Water resources expert says private companies must pay their share to combat drought
Yesterday, at the “Water Resilience in the Algarve - our common purpose” conference in Lagos, a water resources expert warned that private companies must pay their share towards measures against drought in the Algarve, without expecting the State to assume all the costs.
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“There is a component of these works to combat drought that, eventually the State can support financially, because they are a generalized benefit, but there are private benefits that have to be borne by themselves”, stated the university professor and researcher in water resources Rodrigo Proença de Carvalho.
The expert highlighted the need to start debating “the benefits of using water”, namely its environmental and economic costs.
“We have to be aware that, obviously, water provides economic benefits to those who use it and these people, to the extent of their ability to pay, have to contribute to the management of water resources”, said Rodrigo Proença de Carvalho.
The professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon argued that “it cannot be assumed that it is the State that finances all the works”, stressing that there is a need to identify “which works are worth it or not”.
According to the official, it is clear that works must be carried out to increase water availability in the Algarve, which will provide “benefit and social well-being for the region”, but it must be discussed how they will be paid for.
The expert also insisted on the need for integrated management of surface and underground water resources, with the aim of ensuring the sustainability of water use and the sustainability of ecosystems and nature.
“Saving water, this is an obvious investment that does not have very high costs”, said Rodrigo Proença de Carvalho, at the end of his speech during the section “Droughts, scarcity and water availability in the Algarve”.
The conference, which brought together several experts in the field of water resources, was organized by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL), in partnership with the Lagos City Council.
The Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, guaranteed last week that, even with restrictions being eased, the Algarve will have water for consumption this year, stressing that the Government will be attentive to “if we need to tweak here and there”.
On February 5th 2024, AntĂłnio Costa's government declared an alert situation in the region due to the drought, but at the end of May, the current prime minister, LuĂs Montenegro, announced the easing of restrictions imposed on agriculture and the urban sector, which includes tourism.
With the revocation of the previous Government's resolution, the new executive updated the restrictions imposed on water consumption, which went from 25% to 13% in agriculture and from 15% to 10% in the urban sector, however, approval is still awaited of a new resolution in the Council of Ministers.
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Prosecutor's Office calls for conviction of the Portuguese 'Bonnie & Clyde'
The Public Prosecutor's Office have called for the conviction of NĂ©lida Alves and Sidney Pereira, the couple suspected of violent robberies at fuel stations in Portugal and Spain, committed in the summer of 2022.
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Nélida Alves and Sidney Pereira, aged 42 and 44, are accused of having committed four crimes of aggravated robbery, three crimes of kidnapping, one crime of aggravated coercion, one crime of simple damage and two crimes of forgery of documents, in the summer of 2022.
The defendants, dubbed by the Portuguese press as 'Bonnie&Clyde', robbed several service stations in the Algarve, threatening employees with a knife and a pistol, and kidnapped three of them.
In the final arguments of the trial, which ended on June 4th 2024, in the Court of Faro, the Public Prosecutor's Office asked for their conviction, taking into account their criminal record, arguing that the facts must be taken as proven, not only by the testimonies, which were “credible” and “convergent”, such as the fact that the defendants admitted to the crimes, “with the exception of some details”.
NĂ©lida's defense lawyer invoked the fact that the defendant admitted the facts only to mitigate the sentence that may be applied, highlighting that, at the time of the crimes, the woman was 'psychologically affected', due to her 'removal' from the son she has with Sidney.
Sidney's lawyer alluded that the defendants were like Bonnie & Clyde, despite the crimes they had committed, they caused people a “mix of sympathy and understanding”, considering “the confession and the repentance” relevant to mitigate their sentence.
During the last session of the trial, testimonies from GNR officers and inspectors from the Judiciary Police were heard in court about the siege that was set up to try to detain the suspects, on the night of July 27th, 2022, on a road near Bensafrim, in Lagos.Â
According to witnesses, the suspects were located in Carrapateira, in Aljezur, and were then followed by vehicles from both forces, until Sidney, who was driving the car, decided to voluntarily stop on the side of the road, allowing the police to approach.
According to the testimonies, despite the police vehicles being unmarked, the officers wore reflective vests and activated the sirens, which is why it was “unequivocal” that it was a police approach.
However, Sidney did not obey the orders to stop, he reversed to gain space, almost running over the police agents, who had to dodge the vehicle in a “matter of seconds”, and he then continued forward, hitting the back of a GNR car and escaping the authorities.
After this attempted arrest, the couple went to a fuel station in Lagos, where they carried out another robbery - the first had occurred on the night of July 25th at a gas station in Estoi.Â
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This time, they kidnapped the fuel station employee, taking him to his own car, and Sidney driving away with NĂ©lida and the victim in the back seat.
On the night of August 1st, the couple carried out another robbery at a gas station in Almancil, travelling in a car with Spanish registration plates.
After the robberies in the Algarve, the couple then crossed the border to Spain, in Ayamonte, where they continued violent robberies at service stations in Seville, Badajoz and Toledo, always using the same 'modus operandi' of intimidating employees with a gun.
Sidney and NĂ©lida were arrested in Zamora, on August 13th, 2022, following a complaint from a citizen who, upon recognizing the suspects in a shopping center, alerted the Guardia Civil.
At that time, the suspects were travelling in a car that they had stolen in Madrid and were arrested while having dinner inside the vehicle, having been surrounded by National Police agents, who detained them without any resistance.
The reading of the final ruling is scheduled for July 5th at 2:00 pm, at the Court of Faro.
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Government Plans To Cut Non-EU Immigration
Portugal’s new government has announced a plan to restrict immigration for non-European Union citizens. Until now, under previous Socialist administrations, the arrangements have been very open.
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The announcement came just days before the European Union elections in which immigration will be one of the hottest topics across the whole 27-member states.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro aims to put an end to a liberal arrangement whereby immigrants could move into Portugal without an employment contract, and only request a residency permit after a year of social security payments. The change will mean that non-EU citizens will no longer be allowed to “abuse” the system. They will need an employment contract to stay here.
The foreign population in Portugal has doubled in the last five years A million or so people from abroad – roughly a tenth of Portugal’s total population – are now living in this country. Last year, 189,000 immigrants were legally accepted. Many Asian immigrants have found jobs on farms or in restaurants. Around 400,000 immigrant applications are currently pending, according to Montenegro.
“We need people in Portugal willing to help us build a fairer and more prosperous society,” he said this week. “But we cannot go to the other extreme and have wide-open doors.”
Entry of qualified professionals, students, people from Portuguese-speaking countries, and people seeking family reunions will be prioritised.
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The move by Montenegro’s centre-right government is still too weak, according to the far-right Chega (Enough) party. Its founder and leader, Andre Ventura, has expressed strong opposition to the presence of non-EU immigrants, particularly from Islamic countries. Similar attitudes are shared by far-right parties across the continent, especially in Germany, where immigrants used to be welcomed before the height of the immigration crisis triggered by Syria’s civil war in 2015, and Italy, the favoured entry point nowadays for immigrants illegally crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
The EU has already approved a pact that will see hardened borders and shared responsibilities among member states. EU economy ministers officially signed the landmark Migration and Asylum pact last month. It ended eight years of work to rewrite the rule book for people entering the Europe without authorisation. The majority of members backed the 10 pieces of legislation in the agreement. Hungary and Poland opposed it as they have long rejected the idea that all European countries should take in a share of arriving immigrants.
The new rules will only come into effect in 2026. They lay out the process for screening people to establish whether they qualify for some kind of asylum protection, or should be deported.
Written by Len Port
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Albufeira: GNR arrest 27 year old for a plethora of house robberies
The GNR have arrested the 27 year old perpetrator of a wave of thefts from several house robberies in the Albufeira area over the past few months.
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According to a statement from tthe GNR, the man had entered homes at night and with people inside, "stealing money and jewellery, with a value of around €260,000." After the robberies, the thief put the stolen goods for sale abroad.
After investigations, police located the suspect and arrested him on suspicion of committing five thefts from five residences.
After being presented to PortimĂŁo Judicial Court, the man was sentenced to preventive detention at Silves Prison.
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Beja Air Show: two planes collide leaving one man dead and one injured
The accident, which occurred at 4:05 pm on Sunday, during the Beja AirShow festival at Air Base No. 11 (BA11). It involved two aircraft, and caused the death of a Spanish pilot and minor injuries to another pilot, of Portuguese nationality.
One of the aircraft crashed mid-flight and another managed to remain in the air and landed safely, at nearby Évora Municipal Aerodrome.
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The 37 year old Portuguese pilot, who suffered minor injuries, was discharged from hospital on Sunday night.
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The two pilots were part of the Iberian patrol Yakstars aerobatic display team, consisiting of Portuguese and Spanish pilots, made up of six aircraft. The group flies Warbird Yak52s aircraft, developed by the Soviet Union, and is one of the largest civil aviation aerobatic display teams.
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The official statement released immediately said, "The Air Force regrets to announce that, at 4:05 pm, during the Beja AirShow air festival, at Air Base No. 11, two aircraft suffered an accident during an air demonstration. We currently have emergency services on site providing emergency services, in accordance with the established security plan, which was immediately activated. More information will be made available as soon as it is obtained".
According to reports, spectators noticed something unusual with the sound of one of the planes in the formation, shortly before the accident.
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