Bill Gates awarded "Order of Infante Dom Henrique"

Portugal’s President Jorge Sampaio awarded Bill Gates with the Order of Infante Dom Henrique in a ceremony held at the presidential palace.
"It’s a great honor to receive this award. I’m committed to continue the work that this recognizes,” declared Gates after receiving the award.
The Gates Foundation has donated more than 23.7 billion euros making it the world's biggest charity, saving at least 700,000 lives in poor countries by investing in vaccination programs, computers donations and Internet access to 11,000 libraries.
The Order of Infante Dom Henrique is named after the 15th century Portuguese prince who launched Portugal on its worldwide voyages of discovery.

Tags: Portugal, Bill, Gates, President, Sampaio, Foundation

Microsoft to teach 1 million Portuguese

Microsoft has signed a partnership with the Portuguese government with the goal of teaching IT skills to some one million people by 2010. This project was unveiled by Jean-Phillipe Cortois in the opening ceremony of the Government Leaders Forum, in Lisbon. The partnership was announced in sequence to Microsoft’s plan to help create 20 million new jobs around the world. Bill Gates also reminded the significance in developing a relationship between the public and the private sector. Some of Microsoft’s partners in this initiative include Cisco and Randstad.

Tags: Portugal, Lisbon, Microsoft, Cisco, teach, million, Bill, Gates

Mourinho wants Portugal Team in 12 to 15 years time

Mourinho announced that he is not interested in the England job and will only be interested in managing the Portuguese National side in 12 to 15 years time.

Speaking at the Portuguese Embassy, after collecting a National award
José Mourinho said “I am happy with my day to day life. Daily training, regular matches and sometimes wanting more matches per week, 3 perhaps”
This confirms Chief Executive Peter Kenyon's public announcement stating that Mourinho wasn’t going anywhere and that the FA should not bother Chelsea with an approach.

Tags: Jose, Mourinho, Englande, Portugal, managing, team

Microsoft to help PJ fight cibercrime

Microsoft will be providing the Police Force (Polícia Judiciária) with IT equipment to aid in the fight against cibercrime, story published in todays issue of Correiro Da Manhã(CM).

The newspaper CM stated that the protocol will be celebrated due to Microsoft’s president Bill Gates visit to Portugal in attendance of the Government Leaders Forum that takes place today in Lisbon. This protocol will comprise of Hardware and software dedicated to fighting cibercrime, which will also include Technical assistance during a period of four years.

Tags: Portugal, Lisbon, Microsoft, cibercrime, fight, Technical, assistance, Bill, Gates, Forum

Petroleum more expensive

The Associação Portuguesa de Empresas Petrolíferas (APETRO) stated in its monthly newsletter that the price for importing petroleum rose from an average of 30,07 euros per barrel in 2004 to 41,92 euros per barrel in 2005, which represented a inflation of 11,85 euros in prices. Portugal imported around 13 million tons in 2005 that led to an increase in expenditure of 1.200 billion euros in comparison to 2004.
Between 1994 and 2005 Portuguese consumption of gasoline decreased 3% but of Diesel increased 90%. Last year according to the APETRO Diesel sold 200 per cent more than gasoline. In 2005 the price for the 95 octane unleaded was of 1,148 euros per litter of which 62,8% corresponded to Tax.

Tags: Portugal, million, barrel, importing, Diesel, 2005, gasoline

Galp to unveil new gas heater

Galp Energia announced that it has invested 500 thousand euros to create a new gas heater that will be unveiled this week in Portugal. The new heater named Hot Spot was developed exclusively by Portuguese partners and will be produced by J.F.Queirós e Filhos with a capacity to manufacture 20.000 units per year.

The new Hot Spot will be available in four models that distinguish themselves from the competition due to their small size, efficiency and design that was the responsibility of Brandia. In its initial stages the new gas heater will be produced exclusively for the Portuguese and Spanish markets.

Tags: Portugal, Spanish, Galp, Brandia, Energia, euros, hot, spot

Temperatures to go up

Temperatures bellow zero where recorded last nigh in Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Portalegre and Beja.
The temperatures where: Guarda -4, Braga -3, Bragança -3, Castelo Branco -2, Portalegre -2 and in Beja -1.
After heavy snow fall in several regions on Sunday, including Lisbon, today the sky will remain clear with some cloud cover but rain is not expected.



Tags: Portugal, Beja, zero, snow, Lisbon, Braga, Portalegre

Port Wine

The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (IVDP) will spend 1.6 million to promote the Port wine in 12 countries. The elected markets are Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, UK, Finland, Norway and Switzerland, Brazil, Canada the USA.

Tags: Port, Wine, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, million, Canada, USA, Norway

Snow storm in Portugal !!!!

Today has bean a some what funny day here in Portugal. As most people would know it’s not very often that it snows here, especially in cities like Évora. If you would like to see a video please click here.

Snow in Portugal (update)

Portugal continues in permanent “yellow” alert due to the low temperatures that are forecast for today. The cold front that has been felt in Portugal brought snow to cities like Lisbon, Azambuja, Cadaval, Loures, Mafra, Odivelas and Torres Vedras. The highways A1 from Santarem to Pombal and the A8 from Bombarral to Torres Vedras were reopened at 17:00 but circulation maintains interrupted in the A15.

Tags: Portugal, Snow, cold, front, Lisbon, circulation

Snow in Portugal

A snow storm is covering Portugal forcing the interruption of transit on main roads and Highways. In the center region the Autoestrada n.º1 from Santarém to Leiria has been cut off due to constant snow fall that made it impossible for commuters to circulate.

Tags: Portugal, snow, Storm, Leiria, Santarem, commuters

Photo from brisa.pt

Demonstration in Lisbon for south African Portuguese

Today around 130 people demonstrated in Lisbon requesting the Government to adopt measures that help South African Portuguese, which they state have been victims of “racist crimes”.
The protest was organised by the Partido Nacional Renovador (PNR) “National Renovation Party” presided by José Pinto Coelho and took place in Alameda Afonso Henriques.

José Pinto Coelho stated that “easy argumentation and excuses that in South Africa there is a lot of crime” was not acceptable and that the Portuguese ambassador in Johannesburg should have been called in to give explanations about the situation.

“We have every motive to talk about genocide. When 360 people are assassinated in a foreign country this is not a coincidence but a premeditated incident” said José Pinto Coelho.

Carrying black flags, PND flags and National flags, the demonstrators, some of which skinheads that whore military stile clothing, reunited around 360 white crosses that symbolized the murdered Portuguese. The group of protestors latter gave a minute of silence in memory of the Portuguese victims followed by singing the National Anthem while performing the” Nazi Salute“.

Tags: Portugal, Skinhead, crime, South, Africa, murdered, Lisbon, military, Nationa, Portuguese, protestors, black

Bill Gates to receive award

Portugal is to honour Microsoft founder Bill Gates whit its highest order for his efforts to fight poverty and disease. Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio will award Bill Gates with the Order of Dom Henrique in a ceremony Tuesday in Lisbon. One of the main reasons for this award is the fact that former Portuguese colonies like Angola and Mozambique have been among the main beneficiaries of the Donations made by the Gates Foundation. Friday this Foundation also announced that it pretends to triple the amount it donates to tuberculosis research by 2015 to 755 million euros from the current 300 million euros.

Tags: Portuga, Bill, Gates, Microsoft, Don, foundation, henrique

Weekend is good

Well another weekend is upon us and Portugalalive keeps on going as usual. I hope that the stories we are posting are of interest to you and that you find them some what interesting. I’m looking to post more on topics that interests the general reader so please fell free to drop a few lines if you got some stimulating requests. You can also help by bookmaking us at http://Del.icio.us, this will help us get more readers. Remember that any suggestions are more than welcomes so please “don’t be shy”.

Tags: Portugal, weekend, readers, suggestions, bookmarking, interesting, shy

Vodafone Portugal launches mobile TV service

Vodafone Portugal has launched a mobile TV service that enables its Vodafone Live 3G customers to view 14 television channels. The company will also broadcast channels 24 hours a day which include: MTV Tracks, MTV Snacks, Eurosport, Chili TV, Fashion TV, 24 (Fox), Discovery Mobile, UEFA Champions League, Playboy TV (Premium) and Blue (Premium). There will be two subscription plans, one monthly fee of 7,5 euros or 1,5 euros for 24 hours, premium channels will be charged separately.

Tags: Portugla, Mobile, Cell, Phone, Vodafone, Mtv, Music, Eurosport, euros, eufa, Fashion, TV, Fox

Portuguese mobile phone camera film festival

Portugal will host it’s first ever contest dedicated to short movies made with mobile phones. The films made entirely with mobile phone cameras will be presented on a large screen at the two day film festival which starts Friday in Lisbon. The awards for best three films will be judged by the public has they will be the ones voting. The festival will also show 30 of the best international films made using mobile phone cameras which took part at the Forum de Images in Paris.

Tags: Portugal, movies, films, film, Cell, phone, Mobile, Paris, Short

Autoeuropa presents new model

Today Autoeuropa is going to unveil the new Volkswagen model Eos, that it will be producing after the Sharon. The new top of the range model will be manufactured exclusively in the Palmela Factory which represents a sign of interest by the German Auto after the resent labour problems. The new model is going to be presented in a ceremony to be held this morning, that will include the presence of various Political figures such has Prime Minister José Sócrates and the Minister of Economic affairs Manuel Pinho.

Tags: Portugal, VW, German, Car, Auto, Production, Socrates, Eos, Volkswagen, Palmela, Autoeuropa

Publicity a 3,6 billion market

Publicity in Portugal represented a market of 3,6 billion in 2005, an increase of 23% from 2,9 billion in 2004. According to figures released by MediaMonitor, TV took the largest share with 637,95 million followed by the press with 104,4 million. The companies that most spent on publicity were Vodafone with 104,4 million, Modelo Continente with 87,2 million euros and Procter & Gamble with 84,6 million euros.

Tags: Portugal, Publicity, Vodafone, Modelo, Continente, Million

Ryanair ponders investment Aeroporto Sá Carnerio

Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA) is negotiating with the low cost airline Ryanair the possibility of it creating an “Operation Center” in the Aeroporto Sá Carneiro (Porto). This potential project will improve the already present infrastructure that in the last few years has seen an investment of nearly 350 million euros. Another point of interest is also to try and increase the number of Spanish passengers from the Galizia area.

Tags: Portugal, porto, Ryanair, Sá Carnerio, Low, Cost, Spanish, Galizia

False portuguese passports in Banguecoque

Tai immigration services have captured in Banguecoque a Bosnian individual with 120 false passports. Mohamad Mehdaou was captured Tuesday Evening in Nana with a large quantity of false passports, 60 Spanish, 30 Portuguese and 20 Dutch. The local police also apprehended other Portuguese and Spanish security material that was used in the falsification of Dutch passports and a large quantity of Bank credit cards. According to statements made by police, the Bosnian was part of an organized group that specialized in the production of Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch passports latter to be sold in England for 1000 euros each. Since February 2004 Tai police have detained 17 individuals and apprehended more than 1.400 false passports.

Tags: Portugal, portuguese, Passport, false, captured, Spanish, Dutch, Bank, Credit, Cards

Portugal has 250 thousand “luxury immigrants”

A study shows that there are 250 thousand “luxury immigrants” living in Portugal, mostly in the Algarve but other regions like Lisbon, Porto and Alentejo are also growing in popularity. The immigrants are largely retired, integrated socially and economically above average but don’t present a lot of knowledge about the countries political affairs. These are some of the conclusions taken from a study completed by the “Portuguese News” an English newspaper distributed in Portugal.

Tags: Portugal, Algarve, Immigrants, Luxury, Lisbon, Study, Financially

Trump looks at Algarve

The multimillionaire Donal Trump might invest in the Algarve. The interest to invest came after speaking with friend Willeam van Kooten owner of Endemol and Castro Marim Golfe and Country Club situated on the margin of the Guadiana River. In total there will be 350 houses and one luxury Hotel representing a total investment estimated at 800 million over a seven year period.

Tags: Portugal, Algarve, Donald, Trump, Endemol, Golf, Invest

Portugal to produce Bird flu vaccine

The Portuguese pharmaceutical company Medinfar announced that it pretends to start producing vaccines against the human variant of the bird flu from 2007 supplying 63% of the country by 2008. The new production facility will be located in Condeixa (Coimbra) and represents an investment of 27 million euros. Up to now only nine countries had the capability to produce the vaccine: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Japan, United States and the UK.

Tags: Bird, Flu, Portugal, Vaccine, Produce, Germany, UK, United, States

Portugal can win World Cup says Figo

Luis Figo said that he is confidante that Portugal can win next years Fifa World Cup in Germany.

"As a player I expect to take part in a great tournament. As far as the team are concerned, I believe Portugal can win the World Cup in Germany," he told the news paper Record.

Figo now 33 also said that he will retire from international football after de Fifa World cup. Portugal is in Group D along with Angola, Iran and Mexico.

Tags: Portugal, soccer, Football, Luis, Figo, World, Cup, Germany, Fifa

Luiz Felipe Scolari looks at England

Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari says he would be interested in taking over from Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager should the job become available. The Brazilian explained that he is "totally committed to Portugal" until his contract terminates but added that he would appreciate a new challenge. England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson as a contract until 2008 but is expected to step down after the World Cup in Germany following allegations that he might have stated confirming this.

Tags: Portugal, soccer, Football, Scolari, Luiz, Felipe, England, WorldCup, Eriksson

Editors note

I think it’s safe to say that by now we all know that Anibal Cavaco Silva won the Presidential elections. With this victory I hope that our nation will find not only economic but also political stability so that as a country we can prosper and progress towards a better future.

Cavaco Silva Wins Presidential elections

The center-right Cavaco Silva is Portugal’s new Presidente gaining victory in the first round with 50,6% of votes. Manuela Alegre came in second with 20,7%, followed by Mario Soares with 14,3%, Jerónimo de Sousa 8,6%, Francisco Louça with 5,3% and finally Garcia Pereira with 0,4%. In his speech to the Nation Cavaco Silva affirmed that “The Portuguese stated clearly who they wanted has their Presidente da Republica” and promised that he would cooperate entirely with the Socialist Government.

Tags: Portugal, Presidente, Cavaco, Silva, Elections

Gates and Buffet invest in Portugal

The two richest men in the world apparently have decided to invest in Portugal. Bill Gates is going to create an innovative program in three Universities to train students in Information Technologies, following the announcement already made by Microsoft Portugal that they would be teaching computer skills to unemployed textile workers. Warren Buffet the second richest man in the world as made Oeiras in Lisbon (Portugal) the headquarters for his luxury Jet business and its fleet of 100 airplanes.

Tags: Portuga, Bill, Gates, Warren, Buffet, Microsoft, Jets, Luxury

Portuguese retailers in the top 250

According to the latest figures from “Global Powers of Retailing” the Portuguese group Modelo Continent occupied the 141º place in the rank of the biggest retailers with an estimated 3,633 billion is sales. Another Portuguese retailer present in the top 250 was Jeronimo Martins occupying 154º place with sales totalling 3,315 billion.

Tags: Retailers, 250, Global, ranking, Continente

More Portuguese music for Portugal

Portugal’s parliament passed a measure intended to boost National or home-grown music by setting a fixed quota for radio. Stations are now expected to play 25% of Portuguese music and the ones that don’t face fines of up to 50,000 euros. This measure was introduced not only to help local bands but also as an instrument to maintain it’s identity in the European Union. In 2005 only 7% of music played by radio stations was Portuguese while local music represented 25% of total sales.

Tags: Portugal, Music, Bands, Radio, Staions

More Porches in Portugal

Porche Ibéria estimates that more than 300 porches will be sold in Portugal this year, corresponding to an increase of 3% in relation to 2005. Porches representative, Nuno Costa, regarded 2005 as a good year for the German automaker that saw an increase in sales of 28% compared to 2004. The main reason for this boost was due to the increase in TAX (IVA) from 19% to 21% that motivated people to anticipate their purchase. In 2004 Porsche sold 260 cars that corresponded to 115 Cayenne, 82 Porsche 911, 58 Boxster and 5 do Cayman.

Tags: portugal, Porche, cars, sold, Boxster, Cayenne, 911

Presidential Elections

Sunday 22 of January voters in Portugal go to the polls to elect their new president. Latest figures show that the candidate Cavaco Silva will win without a need for a second round. The latest statistics show Cavaco Silva 52% (PSD), Mario Soares 18% (PS), Manuel Alegre 16,5%, Jerónimo de Sousa 6,9 (CDU) and Francisco Louçâ 6,1 (BE).

Tags: Portugal, elections, Cavaco, Silva, Mario, Soares

Autoeuropa will produce new car

German automaker Volkswagen said Friday it would build a new model in its Autoeuropa car plant (Setubal, Portugal). After years of dwindling production numbers and constant disagreement with labour unions the decision to build the new model in the factory was finally announced.

"The decision to build a new model at Autoeuropa is based on the competitive cost of the Setubal facility as well as the positive framework that was established in cooperation with the Portuguese government and labour representatives," stated the VW Chairman Wolfgang Bernhard.

Autoeuropa is the biggest foreign investment in Portugal representing a development of more than 2 billion euros. The plant opened in 1995 and employs nearly 2,800 workers that in 2005 produced around 80,000 cars of which included the VW Sharan and Eos models, the Ford Galaxy and the SEAT Alhambra

Tags: Portugal, VW, autoeuropa, model, new, car, factory

In with the new out with the old

Welcome to the new and improved Portugal Alive. By now you would have noticed that many things have moved others have changed and some have disappeared. Yes, this is the new layout for PortuglaAlive. There are still some features that were not included like the “Related posts” that helps readers find relevant stories to the one they might be reading. I will also be sorting all news into categories “sports, finance, etc” so that finding information of interest becomes easier. I hope that you enjoy PortugalAlive and continue to make this your number one source for news from Portugal in English.

Auto sector has no more to give

The president of Portugal’s largest Club, Automobile Club of Portugal (ACP) has sated that de sector “has no more to give” and that the government should “go fetch money in other places or reduce public spending”. ACP president showed some worries concerning the increase in the amount of people that want the ACP to take action like protests and road blockades because of the constant rise of petrol prices. Thought stating that the ACP has no interest in using such methods Carlos Barbosa reminded that the Portuguese auto sector already contributes to 25% of the total government’s revenues.

Tags: Portugal, Car, Cars, Sector, President, Public