Month: July 2017

Since the beginning of the year, 14 incidents involving drones have been reported by civil aviation

The government is to “advance by the end of this month” the submission of regulations for mandatory registration of drones over 250 grams, the Minister of Planning and Infrastructures, said today 14^th July, admitting that “there is much to do.”

“The drones is a subject that worries me a lot,” said Minister Pedro Marques, during a parliamentary hearing at the Committee on Economy, Innovation and Public Works.

In response to questions from CDS-PP Hélder Amaral on what is being done in the framework of drone regulation, the official said he would move forward with the registration of drones, advocating that this will be “an important control instrument”.

Pedro Marques recalled that the future European regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles “should only enter into force in 2018”, arguing that the European Commission should work to anticipate the timetable.

At the end of June, the president of the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), Luís Ribeiro, announced in parliament the intention to propose to the Government, by the end of July, a legislative project on the drones that makes it mandatory to register the equipment and the prohibition of use by children under 16 years.

At the end of a hearing at the Committee on Economy, Innovation and Public Works, Luís Ribeiro explained that “additional measures must be taken” due to the increase in occurrences with drones (unmanned aircraft).

Six months after the entry into force of the current regulation, the aviation regulator argued for a reinforcement of the rules “by legislative means”.

In addition to the mandatory registration of ‘drones’ exceeding 250 grams, the Government defends the obligation of liability insurance.

“We will not solve all the challenges,” said Pedro Marques, indicating that Portugal is not one of the European countries with the highest number of occurrences with unmanned aerial vehicles.

The United Kingdom and France lead the list of European countries with more occurrences with ‘drones’, reason why Portugal will follow the work of these two countries in terms of regulation.

For the minister, drone regulation has gained more discussion with recent news of aircraft occurrences, but the main risks are the invasion of the privacy of populations and the fall of these unmanned aircraft.

Pedro Marques said that technologies for the control of situations with drones are being tested, work being done between the regulator (ANAC), airport managers (ANA) and air traffic managers (NAV).

“We believe it will be feasible to install radars for the remote detection of these ‘drones,” he said, pointing out that there must be adequate authority forces to find the drone operators detected.

On 11^th July 2017 the Cascais Court sentenced to four and a half years in prison an inspector of the Judiciary Police for having diverted 40,000 euros during searches to a residence in Cascais.

Emanuel Briosa was accused by the Public Ministry (MP) of diverting 200,000 euros, in the course of the search for a residence in Cascais (Lisbon district), under the “Rota do Atlântico” process, in which businessman José Veiga is one of the defendants .

The panel of judges found that the accused diverted “at least 200 euro banknotes of 200 euros” (40,000 euros).

Joint action by the UK travel trade and police, courts and hoteliers in Spain has led to a major a breakthrough in the fight against false sickness claims.

According to TUI UK and Ireland, a major crackdown has led to one law firm dropping more than 1,800 cases against the travel giant.

Managing director Nick Longman said the company met last week with Spanish police to discuss the unprecedented levels of illness claims.

“We fully support the steps they are taking to expose this kind of fraud and to investigate false or exaggerated cases,” he said.

“Through the work we are doing and the awareness we are raising of this type of activity, we’ve already seen one law firm drop more than 1800 cases against us. We remain committed to doing all that we can to put a stop to this activity and therefore protect honest holidaymakers.”

TUI said police were given details of hundreds of cases of suspected fraud and have now delivered the results of their investigation to the Courts of Palma.

“Customers who submitted false or exaggerated claims for food poisoning against hoteliers in Mallorca during the last year can expect criminal action to be taken,” it said.

But the problem isn’t just confined to Spain, according to the Foreign Office.

In recent weeks, the FCO has issued warnings to British holidaymakers in Portugal, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus about the risks of making false claims.

The warnings come after a rise in claims, blamed on claims companies targeting popular resorts in these holiday destinations.

Jet2 Holidays has drafted in undercover detectives to sniff out representatives from claims firms who are reportedly hanging out in resorts trying to persuade holidaymakers to make claims and Thomas Cook said it was also taking action.

Last month ABTA launched a political and consumer campaign to persuade the Government to crack down on bogus holiday sickness claims.

Its ‘Stop Sickness Scams’ campaign also warns holidaymakers of the consequences of making a false claim, which could include a fine.

The GNR Territorial Command of Castelo Branco, through the Criminal Investigation Nucleus of Fundão, arrested on 4^th July, 13 men and two women between the ages of 20 and 35, for the crime of drug trafficking in Covilhã, Fundão, Cortes do Meio and Tortosendo.

As part of an investigation for drug trafficking, which has been taking place since the beginning of the year, 17 household searches and six non-domiciliary searches were carried out and seized:

• 40 doses of hashish; 16 doses of cocaine; two grams of cannabis leaves; a shotgun; 11 blank guns; a compressed air weapon; six cartridge; six vehicles; 2 200 euros in cash; 30 mobile phones; 11 computers; four tablets; various precision scales; various external disks, pen’s and memory cards; and various material destined to the cutting, packaging, sale and consumption of narcotic product.

The suspects were constituted defendants, subject to expiration of their identity and residency being, and presented at the Judicial Court of Fundão.

This operation counted on the collaboration of the military commanders of the Territorial Commands of Aveiro, Coimbra, Guarda, Leiria, Portalegre and Santarém.

The man suspected of causing the fire that killed three people in Funchal in August 2016 was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday 6^th July 2017. He was sentenced after being found guilty of the crimes of (arson) aggravated forest fire and gross negligent homicide.

The Court proved the facts and considered that the defendant wilfully and freely set fire to the forest less than 100 meters of houses in the upper part of the parish of São Roque, in Funchal, in a situation of high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds, conscious of what he was doing.

The accused was sentenced to 12 years for the crime of causing the forest fire and three years for the crime of gross negligent homicide. He will serve a sentence of 14 years.

It was also understood that the accused did not act to cause the deaths, but his negligence leading to the deaths was considered by the court sufficient for gross negligence, which “covers the other deaths,” explained the judge.

The group of judges sent to the civil court the resolution of damages that exceed 100 thousand euros.

The man, who on August 10, 2016, in the first judicial interrogation, began by confessing to have set fire, claiming to be under the influence of alcohol.

The defendant is suspected of having set fire to a forest area that, due to weather conditions – high temperatures (37 degrees Celsius), dry weather and strong winds (70 degrees Celsius) on August 8 in the parish of São Roque near Funchal. Kilometers) – has spread to a large area of ​​the county.

The next day, fire struck areas in central Funchal and three women died in their homes.

This fire caused hundreds of displaced persons and material losses evaluated in 157 million euros by the Regional Government of Madeira.

The report by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) on the Pedrógão Grande fire shows that there is only a 5% probability that the ignition was caused by thunderstorms, as indicated by the PJ.

The IPMA held a press conference on 4th July to release the already-known report, pointing out once again that there is a low probability of lightning strikes near the site and at the start of the Pedrógão Grande fire .

“The cloud-to-ground discharges that were detected near the site of the fire occurred at 17:37 hrs, 18:53 hrs and 20:54 hrs, whereas the reference time for the start of the fire was 14.43 hrs,” explained the coordinator of the study, Nuno Moreira.

Thus, the report suggests that there is a low, but non-zero probability of a cloud-soil discharge in the vicinity of the start of the fire, “added the IPMA technician.

Meteorologist Sandra Correia added that there is “a margin of error” and that “the network may not have caught a discharge”, but confirmed everything indicates “that, closer to the place, these discharges only occurred from mid-afternoon until at night”.

“We did not detect any discharge at the time of the fire,” she said.

Meteorologist Paulo Silva pointed out that “given the convective activity [atmospheric instability] near the area of ​​Escalos Fundeiros [village of Pedrógão Grande], it is possible to conclude, according to the radar, that the cloud at that precise moment had no maturity to produce cloud-soil discharge, but would have been later.”

In relation to a downburst (a high intensity wind and near the ground that, from a certain point, blows in a straight line in all directions), Nuno Moreira said that “it was possible to observe this phenomenon by radar in several regions of the upper Alentejo, but none were detected near the site of the fire.

The downburst, according to the IPMA, helps explain the aggressiveness of the fire that destroyed 26,000 hectares and several hundred homes as fire could increase it.

“It was identified a fire plume activation and this activation, the data suggests, may be due to ‘downburst’, which was not directly observed,” explained Nuno Moreira, noting that these phenomena of downward currents are rare.

On June 17, the meteorological stations also detected wind gusts of 80 kph in Proenca-a-nova.

The technicians of the IPMA also mentioned that, at around 19:25, was detected a first activation of the fire plume and that suddenly went for 20 kms.

In the document, sent to the Prime Minister, it is explained that the fire of Pedrógão “broke out and developed in a meteorological frame characterized by a situation of extreme heat and dryness, atmospheric instability with occurrence of thunderstorms, without precipitation in the region and intense bursts of wind”.

This fire, along with another that broke out the same day in Góis, which spread to Arganil and Pampilhosa, will have affected approximately 500 dwellings, 169 of first habitation, 205 of second and 117 empty properties.

Almost 50 companies were also affected, as were the jobs of 372 people. Source Diario de Noticais

The Aveiro court today sentenced a 39-year-old man who started nine forest fires between August and November 2016 in Agueda, to four years and nine months in prison, with suspended sentence.

The accused, who was under house arrest, with electronic surveillance, was released from court after reading the judgment.

Earlier, the presiding judge explained that the panel of judges decided to suspend the sentence, even though the “high” prevention needs of general order did not advise it.

The last fires and the panic and damage that this causes in the populations are still very present, but we decided to give you a vote of confidence, because you confessed the facts and because we have the expectation and the confidence that it does not repeat again, “said the magistrate.

The court also took into account the fact that the burned areas were small and there were no “significant losses”.

The man was convicted of seven forest fire crimes, two of them in attempted, and two fire crimes.

During the trial, the defendant showed regret and justified his behaviour, claiming that he “was out of control” due to the separation of his companion.

According to the indictment of the Public Ministry, the fires occurred in different places of the parish of Macinhata do Vouga, in the municipality of Águeda, where the defendant resides.

The MP states that at the beginning of August, in order to “cause commotion in the residents of that locality and in the localities nearby,” the defendant decided to start firing several fires on his neighbour’s land.

The defendant acted during the night, setting fire to dry pine cones and a lighter and, in some cases, watched others fight the fire, doing nothing to extinguish the flames, says the MP.

In most cases, the intervention of the population was enough to extinguish the fire, but in two situations the firemen had to be called to stop the spread of the flames to forest zones and houses.

Three firefighters and five members of a team from Afocelca – (a forest fire prevention and control organization) – were injured in the fire that burned from midday on 3^rd July in the area of ​​Crucifixo, Tramagal parish, Abrantes.

In the fire, three firefighters were injured, “victims of smoke inhalation and exhaustion,” and five firefighters from Afocelca for burns, according to Abrantes Mayor Maria do Céu Albuquerque.

Two of the eight victims – at least seven of whom were admitted to the Hospital de Abrantes – are in critical condition and the others are considered mild.

The two seriously injured were, however, transported to the burn unit of the Hospital de São José, in Lisbon, and another with slight injuries to Porto.

“At this point I can confirm that two patients, one of them heli-transported, were admitted to the intensive care unit for burns, both with a “reserved” prognosis ,” the official source of the Lisbon hospital told Lusa.

The fire, combated by 188 operations, 54 vehicles and two air vehicles, was in a “completion phase” at 1800 hrs on 3^rd. There were no threats to homes, and the material damage is limited to those caused in a burned agricultural annex, which is not known to be used.

Also around noon, a fire broke out in Tomar, causing three light injuries, two firemen (from Constância and Maceira) and a civilian.

The mayor of the municipality Anabela Freitas said that some municipal roads and secondary roads and roads were cut “by precaution”, calling on people to respect the orders given to them.

He also highlighted the fact that he found that many homes had the range of fuel management done, but he regretted that others still present “grass until the house.”

According to CDOS de Santarém, the fire was in a “resolution phase” at1800 hrs and what aggravated the situation was “other fires in the district of Santarém”.

In the fight against the fires, 279 operatives, 76 vehicles and three air assets were involved, according to information on the civil protection page.

The Government has estimated the damages and needs to be almost 500 million euros to deal with the consequences of the fires in the area of ​​Pedrógão Grande. € 193 million will be needed to respond immediately to emergency situations encountered on the ground, and an additional € 303 million will be made available to advance measures to prevent and revive the economy, promoting, according to Minister Pedro Marques, initiatives that promote Economic diversity, “for sectors with more added value and less dependent on the forest”.

The balance of losses and announcement of measures to be taken, was made on 3^rd July in Figueiró dos Vinhos, after a meeting with the councillors of the seven municipalities affected, and in the presence of the chairman of the Central Zone Coordination Commission, who was the Coordinated this survey and diagnosis.

According to the report, immediate damage requires an emergency response of € 193 million. At stake are 481 affected dwellings, which have suffered total or partial damage, 169 of which refer to first-class housing and almost 46 thousand hectares of burned area, 43,201 of which correspond to forest, grassland and pasture.

According to the Minister of Planning, the State will respond to all these situations, once it is confirmed that there are no insurance to activate. “It should be clear that the answers will be immediate when the insurances cannot be activated. The use of insurance will always be prevalent, “the minister warned.

In the case of housing, the estimated value of damages corresponds to 27.6 million euros. The government report identifies losses still the second housing (205) and vacant housing (117), and the Minister Pedro Marques said that will be opened special lines of credit with interest rates and maturities extended so that they can advance reconstruction In cases identified as non-priority.

With regard to the damage caused by forest fires to the seven municipalities, and according to the survey carried out by the Institute for Nature Conservation, the amount needed to repair damage to private machinery and equipment, loss of wood material and emergency stabilization measures is of 84 million euros.

Regarding business activity, the report points to damages in 49 companies from four municipalities (Pedrógão Grande, Figueiró dos Vinhos, Castanheira de Pera and Góis) and which affected to a greater or lesser extent 374 workers. Of these, 51 have been without jobs, and will see their situation accompanied by the Institute of Employment and Professional Training of Leiria. The volume of losses reached amounts to 27.5 million euros, to which must be added those that were accounted for by Turismo de Portugal of a further 3.6 million euros, which take into account damages in local accommodation units and in some rails and routes, especially in the Schist Villages.

Losses in agriculture were recorded at 19.43 million euros, municipal infrastructure and equipment totaled 21.7 million euros and those of the national road network (whose costs will be borne by Infraestructuras de Portugal and Ascendi, The concessionaire of Pinhal Interior) exceeded 2.5 million euros. To finish the bookkeeping of the losses, it is necessary to point out the 4.5 million euros that were necessary for the mobilization of means to combat this fire.

The Government has made it very clear where it intends to seek funding to repair all these damages. In the case of private dwellings, they will be funds from the State Budget and from the many lines of solidarity that have been created in the meantime, which will serve to answer in the cases of the first dwelling. In other cases, of second housing and devolutions, there must be recourse to credit lines created for this purpose.

Damage to forests, agriculture and other economic activities should be compensated by Community funds. Minister Pedro Marques announced the readiness of the European Commission to make a special reprogramming for the Center’s Operational Program to deal with these new investments. “In terms of business, only support was given to applications in the area of ​​innovation. This has to be changed, and Brussels has already shown openness to it, “the minister explained.

It is also with the help of Community funds, and the special lines of financing obtained from the Juncker Plan or from the European Investment Bank, that the Government intends to finance the special measures to relaunch the economy, which are accounted for at 303 million euros. New tenders will be launched under Portugal 2020 amounting to 70 million euros to diversify economic activity and make these counties less dependent on the forest. Support for business investment in productive innovation in affected municipalities can reach 70 million euros. And there will be further calls for tenders to support productive investment and measures to set up businesses and employment of EUR 30 million. Source publico.pt

During the summer, the National Republican Guard (GNR) is reinforcing patrols and support activities in its area of ​​responsibility, with particular emphasis on the most frequented seaside resorts, parties, pilgrimages and events throughout the country, and on the main roads.

In the scope of this operation, the Direct Key Program is active, with the purpose of guaranteeing the safety of the habitual residences of the citizens who are on vacation, by carrying out patrolling actions with them during the absence of their owners. Admission to the program must be requested at least 48 hours prior to the absence of the owners of the residence, through the internet at https://veraoseguro.mai.gov.pt/Pages/Home.aspx, or an application submitted at the GNR Of your area of ​​residence. The Direct Key program is active through September 15. It should be noted that in the last two summers, 3750 households were registered, with only one being the target of theft.

Also within the scope of Operation Summer Insurance, and for the first time, the GNR carries out the Tourism Insurance Program, with the objective of promoting support, security and fight against crime against tourists, national or foreign, thus contributing to a peaceful stay for those who visit Portugal.

In addition to the reinforcement of specialized patrols with a view to the care, reception and referral of these citizens. The military also develop information and awareness actions for this specific public, with the intention of preventing potential risks and dangers during their stay.

In order to promote and facilitate policing of proximity to tourists and in a context of international cooperation, we will also count on the permanent presence of six Spanish Civil Guard and three Gendamarie Nationale French military personnel to carry out mixed patrol in the bathing areas in most of the Algarve, Lisbon and Setúbal during the months of July and August. The GNR will also strengthen patrolling in the Spanish tourist areas most frequented by the Portuguese, such as Pontevedra and Huelva, with four soldiers. There will also be reinforcement of the joint patrol with the Guardia Civil, in Portuguese and Spanish territory, along the border zones, in larger events.

Surveillance of the coastline will be strengthened through the Coastal Control Unit whose mission is surveillance, patrolling and interception by land or sea along the coast and territorial sea of ​​the continent and the autonomous regions, in particular those points which may offer better conditions for and prevent and detecting illegal entry of foreign nationals. It will also strengthen the enforcement actions of national and foreign recreational craft, in order to verify the safety conditions for its operation, in order to prevent and take action against behaviour that lead to situations of danger to navigation