Councillor suspected of knife-point robberies
A PS councillor elected to the Municipal Assembly of Setúbal has been arrested on suspicion of robbery, with the use of a knife, two days before starting council duties. Marco Costa was caught by PSP police in the early hours of Saturday morning when agents were investigating a string of assaults in the Baixa district. Costa, arrested with an accomplice, is understood to be preparing to renounce his municipal mandate.
Record debt
Portugal’s public debt has risen to a new maximum of €294.3 billion. It now exceeds €27,000 per inhabitant. The information was published by the Bank of Portugal today after admission by finance minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento of what he calls this ongoing ‘fragility’. Compared to the start of the century 25 years ago, when public debt stood at €6,700 per inhabitant (and the population was smaller), Portugal’s public debt has quadrupled.
Pharmaceutical pollution
A study by Coimbra’s university’s Faculty of Sciences and Technology has fed into a wider European study into the pharmaceutical pollution of member states’ rivers. The Coimbra rivers, for example, flagged high concentrations of medical compounds used in the treatment of high blood pressure, and four of the seven most common antibiotics, which was labelled “particularly worrying” by researchers vis-a-vis the global increase of antimicrobial resistance, which threatens public health.
Data Centers
In spite of their enormous requirements for both supplies of water and electricity, Portugal’s AD government is focused on creating “a national strategy” to accommodate what it calls the various “very relevant investments” that have approached them over the siting of “gigafactories and artificial intelligence”. Believing this could be a niche-area for Portugal, Minister for state reform, Gonçalo Matias, says the executive is focused on pre-licensing areas for these data centers.
Transexual incident
A “transexual woman” held in Tires women’s hospital has caused an incident that led to herself, and five prison guards, requiring treatment in hospital for smoke inhalation. According to reports, the prisoner was transferred to Tires’ mother and baby unit (neither having a baby, nor being a mother), which led to ‘problems’ during a recreation break that saw the prisoner returned to her cell – where she is understood to have set light to her mattress.
Narco sub
A joint operation by the Navy and PJ police has succeeded in intercepting mid-Atlantic yet another ‘narco submarine’ heading for the Iberian peninsula, and loaded with drugs: this time, 1.7 tonnes of cocaine. The semi-submersible, carrying four men from Venezuela, was being used, says the PJ, by a transnational criminal organisation. The men are now in custody. This operation involved various entities, including UK and United States drug enforcement.
Sócrates lawyer
It has taken roughly a decade for prosecutors to succeed in bringing former prime minister José Sócrates to court over suspicions of corruption and cronyism, but the case is full of surprises – not least the resignation this week of Sócrates’ long-standing defence lawyer and friend Pedro Delille whose reasons centred on what he called the “sham trial”, and his own “deontological reasons”. Will this delay proceedings even further? Almost certainly.
Diabetes shock
The prevalence of diabetes has hit record highs in Portugal, reaching 14.2% of the population last year – the highest figure ever – with the highest number (88,476) of new cases in Primary Health Care, according to a report released by the Portuguese Society of Diabetology which not only traces a growing trend of the disease in this country but high levels of underdiagnosis, partly attributed to lack of data integration.
