Year: 2018

On 14^th September at 1830 hrs the Metropolitan Command of Lisbon of the PSP, through 3rd Police Division, in the parish of Carnide, seized various items suspected of being counterfeited.

The PSP were carrying out crime prevention patrols and saw several articles for sale, in some of the stands, with trademarks, which were for sale in bulk at prices below that in the stores of the brand.

Requests for purchase / invoices were requested, but were not producedat the time of the inspection, whereupon his precautionary seizure was made on suspicion of dealing with counterfeit goods.

In total the following was seized the following material:  610 pairs of tennis; 149 items of clothing; and 36 Bags.

On 15^th September a 29-year-old French woman fell approximately 15 metres whilst she was walking on the Levada Fajã do Rodrigues.

The São Vicente and Porto Moniz Volunteer Bombeiros left for the scene around 10:30 am, with 11 member of the mountain rescue team. Two forest police collaborated in the rescue operation.

The woman had a broken leg, as well as several abrasions and there was concern about her head. The victim was immobilised in situ and taken by EMIR (the response unit) to the local Health Centre, where she was stabilised and later transferred to the main Dr. Nélio Mendonça Hospital in Funchal.

Comment

Please ensure that you are well prepared for walking along the Levadas – tips can be downloaded here.

 

Media reports on Sunday 16^th September stated an alleged bomb threat was affecting a Binter plane, which was due to make the 18:30 trip from Porto Santo to Funchal this evening.

Online the newspaper says “JM had already tried to confirm the news about 20 minutes ago (around 18.00 Sunday), but neither Porto Santo nor ANA nor PSP admitted any problems. The airport services also reported that the flight would leave at the scheduled time”.

A few minutes later the Diario correspondent in Porto Santo reported that more than 20 passengers were prevented from boarding the plane to Madeira. Among these were the Regional Secretary of Tourism, Paula Cabaço, and other prominent Madeirans who were on the island in connection with the Colombo Festival.

Authorities, including a member of the criminal investigation brigade, were at the scene to investigate the situation, as well as the director of Isabel Velosa Airport.

The passengers have left the plane and returned to the embarkation zone and were only told that “the flight is delayed”. An eyewitness reported some suitcases being removed from the hold of the plane.

Later the same evening the incident has now been reported as a false alarm, and the flight eventually departed 90 minutes

The two made a trip from Lamego to Porto to sell a stolen shotgun, but they ended up becoming victims after running out of money, no gun and no money to return home.

After the deal went badly, the two plaintiffs, both drug addicts, invented a story that they had been robbed, in an attempt to pass themselves off as victims, so that authorities could take them back to Lamego. But the Porto Judicial Police discovered their claim was false and instead arrested them for qualified theft, trafficking and mediation of weapons and crime simulation.

On 10^th September the two individuals, aged 20 and 35, a warehouse aide and the other cook, broke into the residence of an emigrant in Lamego, where they stole a shotgun.

They saw an opportunity to do business there, selling the gun and buying drugs with the money, or simply exchanging it for drugs. Therefore, they went to Porto, where the probability of realizing the purchase and sale was greater.

On the way, the car broke down and they ended the trip by taxi. They went to the district of Ramalde, where they were with traffickers who kept the gun, without giving anything in return. With no transport, no money, they called the PSP, claiming they had been mugged. The case passed to the PJ, who suspected their story was not true and they finally confessed.

PSP de Lisboa arrested three young people suspected of drug trafficking and temporarily closed down stores for selling liquor to minors Thursday night.

The arrests and closure of the establishments were carried out in the context of a preventive police operation that seeks to “respond to the problem of increased consumption of alcoholic beverages and psychotropic substances by young people between the ages of 14 and 18 who attend establishments night entertainment, “police said in a statement.

The same note states that the PSP seized 50 doses of hashish to the three young people, aged between 17 and 22 years.

The three detainees were notified to appear in the Judicial Court of the District of Lisbon – Small Local Criminal Court, for judgment in a summary proceeding.

The statement also added that “several minors were identified and flagged for the consumption of alcoholic beverages and for the consumption of drugs”, among which 15 for the sale of alcohol to minors, one for the sale of beverages for the public highway, not for non-conclusive objects, three for peddling without authorization, two for lack of prior communication for street vending.

These establishments were closed for a period of 12 hours, on the sale of alcoholic beverages to persons under 18 years of age

 

The Social Security Institute closed 277 nursing homes and 27 day care centers in the last three years, following almost four thousand inspection actions, more than 1400 of them to homes, which forced 33 urgent closures.

Data from the Social Security Institute (ISS), sent to the Lusa agency, reveal that in the last three years, between 2016 and 31 July 2018, 3878 actions were taken to inspect social facilities, 1446 of which were for nursing homes and other 482 to crèches.

Only in 2018 have been audited 101 kindergartens and 297 nursing homes, among a total of 768 inspections the social facilities, which resulted in the closure of 56 homes and eight kindergartens .

Over the three years, Social Security closed 277 households, 88 of which in 2016, 133 in 2017 and 56 until July 31, 2018. In relation to day-care centers, the ISS was forced to close 27, most of them of them (12) last year, after having closed in 2016 and having already closed eight in 2018.

During the three-year period, there were 33 urgent closures of homes and four crèches, and this situation only occurs when “there is an imminent danger to the health and integrity of the users”.

The ISS explained that, in these cases, the users are immediately withdrawn from the establishments, “being sent to their families or to social responses with the proper conditions, made available by the Institute of Social Security.”

On the other hand, 119 applications for licensing of new day care centers since 2016, 49 of them soon in that year, 60 in the following year and the remaining 10 in 2018.

The number of users covered by the cooperation agreements between the institutions and the State has increased in the last two years, with a further 803 children and 1,883 elderly between 2017 and 17 August 2018.

According to the ISS data, in 2017 there were 1864 childcare co-operation agreements, covering 72,391 children, number increasing to 73194 minors in 2018, despite the number of cooperation agreements to maintain.

On the other hand, the cooperation agreements for the Residential Structures of the Elderly (ERPI) went from 1623 in 2017 to 1645 in 2018, while the number of users covered increased from 59151 in 2017 to 61034 in 2018.

 

The Judiciary Police (PJ) announced on Friday 14^th September that it had arrested a 29-year-old man on suspicion of a forest fire in Almodôvar, in the Beja district.

In a statement, the PJ reports that on the 1st of this month, between 3:00 pm and 4:00 p.m., in Santa Cruz, Almodôvar municipality, the man, “armed with a lighter, set fire to ground in places 20 meters apart causing a fire of great proportions, that consumed between 20 and 25 hectares of cork trees and olive trees “.

The arrest of the man, a bricklayer, occurred following an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of the neighbouring municipality of Loulé, already in the district of Faro.

Source of the PJ’s Southern Board told Lusa that the man was detained on Thursday and will be present at the Court of Loulé for first judicial interrogation and application of pre-trial conditions.

 

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.