr. Fernão de Ornelas, Rua de Oudinot and Anadia, Pelourinho, Praça da Autonomy, Rua D. Carlos I, etc.) the area around the EEM / Electricity Museum will also be utilised. Discussions also have to be completed with the emergency services to ensure the safety of the expanded event.

In the market of Penteada there are licenses that expired a year ago. The council decides to exempt payment of rent for three months.

Cinema inspires ”New Year ‘ in the IVM.

Platini wants more referees on the pitch – The president of UEFA football dined in the Quinta Vigia. Platini’s comments come prompted by the famous handball that saw his nation France qualify for the world Cup at the expense of Ireland. Platini says he was embarrassed by the referee, who didn’t see the deliberate handball by the French attacker Thierry Henry. "I am doing my best to put more eyes to assess the game", he said, referring to some new measures  of UEFA, like the placing of more officials to improve the work of the refereeing team. There will be more refs than players soon! I used to cope years ago with just one referee on the pitch, no linesmen, and the honesty of the players. No doubt Uncle Bertie was giving football’s top man some advice on how the game should be run, from his immense experience as Marítimo’s number one fan and benefactor (with taxpayers money of course). No doubt we will be hearing soon that Marítimo have qualified automatically for next year’s Champions League, but that will be after Platini will have been spotted leaving at Madeira airport, with several crates of Madeira Wine and boxes of bolo de mel … just gifts of course

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 . On a wet and windy day like today, surely someone has some time on their hands?

—————————————————————————————————————————————–
If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Many thanks again to Elaine for yesterday’s top news stories …

Giga Park is not yet opened but is already causing controversy. The ownership of one of the leased areas is in dispute and going to court. It is not yet installed but the amusement park in Ponta do Sol is a cause of controversy, which could end up in court. Two individuals claim possession of the land in question. The case promises to end up in court with an action brought as early as next week, says the contesting party. At the heart of the dispute is a piece of land in the expansion zone of Ponta do Sol, where in two weeks time is to be constructed the amusement park for the Christmas season and will remain there until mid-January. Marcos Vaz, responsible for organizing the fair and rents the land it occupies, assures he has possession of the proper permits through signed documents by all landowners. He rejects accusations of invading property without proper consent. One of the Gouveia family, claiming land ownership, complains that the Council of Ponta do Sol is complicit in the invasion because they authorized the installation on private property. Without concealing his anger, denouncing: "Ponta do Sol as the plunderer." In the midst of this is another owner claiming the coveted land, having made a deed of justification (prescription) at the end of last October. Although a period of 30 days is liable for a contest of a document of justification, the claimant promises to take the case to court next week for the judge to rule on the legitimate ownership. The mayor was surprised that there were no objections until yesterday when no one has previously complained to the Council services. He says the person is entitled to complain over registration of the land but he just wants to create controversy. He says the Giga Park has been authorized to be placed in the expansion area of Ponta do Sol but with safeguards that the entrepreneur obtains the proper consent from the land owners. The authorities have not issued any document and will only do so after confirming the lawful possession of the land to be occupied.

Attempted homicide against an inspector of the PJ. The Public Ministry has filed a complaint against an individual who on July 27 2009, on Porto Santo, fired a shot from a shotgun against an inspector of the PJ (Justicial Police) who had his mother in custody. The shot was fired about five metres from the inspector. The defendant is charged with attempted homicide, resistance to arrest and causing injury to an officer. The accused is 22 years old and was born in Porto Santo. The car of the PJ was targeted but no officer injured in the shooting. The investigations that were underway were related to the crime of drug trafficking and the action of the individual was to intimidate the agents who had detained a couple under suspicion. The action eventually cumulated in the arrest of a man and a woman of Portuguese nationality aged 38 and 48. 390 doses of heroin were also seized.

Police operation in conjunction with various forces in Caniçal. On 19 November, there was a Special Crime Prevention Operation in the municipality of Machico, especially directed at the parish of Caniçal. 568 individuals and 264 vehicles searched. Two guns, five doses of hashish, a car and several documents were seized in the operation which resulted in an arrest for possession of a prohibited weapon, illegal transport of a weapon and drug taking. 25 foreign nationals were also investigated for immigration offences.

Volunteers help Dutch couple. A Dutch citizen, in her 60s, was rescued yesterday by bombeiros when she was overcome with exhaustion on descending the path connecting Bobasas to Bom Sucesso. Her husband asked for assistance when she had breathing difficulties and the bombeiros administered oxygen to stabilise her. On arrival at Bom Sucesso, the woman’s condition had improved and they declined transportation to the hospital.

Costa Concordia debut. Italian cruise ship travelled from Lisbon with 2,200 tourists, on their way to Brazil. It was the first time this ship has visited the region and arrival scheduled for 07.00. It is on a repositioning cruise to Brazil where it will operate over the next four months. It was built in 2006, has 17 decks providing 3,780 beds in 1,500 cabins. The range of services on the floating hotel include areas of leisure, catering, gambling and nightlife. There is also a chapel for prayer/meditation. There are four swimming pools including a samsara spa, sundeck, sports area, five jacuzzis and a beauty salon. In addition to a recreation area for children, there is an area of shops, an art gallery and Internet access. The ship sails at 17.00 for Recife and the ship will return on the 22 March 2010 on the way back to Europe. There will be the traditional arrival ceremony accompanied by the Ports Authority and Ships Enthusiasts Club.

Despite the Christmas bonus, people still not spending. The Civil Servants have received their Christmas bonus but the traders in the centre of Funchal say the sector is still in crisis. Trade has been poor all year and people are buying the cheapest articles. Traders hope that business will improve when other employees receive their bonus on the 15 December. The ATM machines were affected and often unavailable for service yesterday afternoon with withdrawals and transfers due to the Christmas bonus. The Porto Santo ferry is changing its schedule to help people travel to Madeira for Christmas shopping, so they can travel on Thursday night and return to the island on Friday night.

Bankruptcy of Irish tour operator affects the region. The collapse of the Irish tour operator Budget Travel has stranded more than 700 customers in various resorts worldwide. There are 28 tourists in Madeira whose return is guaranteed via SATA and money will be refunded to other customers who have booked holidays. There are still debts to be paid and the firm last week paid a large sum to a regional hotel group. Budget Travel was allocated 50 seats per week on SATA flights from Dublin. The airline will  now have to try to sell the seats to other Irish operators but the prospects are not very good given the economic collapse of Ireland last year, which made news headlines around the world. Budget Travel has been in the market for about 35 years and has faced serious difficulties since last year. The company has no means and no prospects of paying in the coming months the debts to suppliers estimated at around €9.4 million. Madeiran hotels lose potentially 50 customers per week, an annual total of 2,500 guests with an average stay of seven nights.

Nuno Teixeira attends to the future of fisheries. The Social Democrat MEP promised yesterday to pay attention to the interests of Madeira in the fisheries sector, although this is not an area under his direct competence. He met with the parliamentary group of the PSD to discuss subsidies for construction and boat repair and the three month period without fishing for the black scabbard fish (espada). He took the opportunity to talk to the people of Madeira about the importance of the Green Paper on Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy which is in consultation until the end of the year. The argument is that the European Community compensation for the additional costs in marketing certain fishery products from the outermost regions should not be subject to a time limit as these are permanent handicaps. There should be a distinction between small regional fishing fleets and large industrial trawlers, and identification of fragile habitats.

Council of Machico limit the amount of construction. The Council of Machico will set a quota for construction throughout the county, taking advantage of the revision of the Municipal Plan. Although there are still some major works to be completed and new projects, the priority will be to focus on the environment and social areas. Works of the council will focus on green areas integrated into urban areas. In the more populated centres, there will be established gardens and leisure areas. The mayor points out that there are still some important works to be achieved; the health centre at Porto da Cruz, the enlargement of the quay at Porto da Cruz, the new sports pavilion at Machico and upgrading the centre of Caniçal.

Madeira inundates São Bento with propositions. In a little over a month, there were six initiatives, taking advantage of the weakness of the Portuguese Socialist Party. The two proposed amendments to the law of support for air transport are the first in what is promised to be a long series. Since the beginning of the current legislative session on October 20, Madeira has sent an average of one bill a week to the Assembly of the Republic. The aim is to take advantage of the fact that the PS lost its absolute majority and force the adoption of proposals rejected by the previous Socialist Government. The key of course, is the amendment to the Finance Act of the Autonomous Region, as proposed by the PSD-M and even had the backing of the Socialists in Madeira. In the case of the Finance Act, there is agreement with the PSD in Portugal and the opposition CDS and BE will probably agree, so the Socialists have few alternatives. The other laws are; pension supplement of 65 Euros paid by the Government of the Republic, 30% more for the police and immigration officials, and salaries of public administrations of ANAM. Jardim advises the Portuguese Government that as all is not well in the current situation, it should resign.

This article was also translated by an Elaine, this one from the West … many thanks!

(This is today’s top story in the Diário) : 15 more TAP flights for the festive season. Fernando Pinto has promised and TAP will fulfil. The airline will increase flights to Madeira from the second half of December and the end of the first week of January. According to data provided by the carrier, 14,248 places will be available on the Lisbon – Funchal route, through the enhancement of 96 flights. Between Porto and Madeira 54 more flights are planned, an increase of 7318 seats. The increase during Christmas and New Year’s Eve is because of immigrants who keep up the tradition of spending the festive season in Madeira, but also thanks to the diversity of programs offered by national operators, leading to TAP increasing daily flights. In all, more than 150 flights and 21,566 seats will be available. "This has always been the case, and we will continue to enhance the service to Madeira at Christmas and the end of the year," said the president of TAP, Fernando Pinto, during the 35th Congress of the WTTC, despite the time of crisis which has led to the reduction in supply and loss of passengers in the increase of air transport to Madeira. In the festive season TAP will also strengthen its operation to the Azores: over 14 flights to Horta, equivalent to 1,968 seats, plus 20 for Terçeira, ensuring an increase of 3000 seats and 4 more for Pico, providing over 528 seats.

A quick look at the rest of the front page of today’s headlines in the Diário de Notícias (Der) :

Food aid triples on Madeira. 83 thousand packages arrived this month for 10 thousand Madeirans, resulting in Social Security concluding that "only those who want to go hungry". The larders of some social and charity institutions and around 10,000 impoverished Madeirans were filled during November with over 830 thousand food packages, almost three times as many as in 2008 (326,000). This has been achieved through the Program for Community Food Aid for the Disadvantaged (PCAAC). The head of Social Security confirmed the figures, saying that there no need for anyone to go hungry. Madeira has been included in the scope of PCAAC since 1999, that has the objective of distributing specific food types to various member states in need. The main products are rice, pastas, biscuits, butter, cheeses, milk, flour and sugar, although this year several more luxurious products were also delivered. The number of aid recipients has actually dropped slightly this year to 9,618 (9,916). No doubt this publicity will boost the list again, especially as the head of Social Security admits that there are families that have not been identified as ‘poor’, and calls on people and institutions to let them know of any cases. There are also families identified as ‘poor’, but reject the food aid offered.

Solidarity of the people : The charity Cáritas fills 18 carts in only 4 hours just  in one shopping commercial area. I won’t cover this one today personally, as the campaign is still running until closing time today, so don’t forget to get down to your local Pingo Doce and fill a bag or two of goodies, and hand them over to the scouts or guides (or whoever) at the entrance on your way out. There should be an acceptable product list on display, that excludes perishables.

Economic Inspection tightens with commerce. The inspection begins tomorrow in ‘Operation Christmas’, with special attention for toys, Xmas decorations and accessories, and foods. The Regional Inspectorate for economic Activities (IRAE) starts its Xmas operation with its focus well prioritised, and the checks will run throughout December, as is customary each year. "With Christmas around the corner there is greater activity of business and trade and, as such, IRAE must be attentive and vigilant in the market for a number of factors, starting with a clear indication of prices of products and services offered", said Regional Inspector Valentim Caldeira. Checks will also be made on toys to ensure that the labelling is consistent with what is required by law, notably in terms of details regarding the age limit for use, and that the instructions or labels are written in Portuguese, especially with electrical products that could be a potential hazard. Valentim also warns that "consumers themselves should be aware of the importance of buying safe toys", because "the children all must be so careful." The safety of toys is as an important aspect in choosing a product as is value for money. Food items will also be checked, in terms of price, but especially with regard to hygiene conditions and packaging. Valentim  adds that also the transport of food is also an area for review. As regards Christmas decorations, it is again electrical items with potential safety issues that will be checked. Items that do not comply with regulations are seized by the inspectors. The issue of instructions in Portuguese is interesting, as the consumer organisation DECO does not say that it is illegal, and just says if the instructions don’t exist in Portuguese, then buy something else. They also say that buyers should read the instructions before buying the product, asking a shop assistant to open the package if necessary. As a lot of electrical products come in sealed boxes, I can’t imagine that being so successful, especially where there is a label warning about buying if the seal is broken. Chinese shops beware!

Cliff Bay Hotel restaurant keeps its ‘Michelin Star’. Does anyone really care?

Registration of ships bring millions in IVA tax  (VAT) – Ships registered in Madeira are floating commercial centres. Not wishing to hog all the top stories I will leave this one for someone else, someone new perhaps. Quem me dera!

Saturday of draws. Nacional only managed a home 1 – 1 draw yesterday against Naval, which won’t help the recovery too much of Nacional manager Manuel Machado, in hospital after an infection following a hernia surgical procedure, and still not out of danger. The headline also refers to and pictures the derby match between Sporting and Benfica last night, that ended in a 0 – 0 draw. Marítimo play away today at Belenenses at 6 pm (SportTV2).

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

Talking of boats, if anyone on Porto Santo sees the yacht ‘Cantare’ stop over in the next few days, please ask if they need another ‘BOAT BUNNY’, and let me know, thanks.

Petrol goes down  2 cêntimos a litre on Monday, diesel by 1 cêntimo.

‘Jardim Agrees With Sócrates’. The headline I never thought I would see. Both the president of Madeira and the prime minister of the Republic agree that the airline TAP should be closed down and a new airline formed to rejuvenate the company financially. The company has massive financial problems, but European rules prevent the government from intervening.

‘New Whale Museum opens doors next summer – Santos Costa was at the location that costs €6 million’. The new Whale Museum in Caniçal was visited by the regional secretary for social matters was visited on Friday. The visit was also attended by Jacques Solaires, a French environmentalist, who helped design the contents of the museum.

The ‘Orange’ weather warning has now been extended to at least Monday, with strong winds and heavy rain all over Madeira.

I presume some of you have computers with Windows Vista, so just to say Service Pack 2 is available, and it didn’t update automatically with me, I had to do it manually. This should fix any problems with the original version, particularly security issues, and hopefully provide some improvements too.

UPDATES :

Talking of TAP and their financial problems, they are touting for new travellers to Madeira in their new campaign. €36 to Madeira from Lisbon & €52 from Porto, one way, for travel November to March (excluding around Xmas / New Year). Also €30 a room per night in the Calheta Beach Hotel, and €49 in the 5 star Hotel Melia.

In today’s new headlines:

‘Ribeira-Braveneses Want The Sea-Front Back – Traders in the centre complain of the mishaps of the reconfiguration of the sea front area’. They miss the days (5 years ago) when the tourist buses used to stop alongside the esplanade (now they stop at a car park just outside the main town). The population complains about the consequences of the new format of the town. Traders say there is a shortage of customers, shoppers complain about the lack of parking, and taxi drivers say that they are far from the buses (?). I couldn’t agree more, its a right mess, a nice looking mess, but a mess nether-the-less. As for the shortage of car parking, I think the Diário forgot to mention the word FREE. Plenty of parking around at a price, and maybe a short walk.

Number 220, Rua de Santa Maria, presumably in Funchal, fell down yesterday evening, putting neighbours houses in danger. The building has been unoccupied for 10 years. Neighbours had warned the authorities that the building was dangerous, as pieces had fallen off, but were told that that there was no danger. Yesterday the complete roof collapsed inside the building in a huge cloud of dust, and neighbours had to be evacuated. There is another headline ‘Rain Collapses 4 Houses In Funchal’. The picture was taken in Rua da Fábrica.

A big sigh of relief for Marítimo, as they whopped Académica 4 – 2 away from home, breaking a run of 3 consecutive defeats. Baba scored twice in the top performance so far this season. Nacional play Guimarães at home on Monday night (SportTV1 6 pm).

Today’s news translations : many thanks to Elaine in Garajau & Paul :

Inauguration Required Intervention of the Police. The PND party (Democrats) have often interfered with Jardim’s inaugurations, saying they are electioneering and their leader, Coelho, has often attempted speeches when Jardim is speaking. During  the inauguration of the new link road between the port and the expressway. Jardim’s supporters and the PND leaders clashed, a cameraman was allegedly too close to Jardim, and the police and security guards had to intervene resulting in a  police cordon between the PND leaders and Jardim’s supporters. Jardim has accused the police of working at the behest of Lisbon, by allowing the PND to interfere too much, and they are there to protect the government and it is the first time in 31 years of autonomy that the police lack control.

Quote from Jardim in Sao Vicente, "Who is ridiculous cannot earn the respect of the people."

Anger at Mix of Politics and Church. The Feast of Our Lady of the the Rosary began yesterday and ends Monday. In Sao Vicente, the PS and PSD parties have been paying for some of the entertainment. The local priest denies any knowledge of this but the public is not happy about their involvement and want the Bishop to intervene.

Weather Stories. An 83 year old lady and an elderly couple have been rehoused by the council after their homes made uninhabitable by rain damage. A car in a garage was destroyed when the roof collapsed. Trees blocked roads in Monte. The walls and old bridge around the riverbed at Ribeira Brava have been reinforced before the heavy rains arrived (pictured). The ‘Pes Livres’ walking club have still continued their program, Ponta do Pargo to Encumeada, this weekend despite the weather warnings. SPAD has rearranged the annual Blessing of the Animals from the 4th to now the 10th October. It occurs by the Statue of Francis of Assisi in the Municipal Park in Funchal.

Jardim ‘Boxed the Ears’ of the Madeira Business Parks. He states the management have not marketed the Business Parks enough and wants the councils to attract more clean industries. There are also talks underway to develop more trade with African countries.

Portugal is probably happy with Brazil hosting the next Olympics.

OCM Celebrates 5 Years of the Park with the Show ‘Popsinfonico’. It has been an ambition of the conductor Rui Massena of the orchestra to fuse popular and classical music and pay a tribute to traditional Madeiran music. This will be for the celebrations on the 10th October of the Madeira Theme Park in Santana. There will also be other groups involved, clowns, acrobats, jugglers, face painting and traditional craft workshops for the tourists to have a go during that weekend. Special ticketing/opening arrangements and details on their website www.parquetematicodamadeira.pt

Nun’s Valley Has New Garden. Sao Vicente Will Have Wine and Water. New garden inaugurated in Nun’s Valley, for both tourists and locals, with four sculptures entitled ‘The Fountain’. Sao Vicente plan to redevelop the old winery to help promote the local wine. The council also plan a pond including a waterfall, a mill, entertainment stage, open-air amphitheatre, market for local handicrafts and produce.

Will be Born the Party of the Animals. 200 signatures so far collected for political representation of a party member to represent legislation for animal welfare in Portuguese territories. There is an online petition, but you need to be a voter to participate. WEBSITE IN ENGLISH

Swine Flu vaccination program starts at the end of the month with 1100 doses. First, some health professionals and other personnel essential for the island security/utilities, if medically advisable. Then pregnant women and people under 65 years with chronic illnesses.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos / videos, or if you can contribute regularly, I can give you a special account that allows you to create your own blog postings.
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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

"Madeira is one big fruit and vegetable basket, and much of the produce finds its way on to the menus, along with the garden’s own haul of home-grown vegetables, herbs and fruit trees. Jardins do Lago’s banana crop is a breakfast staple and you are guaranteed a selection of the island’s daily catch (although carnivores sacrifice meat for fish at their peril)". An independent report on a hotel from the UK Daily Telegraph QUINTA JARDINS DO LAGO

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

‘Robberies In Garajau And On The Levada Dos Tornos – Youths steal the cash register and have the police waiting when they arrive home. Couple robbed at knifepoint in Camacha’. The first story is about a Café / Bar called ‘Brites’ in Garajau, that was robbed at around 4 am yesterday morning, when 2 young men smashed the shop front glass window, and took the cash register, containing just some change. The two robbers, who were regular customers in the bar, took the till to a car park to open it, where they were caught on video camera in the act, along with the registration plate of their car. Police were able to identify the owner of the car, the mother of one of the men, and when they arrived home the police were there waiting. They were taken back to the crime scene, where they apologised to the owner, returned the stolen money, and offered to pay for the damage caused, which included the €400 cash till, the broken window, an aquarium, and a fridge. It is possible that that the same two men had also tried to break into a bar in Cristo Rei, hurling a rock at the front window, which didn’t shatter as it was double glazed, but caused around €200 worth of damage all the same. The sophistication of the crimes and the intelligence of the criminals of Madeira never ceases to amaze me, and once again the police do a great job in cleaning up the mess. I have no idea whether the men involved here were charged, but often an apology to the owner and the payment of the losses and damages suffices, showing the forgiving and kind hearted nature of people here. Personally I would have wanted them strung up if they had done that to me, but there again there are men who have committed far greater crimes but still legally walk our streets. PS Dare not mention who for fear of reprisals.

The other story sounds much more serious, as two German tourists were robbed at knifepoint on the Levada dos Tornos, in the zone of Vale Paraíso, Camacha. He surprised the couple, and demanded the valuables that they were carrying. He stole the rucksack and about €100, but apart from being shocked, the couple were unharmed. The rucksack was later recovered by police, less the money. The police have a description of the suspect and are conducting investigations. I hate doing these stories more than anything, as levadas are supposed to be such safe and peaceful places … and of course still are. The police normally catch these thugs, but it’s best to be aware that there are occasionally problems in just one or two places. How people will obtain such information after next week I don’t know, but I hope they can ask at hotels or go on accompanied tours, or at least find out about any risky areas from somewhere.

’36 From The Savoy Refute Dismissal – The case started yesterday in court’. The collective dismissal of staff from the now closed Savoy Hotel in Funchal is in court, with 36 workers challenging the SIET Savoy Group decision to dismiss them. Their aim is to reverse the decision, and guarantee themselves future employment. The trade union representing the workers said it was the only option open to them once negotiations with the employer had failed. Win and they have their jobs back, lose and they will be entitled to compensation based on length of service. Many of the 99 workers have already accepted the termination and compensation package offered, when the hotel closed to be demolished, to make way for a new Savoy Hotel.

After yesterday’s story about the school of in São Martinho (Funchal) that failed to be ready on time because of building problems, it seems that São Martinho kids are stricken with bad luck, or good luck depending on the point of view. ‘Lombada School in São Martinho Fails To Open At The Start Of The School Year – A lack of staff has left parents and students at the school gate’. They turned up, but that’s as far as they got, as the school remained closed when staff didn’t turn up. The situation caught some parents off guard, along with 250 kids, even though there had been some communications about potential problems. Teachers weren’t lacking, except for the maths teacher, but one cleaning lady was on holiday, one was transferred, and the other one remaining refused to work alone. The knock on from that is that the catering staff and auxiliaries didn’t then turn up for work for fear of being put on cleaning duties. According to the government Education Department the situation has been resolved and the school is now fully operational. It wouldn’t happen in the private sector for sure, and if I had been in charge I would have had those parents in scrubbing the floors and doing the cooking, and sent the non-teaching staff off to meet those ex-Savoy Hotel workers.

‘Erasmus’ Sent Away 117 Madeiran Students In 6 Years’. The programme, according to funding available, allows students at Madeira University to study abroad. The scheme is growing in popularity, but as there is no specific funding for the purpose, applications depend on the general funding of UMa being able to support the applications received. The programme has proved particularly popular for students in physical education and in languages, with the countries most selected being Slovenia (23), Spain (32) and the Czech Republic (32).

Bit of a school theme going today, so here’s another : ‘Gripe A : Teachers “are not a priority risk group”. Contingency plans against the H1N1 swine flu virus in schools caught the attention of the Teachers Union of Madeira, this week. Coordinator Marilia Azevedo regretted the fact that the infection prevention plans have been made only with students in mind. A spokesman for the matter (I have no idea where from), said that the health services and Regional Secretary for Education and Culture had been working together for some time, “[teachers] are not a priority risk group in particular, as the groups that are in contact with the sick are health professionals. I do not see that there needs to be a special scenario for teachers”. What gobsmacking incompetence, as infected teachers are as much of a problem as infected children to start with, but absent teachers cause a different problem altogether, and without them to control the children, the risk of cross infection is highly elevated. Just imagine if one infected teacher in the weekly staff meeting infects the whole teaching staff group … chaos!

’224 Citizens Of Funchal Try Out The Services Of Horários do Funchal For Free – Bruno Pereira, vice-president of Funchal Council will be one of the participants’. The famous yellow bus company of Funchal wants to attract new customers to its regular services of public transport. With this objective in mind the company yesterday started the week with a promotional project ‘Ad personam’. Under the initiative, which is part of a wider European action called ‘Intelligent Energy of Europe’, over 224 people aged between 18 and 60 years can travel free for a week on the bus network of Horários. The lucky 224 were selected from 805 respondents to a survey undertaken in May, and addition to this weeks freebie, will be able to obtain discounted bus travel for the rest of the year through a monthly pass.

The headline I thought I would never see : ‘Marina At Lugar de Baixo Reopens – It will open, but not for boats to moor there’. No firm date has been set, but it is virtually certain that the marina infrastructure will reopen to the public sometime this year, with boats allowed back in shortly after the Winter. Clean up work is still ongoing, including partial clearing of a cliff face. The badly damaged car park has been demolished, and will not be rebuilt, but other parking is available. I can hardly wait for Uncle Bertie’s reinauguration (right!), and to go and enjoy the swimming pool and tennis court, or even just taking a coffee there. I have never tried hard-hat swimming before, but I presume I will need a strap-on-version, as well chastity-belt type swimming trunks. As for the coffee, will the café staff be trained to ask “will it be one lump or two?”

The sport / football headline : ‘Cup Takes Marítimo To The Azores’. Our team travels to Santa Clara to play on the 18th October, in the 3rd round of the Portugal Cup. Nacional will go to the north of Portugal to take on Varzim. Both opponents play in the Liga Honra (the 2nd highest level), and so should not in theory present too much of a challenge. There are still other teams from Madeira left in the cup, but as there are no big name opponents involved, I will leave it there.

Work on the new cemetery in Caniçal has been halted for three weeks. A digger started work, but after a couple of days was taken away. The main problem is with expropriations, or compulsory land purchases. The €1m project wasn’t in the council work programme for the current mandate, but the decision was made to proceed urgently because the existing cemetery is absolutely full. Aside from the purchase of land, how can a cemetery cost anything like €1 million to build? Aside from some ground levelling and boundary walls, what else is there. Will it be fully equipped with ready-to-wear tombs and blank gravestones, or am I just out of touch with today’s cemetery construction prices?

‘Summer Has 13 Gatherings Per Weekend – There are 268 festivals annually in the churches and parishes of Madeira. August is the champion month, with 70 great festas’. Or put another way, there are an average of 5 festivals a weekend, throughout the year. The Sunday following Santo António this year had the most with 19 (14th June). As far as the church goes, Santíssimo Sacramento (Holy Sacrament) is the most popular event with the church, with 12 celebrations. Most of the festivals on Madeira (201) are held between June and September, an average of 12 or 13 per weekend. This does not include other festivals, such as gastronomic events and ‘Dia do Conselho’ (annual day of the town / area). April has no festivals due to Easter. After that, February and March have the least festivals (both 3), as these months are associated with Lent.

The main photo today shows a JCB digger taking a first ‘bite’ from a piece of wasteland – ‘Future Cemetery Divides Caniçal – The machines move in to Feiteirinhas against a petition. Also there are those who defend the location of the project’. Work started yesterday on the Machico Council project, despite a 1,100 protest petition, from locals who believe that the new site will hamper future urban expansion in Caniçal, as it is the only expansion direction possible. The signatures collected represent nearly half the affected population and was led by a PS socialist counsellor. He believes the correct location would be on the lands of Zona Franca, which is already public property. He also says that the work yesterday commenced without completion of the expropriation of the lands being completed. The president of Machico Câmara, who is on the opposite side of the debate for the new Caniçal cemetery, said that this is proof that the majority of the population was misled when signing the petition. "I think people believed that the cemetery would be built right on top of the houses, right next to the neighbourhood of Feiteirinhas. That’s not true … that would be a bad option".

‘Woman Caught With 800 Grams Of Heroin At The Airport’. A careful search by customs led to the detection of the drugs hidden in the clothing of the passenger. Another drugs courier caught says the chief of customs. The woman, of African origin, aged over 40, was caught during checks on Tuesday, and she had her return trip booked almost immediately. The very pure heroin haul was enough for up to 14,000 fixes, and would not have been detected without a thorough body search. That’s the second arrest at the airport in a week for hard drugs smuggling.

Police units from Funchal and Câmara de Lobos have arrested 6 people in the last few days for drugs offences, including growing cannabis, when enough for nearly 6,000 fixes was seized. All 6 were foreigners. The police are said to be on a bit of a high after all their successes this week.

The search for the 76 year old man who went missing on Porto Santo on Sunday continues today, but the scale of the search operation is being reduced.

‘Kidnapping Of Another Madeiran In Venezuela Troubles Jardim da Serra’. The 64 year old emigrant was taken a week ago. In December last year the brother of the man from Jardim da Serra was also kidnapped in the same city, but was released 6 days after when a ransom was paid. It is estimated that more than one hundred Portuguese people and their descendants have been the target of kidnapping since the beginning of this year.

‘House Of Deceased Was Robbed Four Hours After The Death Was Known – Opportunist thief didn’t manage to take the stove because neighbours stopped him’. It is a case so ridiculous and immoral. A house in the neighbourhood of Nogueira was robbed four hours after it was known locally of the sudden death of the resident. The 61 man died, most likely from illness, not through crime. A police source reports that the thief was seen leaving the house of the deceased, carrying a small stove on his back. But the opportunist was caught by a group of neighbours of the deceased, who condemned the act and alerted the police.

(26th August). From the Jornal da Madeira : ‘PSP To Have New Police Station On Porto Santo – It will go in the area currently occupied by the firemen’. The area currently occupied near to the centre of Vila Baleira is due to be demolished in the next year.

UPDATE :

(27th August). The Gripe A count in Portugal has now reached 2,244, but as the minister for health said they were not doing the tests anymore, then I can’t see how this can be accurate. That’s the latest count up until 23rd August. Madeira has / had 30 cases, but this article takes it down to 27?

And in politics today :

(27th August). ‘Secretary Of State Reacts To Rui Alves And Refuses Invitation Of Nacional For Today’s Game’. (Sport or politics?) Bernardo Trindade (secretary of state for tourism) turned down the invitation of Nacional, having been angered by statements from Rui Alves, president of the football club. Trindade announced yesterday that he would continue his program of official contacts with tour operators in Russia, but will not attend the big match this afternoon against Zenit St. Petersburg in the Europa League, as was originally planned. Trindade told the Diário that he is surprised by the statements of the football club on Madeira, since it was a few weeks ago that the issue was triggered, of taking the opportunity to use the football match as an excellent means of promoting tourism to Madeira. Alves spoke yesterday in Funchal, making a severe accusation against the Government of the Republic, about taking advantage of the visit to Russia for national propaganda purposes. Trindade in response criticized Alves saying he was the one who initially raised the issue of using the opportunity. President Jardim is known to have been annoyed at the interference of Trindade, having ignored the opportunity to promote Madeira at the event through the regional government. "Now it looks like someone let the dogs out, and Rui Alves became frightened and reversed the position he had taken previously" said Trindade. Russians will be reading their newspapers today and seeing the new campaign, a beautiful picture of Madeira with the slogan "The land of Ronaldo and Danny’.

The daily interview with the head-of-the-list for the elections to the Assembly of the Republic : ‘Guilherme Silva Doesn’t Exclude Support To The PS Majority – The candidate of the PSD admits to giving support to a PS government, in the event that it benefits Madeira’. This guy is either giving us some serious BS or is not an ordinary PSD politician of Madeira. Asked if he wanted to see a crushing victory in the legislative elections next month, he said he didn’t like the work ‘crushing’, but hoped that most of the votes and 6 places go to the PSD. In fact if he hadn’t stated that constitution revision was an absolute social democrat priority in the new mandate, I wouldn’t have believed that he was in fact a social democrat. In the last 5 years, in the various elections, the PSD vote on Madeira has varied between 45.2% (2005 national) and 64.2% (2007 regional). It was in 2005, with the 45.2% share, that the PSD had to evenly share the 6 seats in the Assembly of the Republic with the PS socialists.

The last of today’s headlines : ‘Serrão Takes Place Of Leandro In The ALM’. Just a swopping of candidates in the socialist party. zzzzzz

Jon & Deb sent me in this link … very nice film and music, a great 5 minute fix for anyone with ‘saudades’ da Madeira.

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment may take a while to appear as it will need to be checked. If you register, your first comment will be checked, but thereafter your comments will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

The leader of the PSD nationally is off sick with the flu, so won’t be able to attend the big PSD-M party rally at Chão da Lagoa today. Bet she’s gutted, and Uncle Bertie too, but she sent a message instead. The event is said to have cost €200,000, including €100,000 for 230 bus and coach hires. Those from Porto Santo wishing to attend pay just €5 for the sea crossing, with the PSD-M making up the difference, estimated to be around €20,000. The main entertainer is expected to cost €15,000 for his show. The social democrats won’t discuss the costs, so the figures given are the Diário estimates. Must be great for those supporters on Porto Santo of other political parties, a very cheap day out in Funchal at the very least, all at the expense of the PSD-M.

From The Journal da Madeira : ‘The Autonomy Has To Develop To Keep Up With The World’. Madeira’s president stressed yesterday that it is in the genes of the Madeirans to resist and fight, adding that many Madeirans thrive in the world because of the advent of the Autonomy. President Jardim pointed out that Madeira has always been a land of resistance, and of struggle, due to the territorial problems of distance from Europe. The youth of today, he reminded, are the heirs of the spirit of resistance and struggle, of the ability to overcome difficulties. Yes I realise the risks of taking politics from the Journal, but this story seemed harmless enough with no obvious reason to fabricate and spin political propaganda. Besides from that I can honestly claim that any news from The Journal comes without me even touching the newspaper or visiting the website.

‘Debuts In Caniçal – The Port of Caniçal has two inaugural visits, one ferry and a tanker’. The ‘Volcán de Tauce’ arrives Monday at 3pm bringing all the cars and equipment for the Madeira Wine Rally starting on Thursday. The other debut is a brand new tanker, the ‘Nepheli’ bringing asphalt to fill the holes in the road ready for the rally. The ship was inaugurated in April this year. Also, anyone intending to use the Porto Santo ferry on Friday should note that the normal hours have been changed to allow two return journeys to be made that day.

(25th July). ‘Public interest of the ‘Armas’ challenged with new evidence – Letter from APRAM demanding that the Armas follows the rules or will be subject to legal action’. The association of ship owners, is preparing a new offensive to thwart the continuing operation of the Madeira / Mainland passenger ferry in carrying freight into Funchal Port. This time the move may include holding shareholders in Naveira Armas responsible for losses. Armas dodged the last court injunction aimed at stopping freight loading / unloading in Funchal, after a case was made that it was against the public interest to do so. The issue is the unloading of trailers and containers of cargo, something other shipowners cannot do in Funchal port due to different licence conditions. This time the case may be built around illegality of permission, but legal matters in Portuguese are not one of my strong points, so moving on …

‘Tourism Coaches Stopped And Waiting For Tourists – Madeira companies will have over 30% of their fleets parked-up this Summer’. Lack of business and cut-price competition is affecting the income of coach operators. With the crisis in the tourist sector and price cutting practiced by some companies, business for the coaches dedicated for tourism is being hit badly. It is hitting home more now because the high season for cruise ships has now passed. Some smaller coach operators say that half of their fleets are now not being used. Some operators have slashed their profit margins in desperation, whilst those on a better financial footing have not, and they are the ones complaining about lack of business. Also this time of year, the coaches that are used for school travel and are normally hired by the councils, are rented out for the Summer months for use in the tourism sector. Maybe some coach owners have never passed through a recession before, or have never understood economics, or heard of a relationship between supply and demand, but the survivors of a recession in a competitive market are not those that stand still and do nothing except complain … give me patience O Jedi master!!!

In the UK junk newspaper ‘The Sun’ (not my normal read I promise) it seems that airport taxes are to be raised again for UK air travellers to all destinations. For passengers within Europe, the rise will be £1 more this year, and another £1 in November 2010, but that is for journeys of up to 2,000 miles. For over 2,000 miles, it goes up £5 this year, and another £15 next year to £60, but unless you are flying from John O’Groats I think the lower band should apply.

Its a strange thing the internet, how it can influence people into decision making. Over the last week, 3 of the top 5 keyword searches on Google that have brought people to find this website have used combinations of the words madeira-swine-flu, amounting to around 15% of all searches that have ended up here. The chances they will end up at an article written last month ‘No Swine Flu Here’, which comes up as second on the first page of search results. I reckon these people doing the search, in the English language, are either people who have booked here for a holiday and are concerned, or are thinking about booking and checking out the Gripe A situation here. In a world of dog-eat-dog, wouldn’t it be great if the Gripe A problem here never really took hold and tourism here started to recover as people realised the risk was very low, and chose Madeira for their holidays in preference to other locations. I know I am just dreaming that it could happen, but of course it is unlikely in theory, as the more tourists that come here the higher the risk of new carriers and cross infection.

‘Legislative Assembly Of Madeira Suspended – The politicians observed a minute of silence in memory of Nélio Mendonça’. The assembly is suspended for three days to mourn the loss of the ex-president of the parliament. The current president of the ALM said to the assembly that he was "a man essentially of conversation and courage that fought for the Madeiran community, for a better world, and he left his mark". 

‘Pandemic Changes Some Habits – Increases in demand for disinfectant products – Schools promote prevention to prevent closure – Discotheques and theatre attack virus – Travel doesn’t suffer changes – Sports clubs avoid alarm’. Disinfectant sales have increased in pharmacies, mainly during the last few days, directly related to alerts by the health authorities about washing our hands (for a minimum of 20 seconds with soap and water). Nationally sales have increased by an estimated 300%. The article also suggests that surgical masks are very popular at the moment. Lots of tip and advice in the article, which I have no doubt are the same in any country and readily available in English on the internet, so not worth repeating them here. The president of the health organisation IASAÚDE says that Madeira at present is the least affected region of Portugal, and guarantees that nothing is being hidden from the public, and asks the population here to maintain calm. 

‘Youth Of 15 Years Already Released from Hospital – Two more cases being analysed were negative’. She had the gripe A swine flu virus (H1N1) confirmed on Monday, but has now been released from hospital. So we are back to a clean sheet again … maybe someone up there likes us!

‘Changes Sour Wine Sector’. The instability is a threat to production. Credit availability and quality tests are factors that concern businesses. The chief of the wine association, sacked over the controversy to put an end to ‘vinho seco’ the cheap red dry wine favoured by the locals and the less well off, was well respected and trusted in the industry. The sacking has shocked many people in the industry, especially with just a month to go until harvest time. According to the explanation issued by the Regional Office of the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, the departure of Paulo Rodrigues was not due to being sacked, but by an agreement not to renew the appointment that had been in place since 2003. One producer in Seixal said "Paulo Rodrigues did not deserve to be treated this way, having done a remarkable job, courageous in the protection and improvement of the quality of grapes, acts that have provided better returns". There are quite a few comments along the same lines from others involved in the industry, and they pretty much all think it was a poor decision with poor timing.

‘Raízes do Atlântico Festival Causes Quarrel – The loss of identity of the event generates criticism’. This Atlantic Festival (not the same one as last month), has been criticised for ‘losing its identity’, but the organisers devalue the opinions. In particular this year’s festival (23rd to 25th July) does not include groups representative of the traditional music of Madeira, which were actually in the origins of the event, which was a ‘meeting of popular music’ founded by the local group Xarabanda. The festival will be in the municipal gardens in Funchal with free entry (starting 9.30pm, 23rd July).

‘Camp In Caniço Is Flooded With Fines Of SPA’. Inspectors from The Society for Portuguese Authors (copyright protection) have invaded the assembly of sellers stands outside the church in Caniço and fined every one of them. Even those not selling films or music of dubious origin were fined, for having a TV or radio switched on. The Diário says "At issue is the compulsory license to broadcast radio or television in public places. A situation we can not confirm because, despite several attempts, we have failed to contact the spokesman at the SPA".

‘Wheat Threshing In Prazeres – The Quinta Pedagógica (Zoo) makes another event for this annual initiative’. The event brings together local farmers with the aim of encouraging cultivation of wheat, with much of the end produce purchased by the Quinta. The event happens on Sunday from 10.30am, after mass at 9.30am.

From the Diário . ‘Festa da Lapa Entertains Paul do Mar – The Event runs from Friday until Sunday’. The ‘Limpet Festival’ will have dance, music, theatre, sport, fashion, arranged by the Casa do Povo. But a reader has kindly sent in a much more detailed account of the event :

3 DAY PARTY IN CALHETA in Paul do Mar village, organised by the Paul do Mar Casa do Povo starts on Friday 17th July, and runs until the early hours of Monday morning the 20th. The historic annual FESTA DA LAPA includes non-stop free entertainment in the evenings and of course fresh lapas and beers served right next to the picturesque harbour. The entertainment focus is on performances by local youth.  Highlights include the WEDDING DRESS FASHION SHOW where the village’s young ladies will model wedding dresses from the 1970’s to the present day accompanied by music hits from across the decades. The first evening (Friday) is traditional, folklore entertainment. The second evening (Saturday) is the WEDDING DRESS FASHION SHOW followed by solo artists and groups singing classic and recent pop songs. The final evening again with the focus on more contemporary music is a POP/ROCK CONCERT with bands from all over the Region: WAVEBOYS (Paul do Mar), DARK NEW LIGHT (Ponta do Sol), NEGATIVE RULE (Camacha) and COOL FEEL BAND (Funchal)
The full programme is HERE : More information on the bands including clips HERE

See you at the Festa! Paul from Paul do Mar

I remember putting a few details in the comments a few weeks ago, about the festival of São Pedro in Ribeira Brava, but I have a feeling the days may have been wrong. Anyway, just in case, Saturday night is the night of the parades (9pm) and the the concert of José Malhoa afterwards at 11pm. More events on Sunday afternoon / evening, and then Monday is the actual day of São Pedro, and a public holiday in the town.

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment may take a while to appear as it will need to be checked. If you register, your first comment will be checked, but thereafter your comments will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

‘PSP Detain 34 Drivers For Excess Alcohol’. The police last week detained 34 motorists for drink driving offences. The abnormally high number was partly due to extra police checks, especially the major operation that ran Friday night through to Saturday.

6 beaches in Funchal hoisted their blue flags at the weekend, signifying that all facilities and safety requirements are now in operation. Well that was the theory … as another article says that some of the beaches are working with fewer lifeguards than they should. The reason given is that some of the lifeguards are students at university, who won’t finish their commitments until the beginning of July.

‘Fishermans Festival In Caniçal – The first ever event takes place between 26th and 28th June’. The festival is organised to preserve the collective memories of fishing in Caniçal.

School kids have just too many books and things to carry to school each day, and nearly two thirds complain of pains related to the excess weight carried. The study carried out in Portugal reveals that as a result the majority of students are suffering postural changes. 69% have changes in the spine, 59% have protruding shoulders, and 49% have neck pains. The average school bag contains between 4.1 and 5.4 kilos.

According to the Diário, Summer didn’t officially start until 6.46am yesterday. The information came from the Astronomic Observatory in Lisbon. The same source says that Summer will end on 22nd September at 10.19pm. These are the actual times of the solstices it seems, but I have never heard of them actually defining the exact start and finish times of a season before.

‘Healing Seeds – Madeira now has brachytherapy for the treatment of prostate cancer’. Patients diagnosed with prostate cancer can already receive brachytherapy treatment on Madeira, an alternative remedy for radiotherapy and surgery, recommended for situations where there is early detection of the cancer. At the moment treatment is only carried out in the Clinic in Santa Luzia, but the urologist Ferdinando Pereira believes it will eventually reach the regional health service, as it is already available in Portugal. Brachytherapy is the "implantation of radioactive seeds in the prostate gland" (not real seeds, very small metal rods). This is a method that is quick in terms of surgical time (a one hour session), produces very few complications, and which also usually ensures the quick recovery of the patient. The treatment costs between ten and 12 thousand Euros, and so far in the two weeks it has been available here, there has only been one patient.

Two Madeiran families went to Lisbon at the weekend to participate in the biggest picnic ever held in the world. 40,000 people turned up on Saturday at the €3 million event, which has crushed the previous record of just 8,000 people in Tenerife in 1999, and will now be entered into the Guinness Book of Records.

We are to have a new weekly sports newspaper next month, dedicated to Madeira sport. It will cost €0.30 and will start with a print run of 10,000 with an average of 24 pages. Diário subscribers will get it free until the end of this year.

‘Série Madeira Wants Games On Saturdays’. The new regional football league that will absorb most of Madeira’s teams wants to move the ‘big day’ from Sunday to Saturday.

‘Poverty Leads Canon Of Sé To Attack With Passion The Legislative Assembly And Social Security’. Canon Manuel Martins has made some harsh criticism of how Madeira’s government and the S.S. are dealing with poverty. Several statements were made, firstly about the social democrats rejecting the proposal of the BE party (Left Block) to set up ‘social canteens’, somewhere where the poor can go to get food. He says the situation is so bad, that he knows mothers who give their children tea to drink, to help hide their hunger. He talks of cases of extreme poverty where people turn to the church for help, often through unemployment problems, or with drugs or alcohol, or inability to pay for housing or food for themselves and their children, of even the elderly and bedridden, but they have to wait months to meet with officials from Social Security to ask for help. Hospitals also come in for criticism for not helping pensioners with medicines, by giving them prescriptions for expensive brand medicines, rather than free or cheap generic ones.

‘Caniçal Protests About Police Post – The president of the parish council blames the government of Portugal’. He claims that the money was provided in the 1998 state budget, but was never delivered to Caniçal, the featured area of this week in the Diário. "Caniçal is not what they say, it is not just drugs" says a local lady born in Caniçal, but who has moved to Porto da Cruz for peace and quiet. The area has grown with new roads, health centre, civic centres and schools. However it is the problems with the young that worry most, and the people want more support for them, a place to spend free time, a sports facility, or swimming pool, anything to keep them away from drugs. The nearest police station is in Machico, and that is a situation that urgently needs to change.

The main picture of the front page shows a nice looking house, with a rather large hole in the roof : ‘Ten Rehomings In São Vicente – Rockfall hits two houses and a car in the Juncos’. Around 10 families moved out yesterday afternoon, deemed to be in danger from further rockfalls. Throughout the day boulders were falling causing extensive damage to property, and one person was injured when fleeing the zone. The locals are afraid to return home and blame the situation on the works of the via expresso tunnel of São Vicente – Boaventura, for destabilising the rockface. While most families have gone to stay with relatives, the council have agreed to pay the stay of one couple in a hotel, and are considering whether the nearby coast area should be closed.

‘Today Promises Ticking-Off In The Hospital’. This goes back to the story on Saturday’s blog about Henriqueta Reynolds, the director of the anaesthesia service, who was asked to resign by her boss but refused. Now there is a lawyer and trade union official involved, and at an emergency meeting planned for today in Funchal Central Hospital, it seems likely that it will be deemed that her boss exceeded his authority in asking her to resign, and offering her position to someone else, who has already accepted the position.

—————————————————————————————————–

Paul in Paul do Mar asked me to post this, so here it is :

Whale Conference, Madeira 2009: whales are worth much more alive than dead!

Whatever the objectives of the IWC Conference in Madeira and its difficult on Monday 22 June 2009 for a person in the street to understand what the objectives are as there is not even a press release on the IWC website on the Conference’s opening day! Whales are worth much more alive than dead.

As one organisation Greenpeace put it in their press release:

“The island has a long association with whaling; in the 1700s, whaling ships called here for supplies and to hire skilled crew for whaling voyages. Whaling contributed to the island’s economy with a catch of over 4,000 sperm whales between 1941 and 1981. In 1981, Portugal agreed that to fully protect whales and dolphins would to come into force in 1986. Madeira voluntarily stopped whaling in 1981, five years before the rest of the country

Madeira now has a fast-growing whale watching industry, which works to ensure that the business does not harm the populations on which it depends, showing once again that a whale is worth much more alive than dead. Most Madeiran whale watching vessels complete sightings sheets, which contribute to expanding scientific knowledge of cetaceans in these waters.”

So, a priority of this Conference should be to conserve and protect cetaceans everywhere on the planet.

Links:

Greenpeace Press Release on the IWC Conference IWC61

BBC Article

‘€480,000 For A Promenade That Is Closed – ‘The seaside walk inaugurated in 2004 is out of bounds. In Caniçal they talk mostly about drugs, Zona Franca, Quinta do Lorde, fishing, The Whale Museum, and the cemetery’. This is the weekly featured location in the series ‘Through Madeira’. The promenade completed in 2004, has been closed for years, waiting for works to secure the rockface which is dangerous due to erosion. It runs between Ribeira de Natal and Caniçal, and has excellent leisure potential, but has been abandoned due to the rock falls. The council president say that the government of Madeira has already gone out to tender for the securing work needed. Caniçal recognises that there is a drug problem there, but on the positive side, the controversial development at Quinta do Lorde has created employment and boosted trade.

‘Environmental Education Of The Blue Flag – Summer season this year has a theme of renewable energy. Over the summer will be various activities taking place on the beaches and bathing complexes of Madeira’. If you go to some of the blue flag beaches this Summer you may see exhibitions and activities to show beach users the role of renewable energy, and sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel consumption, which is part of the requirement this year to achieve the blue flag award.

‘Charity Campaign Of The Diocese Of Funchal – 32 thousand tons collected on the weekend 6th & 7th of June’. Madeirans show solidarity in times of crisis. The campaign which involved food collections from the public in Pingo Doce supermarkets to help feed the poor was a great success, with 10 more tons than in the previous year. Somehow I think the word ‘thousand’ shouldn’t have been there, but in the actual article it uses 32,000 twice!

’650 March In Santa Cruz – Musical entertainment and the traditional parade of pots and pans is next Tuesday’. Next Tuesday is the actual night prior to the day of São João, despite the earlier celebrations and activities. The parades start at 9pm, and cover the route between Rua Bela de São José and Rua da Praia, finishing at the stage erected near the market. There will be musical entertainment from 7.30pm. Don’t forget that the party may temporarily disappear later on, as the revellers go for the traditional midnight swim.

(19th June). ‘Safety Requirements Now More Stringent In Playgrounds – The Association for the Promotion of Children’s Safety (APSI) asks for suspension of the new law’. From last Thursday, playgrounds have to be fenced and have barriers that limit passage near the swings, with rules that are intended to improve safety conditions for the children. The law reinforces previous legislation from 1997, and imposes rules and obligations on the authorities responsible for the spaces, including conditions of surveillance and information on the physical conditions of the area. The idea of course is to prevent accidents, but the APSI has asked that the law is temporarily suspended because it was introduced without proper consultation, and has rules that end up penalising children.

(20th June). ‘Jardim Pressures The PSD Of São Vicente And Confirms Exit Of Humberto’. President Jardim made it clear who is boss in the PSD Madeira party, and has confirmed that Humberto Vasconcelos is on his way out of the council presidency of São Vicente. "This is an irreversible decision". The new candidate for the council presidency will be even Romeiro Jorge, a doctor resident in the area, who has already accepted the invitation made personally by the president of the social democratic party. Lets hope that kills that story off then, which has had more front page coverage than anything else in the last week.