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BRICS - whose acronym was originally coined by an economist at Goldman Sachs, currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called the BRICS leaders' decision to invite Ethiopia to join "a great moment". "It shows the determination of BRICS countries for unity and cooperation with the broader developing countries." More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials, and 22 have formally asked to be admitted. "The expansion and modernization of BRICS is a message that all institutions in the world need to mould themselves according to changing times," he said.

Persons: Cyril Ramaphosa, Narendra Modi, Sergei Lavrov, Alet Pretorius, Goldman Sachs, BRICS, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ramaphosa, Lula, globalisation's, Mohammed bin Zayed, Abiy Ahmed, Antonio Guterres, Xi Jinping, Bhargav Acharya, Sergio Goncalves, Ethan Wang, Vladimir Soldatkin, Joe Bavier, Toby Chopra, Emelia Organizations: South, India's, Russia's, REUTERS, United Arab, United, United Arab Emirates, New Development Bank, Ethiopian, United Nations, . Security, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, BRICS, Indian, Thomson Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, UAE, JOHANNESBURG, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Russia, India, China, Ukraine, United States, Beijing, Moscow, United Arab, Lisbon

☆ Portugal keen on new subsea cable to improve Europe-US connectivity
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LISBON, July 26 (Reuters) - Portugal is interested in hosting a new high-capacity subsea cable to North America to improve internet connectivity between Europe and the U.S., the secretary of state for digitalisation told Reuters on Wednesday. Subsea cables form the backbone of the world wide web, carrying 99% of global data traffic. Two high-capacity subsea cables already link Portugal with other continents - the Google (GOOGL.O)-owned Equiano cable that runs to South Africa via other African countries, and the EllaLink that runs to Brazil from Sines, south of Lisbon. "Our aim is to improve connectivity between Europe and the U.S., implying that Sines would become yet another gateway," Mario Campolargo said. Portugal already has mega-investments lined up in Sines to produce renewable energy and green hydrogen to power industry and energy-intensive data centres.

Persons: digitalisation, Mario Campolargo, Davidson Kempner, Sergio Goncalves, Andrei Khalip Organizations: Reuters, Google, Partners, Thomson Locations: LISBON, Portugal, North America, Europe, U.S, South Africa, Brazil, Sines, Lisbon

☆ Portugal won't compensate telcos for replacing "high-risk" equipment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Europe and the U.S. have concerns that Chinese involvement in critical infrastructure could compromise security. The Security Assessment Commission created within the scope of the CSSC has over the past nine months assessed the security aspects of all existing equipment in Portugal, regardless of "technology, merit or quality", and applied the criteria of the EU 5G security toolbox. "Because there is this balance between security and the operators' return on investment, Portugal does not consider compensating them for replacing equipment," he said. Asked if the deliberation was aimed at Chinese suppliers such as Huawei, he said: "Of course not". Portugal's main operators, Altice, NOS (NOS.LS) and Vodafone (VOD.L) have already said they would not use Huawei's equipment in 5G core networks.

Persons: Mario Campolargo, Campolargo, Sergio Goncalves, David Evans Organizations: Huawei, Reuters, Union, U.S, EU, NATO, OECD, Vodafone, Thomson Locations: LISBON, Portugal, digitalisation, Europe, Beijing, EU

☆ EasyJet's Portugal cabin staff start five-day strike, threaten more walkouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, July 21 (Reuters) - Almost 100% of EasyJet's (EZJ.L) cabin staff in Portugal walked out for five days on Friday and the union threatens with more strikes in the coming months if the company keeps rejecting the raises they demand. Penarroias did not rule out more strikes in the coming months if the talks with the company do not progress. "We will see with the union member whether the strike would happen in August, September, October or at the end of the year," he told Reuters. He said "his fellow French, German and Swiss cabin staff, who earn between 70% and 100% more than the Portuguese, only got better wages after going on strike several times". The Portuguese law protecting consumers forces cabin staff to assure 96 flights during the five days.

Persons: Ricardo Penarroias, Penarroias, Easyjet, Sergio Goncalves, Inti Landauro, Louise Heavens Organizations: Reuters, British, Thomson Locations: LISBON, Portugal, Swiss

☆ Portugal to swap $153 million Cape Verde debt for nature investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, June 20 (Reuters) - Portugal plans to swap the entire 140 million euro ($152.91 million) debt it is owed by Cape Verde for investments in the archipelago's environmental and climate fund, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Tuesday. The two countries had already agreed in January to swap 12 million euros of debt repayments scheduled until 2025 and then assess the effectiveness of this mechanism in concrete projects. "We are sure the assessment we will make in 2025 will be positive and that we will be able to extend this mechanism to all 140 million euros of debt throughout its maturity," Costa said. Cape Verde's Silva said the investments will increase the country's resilience and achieve sustainable development goals. Cape Verde is 80% dependent on imported fossil fuel energy, which has risen sharply in price following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Persons: Antonio Costa, Costa, Ulisses Correia e Silva, Cape Verde's Silva, Sergio Goncalves, Inti Landauro, Susan Fenton Organizations: Cape Verde's, Thomson Locations: LISBON, Portugal, Cape Verde, Lisbon, Cape, Africa, Portuguese, Ukraine

"This would be the nail in the coffin for Huawei in Europe," said Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at PP Foresight. China has asked for Huawei to be one of the main points on the agenda, one of the sources familiar with the matter said. Germany's China hawks expressed outrage in March when a Reuters story revealed that German state rail operator Deutsche Bahn was using Huawei gear to digitalise its operations. Berlin in 2021 passed a law setting high hurdles for makers of telecommunications equipment for the "critical components" of 5G networks. It is estimated it would cost billions of euros to rip out and replace Huawei equipment in European countries, potentially burdening telecom companies already sitting on huge debts.

Persons: Paolo Pescatore, Andrew Small, Mikko Huotari, Sweden's, Sarah Marsh, Andreas Rinke, Supantha Mukherjee, Foo Yun Chee, Sergio Goncalves, Mark Potter Organizations: European, Huawei, Deutsche Telekom, Foresight, Deutsche Bahn, Mercator Institute for China Studies, Telecom, Nokia, Sweden's Ericsson, Thomson Locations: BERLIN, STOCKHOLM, Germany, Brussels, Berlin, Beijing, Europe, China, China's, Denmark, Portugal, West, U.S, Stockholm, Lisbon

☆ Portugal moves closer to banning Chinese suppliers from 5G
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, May 26 (Reuters) - Portugal's cybersecurity council CSSC has issued a resolution that could formally bar telecom operators from using Chinese equipment in their high-speed 5G mobile networks as well 4G platforms on which the new technology is based. The CSSC is the prime minister's consultative body and its document, dated May 23, is another blow to efforts by Chinese technology giant Huawei (HWT.UL) to enter the 5G market in Portugal and possibly extend existing contracts. Portugal's existing 5G networks are not standalone and still largely based on 4G technology and equipment. Its opinion is based on an undisclosed report that evaluated the safety of equipment in public electronic communications networks involving 5G technology. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves Editing by Andrei Khalip and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON/LISBON, May 19 (Reuters) - Portuguese insurer Fidelidade is exploring a potential stock market listing of its private healthcare subsidiary Luz Saude, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Luz Saude reported operating income of 599 million euros in 2022, a 10.6% jump from the year before, driven by growth in private healthcare services. They come after Fidelidade acquired the remaining 49% of Luz Saude it did not already own from parent Fosun in September. An IPO would mark a return of Luz Saude to the stock market after the healthcare group stopped trading on Euronext Lisbon in 2018. It could also awaken Europe's IPO market, after activity levels plunged last year on the back of soaring interest rates and economic uncertainty.

☆ Former Goldman Sachs partner launches fund of up to $550 mln in Portugal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, May 9 (Reuters) - Fortitude Capital, founded by former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) partner Antonio Esteves, Brazilian bank BTG Pactual (BPAC3.SA) and Portuguese asset manager Atrium, has launched its first fund with a target size of up to 500 million euros ($550 million). He said that, contrary to the majority of funds in Portugal, the first Fortitude fund would be mostly funded by private investors and its founders will be the fund's biggest investors. He added that Portugal, only sporadically on the radar of global private equity funds and international investment banks, was always short of private capital and very dependent on national banks. In Portugal, private equity funds are normally funded by public money and tend to be up to 100 or 200 million euros. The first investment should be 50 million euros in the agricultural sector "in the next two months", with an investment of 350 million euros also in the pipeline by the end of the year.

☆ Portugal's president to address the nation after rift with PM
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LISBON, May 4 (Reuters) - Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will address the nation at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Thursday, a spokesperson for the presidency said, after his rift with Prime Minister Antonio Costa increased the risk of a political crisis. The conservative president had made clear he wanted Galamba out and said he disagreed with Costa's decision after previously having warned that he could disband parliament if the government lost credibility. Costa's Socialists won an outright parliamentary majority in January 2022, but his third government in a row has been plagued by instability, although analysts see it surviving - for now at least. More than 10 ministers and secretaries of state have left their posts in the past year, at least two of them linked to scandals at airline TAP. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei KhalipOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LISBON, May 2 (Reuters) - Portugal's infrastructure minister submitted his resignation on Tuesday as a scandal around state-owned airline TAP widened, just four months after his predecessor resigned over the same issue, but the prime minister said he would keep him in the job. Galamba's predecessor, Pedro Nuno Santos, resigned in December in the wake of a scandal involving an irregular severance payment to a former executive board member of TAP. Ourmières-Widener has since been fired after an official inspection found that the severance was illegal. On Sunday, Costa said that neither he nor any member of the government had given orders to SIS to recover the laptop. ($1 = 0.9089 euros)Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrei KhalipOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Four people shot dead in Portugal, CNN Portugal says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LISBON, April 30 (Reuters) - A man shot three people dead and then committed suicide on Sunday in the Portuguese city of Setubal, about 45 km (28 miles) south of the capital, CNN Portugal said. PSP police commissioner Joao Freire told Reuters that "there are four bodies, which were supposedly the result of a shooting, but the causes and details are not yet known". The police criminal cases agency PJ was at the scene investigating, Freire said. CNN Portugal said the shooting took place at around 8 a.m. in a poor neighbourhood of Setubal called Bairro Azul, and that the gunman committed suicide when police officers arrived on the scene. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Portugal NOS' quarterly profit drops 15% as 5G capex ups amortisations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, April 26 (Reuters) - Portuguese telecommunications firm NOS (NOS.LS) posted on Wednesday a 15% fall in first-quarter net profit as amortisation costs rose after strong investments to bring its fast-speed 5G network to almost everyone in Portugal. NOS, whose businesses include cable television and cinemas, made a net profit of 34.9 million euros ($38.55 million) between January and March. Consolidated revenue rose 2.2% to 381.4 million euros in the quarter from a year ago, of which 369.2 million euros were from its core telecommunications business. Its 5G network covered 88% of Portugal's population in March, said NOS, which a year ago was in the initial phases of the new technology roll-out. Operating costs rose 7% year-on-year to 869.9 million euros in the first quarter due to soaring inflation.

☆ Portugal's government in hot water as TAP airline scandal deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, April 21 (Reuters) - Portugal's government fired the chief executive of flag carrier TAP last month without a legal assessment of the move, Finance Minister Fernando Medina has acknowledged, deepening a high-profile scandal around the state-owned airline. His remarks in parliament late on Thursday contradicted claims by two fellow ministers a day earlier that the government had obtained a legal opinion backing the decision. This heightens chances of the state losing a potential lawsuit by the sacked executives worth millions of euros. After Ourmières-Widener called her sacking "illegal", the main opposition Social Democrats warned that unless the decision had proper legal backing, the state could lose an eventual court dispute. In a tweet, Liberal Initiative party leader Rui Rocha called the situation a "festival of incoherence and total disrespect for parliament".

☆ Portugal party Chega sets far-right world summit with Brazil's Bolsonaro, Italy's Salvini
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LISBON, April 7 (Reuters) - Portuguese party Chega will hold a world summit in Lisbon with several far-right party leaders in May, including former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, the president of Chega said on Friday. In a video statement, the president of Chega, Andre Ventura, said Bolsonaro and Salvini "already accepted the invitation to the great right-wing world summit" on the 13th and 14th of May. In January 2022, Portugal's ruling Socialist Party gained an unexpected outright majority and the Social Democrats finished second, but Chega increased its support and became the third largest party in parliament. In March, Ventura told journalists he also planned to invite Marine Le Pen of France or Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, leaders of far-right parties in their countries. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Oil spills and near misses: more ghost tankers ship sanctioned fuel
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jonathan Saul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunSummary Risk of accidents in focus as 'shadow' fleet growsStirs fears of oil spills, decades after Exxon ValdezHundreds of ships carry oil from sanctioned nationsMany ship certifiers and insurers have pulled servicesLONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - An oil tanker runs aground off eastern China, leaking fuel into the water. Many leading certification providers and engine makers that approve seaworthiness and safety have withdrawn their services from ships carrying oil from sanctioned Iran, Russia and Venezuela, as have a host of insurers, meaning there's less oversight of vessels carrying the flammable cargoes. Reuters was unable to independently verify the numbers regarding the size and growth of the shadow fleet. The U.S. Treasury didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on ships carrying sanctioned oil. SHIP-TO-SHIP TRANSFERSAround 774 tankers out of 2,296 in the overall global crude oil fleet are 15 years old or more, according to data provider VesselsValue.

Since then, critics say those schemes have come back to bite the economy by ramping up competition for scarce housing - fuelling inflation and piling pressure particularly onto young, local, entry-level workers. Rents in Lisbon have jumped 65% since 2015 and sale prices have sky-rocketed 137%, figures from Confidencial Imobiliario, which collects data on housing, show. Locals struggled to keep up in a country where public housing only represents 2% of the property market, according to government data. The average rent for a one-bedroom flat in Lisbon is around 1,350 euros, a study by housing portal Imovirtual showed. "If housing stays this expensive or gets worse, (foreign) people ... will start moving back to their own countries."

☆ Portugal's Delta Cafes founder Rui Nabeiro dies at 91
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LISBON, March 19 (Reuters) - Rui Nabeiro, the founder of Portugal's largest roasted coffee retailer Delta Cafes and one of the country's top entrepreneurs, has died at the age of 91, the company said on Sunday. Nabeiro, who died in a hospital in Lisbon "due to breathing problems", founded Delta Cafes in his home town of Campo Maior, Alentejo, in 1961, starting with a small warehouse that roasted only 30 kilos of coffee per day. He always reinvested the profits in innovation to grow his family business and the Delta Cafe now roasts 100 tonnes daily. The company's sales, through both retail and foodservice channels, rose 12% to 460 million euros in 2022, with more than 25% exported to around 40 countries. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Portugal's Novo Banco 2022 profit triples, could pave way for IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LISBON, March 9 (Reuters) - Portugal's fourth-largest bank, Novo Banco, announced on Thursday that profit tripled in 2022, boosted by higher interest rates and fewer non-performing assets, and said the strong results could pave the way for an eventual initial public offering. The bank's consolidated net profit jumped to 561 million euros ($592 million) last year, from 184.5 million euros in 2021, it said in a statement. Novo Banco, 75% owned by U.S. private equity fund Lone Star, will see pre-tax profit rise again this year, Chief Executive Mark Bourke told Reuters in a phone interview. Recurring 'profit before taxes' is expected to rise above 600 million euros this year up from 407 million euro last year, he said. Analysts have speculated that Novo Banco could be merged with another lender looking to consolidate its position in Portugal, but Bourke sees the bank remaining independent, growing its business and performing well which will be key for an eventual IPO.

More than 50% of workers earned less than 1,000 euros per month last year while rents and house prices have skyrocketed. Prime Minister Antonio Costa told a news conference the crisis was now affecting all families, not just the most vulnerable. It is not clear when the measures, worth at least 900 million euros ($962.19 million), will come into effect. To address the housing shortage, Costa said the state would rent vacant houses direct from landlords for a period of five years and put them on the rental market. At a small housing protest in Lisbon, 23-year-old activist Andreia Galvao accused the government of failing to live up to promises it made to address the housing crisis in the past.

☆ Portugal's Galp posts record profit in 2022 on soaring oil prices, wider refining margins
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Galp Energia SGPS SA FollowLISBON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Portuguese oil and gas company Galp Energia (GALP.LS) on Monday reported a record adjusted net profit for 2022, due to soaring oil prices and wider refining margins in the fourth quarter. Galp said its adjusted profit almost doubled to 881 million euros ($940.03 million), surpassing the previous record of 707 million euros set in 2018. Its fourth-quarter bottom line more than doubled to 273 million euros, compared with 130 million euros a year earlier. The average forecast of 20 analysts polled by the company was 225 million euros. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 48% to 951 million euros in the fourth quarter, in line with the average forecast.

France, which relies on its aging nuclear fleet to generate electricity, is leading a campaign to count hydrogen made using nuclear power -- known as "red" hydrogen -- in the EU's new renewable energy targets, which currently focus on green hydrogen made using electricity from renewable sources. After much foot-dragging, French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to the hydrogen pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille in October, a deal formalised at a summit with Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez in Barcelona in January. In Madrid, officials say the row is a "misunderstanding" and they are willing to be flexible on red hydrogen in other legislation such as the gas market directive, but not in the renewables bill. "Red hydrogen cannot be renewable because nuclear is not an energy that can be considered as such. France wants this to include its red hydrogen but it must first be designated as renewable.

[1/4] People carry a banner reading " We are also teaching fighting" as school workers demonstrate for better salaries and working conditions, in Lisbon, Portugal January 28, 2023. REUTERS/Rodrigo AntunesLISBON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of public school teachers and other staff marched in Lisbon on Saturday to demand higher wages and better working conditions, putting further pressure on the Portuguese government as it grapples with a cost of living crisis. The Union of All Education Professionals (STOP) is demanding that the government increases the wages of teachers and school workers by at least 120 euros ($130) a month and speeds up career progression. Teachers on the lowest pay scale are paid around 1,100 euros per month and even those in the top band typically earn less than 2,000 euros monthly. We need better conditions in terms of salary, it's unacceptable that we don't have progression in our careers," said Isabel Pessoa, 47, a science and biology teacher.

☆ Portugal agrees to swap Cape Verde's debt for environmental investment
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Sergio Goncalves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Portugal has signed an agreement to swap Cape Verde's debt for investments in an environmental and climate fund that is being established by the archipelago nation off West Africa's coast, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday. The former Portuguese colony, which is already suffering from rising sea levels and significant biodiversity loss due to increasing ocean acidity, owes around 140 million euros ($152 million) to the Portuguese state and over 400 million to its banks and other entities. Climate change is a challenge that takes place on a global scale and no country will be (environmentally) sustainable if all countries are not sustainable," Costa said during a state visit to Cape Verde in remarks broadcast by RTP television. Cape Verde Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said his country needed to urgently enable mechanisms and financing instruments to support such solutions and deal with natural emergencies. ($1 = 0.9206 euros)Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip and Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Portugal wants EU green tech package to ensure level playing field
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LISBON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The European Union's response to the United States' stimulus package for green tech investments should use financing instruments that ensure equality between all members instead of favouring the bloc's most industrialised nations, Portugal's finance minister said on Tuesday. Brussels is concerned that European companies will increasingly move to the United States, which has a $369 billion scheme to subsidise green production. "But it has to be implemented through European mechanisms that ensure equality within the European space," he added. "The smaller European countries cannot lose to the larger countries in an internal competition that would not make sense to open at this moment," he said. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by David Latona and Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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