NO END TO MADELEINE MYSTER Y

Christian Bruckner has just been released from prison in Germany and now faces another torrent of speculation as the “prime suspect” in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

 

People have opposing opinions on the subject, but most of the mainstream media show little doubt that his whereabouts and activities when Madeleine vanished in May 2007 need further investigation.

 

Having just served a seven-year sentence in a German prison for the rape of an elderly woman in the Algarve village of Praia da Luz in 2005, Bruckner, 49, still totally denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance from the same village nearly two decades ago. .

 

Just days before his release in Germany, he rejected an international letter of request for an interview from the British Metropolitan Police Neither the British or German police have sufficient evidence to charge him with any crime against Madeleine.

Still consider a possible danger to society Bruckner will wear an ankle bracket to monitor his movements.

 

 

The Week print and digital publication has noted that in October last year Bruckner was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences alleged to have taken place in Portugal.

 

The Guardian has reported that Bruckner was driven away from the prison entrance this Wednesday morning by his lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher. The Telegraph in the UK,  the New York Times and ABC Australia are among the top news outlets that have today. reported on the release. Rare support for Broukner’s declaration of innocence in the McCann case has come from a Norwegian private detective, Bernt Stellander, who spent seven years studying the area next to the village of Praia da Luz where Madeleine was staying with her parents and two siblings in a rented holiday apartment.

 

In his 843-page book, Stellander makes it abundantly clear that he believes Bruckner had nothing to do with Madeleine’s abduction, or indeed that she was abducted by anyone else.

FREEDOM FOR CHRISTIAN B.

 

Christian Brueckner, the so-called “prime suspect” in the Madeleine McCann mystery, is expected to be released from prison in Germany this week after serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a woman in Portugal.

 

Many mainstream newspapers and TV channels, particularly in the UK, have continued to closely associate Brueckner with the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine while she was on holiday with her family in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.

 

Brueckner, now 48 years old, has always denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance. Bernt Stellander, a Norwegian private detective, wrote a book, The Sudden Impulse, based on his seven-year on-site investigation, in which he concluded that Brueckner had nothing to do with Madeleine’s disappearance. In this, the most detailed document ever published on the subject, Stellander suggests that Brueckner’s opponents repeatedly produced hearsay allegations against him.

 

Authorities in Germany have suspected Brueckner of involvement in the McCann case, but “sadly for the Germans, the crime they were investigating never happened,” says Stellander. He has also told us: “It amazes me that after having had CB’s memory sticks in their possession for nine years, the German prosecutor still let the media speculate that there is something on them in relation to Madeleine. If there was, they would have charged him almost a decade ago.”

 

Stellander added: “It is fascinating to watch the media assist the German prosecution with their desperate attempt to frame this almost perfect  patsy. The only problem they have, besides that he’s innocent, is that he is alive.”

 

 “CB was seeing his lover every night that week, and with a breakdown of driving time from Luz it is very likely that he has what could be an alibi for the reported Thursday evening disappearance."

 

“The truth is sometimes too hard to accept, so people would rather see a perfect patsy take the fall, than to face their own poor judgement.. 

 

“As Mark Twain wrote: ‘it's easier to fool people, than to convince them they have been fooled.'"

U.S. - PORTUGAL RELATIONSHIP

 

         

2. Portugal's Prime Minister  Luís Montenegro

 

Portugal’s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, reaffirming Portugal’s commitment to strengthening the long-standing ties between the two nations.

 

The Portuguese American Journal (PAJ) is currently reporting that during the conversation, both leaders discussed expanding cooperation across economic, political, and cultural areas, underscoring the shared values and strategic partnership that unite Portugal and the United States.

 

The report quotes President Trump’s words of solidarity and condolences to Prime Minister Montenegro following the funicular crash in Lisbon on 4 September, which claimed 16 lives and left many injured.

 

“President Trump conveyed heartfelt support to the Portuguese people during this time of national mourning,” Prime Minister Montenegro said in a statement on social media.

“We remain committed to advancing our bilateral relations while honouring the memory of those affected by this tragedy.”

 

The PAJ editor, Carolina Matos, has noted that the close cultural and strategic ties between Portugal and the United States have long included cooperation through NATO and vibrant Portuguese heritage communities throughout America, most of them with roots in the Azores.

 

The states with the largest Portuguese populations are California (330,974), Massachusetts (279,722), Rhode Island (99,445), New Jersey (78,196), Florida (48,974), and Hawaii (48,527).

EXPANDING WAR CONCERNS

 

Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, met with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday and urged him to use his influence on Russia’s Vladimir Putin to help bring about peace in Ukraine.

 

Montenegro is the first Portuguese government leader to visit Beijing in nearly a decade. His visit came just a week after China’s spectacular parade of top military equipment, which seemed to equal, if not exceed, that of its major opponent, the United States.

 

The parade marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Japan. However, it also hinted at the possibility of a Third World War looming.

 

Montenegro told the Chinese leader:

“We really count on your contribution and the close relationship that China maintains with the Russian Federation in order for us to build, as fast as possible, a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

 

This appeal was fully in line with the condemnation by Portugal, together with its European Union and NATO allies, of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Economically, China is being accused of flooding the world with cheap goods, thereby supporting Russia’s war effort. At the same time, President Trump’s tariffs are crippling the exports of many countries, including those of Portugal.

 

Direct investment from China into Portugal in 2024 is estimated to have reached €12 billion by the end of the year. While Portugal’s economic relationship with China has been growing closer, there is still some way to go.

 

Meanwhile, Portugal continues to condemn Israel’s relentless devastation in Gaza, particularly this week’s extraordinary attack in Qatar, a key participant in peace talks and a close ally of the pro-Israel United States.

 

Then, on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, came Russia’s unprecedented violation of Poland’s airspace by numerous drones. The Polish government described it as “an act of aggression that posed a real threat to our citizens.”

 

It was regarded as a serious provocation and an example of worsening relations between Russia and both the European Union and NATO. Other EU countries are now taking steps to intercept Russian drones, while NATO—of which Portugal has long been a founding member—remains on high alert.

 

Portugal stands in full solidarity with the Polish and Ukrainian people.

THE LISBON TRADGEDY

 

During today’s nationwide mourning for the victims of yesterday’s tragedy in Lisbon, three different official groups have been continuing their separate investigations into the exact cause of the funicular tram crash that killed at least 17 people.

 

Initial speculation in the press suggests a cable attached to one of the funiculars snapped and caused the tram coming down to accelerate out of control, leave the tram lines and crash into a building in the centre of the city.

 

If this is correct, the company operating the funicular trams will have to explain how it could have happened as they regularly check their maintenance yearly and monthly, and also make inspections daily.

 

The system, whereby the cable on the tram one up, has been in operation without major problems for 150 years. 

 

The iconic system in the beautiful hilly capital city has long been commonplace for all residents and particular popular among tourists.

SUMMER HAS GONE, BUT CLIMATE CHANGE STILL HERE

Now that autumn has arrived, temperatures are dropping significantly after an exceptionally hot summer.

In the Algarve, highs a little above 25 C are replacing those often between the mid-30s and 40 C. Lows just a little above 15 C have already become the new norm.

Scientists emphasise that the exceptional summer heat that caused many deaths and devastating wildfires across northern and central Portugal in July and August were due to climate change. Portugal has long taken climate change very seriously with proactive and ambitious efforts, including reducing reliance as quickly as possible on fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal that cause the increase in C02 greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.

The leaders of three of the world’s top greenhouse gas polluters – China, India and Russia - have just attended a summit meeting in China, but have shown no intention in minimising world  concerns about global warming. On the contrary, China and India intend to continue buying massive amounts of crude oil from Russia. Turkey is another major buyer of Russian oil and other fossil fuels.

In addition to Russia, the two  biggest sellers of crude oil are Saudi Arabia and Iran. It means so much to their economies that there is no prospect of them stopping.

The Labour Party government in the United Kingdom is planning to produce offshore clean energy from wind and hydrogen. However, it has recently supported issuing new licences for the extraction of oil from existing fields in the North Sea to end existing infrastructures. The opposition Conservative Party last week announced its plan to maximise extraction of North Sea oil and gas and remove climate commitments, a major shift from the previous 2050 net zero emission goals.

Two hundred countries, including Portugal and the UK, signed up to the Paris Agreement in 2015 pledging to pursue efforts to limit temperature rises to 1.5 C and keep them well below 2.0 C compared with pre-industrial levels. Portugal is keeping that commitment. Many other countries are not.

Portugal, particularly the Algarve, is one of the most vulnerable regions in Europe to climate change. An autumn of temporary respite is all the more welcome.

EARTHQUAKES EXPLAINED

A millions-of years-old fissure in the tectonic plate off Cape St Vincent in the Algarve has just been discovered and thought to have revealed the mystery of the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.

That earthquake devastated Portugal’s capital city and surrounding area as well as all along the Algarve coast and beyond. It had a magnitude of 7.7 in its epicentre in the Atlantic Ocean  200 kilometres (120 miles) west-southwest of Cape St Vincent near Sagres, which is about 290 km (180 miles) southwest of Lisbon.

Saturday 1st November, normally celebrated in Portugal as All Saints Day, has also been described as Portugal’s “Darkest Day”. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people died in the capital and thousands more in the Algarve, Spain and Morocco.

The 1755 catastrophe, Europe’s worst earthquake ever, was accompanied by wildfires and massive tsunamis. Although unprecedented, it was the third major earthquake in the region, lesser ones being in 1332 and 1531. Scientists were again left questioning a 7.8 or 7.9 level earthquake in Portugal in 1969.

The study published this week suggests that the dense, hot mantle below the Earth’s surface causes a process called ‘declamation,’ causing severe stress. The result of the study could resemble the Pacific Ocean’s “ring of fire” that fuels about 430,000 earthquakes each year, and about 68% of all volcanic eruptions since 1960.