A counterterrorism expert says that intelligence services in many European countries are becoming more experienced, which may push terrorists into targeting Portugal.

The Israeli counterterrorism expert, Boaz Ganor, said that the growing numbers of tourists in Portugal and the increased security measures and skills in neighboring countries make Portugal "a convenient place" for terrorist organisations to plan and target their attacks.

One of two commissioned reports on the devastating and fatal fires of June 17th at Pedrógão Grande and Góis, has been delivered to parliament by the head of the Independent Technical Committee, João Guerreiro, the former rector of the University of the Algarve.

The fire caused 64 deaths and more than 200 injuries and took a week to extinguish. Of the fatalities, 47 people lost their lives on the EN236 as they tried to escape from the fire in their vehicles.

Hurricane Ophelia is moving north across the Atlantic ocean, towards Ireland and Scotland and is due to affect only the northern part of the coast of mainland Portugal on Sunday, but only as a ‘post-cyclical cyclone,’ according to the Spanish State Meteorological Agency.

The phenomenon will lead to high winds and rough seas in the north but will not cause severe rainfall, the agency predicts.

Ophelia already has become a category 1 hurricane and forecast models include its arrival at the coast of Portugal in the next few days. This would be the third recorded hurricane to hit Portugal in the county's recorded weather history.

Tropical storm Ophelia hit the hurricane category at 9:35 pm on Wednesday and the first forecast models released on Wednesday do not rule out mainland Portugal and the Açores from the hurricane’s path.

The Government intends to double the VAT threshold to €20,000 in a move that will delight countless small traders for whom the task of completing VAT returns is another drag on their time and business efficiency.

The good news gets better as the government also intends that VAT accounting will only start to become obligatory when the taxable person exceeds the €20,000 "in three consecutive calendar years or whenever it is exceeded, in a single year, by more than 25%."

The charges have been listed by the Public Prosecutor as Operation Marquês winds up and the paperwork is collated to prosecute José Sócrates, Ricardo Salgado, Zeinal Bava, Henrique Granadeiro and Armando Vara among other luminaries of the Portuguese elite, all of whom face full exposure in court for their involvement in a corrupt alliance between business and politics.

After an investigation lasting nearly four years, the Public Prosecutor's Office today, October 11th, filed charges against 28 defendants, 9 of them companies, under Operation Marquês, marking 'the end of the beginning' of this complex case assembled by the Public Prosecutor's office with the invaluable help of the Tax Authority.

The European Commission remains cagey about how much Portugal’s taxpayers might have to inject into Novo Banco after it is transferred to Lone Star's vehicle, the unamusingly named Nani Holdings*, but admits that ‘in adverse circumstances’ this is exactly what will happen.

Far from a clean deal to offload the loss making 'bridge bank' to a new owner, Portugal’s hard-pressed taxpayers again will be expected to bolster Novo Banco’s capital to cover losses if an economic downturn affects the bank that was created when BES went under in August 2014.

The Public Prosecutor's Office said today that due to press coverage, it had ordered an investigation into a woman living in the Algarve who has been collecting donations over several years, allegedly for her cancer treatment.
 
The investigation aims to assess whether 32-year-old Daniela Costa has been fundraising illegally, pretending she was ill when in fact she was not.