Month: September 2018

Lisbon– Friday 28 September

 Run the World – 10km in every country on the planet

Donate to Cancer Research

PRESS RELEASE

The British Embassy have asked us to share this great initiative.

Dan Thompson will be completing seven 10km runs in the West Africa and Portugal in September 2018 as part of his Run the World Challenge. Dan has previously run in 149 countries in Africa, South-East Asia, North, Central and South America, Europe, Central and South Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Middle East.

Run the World is an extraordinary challenge that has been created by Dan, a British businessman and sports enthusiast, who has undertaken to run 10km in every country in the world – a total of 206 countries – by the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Following the recent death of his mother from cancer, Dan is doing the challenge to raise money for cancer research and to promote the benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle.

Dan will be running in :

• Lagos (Nigeria) – Thursday 20 September (morning)
• Libreville (Gabon) – Friday 21 September (morning)
• Kinshasa (DR Congo) – Saturday 22 September
• Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) – Sunday 23 September
• Luanda (Angola) – Tuesday 25 September
• Sao Tome (Sao Tome and Principe) – Thursday 27 September
• Lisbon (Portugal) – Friday 28 September

Dan commented, “I’m very much looking forward to running in West Africa and Portugal and I hope that as many people as possible will join me on the runs. I’d like to stress that everyone is welcome to take part – irrespective of their level of fitness or running speed. Participants are also welcome to run part of the way, join in on bike or just come along and support the runners!”

Dan added, “Cancer rates are on the increase across the world and, in some countries, it is now projected that 50% – half of us – will get cancer. That’s a terrifying statistic.

“The good news is that cancer treatments and survival rates are improving as we continue to invest in research. The other good news is that lifestyle changes could prevent 4 in 10 cancers. An active, healthy lifestyle also substantially reduces the risk of a range of other illnesses including heart disease, diabetes, dementia and depression.

“I hope that, by running round the world, I’ll not only raise a lot of money for cancer research but I’ll also help increase awareness of the huge benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle.”

Claire Cullen, Senior Local Fundraising Manager for Cancer Research UK said, “When I heard about Dan’s challenge, I was hugely impressed with his incredible mission to run 10K in every Olympic country in the world to fundraise for us. Cancer Research UK don’t receive any government funding so it’s inspirational individuals like Dan that help to fund our ground-breaking research, raising money to beat cancer sooner.”

Please contact Denise Williams at denise@run-the-world.org if you are interested in joining or supporting any of the runs or would like to know more about the Run the World School talks.

More information about Run the World can be found on its blog and website ; please visit www.justgiving.com/Dan-Thompson11 if you would like to donate to Cancer Research.

 

 Run the World

Run the World is an extraordinary challenge that has been created by Dan Thompson, a British businessman and sports enthusiast, who has undertaken to run 10km in every country in the world – a total of 206 countries – by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Following the recent death of his mother from cancer, Dan is doing the challenge to raise money for cancer research and to promote the benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle.

Dan has completed 149 runs in Africa, South-East Asia, North, Central & South America, Europe, South Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Middle East. The Run the World Challenge follows on from Dan’s 2012 Olympic Challenge which saw him undertake every different Olympic and Paralympic event – 114 events in total including show jumping, the 10m high dive, white water canoeing, 10km open water swim, 150km road cycle, 50km walk, the marathon and the pole vault.

You can follow Run the World on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and on its Blog.

Dan’s Biog

After a career in music, video games and the internet, Dan founded Gold Challenge. Gold Challenge launched in late 2010 and ran an Olympic and Paralympic inspired challenge in the run up to London 2012. Gold Challenge partnered with the British Olympic Association/Team GB, Paralympics GB and Sport England and was part of the official London 2012 mass participation legacy programme.  Gold Challenge also worked closely with LOCOG and hosted one of the pre-Games test events in the Olympic Stadium.

The challenge was highly successful with over 105,000 participants. More than 200 schools and 100 corporates took part including large employers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Atos, EDF, Cisco, John Lewis and Coca Cola. In excess of £1.5 million was raised for Gold Challenge’s 150 charity partners who included household names such as Cancer Research UK, Oxfam, the NSPCC and Help for Heroes.

In early 2013, Gold Challenge launched the Take12 Challenge, a healthy living challenge funded by the London Legacy Development Corporation (the body responsible for the Olympic Park post the Games). Take12 aimed to inspire people in the Olympic host boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Barking & Dagenham to be more active. Focussed on in-actives, families and young people, over 15,000 people signed up for Take12. The follow-up programme – ‘Take 12 in the Park’ – encouraged people across London to take part in sport and physical activity in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

In 2014, Gold Challenge ran the 2014 Challenge – a free challenge that celebrated the 2014 Commonwealth Games and aimed to motivate people across the world to be more active, raise money for charity and become healthier and fitter.

Gold Challenge also provided the technical platform and participant support for ‘Million Miles Together’ – a healthy living, physical activity and community building programme that ran in the London Borough of Newham between October 2016 and January 2017. Over 660,000 miles of activity were logged in Newham.

In addition to the above, Gold Challenge creates and runs bespoke physical activity, healthy living and fund-raising challenges for corporates, public sector employers and charities. Over 170,000 people have taken part in these challenges.

 

About Cancer Research UK:

The world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research, Cancer Research UK’s groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. This work is funded entirely by the public.

 The charity supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.

Cancer Research UK is a world leader in discovering new cancer drugs. Through our research, we’ve contributed to the discovery or clinical trials of nearly 50 drugs now being developed. Our scientists and doctors have contributed to many of the world’s top cancer drugs including temozolomide, anastrozole and Herceptin.

Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to beat cancer.

For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1861 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org

The IPMA have issued a Red maximum heavy train warning from the Acores from 1200 to 1800 hrs on Saturday, 15^th September, and may be extended all day Sunday. An orange level warning will be raised at 0900 hrs. An orange level warning will also be in place for high winds from 1800 hrs increasing to a red warning from 2200 hrs to 0300 hrs on 16^th Sept. A high seas orange warning will be in place from 2000 hrs increasing to red level from 2200 hrs to midnight.

IPMA explains that “Helene cyclone is moving north north east north at 37 kph, with a forecast of the trajectory indicating that it should cross the archipelago between the Western groups (Flores and Corvo) and Central (Terceira, São Jorge, Pico, Graciosa and Faial).

For the Central Group, IPMA has issued an orange warning running from 9 AM Saturday until 9 AM Sunday.

IPMA has also informed that the expected average wind is estimated to be 90 km/h and gusts could reach 120 km/h.

Orange wind warnings were issued for the Western and Central groups.

Tropical Storm Helene, located south of Flores, will also cause, from Saturday, waves that may reach 8 to 10 metres, especially on the south coast of Western Group islands and on the “Triangle” islands (Faial, Pico and São Jorge).

The Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service (SRPCBA) also informs that various Civil Protection entities will be on standby from Saturday, namely Municipal Civil Protection Services, the Regional Directorates for Public Works and Communications, Environment and Health, as well as the 17 regional fire brigades.

The Azores Civil Protection services will reinforce emergency teams in the Western Group today by deploying equipment and a team from the Regional Directorate for Health.

SRPCBA points out that this situation should not raise alarm and panic, if citizens take into consideration the official information released by SRPCBA and IPMA and adopt self-protection measures in the event of a storm, as recommended by the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service.

Civil Protection Advice

SRPCBA advises against unnecessary traffic in the hours covered by the weather warnings, due to the possibility of forming water sheets due to heavy rainfall.

In unpaved places, the waters can cause soil erosion, leading to the fall of walls, slopes, poles, among others, warns Civil Protection, which also asks the population to protect roofs, doors and windows and remove loose objects from the garden, since they can be displaced by strong wind.

The SRPCBA advises the reinforcement of the moorings of the vessels or the placement in a safe place, and special care travelling near the coast and riverside zones.

The authorities also advise against carrying out sea-related activities, such as sport fishing, water sports or seafront walks.

 

The president of the Association of Criminal Investigation Officials (ASFIC) warned on Monday that the “stagnation” of the career of the PJ inspectors and the lack of personnel jeopardize the investigation and fight against corruption by the police.

The president of ASFIC-PJ, Ricardo Valadas, told Lusa that negotiations with the Government on the revision of the Organic Law of the PJ and its Professional Statute lasted two and a half years, with a working group presented in June a set of proposals.

However, and although the Justice Minister is committed to the approval of the diplomas, it lacks the signature of the Minister of Finance, he said.

Earlier, an ASFIC-PJ communiqué stated that investigators of the Judicial Police consider that the “Ministry of Finance is mortgaging the future of criminal investigation in Portugal”.

The association considers that the waiting time for revisions of the Organic Law of the PJ and the Professional Statute has run out, and that it is urgent to reposition the careers, a situation that, the President pointed out to Lusa, affects the work and motivation of criminal investigation inspectors.

According to Ricardo Valadas, the lack of motivation for a career that has been “stagnant for a long time” and the lack of personnel (the table foresees 2,400 inspectors and there are now only 1,100). These are at present the main problems of this police organisation who are in charge of the investigation cybercrime, organized and violent crime, organized crime and terrorism.

“It is impossible to fight corruption when a career in criminal investigation has not been corrected 20 years ago and for five years no new people have entered,” Ricardo Valadas said in a statement from ASFIC.

The president of the association claims that this is “the most neglected and neglected career in Public Administration”.

“We have been looking for a full-blown dialogue, marked by deepest negotiating loyalty, which has been a handful of intentions for 20 years. Now, after a long two-year negotiating period with this Government, we will not accept sterile updates to the organic law of the PJ and the statutory regime, “he warned.

For ASFIC, the future of the criminal investigation is undermined, which reduces the capacity to attract new inspectors and, above all, to keep the few who still fulfil the mission that they have proposed.

“Who is willing to invest years in training, to integrate a career without any prospect of progression? Who will be interested in keeping a profession with risks, without the due compensation?” Asked Ricardo Valadas, insisting on the urgency of proceed to career repositioning.

The successive governments do not want to understand that the money spent on the PJ is not a cost but an investment. The greater the activity of the PJ, the greater is also the damage of the groups that have been depleted in the state’s coffers. Organized economic crime and corruption use highly sophisticated means and investigation is undertaken with obsolete means.

Ricardo Valadas admitted to Lusa that leaving the PJ “fragile in this way”, not valuing the careers, nor filling the tables, with the opening of competitions for new candidates, is to seriously compromise the capacity and objectives of this police.

The Judiciary Police, through the National Unit to Combat Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and with the support of the Navy and the Air Force, conducted at the end of last week an operation to combat illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs by sea, which resulted in the location and subsequent seizure of a sailboat type recreational craft which was being used for the transport of high quantities of cocaine between the Caribbean and Europe.

The vessel in question, with the flag of a foreign country, was initially located off the Azores Archipelago, eventually entering the marina of the city of Horta, in Faial Island, where it was searched by the Judicial Police, which were supported by members of the Maritime Police in the city of Horta.

As a result, compartments specially created in the structure of the vessel for the transportation of narcotics containing 700 cocaine plates with an approximate total gross weight of 840 kg were found.

On board were two men and two women who were detained and who according to the evidence already collected will be part of a criminal organization established in different countries of the European continent and Latin America.

This is a result of an investigation initiated recently by the National Unit to Combat Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs of the Judiciary Police following a fruitful exchange of information with the French authorities in the framework of the Maritime Analysis and Operations Center – Narcotics. This has been developed by the authorities of several countries with a view to interdicting the introduction of cocaine into the Europe that is transported in different types of vessels crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

In the last three months has allowed several operations to be carried out, resulting in seizure of more than 10 tons of cocaine.

The detainees, all foreigners and aged between 21 and 36 years, appeared at the first judicial interrogation, and pre-trial detention was applied to two of them.

The investigation is carried out by the Judicial Police in cooperation with the authorities of other countries.

 

The Public Security Police (PSP) starts today September 12, at the national level together with the Regional Commands of Madeira and the Azores, Metropolitans of Lisbon and Porto Districts, “Operation Safe School – Academic Year 2018/2019”.

Through the Safe School Program (PES), the PSP is focused on prevention, making individual contacts, awareness-raising, demonstrations and visits to police sub-units, showing itself  increasingly, as an institution that promotes initiatives, projects and partnerships aimed at promotion values ​​of citizenship in the school community, aimed at the harmonious development of children and young people.

The PES, in its 24th year of official validity, will focus on topics such as dating violence, bullying and cyberbullying, alcohol and drug consumption, road safety and self-protection. This prevention will be undertaken through preventive actions, such as presentations / actions aimed at the adolescents, as well as for the children’s audiences through the stories “I Do as Falco Says.”

The PSP will focus on crime prevention and delinquency in and around educational establishments, as well as reinforce its presence in the home – school – homes of students, teachers, parents / guardians and auxiliaries of educational action.

In the field of road safety, special attention will be given to the safety and restraint systems of children’s vehicles (seat belts and strollers), being aware of the main risk factors (driving under the influence of alcohol and narcotics, speeding , driving without legal authorization, disrespect of pedestrian crossings, signage near schools, child restraint systems – seats), complemented by inspections at commercial establishments selling and consuming alcoholic beverages to minors in public places and places open to the public.

In the last school year, the PSP provisionally recorded a drop in the main indicators of insecurity, there being 3,110 incidents of criminal nature and 1,510 occurrences of non-criminal nature. The PSP made 12,614 awareness actions and 12 359 individual contacts.

PSP is also available to organize news reports at the start of this school year with some educational institutions, with the presence of PES teams available for recording and / or live interviews, as well as the presence in the studio for the OCS they want it.

 

The Portuguese Air Force has rescued 150 migrants who were in the water or drifting after an overcrowded rubber vessel was shipwrecked this week in the central Mediterranean, the General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA) said on Friday 7^th September.

In a statement, EMGFA said that  the Portuguese Air Force’s P-3C aircraft on a mission in the central Mediterranean sea, as part of the “Sofhia” military operation of the European Union Naval Force, this week detected north of Libya , two boats overcrowded with migrants, one of them shipwrecked with hundreds of people on board.

The EMGFA points out that the Portuguese military dropped self-inflatable life rafts from the air, which has saved about 150 migrants who are in the water or adrift clinging to various floating objects.

The Libyan coastguard later collected them from the ship wreck.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the rubber vessels detected were sailing towards southern Europe, on one of the irregular immigration routes that still remain active.

Portugal regularly participates in the “Sofhia” military operation, which takes place in the central Mediterranean, and the Air Force is currently contributing with a detachment of 30 military personnel and a P-3C maritime surveillance aircraft from the 601-Lobos Squadron at Sigonella Air Force Base, in Italy.

The primary mission of the Portuguese military in this operation is to contribute to “the dismantling of the business model of smuggling and smuggling networks, as well as the fight against smuggling of fuels in the central Mediterranean.”

The aircraft of the Portuguese Air Force also carries out actions for the identification of ships in international databases, known or suspected of engaging in activities associated with the illegal and indirect financing of criminal organizations or associated with transnational terrorism, according to the EMGFA.

Portugal is also involved in this mission with four more military personnel, two at the Rome operation headquarters and two aboard the Admiral, the Italian navy ship “San Marco”.

The mission ends on September 30.

Judicial Police have advised “that should anyone wish to make a criminal complaint against the company and/or its employees in Portugal, they can do so by contacting DIAP ( the Public Prosecutors office in Faro) in addition to any crime complaints already made to Action Fraud in the UK.

This may assist in determining any contraventions under Portuguese law and other lines of enquiry not being conducted in the UK.

There is no issue with separate enquiries being conducted both in the UK and Portugal, if there is sufficient evidence to justify the latter. That will be determined by DIAP.

In accordance with the law the Complaint must be written in Portuguese and can be submitted by hand at DEPARTAMENTOS DE INVESTIGAÇÃO E AÇÃO PENAL (DIAP) Faro, Rua Antero de Quental, no 9, 8000-210 Faro. Take the original and a copy and the office will stamp the duplicate for retention. You can also send by email to faro.diap@tribunals.org.pt but you will need to send the original by post to them within 7 days. Their contact telephone number is 289 892 942. Their website where more details on reporting can be found is here. http://www.ministeriopublico.pt/perguntas-frequentes/queixa

Please note this is the advice of the Judicial police to those who wish to make a complaint, not that we are at Safe Communities Portugal are advising people to do so.

Permanent monitoring, early detection, the ability to predict the behaviour and evolution of fires, and the effectiveness of the means of combat, with a success rate in the order of 98% have been the determining factors in the execution of the Special Fire Fighting Device (program).

According to provisional data provided by the Institute of Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), between January 1 and August 31, 2018, a total of 8955 rural fires were recorded, resulting in 36,152 hectares of burned area.

Comparing the figures for 2018 with the average of the last 10 years, there is a reduction of 42% in the number of ignitions and less 60% of burned area.

Until August 31, this year is the 2nd lowest in number of occurrences and the 3rd lowest amount of burned area of ​​the last decade.

During the month of August there were 2562 rural fires, which corresponds to a reduction of 50% compared to the average of the last 10 years. The total burned area was 30,562 hectares, which compares with the average of 52,401 hectares in the last 10 years.

With regard to larger fires, up until the end of August, Monchique is the only one with an area burned of ​​more than 1,000 hectares. Provisional data from the ICNF indicate that the fire that started at the beginning of the month in that municipality consumed 26,763 hectares, between agricultural areas, stands and bushes.

About 65,472 operational and 16,890 land resources (vehicles) were used to combat the rural fires that occurred during this period, and 1,428 operations were registered requiring air resources, of which 1,183 were in Initial Attack.

The fire risk is constantly assessed and, given the daily updating and analysis of available data, the National Civil Protection Authority continues to adjust the level of operational readiness and response through the necessary pre-positioning and reinforcement of resources for surveillance operations, surveillance, deterrent patrols and combat missions.

According to data provided by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), the month of August 2018 was the second hottest of the last 15 years, shortly after 2003. The average value of the maximum air temperature (32.41 degrees Celsius) was the highest since 1931.

In light of these atmospheric conditions and with a view to assessing the fire risk, during this month the ANPC determined a total of 14 days of Special Red Alert Status and 10 days of Special Orange Alert Status, within the scope of the Integrated Protection Operations System and Socorro (SIOPS) for most of the continental territory.