Category Archives: Portugal

Rape victim asks Madeleine McCann detectives to review her case

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Exclusive: Irish woman says an earlier assault by new McCann suspect is similar to that on her

An Irish rape victim has asked detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann to review her case, after learning that a new suspect in the British girl’s abduction was convicted of a sexual assault bearing a similarity to her own experience.

Hazel Behan was working in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, 30 minutes’ drive from where Madeleine was abducted, when she was viciously assaulted by a stranger in her apartment in 2004. The assailant was never caught.

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German suspect in Madeleine McCann case linked to two more child disappearances

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Father of six-year-old who vanished in Portugal in 1996 hopes to finally learn what happened to his son

The father of a six-year-old German boy who disappeared on holiday in Portugal nearly 24 years ago says the recent dramatic developments in the Madeleine McCann case have given him hope he will finally learn what happened to his son.

Andreas Hasee said a German investigator called him on Friday to confirm they were reopening the case of his missing son, René, following the identification of the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance of three-year old Madeleine.

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‘We want to move on’: Praia da Luz reacts to news in Madeleine McCann case

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Recent developments stir painful memories for residents of small Portuguese coastal town

The sunny street that leads to the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz is quiet, its silence interrupted only by the chirping of birds carried on a warm breeze.

A pair of blue curtains is drawn across the window of the ground-floor apartment, the old balcony door has been replaced by an iron one and the hedge outside is perfectly trimmed.

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Madeleine McCann suspect investigated over two other missing children – reports

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Christian Brückner may be linked to disappearance of a five-year-old girl in Germany and six-year-old boy in Portugal

German prosecutors are investigating whether the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was involved in a similar case of a five-year-old girl who went missing in Germany in 2015.

Reports on Friday night also said authorities were looking into connections with the disappearance of a six-year-old German boy in Portugal in 1996.

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German prisoner is ‘strongest Madeleine McCann suspect yet’

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Police in UK, Portugal and German launch joint appeal for information about Christian Brückner

Detectives in three countries have appealed for evidence in relation to the strongest suspect they have had in 13 years to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, as German authorities said they believe she is dead.

Circumstantial evidence has convinced detectives that a 43-year-old German child sexual offender and rapist, identified by Portuguese sources on Thursday as Christian Brückner, is their prime suspect as it emerged he has been known to police for years.

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Madeleine McCann parents say focus on suspect ‘potentially very significant’

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Spokesman says it is first time in 13 years he can recall police fixing sights on one individual

The parents of Madeleine McCann believe the identification of a convicted German sex offender as the key suspect in their daughter’s disappearance is “potentially very significant”, their spokesman has said.

An international appeal for information is under way after police in Britain and Germany revealed that a serving prisoner is the new prime suspect in the disappearance of the three-year-old on 3 May 2007.

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Spain rekindles a radical idea: a Europe-wide minimum income

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Podemos leader enlists Portugal and Italy to lobby for policy as depression looms for coronavirus-ravaged southern Europe

It’s been proposed, probed and pushed to the margins of the European Union for more than two decades. Now, as Europe reels from tens of thousands of coronavirus deaths and millions of lost jobs in the worst recession for generations, ministers from Spain, Italy and Portugal say the time has come to revive a radical idea: a pan-EU minimum income.

“This is the moment for debates about social protection,” Pablo Iglesias, Spain’s deputy prime minister for social rights and leader of Podemos, told the Guardian. “Anyone who finds themselves in a vulnerable situation should have access to protection mechanisms that allow them to fill their fridge and care for their family.” 

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British ambassador plays musical tribute to Covid-19 health workers in UK and Portugal – video

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The British ambassador to Portugal, who has been posting videos of himself playing the piano in honour of health workers in the UK and Portugal, has become something of an internet sensation. Chris Sainty began sharing his performances on Twitter during the Covid-19 lockdown. In a video where is he is playing the tune of You’ll Never Walk Alone, he wrote: 'It is for the bravest of the brave: the nurses, carers and doctors of the NHS and the SNS’

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Cave find shows Neanderthals collected seafood, scientists say

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Discovery adds to growing evidence that Neanderthals were very similar to modern humans

Neanderthals made extensive use of coastal environments, munching on fish, crabs and mussels, researchers have found, in the latest study to reveal similarities between modern humans and our big-browed cousins.

Until now, many Neanderthal sites had shown only small-scale use of marine resources; for example, scattered shells. But now archaeologists have excavated a cave on the coast of Portugal and discovered a huge, structured deposit of remains, including from mussels and limpets, dating to between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago.

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‘Do not let this fire burn’: WHO warns Europe over coronavirus

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Europe now centre of pandemic, says WHO, as Spain prepares for state of emergency

The World Health Organization has stepped up its calls for intensified action to fight the coronavirus pandemic, imploring countries “not to let this fire burn”, as Spain said it would declare a 15-day state of emergency from Saturday.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said Europe – where the virus is present in all 27 EU states and has infected 25,000 people – had become the centre of the epidemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined apart from China.

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Portugal freezes bank accounts of Isabel dos Santos after Angolan request

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Africa’s richest woman suspect in criminal investigation into misappropriation of funds

Portugal has ordered a freeze on the bank accounts of the billionaire businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, who is currently the subject of a criminal investigation in Angola.

The public prosecutor’s office in Lisbon confirmed reports that dozens of personal and corporate accounts belonging to Dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, were the subject of a seizure order.

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‘People came to make noise’: Porto’s abandoned mall turned underground music hub

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Musicians say Porto’s DIY studio complex Stop is a crucial arts space in a city dominated by tourism, but authorities say it’s unsafe and must close

All photographs by Mark Scholes

A mile east of the Luís I Bridge in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Porto, Portugal’s second city, sits a bleak and decaying building.

Initially a three-storey car park, then a thriving shopping centre, the building has more recently suffered from years of neglect. Its walls are sprayed with graffiti and plastered with stickers, and the windows are blacked out.

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McDonald’s Portugal apologises for ‘Sundae Bloody Sundae’ ads

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Halloween promotion was not intended to be ‘insensitive reference’ to historical events

McDonald’s in Portugal has apologised for using the slogan “Sundae Bloody Sundae” in a Halloween campaign for its ice-cream puddings.

It appears the chain decided to celebrate the spooky season with a two-for-one offer on the strawberry dessert and a nod to the early U2 song Sunday Bloody Sunday.

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Portugal election result cements modest gains for Europe’s centre-left

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Socialists now have incentive to govern alone rather than seeking formal alliance

Portugal’s Socialists won Sunday’s general elections but fell short of an absolute majority, leaving the prime minister, António Costa, needing to negotiate a delicate new alliance with the far-left parties that backed him last time around.

Cementing a modest and partial recovery for Europe’s centre-left after a disastrous few years of fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, the Socialists won 106 seats, up from 86 in the previous parliament, against 77 for the opposition centre-right Social Democrats (PSD), their worst result since 1983.

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Portugal election: Socialists retain power with increased share of the vote

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António Costa bucks the trend of declining fortunes for Europe’s left, but remains short of an outright majority

Portuguese prime minister António Costa’s Socialist party has won the country’s general election but has fallen short of an outright majority, according to exit polls.

The Socialists (PS) took 36.65% of the vote, followed by the centre-right Social Democrats (PSD) with 27.9%, according to near total results released by the interior ministry early on Monday.

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Room in the middle: the artisan revival of Portugal’s interior

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A small but growing number of investors are hoping to reverse the slow-motion decline of rural areas

The decade has not been kind to Manteigas. Nestled in the mountains in the Portuguese interior, this pretty town has suffered a familiar kind of slow-motion decline.

“Once the factories started closing, then the schools closed, the shops closed, even the chapel closed,” says Maria José Santos Salvado, a wizard with needle and thread who was laid off as a textile patcher when her factory shut in 2011. “All the young people left. Manteigas became a town of old people.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo will not face criminal charges over rape allegations

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  • Juventus star had been accused of 2009 assault in Las Vegas
  • Prosecutor says there is not enough evidence to bring charges

Prosecutors in Las Vegas say that Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo will not face criminal charges over allegations he raped a woman at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

After reviewing a police investigation into the claims, Clark County district attorney Steve Wolfson said on Monday there is not enough evidence to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt, and no charges will be filed.

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Firefighters battle wildfires sweeping parts of central Portugal

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About 1,800 firefighters struggle to contain blazes that have injured at least 20 people

About 1,800 firefighters have been struggling to contain wildfires in central Portugal that have injured 20 people, including eight firefighters.

The fires broke out on Saturday across three fronts in the district of Castelo Branco, about 125 miles (200km) north-east of Lisbon, Portugal’s civil protection agency said.

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