Dear Editor

I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety-fifth Street, New York

The sale of Novo Banco again has descended into farce. The preferred bidder, China’s Minsheng Group, is unable to obtain the necessary capital and guarantees due to China’s currency restrictions on outgoing funds.

The chosen bidder does not have the funds, leaving the Bank of Portugal’s sale process in disarray with the bidding process due to end on January 4th, 2017.

The removal of boats from the cove at Culatra in the Ria Formosa was one more action prompted by the discredited Polis Litoral Ria Formosa Society which, under its out-of-control former boss Sebastião Teixeira, had a mission to rid the islands of islanders and the immediate sea of a long-established community of boat owners.

In May 2016, while the islanders’ fight against Polis was in full swing, the boat were moved from their Cova de Culatra moorings under the instruction of the Maritime Police, since which a hawser has been erected across the mouth of the natural shelter to ensure nobody sneaks back in.

France turns out to be the most generous EU nation when it comes to welfare spending.

New data from Eurostat has revealed that in France 34.3% of the country’s GDP went to social protection in 2014.

ZERO, Portugal’s Association for a Sustainable Terrestrial System, looks back at 2016 and forward to the challenges for next year.

The events to remember

Portugal 100% renewable energy for 107 consecutive hours
Over 4.5 consecutive days (more precisely, between 6:45 am on Saturday, May 7 and 17:45 pm on Wednesday, May 11), electricity consumption in Portugal was provided by renewable sources only.

The European Union has given the nod to Switzerland’s compromise on its controversial referendum result demanding immigration control.

On Thursday the EU Commission said that the Swiss parliament’s proposal marked “progress” on the matter.  The new law, it said, “should make it possible to preserve the integrity of the contractual commitments that link the EU and Switzerland”.

Portugal’s airports operator, French-owned ANA, says the planned weekend strike by airport baggage handling and security staff is set to cause severe problems at one of the busiest times of the year.

ANA reported that the strike is due to start on Saturday and carry on through next week. The company has been asked by its client airlines to produce some sort of action plan to deal with the inevitable disruption but nothing yet has been published despite the airlines’ professed concern for their passengers.

The C17th Fortaleza de Santa Catarina that sits above Praia da Rocha in Portimão has come under attack by the Left Bloc which is appalled at the state of the historic building.

A draft resolution has been presented that recommends to the government that the building, which for centuries has commanded the entrance to Portimão, is repaired and put to some better use than currently.