António José de Freitas has been reappointed for another year as Chairman of the Board of Directors of public service broadcaster TDM – Teledifusão de Macau S.A. The appointment, to come into effect on September 1, was published in the Official Gazette in an executive order signed by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng.
The same announcement indicated that Vong Hin Fai, lawmaker and president of the Macau Lawyers Association, and Government Information Bureau director Chan Lou have also been reappointed for the same one-year period as members of the Board of Directors.
Freitas, who is also president of the Holy House of Mercy, along with Vong and Chan, has been serving as a member of the Board of Directors since September 2020.
Lorman Lo Song Man, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of TDM’s Executive Committee, will also continue to serve, as will the other Executive Committee members: Un Weng Kuai, Vong Vai Hung, Ma Kam Keong, and Cheang Kong Pou.
Cristina Ho Hoi Leng will also continue to serve as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors, according to the same executive order.
near the gutter of Barbara Avenue in Warrawong
Picture from Google MapsA Warrawong man has been jailed for hospitalising his neighbour who he bashed with a hammer attached to a metre-long pole while yelling "I'll kill you"
All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueJose Manuel de Freitas, 55, learnt his fate at Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday for a string of violent offences spanning from March to October 2023
Tendered court documents state an apprehended violence order put in place to protect de Freitas' 56-year-old neighbour from him after ongoing animosity came to a head
The neighbour told de Freitas to pull his head in when he was verbally abusing someone outside his house on the morning of March 29
De Freitas then kicked off at his neighbour
"Do you wanna have a go?" before he walked back inside his home to retrieve a bizarre makeshift weapon
Armed with a hammer head attached to a metre-long metal pole
He struck his neighbour in the right hip and ribs
with a nearby neighbour offering assistance to try and disarm de Freitas
All became entangled and fell to the lawn where the wrestle continued
de Freitas yelling "I'm going to kill you" while still gripped onto his weapon
The men kneed and punched de Freitas and eventually freed him from his grip
"Pull your head in and calm down," the neighbour said
before he was taken to Wollongong Hospital due to his injuries
seizing the long hammer and arresting de Freitas
who was taken to hospital soon after for fractured ribs
He was discharged a week later and charged with using an armed weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence
de Freitas hurled further abuse from across the street at his neighbour for 10 minutes
I'm going to shoot you and break your knees"
He was arrested again and charged with intimidation and breaching an apprehended violence order
De Freitas was sentenced on Tuesday after being found guilty of the offences after unsuccessfully fighting the charges in a previous hearing
Defence lawyer Sian Aldis said the offences were connected to de Freitas' myriad of medical conditions
including a moderate intellectual disability and fetal alcohol syndrome
She said he suffered extra-curial punishment as he was seriously injured during the incident
and requires rehabilitation for his alcohol and substance abuse
Magistrate Christopher McRobert noted de Freitas' lengthy record and that his use of the weapon "wasn't a light tap
He will become eligible for release to parole on Christmas Eve 2025
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Chile and Colombia have secured spots for their country at Paris 2024
Brazil’s rider Stephan de Freitas managed to claim the top spot in the individual equestrian jumping competition
The rider who rode Chevaux Primavera Imperio Egipcio delivered a stunning performance in the final presentation of the event and won the gold medal
De Freitas had a brilliant ride that allowed him to clinch the competition and receive a standing ovation from the audience at the Quillota Granaderos Regiment
“I dedicate this medal to all my teammates
especially to two friends who are no longer with us
and also to a dear friend and brother who left us this year
He talked to me and told me that I had a mission
It wasn’t just for me or for him but for all the people
and today I can say that I achieved it for him,” said a emotional Stephan after winning gold at the Pan American Games
Despite a protest from Canadian rider Amy Millar
“I’ve participated in various competitions like the Tokyo Olympics
multiple Nations Cups in Mexico and Canada
but this has been one of the most important because I won the silver medal
I’m very happy,” explained Kent Farrington
CHILE AND COLOMBIA BOOK TRIP TO PARIS 2024
Brazil had previously qualified for the Olympic Games
and Mexico earned their tickets for Paris 2024 in the team equestrian jumping competition
The individual competition spots went to the representatives of the countries that followed in the rankings
Colombian rider Roberto Teran finished seventh with 18.23 points
Argentina’s rider Jose Maria Larocca placed eighth with 18.27 points
and Chilean rider Agustín Covarrubias finished thirteenth with 24.96 points
All three competitors secured spots for their respective countries in the upcoming Olympic event in France
Final Individual Equestrian Jumping Standings:
Stephan de Freitas (Brazil) – 8.06 points
Kent Farrington (United States) – 9.64 points
Mclain Ward (United States) – 15.34 points
Laura Kraut (United States) – 15.39 points
Pedro Veniss (Brazil) – 16.26 points
Roberto Terán (Colombia) – 18.23 points
Jose Maria Larocca (Argentina) – 18.27 points
Beth Underhill (Canada) – 21.02 points
Leandro Moschini (Argentina) – 21.05 points
Eugenio Garza (Mexico) – 21.63 points
Ignacio Maurin (Argentina) – 22.69 points
Agustin Covarrubias (Chile) – 24.96 points
The highest Chilean authority surprised everyone by publishing on his social networks […]
Seven countries earned the chance to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics […]
The continent’s most important youth sporting event and a qualifier to the […]
More than 370 athletes in 19 sports will train and prepare for […]
Wrestlers of the Americas will have two more opportunities to prepare for […]
From the Asuncion 2022 South American Games to the ATP title in […]
Paraguay was crowned champions of the Pre-Olympic Football Tournament held in Venezuela
Puerto Rico defeated New Zealand 69-67 in an exciting match in China […]
Four women’s basketball tournaments are being held simultaneously around the world to […]
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Newbury Jose “Joe” De Freitas of Glencoe passed away on Monday
Survived by his brother Helder and sister-in-law Kaila Feldman
Also survived by his uncle Elias (Maria) De Freitas
good friend Bruce Siegel and many more friends
A funeral service will be held on Saturday July 31st at 12 noon
visitation 11 to 12 noon at Van Heck Funeral Home
Glencoe with internment to follow at Oakland Cemetery
Memorial donations may be made to CMHA Middlesex or charity of your choice
Due to Covid-19 restriction registration is required
Please use the booking system below to reserve a time
TDM Chairman António José de Freitas reflects on where the TV and radio broadcaster is now – and the factors shaping its future
Teledifusão de Macau (TDM) celebrates the 40th anniversary of its first TV broadcast this year
the public broadcaster has absorbed two radio stations and offers five free-to-air television channels – the main ones being the Chinese-language TDM-Ou Mun and the Portuguese Canal Macau
Its radio stations are the Chinese-language Ou Mun Tin Toi and Rádio Macau
TDM also offers some programming in English
and has a dedicated English version of its news website and an App
Macao magazine recently interviewed the chairman of TDM’s board
how the company helps Macao position itself as a Sino-Lusophone platform
and the importance of credible public broadcasting in a world awash with ‘fake news’
how big is TDM’s audience and how many people does it employ
About 70 percent of Macao residents (more than 422,400 people) watch TDM’s television stations
according to our third-party audience survey from 2023
Approximately 30 percent of residents (more than 179,700 people) listen to Rádio Macau
Both figures show we have significantly bigger audiences in Macao than other local and neighbouring stations
Feedback in general is that TDM’s television and radio channels are residents’ main source of important information
and we are recognised for our accuracy and timeliness
TDM had 632 staff in total: 132 of them work for the Chinese-language TV news and 28 work on Chinese radio news; 38 worked for the Portuguese TV news station and 14 for Rádio Macau
What is TDM's involvement in the Greater Bay Area
TDM pays close attention to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA)
We have long relationships with TV and radio stations in Guangdong Province
in-depth programming and joint productions
TDM received approval from the National Radio and TV Administration to launch its TDM Ou Mun TV channel in the Pearl River Delta
a whole new audience will be able to watch our channel 24 hours a day
This channel aims to promote diversified development of Macao to the people in Guangdong Province and to keep Macao people in the province continuously updated
I strongly believe TDM Ou Mun could be the bridge between Guangdong and Macao
as it works to increase understanding between different cities within the Greater Bay Area
the National Games of China are taking place across the GBA
TDM looks forward to working with TV stations in Guangdong and Hong Kong to showcase the beauty of games
TDM has a wide range of partnerships with the likes of CCTV (China Central Television) and its parent
helping people in Macao keep up to speed with the latest developments in our motherland
We have also been granted very good CCTV programmes
TDM has been granted broadcasting rights for some mega sporting events
CMG has granted TDM rights for the 2024 Paris Olympics – including three quotas for TDM staff to make programmes on the events in France
We are very pleased to say that TDM got approval from the All-China Journalists Association to open a newsroom and news studio in Hengqin this past January (trial operations kicked off in August 2023)
The facility allows TDM journalists to write stories
conduct interviews and even broadcast live – making the working process in Hengqin more efficient and effective
this development lets our audience better understand the development going on in Hengqin and the GBA
Tell us about your recent collaborations with media in Portuguese-speaking countries
TDM invited representatives from public service TV stations in Portuguese-speaking countries including Angola
Mozambique and São Tomé to come to Macao for a ‘Programme Exhibition Week’
This event resulted in new partnership agreements being signed
we have received more than 60 hours of TV programming produced by stations in Angola
Cabo Verde and Mozambique – some of which have already aired
Many of these programmes reflect the culture
literature and wildlife of Portuguese-speaking countries
we have sent them more than 12 hours of our own Portuguese-language programming to broadcast to their audiences
how is TDM helping Macao perform as a Sino-Lusophone platform
we have used Canal Macau to showcase an increasing number of programmes reflecting China’s broader development
We believe the investment made in translating the mainland’s TV programs into Portuguese is starting to pay off as these high-quality documentaries give Portuguese-language viewers a better understanding of the nation’s development – economically
TDM has also been adding Portuguese subtitles to CCTV programmes and sending them to TV stations in Portuguese-speaking countries
This is so their audiences can understand more about the mainland
we did this with the six-episode documentary Remarkable Constructions
Canal Macau has started broadcasting a weekly news bulletin about the African Portuguese-speaking countries
This program is produced by Portugal’s public broadcaster
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) and its wide network of local correspondents across the lusophone countries in Africa
The bulletin is tailor-made to meet the needs of TDM’s audience
RTP had a fundamental role in setting up TV broadcasts in Macao 40 years ago
It has been a core institutional partner for TDM and played a huge role in TDM’s operations
is very much aligned with the TDM’s core values of integrity
we have bought TV programmes also from SIC and TVI
which are two commercial broadcasters based in Portugal
Rádio Macau also has a long history of producing programmes that highlight the music scene from Portuguese-speaking countries
These programmes range from pure music to interview formats
We have also been live broadcasting all the shows as part of Festival da Lusofonia
which is one of the highlights of our radio activities
How is TDM adapting to challenges in the new
Due to rapidly changing audience behaviour and the rise of smart devices
traditional media does encounter challenges from so-called new media every day
TDM has made a lot of effort to improve our TV and radio content – as well as adapt much of our content to digital media platforms
We have our official website and the TDM app
YouTube and so on to extend our services’ reach
What role do you see TDM playing in Macao over the next five years
Due to efforts by both the government and society
Macao’s economy is bouncing back from the pandemic very quickly
The number of tourists climbed to over 28 million in 2023
Their numbers will continue to climb as we position ourselves as a ‘City of Sports’ and ‘City of Performing Arts'
contributing our services to the development of Macao
many people get much of their information from social media these days
But when a critical situation strikes – say
a typhoon hits Macao – what’s often fake news on these platforms can be very confusing
our professional newsroom is crucial for the stability of society
1980 - Ou Mun Tin Toi (Chinese Channel) was officially launched
Ou Mun Tin Toi (Chinese Channel) was officially launched
broadcasting in Portuguese (FM) and Cantonese (AM) respectively
1983 - Teledifusão de Macao was established
Teledifusão de Macao was founded in 1983 to broadcast radio programmes in Portuguese and Cantonese
The Chinese channel broadcast 18 hours a day from 6 am to midnight
1984 - Launch of TDM TV channel in Chinese and Portuguese
On the same channel at separate time slots
it broadcast news and programmes in Chinese and Portuguese
and also major events such as the Macao Grand Prix
1985 - Ou Mun Tin Toi extended to FM stereo broadcasting
Ou Mun Tin Toi developed FM stereo broadcasting in 1985
Ou Mun Tin Toi began to serve the public with 24-hour broadcasting service
1990 - Opening of TDM office in the Nam Kwong Building
The TDM office in Nam Kwong Building began operations in 1990
Since then TDM Chinese and Portuguese radio and related technical and engineering departments have been operating there
providing 24-hour broadcasting services to the public
The use of NICAM technology provides a two-track sound option to enrich the audio experience of programmes
TDM’s official website first launched in 2000
and also live webcasts and replays of its TV and radio channels
2003 - The 1st TDM - Best of the Pop music awards
To encourage the development of Macao’s original pop music
TDM produced the 1st TDM - Best of the Pop music awards
The awarding ceremony took place on 31 July
with the first “Best of the Pop Golden Award” going to Filipe António da Silva Baptista Tou for his song “Montage”
TDM hosted the PBI Annual Conference in October
Attended by representatives of public service broadcasters from nearly 30 countries and regions
the meeting discussed the roles and challenges of public service broadcasters
and the development of digital broadcasting technology
TDM’s recording studio located in Forum 2 opened in 2008
With 650 square metres of floor area and a total capacity of 341 viewer seats
the studio became an important milestone in Macao’s television industry
allowing the production of a wider range of programmes that accept audience participation
2008 - The 84th ABU Administrative Council Meeting
TDM hosted the 84th Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Administrative Council Meeting
Attended by members from various countries and regions
the meeting reviewed administrative matters of ABU and discussed future development plans
2009 - Completion of digital television broadcasting development plan
TDM marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR with the launch of Ou Mun-Macao satellite TV channel
followed by TDM Sport and TDM Life (now known as TDM Info) in October
Together with the three existing digital terrestrial TV channels namely TDM Ou Mun
Canal Macao and TDM HD (now known as TDM Entertainment)
TDM completed its digital TV broadcasting development plan in 2009
TDM serves the public with a wider range of audiovisual choices
2009 - CCTV News being broadcast in Macao on an independent TV channel
TDM and CCTV (currently known as CMG) have established a cooperation agreement that allowed
the channel to transmit CCTV News (CCTV-13) on an independent TV channel
Local citizens could now have faster access to information about the mainland and the international communities
2009 - Hosting Asian Media Summit 2009 in Macao
TDM organised the 6th Asia Media Summit in May
more than 400 representatives from the Asia-Pacific region
and the US were invited to exchange ideas on media development
It was the first time the summit was held outside of Malaysia
2010 - Transmission of CCTV News and Hunan TV World
TDM signed the cooperation agreements with CCTV (currently known as CMG) and Hunan Television
under which TDM would transmit CCTV News (now known as CGTN) and Hunan TV World channels respectively on two independent TV channels
The transmission would provide the public with more diversified information and facilitate the dissemination of news
2010 - Organised the 9th AIBD General Conference
and the 9th Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development General Conference & Associated Meetings
The July meetings attracted more than 70 members and leaders from Asia-Pacific broadcasting organisations joined the serial discussions
seminars and forums to exchange ideas on the development of television broadcasting in the region
2011 - The first live current affairs programme Macao Forum
Aiming to promote the social development of Macao
TDM launched the first live current affairs TV programme Macao Forum
and academics were invited to discuss and interact with the public in open sessions
2011 - Transmitting Haixia Satellite Channel
Haixia Satellite Channel began to broadcast through TDM on an independent channel
helping the public to understand news and information about Fujian Province
and to satisfy Fujian residents’ concern for their hometown
2011 - TDM began to transmit CGTN-Documentary
TDM began to broadcast CCTV English Documentary Channel (currently known as CGTN-Documentary)
providing information on the mainland’s culture
It also helps to strengthen the connection with the motherland and broaden the vision of the audiences
2012 - Launching a new version of TDM official website
A new version of TDM Chinese website was launched in April
providing the audience a better experience in viewing news
2012 - Launch of TDM Facebook and Weibo pages
To provide more comprehensive and interactive communication platforms
2013 - Launch of TDM App and TDM WeChat account
TDM launched the TDM App and TDM WeChat account
providing a more comprehensive experience for users
2014 - TDM being awarded the Medal of Merit - Culture
In recognition of TDM’s contribution to promote Macao’s communication and cultural industry
and also of TDM’s effort over the past 30 years
TDM was awarded the Medal of Cultural - Culture by the Macao SAR government in 2014
TDM hosted the 51st Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) General Assembly in October
and academics from the Asia-Pacific broadcasting industry came to Macao to attend the meeting and discuss the development of the industry in various conferences and forums
the ABU TV Song Festival and the ABU Prizes
were successfully held under the arrangement of TDM
2014 - The 30th Anniversary Gala Show of TV Broadcasting
TDM produced a special gala show to celebrate the 30th anniversary of TV Broadcasting in Macao
inviting local groups and talents from seven TV stations in the mainland and Taiwan to participate
bringing high quality and unique performances to the audience
2015 - Extension of programmes and information to public transport broadcasting platforms
TDM started to collaborate with public transportation companies (TCM and Nova Era)
selected programmes are broadcast in Chinese
TDM also provides selected programmes to Turbojet
which are displayed on screens installed onboard the ships on routes between Macao and Hong Kong
TV channel CCTV-1 began broadcasting in Macao on the anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR
TDM provided technical support for the transmission of the channel
providing the public with more options and information about the mainland’s development
2016 - The full switch to HD encoding format for TV channels
TDM upgraded all its six TV channels to the high-definition (HD) encoding format
offering better visual quality to the audiences
2016 - Ou Mun - Macao Satellite TV Channel launched in Japan
The satellite television channel Ou Mun - Macao was successfully launched in Japan
providing visitors and citizens in Japan with access to TDM news
information and programmes through two major residential and hotel television networks
2018 - Radio channel available on digital TV channel Channel 97
Ou Mun Tin Toi and Rádio Macao have been simulcast on digital TV channel Channel 97
Live video functions were also added to radio programmes
strengthening the integrated functions for radio and television
and providing more platforms for the public to enjoy TDM TV and radio programmes
2019 - TDM hosted the 107th ABU Administrative Council Meeting
TDM hosted the 107th Administrative Council Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU)
inviting leading representatives of the region’s media organisations to discuss ABU's core tasks
2019 - The 35th Anniversary of TV Broadcast in Macao Gala Show
To celebrate the 35th Anniversary of TV Broadcast in Macao
showcasing a variety of great performances and TDM’s professionalism in producing large-scale programme
2019 - Founding of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Broadcasting Alliance
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Broadcasting Alliance was inaugurated in Guangzhou
TDM would help to further deepen the cooperation among other members
and promote the cultural development of the Greater Bay Area
2019 - TDM broadcast “High Ground Evacuation Warning Signal during Storm Surge”
TDM cooperates with Civil Protection Action Center to broadcast High Ground Evacuation Warning Signal during Storm Surge on TV
The arrangement will enhance the efficiency in announcing vital life-saving messages
allowing the public and tourists to take fast actions for safety and reduce property loss
2019 - CCTV Sports began to broadcast in Macao
China Media Group (formerly known as CCTV) authorised its television channel CCTV Sports (CCTV-5) to be broadcast through TDM in Macao in December
2020 - Launch of Telegram and YouTube channels
TDM launched the TDM News Telegram channel and TDM YouTube channel
2021 - Authorised to broadcast live the Olympics and 100th Anniversary programmes of the CCP
the China Media Group (CMG) launched the screening event of a series of CMG’s programmes themed on the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); at the same time
an agreement was also signed under which TDM was granted the broadcasting right of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games
allowing Macao audiences to enjoy CMG’s live coverage of Olympic events in Mandarin
2021 - Authorised to broadcast live the 14th National Games
CMG has authorised TDM to broadcast in Macao the 14th National Games
the 11th National Games for People with Disabilities and the 8th Special Olympics
Via TDM TV channels and its multimedia platforms
Macao audience can watch all the competitions
closing ceremonies and medal ceremonies live
2021 - Completion of revamp project of TDM multimedia platforms
To provide the audience with a better experience and enhance the integration of TDM's TV
which officially began to serve the public in the fourth quarter of 2021
2021 - China Media Group authorised TDM to broadcast a new round of mega sport events
new round of the Games Broadcasting Rights in Guangzhou
under which TDM is authorised to broadcast CMG’s signals of the Olympic Games channel (CCTV-16) during the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Chengdu World University Summer Games
2022 - Continuous support to broadcast CCTV-5 in Macao
The Launching Ceremony of New Co-operation between the Macao SAR Government and China Media Group was held on August 15
CMG and TDM renewed their cooperation agreement
through which CCTV-5 sports channel will continue to be broadcasted in Macao with TDM’s technical support
transmitting high-quality sports events to local audiences
2022 - Promoting Chinese programs to Portuguese-speaking countries
Along with the second phase of the cooperation - “Portuguese Translation and Promotion of Chinese Programs” being launched in September
Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in Macao SAR and TDM jointly organised in September the “Offering Ceremony of Documentaries on Chinese Culture - Joint Cultural Cooperation between the Media in China and the Portuguese Speaking Countries”
Three series of Chinese cultural documentaries
which were translated into Portuguese by TDM
were presented in the ceremony to TV stations of Portuguese-speaking countries
allowing China and Portuguese-speaking countries to reach a deeper level of exchange and cooperation
2023 - New round of cooperation between China Media Group and Macao
the Spring Blossoms in Time – China Media Group’s Excellent Programme Screening in Macao and Media Rights Licensing Ceremony was held in Beijing
in which a number of quality programmes about the spirit of the 20th National Congress were presented by CMG to Macao
and will be broadcast through the various TDM TV channels
An agreement was also signed in the ceremony
with which CMG granted TDM the rights of broadcasting the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Paris Olympic Games in Macao
allowing Macao audiences to enjoy these sports events for free
2023 - TDM signs co-operation agreements with TV stations from Portuguese-speaking countries to deepen exchanges
TDM signed a series of cooperation agreements with five television stations from Portuguese-speaking countries
The cooperation agreements mainly involved the exchange of news and information
with the aim of promoting the exchange of knowledge and technologies by integrating the resources of both parties
2023 - TDM Ou Mun channel broadcasts in the Pearl River Delta Region
TDM officially launched in the Pearl River Delta region
reaching a population of more than 100 million and marking the beginning of a new era in the development of Macao's broadcasting industry
Audiences of the Guangdong Broadcasting and Television Network can all the way watch TDM Ou Mun for news
diversified programmes and advertising information
as well as all the programmes of TDM Ou Mun channel 24 hours a day via GOODO app (谷豆TV app)
2023 - The Ceremony for the Documentary Series Extraordinary Construction to the Television Stations in Portuguese-speaking Countries was successfully held
Building a Modern World Together by Spreading the Craftsman's Spirit - a ceremony on which the documentary series Extraordinary Construction (Season 1) was successfully presented to TV stations of Portuguese-speaking countries
The documentary programmes were granted to Portuguese-speaking countries by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in Macao SAR
sent to the Portuguese broadcasters by TDM
The broadcast of the programmes in Portuguese-speaking countries will allow the citizens to learn more about China’s efforts for high-quality development
2023 - TDM and CTBM have completed their merger
TDM and Macao Basic Television Channels Limited (CTBM) completed their merger in December
TDM has been responsible for maintaining CTBM's operations by providing services to residents who receive the basic tv channels
which include a total of 45 digital tv channels and 29 analogue tv channels
TDM’s Hengqin Newsroom officially opened in January with the support of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council
the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR
and of the Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin
facing the In-depth Cooperation Zone and the Greater Bay Area
the establishment of the newsroom promotes the exchange of information between Hengqin and Macao
and further helps the city integrate into the GBA and the overall development of the country
Text Gonçalo César de Sá | Photos Lei Heong Ieong
Holy House Mercy (SCMM) President António José de Freitas said on Monday that the government had shown “no respect at all” to the charitable association when it suddenly announced that it would move its public notary office in the building to another private property
Freitas made the angry re-marks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of attending a press conference for the annual charity event “Walk for a Million” which will take place on December 11th
The Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ) is the current tenant of a ground-floor unit of UNESCO World Heritage protected building in Largo do Senado
which houses the First Public Notary Office
It was previously reported by local media that the bureau would move from the building when its lease expires at the end of the year to the Northern District Integrated Services Centre Building
which the government reportedly leases from a private owner
the bureau said the decision to move out was due to the high rent
his association only got to know about the impending move through a lawmaker
Freitas also said that since the government’s official letter confirming the move in mid-July
it had never contacted the Holy House of Mercy about the matter
the association first got wind of the move through media reports about a committee meeting of the legislature in mid-June
They gave no respect to the Holy House of Mercy
adding he did not find any logic in the government’s decision to move the notary office from its current property into another private property when the latter’s landlord had made it clear that it would only give the government a one-year contract
“I totally don’t understand their [government’s] approach nor their decision,” Freitas said
Freitas said the Holy House of Mercy currently leases its building to the Legal Affairs Bureau’s notary office for 1.2 million patacas a month
which was “cheap” considering its prime location
the rent for properties in the Largo do Senado area go as high as 10,000 patacas per square foot
“We hope we can lease it out for at least 800,000 patacas
It’s reasonable and we need the money for our daily operation and activities,” he said
adding he expected at least three months without rental income from the unit as it would take time to find a new tenant to move in.(Macau News / The Macau post Daily)
Metrics details
The majority of early prediction scores and methods to predict COVID-19 mortality are bound by methodological flaws and technological limitations (e.g.
Our aim is to provide a thorough comparative study that tackles those methodological issues
considering multiple techniques to build mortality prediction models
including modern machine learning (neural) algorithms and traditional statistical techniques
as well as meta-learning (ensemble) approaches
This study used a dataset from a multicenter cohort of 10,897 adult Brazilian COVID-19 patients
including patients [median age 60 (interquartile range 48–71)
We also proposed new original population-based meta-features that have not been devised in the literature
Stacking has shown to achieve the best results reported in the literature for the death prediction task
improving over previous state-of-the-art by more than 46% in Recall for predicting death
The newly proposed meta-features were highly discriminative of death
but fell short in producing large improvements in final prediction performance
demonstrating that we are possibly on the limits of the prediction capabilities that can be achieved with the current set of ML techniques and (meta-)features
we investigated how the trained models perform on different hospitals
showing that there are indeed large differences in classifier performance between different hospitals
further making the case that errors are produced by factors that cannot be modeled with the current predictors
the contributions of this article are manyfold
we address most of the methodological flaws of previous work
while exploiting a large dataset from a multicenter cohort on Brazilian COVID-19 patients
with 10,897 patients (median age 60 [interquartile range 48–71]
we provide a comparative study of multiple techniques to build prediction models for mortality
including modern ML (neural) algorithms and traditional statistical techniques
many of which had never been applied to this task
we propose new original population-based meta-features that
have not been exploited in any other work in the literature for death prediction
we provide an in-depth discussion of our results regarding effectiveness
we conduct an extensive investigation of the predictive power of the base features as well as the (new) population and classifier-based meta-features at the Stacking level
we analyze how our models’ performance behaves in each of the hospitals included in our study
Our extensive experimental evaluation demonstrates that Stacking can achieve the best results reported in the literature for the death prediction task
while the use of meta-features can help improve results considerably
particularly when applied to simpler techniques like Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO regression)
Our In-depth analysis of the Stacking errors also shows large differences in prediction rates among hospitals
The analysis reveals that mortality may be largely dependent on variables external to the patient
possibly due to factors such as differences in therapeutic approach
Although an increasing number of prediction models have been proposed for the early assessment of the prognosis of COVID-19 patients
there is still a lot of work that needs to be done at the level of COVID-19 prognostic models design
especially taking into account the large datasets available at this point of the pandemic
13.02% were developed and validated with a modest sample of 500–1000 patients
Less than half (32.55%) of the studies used a sample with more than 1000 patients
we had the asset of working with a large dataset of 10,897 patients
while previous studies with this size (> 10,000 patients) are limited (only 10.69% of the total)
Another issue is that most studies used a patient sample from an early time in the pandemic course
Only eleven studies (5.14%) included patients after 2020
which means that most models lack generalizability to a newer sample of COVID-19 patients
after the development of vaccines and other therapeutic advancements
Our study included patients up until November
2021 meaning that we could contemplate the diversity in the patients’ clinical characteristics by including two different pandemic moments (before and after large-scale immunization)
The deep-learning model predicted mortality with an AUC of 0.852 and 0.844
for the training and the testing sets respectively
the performance of the proposed algorithm on training and testing datasets measured by the F1-score dropped to 0.642 and 0.616
most studies did not investigate how reliable the made predictions are in terms of the correlation between the probability of the prediction and the accuracy
This analysis has implications on the practical use of this technology
An accurate but unreliable method has its practical applicability diminished
We explicitly tackle these issues in our study
considering evaluation metrics such as F-score and AUROC
Both studies also provide interpretability analyses regarding which variables/features (e.g.
etc.) are the most influential in generating an accurate model
there are key differences between theirs and our work
propose new original population-based and information theoretic based meta-features that have not been exploited in any other work in the literature
for the problem of COVID-19 death prediction at admission time
Our analyses indeed show that the new proposed meta-features have much higher prediction capabilities than the base (patient predictors) features
The application of these meta-features to this problem is an original contribution
included patients from the early phase of the pandemic only
We have included patients from March 2020 to November 2021
our interpretability analyses of the predictive capability of the features consider both the base (patient) and the new meta-features
This type of joint interpretability analysis at the meta-level (i.e
Stacking level) along with the base features is unheard in the literature
10,897 adult Brazilian COVID-19 patients (median age 60 [interquartile range 48–71]
We call these patient or base features (we will use both terms interchangeably)
to contrast with other meta-features used in the Stacking and derived from population information
The results were sent to each center for checking and correction before further data analysis
The outcome of interest was in-hospital mortality from any cause
In order to push the performance limits of our models
we experimented with the creation of novel artificial (meta-)features (we call these new features meta-features because they are derived from other base features or from the application of ML models on them)
which strive to make classes more separable
We experimented with two main types in the meta-models (ensembles)
namely features derived from the population (population-based meta-features) and features derived from the output of classifiers (stacking-based features)
we used a combination (meta-)model that learns how to better combine class probabilities from other models
The overall idea from this type of meta-feature is that
if classifiers are at least partially independent
due to sampling or different classification premises (e.g.
their predictions will more likely be correct for different instances
resulting in an overall combined classification that will be more likely correct
an ensemble of three completely independent
for any given instance there will be at least two correct decisions
such a combined ensemble would potentially be a very strong classifier
The problem lies in how to effectively make the classifiers independent in such a manner
completely independent classifiers are just an abstract concept
can strive to make more independent classifiers
using different models with different classifications premises
and even using a learnable combination strategy
In order to avoid a quadratic O(n2) number of comparisons between patient pairs while defining the top-K most similar ones
KD-trees are data structures which split the hyperspace into hierarchical orthogonal hyper-planes
with the intention of limiting the number of point comparisons that we need to consider
in order to find any number of closest points
we chose K = 100 as the size of the neighborhood
Lethality of the topK most similar patients:
Lethality entropy of the topK most similar patients:
including populational and classifier output based meta-features
FiO2: fraction of inspired oxygen; GAM: generalized additive models; KNN: K-nearest neighbors; LightGBM: light gradient boosting machines; pO2: partial pressure of oxygen; RF: random forest; SVM: support vector machines
As for the specific machine learning (ML) models compared in our study
we trained three modern neural network benchmarks—the FNet transformer
a deep convolutional Resnet and a deep 1D convolutional neural network
We also experimented with a support vector machine classifier
a boosting model (microsoft research’s Light Gradient Boosting Machine)
as well as a Stacking of these methods and variations with base and population based meta-features as input
but only to select variables for the LASSO regression
we directly tuned GAM to the classification task
According to the virtual adversarial training the model’s decision boundary is smoothed in the most anisotropic direction through a gradient-based approximation
we exploited a meta-learning ensemble-based Stacking model
which learns to combine the prediction outputs of all previous classifiers aimed at improving final classification effectiveness
We compared all these methods to GAM and LASSO regression
the latter being the current state-of-the-art model for this task
We ran all classification experiments using a tenfold cross-validation procedure
This helps to have enough data for training the methods and test in significant portions of the data (which would not be the case if we split the data into completely independent partitions)
the repetitions provided by this setup allow us to assess the generality of the produced models across different training and test sets as well as to assess the variability of the results across different samples
For model parameterization, we used the values presented in Table 1
we use an early stop to optimize the model
which optimizes the weights until the model has no improvement in the validation set
we ran all our classifiers with the base (patient) features in isolation or combined with the new population-based meta-features
We also exploited these new population-based meta-features in the Stacking model
which combines the outputs of all other classifiers
Tree based models such as Gradient Boosting (LightGBM) and Random Forests can natively handle missing data
and do it under the assumption that data is missing for a reason
as the lack thereof may carry predictive capacity and produce tree splits with positive information gain
we do not input data fed into those two algorithms
The study protocol was approved by the Brazilian National Commission for Research Ethics (CAAE 30350820.5.1001.0008)
Individual informed consent was waived due to the severity of the situation and the use of deidentified data
The authors confirm that all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations
Classification results for the prediction of death are shown in Table 2
All reported results are the average values of the respective metrics in the ten test folds
The versions of the classifiers that use only the base (patient) features
When this input is enhanced with the new population-based meta-features
Neural network models (CNN—convolutional neural networks
and ResNet—Residual neural network) produced the worst results
boosting ('LightGBM'—Light Gradient Boosting Machine)
GAM with both patient and population-based meta-features produced the best overall results
when considering all the evaluation metrics
It is interesting to notice that GAM surpassed the original LASSO model that exploits only the patient features
which was the version used in the ABC2-SPH score and was considered the previous state-of-the-art
also tend to perform reasonably well on smaller datasets being better than the neural network models
We should stress that GAM showed very competitive results for this data sample
GAM was even better than the original LASSO (patient features only) and some traditional ML methods such as SVM and KNN
The most interesting results in terms of the single classifier models are those obtained with LightGBM (LGBM) using only the patient features
In any case, the model that consistently produced the highest results for most considered metrics was the Stacking model, which is a combination of the output of all other individual models, which, in turn, exploited all the provided base features (Table S2)
Stacking did not did not loose to any other model in any metric
is the sole winner in terms of LogLoss and ties only with LightGBM in terms of AUROC
recall for death is an important measure as we do not want to misidentify potential patients that might die if not properly treated
with regards to the variations of classifiers that did include our proposed population-based meta-features (+ population-based meta-features)
in which these meta-features greatly improve model effectiveness with less learnable parameters
while not really improving (and even worsening) the performance of more complex ones (like Stacking and LightGBM)
In the particular case of Stacking along with population meta-features
despite the high discriminative power of the latter
when both types of features are combined—populational and classifiers outputs—there are some effectiveness losses
This is possibly due to redundancy and loss of generality
as a consequence of increasing the complexity of the model given the higher dimensionality
We will further investigate these issues in future work
the population-based meta-features only yield effectiveness improvements when used along with some weaker classifiers (e.g.
Stronger models such as LightGBM can build non-linear relationships among the features that have a discriminative power similar to that of the populational meta-features
while weaker learners benefit more from having single better predictors
All these results make a strong case that our current Stacking strategies as well as the population-based meta-features push the problem's solution to its current state-of-the-art limits
Classifier errors at this point are mostly due to factors not captured in the input features
as patients that did not die but received a high-risk score were in general more severely ill and were indeed more likely to die
we provide a deeper analysis of the meta-model´s features prediction capability
including the new proposed meta-features and the ML methods´ outputs along with the base features (i.e.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) Curve comparing multiple models
trained on the prediction of the death outcome
we can sensibly calibrate the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity
further customizing the way such models can be used
our model can be tailored to the early identification of high-risk patients with good discrimination capacity
we applied PCA and SVD transformations to our inputs before training and testing and then proceeded with a tenfold cross-validation procedure
A very interesting feature of some ML models
but modern advances in tools and visualization alternatives allow us to represent which features were most important to the model and at which polarities and intervals
The best model in our tests was the Stacking
which inputs are the outputs of other classifiers
and since we want to explain a classifier that works on the level of the patient features themselves instead of a meta-level of other classifier outputs
in the next feature analysis we use the results of LightGBM
tree-based boosting and bagging algorithms rank as some of the most explainable machine learning models
particularly for tabular data where data samples are not that large
Their unique combination of explainability
added to the fact that Stacking is a meta-classifier are why we will exploit the boosting model (which
outperformed the bagging model—Random Forests/RF) to analyze the found correlations among variables
the first line of text in each box shows the variable and its cut before the split
In decision tree-based algorithms, however, each node represents a feature. The closer to the root (i.e. the 'first' node of each tree), the more the feature is able to differentiate the data classes. For example, in Fig. 3
the feature 'SF ratio'' with a value less than 233 and the feature 'lactate' with a value less than 1.68 mmol/L results in a subset with 5.9% of the dataset where the 'death' outcome is more common
These algorithms look for the values of the features that further separate the classes
while trying to decrease the coefficient or entropy values of the class label (which are measures of purity and information) in each partition in each decision tree
Such index and the entropy score tend to isolate records that represent the most frequent class in a branch
Mutual information scores on the top-20 base patient features (A) and Pearson correlation scores between the top-20 most predictive features and lethality
Adm: admission; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate transaminase; FiO2: fraction of inspired oxygen; TTPA: partial activated thromboplastin time
Consciousness level at hospital presentation was the third best feature according to the information-gain score on predicting mortality
This attribute shares a negative correlation with lethality
the patient has a less alert consciousness state) are more predictive of lethality
as consciousness impairment might indicate way more severely ill patients
as the disease had to compromise either brain oxygen flow
An interesting remark is that there is no complete overlap between the rankings of information gain and Pearson correlations
this difference mainly stems from different ranking premises
which in general tend to overlap mainly for the most predictable variables of the target outcome
These two scores measure similar but slightly different things
but Pearson correlation score measures a normalized covariance between two variables
while the Information-gain measures the drop in entropy (or surprise
Pearson correlation scores between model variables and false positive/negative errors. Adm: admission; FiO2: fraction of inspired oxygen; INR: international normalized ratio; pCO2: partial pressure of carbon dioxide.
Comparison of mean normalized values between errors and non-errors
Adm: admission; FiO2: fraction of inspired oxygen; INR: international normalized ratio; pCO2: partial pressure of carbon dioxide
we can see that false negative errors usually occur in the absence of comorbidities and with higher oxygen saturation levels at admission
probably are correlated to this type of error because they are also highly effective at explaining a model prediction of “death”
Our analysis is further depicted in Fig. 6
which shows the normalized mean values of variables between the population that was misclassified and the ones that were correctly classified
This figure shows a comparison between two pairs of populations
The ones classified in the high lethality group (correct and incorrect) and the ones classified in the low lethality group (also correct and incorrect)
the population misclassified in the high lethality group is more likely to have comorbidities
and a lower percentage of individuals with no disease reported
the ones in the lower scored death risk are more similar to the general population
we can infer that classifier errors might not be due to any factor captured in our variables
as patients classified as “higher risk of death” are
more likely to have complications for being older and more sickly
since patients that ended up dying from the “lower risk of death” group were very similar to the overall population that did not die
Comparison of ROC curves and AUROC results between different hospitals
These results show large differences in classifier performance among different hospitals
combined with differences in outcome distribution and posterior probability of death given input attributes of each patient probably explain part of the other classifier errors
Not only more severely ill patients that end up not dying and healthy patients that end up dying generate classifier errors
but also the fact that the decision boundaries themselves are probably slightly different among centers also generates misclassifications
These differences may come from various sources not explicitly captured in our features
different treatment protocols for COVID-19
better or worse material resources—such as mechanical respirators
we investigated issues related to the reliability of the models
boosting and bagging models tend to have a very interesting reliability profile
with a tendency to have lower error rates at high confidence scores
and higher error rates at lower confidence scores
in which we can tune the trade-off between accuracy and sensitivity for some specific classifiers
Error rates for each confidence threshold in the Stacking model without populational meta-features (which had the best macro-F1 result)
The X-axis shows prediction ranges for the model's confidence score
while the y-axis shows the percentage of hits or misses for the model
we strive to correct methodological issues and technological limitations of previous studies by experimenting with several modern AI techniques as well as state-of-the-art statistical methods to develop (meta-)models to predict COVID-19 mortality using a large Brazilian multi-hospital dataset containing features available at hospital presentation
We have also devised new population-based meta-features based on distances among similar patients
which have never been exploited in the task of death prediction before
ensemble models excelled in the prediction task
with a meta-learning strategy based on Stacking surpassing the state-of-the-art LASSO regression method by more than 46% for predicting death (Recall)
Recall for death is an important measure as we do not want to misidentify potential patients that might die if not properly treated
We have also performed an in-depth analysis of our best model´s errors
showing that these errors occur in patients that are indeed harder to classify
and that there is a large variation in classification performance per treatment center
We have empirically shown that mortality is also largely dependent on variables external to the patient
selection bias (some centers may receive more severely ill patients
These factors are hard to quantify and isolate
but seem important in determining future outcomes and therapeutic prioritization
and further research contributions could come from exploring representations and modeling of such factors
Data are available upon reasonable request to the correspondent author
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Download references
We would like to thank the hospitals which are part of this collaboration
Célio de Castro; Hospital Metropolitano Odilon Behrens; Hospital Moinhos de Vento; Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição; Hospital Regional Antônio Dias; Hospital Regional de Barbacena Dr
José Américo; Hospital Regional do Oeste; Hospital Risoleta Tolentino Neves; Hospital Santa Cruz; Hospital Santa Rosália; Hospital São João de Deus; Hospital São Lucas da PUCRS; Hospital Semper; Hospital SOS Cárdio; Hospital Tacchini; Hospital Unimed-BH; Hospital Universitário Canoas; Hospital Universitário Ciências Médicas; Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria
Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Belo Horizonte; Instituto Orizonti
We also thank all the clinical staff at those hospitals
and all undergraduate students who helped with data collection
This study was supported in part by Minas Gerais State Agency for Research and Development (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais—FAPEMIG) [grant number APQ-00208-20 and APQ-00262-22]
National Institute of Science and Technology for Health Technology Assessment (Instituto de Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde–IATS)/National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq) [grant numbers 465518/2014-1
and CAPES Foundation (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) [grant number 88887.507149/2020-00]
Claudio Moisés Valiense de Andrade & Marcos André Gonçalves
Institute for Health Technology Assessment (IATS/ CNPq)
Rafael Lima Rodrigues de Carvalho & Milena Soriano Marcolino
Máderson Alvares de Souza Cabral & Milena Soriano Marcolino
Thaís Lorenna Souza Sales & Magda Cesar Raposo
Lucas Emanuel Ferreira Ramos & Rafael Tavares Silva
Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais
Alessandra de Freitas Martins Vieira & Luiza Margoto Marques
Daniel Vitorio Silveira & Guilherme Fagundes Nascimento
Barbara Lopes Farace & Henrique Cerqueira Guimarães
Rufino de Freitas & Thulio Henrique Oliveira Diniz
Ana Luiza Bahia Alves Scotton & Lucas de Deus Sousa
Fernanda Barbosa Lucas & Meire Pereira de Figueiredo
Lílian Santos Pinheiro & Leonardo Seixas de Oliveira
Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu-Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”
Juliana Machado Rugolo & Mônica Aparecida de Paula de Sordi
Fernando Graça Aranha & Giovanna Grunewald Vietta
Euler Roberto Fernandes Manenti & Karen Brasil Ruschel
Leila Beltrami Moreira & Maria Angélica Pires Ferreira
Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição and Hospital Cristo Redentor
Fernando Antônio Botoni & Júlia di Sabatino Santos Guimarães
Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Belo Horizonte
Universidade Federal de Santa Maria/Hospital Universitário/EBSERH
Roberta Senger & Alexandre Vargas Schwarzbold
Luciano de Souza Viana & Milton Henriques Guimarães-Junior
Silvia Ferreira Araújo & Silvana Mangeon Meirelles Guimarães
Reginaldo Aparecido Valacio & Talita Fischer Oliveira
José Miguel Chatkin & Mariana Frizzo de Godoy
Liege Barella Zandoná & Yuri Carlotto Ramires
Heloisa Reniers Vianna & Julia Drumond Parreiras de Morais
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais
Maiara Anschau Floriani & Gisele Alsina Nader Bastos
Fundação Hospitalar do Estado de Minas Gerais–FHEMIG
Matheus Carvalho Alves Nogueira & André Soares de Moura Costa
Tatiani Oliveira Fereguetti & Natália da Cunha Severino Sampaio
Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Petrônio José de Lima Martelli & Adriana Falangola Benjamin Bezerra
Hospital Metropolitano Doutor Célio de Castro
Yara Cristina Neves Marques Barbosa Ribeiro & Pedro Ledic Assaf
Thainara Conceição de Oliveira & Evelin Paola de Almeida Cenci
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work: B.B.M.P.
Substantial contributions to the acquisition
or interpretation of data for the work: all authors
Revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content: all authors
Final approval of the version to be published: all authors
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved: B.B.M.P.
M.S.M and M.C.R) had full access to all the data in the study and took responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis
The authors declare no competing interests
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Veronica "Tiny" passed peacefully in the arms of her children
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A libel trial will start today of a former senior Portuguese detective who published a book alleging that Madeleine McCann died inside her parents' apartment.
Kate and Gerry McCann launched legal action against Goncalo Amaral after he publicly questioned their accounts of what happened to their daughter.
The couple, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, flew to Lisbon yesterday ahead of the three-day trial at the main civil court in the Portuguese capital.
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.
Four months after her disappearance, Portuguese police made Mr and Mrs McCann "arguidos", or formal suspects, in the case.
But their arguido status was lifted when the investigation was shelved in July 2008.
Mr Amaral at first led the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance for Portugal's CID, the Policia Judiciaria (PJ).
But he was taken off the case in October 2007 after criticising the British police in a newspaper interview.
In his book Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie, published in July 2008, Mr Amaral claimed that Madeleine died in her family's holiday flat on the night she disappeared and questioned the McCanns' account that she was abducted.
A Portuguese judge granted an injunction in September last year banning further sale or publication of the book.
The former policeman was also prohibited from repeating his claims about Madeleine or her parents.
The McCanns travelled to Lisbon for the opening of the libel trial in December but the hearing was adjourned until this week after Mr Amaral's lawyer failed to turn up for health reasons.
The ex-detective's legal team is expected to argue that the material in his book is contained in the official Portuguese police files for the case, many of which were made public in August 2008.
Reports in Portugal suggested Mr Amaral plans to call a number of senior figures involved in the Madeleine investigation as witnesses.
They could include Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses, the local public prosecutor in the case, and Guilhermino Encarnacao, director of the PJ in the Algarve when the child vanished.
Mr Amaral's lawyers also sought evidence from a British policeman, Metropolitan Police Detective Sergeant Jose De Freitas, who was seconded to Leicestershire Police to help with the British end of the investigation.
But he is not expected to appear as a witness in the trial.
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Service has received correspondence from the Portuguese authorities.
"This correspondence is currently being considered."
In a statement released through their Portuguese lawyers, the McCanns said their main motive for challenging Mr Amaral was to further the search for their daughter.
They also argued that Mr Amaral's book was "against the Portuguese constitution and against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
"All the court decisions we are trying to obtain are destined to prove Madeleine is alive and spread the information that her search is worthwhile," the couple said.
It is understood that Mr and Mrs McCann plan to attend all this week's hearings, but do not intend to return to Praia da Luz as they did in December.
The couple are also seeking 1.2 million euros (£1.08 million) in compensation for defamation in separate legal proceedings against Mr Amaral in Portugal.
They have said any damages awarded by the courts would go towards paying for private investigators to look for Madeleine.
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Antonio Scarpinetti / UnicampAntonio Meirelles
appointed for a six-year termAntonio Scarpinetti / Unicamp
São Paulo State Governor Tarcísio de Freitas appointed Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles
dean of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP)
He will take the place of Ronaldo Aloise Pilli
Meirelles earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from the School of Food Engineering (FEA-UNICAMP)
a PhD (1987) in thermal process engineering from Technische Hochschule Merseburg
now part of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany
and another in economic sciences (1997) from UNICAMP’s Institute of Economics
He was a professor and director of FEA-UNICAMP and associate director of the Center for Food Studies and Research (NEPA)
His engineering research focuses on bioenergy
and purification processes for food and agroindustrial products
The technology developed as part of his PhD abroad
now used in plants that account for around 30% of anhydrous alcohol production in Brazil
earned him the 1989 Young Scientist Award from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)
Meirelles has been dean of UNICAMP since April 19
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The director of Government Information Bureau (GCS)
António José de Freitas and legislator-cum-lawyer Vong Hin Fai have been appointed as new members of the non-executive board of directors of Teledifusão de Macau
The new board members will start their jobs from 1 September
The Gazette also inform that Victor Chan Chi Ping
former GCS director and presently adviser of the Secretary for Economy and Finance and board member of a public company that will be based in Hengqin island
also leaving the board of directors are Sou Chiu Fai and Manuel Gonçalves Pires Júnior
current chairman of the Executive Committee
will leave the company at his request at the end of August
No information was given about Pires Júnior’ substitute at the local broadcaster TDM
The chairman of the Executive Committee is chosen by the members of the board
José Manuel de Oliveira Rodrigues (who presides) is currently on the board of directors
as well as the current members of the Executive Committee Frederico do Rosário
The Macau Holy House of Mercy (SCMM) hosted a commemorative reception at MGM in Nape on Wednesday to celebrate its 450th anniversary
SCMM President António José de Freitas pointed out in a speech that this year is special as it marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the PRC and the Portuguese Republic
adding that he was proud of the fact that the Macau Holy House of Mercy is commemorating its 450th anniversary in the same year
José de Freitas underlined that the etymology of the Portuguese word “misericórdia” (“mercy” in English) comes from the combination of “miserere” (“have pity”) in Latin) and “cordis” (“heart” in Latin)
means having pity in one’s heart and helping people in need
the objective of the Macau Holy House of Mercy is to “provide for the poor and those in need” – its founder’s aim
adding that the institution has supported anyone regardless of race and religion throughout the centuries
The Macau Holy House of Mercy was founded in 1569 by Dom Belchior Carneiro
José de Freitas pointed out that as Macau is a key city in the Greater Bay Area (GBA)
the Holy House of Mercy is planning to help and support local people become a part of the GBA development
in cooperation with different societies and associations
adding that he was also backing the Macau Holy House of Mercy’s integration of its social services into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac
who attended the reception in his capacity as acting chief executive
noted in a speech that the Holy House of Mercy is Macau’s oldest social welfare and charity institution
pointing out that the institution has been providing a string of services that meet the needs of society and is also contributing a lot to the city’s harmonious development
Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On was unable to attend due to his current official visit to Portugal
Leong underlined that the Holy House of Mercy also plays the role of bringing Macau’s Portuguese residents together
thereby helping promote cultural exchanges and maintain Portuguese-Chinese friendship
The Macanese are an ethnicity that originated in Macau in the 16th century
consisting of people of predominantly mixed Chinese and Portuguese as well as Malay
The Macanese account for about two percent of the population
Leong said he hoped the Holy House of Mercy would continue its active role in philanthropy and help people in need
and would also continue keeping Macau’s Portuguese residents connected
the Holy House of Mercy displayed a video clip showing UN Secretary-General António Guterres congratulating the charitable organisation on its anniversary
An MC also read out congratulatory messages from Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On
The Holy House of Mercy also launched its 450th anniversary commemorative stamps during the event
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MercoPress, en Español
Montevideo, May 5th 2025 - 23:26 UTC
yellow fever virus transmission continues to expand towards the Atlantic coast of Brazil in areas not deemed to be at risk for yellow fever transmission prior to the revised risk assessment published by WHO in the Disease Outbreak News of 27 January 2017
and supported by the scientific and technical advisory group on geographical yellow fever risk mapping (GRYF)
The revised risk assessment was based on epidemiological evidence and ecological factors
The expanded areas at risk of yellow fever transmission remain the same as in the Disease Outbreak News of 27 January 2017 and the WHO travel advice of 31 January 2017
• Espírito Santo State: at risk for yellow fever transmission with the exception of the urban area of Vitoria
• Rio de Janeiro State: at risk for yellow fever transmission in the following northern municipalities bordering Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo States: Bom Jesus do Itabapoana; Cambuci; Cardoso Moreira; Italva; Itaperuna; Laje do Muriae; Miracema; Natividade; Porciuncula; Santo Antonio de Padua; São Fidelis; São Jose de Uba; Varre-Sai; Campos dos Goytacazes; São Francisco de Itabapoa; São João da Barra
Currently there is no evidence of yellow fever virus transmission in the large metropolitan areas of the East Coast such as Rio de Janeiro
The determination of new areas considered to be at risk for yellow fever transmission is preliminary and updates will be provided regularly
and considering that travelers for the Carnival in the next few weeks may take side tours outside the main cities
the current advice by the WHO Secretariat for international travelers going to areas of Brazil deemed to be at risk
Vaccination against yellow fever at least 10 days prior to the travel
as per Annex 7 of the International Health Regulations (2005)
a single dose of a yellow fever vaccine approved by WHO is sufficient to confer sustained immunity and life-long protection against yellow fever disease
Travelers with contraindications for yellow fever vaccine (children below 9 months
people with severe hypersensitivity to egg antigens
and severe immunodeficiency) or over 60 years of age should consult their health professional for advice; adoption of measures to avoid mosquito bites; awareness of symptoms and signs of yellow fever; seeking care in case of symptoms and signs of yellow fever
while travelling and upon return from areas at risk for yellow fever transmission
For 2017 updates on yellow fever vaccination requirements and WHO vaccination recommendations for travelers see Annex and country list on the WHO International Travel and Health website
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The current financial health of the Holy House of Mercy of Macau guarantees that it will surely survive to celebrate its 500th anniversary celebrations in 2069
according to the president of the institution that celebrates its 450th anniversary this year
“We are in solid financial condition
with the recognition of the Government and authorities of the Macau Special Administrative Region and civil society this Holy House [of Mercy] is in a position to celebrate his fifth centenary in 2069 without any problems
I do not doubt that,” António José de Freitas said in an interview with Lusa
With a budget of more than MOP70 million and a monthly expenditure in salaries of more than MOP3 million – close to the value that the institution collects from the rent of its real estate – the subsidy that the Santa Casa da Misericórdia receives from the Government “represents only about 25 per cent,” of its budget
The Holy House social work in Macau covers areas such as support for the disabled
a nursery (258) and a social shop are structures that reflect the social activity of an institution with more than 180 employees
António José de Freitas pointed out that the social work of the institution “is endless,” but recalled with pride that it is the only survivor in Asia: “all of them have succumbed in time and this is the only one that remains alive and active.”
The celebrations of the Holy House of Mercy of Macau
founded in 1569 by Bishop Belchior Carneiro
marked by the unprecedented realization of the XII International Congress of the International Confederation of Mercies
because of their characteristics and symbolism
are bound to contribute to the projection of the name and image of Macau
which is intended to be a city of a historical singularity
to show that Macau is a city of well-being”
“The history of the Holy House of Mercy of Macau mixes itself with that of Macau itself
once under Portuguese administration and now a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China,” according to the institution on its website
Initially designated “Confraternity and Brotherhood of Mercy of Macau”
it was established a few years after the founding of the city as a Portuguese warehouse
was even linked to the founding of the City Senate in 1853
the first political institution in the territory
the institution “contributed to the implementation of organized fees on various previously unregulated activities
and promoted a very popular lottery,” read the Holy House website
The purpose of the visit was to talk with Álvaro Mendonça e Moura
Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Portugal and José de Freitas Ferraz
about the functioning and diplomatic training of the Portuguese foreign service
The main point of the visit was the meeting of the Head of the Foreign Service
with Álvaro Mendonça e Moura
Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal
in order to conduct talks on the organization and functioning of the Portuguese foreign service
as well as to discuss potential areas of cooperation in the exchange of diplomatic personnel
the Head of the Foreign Service expressed his gratitude for Portugal's support in helping Ukrainians and expressed his hope for further diplomatic support for Ukraine
which is fighting against Russian aggression
the Head of the Foreign Service also met Maja Markovčić Kostelac
director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)
director of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
to discuss the possibilities of increasing the employment of Poles in EMSA and EMCDDA
as well as fields of cooperation in the area of training and promotion of internship programs
also met the Director of the Camões Institute João Ribeiro de Almeida
during which the Cooperation Program between the Government of the Portuguese Republic and the Government of the Republic of Poland in the field of language
The Head of the Foreign Service laid wreaths on the graves of Polish diplomats: Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
one of the closest associates of Minister Józef Beck and Karol Dubicz-Penther
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in the Polish Legation in Lisbon in 1937-1943
The culmination of the visit of the Head of the Foreign Service to Portugal was a concert on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Poland and Portugal: on May 13
ambassador Ksawery Orłowski presented his credentials to the President of Portugal António José de Almeids
The recital "Anna Maria Jopek & Amigos" organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Lisbon gathered numerous representatives of the host country
the diplomatic corps and the Polish community
The event was also attended by Francisco André
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation at the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
It is with great sadness that the St Vincent and the Grenadines Olympic Committee (SVGOC) acknowledges the passing of Donnie De Freitas
a former President of the organisation and of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association
Donnie passed away early on the morning of Friday 22 May 2020 in Fiji
During his engagement in sports administration
Donnie transformed Table Tennis in St Vincent and the Grenadines
a position he held until he left local shores in 1997 to take up an appointment in St Lucia before eventually moving across to the Pacific where he resided until his passing
Donnie oversaw the systematic revision of the SVGOC’s Constitution and established an administrative and operational structure which served the institution well for decades
Under his watch the SVGOC facilitated a National Sports Consultation that was held at the Jaycees Complex
He also led the SVGOC’s hosting of a Regional Sports Administration Seminar
During his tenure Donnie also oversaw the SVGOC’s hosting of the Annual Sports Awards until it fell under the ambit of the National Lotteries Authority
fluent in Spanish after having done is degree in Cuba
Donnie De Freitas made an indelible impact on the Olympic and sports movement of St Vincent and the Grenadines
The SVGOC’s Executive and entire membership extend sincere condolences to his family
The draft of the city’s urban master plan for the 2020-2040 period still lacks detailed strategies to effectively protect the city’s cultural heritage and address environmental concerns but establishes a much-needed zoning framework
architects consulted by Macau News Agency (MNA) stated
The 60-day public consultation for the new urban development guideline plan for the 2020-2040 period was initiated on September 4
with the final documents expected to be completed after several valuation rounds by September 2021
The long-awaited document is considered a crucial element in establishing the guidelines for the city’s future development
local architects consider it to be falling a bit short on what was expected
According to architect Maria José de Freitas
the city is already “on the brink” in terms of environment
and measures to protect its historical heritage
with the master plan failing to include detailed ideas to solve these issues
I would not have doubts that these goals would be defined in the final plan
we have a series of intentions that push back for future detailed plans and delay the resolution of the problems we face,” architect Maria José de Freitas told MNA
“The plan should refer to a certain way of approaching urban development
We see a lot of beautiful mock-ups with blue skies but this is a fiction
A grey sky with high volumes of suspended fine particles
What we wished for is that the master plan would describe the tools to achieve this imagined reality
the architect stated that the plan should refer to a strategy for the increased use of sustainable energy public transport vehicles serving the city’s main areas and in coordination with the Light Rapid Transit system
I’m afraid in 10 years we will still be talking about the same,” she added
Architect and former urban planning committee member
also expressed to MNA that a lot of details will still have to be fleshed out
but praised the initiative to clearly divide the SAR into different purpose areas
“The definition of zoning is important because it will help the city to respond to its different types of investments and needs
The lack of zoning laced the city in a very fragile position and vulnerable to real estate speculation
There was always pressure to develop everything into residences and office spaces,” Leão told MNA
The new urban master plan proposes that the Macau SAR be divided into clearly defined areas for residential
industrial and diversified industries purposes
The city would also be divided into 18 planning districts included in North District
with each one to have a future specific development plan
“I think this makes sense so as to have a clearer zoning organisation of the city in its entirety,” Leão stated
Freitas raised questioned who exactly would define these specific district development plans
“Will it also be Arup or will there be public tenders to define this
Will it be an inter-department commission with members from the administration
this task force should include members of the local architecture community that know all these city areas in detail,” the architect expressed
the fact that casinos and hotels will be concentrated on tourism and entertainment areas – which will have a 13 per cent share of land use divided in a Cotai
and NAPE/ZAPE – could also prevent more projects in close proximity to residential or green areas
The idea of having specific areas for the industry was seen as a plus
as it would reserve space for different projects in tech
with the architect citing an example Hong Kong’s digital technology hub
which houses more than 1,300 companies and offers an area for fintech start-ups
Leão noted that these kinds of complexes could push companies and industries away from city centers
providing a more efficient space for business
There are moments of great urban development
Then suddenly needs to make a logistics project and there is no land available
Zoning is important to counter these dynamics,” he added
The architect also considered the proposed new 41-hectare reclaimed land project in the northeast of Areia Preta
as a good initiative that could finally provide a large scale public park area to the SAR
“It is very complicated to build the transport infrastructure between New Area Zone A
This new land will be important to assure the connection between these areas
At the same time it is important to have such a large scale area like this instead of just the proposed green city riverside belts,” Leão indicated
the local architect noted that more definition on how heritage in the historical centre and the inner harbour will be protected in the future
“These areas have already been highly sacrificed
so a vision that could still safeguard some of the historical elements while recovering these areas for leisure and commercial purposes demands very strong indications in the plan
These need to be clearly defined to halt the eroding process in the historical centre,” the architect added
The architect remembered that especially after the city’s handover urban development was mainly seen through a lens of economic development
For architect Maria José de Freitas it is important that the urban plan draft address the visual corridors issue
and is important in terms of heritage conservation
which can prevent situations such as the high-rise building projects around the listed Guia Lighthouse
“These corridors will allow the control of high developments
we have 11 in the Macau Peninsula involving the historical centre and the plan establishes 21 corridors
including Taipa and Coloane,” the architect told MNA
The heritage expert also praised the referral that a cultural centre will be developed in Lai Chi Vun village in Coloane
“We had heard these plans some years ago but it was never mentioned again
Lai Chi Vun was a good example on how the intervention of residents can lead the government to better preserve and re-use the characteristics of certain areas,” she noted
“Hopefully it will not be just a commercial marina but a cultural area probably with a museum or other installations showcasing the relationship between the village and the river”
Another important aspect is the mention of an ‘amphitheatre’ type city development
in which buildings get lower as you get near the riverside
“The opposite of what has been done in Macau
with many high rise buildings in the waterside
blocking the view around the lower historical heritage areas
Having an amphitheatre development could maybe control these excesses,” she added
The space occupied by the First Public Notary Office at the Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericordia) building could become a bank
the President of the Board of Trustees of the Macau Holy House of Mercy
told Portuguese language newspaper Tribuna de Macau.
“We received a proposal from one of the city’s main banks and another from a private businessman
We will analyse the proposals but we prefer it would be the bank to occupy the space
regardless of the rent,” António José de Freitas told Tribuna.
The First Public Notary Office will be moved to the Northern District Integrated Services Centre Building by the end of this year
after the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ) said the current monthly rental for the First Public Notary Office is MOP1.2 million (US$150,140) and that the lease will expire at the end of this year.
According to Freitas
the building’s high rent mandates some moderation from interested parties
but that by contract the government will have to pay the rent for the next five months
even if it vacates the place before that time.
The Holy House representative also told Tribuna that the government has shown “a lack of interest” in resolving the issue
Lo Song Man has been appointed today as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Teledifusão de Macau (TDM)
The new chairman of TDM replaces Manuel Pires who has retired
a member of TDM Executive Committee since 2012
has been working for the television and radio company since 1990
The new TDM chairman worked as a journalist in TDM Chinese News Department and later as a Chinese News Controller
Lo was appointed today during a meeting of the non-executive board of directors
The non-executive board of directors of TDM include the director of Government Information Bureau (GCS)
Cristina Ho Hoi Leng and Lo Sang Man are the present members of TDM Executive Committee
PHOTO © World Federation of Chinese Entrepreneurs Organization
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Macau (MNA) – The work of architect José Celestino da Silva Maneiras is being celebrated in an exhibition organised by Docomomo – Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement
Macanese Style Modernist’ is being hosted at the Pavilion of the Lou Lim Ieoc Garden
An event to mark the initiative was held on Friday with a talk by the architect
The exhibition is displaying works developed by Mr
Maneiras focused on housing and urban planning
Maneiras was born in Macau in 1935 and graduated in architecture at the School of Fine Arts of Porto in 1962
the local architect has been involved in several urban development projects
in particular residential projects of Brutalistic inclination
Some of his works include the construction of Si toi – Hong Kong Bank commercial building (now HSBC – Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation
The founding president of the Macao Association of Architects (AAM)
and later president of the Leal Senado (1989-1993) also oversaw the re-conversion project of the Hotel Bela Vista into the Portuguese Consul-General’s Residence
and the remodelling of Forte Bom Parto’s house for senior staff members of the consulate
Maneiras has worked in the construction of the Pac-On Residential Estate and the Hac-Sa Dam Reservoir Watersports Recreational Centre
and was part of the design team for the renovation of the Tap-Seac Square
Among the participants on Friday’s event figured the incumbent president of Docomomo Macau
the president of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM)
the vice-president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC)
and the President of the Lawyers Association
Several architects have also rendered homage to Mr
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Wilfred Wong (left) and Antonio José de Freitas
Macau Holy House of Mercy unveiled a plaque at its elderly home yesterday in recognition of Sands China’s assistance after Typhoon Hato
A MOP2 million donation from Sands China in December helped to cover the costs of repairing the facility and the restoration work is now complete
The storm in August caused extensive damage to the elderly home
including major structural damage to its roof
“We are very grateful to Sands China for its generous contribution
which allowed us to repair the damage to our elderly home after the typhoon,” said Macau Holy House of Mercy’s president Antonio José de Freitas
“The residents are happy to have their home restored to a suitable condition
and we wanted to commemorate the occasion by mounting a plaque as an expression of our appreciation.”
with an inspection tour of the roof before Wong and Freitas unveiled the plaque together
“It’s wonderful to see the elderly home back in order
and our appreciation goes out to Holy House of Mercy for the valuable service they provide to society
We are humbled by the kind gesture of mounting a plaque honouring our company,” said Wong
The donation from Sands China helped cover the costs of the repairs
which included rebuilding and repainting the rooftop
restoring water-damaged ceilings and walls
and installing new water outlets and pipes
Sands China has pledged to donate a total of MOP30 million to support Macau’s typhoon disaster relief
with another MOP35 million in aid pledged by the Adelson Family Foundation
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The 12-member body will give opinions on issues affecting the Portuguese community in Macao and Hong Kong and has already held its first meeting
The Portuguese consul general for Macao and Hong Kong
has set up a 12-member advisory council to discuss matters of interest to the Portuguese community in the region
The Lusa news agency reports that its members include the prominent lawyer Jorge Neto Valente; the president of the charitable Holy House of Mercy
António José de Freitas; the president of the Casa de Portugal
Maria Amélia António; the director of the Instituto Português do Oriente
others who are from the [civil society] area
some more connected to culture,” Alexandre Leitão told the agency
adding that an attempt was made to gather a “reasonably representative” group
[See more: The Portuguese are an ‘essential’ part of Macao, Ho Iat Seng says]
When asked about the lack of members from Hong Kong
the envoy said that “My idea is that this advisory board has its work in Portuguese and it is very difficult to find representatives from Hong Kong [who speak the language].”
the consul-general said focus groups could be set up to discuss Hong Kong issues
the promotion of the Portuguese language and culture
the Portuguese School of Macau and assistance with consular representation were some of the topics discussed at the first meeting
The next meeting is expected to take place in September
expressed by the members of the Advisory Council for the Portuguese consulate for the Macau and Hong Kong area
will contribute to more sensible decisions on matters related to the Portuguese residents in Macau and Hong Kong
as well as in the preparation of recommendations regarding policies aimed at Portuguese communities
said yesterday in an interview with media outlet TDM Radio Macau
Leitão was speaking on the sidelines of the first-ever meeting of the Council which
had a positive outcome with the assurance that there is an interest that the body has more regular meetings than the two per year that are the expected frequency
Francisca Beja and the Chancellor of the Consulate General
are some of the names participating in this new body
which takes office for the duration of the term of each new Consul-General
also includes the advisors of the Portuguese Communities including Rita Santos
The creation of the Council was heavily criticized at the announcement of its inception by lawmaker and president of the board of the Macau Civil Servants’ Association
who said that in the past there was never the need for such an advisory mechanism as the Portuguese Communities advisors were taking good care of such matters
an opinion not shared by Leitão or the Portuguese Foreign Affairs Ministry
which supervises the activities of the local consulate