Portugal's general discussion (general events)

[Mike88]

Crimes: Trial of the lesbian couple who killed and dismembered a man's body in order to steal his money, started today.

https://twitter.com/sapo/status/1364503584797323265

Dead for 70 thousand euros: the case of the young man murdered and dismembered by a couple in the Algarve goes to trial - SAPO 24

The defendants, a nurse and a security guard, are accused by the Public Ministry (MP) of the death of Diogo Gonçalves, in March 2020, in order to seize the money he had received in compensation for the death of his mother - run over in Albufeira, in 2016. The case ended in the death of the 21-year-old, after being drugged and asphyxiated.

The two women are accused by the MP for crimes of qualified homicide, desecration of a corpse, two crimes of illegitimate access, a crime of computer fraud, simple theft and use of a vehicle.

Maria and Mariana were girlfriends and lived together. After being arrested, writes Expresso newspaper, they shared a cell in Tires' chair, but ended up getting angry, separated and now each accuses the other of having been the real instigator of the murder.

According to the MP, the defendants, Mariana Fonseca, 24, nurse, and Maria Malveiro, 21, security, “went to the victim's home, a computer engineer, located in the Silves area, where they gave him disguised drugs to make him fall asleep and then squeezed his neck until they kill him ”. The objective was to steal money from him, as he had received 70,000 euros in compensation for the death of his mother, run over in Albufeira area in 2016.

After having removed several valuables, including his cell phone, from his home, they took him “in his own car to the defendants' house, located in the Lagos area”.

The weekly Expresso newspapers details what happened next. The next day, after having breakfast, they chopped up the corpse in the garage with a cleaver they stole from a supermarket. "They cut off his head, arms and feet. They still thought about removing his teeth, but, as the boy's tongue had been stretched forward (that's what happens to suffocation victims), they gave up. They also couldn't cut the legs, because the blood started to splash and they got scared. They put everything in big garbage bags and went to rest ".

Also as in the series, the body was stored in several trash bags, and these were left in two places. Those that contained part of the body, the trunk and the severed fingers, were thrown into the sea next to Forte Beliche, in Sagres. The rest, with their heads, arms and feet, were abandoned in Pego do Inferno, near Tavira.

The MP indicated that, during those days and until they were detained on April 1, the defendants made payments and picked up with the victim's debit card and cell phone. In total, they had used just over 2 thousand euros.
(...)

[Mike88]

INE confirms GDP fall of -7.6% in 2020:

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1365260398459576323

Statistics Portugal confirms historical GDP drop of 7.6% in 2020

The pandemic caused a 7.6% drop in the Portuguese economy in 2020 compared to 2019, confirmed the second estimate from the National Statistics Institute (INE) released this Friday. The last Government forecast made in October pointed to an annual contraction of 8.5%, but Finance Minister João Leão had already admitted that the performance of GDP had been better. The stronger performance of the fourth quarter compared to the one anticipated contributed to this result, continuing the economic recovery.
(...)
The biggest negative contribution (-4.6 percentage points) came from domestic demand, mainly due to the contraction in private consumption. Net external demand (exports minus imports) made a negative contribution of three percentage points, "mainly reflecting the unprecedented decline in tourism exports".

Overall 2020 numbers:

GDP: 202,7 billion euros
GDP per capita: 19,688 euros
Unemployment: 6.8%
Debt: 270,5 billion euros
Debt %: 133.5%
Deficit: -5.1%

[Mike88]

Violence in football: Benfica files complaint against vandalism and death threats towards their President.

https://twitter.com/observadorpt/status/1365980190996914176

Benfica will file complaint for death threats to Vieira and vandalism in the Houses, “Rua Vieira” movement demarcates itself from these actions

Benfica will move forward with several complaints of the strips that have been posted not only in the vicinity of Estádio da Luz but also scattered throughout the city of Lisbon and in the Benfica Club Houses throughout the country.

The final straw arrived at dawn from Thursday to Friday, after the elimination of the "reds" in the Europa League against Arsenal, with a stripe with death threats to Luís Filipe Vieira, president of the club. “Vieira, resign or we will kill you” and “Death to the Vieira family” were the two inscriptions placed on transparent canvases in black ink in the vicinity of Luz, in the tunnel leading to the stadium through the Colombo entrance.

“These types of demonstrations are negligible and discredit all the protests that various movements have made. We also appreciate that you do not send us messages to threaten family members of officers or anyone else. If you want to help orderly, on 03/03/21 at Cosme Damião roundabout and Casas do Benfica all over the country !!!! Just to make it clear, this last stripe left in Luz, was not made by the same group that made all the others they have seen on the Internet. Benfica doesn't give up! ”explained the“ Movimento Rua Vieira ”on its Facebook page, following a text with the image of a conversation sent in the same direction.
(...)
Benfica officials will also complain about the vandalization of several Benfica club houses, with inscriptions against Luís Filipe Vieira and the current "red" leaders who have already been condemned by Domingos Almeida Lima, vice-president of the Board who regretted that they were acts “presumably done by people from Benfica ”.
(...)

[Mike88]

Aviation regulator knock down Lisbon new airport project:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1366723014650454016

Regulator blocks construction of Montijo airport

The National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) announced the rejection of the request for prior appraisal of the feasibility of the construction of the Complementary Airport in Montijo, thus halting the progress of the project.

The request had been made by ANA - Airports of Portugal and was now "struck down" by the aviation regulator.

At issue in the process presented by ANA is the lack of an opinion on the part of the municipality of Moita, one of the cities in the confluence area of the Montijo air base.

"Within the scope of the instruction of the request, ANA annexed, among other elements, opinions from the Municipal Councils of the potentially affected municipalities, either for unobstructed surfaces or for environmental reasons, with the existence of two favorable opinions, two unfavorable and the failure to present an opinion by one of the Chambers ", says the ANAC in a statement released this Tuesday.

The law, explains the regulator, determines that "it constitutes a basis for preliminary rejection on the absence of a favorable opinion from all the municipal councils of the potentially affected municipalities".

For this reason, ANAC considers that "it is obliged to reject the request outright, in compliance with the principle of legality and the mandatory command of the legislator contained in the aforementioned legal provision, with no technical assessment of the merit of the project".

In February last year, the Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, defended in Parliament the change of the current airport certification legislation.

“The legal framework that regulates these matters obviously needs to be revised, because it is absolutely incomprehensible that it was the mayor of Moita to deny” an opportunity that affects the country, defended Pedro Nuno Santos.

"It should not be the president of the Moita City Council to decide for the country, for the Lisbon region and even now, if we want to get closer, for Alcochete, Barreiro and Montijo", added the minister with the portfolio of infrastructure.

In reaction to the Government's intentions, the mayor of Moita, Rui Garcia (CDU), at the time rebelled against this Government position and even spoke of “cheating”.

"In common language this is called cheating, but from the point of view of governance, I don't know what to call it," Rui Garcia told Renascença.

ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal and the State signed, on January 8, 2019, the agreement for the expansion of Lisbon airport capacity, with an investment of 1.15 billion euros until 2028 to increase the current airport of Lisbon and transform the Montijo air base into a new airport.

The new airport controversy goes on, and on, and on... A saga that began in... 1969. Yep xD

[Mike88]

Violence in the suburbs of Lisbon: Police attacked by a mob that wanted to stop the police to detain a person.

https://twitter.com/cmjornal/status/1366756601844162561

PSP attacked by a group of 30 people in the neighborhood of Oeiras. See the images

An alert for noise on a public road ended with a siege of PSP agents in Navegadores neighborhood, in Talaíde, Oeiras. Two officers were injured and three members of the same family were arrested.

According to the Metropolitan Command of Lisbon, the case occurred at 1:00 am on Tuesday, when a patrol responded to a report that a group of people were making excessive noise.

But as soon as the patrol arrived, it was surrounded by a group of 30 people, some with sticks, stones and bottles in their hands. A 51-year-old man even assaulted one of the policemen and was arrested.

This situation ignited even more the spirits. Family members and friends of the detainee tried to avoid detention and only the arrival of reinforcements prevented this. The videos posted on social networks demonstrate only the end of the police intervention.

At this time, two relatives of the first detainee, aged 24 and 26, were also arrested. Throughout the situation, the agents were threatened with death. At the police station, a knife was discovered in the possession of the 51-year-old man who had been initially detained.

The three detainees are charged with crimes against authority, threats and illegal possession of a weapon.

[Mike88]

Covid-19: F**k fair in Monção canceled, once again, because of the pandemic.

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1367172438136664071

F**k fair falls to the ground again because of the pandemic

For the second consecutive year, the already famous Feira da Foda (F**k Fair) will not be held, an event that marks the calendar of the parish of Pias, of the municipality of Monção and that, in general, distributes “good mood” throughout the country as soon as it is announced , for obvious reasons. But the fact is that the theme of the fair is food: it is dedicated to roast lamb in the style of the land and, thanks to the popularity that gave it its baptism name, it was in a good rhythm of growth and affluence. This was exactly one year ago, when it was one of the first events to be canceled due to the declaration of a pandemic. "Tears come to my eyes, believe me," Agostinho Correia, of the Confraria da Foda and the parish council of Pias, which organizes the event, commented to Fugas, after confirming the cancellation of this year's edition.

The fair, which opened in 2017, should have had a mega edition in 202o, after its success in 2019, in which it received about 35,000 visitors: “We were going to more than double the space and triple the seats”, recalls Correia, adding that there would be a kind of upgrade, even in the concept, including "more comfort" and "decorations alluding to the dish" that gives the party its name. "When we started, from Porto down, nobody knew what Foda was and people sometimes laughed or admired, now everyone knows what it is", says the co-founder.

Therefore, everything was prepared to grow the fair. "The idea was to have a covered space with some 3500m2 and seating for 1250 people", says Correia, indicating that, although the plans were in cod waters because of the pandemic, these remain and should come into force in 2022. And there is already a date, to keep hope: 1, 2 and 3 April.

The fair, which has the official motto “Degustar da Foda”, focuses on showing the “typical dish” consisting of the “Monção style lamb, in a clay bowl, taken to the wood oven”, well accompanied for another jewel in the crown, the “Alvarinho, red and sparkling”. The highlights of the program usually also include “tasquinhas, producers of cattle, agricultural machines, market stalls, regional handicrafts, popular music and Minho festival”.
(...)

How was the fair born?

The name is "assumed" as provocateur, says co-founder Agostinho Correia. The official website of the event created to promote the typical local dish, summarizes “The genesis of Foda”. The story told is like this: the inhabitants who went to the fair to buy rés (cattle) were faced with sly sellers, who, so that the animals appeared to be fatter, put “salt in the forage, which forced the cattle to drink a lot of water”. "At the fair, the cattle appeared with their bellies full of water and heavy, looking really well cared for, very fat. The unwary, who were unaware of the 'morning' bought those authentic" water balloons "and, when they realized the deception , exclaimed in a good Minho way: “What a great f**k!” And from here, comes the the expression, says the fraternity: the term has become “popularized, over time, and the dish has come to be called Foda.” In such a way, it is read in the organization's texts, which is “Often, at festive times, you hear women from Minho exclaim: 'O Maria, have you ever f****d the f**k?'.

I was actually planning to go last year. Let's see if next year there is the opportunity.

[Mike88]

Infarmed approves costly medicine after intense social pressure for treatment of a 24 year-old woman with cystic fibrosis:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1369300163517382671

Infarmed approves treatment request for Constança Bradell.

Infarmed approved 14 requests for the Special Use Authorization (AUE) of Kaftrio, for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, including six from Lisbon North University Hospital Center (CHULN), a source from the agency confirmed to Lusa.

Among the approvals is the request for the use of Constança Bradell's medicine, which exposed, on social media, the delay in the approval in Portugal of the treatment for cystic fibrosis, a genetic, hereditary and rare disease.

The CHULN clinical director said on Monday that innovative treatment could soon reach five more patients at that hospital, which includes Santa Maria Hospital and Pulido Valente Hospital.

Constança Braddell used social media to expose the fight against cystic fibrosis, at a time when the disease began to have a serious impact on her daily life.

After the indignation generated on social media about the case, Infarmed clarified that he had not received any request for AUE from Santa Maria Hospital, which accompanies the young woman's case. A source from CHULN explained to PUBLICO newspaper that Constança was being negotiated in the early access program for the medicine, but the hospital decided this Monday to make the request for AUE to ensure that the young woman had access to the medicine.

[Mike88]

Airlines crisis: Groundforce Portugal, a subsidiary company of TAP Air Portugal, in crisis as workers demand unpaid salaries and the main Private shareholder has his shares pledged.

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1369186218177662981

Groundforce at risk of insolvency. Nationalization is a last resort.

Groundforce remains without money to pay salaries and negotiations between the private shareholder and the Government are at a deadlock. Nationalization is seen as a last resort, although it is not excluded, but insolvency is also an option on the table.

The owner of Pasogal (which owns 50.1% of Groundforce), Alfredo Casimiro, and the Government have been in the past few days negotiating the release of money for the overdue wages of 2,400 workers. The financing was an advance on services to be provided to TAP (which, in addition to holding 49.9% of Groundforce, is also a customer).

For this, the entrepreneur was asked to give his participation as a guarantee. But part of these actions is already under another pledge, making the deal impossible. There is already more than a pledge on part of Casimiro's shares in Groundforce, according to ECO, making it very difficult to keep the support patterns as they were being defined.

TAP is trying to understand the conditions of these existing pledges, in particular what the value is, whether or not it is being executed and in favor of who it is. Part of it relates to the bank (which will initially not have an interest in managing participation by offering the possibility of selling or possibly another entrepreneur), but there is another pledge that is not held by the bank.

Trying to resume the same solution, but with the pledge holder is one of the possibilities. If it is not possible, then it will be necessary to explore other options. Insolvency is a possibility, but it would oblige TAP to come up with a plan B for the expected resumption of the summer, which could include doing its own handling, creating a new company or hiring services from Portway.
(...)

[Mike88]

Minister of Infrastructures files a court complaint against the main shareholder of Groundforce for tapping and leaking a meeting about the Groundforce crisis to the media:

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1369727289785778176

Minister advances with criminal complaint against Casimiro for disclosure of private conversation

The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, filed a criminal complaint against Groundforce's private shareholder, Alfredo Casimiro, for the unauthorized recording and disclosure of a private conversation between the two about TAP. At stake is a two and a half minute recording of one of the meetings, on March 2, about the situation of the handling company.

"The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing advanced with criminal participation in the Public Ministry against Alfredo Casimiro", revealed an official source of the ministry to ECO, when questioned about the recording. The Public Prosecutor's Office will now investigate whether there was a crime in improper recording and disclosure of private conversation.

The conversation is part of a larger meeting and a section on TAP is cut off. In this, Casimiro is heard to question the minister about the injection of public money into TAP and whether the private shareholder, Humberto Pedrosa, is also placing capital in the same proportion. Pedro Nuno Santos replies that he does not and explains that the Government is still negotiating with Brussels, but that in the context of the restructuring of TAP it should be required that part or all of the 1.2 billion loan be converted into capital.
(...)
It is not possible to understand from the recording why the private shareholder of TAP was being the subject of conversation between them, but it may have been a parallel with the situation of financial difficulties of Groundforce (which is 50.1% owned by Pasogal de Casimiro and 49.9% by TAP). The conversation took place at the beginning of negotiations between Pedro Nuno Santos and the businessman to try to find an emergency solution for the overdue wages of 2,400 workers.

Shortly after the exchange on TAP, Casimiro took the floor, saying he regretted that they had not reached any conclusion, that they had not found a solution to present to the workers and also due to the negative impact that the situation has for himself, the minister and for the state. The businessman also guarantees that he tried all the possibilities to reach an agreement.

The recording ends in the middle of a sentence in which the shareholder says there is a "serious" problem and the minister's response is not heard. ECO tried to contact businessman Alfredo Casimiro, but it was not possible to obtain a comment.
(...)

[Mike88]

Not since 1886, has there been so few marriages in Portugal:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1371791071622131713

Instituto Nacional de Estatística: For 134 years, there were not as few marriages as in a pandemic year

In 2020, 18,889 marriages took place in Portugal, according to preliminary data published this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This means that, in the year of the pandemic, the number of marriages was the lowest ever, reaching even the historic mark of being the lowest in 134 years, since the INE long series contains data from 1886.

On the same day that it publishes vital statistics for the past year - with data on births and deaths - INE updates the database on the number of marriages with the figure for December (1499), which makes it possible to find the number preliminary for the year as a whole.
(...)
The health crisis ended up dictating a historic drop in the number of marriages, according to data from the statistical institute. In INE's long series - which starts in 1886 - two years with low numbers of marriages stand out: 2014, when the troika left Portugal after the financial rescue program that implied austerity policies since 2011; and 1918, the last year of the first world war that began in 1914. In 2014, 31,478 weddings took place and in 1918 30,236 were celebrated. It was these records, already low, that have now been exceeded.
(...)
On the other hand, in the entire long series, the year with the highest number of marriages took place in 1975, a year after the revolution of April 25, 1974, when, according to INE records, there were 103,126 marriages.
(...)

[Mike88]

3.4 magnitude Earthquake felt this morning in the Lisbon area. Epicenter was just 13km away from Lisbon city center:

https://twitter.com/LastQuake/status/1372489227221471232

According to information updated by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), the Lisbon region was hit by a magnitude 3.4 earthquake (Richter) whose epicenter was located about ten kilometers northwest of Alcochete.

The initial information showed that the earthquake had an epicenter about eight kilometers east of Loures.

The quake was recorded at 9:51 am on the continent's Seismic Network stations.

On Twitter, several users say they have felt the shock.

Earthquakes are classified according to their magnitude as micro (less than 2.0), very small (2.0-2.9), small (3.0-3.9), slight (4.0-4.9 ), moderate (5.0-5.9), strong (6.0-6.9), large (7.0-7.9), important (8.0-8.9), exceptional (9, 0-9.9) and extreme (greater than 10).

Contacted by Lusa, the Lisbon District Relief Operations Command (CDOS) indicated, shortly after 10:00 am, that it had no record of occurrences associated with this earthquake.

The Lusa agency received reports that the quake was felt in several municipalities in Greater Lisbon, such as Lisbon, Loures, Odivelas, Cascais, Amadora and Sintra.

[Mike88]

Chinese businessman sentenced to 25 years in jail for the ordering of a deadly fire in a building in Porto in 2019:

https://twitter.com/cmjornal/status/1372510764951552005

25 years in prison for Chinese businessman accused of deadly fire in building in Porto

A Porto city Court sentenced a Chinese businessman to 25 years in prison this Thursday, accused of setting two fires on a building in that city and causing the death of one of the tenants, in order to eliminate obstacles to real estate speculation.

The man convicted of murder, fire and coercion will also have to pay a compensation of 160,000 euros to the son of the deadly victim of the fire, which occurred on March 2, 2019.

The accusation and the pronouncement confirm that the businessman commissioned two employees to start the fires because he was determined to resell, without tenants, the building he had bought near the Mercado do Bolhão, on Alexandre Braga street, number 100, in Porto, and was unable to negotiate the exit of the only tenants left on the third floor: an octogenarian and three children.

[Mike88]

3,000 people protested in Lisbon against the government's Covid lockdown policies:

https://twitter.com/Lusa_noticias/status/1373345763217014792

Covid-19: Close to 3,000 people protested in Lisbon against the management of the pandemic

Lisbon, 20 March 2021 (Lusa) - Almost 3,000 people demonstrated today in Lisbon against the management of the covid-19 pandemic in Portugal and for greater individual and social freedom, in a protest that was also repeated in several European and world cities .

The demonstration began at Edward VII Park and went down Liberty Avenue until it ended at Rossio, where most of the people were concentrated, where chants were sung and where the speeches of the representatives of the various movements involved were spoken.

The vast majority of the protesters showed up without an individual protection mask and did not keep a social safety distance, with many still appearing with Portuguese flags and posters with protest messages, such as: 'Covid-1984', 'Give back freedom' , 'Let the children live', 'The virus is the media', 'We know how to think and decide' or 'Costa, Marcelo and DGS: See you in Nuremberg'.

Over the course of more than three hours of protest action, the national anthem or 'Grândola Vila Morena', by Zeca Afonso, was also sung, but the focus was on the speeches of the different speakers, who criticized the dimension of the restriction measures and remembered the non-covid victims, who said they were left alone and forgotten in this pandemic.

This action was organized on the Internet and was monitored by a device of the Public Security Police, which did not register any incidents, with the exception of a few cases brought up by alcohol consumption on the public road.

In Portugal, 16,762 people died from 817,080 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health.

[Mike88]

3.0 magnitude Earthquake felt last evening in the Leiria area, just north of Lisbon:

https://twitter.com/LastQuake/status/1373451561909809153

An earthquake of 3.0 was recorded in Leiria, indicated the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere this morning.

The concussion took place in the early hours of Sunday, specifically at 01:35, according to the IPMA.

The epicenter was eight kilometers northeast of Leiria.

On Twitter, several users confirm that they felt the earthquake, with a person describing that it seemed like a subway was passing.

[Mike88]

So one of Lisbon's main parks is named after a British monarch - never knew that before

Yep, originally called "Liberty Park", it was renamed after Edward's VII visit to Lisbon in 1903 to strengthen the Anglo-Portuguese alliance. It's actually a nice park and with good views of the Tagus river and Liberty avenue:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_VII_Park

[Mike88]

3,000 people protested in Lisbon against the government's Covid lockdown policies:

One of the organizers of last weekend's protest in infected with Covid-19:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1374127778543570947

Covid-19. Protest organizer against confinement is infected.

One of the organizers of the protest against confinement, which brought together 3,000 people in Lisbon on Saturday, is infected with covid-19.

The news is advanced by Tomar TV, which reveals that the man is at home in isolation.

Most of the protesters did not wear a mask or maintain their social distance. They mainly protested against the Government's measures to combat the pandemic.

This action was organized from the Internet and was monitored by a device of the Public Security Police, which did not register any incidents, with the exception of a few cases brought up by alcohol consumption on the public road.

[Mike88]

There seems to be a shooting between police and residents in a neighborhood in the Lisbon suburb of Seixal:

https://twitter.com/cmjornal/status/1374378070430285827

Videos - PSP Special Operations Group surrounds neighborhood in Seixal

The PSP was called to the area of Santa Marta de Corroios, in the municipality of Seixal due to some disturbances, having been received with several shots.

The warning was given by 12:20 pm on Tuesday.

The authorities exchanged some shots with residents of the neighborhood. One person is said to have been hit.

[Mike88]

There seems to be a shooting between police and residents in a neighborhood in the Lisbon suburb of Seixal:

Update on the Seixal shooting:

The police siege is over, but two gunmen fled while one was detained:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1374484566791000078

Corroios: “I have been since two and so o'clock without eating, without coming home” - police siege ends with suspects still on the run

After almost eight hours, the police siege ended in the neighborhood of Quinta das Lagoas, in Corroios, where PSP agents were shot this Tuesday. According to TVI, a suspect was arrested and two others are still at large.

The police operation, which counted on dozens of operatives, started shortly before 12:30 pm, in the Quinta das Lagoas neighborhood, in Santa Marta de Corroios, in Seixal.

The agents, who went to the Quinta das Lagoas neighborhood, in Santa Marta de Corroios, in Seixal, following "disorders and assaults", were shot and responded with gunshots, while the group of suspects hid inside of a bar ".

According to the PSP, no officers were injured, but according to a source, the shooting will have injured one person.

In the middle of the afternoon, the PSP announced that it had advanced to negotiations with the suspects. "Verbal contact with the suspects will be initiated - negotiation - tending to resolve the incidents without the need for tactical intervention," said PSP commissioner Sara Ferreira, at around 5.30 pm, speaking to reporters at the scene.
(...)
The Quinta das Lagoas neighborhood is one of the areas of illegal construction in the municipality of Seixal and has been covered by resettlement projects since 2015.

[Mike88]

Social media on fire as an American fashion stylist sells a traditional Portuguese jersey as her own creation:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1375094641494736898

Fashion: Shame on You - Portuguese invade Tory Burch's social networks, accused of usurping the traditional Poveira shirt

Everything identical to the poveira jerseys, a tradition with more than a century, continues to be sold for almost 700 euros by the American stylist, without any reference to its origin.

PUBLICO disclosure that the American fashion designer Tory Burch is selling traditional folk jerseys for almost 700 euros, or copies of them, as one of her creations, without any indication of origin, has led dozens of people to invade the networks of the businesswoman, to accuse her of usurpation of an element of the cultural heritage of Póvoa de Varzim. In between, stories of other Burch problems are recovered with alleged copies of clothing.
(...)

My hometown is furious with this. The mayor is trying to contact Tory Burch but with no success. However, they have erased the original description of the jersey, which stated it had Mexican origins LOL, meaning they are already aware of the controversy.

[Mike88]

Social media on fire as an American fashion stylist sells a traditional Portuguese jersey as her own creation:

Update on this controversy:

The American fashion designer apologized but Póvoa de Varzim city hall says that's not enough and will sue the fashion designer in the US:

https://twitter.com/expresso/status/1375219797080879109

Apologizing is not enough: Póvoa wants to repair damages caused by wearing a sweater. “I don't spare them anything. A lot of people died with that shirt ”

After the news and protests through social media, Tory Burch, an American stylist who plagiarized the folk shirt, has already made an apology on social media. She herself says that she will work with Póvoa de Varzim City Hall to recognize the tradition.

On Thursday afternoon, Tori Burch admitted the mistake in posting on Twitter and Facebook. "We sincerely apologize to the Portuguese - it was brought to our attention that we mistakenly attributed a shirt from our Spring 2021 collection as inspired by Baja-Mexico".

The North American states that the team is “immediately correcting the error and working together” with the Póvoa de Varzim City Council “in order to find the best solutions to support local artisans”. “We are correcting this error right away, and we will notice and honor that this shirt was inspired by Portuguese traditions. We want to recognize this important tradition even more ”.

Póvoa de Varzim City Hall moves forward with process:

In turn, at JN online, Aires Pereira, mayor of Póvoa de Varzim, guaranteed that “we will, even today, legally sue the company. We demand the recognition of intellectual property and there will be consequences ”, and added that he already has a lawyer to handle the lawsuit, which will have to be filed in the USA.

It all started weeks ago when the Póvoa Parish Council wrote to Tory Burch about plagiarism without mentioning the fact that the Camisola Poveira. Ricardo Silva said he wrote to the stylist. “I wanted to know if there had been an error in the department of new creations. “I never received a response, but on the website, it went from being” Baja inspired Sweater ”to being“ Sweater Tunic ”and, in the description, references to Mexico disappeared, but there is still no reference to the popular shirts”.

The subject experienced an exponential increase of indignation on the part of the people after the publication of an article in the newspaper Público on Wednesday, in which it explains the creation of the stylist.

[Mike88]

There seems to be a shooting between police and residents in a neighborhood in the Lisbon suburb of Seixal:

Update on the Seixal shooting:

The police siege is over, but two gunmen fled while one was detained:

So, we now know the real story: Drunken resident invented snipers.

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1375021529503727626

Siege in Seixal: alcoholic resident invented snipers.

The police siege of the neighborhood of Santa Marta do Pinhal was motivated by an emigrant who returned this week, after 15 years in France, and who, drunk shot three shots from the roof of his house, into a cafe where several residents were. When the police arrived, he said he was defending himself from hooded barricades in his home, which triggered the entire security apparatus. Witnesses assured JN that the emigrant had been the only one to shoot and there were no other interveners. The man was taken by the PSP, but was released overnight.

Alerted by residents, the police arrived in the neighborhood at 12.20 pm on Tuesday. The sniper, named Roberto, shot at the agents before trying to escape through the roof and surrender, telling the story of the hooded men. After eight hours of a siege that involved the Special Police Unit and negotiators, the agents entered the house and found it empty. On the floor, only casings of cartridges fired by Roberto, who was taken by PSP and released during the night, having returned to the neighborhood.

On Wednesday morning, the suspect was seen being driven out of the neighborhood again by policemen, now handcuffed, but not by the PSP, despite the fact that this force has returned to the scene, to assist a feud between neighbors. The Judiciary Police, which is investigating the case, had not formally made any arrests on Wednesday night, without confirming that they had taken Roberto.

The police intervention on Tuesday night left residents unhappy, as they had waited more than eight hours to be able to return to their homes. However, they showed understanding for the zeal of the PSP. "The agents had to do their job, for the safety of all of us residents," one resident told JN, anonymously. Alberto Cabral, 52, was surprised by the case, as he considers the neighborhood peaceful. "There are many workers, there was never any conflict inside because the neighborhood is full of children, who always play on the street", he guarantees.

[Mike88]

Man fined for eating a sandwhich in his car:

https://twitter.com/cmjornal/status/1375837686825619459

Footage - Man fined while eating sandwich in car in Torres Novas.

The Torres Novas PSP fined a man, in Lapas, this Thursday, during an inspection action within the scope of the curfew control.

The fined, Rúben Marques, isn't silencing his revolt, as he considers the fine undue. “I work for a cleaning company and for two animal associations, one of them in Lapas. When I came home from work, I stopped the car in a deserted place to rest and eat a sandwich. The police showed up and they fined me 200 euros ”, he complains.

“I have three justifications for the entities I work for. The PSP agent did not accept the explanations ”, he says. Contacted by the CM, the PSP says that the fine was due to the breach of the duty to pay and that the assessed person can contest.

[Mike88]

Economy: Deficit increases to 5.7% in 2020 and public debt reaches 133.6% of GDP.

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1375407220389777408

Deficit soars to 5.7% of GDP in 2020, the largest since the troika.

The pandemic caused a shock in the public accounts in 2020. The budget surplus of 0.1% of GDP achieved in 2019, the first of Portuguese democracy, turned in just one year into a budget deficit of 5.7% of GDP, of according to the estimate released this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). As the Ministry of Finance had already anticipated, the value is closer to that estimated in the Supplementary Budget (6.3% of GDP) in June than that forecast in the State Budget for 2021 (7.3% of GDP).

“Preliminary data for 2020 show that the overall balance of PA [general government] deteriorated by 11.7 billion euros between 2019 and 2020, resulting in a financing need of 11.5 billion euros in 2020 (- 5.7% of GDP) ", reveals the INE, specifying that" this negative evolution resulted, simultaneously, from an increase in expenditure (+ 7.8%) and a reduction in revenue (-5.0%) " .
(...)

Final 2020 economic data:

GDP growth: -7.6%
GDP: 202,5 billion euros
GDP per capita: 19,647 euros
Public debt: 270,5 billion euros
Public debt %: 133.6%
Deficit: -11,5 billion euros
Deficit (%): -5.7%
Unemployment (%): 6.8%

[Mike88]

Storm causes a blackout across the island of Madeira:

https://twitter.com/dntwit/status/1375937435176103937

Lightning causes blackout in Madeira

The island of Madeira went under a blackout earlier this Saturday night, due to the effect of the storm that was felt on the archipelago this day.

According to the Diário de Notícias da Madeira, an electrical discharge caused by lightning brought down the Vitória Power Plant system, which supplies the island. In Porto Santo, the light was not affected.

The Jornal da Madeira reports that 24 513 Atmospheric Electric Discharges (DEA) were recorded in the archipelago of Madeira until 6 pm this Saturday, with a range of 150 kilometers from the city of Funchal.

The blackout took place on a day of strong storm in Madeira, with intense rain that left impassable roads and cars partially submerged.

The Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere had issued a red warning until nine o'clock this Saturday night.

The heavy rain that was felt caused dozens of floods in the center of Funchal. Dário Silva, one of those responsible for the Theater's café, next to the Baltazar Dias Theater, right in the center of the city, told TSF that "the roads are all full of stones, they are all closed, there are walls on the floor and everything is blown up ... You can’t even see anything because we’re out of light ".

[Mike88]

Italian mafia leader arrested in a Lisbon hospital while hospitalized with Covid-19:

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1376675297576153091

Italian mobster hunted in Lisbon hospital with covid-19.

A leader of the Calabrian mafia, the Ndranghetta, was captured, this Monday, at the St. Joseph Hospital, in Lisbon, where he was hospitalized with covid-19.

The arrest was reportedly accompanied by the Italian police, neither the Portuguese nor the Portuguese authorities having released information about the operation.

Francesco Pelle, 44, has been on the run from Italy since 2017, the year he was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the violent episode in the German city of Duisburg in 2007, which resulted in six deaths.

The killing was the culmination of a war between the Vottari and Pelle families in San Luca, Calabria, which had to do, moreover, with disputes over land for investments in the area of restoration.

Francesco Pelle was even prevented in Italy. But the term of pre-trial detention has expired and, when the Supreme Court of Italy confirmed his conviction, the suspect had already fled to Portugal.