'Galp free fooball tickets' case - President of the Assembly's comments under heavy attack

ferroRodriguesThe President of the Assembly of the Republic, Ferro Rodrigues, made an unprecedented break from the neutrality that his position demands, saying in an interview on Friday, that the Galp ‘free tickets for MPs’ affair is a “mystery of Portuguese justice” and that, anyway, it happened a year ago.

Three secretaries of state, - Rocha Andrade, João Vasconcelos and Jorge Costa Oliveira, were forced to resign a year after accepting hospitality, flights and euro 2016 football match tickets for Portugal vs Hungary in Lyon, France.

EN125 western section is "a true alternative to the Via do Infante motorway"

en125postThe EN125 between Lagos and Olhão, "already constitutes a true alternative to the Via do Infante."

This memorable statement was uttered by Rui Sousa, the executive director of the Rotas do Algarve Litoral subcontractor responsible for the EN125 road works.

Portugal - 'a country full of old people'

oldpersonA new report shows that Portugal soon will have an unsustainable number of pensioners supported by a declining workforce, a low birth rate and not enough immigration to fill the gap.

Portugal holds sixth place in the 'aged population' chart, and if things don’t change, by 2051 the country will have a lower population than in 1950, even though its population will be better educated and healthier.

Abortion - 500 Portuguese women a year opt for Spain

abortionInstrumentsTen years after the decriminalisation of abortion in Portugal, each year around 500 Portuguese women have been travelling to Spain to end their pregnancy. The two reasons given are privacy and 'having passed the legal deadline.'

According to the Spain’s abortion clinic association, ACAIVE, the majority of Portuguese women who choose to have an abortion in their neighboring country do so because they have been pregnant for more than ten weeks, the deadline under the Portuguese law which came into force on July 15, 2017.

Drones to be licensed as owners continue to flout the law

dronegolfBecause of the idiocy of drone owners flying their machines illegally in the flight path of commercial aircraft, all drones over 250 grammes soon will have to be licensed and insured.

The government is to "advance by the end of this month" with the submission of regulations for the mandatory registration of drones over 250 grammes, said the Minister of Planning and Infrastructures, today, admitting that “there is much to do."

Conned BES depositors to receive compensation - except the overseas ones

besLegislation to reimburse BES customers who were ripped off in the ‘commercial paper’ scandal, initiated by banking boss Ricardo Salgado, was passed by a parliamentary committee on Friday, July 14th, and next week goes to parliament for a full vote.

The proposal is to create a credit recovery fund to compensate the 2,000 customers who lost €400 million between them when they were duped into switching their safe deposit accounts into risky investments in Grupo Espírito Santo companies such as Espírito Santo Financial and Rioforte.

The Pope Francis effect - Fátima visit boosts local economy by €20 million

PopeinCrowdThe visit by Pope Francis to Fátima in May this year ploughed an extra €20 million into local businesses.

The head of the regional tourist board, Pedro Machado, said that cash withdrawals between May 9th and 15th at ATMs in the Fatima and Ourém reached a total of €2.3 million.

French buy into Portugal's media sector with €440 million purchase of Media Capital

fibreopticNot content with buying Portugal Telecom two years ago, French-owned technology company Altice has entered the local media sector with the purchase of Media Capital, owner of TVI, TVI24, audiovisual content producer, Plural Entertainment, radio stations including Rádio Comercial, and Media Capital Digital, which owns the IOL portal and The TVI Player platform.

The French group says it has "pride" in this "unique opportunity" and is to pay €440 million to pursue it.