The roof above the washrooms at the increasingly dilapidated police station finally has collapsed and officers and civilian staff fear for their safety as they work in the 100-year old building.
The local communist party has taken the officers’ plight to Parliament as fears increase that the building is unsafe and could collapse.
Lawyers for those arrested in Operation Labyrinth arrived in court today as Judge Carlos Alexandre kicked off proceedings by questioning one of the three Chinese businessmen detained last week in an operation aiming to uncover any corruption involved in the issuing of Golden Visas to wealthy foreigners.
The director of the Borders and Foreigners Service, an employee of the Institute of Registries and Notaries and a Chinese citizen were heard yesterday and questioning continued this morning at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon.
The Mayor of Portimão says she will have to shut up shop if the Tribunal de Contas does not approve an insurance contract. The city hall, satellite council offcies, council cars and vans, and the city's buses soon will be left without cover and unable legally to operate.
At issue is a new, three year insurance contract which Isilda Gomes’ team has renegotiated to cover all the council’s insurance obligations as required by law.
A statement from the SINSEF Union representing employees of the Borders and Aliens Service (SEF), subsequent to the arrest on Thursday of its national director in the 'golden visa' corruption investigation called Operation Labyrinth, expresses the solidarity of all SEF workers and says its members will wait for the conclusion of the investigation.
“In the wake of the news coming out involving high-ranking public figures in general and this institution in particular, the Union expresses its solidarity with all SEF staff and calmly awaits the completion of investigations and the justice of the rule of law that we stand for.”
Since new laws criminalising most aspects of animal abuse took effect on October 1, 2014, there have been 249 complaints and six prosecutions.
The new law states that "whoever, without legitimate cause, inflicts pain, suffering or any mistreatment to a companion animal is punishable with imprisonment."
Growth of a mere 0.2% was registered in the eurozone in the third quarter of 2014.
But even this was better than the prediction of 0.1% growth or the actual 0.1% growth of the second quarter.
The economy minister, António Pires de Lima, today stated that the public service obligations of state airline TAP "will always be guaranteed" regardless of whether the state owned a stake or not.
The Economy Minister’s flight of fancy continued, "Flights to Guine-Bissau? Of course the future TAP shareholder must ensure these. Flights to the Azores and Madeira? Of course the future TAP shareholder must ensure these. Flights to Lusophone communities? It's all part of the specification," Pires de Lima told reporters at today's 3rd Franco-Portuguese Conference in Lisbon.
The 'fees and little taxes’ that seemed to amuse Economy Minsiter Pires de Lima, dismissing them as almost an irrelevance for Portugal’s citizens, have been analysed by Jornal de Negoçios.
The amount paid on average by each citizen in fees to the state, according to the State General Account and the General Directorate of Local Authorities, was €285 last year - hardly an insignificant sum.
