Drought is the ‘new normal’ in Portugal Portugal has been ravaged by extreme drought. Since October there has been hardly any precipitation and in February it rained only 7% of normal. Drought not only compromises agriculture and livestock but lack of vegetation will also lead to an increase in CO2, wildfires, poverty, and emigration. The […]
Sepharad is the Hebrew name of the Iberian Peninsula In the last five years, 32,000 of the 86.500 (37%) applications for Portuguese citizenship have been granted to descendants of Sephardic Jews, expelled from Portugal 525 years ago. More than 50.000 requests are still under review. The majority of the applicants come from Israel, Brazil, and […]
In 2001, under the leadership of former prime minister António Guterres – nowadays UN’s Secretary-General – Portugal became the first country to decriminalize the possession and consumption of drugs. Twenty years later, the first controlled drug consumption room – also known as the ‘chuto’ (shot) room – opened in Lisbon. In six months nearly 900 […]
‘Absolute majority doesn’t mean absolute power’ (António Costa) Against all odds, Portugal’s centre-left Socialists won a straight parliamentary majority in last week’s general election, securing a strong new mandate for Prime Minister António Costa. It is for the first time the Socialists have won an absolute majority after six years in power. This means the […]
‘Re-privatisation is not on the table’ – (Pedro Nuno Santos, Minister of Infrastructure) TAP (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses) was created in 1945 and nationalised in 1975. During the financial crisis, the center-right government of Pedro Passos Coelho decided in June 2015 to sell the company to the AtlanticGateway consortium (David Neeleman in partnership with Humberto Pedrosa), […]
‘Nothing about women without us’ – Xiomara Castro, President of Honduras Despite low healthy life expectancy in later life, barriers in career progression, underpayment, increased unemployment, and a substantial risk of becoming a victim of gender-based violence – as discussed before – there are also some positive developments as far as Portuguese women are concerned. […]
‘Nothing about women without us’ – Xiomara Castro, President of Honduras The health of Portuguese women over 65 is worse than men, the 2021 report from the European Institute for Gender Equality claims. Only 12% assess their health positively (versus 18% in men) and 68% declare to have limitations in daily activities (56% in men). […]
‘Salt is the sea unable to return to the sky’ Salt is a mineral primarily composed of sodium chloride (NaCl). It either exists in a crystalline form – known as rock salt – or is diluted in seawater.In ancient times – when it was a rare and precious commodity – salt was used as part […]
‘The challenge is to extract what we need without destroying the environment Lithium (stone in Greek) is a soft, light, silvery-white metal and a key ingredient in batteries for electric cars and mobile phones. Worldwide, Australia has the highest production (40,000 tonnes each year). Portugal is one of Europe’s largest producers of this so-called ‘white […]
‘Watch out – Art under your feet! This spring Portuguese pavement (calçada) was presented in Lisbon as a candidate for UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage list. As of last year a total of 1,120 World Heritage Sites – demarcated by UNESCO as protected areas – exist across 167 countries. Portugal has 17 sites, the most recent […]