Albufeira police check
The Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) carried out a detailed road check on Saturday night to identify criminal activity and illegal immigrants. The operation around the city resulted in 110 vehicles being stopped of which 16 were found to have infringed road laws in some way. A Portuguese citizen, 23, was found with 55 doses of hashish and a Brazilian aged 28 was found to have been over the legal limit in terms of alcohol consumption.

World Day of Civil Protection
The annual day devoted to the protection of the population is being celebrated nationally with a wide range of events aimed at making the public more aware of the work done by emergency services. The Fire Services and GNR are among those visiting schools and other centres to demonstrate their role in protection and to talk about how they are trained to manage risk and deal with disasters should they occur.

In Lisbon a ceremony to recognise the specialist role of fire fighting is taking place where the Minister of Home Affairs, Rui Pereira, will recognise service members, posthumously that died on duty in 2009 and there will also be a special mention to the team that went out to Haiti last month. This is happening at 11 am today at the Parque das Nações, in Lisbon. There will also be a number of practice exercises taking place around the country to plan and monitor disaster evacuation responses.

Algarve fish investment
The Algarve has planned to invest €2.6 million in nine aquaculture facilities, according to the Foreign Ministry of Agriculture. The facilities will be located offshore on the Algarve coastline. Some of the units are intended to produce around 12 tonnes of mussels, scallops and oysters while the remainder will increase supplies of bream, sole, snapper and sea bass. The plan is to diversify the species and to boost supply.

Prison break
Six inmates of a prison in Leiria escaped yesterday but two were captured the same day. According to prison officials four remain at large and details of the escapees have been issued to police. The GNR has opened an investigation to establish how they were able to escape. The centre is known as a prison-school located between Lisbon and Porto on the west coast.

UK
Illegal passport probe
British police have gone to Israel to probe the issue of the falsified British passports used by the suspects in the January killing in Dubai of a Hamas leader.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency sent some of its officers to interview the six British-Israeli individuals, all resident in Israel, whose identities were stolen.  The six are not viewed as suspects.

When Dubai officials released the names and passport photos of 11 alleged hit squad participants, it was discovered that European passports had been used, six of them British-Israelis.  Subsequently officials widened the search to a larger group of suspects, numbering 12 British, six Irish, four French, three Australian and one German.   

The interviewing officers say they anticipate meeting with the additional six named passport holders.

The Hamas leader was found dead in a Dubai hotel on 20 January.  A post-mortem originally held that he was electrocuted and then suffocated, but reports released over the weekend indicate that a powerful drug, succinylcholine, was used first to sedate him before suffocation.

Mossad, Israel’s secret service, has been accused of the assassination, but Israel so far has neither confirmed nor denied Mossad’s involvement.  Diplomatic rows have followed in the wake of the revelations of the passports used.  The UK and Australia have sought explanations from Israel.

UK
British first
A Blue Peter presenter, Helen Skelton, has successfully finished a 2,000 mile trip down the Amazon River in a solo kayak.  She broke two world records in her efforts.

Ms Skelton, 26, received cheers and celebratory gunfire when she crossed the finish line in Brazil.  

Her initiative was on behalf of Sport Relief which will take place from 19 to 21 March to raise funds for charitable work in the UK and in developing countries.  She is optimistic her efforts will inspire others to undertake their own challenges.

The records are for the longest solo journey by kayak and the longest distance in a kayak in 24 hours by a woman.  She is the first woman to paddle the length of the Amazon.

Ms Skelton had never been in a kayak before she began her training, and managed to navigate about 60 miles a day, six days a week.

She said: "It's been tough but I've had enough highs to make it more than worthwhile. My bottom is bruised, my shoulders are sore and the muscles in my neck are making it hard to differentiate between my head and my shoulders but to be honest I am proud of the war wounds.”

The epic journey will be aired on Blue Peter in two special episodes on 16 and 17 March.

UK
Flood alerts
Heavy rains put many parts of the UK on flood alert over the weekend, with southern England suffering further torrential rain on top of already saturated ground and strong winds.

East Anglia, parts of Cambridgeshire, and northeast England had 20 severe flood warnings in place while elsewhere 132 flood warnings covered England and Wales, with 2 flood watches in Scotland.  In London, the Thames Barrier was raised in order to lower flood risk.  

Both types of warning mean that lives and properties were at risk and flooding expected.  Even those areas with lower risk could experience ground and road flooding.

People were advised to stay out of flood waters which is often contaminated and fast flowing.  Even a few inches of water can hide swirling debris underneath and can knock someone over.

Weather predictions are for more calm weather during the coming week.

Europe
Major storm
Storms lashed parts of Portugal, Spain and France on Sunday, killing at least 40 people in France, three in Spain and one in Portugal. Winds reached 140km per hour were recorded as the storm moved from Portugal through the Bay of Biscay.

Some of those killed drowned in flood waters while falling trees, branches and buildings killed others.  A number of people are still missing and another 60 reports of injuries.

Extremely high winds uprooted trees in part of Portugal and a child was struck down and died after being hit by a falling tree in Paredes.  Low-lying parts of the Douro river estuary were under flood alert.

In Spain, a falling tree in Burgos killed two people when it struck their car and a third person died as a result of being hit by a wall which collapsed.

Brittany and central France were seriously affected, but coastal regions felt the brunt of the storm.  Over 1 million homes were left without power.  Train services were disrupted when trees and debris obstructed rail lines and Air France cancelled over 70 flights with others suffering long delays.

The storm, called Xynthia, is expected to next hit Denmark.

Japan
Milder tsunami
Following the strong earthquake in Chile on Saturday morning, a tsunami over one metre high hit Japan’s northern Pacific coast.  Thousands of people had been evacuated from the area. 708 people are known to have died in Chile but the total is expected to rise.

No casualties have been reported and officials have lifted the tsunami warning, the first in over 15 years, as the waves were significantly less dangerous than had been feared.  A major earthquake in Chile in 1960 left 140 dead in Japan when the resulting tsunami struck.

Other Pacific nations were hit, but the danger is now believed to have subsided.  Areas prone to the Pacific “Ring of Fire” now all sound alerts, attempting to predict the arrival time of any tsunami following a quake.  

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre feared widespread damage, but reduced its warning when the waves were not as high as anticipated.  It is believed that the impact was lessened as the earthquake had occurred in shallow water.

France
Major arrests
A key leader of the Basque separatist group, Eta, was arrested in Normandy, northwest France, along with two other suspected Eta members.

According to the Spanish interior ministry, Ibon Gogeascotxea is the “most senior” member of Eta and also its military chief.  The ministry claims that the trio raised interest after using false identities and fake car number plates to rent a house in a rural area.

The ministry claims the group was “part of a commando [unit] ready to enter Spain for an operation.  It is alleged that the two accomplices had gone to see the military leader to receive their final instructions.

Mr Gogeascotxea, 45, has been on the run since 1997 after Eta tried to assassinate King Juan Carlos when he visited the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Eta’s goal is to achieve an independent Basque state and has fought for this for 41 years, with more than 820 deaths resulting from its actions.  A truce it called in 2006 was broken in the same year.  In 2009, the group killed three Spanish police in a car bomb and in December Spain’s terror alert was raised to two on a four-point scale.