It’s the hottest issue in the Algarve today – overriding anger about motorway tolls, the destruction of fishing communities on Ria Formosa and the threat of feldspar mining in Monchique. But for some inexplicable reason, powermakers in Lisbon are lying about it.

From the Minister of the Sea to the President of the Republic, the last week has seen lies and obfuscation over the small print of gas and oil contracts in force up and down the country reach ‘Emperor’s new clothes’ levels of lunacy.

It is as if Lisbon believes that the more an assertion is repeated, the greater the chance of people believing it.

PJ police are investigating a boody-trapped letter which arrived at the offices of Lisbon mayor Fernando Medina earlier this week, addressed to him personally.

The letter was opened by a 55-year-old member of staff - understood to have worked at the council for decades - who noticed a “strong odour” before being overcome by a range of symptoms ranging from eye and throat irritation to dizziness and headache.

If anyone was expecting fireworks when former CGD director and convicted trafficker-of-influences Armando Vara addressed the parliamentary inquiry into the parlous state of State bank CGD they will have been disappointed.

The seemingly relaxed former PS minister had a ready answer for everything, except for when it came to the question about how many times he had talked to Sócrates about CGD.

Pulling a face and pausing noticeably, the question was repeated - at which point 62-year-old Vara said “as strange as it might seem” he couldn’t remember.

This may be the end of the line for the long-running civil case taken out by the parents of Madeleine McCann to ‘silence’ their bête-noir, former PJ coordinator Gonçalo Amaral.

After all the hullaballoo and recriminations filling UK tabloids, Supreme court judge Dr Jorge Manuel Roque Nogueira has rejected the complaint lodged by Kate and Gerry McCann over what they considered a frivolous decision by fellow judges to uphold Gonçalo Amaral’s right to freedom of expression, sanctioning the intrinsic legality of his damning thesis ‘Maddie: the Truth of the Lie’.

“In a serious European Union, Mr Dijsselbloem would already have been fired”, prime minister António Costa told reporters last night as remarks by the Eurogroup president given to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung sparked a storm of indignation, and the occasional burst of satire.

The tragic case of an unborn baby who died in his mother’s womb as she waited to be attended at Guarda hospital last month has reached a conclusion. The doctor in charge did not proceed according to leges artis and is therefore seen as “responsible”.
However, the internal inquiry is recommending archival on the basis that health chiefs have no disciplinary powers over the doctor, who was working ‘part time’.

By natasha.donn@algarveresident.com

Article by kind permission of Portugal Resident

With the “white genocide” in South Africa barely reported by foreign media, Portuguese newspapers have carried the story this week of two brothers from Madeira fatally shot in the head after opening their butchers business in Pretoria on Monday.

The attack followed a raid on the shop in December, and the kidnapping for a cash ransom of a family member in January.

A third brother missed becoming a victim by being late into work, reports Correio da Manhã.

The body of a woman, aged around 50, was discovered floating in the Tejo river in Lisbon on Monday. Initial reports suggest the body showed no signs of violence. Police inquiries have failed so far to uncover any reports of people missing that might tally with the woman’s description. The body is believed to have been in the water for two days, says Correio da Manhã.

Article by kind permission of Portugal Resident