Portugal's general discussion (general events)

[CumbrianLefty]

There is no climate change, though.

[Mike88]

There is no climate change, though.

Portugal is being hit very hard by climate change. The wildfires are a clear evidence, however, there are a lot of cases of arson and this Serra da Estrela wildfire is a clear case of arson as the fire started, according to firefighters, at around 3am in the morning last Saturday. A lot of people have been arrested for igniting fires, some of them even firefighters. However, no water in the soil, drought and chaotic forests are a time bomb...

But, yeah, the massive drought the country is facing, with villages across the country with basically no water and dams at record low levels are creating big problems. IMO, the country lacks a strategy to deal with climate change and its consequences. There's always a lot of talk but few actions on the ground unfortunately. Portugal was pioneer in closing all of its coal energy plants and focus on renewable energies, but this kind of transition requires time and the drought is forcing dams to stop energy production, windmills are basically on halt as there's no wind and solar production is still very limited. Portugal is producing a lot of energy using gas and with the current Ukraine-Russia war, gas prices are over the roof, which creates an additional problem and a "perfect storm" is evident.

But, of course, people don't have a lot of alternatives: houses are poorly isolated in Portugal, so a big % of the population has to use electricity to warm their house otherwise they would frieze to death; Public transportation is a mess, always breaking down or on strike and with little coverage, so there are few alternatives other than driving a car.

And there is the huge problem regarding forest organization, with the Government having no idea who owns 80% of forest lands in the country and this creates a big problem in terms of managing forests. Plus, after wildfires, there's always the discussion of reforestation and there is a consensus to not plant trees like eucalyptus, which is the most common tree in the country, but, a few years later, we see that the once burned forest is now covered with highly flammable trees like eucalyptus.

So, a lot of problems and challenges, but no real plans or solutions.

[Mike88]

Croatian Hajduk Split supporters create chaos in the historic center of Guimarães city:

https://twitter.com/CabineSport/status/1557132899350110208

A hundred Hajduk Split fans provoked riots in the historic center of Guimarães.

https://twitter.com/CabineSport/status/1557138469172002821

Hajduk Split supporters cause terror in Guimarães and even families with children flee...

Several Hajduk Split supporters created a ruckus in the historic center of Guimarães tonight.

In the images captured in a video posted on social media, it is possible to see a large group of Croatian fans kicking chairs and running with torches, which forced several people to take refuge inside restaurants.

There are currently no indications of injuries as a result of these incidents.
(...)

According to some media outlets, there were also Portuguese supporters vandalizing the historic center with the Hajduk Split supporters.

[Mike88]

Catholic Church abuse scandal: Priest accused of abuse blackmailed by a family of one of his victims, was forced to pay more the 10,000 euros for the silence of the victim.

https://twitter.com/expresso/status/1556884385449771009

It is one of the cases that reached the independent commission that investigates allegations of sexual abuse by priests against minors. The priest suspected of abuse ended up paying more than 10 thousand euros to the family of the alleged victim for his silence

(...)
According to the newspaper Expresso - which has been advancing new details of these crimes that have shaken the Diocese - it is a priest of the Diocese of Lisbon suspected of sexual abuse of a minor who was blackmailed by the victim's family.

The case dates back to 2002, when the victim denounced the abuse of the parish priest who attended with her parents. The family did not file a complaint with either the Church or the Public Ministry.

Instead, the whistleblower pointed out to the weekly, the family extorted the priest more than once. The first amount asked was 10,000 euros, but the blackmail continued in order to “push the priest against the wall and keep the money.” In order to obtain the silence of the victim's family, the suspect of sexual abuse gave in to the blackmail.

It was the priest who confessed what happened to 'Father Cardoso', but the case cannot be investigated by the Public Ministry, since the alleged suspect died two years ago of natural causes.
(...)

[CumbrianLefty]

Croatian football "fans" behaving badly? Not having that

[Mike88]

Wildfires: The environment disaster in Serra da Estrela Natural Park continues as the massive wildfire already destroyed more than 10,000 hectares of the park.

https://twitter.com/pplware/status/1557655242375942144
Green - Serra da Estrela Natural Park
Red - Burned area

More than ten thousand hectares burned until this Thursday in Serra da Estrela, where the fire that started in Covilhã has been raging since Saturday, according to the European surveillance system Copernicus.
(...)
According to provisional data from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), until this Thursday, 10,540 hectares burned due to this fire.
(...)

https://twitter.com/Dfivenow/status/1557418463706112001
Aerial view of the wildfire.

[Mike88]

Wildfires: The environment disaster in Serra da Estrela Natural Park continues as the massive wildfire already destroyed more than 10,000 hectares of the park.

Update: Since yesterday, the number is now up to more than 16,000 hectares destroyed. (Others point to almost 18,000 hectares destroyed)

https://twitter.com/VOSTPT/status/1557882839378665475

There are already a lot of criticisms towards government officials because of the lack of efforts to fight the wildfire. Local officials from the affected areas, accuse Civil Protection officials of "incoordination" and that there are few means to fight the fire.

The police is already investigating the origins of the wildfire and they point that it was clearly arson.

[Mike88]

4.5 magnitude earthquake felt this evening in the Algarve region:

https://twitter.com/LastQuake/status/1558912801191731203

According to the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere, the earthquake — with a magnitude of 4.5 on the Richter scale — occurred 121 kilometers southwest of Faro and at a depth of 28 kilometers.

According to the information available so far, the earthquake "did not cause personal or material damage and was felt with maximum intensity III/IV [modified Mercalli scale] in the municipalities of Faro and Lagoa [Faro]", adds the IPMA.

[Mike88]

The wildfire in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park enters in its 10th day, with a new big front of fire. In the last 12 hours, almost 10,000 hectares have been burned. Several villages were evacuated:

https://twitter.com/VOSTPT/status/1559456527131590656

6-16 AUG22 08:00 Preliminary area of interest (last 12 hours; new fire phase +9800 ha approx)

The smoke of the Serra da Estrela wildfire is already creating fog in the Madrid area:

https://twitter.com/carlosweder_/status/1559530146750676992

The smoke from the fire in the "Serra da Estrela" natural park, in #Portugal, is channeled up the Tagus, following the flow of prevailing winds at this time, reaching our Community. Image via NASA.

The police, and local officials, say the new fronts of fire started almost at the same time, fueling even more the view that the Serra da Estrela wildfire is totally arson.

[Mike88]

Update on the massive Serra da Estrela wildfire:

Firefighters were able to control a new fire that broke yesterday in the park near Gouveia, Guarda district. The fires in the Natural Park are worrying firefighters since August 6th, and since then, everytime authorities say the fire is under control, a new fire breaks out and brings everything back to square one. For that reason, authorities continue to be vigilant for new fires across the whole Natural Park.

https://twitter.com/CopernicusEMS/status/1560569772055601154

However, the environment disaster is overwhelming, with 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres) completely burned, around 30% of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, and with several parts of the park needing years or decades to recover. The first estimate is that the fire provoked 300 million euros in damages to the local economy.

[Mike88]

Government to decree Situation of Calamity for the Serra da Estrela region:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1561702536905629697

Government will decree a calamity situation in Serra da Estrela. The meeting between the Government and mayors of the affected municipalities also came out with the definition of a calendar

At the end of the meeting in Manteigas to assess the needs and integrated responses for these municipalities after the fire in Serra da Estrela, the Minister of the Presidency and the Mayor of Manteigas, representing the mayors of Covilhã, Guarda, Celorico da Beira, Gouveia and Seia, spoke to journalists.

“The government and the municipalities are articulated. [This meeting was the] first of many, many hours of work ahead of us. (…) [The calamity situation] will be decreed by the Council of Ministers. [As for] calendars and territories, we need to make this diagnosis, but it will provide conditions for everyone - State and local authorities - to respond to the needs of this territory. This is the main guarantee that we brought here, several areas of the Government, to show that the intervention here has to be integrated”, said Mariana Vieira da Silva.
(...)
On the ground, she said, some measures are already in place, such as "support for animal feed, recovery and removal of burned wood, as well as social support". But, revealed Mariana Vieira da Silva, "in the next 15 days, a survey of all damages and losses will be carried out".
(...)

[Mike88]

Controversy as Pakistani immigrants were thrown out of a public swimming pool for not wearing bathing suits:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1561468183210471426

Immigrants expelled from Santarém swimming pools accuse employees of discrimination

A group of Muslim immigrants accuses the administration of Santarém Swimming Pools of discrimination. The incident happened on Wednesday during an organized visit to the aquatic complex. The police were called to the scene by an employee, because the immigrants were dressed in the water and the swimming pool regulations do not allow it.

[Mike88]

Updated Economic data: GDP stagnates in the 2nd trimester as inflation drops, slightly, to 9% in August.

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1564921630022828033

INE reviews growth on the rise. After all, GDP did not fall in the second quarter

After all, the Portuguese economy did not contract in the second quarter of the year, as initially pointed out by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which has just revised Portugal's economic growth upwards between the months of April and June.

After initially proceeding with a 0.2% contraction on a year-on-year basis, the INE now indicates that GDP recorded a zero change in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter.

Year-on-year growth was also revised upwards: it went from 6.9% initially calculated to 7.1%, with the rate of change also improving by 0.2 percentage points compared to the first figures released by INE.
(...)

Inflation drops to 9% in August, compared with the 9.1% in July:

The inflation rate in Portugal decelerated very slightly in August, falling by 0.1 percentage points to 9%, in annual terms, but remains at levels never recorded in the last three decades. It was the first deceleration in almost a year and was mainly due to the moderation in the rise in energy prices in recent weeks, according to a quick estimate by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
(...)

[Mike88]

Maternal mortality rate in Portugal reaches the worst level in 40 years, and it's the worst in Europe:

https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1565071240108408833

The Maternal Mortality Rate is the number of women killed per 100,000 births. It is a reference indicator to assess the development of countries and the quality of health systems. Portugal has been lagging behind the rest of Europe

Maternal mortality rate in Portugal: (per 100,000 births)

1960: 115,0
1975: 73,0
1980: 19,0
1990: 10,0
2000: 2,5
2010: 7,9
2016: 6,9
2017: 12,8
2018: 17,2
2019: 10,4
2020: 20,8

The average of the EU, in 2017, was 6,0 deaths per 100,000 births. The only developed country worse than Portugal is the USA, with 23,8 deaths by 100,000 inhabitants in 2020.

Health authorities have expressed worry about the rising number, and an investigation was conducted but a report about the reasons for this rise has yet to be published.

[Mike88]

Cyber attack against the Portuguese Defense led to NATO documents to be put "on sale" on the dark web:

https://twitter.com/dntwit/status/1567656731806961668

Portuguese NATO documents caught for sale on the dark web

The General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA), commanded by the Chief of Staff, Admiral Silva Ribeiro, was the target of a "prolonged and unprecedented cyberattack" that resulted in the exfiltration of classified NATO documents.

The Portuguese government only found out because it was informed by the US Information Services, through the embassy in Lisbon, with a communication that was made directly to Prime Minister António Costa, last August.

According to sources who are following the case, which is considered to be of “extreme gravity”, it was US intelligence cyberspies that detected “hundreds of documents sent by NATO to Portugal, classified as Secret and Confidential, for sale on the darkweb”.
(...)

[Mike88]

Tropical storm Danielle makes downfall in Portugal: Floods registered in the Center regions and around Lisbon.

Floods in Manteigas, Guarda district:
https://twitter.com/JGomes_PT/status/1569584983521562625

After the #IRCovilhã #PNSE, the rains caused this scenario in the parish of Sameiro, municipality of #Manteigas

In Lisbon and its suburbs, several roads and areas are flodded:
https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1569632278787096576

The rains that fell during the morning of this Tuesday caused several occurrences in certain parts of the national territory. Videos that reached TVI/CNN Portugal show access to the IC19 in Massamá, in the municipality of Sintra, underwater

[Mike88]

Controversy ignited due to the Government's decision to decree 3 days of national mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II:

https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1570815056362995714

Three days of mourning for the death of Elizabeth II: between the "just homage" and the "silly decision", the controversy is installed

The Queen of England will be entitled to a tribute from the Portuguese Government that is equivalent to that of heads of state such as Mário Soares or Jorge Sampaio. And there are already parties that are against

The government's decision to declare 3 days of national mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II is creating a lot of debate and criticisms. Many accuse the government of a "silly" decision and of betraying republican values for giving more days of national mourning in homage to foreign head of state, and head of a monarchy, rather than those given to other high profile Portuguese personalities. Parties like BE, PCP and Livre also trash the decision labeling it as "ridiculous" and "unjustified". Others, however, point that the Queen was someone that had enormous respect in Portugal and that she was a incomparable worldwide figure, adding also Portugal's historical links with England.

This controversy is because of the "Portuguese State Protocol Precedence Law" that defines how and when national mornings should be declared for Presidents, Prime Ministers and others, plus for other personalities, or events, of "exceptional relevance". In the past, several deaths of foreign head of states were honored with days of national mourning in Portugal:

- Nelson Mandela, 3 days
- Pope John Paul II, 3 days
- Emperor Hirohito of Japan, 3 days
- Anwar Al Sadat, 3 days
- Samora Machel, 3 days

The most controversial declaration of national mourning for a foreign leader in Portugal, was the 3 days of national mourning for the death of Adolf Hitler in 1945, which created a diplomatic embarrassment and was even received with shock and outrage within the Salazar regime.

[Mike88]

Women stabbed to death in the middle of a street in Odivelas, a Lisbon suburb, by her partner. Passers by saw the scene and did nothing to stop it:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1571983723377045504

Odivelas. Woman murdered by her partner in the middle of the street

A woman was killed by her partner in the middle of the street in Odivelas. Dozens of people watched and filmed the murder, but did nothing.
The number of deaths from domestic violence has increased this year in Portugal.

This is just another incident of several violent incidents in the last few weeks in Portugal:

- Last 10 September, a little girl was injured after a shooting broke out in a shooping mall in Almada, another Lisbon suburb. The main reason behind the shooting was wars between gangs;

- In Lisbon's night out areas, mainly Caís do Sodré, violent clashes are becoming a norm. Yesterday, a man died after a day light brawl started in the same Cais do Sodré area. The police has also been doing several raids in this Lisbon area, and has found/confiscated a lot of illegal fire arms in bars and in people circulating in the streets;

- Adding to this, there's the ongoing controversy of children being harassed and insulted in football matches: a boy in a Famalicão vs Benfica match, 2 weeks ago, was forced to remove his Benfica t-shirt after being insulted by Famalicão supporters. And last weekend, another child, accompanied by his father, was insulted by Estoril supporters for wearing a Porto shirt and both had to leave their seats in order to stop being harassed;

[Mike88]

Homeless man set on fire while he was sleeping in Porto city:

https://twitter.com/PortoCanalpt/status/1572883917316804608

Group of unknown people set fire to homeless person in Porto

A group of unknown people set fire to a homeless man this Thursday at dawn, on Rua Barros Lima, near the intersection with Rua Fernão de Magalhães, in the city of Porto. The individual was hospitalized on Thursday morning.

After being the target of the attack, the individual was immobilized at the scene until he was collected by a group of drug addicts who are undergoing methadone treatment at Hospital Joaquim Urbano, according to JN. It was at that time that INEM and the Police were called to carry out the respective investigations.

The homeless man was then taken to the hospital, and it has not been possible to ascertain, so far, the victim's state of health.
(...)

Weird things are happening here: a German man, that lives in the Azores island of Pico, confessed to murdering two men, who were seeing lands next to his, because... he didn't want neighbors. And, a horrible story from a nursing home in the Algarve where an elderly woman died after it was revealed she was in a bed full of ants and with open wounds also covered with ants. The police is already investigating this case.

[Mike88]

Housing prices rose a record 13.2% in the second quarter of 2022:

https://twitter.com/dinheiro_vivo/status/1572893746035068928

House prices rise by another 13.2%. A new all-time high

The price of housing in Portugal once again recorded a historic increase. In the second quarter of this year, it showed a year-on-year rise of 13.2% and an increase of 0.3 percentage points (pp) compared to the first three months of 2022.
(...)
In the second quarter of this year, 43,607 homes were sold, representing a year-on-year growth of 4.5%. The volume of transactions reached 8.3 billion euros, up 19.5%.

The vast majority of homes sold (38,181 or 87.6% of the total) were purchased by families, who spent a total of 7.2 billion euros (86.7% of the total).

Foreign buyers were responsible for 6.4% of the total number of transactions (2,783), which corresponds to 11.9% of the total amount transacted.
(...)

[Mike88]

Hacking to TAP airlines exposes personal data of President Marcelo, PM Costa and several highprofile figures across the darkweb:

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1573213074731016193

António Costa's personal data, elements of the Government and security exposed on the "dark web"

The personal data of the Prime Minister and the Director of the Security Information Service were exposed on the dark web by the group that attacked TAP's servers.

In this list there are deputies, members of the Government and those responsible for the security forces.

This week, the executive director of the national air carrier apologized to the airline's passengers for this lack of security, and admitted that it was not possible to protect the data of all customers.

According to Público newspaper, President Marcelo's personal data has also been exposed and the President had to change his personal digital address.

[Mike88]

More than 30 inmates try to escape from Ponta Delgada (Azores) prison, but were caught by people in neighbour houses:

https://twitter.com/SICNoticias/status/1573207068558987267

The 19th century jail has dozens of houses around the prison. More than 30 inmates tried to escape from Ponta Delgada jail

The neighbors listen to the inmates inside the prison in the largest city in the Azores and became aware of the escape attempt earlier in the week.

From an annex, through one of the wards, 33 inmates tried to escape from the prison, there were still 20 cm from the street.

In Ponta Delgada prison, more than 90% of the guards are on strike during the diligences.

Overcrowding and lack of conditions have dragged on for years.

The Minister of Justice announced that the building will have refurbishments worth 100 thousand euros. Even so, the construction of a new prison on the island of São Miguel is still awaiting authorization.

[Mike88]

Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal: Bishop of Fátima under investigation because of cover ups, as it also revealed that the Portuguese Church covered up the abuses of Nobel Prize winner Bishop Ximenes Belo from East Timor.

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1576087321828593664

Investigation: Bishop José Ornelas investigated by the DA after alleging a cover-up of sexual abuse

Bishop José Ornelas is being investigated for covering up cases of sexual abuse. The complaint was sent to the President of the Republic who forwarded the document to the Attorney General's Office.

At stake are complaints of sexual abuse of children in an orphanage in Mozambique. The case is over 10 years old.

To Público, the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima and also President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference denies having covered up complaints.

There is also a controversy as the Portuguese Catholic Church is said to be covering up the abuses made by the Bishop of Dili and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ximenes Belo:

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ximenes Belo, former bishop of Dili, was accused of sexually abusing minors in the 1980s and 1990s in East Timor. The cases would have been known to several entities, including the Portuguese Church, for more than a decade.
(...)
According to the online newspaper "Observador", the suspicions were known to the Church in Portugal at least since 2010, shortly before the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. The case is with the competent bodies of the Holy See, said the Vatican representative in East Timor, without confirming whether the prelate was ever investigated.
(...)

[Mike88]

Bishop of Fátima acknowledges that the Church has been covering up several cases of sexual abuse, as Church attendance hits new low:

https://twitter.com/dntwit/status/1577185786705108992

Dom José Ornelas assumes that cases of sexual abuse were hushed up in the church

(...)
Asked, in an interview on CNN Portugal, if it was assumed that "for years there were muffled cases" of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the bishop of the diocese of Leira-Fátima was emphatic in his response.

"They were [muffled]. And that's not good", replied Dom José Ornelas.

The issue was related to the suspicions that recently involved the Timorese bishop, Dom Ximenes Belo, of which Ornelas guaranteed to have been aware only "in these days" and "with great sadness".

"I thought I knew him. It's a great sadness. I think about him, his victims and I think about what these victims mean, which is precisely the opposite of what we [the Catholic Church] should be", he commented.

In the same interview with cable news channel, Dom José Ornelas, also asked for forgiveness to children who were victims of sexual abuse by priests of the Catholic Church and guaranteed that those targeted will be excluded from the church if they are convicted.
(...)

As the cases continue to grow in the Church in Portugal, Church attendance has a hit a new low, with priests and faithfuls recognizing that Churches are more and more empty, which was firstly justified by Covid, but now the wave of scandals in the Church may also be alienating people.

[Mike88]

Flash floods in Lisbon's downtown:

https://twitter.com/fredericodc27/status/1579593816918499329

To be fair, it doesn't take that much rain for Lisbon to become Venice for a few hours.