Category Archives: Portugal

Portugal angered at being left off England’s safe travel list

Posted on by

Foreign minister points out his country’s death rate from Covid-19 is a fraction of the UK’s

Portugal’s tourism sector reacted with fury and disbelief at England’s decision to maintain a quarantine regime for travellers coming from the country despite the UK having a higher death toll.

Portugal was left off a list of more than 50 countries that Westminster has deemed safe enough for travel without coronavirus-related restrictions, meaning holidaymakers returning from Portugal will have to quarantine for 14 days.

Continue reading...

Vogue Portugal under fire for mental health cover in ‘very bad taste’

Posted on by

Front of magazine’s ‘Madness’ issue attacked as attempt to glamorise mental illness

Vogue Portugal has been criticised for insensitive treatment of mental health on one of its latest magazine covers.

The image – one of four covers created for its July/August “Madness” issue – features model Simona Kirchnerova crouched in a bath flanked by two nurses, with one pouring water over her head. The cover has been criticised both for attempting to glamorise mental illness and for the use of the outdated term “madness”.

Continue reading...

Global report: first tourists arrive in Greece as Brazil passes 60,000 deaths

Posted on by

Spain and Portugal reopen border as global tourism industry predicted to lose up to £2.6tn

The first tourist flights in four months landed on the Greek island of Crete, and Spain and Portugal reopened their land border as European countries continued to ease travel restrictions, as Brazil recorded 60,000 deaths.

A charter plane carrying 172 passengers from Hamburg landed at Heraklion airport on Crete at 8am, minutes after another aircraft had arrived from the Czech Republic, re-establishing the island’s air links with the outside world.

Continue reading...

Britons to be allowed to holiday abroad from July via ‘air bridges’

Posted on by

Ministers also expected to end policy of quarantining arrivals to the UK for 14 days

Overseas holidays will be given the green light from early next month, with the government expected to suspend the 14-day quarantine period for a series of countries and also to set up so-called air bridge arrangements for overseas destinations.

While the full list of countries involved is still being confirmed, the initial phase of travel opening up is expected to involve European nations including France, Greece, Spain and possibly Portugal, with other potentially more distant locations to follow.

Continue reading...

It’s a botch-up! Monkey Christ and the worst art repairs of all time

Posted on by

As another religious painting restoration goes horribly wrong, we take a look at some of the finest examples of butchered statues, art installations and frescoes

In the latest instalment of the greatest genre of art news – and I write that as a lover of art – another restoration has gone awry. The word “awry” is being generous.

This is the revelation that a private collector, based in Valencia, paid €1,200 (£1,070) for a restoration job on baroque painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables. It is no longer immaculate. It now looks like an e-fit issued by a local police force, with those thin eyebrows popular in the 90s. What’s more, the restorer (who it turns out was a furniture restorer by trade) made two attempts – the second significantly worse than the first. That one, the e-fit one, has the Virgin Mary staring straight ahead, which isn’t even the same position as the original, which has Mary looking to the heavens.

Continue reading...

Madeleine McCann suspect told he was on German police radar in 2013

Posted on by

Mistake raises questions over whether Christian Brückner had time to dispose of evidence

Criminal investigators in Germany notified Christian Brückner as early as 2013 that he was on their radar in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, raising questions over whether they inadvertently allowed the suspect to dispose of evidence.

According to a report in the news weekly Der Spiegel, Brückner received a letter from police in Braunschweig on 4 November 2013 inviting him to be interviewed as a witness in the “missing person case Madeleine McCann”.

Continue reading...

‘I raised hell’: how people worldwide answered the call of World Oceans Day

Posted on by

From protecting fishing communities to regrowing coral reefs, Guardian readers and environmentalists share how they’re working to defend the ocean

World Oceans Day, which took place on Monday, is marked by hundreds of beach cleans and events globally. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, environmentalists and readers from around the world shared how they are continuing to work to protect the ocean, and told us about the local marine issues that matter to them.

Continue reading...

Rape victim asks Madeleine McCann detectives to review her case

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Madeleine McCann suspect investigated over two other missing children – reports

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

German prisoner is ‘strongest Madeleine McCann suspect yet’

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.” 

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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’

Continue reading...

Cave find shows Neanderthals collected seafood, scientists say

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Portugal freezes bank accounts of Isabel dos Santos after Angolan request

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...