Category Archives: Portugal

‘Pervasive and relentless’ racism on the rise in Europe, survey finds

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Poll of 6,752 people of African descent in 13 countries finds almost half have experienced discrimination

Racism is “pervasive and relentless” and on the rise in Europe, with nearly half of black people in member states surveyed by the EU reporting discrimination, from the verbal abuse of their children to being blocked by landlords from renting homes.

In every walk of life, from schools to the job market, housing and health, a survey by the EU’s rights agency of people of African descent found high levels of discrimination, with some of the worst results recorded in Austria and Germany, where far-right parties have been on the rise.

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European leaders pledge crackdown on antisemitism as incidents rise

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Bans on pro-Hamas celebrations and pro-Palestinian protests announced in several countries amid tensions

Officials across Europe are scrambling to curtail any spillover of tensions from the Israel-Hamas war, with Germany pledging a “zero tolerance” approach to antisemitism and France banning pro-Palestinian protests amid concerns for public order.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, told parliament on Thursday that while thousands of people had rallied in support of Israel, the country had also seen “disgraceful images on our streets in which the most brutal acts of terror have been celebrated in broad daylight”.

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Portugal to scrap ‘unjust’ tax breaks for foreign residents

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Low-tax scheme launched during financial crisis has stoked housing inflation that has drawn protests across country

Tax breaks for foreign residents in Portugal are “no longer justified”, the prime minister, Antonio Costa, has declared, promising to close the scheme for new applicants in 2024 after it stoked housing prices in one of western Europe’s poorest nations.

Launched in 2009, the scheme allows people who become residents by spending more than 183 days a year in the country to benefit from a special 20% tax rate on Portuguese-sourced income derived from “high value-added activities“”, such as doctors and university teachers.

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UK one of 32 countries facing European court action over climate stance

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Six Portuguese young people claim inadequate policies to tackle global heating breach their human rights

A key plank of the UK government’s defence against the biggest climate legal action in the world next week has fallen away as a result of the U-turn by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on green policies.

The UK is one of 32 countries being taken to the European court of human rights on Wednesday by a group of Portuguese young people. They will argue in the grand chamber of the Strasbourg court that the nations’ policies to tackle global heating are inadequate and in breach of their human rights obligations.

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Weather tracker: floods, storms and wildfires in Europe

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North of continent records unusually wet and windy summer conditions while Portugal and Spain battle flames

Floods struck northern and central Europe last week. Some areas of Slovenia recorded more than 200mm of rain in 12 hours on Thursday and Friday, causing extensive flooding across two-thirds of the country. Many buildings and roads were damaged, at an estimated cost of €500m (£432m), and six deaths were reported.

Storm Hans hit the Baltic region a few days later. Hans originated as an area of low pressure over eastern Europe, but quickly deepened as it travelled northwards towards the Baltic Sea. The low was unusually deep for a summer storm, and led to daily rainfall totals of 80 to 100mm in parts of southern Norway and Sweden earlier this week.

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‘Like a blowtorch’: Mediterranean gripped by wildfires as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal

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‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek prime minister as fires burn in northern Africa and southern Europe

Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

High temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000 firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.

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Weather tracker: heat dome raises temperatures in Spain and Portugal

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Phenomenon is forecast to expand as it strengthens, triggering conditions of more than 30C in parts of Europe

Parts of southern and western Europe have been experiencing unusually high temperatures. Areas of Spain and Portugal have recorded daily maximum temperatures in the high 30s celsius for more than a week, exceeding 40C in parts of southern Spain on Sunday. Italy, France, Germany and the Benelux region also reached the low- to mid-30s celsius in places at the weekend.

The heat is caused by a large area of high pressure that is stagnating over Europe and preventing the usual pattern of low pressure systems moving eastwards into Europe from the Atlantic. This is known as a blocking high and results in very dry and stable conditions, as the fronts associated with more dynamic weather patterns are forced away by the high pressure.

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Parents say baby’s sepsis death in Portugal ‘has destroyed all of us’

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Deza Powell and Paul Larochelle criticise authorities for delays in transferring Adonis to an ICU

The parents of a 10-month-old baby who died on holiday in Portugal have said their lives have been destroyed.

Deza Powell and Paul Larochelle said they wanted answers from the Portuguese authorities after their son, Adonis, died of sepsis on 19 May, 48 hours after he was first treated in hospital.

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Madeleine McCann: material found in Portugal search sent for analysis

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Police spent three days scouring reservoir after request by German authorities hoping to prove case against convicted rapist

Portuguese police have said material unearthed from a reservoir in Algarve will be sent to Germany for analysis after the first major search for Madeleine McCann in a decade came to a close.

After three days of excavation on a spit of land jutting into the Barragem do Arade reservoir in south Portugal, officers were stood down and a spokesperson for the Polícia Judiciária said the collected material would be delivered to the German authorities.

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Madeleine McCann: Portuguese and German police begin searching reservoir site

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Operation at site about 30 miles from where three-year-old went missing in 2007 is expected to last two days

Portuguese and German police launched a search of the banks of a reservoir in the Algarve for Madeleine McCann after photographs and video of the site were said to have been found in the possession of a man suspected of involvement in the child’s disappearance 16 years ago.

Officers with pickaxes, chainsaws and rakes started to examine the barren spot and surrounding woods by the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal on Tuesday morning, fanning out across a piece of land roughly 500 sq metres in size.

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Portuguese police to search reservoir for Madeleine McCann, say reports

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Search reportedly to take place at behest of German authorities about 25 miles from where Madeleine went missing

An active search for Madeleine McCann is to be carried out for the first time in nearly a decade in a reservoir in Portugal, according to reports.

Police officers are to search Barragem do Arade reservoir near the town of Silves in the Algarve, according to German media, about 25 miles (40km) from Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared aged three from her family’s holiday apartment on 3 May 2007.

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Portuguese parliament legalises euthanasia after long battle

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Decision to allow medically assisted dying has divided the deeply Catholic country

After a long battle, Portugal passed a law on Friday legalising euthanasia for people in great suffering and with incurable diseases, joining just a handful of countries around the world.

The issue has divided the deeply Catholic country and was strongly opposed by conservative president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a devout churchgoer.

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Portugal should apologise for role in slave trade, says its president

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Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa makes rare acknowledgement of centuries of forced transportation of millions of Africans

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has said his country should apologise and take responsibility for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, the first time a leader of the southern European nation has suggested such a national apology.

From the 15th to the 19th century, 6 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese vessels and sold into slavery, primarily to Brazil.

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Portugal: Catholic clergy abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, inquiry finds

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Independent commission reaches conclusion after hearing evidence from over 500 survivors last year

Catholic clergy in Portugal have abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, an independent commission said on Monday after hearing hundreds of survivors’ accounts.

Thousands of reports of paedophilia within the church have surfaced around the world, and Pope Francis is under pressure to tackle the scandal.

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Portuguese pooch crowned world’s oldest dog

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Thirty-year-old Bobi snatched title from US pup in upset; longevity credited to human food and ‘calm, peaceful environment’

It’s a dog’s life for one small US pup this weekend after a European rival essentially stole his bone.

Two weeks ago, Spike, an Ohio-based chihuahua mix rescue dog, was crowned the world’s oldest dog. But two days ago Bobi, a dog that guards livestock in Portugal, grabbed the title faster than a string of sausages, CNN reported.

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‘A search for ourselves’: shipwreck becomes focus of slavery debate

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Vessel that sank with more than 200 transported people onboard is being used to humanise the story of slavery

In 2015, a delegation from the Smithsonian Institution travelled to Mozambique to inform the Makua people of a singular and long-overdue discovery. Two hundred and twenty-one years after it sank in treacherous waters off Cape Town, claiming the lives of 212 enslaved people, the wreck of the Portuguese slave ship the São José Paquete D’Africa had been found. When told the news, a Makua leader responded with a gesture that no one on the delegation will ever forget.

“One of the chiefs took a vessel we had, filled it with soil and asked us to bring that vessel back to the site of the slave ship so that, for the first time since the 18th century, his people could sleep in their own land,” says Lonnie Bunch, now the secretary of the Smithsonian.

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Climate protesters in Lisbon storm building and urge minister to resign

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Portuguese economy minister António Costa e Silva was giving a speech when demonstrators got on to the premises

Hundreds of protesters angry about the climate crisis took to the streets of Lisbon on Saturday, with dozens storming a building where Portugal’s economy minister, António Costa e Silva, was speaking, demanding that the former oil executive resign.

Holding banners and chanting slogans, protesters demanded climate action. As some demonstrators broke into the building, those outside shouted: “Out Costa e Silva!”

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Weather tracker: unusual cold and snow spreading across North America

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Temperatures in Canada dropped by as much as 20C below normal this week

Significant cold is spreading widely across North America this weekend, having already affected northern and western parts so far this week.

During the night of 9 November, temperatures across central and western provinces of Canada, as well as many western states of the US, plummeted to at least 10C (18F) below normal, with some parts of Canada seeing temperatures as low as 20C (36F) below normal.

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Madeleine McCann’s parents lose challenge over Portuguese libel case

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Couple sought redress from European court of human rights after libel case against detective was overturned

The parents of Madeleine McCann have lost their European court of human rights challenge to the Portuguese supreme court’s decision to throw out their libel case against a former detective who implicated them in their daughter’s disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann sued Gonçalo Amaral, who led the botched police search for Madeleine in 2007, over statements he made in a book, documentary and newspaper interview alleging that they were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.

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Pregnant woman’s death causes outrage over crisis-hit Portugal health service

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Health minister quit this week after woman, 34, died while being moved from hospital due to lack of space

The death of a pregnant woman who could not receive treatment in Lisbon’s main hospital because of a lack of capacity has been met with outrage in Portugal, where a months-long health crisis has shut emergency services across the country and put maternity care under extreme pressure.

The 34-year-old woman was admitted to Lisbon’s Santa Maria hospital on 23 August with respiratory problems and high blood pressure. Owing to a lack of space in the neonatal service, she was transferred to another hospital, but she died after a heart attack in the ambulance.

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