Portugal's general discussion (general events)

[Mike88]

This is just speechless:

Transtejo, Lisbon's public ferry company, bought ships with no batteries and was "humiliated" by the Court of Auditors. The company's administration has resigned because of this:

https://twitter.com/expresso/status/1636350576588906497

Transtejo bought nine electric ships without batteries, TC considers the deal "irrational": "It's like buying a car without an engine"

Transtejo bought ten electric passenger transport ships for 52.4 million euros, but nine of the catamarans were purchased without their batteries and were, therefore, inoperable. "It's like buying a car without an engine, a motorcycle without wheels or a bicycle without pedals", consider the judges of the Court of Auditors (TC), which rejected the acquisition, separately and by direct adjustment, of the batteries for the value of 15,5 million euros.

“One cannot even speak of ships without batteries, just as one cannot speak, for example, of ships without an engine or rudder. This is because they are an integral part of these ships”, refers to the judgment of the TC released this Wednesday.

In addition to having blocked the purchase of batteries for nine of the ten vessels, the Court of Auditors considers the whole business so harmful to the public interest that it referred the case to the Public Prosecutor's Office, so that possible financial or even criminal responsibilities could be investigated.
(...)

As a result, the company's administration has already announced its resignation.

[Mike88]

3.7 magnitude earthquake felt this morning in the Algarve. This is the second earthquake in just one month:

https://twitter.com/LastQuake/status/1636572933916114945

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.7 on the Richter scale was recorded at 3:35 am this Friday at stations on the continent's seismic network.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located four kilometers northeast of Albufeira, in the Algarve, and did not cause damage.

According to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere, the shock was mainly felt in Albufeira and Loulé and with less intensity in the municipalities of Faro, Lagoa, Portimão and Silves.

On Twitter, several people said they felt the earthquake all over the Algarve.

[Mike88]

More statue fiascos in Portugal:

https://twitter.com/al_antdp/status/1638849363249184770

Why on earth did they make a statue of George Conway in Vizela?

Population of Vizela labels the new statue of former PM and incumbent UN Secretary General António Guterres as "weird" and "ridiculous":

The statue, worth 89,980 euros, was awarded by direct contract. The population, despite praising the role of Guterres in the elevation to a municipality, considers ridiculous the amount spent in times of crisis.

The inauguration of a statue of António Guterres, in Vizela, worth 89,980 euros, is generating criticism among the local population, who, although praising the role of the former prime minister in the dawn of the city, consider the amount spent “strange” and “ ridiculous” in times of crisis. The sculpture, unveiled last Sunday, the 19th, in connection with the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the elevation of Vizela to the status of municipality, was awarded, through a direct award, to the company Artecanter — Indústria Criativa, Lda.
(...)

The statue doesn't resemble Guterres at all. It seems a remake of the Cristiano Ronaldo bust in Madeira.

[Mike88]

Lack of food for patients in Lisbon's major hospital? Report shows that food is not reaching several patients in Lisbon's biggest hospital. Health minister blames people for overcrowding emergency rooms:

https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1638279594045329409

“There was nothing for the sick to eat, they only served lunch at 5 pm”: reports of lack of food in Santa Maria

According to some reports, in recent days, several patients temporarily hospitalized in the emergency room at Hospital Santa Maria only ate lunch at 5:00 pm. Others have gone two days without dinner.

According to news published by TVI, in recent days, several patients temporarily hospitalized in the emergency room at Hospital Santa Maria only ate lunch at 17:00.

There are also reports of people who went two days without dinner, and some of these patients have oncological diseases and suffer from diabetes.
(...)

The Health minister, Manuel Pizarro, is blaming people for overcrowding and staying too much time in emergency rooms:

"There is an inconvenience, which I regret, that people have been fed outside the normal meal time. This results from a basic problem. We have too many patients too long in the emergency", defends Pizarro, in statements to journalists.

The government official considers that, "in an emergency service, it is difficult to ask professionals to treat the issue of food as a priority issue for the patients who are there".

"If the patients are at risk of death, it is clear that this is the priority of the professionals. This explains why, in one case or another, feeding may have been undesirably postponed beyond the normal period. What we have to do is solve the problem of patients do not stay that long in the emergency room. The problem of food in the emergency room only arises because patients stay too long in the emergency room and we are taking measures to, upstream, intervene to reduce the time people stay in the emergency room", he underlines .
(...)

[Mike88]

2022 deficit stood at only -0.4%, the third best number in democracy and way lower than the 1.9% forecast by the government:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1639226292943065088

The Public Administration deficit, in national accounting, fell to 0.4% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2022, below the official Government target, after standing at 2.9% in 2021, INE announced today.

The budget deficit fell to 0.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product last year, the National Institute of Statistics reported this Friday. A ratio that is below the forecast of the Government of António Costa.

"According to the provisional results obtained in this financial year, in 2022 the balance of Public Administrations (PA) reached -944.4 million euros, which corresponded to -0.4% of GDP (-2.9% in 2021) ", says the National Institute of Statistics.

The Government estimated, in the proposed State Budget for 2023 (OE2023), a deficit of 1.9 percent of GDP, but the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, had already signaled who believed it would be less than 1.5 percent.

The report by the National Institute of Statistics also highlighted that there was growth in revenue in the public accounts of 10.2 percent, surpassing expenditure by 4.4 percent.

Also according to INE, revenue growth is due to the "positive evolution of tax and contributory revenue", which showed a recovery in the country's economic and labor activity in 2022.
(...)

The final, and overall, 2022 economy numbers from Portugal:

GDP growth: 6.7%
GDP: 239,5 billion euros
GDP per capita: 23,134 euros
Unemployment: 6.0%
Debt: 272,6 billion euros
Debt %: 113.9%
Deficit: -0.4%
Inflation: 7.8%

The numbers were a total surprise to the government with Costa even saying that "accounting has reasons that reason often ignores".

[Mike88]

Man mortally stabs two people in the Lisbon's Ismaili Center. Suspect was shot by the police:

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1640692869743669249

Two people died this Tuesday after an Afghan man attacked them with a large knife at the Ismaili Center in Lisbon, CNN Portugal has learned.

Called to the scene, a police agent ended up shooting the suspect in the leg.

The man ended up being tied up and detained, having been transported to St. Joseph Hospital.

However, the PSP reinforced policing at the hospital unit.

[Mike88]

Man mortally stabs two people in the Lisbon's Ismaili Center. Suspect was shot by the police:

The media is also reporting that besides the two victims, there may be several people injured on the site, but the info is very vague so far. A heavy police presence is at the Center and in the Hospital where the attacker was sent.

[Mike88]

Man mortally stabs two people in the Lisbon's Ismaili Center. Suspect was shot by the police:

The media is also reporting that besides the two victims, there may be several people injured on the site, but the info is very vague so far. A heavy police presence is at the Center and in the Hospital where the attacker was sent.

Some new info:

Adding the two victims, two Portuguese women aged 40 and 20, there are 5 injured, according to RTP. The media is saying that the Afghan man who attacked the Muslim Ismaili Center is a 40 29 year old refugee that came to Portugal, from Greece, in 2021 under the EU's relocation agreement. He had been suffering with psychological issues and it seem to had contacted the Ismaili Center to help him learn Portuguese language and to care for his children.

The attacker, also according to the media, is currently being operated at a Lisbon hospital.

[Mike88]

The police has announced that there are no evidences of terrorism in their investigation surrounding the attack on the Ismaili Center in Lisbon. The director of the Judiciary Police (PJ) says that the police believes the attacker had a "moment of psychotic break" that led him to stab to dead two women in the religious center.

However, the police is still investigating the content of the mysterious phone call that the attacker, Abdul Bashir, received just before the attack that made him very nervous.

[Mike88]

Other stories:

- Remember this?

13 Portuguese servicemen refused to board a navy ship, to track a Russian ship, because the ship has several safety issues:

This episode is creating a very bad mood in the navy, specially after Admiral Gouveia e Melo, a possible candidate for the 2026 Presidential election, gave a very public reprimand to the servicemen which led to a big discussion of what is Gouveia e Melo doing. But, this week, the ship, once again broke, down in high seas and to be towed to a Madeira island harbour:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1640635997493817344

The NRP Mondego suffered a new breakdown in the last few hours, when heading to the Selvagens Islands with the aim of making the surrender of the vigilante team in that territory. The ship was eventually towed back to Madeira.

The NRP Mondego is now berthed in the Port of Caniçal.

This would be the first mission since the episode that involved 13 soldiers who refused to board, precisely claiming that the ship was not in conditions to operate.

For now, there are no official explanations for the latest malfunction, but intense smoke was seen coming out of the ship's chimneys. On Monday, the Mondego had not been able to leave on a mission due to what the Navy described as a “setback”.

In a statement, the Navy indicates that the Mondego returned to the port of Caniçal "for technical reasons".

"The ship will still be subject to a technical inspection by experts from the Ship Management who will travel to Madeira Island for the purpose", he adds.
(...)

According a Portuguese Defense Observatory, the Armed Forces and the Navy need 3,8 billion euros just to maintain current staff and maintain equipment and ships ready for use.

- Adding to the problems in the navy and the army, and on the day a month-long rail workers strike began, SIC TV broadcast a report about the "ridiculous" situation of the main railway line of the country that connects the two main cities of the country, Lisbon and Porto:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1641217953801568256

The country's main railroad has been under repairs since the 1990s. “Linha do Tempo“ is the Special Report to see in full.

With the railway workers on strike again, the problems of the Northern Line are even more visible.

The country's main railroad has been under repair since the 90s, but the journey from Lisbon to Porto continues to take three hours, as it did 40 years ago.

On an axis saturated with hundreds of trains, the only solution seems to be the much-promised high-speed line.

In the Special Report “Linha do Tempo” we will travel through the problems of the Linha do Norte.

In summary, the modernization of the Northern Line was approved in 1988, under PM Cavaco Silva, and was expected to be completed by the year 2000. But, the repair works are still under way with no date for conclusion. High speed trains cannot travel at high speeds in some parts of the line because of the conditions of the line, and other repairs are still to be done, plus a few are not expected to even begin.

[Mike88]

Population estimates: Portugal's population grows by the end of 2021, early 2022.

https://twitter.com/dntwit/status/1642086287644704768

10 421 117. Portugal gains population again

After the publication of the 2021 Census, the INE, the National Statistics Institute, published, and updated. the year by year population estimates since 2011. According to INE, by the end of 2021/early 2022, Portugal had 10,421,117 inhabitants, 26,820 more than at the same time in late 2020/early 2021:

According to the 2021 Demographic Statistics, the population growth rate was 0.26%, resulting from the combination of a negative natural balance of -45,220 (difference between births and deaths) and a migratory balance of 72,060 people (migratory growth rate of 0.69%).

According to INE, demographic aging continues to be registered with a decrease in the number of young people up to 14 years old and an increase in the elderly population. In 2021, the percentage of young people was 13%, continuing to decline: between 2011 and 2020 it went from 15% to 13.2%, respectively.

The elderly population, aged 65 years and over, increased from 19.2% in 2011 to 23.2% in 2020. In 2021, 23.6% of the population was in the age group of over 65 years.

There were 79,582 births in Portugal, a decrease of 4,948 compared with the previous year, 2020; There were 124,802 deaths, a 1.1% yearly increase; 72,080 people immigrated to Portugal in the same year; 29,057 marriages were held in 2021, in which 549 were same-sex marriages (1.9% of the total);

The 2022 population estimates are expected to be published in June.

[Mike88]

The discussion of the location of the new Lisbon airport is more than 50 years old and, till this day, no final solution has been reached. But, the government appointed committee that is studying locations for the new airport has created a website in which anybody, I mean anybody, can submit and propose a location for the new airport:

https://twitter.com/EmbaixadorN/status/1645140468626276353

There are useless things in life (built-in drawers, the Chermiti, etc.), but 50 years later we now have a website where every Portuguese person can propose a new location for Lisbon airport by clicking on a map.

Now it is!

Only in this country.

[Mike88]

A few stories that have been making headlines:

- Accusations of moral and sexual harassment in Coimbra University are being investigated. Sociologist Boaventura Sousa Santos is one of the accused:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1645916576603062275

Sociologist Boaventura Sousa Santos is being implicated in an article on suspicions of sexual and moral harassment at the University of Coimbra. The alleged cases are reported in a publication by three former researchers at the Center for Social Studies:

Three researchers - one Belgian, one Portuguese and one North American - are the authors of an article that is shaking the academic world. Despite not revealing names, the 'web' reported by Lieselotte Viaene, Catarina Laranjeiro and Miye Nadya Tom, which had “Professor Estrela” as its central figure, began to be associated with Boaventura Sousa Santos, former director of the Center for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra.

In the article “The walls spoke when no one else would”, which is part of the book “Sexual Misconduct in Academia”, the three researchers point out three central figures: the “Professor Estrela”, the “Apprentice” and a “Watcher”.

It can be seen from the researchers’ curriculum (all three passed through CES), that Boaventura Sousa Santos, a renowned sociologist and university professor, will be called “Professor Estrela” and the professor and co-coordinator of a doctoral program, Bruno Sena Martins, the “Apprentice”. Contacted by Diário de Notícias, Boaventura Sousa Santos recognized himself in the description of the former students, but denied all the accusations. The same said Bruno Sena Martins to the magazine Saturday.
(...)According to reports, the “Apprentice” even invited students to informal dinners at his home where he carried out allegedly uncomfortable conversations. One of the researchers even reported on social media that she was being persecuted by the teacher, but ended up deleting the post when Bruno Sena Martins formally accused her of defamation.

Boaventura Sousa Santos, referred to as “Professor Estrela”, is also accused by the researchers of not acknowledging the authorship of certain works, of “poorly paying” assistants and even of undue dismissals.
(...)

- Faro Hospital once again under suspicion, as doctor denounces to the police 11 cases of error/negligence in the hospital, 3 of them ended in death. The doctor that denounced the situation was suspended by the hospital's board:

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1646096864805289984

"Loss of trust" removes doctor who reported negligence at Faro Hospital

Diana de Carvalho Pereira, the intern doctor who filed a complaint with the Judiciary Police about 11 cases of "error/negligence" in the surgery service at the hospital in Faro between January and March, is away from duty, after being rejected by her advisor and all the heads of the service. The clinic asked for the internship to be suspended.

In a letter sent to the clinical director of the Hospital de Faro, the director of the surgery service, Martins dos Santos, argues that there has been a general loss of confidence in the doctor Diana Pereira, which consequently causes her inability to carry out her work.
(...)
Following a complaint made to the Judiciary Police by internal physician Diana Pereira, reported on Twitter, about "11 cases that occurred between January and March" at the Faro hospital of "error/negligence" in the surgery service, the Public Prosecutor's Office launched an inquiry .
(...)

[Mike88]

A few stories that have been making headlines:

- Accusations of moral and sexual harassment in Coimbra University are being investigated. Sociologist Boaventura Sousa Santos is one of the accused:

Boaventura Sousa Santos denies the accusations and is going to file a defamation lawsuit against the women who denounced him:

Sociologist Boaventura Sousa Santos has reacted to the accusations of moral and sexual harassment made against him by former Coimbra University students, saying that the accusation is "anonymous, shameful and vile". He adds that the accusation is "slanderous" and is only based on rumours and on facts that have no evidences. He concluded by saying he will file a defamation lawsuit against the women who accuse him of harassment.

After Boaventura Sousa Santos published his statement, Público newspaper reported a new complaint against Sousa Santos from a Brazilian researcher.

[Mike88]

The Dalai Lama ignored several reports of abuses to children in a Buddhist temple in the Algarve:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1647349349960110080

Portuguese reported cases of abuse to the Dalai Lama, but nothing was done

It was in September 2018 that a group of victims of alleged physical and sexual abuse reported to the Dalai Lama some episodes they had suffered. One of the elements is Ricardo Mendes, the Portuguese who managed to bring together dozens of victims who lived in seclusion in the various temples of the Buddhist congregation Ogyen Kunzang Choling, known as OKC. The group handed the Dalai Lama a book with 12 cases of alleged victims of abuse in Buddhist retreats around the world.

At the same time, the Dalai Lama assured that he was already aware of abuses since the 90s and, at a meeting with children, also in Rotterdam, he even encouraged other victims to speak out.

Ricardo Mendes, in an interview with SIC, said that it was in the so-called Humkara Dzong temple, in the Algarve, that some of these abuses took place. He himself was a victim and he does not forget the torture he experienced for falling asleep in the temple or responding to the educator, Robert Spatz, the alleged abuser.

The Buddhist teacher of Belgian origin was tried in his country of origin for crimes of physical abuse, kidnapping of minors and sexual abuse. More than twenty men and women reported the cases, some already prescribed. Ten of these victims are Portuguese. Robert Spatz was sentenced to five years in prison with a suspended sentence.

SIC contacted the Portuguese Buddhist Union which assured that it is not aware of any physical and sexual abuse in the Buddhist community in Portugal. Regarding the OKC association, in Portugal, it was excluded from the Portuguese Busdista Union in 2015.

This week, a video that went viral showed the Tibetan spiritual leader giving a kiss to a boy he asked to "suck his tongue". The case is causing outrage. The alleged victims of abuse condemn the behavior and say that the Buddhist monk cannot be excused on the grounds of cultural differences.

[Mike88]

Police on alert due to "plans" of massacres in schools, in the Lisbon area, reported on social media. The Police calls the plans a "bad taste joke" and have identified those who were spreading the threats:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1649008019231866880

Crime: Threats of attacks on schools were “a joke in bad taste”, says PSP director

Reinforced policing after threats of attacks on schools in the Lisbon region. Audio messages and photos shared by parents in groups.

The Judiciary Police identified "several authors" of threats of attacks made on social networks against schools. It all started with photographs posted on Instagram of weapons and promises of terrorist attacks on schools in Odivelas. Shortly afterwards, already on WhatsApp, voice messages in groups of parents mentioned a supposed “list” where attacks were scheduled. The national director of the PSP says that it was all a “bad joke” with no real risk.
(...)

[Mike88]

Shooting in Setúbal city kills 4 people. Disagreements about Pigeons seem to be the reason behind the shooting:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1652633168745230337

Four people died in a shooting in Setúbal. The author of the shots made three victims and committed suicide when the police arrived. The PJ is investigating the crime.

The alert was given at 8:00 am this Saturday, in the Belo Horizonte neighborhood.

When the PJ arrived at the scene, after being alerted by the PSP, the four people were already dead, and the presumed "author committed suicide before" the arrival of the Judiciary.

Resources were mobilized to the site to determine the context and circumstances of this case.

RTP found out that the three homicides are related to issues of a personal nature between those involved, all known pigeon fanciers.

Questions related to this practice were at the origin of the crime.

The author of the shots seems to be about 45 years old and then committed suicide.

[Mike88]

Man throws car into Cascais Hospital Emergency Room because he accuses the Hospital of discriminating against him:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1655226765600600068

Man barricades himself inside a car at the Cascais Hospital emergency room

In the early afternoon, a driver drove his car into the Cascais Hospital emergency room, where he barricaded himself. Authorities were called to the scene and the citizen was arrested.

On the car's glass, according to photographs that SIC Notícias had access to, he pasted two A4 sheets. In one of them he described his situation and in the other he said he was "systematically discriminated against in this hospital".

“I would like to know why I am being systematically discriminated against in this hospital. I have been asking for help for two and a half years ”, he wrote, adding that he only got out of the car in the presence of the GNR.

Authorities were called to the scene and the vehicle was removed from the emergency room. SIC Notícias knows that the driver was arrested.

[Mike88]

New tobacco laws: It will be forbidden to smoke in coffee terraces and near schools and it will be more difficult to buy tobacco.

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1656201544503803904

It will be more difficult to buy tobacco and smoking will be banned on covered terraces

Proposed law equals heated cigarettes to traditional ones. Establishments that have adapted to the law can only maintain smoking zones until 2030.

Traditional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes and heated cigarettes (better known as iQOS) will be subject to the same rules, which will be increasingly tighter. The Government wants to prohibit the sale of tobacco, directly or through machines, in most establishments, including gas stations. Smoking on terraces with some type of cover, outside restaurants or cafes, will also no longer be allowed. Establishments that have adapted to the rules, in force since January, to have smoking areas, will have to close them in 2030.
(...)
Most of the measures should come into force in October because the amendment to the Tobacco Law - the fourth since 2007 - stems from the obligation to transpose into national legislation, by October 23, 2023, a European directive that equates heated tobacco to traditional cigarettes and electronics. But the Government wants to go further, making access more difficult and further restricting smoking areas. "The main focus is to protect young people from starting to smoke" in the European plan to have a "tobacco-free generation by 2040", explained, to JN, the Secretary of State for Health Promotion.
(...)

Gas stations are already furious with the government accusing them of ruining their business and benefiting others. Smoking habits have been decreasing in Portugal but very, very slowly, 20.9% in 2005, 20% in 2014 and 19% in 2019.

There are also accusations that the Government is going too far with these new laws and could be violating basic freedoms of people. The Government denies this but accusations that these laws are "fascist" and totally impracticable are surging in the media.

[Mike88]

Lottery numbers: Weird combination of numbers is surprising everyone, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7.

https://twitter.com/observadorpt/status/1656629312647319553

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. The quasi-sequential key came out in Totoloto, but “it is not at all improbable”

The draw for this Wednesday, May 10th, has the numbers practically in a row from 1 to 7. In the draw, only 5 was missed. Four people got the set of numbers right and will each receive more than three million euros (€3,087,482.97).

The draw dictated that the key was made up of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and having 7 as the lucky number. Thus, only the number 5 was missing for the result to be completely sequential. There are four winners, with more than three million euros, according to the Jogos Santa Casa website, and 12 people winning the second prize, for having correctly guessed the five numbers – they will receive almost two million euros.
(...)

This resembles that time when a zero ball appeared in a lottery draw and created a funny and awkward moment.

[Mike88]

Portugal is the country that most wine consumes per capita in the world:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1656995696044539905

Portugal is the country in the world that consumes the most wine "per capita"

Portugal is the country in the world that consumes the most wine 'per capita' and consumption has been increasing, revealed today the Deputy Director General of the Intervention Service for Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies (SICAD).

"The elderly consume more wine", teenagers and young adults drink beer and the youngest drink spirits ('shots'), said the public health doctor in the parliamentary subcommittee on Global Health, where he was heard together with the director general of the SICAD, Joao Goulao.

He noted, however, that in Portugal, contrary to the rest of Europe, spirits are "very little consumed", representing about 10%, while wine totals 60% and the rest is beer consumption.
(...)
"Portugal is one of the countries with the highest 'per capita' consumption of alcohol in world terms", he clarified, adding that the average consumption of liters of pure alcohol per inhabitant had fallen slightly, having reached 11.9 in 2015, value that rose to 12.1 in 2019.

"It seems a small amount, but we have entered into a counter cycle with the rest of Europe and, therefore, it is an added concern", stressed the official.

The specialist expressed concern about "the suffering that can be added to these consumptions", both for himself and for third parties.

Manuel Cardoso revealed that, according to the general population survey, in 2012, 60% of the Portuguese had consumed alcohol, a figure that increased to 61.5% in 2022.
(...)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Portugal is the country that most wine consumes per capita in the world:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1656995696044539905

Portugal is the country in the world that consumes the most wine "per capita"

Portugal is the country in the world that consumes the most wine 'per capita' and consumption has been increasing, revealed today the Deputy Director General of the Intervention Service for Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies (SICAD).

"The elderly consume more wine", teenagers and young adults drink beer and the youngest drink spirits ('shots'), said the public health doctor in the parliamentary subcommittee on Global Health, where he was heard together with the director general of the SICAD, Joao Goulao.

He noted, however, that in Portugal, contrary to the rest of Europe, spirits are "very little consumed", representing about 10%, while wine totals 60% and the rest is beer consumption.
(...)
"Portugal is one of the countries with the highest 'per capita' consumption of alcohol in world terms", he clarified, adding that the average consumption of liters of pure alcohol per inhabitant had fallen slightly, having reached 11.9 in 2015, value that rose to 12.1 in 2019.

"It seems a small amount, but we have entered into a counter cycle with the rest of Europe and, therefore, it is an added concern", stressed the official.

The specialist expressed concern about "the suffering that can be added to these consumptions", both for himself and for third parties.

Manuel Cardoso revealed that, according to the general population survey, in 2012, 60% of the Portuguese had consumed alcohol, a figure that increased to 61.5% in 2022.
(...)

For Americans reading this: 12.1 liters is the equivalent of 3.196 liquid galloons.

[Mike88]

Patients without a NHS family doctor reach almost 1.7 million, a 29% increase in just one year:

https://twitter.com/Lusa_noticias/status/1659076511549341696

Users without a family doctor increase by 29% in one year

The number of users without a family doctor increased by 29% in one year, now reaching almost 1.7 million, due to retirements and the lack of capacity of the National Health Service (SNS) to attract specialists.

According to the SNS transparency portal, in April 2022 a total of 1,299,016 million users did not have a family doctor assigned, a number that increased to 1,678,226 a year later.

In view of this, the number of users monitored by these general and family medicine specialists dropped from around 9.1 million to just over 8.8 million in the same period, official data indicate.

For Saturday, marches are scheduled in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra against the "degradation of the SNS", called by several unions and with the participation of user movements, an initiative to claim a "serious investment" in this public service.
(...)

[Mike88]

Stabbings at Lisbon Subway: One police officer and another person stabbed in two different stabbing incidents.

https://twitter.com/JornalNoticias/status/1659321998739378177

Man stabs police and is shot on Lisbon subway

A man stabbed a PSP agent at Bela Vista station, in Lisbon, and was shot in the legs after trying to escape through the railway line. The suspect, known to be troublesome, and the officer are not in danger.

Stabs police and is shot in the legs in the Metro in Lisbon

A man stabbed a PSP agent at Bela Vista station, in Lisbon, and was shot in the legs after trying to escape through the railway line. The suspect, known to be troublesome, and the officer are not in danger.

According to a note from the PSP in Lisbon, the agents were called at 6.07 pm this Thursday to Vergílio Ferreira Avenue, in Marvila, "because there was news of an individual with aggressive behavior there". Arriving at the scene, inside a building on that artery, the police officers "came across the suspect who was wielding a large bladed weapon, a serrated knife".

The 54-year-old man fled towards the Bela Vista subway station "wielding the knife and threatening" everyone he passed. Already on the platform, the suspect tried to throw himself onto the railway line, but was stopped by one of the policemen. It was at this moment that the suspect struck one of the police officers with a serrated knife, cutting the uniform in the abdominal area.
(...)

In the early afternoon, another man was also stabbed by a group of 6 people in the subway station of Alameda, north of Lisbon city:

A group suspected of involvement in the crime turned itself in late this Thursday afternoon at Serafina police station. The victim's life is not in danger

A man was stabbed this Thursday on the platform of the Alameda Metro station in Lisbon. PSP source confirmed the aggression to CNN Portugal, without adding details. The victim, who was transported to St. Joseph Hospital in serious condition, is not at risk of life.

The stabbing took place in front of a barbershop, in the commercial area of the station and, hours later, six people suspected of involvement in the crime surrendered to the authorities.

According to witnesses at the scene, the victim was followed by the group and was assaulted in an attempted robbery.
(...)

[Mike88]

Portuguese and German police forces join forces in another search for missing girl Madeleine McCann in an Algarve dam lake, 16 years after her disappearance:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1660612332433686531

On Tuesday, the PJ starts searching the Arade dam, in the Algarve, 50 km from Praia da Luz. The area used to be frequented by Christian Brueckner - the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The Judiciary Police will begin searches on Tuesday at the Arade dam, in the Algarve, 50 kilometers from Praia da Luz, at the request of the German authorities. The area used to be frequented by Christian Brueckner - the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The dam area is being delimited and will start to be the target of diligences from Tuesday.

Searches are expected to last two to three days.

This operation stems from a European Investigation Decision (the old rogatory letters) addressed by the German authorities to Portugal and focuses on the Arade dam, located about 50 kilometers from Praia da Luz, where the child disappeared in May. 2007, when he was on vacation with his parents.

The place used to be frequented by Christian Brueckner, suspected of the disappearance of the girl known as Maddie, then 3 years old.

Christian Brueckner, 45, is serving time in Kiel (Germany) for another crime. He was also accused in October last year by the German court of three crimes of rape and two of sexual abuse of children in Portuguese territory, allegedly committed between 2000 and 2017.

The Brunswick prosecutor's office said that the charges then brought against Christian Brueckner were not related to the case of the disappearance of the British child in a tourist village in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Algarve.