Police Operation Last Night ; Student Exam Switch ; Petrol Goes Up Again
(20th June). ‘The Police Were On The Streets In Force Last Night – ‘Operation Stop’ took to the commercial areas and lasted up to 8 in the morning’. The regional command of the PSP (Public Security Police) initiated the operation in Funchal and other populated areas on instructions from Portugal, checking vehicles and establishments, with over 50 agents involved. Santa Cruz and Câmara de Lobos are the other two areas mentioned, with smaller operations in other towns. The key objectives or these increasingly frequent operations is to boost public safety perceptions, and deter illegal activities, particularly burglary, theft, and breach of highway laws, with a special focus on drugs in areas of nightlife.
‘Lights-Out In Porto Moniz To See The Stars’. All the street lights will be turned off tonight at around 11pm for half an hour, to enable people to use the telescopes set up at the sea front for star gazing. It is part of the programme of activities arranged to mark the International Year of Astronomy 2009. We had them here a few weeks ago, but unlike this notification in the Diário there was nothing for us, and I think 90% of the local population thought it was an electrical fault that lasted many hours, and definitely not half an hour.
‘Student Takes Exam For Another Person In High School – The attempted fraud took place in the national History exam on Wednesday’. A student turned up for the exam at the secondary school Jamie Moniz without any identification, but as permitted by the regulations was permitted to take the exam. The truth was detected later, when it was discovered that the person who took the exam was not registered to do it, and the matter was reported to the examination coordinator. In theory the student can be charged with the crimes of fraud and forgery, but that will depend on who else was involved and the intent of the scam, and will be the decision of the public prosecutor. Under a very tight control system, a student who does not have the required identification at the start of an exam is allowed to proceed, but at the end his identity must be confirmed in and a document signed by two other students who can identify the person, and that is then signed by the exam supervisor, and fingerprints are also taken on the same document. The matter has also been reported to the Regional Secretary for Education. What a Wally! Or more likely what two Wallys. That is an unbelievably tight control system though, and hopefully this publicity will at least discourage other potential Wallys.
The Unit of Vascular Surgery, in the Central Hospital of Funchal will be expanded soon, with another specialist being recruited, in order to provide the required number of operations and control the waiting list. With an annual average of 300 surgical procedures, the unit is looking to increase, the number of operations next year "through better organization and updating of existing waiting lists". The unit as it is just able to cope with the current patient list, but the future is expected to bring more patients with lifestyle diseases, caused by alcohol, smoking, and poor dietary habits.
The president of the Association of Travel Agents (APAVT) predicts that sales of holidays will fall by 10% this year, which ties in with the estimates of several travel agencies contacted by the Diário. With poor results in January and February, fears were worse, but more people are now looking for holidays said the president of APAVT, but price and quality are now the principle elements that the Portuguese people are looking for.
‘Price Of Petrol Rises To Levels Of Last October – New increase in fuel prices also shows a disparity with diesel’. Petrol prices are being raised by the Madeira government again, and will from Monday be at the same level as October 2008. The new price will be €1.223 per litre, having been at €1.007 at the start of the year, nearly €0.22 difference. Diesel and industrial diesel have been much more stable, and from Monday will be €0.93 and €0.59 respectively.
In the space of a week, the number of Gripe A (H1N1 swine flu) cases in Portugal has doubled to six, it was yesterday confirmed by the Ministry of Health.
