Children's Geographies; 02/01/2023
(AN 163249011); ISSN: 14733285
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President of the Azores José Manuel Bolieiro visited Bermuda to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the first arrival of Portuguese immigrants, and last night [Nov 2] a cocktail reception and dinner was held at the Grotto Bay Beach Resort. Those in attendance included Deputy Premier Walter Roban, Opposition Leader Jarion Richardson and Governor Rena Lalgie. […]

The Department of Culture, in collaboration with the Portuguese Cultural Association of Bermuda, hosted a Bermudian Heartbeats Lecture featuring Azorean historian Eduardo Medeiros. A Government spokesperson said, “Last week [June 27], the Department of Culture hosted their latest Bermudian Heartbeats Lecture Series, in collaboration with the Portuguese Cultural Association of Bermuda. The topic was “175 Years […]

Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel warned on Tuesday of the downside of Europe's "cultural tendency" to "over-regulate" and called for a better "balance" between technological development and the defence of democracy and human rights. Read more. "Europe has a cultural tendency to…

Lenine Cunha, Portuguese Paralympian and Win for Meningitis campaign ambassador

As part of Penn State’s 2020 spring commencement activities, Christopher Abraham will represent the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese as its student marshal. Abraham, a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, will graduate with bachelor of arts degrees in Spanish and English.

A new analysis of waste recycling systems in Portugal highlights where kerbside (edge of pavement) collection systems could be optimised, to decrease their environmental impact. In this case, researchers found that the kerbside system was less favourable economically and environmentally due to more packaging and more fuel consumption per tonne of waste, compared to a system where recyclable materials are deposited by residents in large containers. But the researchers suggest that measures such as re-usable boxes and efficient collection routes could help to mitigate the impact of kerbside collection. While there is an environmental impact from waste collection, processing and disposal, this study only focused on the collection phase.

A study has evaluated the Municipal Urbanisation Tax (MUT)—a specific tax for the construction, maintenance, and reinforcement of urban infrastructure—in the city of Tomar, Portugal. The city has a new formula for the tax which is simpler and reinforces efforts to contain urban sprawl. The MUT is a one-time charge applied to new development through land subdivision (Loteamento) or individual buildings, similar to an impact fee. Other municipalities aiming to direct urban regeneration towards their brownfield sites, for example, could learn from the Portuguese experiences.

A Portuguese waste management system for packaging has brought a range of environmental, economic and social benefits, according to a recent study. One of the scheme’s main achievements was that it avoided around 116 kilotons (kt) of CO2 equivalent emissions in a single year, equal to the emissions associated with the electricity use of 124 000 households. These emissions were largely circumvented because the system recovers large amounts of energy and materials from the waste packaging.

Contamination of the aquatic environment by pharmaceutical drugs used in human and veterinary medicine is an emerging issue, as it can cause toxic effects in biological systems. This study explored how the marine organism Hediste diversicolor, a polychaete worm, responded to exposure to salicylic acid, a key component of aspirin. They found the species to adapt and respond in a way that minimised the effects of metabolising the contaminating compound, suggesting that the acid does not currently pose a threat to marine polychaetes.

​Nearly 10 percent of rocky surfaces on the island paradise of Madeira are covered in 'plasticrust.'

Portuguese consumers are concerned about the health of family members and the economy as a result of COVID-19 and are cutting back on spending.

The Western world remains where it has been for some time, delicately poised between anaemic recovery and a shock that could tip us back into economic contraction.

Perhaps the most conspicuous manifestation of the instability is that investors can't make up their minds whether the greater risk comes from surging inflation that stems largely from China's irrepressible growth or the deflationary impact of the unsustainable burden of debt on peripheral and not-so-peripheral eurozone (and other) economies.

And whence do investors flee when it all looks scary and uncertain, especially when there's a heightened probability of specie debasement - to gold, of course.

Unsurprisingly, with the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, implying that a writedown of Greece's sovereign obligations is an option, and with consumer inflation in China hitting 5.4% in March, there has been a flight to the putative safety of precious metal: the gold price hit a new record of $1,480.50 per ounce for June delivery yesterday and could well break through $1,500 within days (say the analysts). Silver is hitting 30-year highs.

In a way, if a sovereign borrower were to turn €100bn of debts (for example) into an obligation to repay 70bn euros, that would be a form of inflation - it has the same economic impact, a degradation of value, for the lender. But it is a localised inflation; only the specific creditors suffer directly (though there may be all sorts of spillover damage for others).

And only this morning there was another blow to the perceived value of a chunk of euro-denominated sovereign obligations. Moody's has downgraded Irish government debt to one level above junk - which is the equivalent of a bookmaker lengthening the odds the on that country's ability to avoid controlled or uncontrolled default.

Some would say that the Irish government has made a start in writing down debt, with the disclosure by the Irish finance minister Michael Noonan yesterday that he would want to impose up to 6bn euros of losses on holders of so-called subordinated loans to Irish banks.

But I suppose the big story in the eurozone, following the decision by the European Central Bank to raise interest rates, is that the region's excessive government and bank debts are more likely to be cut down to manageable size by a restructuring - writedowns of the amount owed - than by generalised inflation that erodes the real value of the principal.

The decision of the ECB to raise rates has to be seen as a policy decision that - in a worst case - a sovereign default by an Ireland, or Greece or Portugal would be less harmful than endemic inflation.

But is that right? How much damage would be wreaked if Greece or Ireland or Portugal attempted to reduce the nominal amount they owe to levels they felt they could afford?

Let's push to one side the reputational and economic costs to those countries - which are quite big things to ignore, by the way - and simply look at the damage to external creditors from a debt write down.

And I am also going to ignore the difference between a planned, consensual reduction in sums owed - a restructuring that takes place with the blessing of the rest of the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund - and a unilateral declaration of de facto bankruptcy by a Greece, Ireland or Portugal (although the shock value of the latter could have much graver consequences for the health of the financial system).

So the first question is how much of the impaired debt is held by institutions and investors that could not afford to take the losses.

Now I hope it isn't naive to assume that pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds and central banks that hold Greek, or Irish or Portuguese debt can cope with losses generated by a debt restructuring.

The reason for mild optimism in that sense is that those who finance investments made by pension funds and insurers - that's you and me by the way - can't get their money out quickly or easily. We simply have to grin and bear the losses to the value of our savings, when the stewards of our savings make lousy investment decisions.

As for hedge funds, when they make bad bets, they can suffer devastating withdrawals of finance by their investors, as and when the returns generated swing from positive to negative. But so long as those hedge funds haven't borrowed too much, so long as they are not too leveraged - and most aren't these days - the impact on the financial system shouldn't be significant.

Finally, if the European Central Bank - for example - ends up incurring big losses on its substantial holdings of Greek, Portuguese and Irish debt, it can always be recapitalised by solvent eurozone nations, notably by Germany and France.

However this is to ignore the node of fragility in the financial system, the faultline - which is the banking industry.

In the financial system's network of interconnecting assets and liabilities, it is the banks as a cluster that always have the potential to amplify the impact of debt writedowns, in a way that can wreak wider havoc.

That's built into their main function, as maturity transformers. Since banks' creditors can always demand their money back at whim, but banks can't retrieve their loans from their creditors (homeowners, businesses, governments), bank losses above the norm can be painful both for banks and for the rest of us.

Any event that undermines confidence in the safety of money lent to banks, will - in a best case - make it more difficult for a bank to borrow and lend, and will, in the worst case, tip the bank into insolvency.

Which, of course, is what we saw on a global systemic scale from the summer of 2007 to the end of 2008. That's when creditors to banks became increasingly anxious about potential losses faced by banks from a great range of loans and investments, starting with US sub-prime.

So what we need to know is whether the banking system could afford losses generated by Greek, Irish and Portuguese defaults.

And to assess this, we need to know how much overseas banks have lent to the governments of these countries and also - probably - to the banks of these countries, in that recent painful experience has told us that bank liabilities become sovereign liabilities, when the going gets tough.

According to the latest published analysis by the Bank for International Settlements (the central bankers'central bank), the total exposure of overseas banks to the governments and banks of Greece, Portugal and Ireland is "just" $362.2bn, or £224bn,

Now let's make the heroic guess that a rational writedown of this debt to a sustainable level would see a third of it written off - which would generate $121bn (£75bn) of losses for banks outside the countries concerned.

If those loans were spread relatively evenly between banks around the world, losses on that scale would be a headache, but nothing worse.

But this tainted cookie doesn't crumble quite like that. Just under a third of the relevant exposure to public sector and banks of the three debt-challenged states, some $118bn, sits on the balance sheets of German banks, according to the BIS.

For all the formidable strength of the German economy, the balance sheets of Germany's banks are by no means the strongest in the world. German banks would not be able to shrug off $39bn or £24bn of potential losses on Portuguese, Irish and Greek loans as a matter of little consequence.

This suggests that it is in the German national interest to help Portugal, Ireland and Greece avoid default.

If you are a Greek, Portuguese or Irish citizen this might bring on something of a wry smile - because you would probably be aware that the more punitive of the bailout terms imposed by the eurozone on these countries (or about to be imposed in Portugal's case) is the expression of a German desire to spank reckless borrowers.

But as I have mentioned here before, reckless lending can be the moral (or immoral) equivalent of reckless borrowing. And German banks were not models of Lutheran prudence in that regard.

If punitive bailout terms make it more likely that Ireland, Greece or Portugal will eventually default, you might wonder whether there has been an element of masochism in the German government's negotiating position.

FIFA 20 Team Of The Season So Far continues this week, hopefully with the additional release of the Portuguese Liga Nos FUT Squad. Here some predictions on who might be included, plus when they'll be announced.

It is the perfect local renewable material, and a great insulator too.

It's so much nicer to feel a warm natural material in your pocket than cold slippery plastic.

Lenine Cunha, Portuguese Paralympian and Win for Meningitis campaign ambassador

Lenine Cunha, Portuguese Paralympian and Win for Meningitis campaign ambassador

After singing an African lullaby, O lele, Kalki Koechlin is now singing a Portuguese lullaby, Nessa rua, to baby daughter Sappho. Taking to Instagram, the actor posted a video in which she is seen strumming the ukulele and singing to the two-month-oldKoechlin informed that she learnt it while playing the Portuguese character Tara in the web series, Smoke. It seems the baby does not sleep till mommy sings.

 

 

 

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A post shared by Kalki (@kalkikanmani) onApr 27, 2020 at 10:39pm PDT

Kalki Koechlin is known to be an eco-warrior and the actress has many a time appealed to her fans to take care of the environment more. Looks like the actress believes in doing what she preaches!

Baby Sappho was both on February 7. Kalki, who turned mother, even shared a long post thanking everyone for her wishes and positive energy. She also gave all the respect to all the women who go through the intense and gruesome experience of birth.

On the professional front, Kalki Koechlin was last seen in Zee5's Bhram and Netflix' Sacred Games.

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps.

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Portuguese footballer Bernardo Silva has reportedly found love during the ongoing Coronavirus-caused lockdown.

The Manchester City star, who split from his French model girlfriend Alicia Verrando two years ago, is said to be in a relationship with Portuguese model Ines Tomaz.

According to a report in the Portuguese media, Bernardo has been in lockdown near Lisbon in Portugal with Ines for over a month, but the couple are not keen to rush into things.

"They've not been together for very long and they want to take things slowly," a source told Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha.

It is learnt that Bernardo and Ines have been watching Netflix, playing the piano and even learning to cook together. Bernardo revealed last week that he was in quarantine with a group, including Ines, and had even posted a picture of the bunch on social media.

"Hey guys, it's been over a month that we're all locked down in our homes so I have decided to show you a little bit of what our quarantine looks like. This is the group of friends with whom I'm spending my quarantine," he wrote.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

Company: Golden Opportunities Private Limited
Experience: 3 to 9
location: Chennai
Ref: 24738579
Summary: Description Portuguese Language Specialist Job Description: ? Looking for candidates who interact well in Portuguese -2 way communication. Candidate should able to read, write and translate from Portuguese to English and....

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho addressed the OECD Council of Ambassadors and met with senior OECD officials to discuss ways to boost productivity, improve skills and create jobs, and the role of the state in supporting inclusive growth.

This paper provides empirical evidence on links between the productivity of Portuguese firms and a number of policy variables in Portugal. The analysis is based on a census of Portuguese manufacturing companies, covering more than 40,000 firms between 2006 and 2011.

Suspected suicide comes as Angolan billionaire indicted for money laundering

Ronaldo beat off competition from Atletico Madrid starlet Joao Felix, Manchester City's Bernardo Silva, Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes and Wolves' Ruben Neves.

With Bruno Fernandes set for a £60m move to Manchester United and Gedson Fernandes loaned to Tottenham, Portuguese players have once again taken prominence in a transfer window.

The average house price in Australia was $660,583 in 2019. But in villages across Europe, less than $60,000 will buy you split level villas, stone walled cottages and four-storey hilltop homes.

Jorge Mendes' house in Portugal has been searched by Portuguese tax authorities as part of an ongoing investigation.

AS report that Cristiano Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes has spent a significant amount of money buying 200,000 gowns and three ventilators for the hospital in Porto.

The 71-year-old multi-millionaire flew on a private jet to his £3 million villa on the Algarve where he said he would spend 14 days in quarantine although restrictions will actually be lifted in three.

Primeira Liga and the final of the Portuguese Cup are the "only exception" to a ruling that has kept all other professional sport suspended, Portugal's Prime Minister said.

Portuguese poet Ana Luísa Amaral will participate in a conversation and reading from her new book of poems What’s in a name? (New Directions, 2019) translated by Margaret Jull Costa. Amaral is one of Portugal’s most exciting poets whose work has been described as “small hypnotic miracles […] reminiscent of Szymborska and of Emily Dickinson”. This event will include a display of special editions of authors that have shaped Amaral’s literary work and scholarship, like Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, and Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. Sponsored by the Hispanic Division in collaboration with Instituto Camões and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University. 

Free tickets available via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-reading-conversation-with-ana-luisa-amaral-tickets-58858781199

Click here for more information.

Portuguese poet Ana Luísa Amaral will participate in a conversation and reading from her new book of poems What’s in a name? (New Directions, 2019) translated by Margaret Jull Costa. Amaral is one of Portugal’s most exciting poets whose work has been described as “small hypnotic miracles […] reminiscent of Szymborska and of Emily Dickinson”. This event will include a display of special editions of authors that have shaped Amaral’s literary work and scholarship, like Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, and Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. Sponsored by the Hispanic Division in collaboration with Instituto Camões and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University. 

Date and time: Monday, April 8, 2019 / Book display (4:00-5:00 p.m.) / Reading and Conversation (5:00-6:00 p.m.)
Location: Hispanic Reading Room (LJ-240), Thomas Jefferson Building (2nd floor), Library of Congress.

Free tickets available via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-reading-conversation-with-ana-luisa-amaral-tickets-58858781199

Click here for more information.

Online Resource

Online Resource

Hayden Library - PC5228.C65 C66 2018

Online Resource

Rotch Library - DS498.K36 2015

Rotch Library - DS498.A43 2015