Thursday, March 23, 2006

Book on China-Portugal relations published

The book published by Huangshan Publishing House, a well known Chinese publishing house that specializes in academic research books, is the first book covering the historic relations between China and Portugal.

The director of the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Bu Ping, said that the author Huang Qinghua, who is now also a researcher with the institute, spent ten years writing the book.

The book cites historical documents between China and Portugal and collects facts from relevant archives and files from other countries. "Therefore, the book is the first-hand and all-round reference for China-Portugal relations over the past 500 years," Bu commented.

The book is distributed in three volumes covering mainly two time periods, from 1513 to 1840 and 1840 to1999. (Story from xinhuanet)

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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Brazilian illegal immigrates apprehended

A Brazilian megaparty in the Jardim Zoológico de Lisboa came to a quick halt after a surprise visit from the Police (PSP), immigration Services (SEF) and the Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC). In the restaurant were present some 500 people, the majority of Brazilian nationality that latter were escorted to the SEF for confirmation of there legal status in the country. After conducting the investigation 236 immigrates were found to be an illegal situation and given the maximum of 20 days to leave the country.

According to Immigration Services, 12 of the illegal immigrates apprehended had previously been notified to leave the country but failed to do so, for this reason they will remain is custody.


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Sunday, March 19, 2006

Chinese tomatoes worry Portuguese producers

Portuguese tomato farmers are expressing great concern towards the invasion of Chinese tomato in the European market. China produces and exports much cheaper and not only to Europe but to other continents as well. The major concern to tomato growers is that the arrival of Chinese exported tomatoes to the European Market will threaten the stability of prices.

China is currently the world’s third largest producer with 2.8 million MT after the US and Italy. The Portuguese production is of around 1.2 million MT and has not seen any significant increase for years.

According to the secretary of Tomato Producers Association of Portugal what is needed is more investment in processed produce to sustain the production, to keep the prices at a good level and to be able to compete in the market. Other strategies would have to include the development of new products and the search for new markets, like Japan.

The Portuguese market currently consumes only 5% of the processed tomato produced in the country. The export goes mainly to the North European countries.

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Saturday, March 18, 2006

Pt will continue with Namibian bid

Portugal Telecom spokesman told the newspaper Diario Economico that they will continue with the bid for a 34 pct share in Namibia's mobile operator and also proceed with the launch of a service in Congo, although it has officially dropped out of the bidding for 35 percent in the Tunisian Telecom. This despite still facing a takeover bid from SonaeCom.

The spokesman told the business daily that the company would go ahead with the Namibian offer because it had materialised before SonaeCom launched its offer for the group.

The winner for the bid is expected to be known at the end of March, Diario Economico said, adding that MTN, South Africa's biggest listed mobile phone network, is also in the running.

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Thursday, March 16, 2006

Portuguese textile exports drop 6.7%

CENESTAP Textile Observatory reported that the Portuguese Textile and clothing sector registered exports worth 4.1 billion euros in 2005 representing a decrease of 6.7 percent compared to 2004. The clothing sector was the most penalised with a decrease of 9.8 percent.

Contradicting the negative tendencies were the synthetic and artificial segment of the textile industry which recorded an increase of 27 percent. Special and tufted cloth also saw orders increased 20.6 percent and impregnated cloth rose 8.6 percent.

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Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Portugal's wave machine

A commercial wave power machine is preparing to leave the Western Isles for Portugal. The new machine manufactured in Scotland is being shipped to Portugal to integrate the world’s first commercial wave farm.

The Edinburgh based company Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) was commissioned by a Portuguese consortium to build the initial phase of the scheme, which will generate renewable electricity from ocean waves.

The first of three 750-kilowatt Pelamis wave energy converters are being transported by ship from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis to the port of Peniche, off the northern coast of Portugal. If successful a further 28 will be ordered before the end of the year.

When finished, the 2.25-megawatt, 11 million euro project is expected to produce in average enough energy to supply some 1,500 Portuguese households with electricity.

(image from http://www.edie.net )

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More flights to Brazil

Portuguese airline TAP plans to launch seven new weekly flights to Brazil as of May, increasing the total number of weekly flights to the country to 21, Portuguese financial daily Jornal de Negócios reported Tuesday.

Brazilian authorities have already authorized three new weekly flights between Porto and Rio de Janeiro and a further three to Sao Paulo. Another weekly flight between Lisbon and Sao Paulo will also be added.

Currently TAP has 14 flights per week to Brazil, seven to Sao Paulo and another seven to Rio de Janeiro.

TAP is currently awaiting the delivery of three new airplanes for use on these routes. The A-330 aircrafts are expected to be delivered by the end of April.


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Two men suspected of homicide captured

Lisbon Police (PJ) have captured two men that are suspected of homicide. One of the suspects, a 25 year old, was detained on Sunday after a violent fight in which he allegedly punched and kicked the his to death.

According to the PJ the victim was a 38 year old male that resided in the Lisbon area.

The other suspect, a male of 48, was capture and is accused of assassinating a 28 year old man with a knife after the two men had an argument.

The two suspects have been presented to court and are awaiting trial in custody.

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Monday, March 13, 2006

More flights to Angola and Mozambique

Portugal is actively negotiating with the Angolan and Mozambican governments the increase of flights to these countries, Portuguese Minister for Public Works, Transport and Communications Mario Lino said.

In an interview to the Portuguese daily newspaper, Público, Lino added that the issue had been discussed during his recent visit to Angola and said he hoped that within a month approval would be given. The aim is to increase flights between Lisbon and Luanda from the current three times to four a week.

The Portuguese government hopes to increase TAP’s flights to seven times a week. Negotiations are also underway with the Mozambican authorities, but complete details are still not available.


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Sunday, March 12, 2006

Vodafone Portugal launches 1.8Mbps 3G Broadband

Vodafone Portugal has launched HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) capability for its 3G network although at this stage technology is only available to a selected group of individual and business customers in Lisbon, Cascais, Funchal, Ponta Delgada and the principal urban areas of the Algarve.

Vodafone Portugal plans to extend its 3G Broadband services progressively to include other cities like Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Leiria and Porto until June and regions of mainland Portugal and the islands towards the end of the year.

Clients interested will have to purchase the Vodafone 3G Broadband Mobile Connect Card that can be used when this technology becames commercially available. The product will be available in two options, 1GB 3G Broadband and the other of 4GB 3G Broadband.

The Chairman of Vodafone Portugal António Carrapatoso also took the opportunity to mention that "once again, Vodafone is demonstrating its leadership in non-voice services by deploying 3G Broadband at speeds of up to 1.8Mbps. 3G Broadband represents an important step in the history of mobile communications in Portugal, maintaining the country's position in the European vanguard of the development of mobile Broadband data services."

Saturday, March 11, 2006

South African Telkom prepares bid for PT

South African Telkom is thought to be preparing a counter bid for Portugal Telecom, in response to Sonae's 10.7 billion euro offer, Newspaper Publico reported.

PT currently holds several operations in African countries which include Morocco, Guiné Bissau, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Kenya and São Tomé e Príncipe.


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Friday, March 10, 2006

Visabeira invest 30 million euros in Angola

Portuguese group Visabeira, in partnership with state telecommunications operator Angola Telecom, is to invest 30 million euros in Angola and Africa’s first digital cable television network, the company said Wednesday.

Cable TV Company, TV Cabo Angola, which began last October with test broadcasts, currently has 1,000 active customers, 60 percent of which are digital Internet subscriber.

The official launch of the new network, which will combine television, Internet and multimedia services, will be on Friday.

The project, which began two years ago with construction of the cable network, is planned to cover 100,000 homes in the next year, covering the entire city of Luanda.

By the end of this year, and according to Visabeira’s forecasts, the service will cover 64,000 homes.

The network will provide a total of 100 television channels, focusing on providing a public service, Portuguese-language channels and themed channels covering areas such as music, cinema, fashion, sport and children's programming.

The Visabeira group, which is responsible for managing TV Cabo Angola, is also a shareholder of TV Cabo Moçambique, a network currently covering the cities of Maputo and Matola.

The company is present in 12 countries including, Mozambique, Angola, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, South Africa, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Morocco and Mexico. (news from macauhub)

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Thursday, March 09, 2006

Cavaco Silva sworn into office

Today Anibal Cavaco Silva has been sworn into office as Portugal's president, taking over from Jorge Sampaio. Parliament members and nine hundred guests attended the ceremony in the Assembly of the Republic.

Guests present at the ceremony included South African leader Thabo Mbeki, Crown Prince Felipe of Spain and former US president George Bush.

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Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Benfica wins!!!

Benfica beat Liverpool 2-0 today in a surprising win and advance to the quarter-finals of the champions League. Simao Sabrosa scored a goal in the first-half and Fabrizio Miccoli latter finished of the win with another one in the second-half.

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EDP profits Tripled

Portuguese energy company Energias de Portugal (EDP) said Tuesday its net profit more than tripled last year to a record 1.07 billion euros from a former 272 million euros in 2004. This represents a record for a listed Portuguese Company.


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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

No birld flu yet

The dead chicks found Saturday in the town of Sever do Vouga are not contaminated with the deadly bird flu virus H5n1 informed Maria Inácia Correia de Sá director of Portugal’s National Laboratory for Veterinarian Investigation (LNIV) in a statement released this afternoon.

Agrela Pinheiro Veterinarian director, informed that the LNIV has conducted some 1600 test since the beginning of 2006 and none tested positive for H5N1.

Maria de Sá also informed that the LNIV was overwhelmed with the amount of work being submitted and asked for “good sense” in the choice of what birds to send in for examination.

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Monday, March 06, 2006

Portugal Telecom's "counter Attack"

Portugal Telecom will present today a ‘counter attack’ to the 10.7 billion euro takeover bid launched by the Portuguese conglomerate Sonae SGPS.

According to the newspaper Diário Económico the ‘counter attack’ plan resides mainly in convincing shareholders that the nearly 11 billion euros offered by Sonae is to low to purchase Portugal’s largest Telecommunications operator.

PT will also anticipate the release of financial results for 2005 by presenting them tomorrow.



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Sunday, March 05, 2006

Dead chickens in Portugal

Saturday Portuguese authorities discovered roughly 400 dead chickens in a town, but there was no indication that they died from bird flu, officials said Sunday. The chickens apparently were stuff in “feed” bags and latter discarded on a cliff in the town of Sever do Vouga. It is speculated that a local farmer may have disposed of them and that residents then alerted authorities because a horrible stench in the area.

A veterinarian was immediately called to investigate and conduct test on the dead chickens. Portugal has not yet reported any cases of the H5N1 bird flu.

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Saturday, March 04, 2006

Government to keep share in PT

The Portuguese government will keep its “massive” share in Portugal Telecom which gives it the power to veto strategic policy decisions.

"This is the only way we can defend well the interests of the Portuguese people. We are going to keep the 'massive' share in Portugal Telecom," José Socrates told weekly newspaper Expresso.

"The state needs to have a part of these firms which allows it to protect the public interest," he added.

Portuguese conglomerate Sonae launched a 10.7 billion euro bid last month to acquire the telecom and strongly opposes the government’s decision.


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Friday, March 03, 2006

Minister wants to double medicine exports

Portugal’s Minister of Health wants to double the countries medicine exports in three years.
Talking in the annual Infarmed conference, the Minister of Health Correia de Campos reminded that current pharmaceutical exports are superior then that of the famous Porte Wine. The Minister hopes to double Portugal’s medicine exports in just three years with the help of Multinational pharmaceutical companies. Correia de Campos also took the opportunity to highlight the Government’s commitment in creating conditions for investigate work making especial reference of the 5 million euros spent on an Investigation Fund and another project that will be created in cooperation with Apifarm, Portugal’s Association of pharmaceutical Industries.


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Thursday, March 02, 2006

Mega wind power project in Portugal

Portugal is expected to build one of Europe's biggest wind power projects that represents a quarter of all wind farms installed last year in the EU and will generate 1,500 megawatts enough to supply 750,000 homes with electricity. The deadline for submission of bids ended yesterday and now the Portuguese Government is expected to announce the successful tender in July.

According to an economy ministry spokeswoman, a total of four consortiums have officially presented their bids to the Portuguese government in response to an international tender.

The Portuguese government has made great investments in renewable energy, especially wind power to overturn the countries high dependency on oil imports and to cut greenhouse gas emissions. This year it has already approved the building of the world's largest solar plant. Portugal currently imports 86% of all its energy needs.

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EasyJet flies from Luton to Lisbon

EasyJet has expanded its European destination Network by adding flights to Lisbon from Luton. The new root that started operating yesterday is by the airline to carry over 91,000 passengers during the first twelve months. Daily flights will be available and return tickets start from £56.98 inclusive of taxes and charges.


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Wednesday, March 01, 2006

EU creates Globalization Adjustment Fund

The EU is going to make available €500 million per year for a new European Globalization Adjustment Fund (GAF) that is aimed to support workers in regions and sectors hit by major changes in world trade patterns. The Fund that was proposed today by the Commission, will provide one-off, time limited individual support for tailor-made services to help. Examples of this would be to give workers affected by globalisation an individual wage allowances, re-training or special assistance to find new jobs.

The GAF will provide up to 10 thousand euros with duration of 18 months to a maximum of 50.000 workers per year that have been dispensed because of the effects of globalization.

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