March against the Minister Draws Thousands

Present figures released by the Minister for Education, Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues, indicate that in Portugal there are presently 143,000 qualified teachers. Last weekend, on Saturday March 9th, around 100,000 of those teachers took to the streets in a nation-wide stance demanding the Minister’s resignation.

Dressed in black and waving white tissues the majority of protestors gathered in Lisbon, from the Marquês do Pombal monument to Terreiro do Paço, in one voice chanting poignant statements to reinforce their ‘March against Indignation’.

In essence, the protest was organised to manifest teachers’ revolt against the current Ministry for Education’s move to evaluate teachers’ performance.

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Banks admit Crisis

A number of leading financial institutions, supported by the governor of the Bank of Portugal, have this week predicted that the sub-prime crisis and the lack of liquidity on the money markets is set to translate into home owners paying more on their mortgage repayments while bank charges for services rendered are also expected to rise.

“The cost of lending is going to increase”, predicted Governor of the Bank of Portugal Vítor Constâncio at a forum in Lisbon organised by financial newspaper Diário Económico.

The event, staged to discuss national banking systems and world markets, attracted all the nation’s leading figures in the financial world with these high-profile guests predicting tough times for home owners.

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Surf and seafood in the fabolous Algarve

The wind picked up after we left the last trees behind and the narrow road stretched out over the misty, scrub-covered plateau toward the end of Europe.At Sagres, the road stops at the walls of Henry the Navigator’s fortress. Beyond, the land runs out and the old continent drops 45 metres into the roaring Atlantic. After this there is nothing but ocean until New York.

Europe’s southwestern tip is a place of stark beauty, prone to sudden fogs and blustery sea breezes. Jutting into the sea, the twin headlands of Sagres and Cape St. Vincent were places of mystery and awe to ancient Romans and early Christians.

For Prince Henry the Navigator, this finger of land pointing into uncharted waters was the obvious place to site the school for explorers that kicked off Europe’s Age of Discoveries 500 years ago.

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Fuel consumption to hit consumers’ pockets

The soaring fuel prices, with the cost of crude now well above the 100-dollar mark, has seen the consumption of unleaded fuel hit its lowest figure since 1995, when there were considerably fewer cars on Portuguese roads than now.

Last year alone, fuel consumption dropped by 5.3 percent in relation to 2006. In compensation, the use of diesel rose 2.2 percent last year.

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Madelein Search Continues

A lawyer from Madeira returned to the Algarve this week where he is jointly sponsoring a search for missing Madeleine McCann’s body. In four days of searches so far at the Arade dam in Silves, divers have found a rope and an item they say is a girl’s sock made of a fabric uncommon to Portugal.

Marcos Aragão Correia from Funchal had sponsored searches for Madeleine at the Arade dam six weeks ago, acting on a tip-off he says he received from the underworld. Nothing was found at the time, but he decided to return this week with additional divers to cover a greater area.

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