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☆ Orcas keep attacking sailboats, sometimes sinking them. Scientists are looking for answers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Joshua Zitser | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Orcas keep attacking sailboats off the coasts of Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. One sailor shared his encounter with killer whales, after a pod of orcas sank a boat last year. Orca attacks have sometimes immobilized sailboats, but local media said that, in this instance, it caused so much damage that the vessel started to sink. The passengers, who were sleeping at the time of the attack, were traveling from Lisbon to the Algarve, per the local media outlet Portugal Resident. And that number comes from a collaboration of scientists collecting reports, not from local media outlets.

☆ Hurricanes of Data: The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Porter Fox | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +35 min

The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea Shortly after dawn on Sept. 30, 2021, Richard Jenkins watched a Category 4 hurricane overrun his life’s work. That August, a sister ship, SD 1031, successfully entered Tropical Storm Henri, but only in its early stages. Hurricane research, modeling and forecasting requires many terabytes of data for every square mile the storm passes through, including vitally important sea-level data from inside a storm. The next day, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and officially given the name Sam. And four months later, Tropical Storm Megi killed more than 150, wiped out several villages with landslides and displaced more than a million people.

☆ Sebastian Steudtner has turned to science as he chases the world’s biggest waves
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Matt Majendie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

CNN —Sebastian Steudtner holds the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed. Steudtner holds the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed. Win, win, win or perform, perform, perform. How boring is it to win and win and win? If I want to catch waves, I don’t think about you because you’re in my way, so you’re naturally competitive.

☆ Brazil police shoot dead 4 illegal gold miners on Yanomami reservation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A helicopter of the Brazilian Environmental Agency (IBAMA) is seen near Uraricoera river during an operation at illegal mining in the Yanomami indigenous land, Roraima state, Brazil, February 11, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File PhotoBRASILIA, May 1 (Reuters) - Brazilian police and environmental protection agents were ambushed by illegal gold miners on the Yanomami Indigenous reservation in the Amazon on Monday and four miners were shot dead in the exchange of gunfire, a government statement said. The Environment Ministry said their team was attacked when they moved in to dismantle a wildcat mining camp run by an organized crime gang. Brazilian authorities are keen to show that they mean business in their efforts to remove the remainder of the wildcat miners on the reservation following the fatal shooting of a Yanomami man. Gold miners killed one man and seriously injured two others in an attack on Saturday in the Yanomami territory, where authorities have been evicting illegal miners who invaded Brazil's largest indigenous reservation, the size of Portugal.

☆ 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.

[1/3] People protest outside the embassy of Brazil in Portugal over Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's position on Russia-Ukraine war as he arrives in the country for a state visit in Lisbon, Portugal, April 21, 2023. Two Brazilian officials told Reuters on Thursday that Lula - keen to protect Brazil's neutrality - was expected to avoid criticism of the Western role in the Ukraine war during his visit to Portugal. "Brazil and president Lula have a vocation for peace and the president will work to unite other countries to seek an alternative to end this conflict", Macedo told reporters after receiving the letter. On Tuesday, Ukraine invited Lula to visit, a day after Lula had met with Russia's foreign minister in Brasilia. Asked if the president would visit Ukraine, Macedo said Lula's foreign policy adviser, Celso Amorim, would go.

☆ 'We can achieve more with less,' ECB's Centeno says on monetary policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email'We can achieve more with less,' ECB's Centeno says on monetary policyMario Centeno, governor of the Bank of Portugal, tells CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche that the ECB will be watching the data before deciding its next steps, but also says he has one key message: "We can achieve more with less."

☆ Portuguese NGO sues TikTok, says platform 'profits from children'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The lawsuit came a day after Britain's data watchdog said it had fined TikTok 12.7 million pounds ($15.81 million) for breaching data protection law, including by using the personal data of children without parental consent. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told Portuguese newspaper Publico in a statement that protecting its users and their data was of "utmost importance". Ius Omnibus claims TikTok ends up collecting and processing children's personal data in breach of Portugal's constitution, the European Union's general data protection regulation and the unfair commercial practices law. Despite TikTok's age limit, it "does not implement mechanisms to prevent registration" by users aged below 13, the group said. In a separate lawsuit, it claims users older than 13 are also victims of "misleading business practices" and that certain personal data is used without their full consent.

☆ 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.

☆ Former owner of Portugal's TAP denies overpaying for Airbus planes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, March 10 (Reuters) - A former owner of Portugal's flag carrier TAP, David Neeleman, denied on Friday making a deal in 2015 to overpay for Airbus planes after prosecutors said last month they were investigating the complex leasing deal, as well as suggestions he had bought TAP shares with company money. "It is also completely absurd to say that TAP shares were bought with Airbus funds or with TAP's future cash flows," he wrote, adding that TAP exclusively used the $226 million from Airbus in ancillary benefits to pay salaries and for its cash needs. He said Atlantic Gateway had also injected its own funds into TAP and arranged a 90 million euro ($96.04 million) loan from Azul, the Brazilian airline that Neeleman founded, "on very favorable terms for TAP", saving TAP from immediate insolvency. Portugal in 2020 bought Neeleman's stake in TAP, which is under a 3.2 billion euro Brussels-approved bailout. ($1 = 0.9371 euros)Reporting by Andrei Khalip and Patricia Rua; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ In pictures: Surfers brave monster waves of Portugal's Nazare
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Italian authorities arrested three people and were looking for a fourth suspect who they believe trafficked up to 200 migrants aboard a wooden boat that smashed apart on rocks off southern Italy on Sunday, killing at least 65 people.

☆ Ukraine's top climate scientist put solar panels on her apartment roof so she could keep the lights on for her son with autism
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In December, Svitlana Krakovska, Ukraine's top climate scientist, managed to place a solar array on the roof of her Kyiv apartment building to provide electricity for her family when the power goes out. "He was really afraid," Krakovska told Insider by phone from her office in Kyiv. The resiliency the solar panels deliver is part of what Krakovska hopes will come out of the brutal war with Russia, now one year on. She noted there are large solar installations in Ukraine where a missile might destroy some panels but the remaining ones will still work. Zasiadko pointed to a project in a village near Kyiv in which a small clinic that had been damaged by shelling was outfitted with solar panels and a groundwater heat pump.

☆ Portugal bans new Airbnbs over fears of popular cities becoming 'some sort of Disneyland'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Portugal has unveiled sweeping reforms to make buying and renting homes more affordable for locals. Part of the crackdown is not granting new licenses for new Airbnbs or other short-term rentals. The prime minister said he's seeking to "balance" local housing needs and economy-boosting tourism. The country's prime minister Antonio Costa said he worries about Portugal's cities turning into "some sort of Disneyland." The new measures would freeze the nearly 110,000 officially registered "tourist homes" in Portugal, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

☆ Liverpool welcome UEFA report on Champions League final chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

UEFA apologised to Liverpool for initially blaming the Merseyside club's fans for the mayhem following the release of the independent review on Monday. "(The report) fully vindicates Liverpool fans while finding UEFA primarily responsible for organisational failings, absence of overall control or oversight of safety and security, poor planning and lack of contingency plans," Liverpool said in a statement on Tuesday. "The evidence-based panel report also found that there was 'a clear and immediate danger of a fatal crush' and that the action of Liverpool supporters saved lives." The report added that the parallels between last year's Champions League final and the 1989 Hillsborough soccer stadium disaster -- in which 97 Liverpool supporters lost their lives -- were "palpable". Liverpool supporters group 'Spirit of Shankly' said the report had "exonerated" the Premier League club's fans.

[1/5] A cross at the top of a church is seen on the day Portugal's commission investigating allegations of historical child sexual abuse by members of the Portuguese Catholic church will unveil its report, in Lisbon, Portugal, February 13, 2023. Strecht said the 4,815 cases were the "absolute minimum" number of victims of sexual abuse by clergy members in Portugal since 1950. The Portuguese Catholic Church was rocked last year by cases of alleged cover-up of sexual abuse including by bishops who remain active in church roles. The Portuguese commission started its work in January 2022 after a report in France revealed around 3,000 priests and religious officials sexually abused over 200,000 children. The commission, which says it is independent, was financed by the Catholic Church.

☆ What the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 Tells Us About This Week’s Disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Mark Molesky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The disaster is a reminder that large segments of the world’s population are as vulnerable to major earthquakes today as they were centuries ago. In fact, the scenes in Turkey are tragically similar to those reported on Nov. 1, 1755, when a massive earthquake hit Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, at approximately 9:45 a.m. The Great Lisbon Earthquake, as it became known, was one of the most consequential quakes in modern history, and its story can shed light on the challenges survivors face today—practical, political and even philosophical. There were no reliable seismometers in the 18th century, but the Great Lisbon Earthquake is estimated at between 8.5 and 9.2 on the moment magnitude scale—at least five times stronger than the initial quake in Turkey, which registered 7.8. Like the earthquakes in Turkey, the Lisbon temblor came with little or no warning.

☆ Yanomami health crisis in Brazil can only be solved by expelling miners, official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BRASILIA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The medical emergency the Yanomami people of Brazil are suffering can only be overcome if illegal gold miners that invaded their reservation are evicted, an indigenous health official said on Tuesday. We believe the reopening of medical units can only be done when the miners are all removed," Indigenous Health Secretary Ricardo Weibe Tapeba told a news conference. About 20,000 wildcat miners on the Yanomami reservation in the state of Roraima in northern Brazil have brought malaria and severe food shortages that caused the death of starving Yanomami children, he said. Some 700 patients have been airlifted to the state capital of Boa Vista and are being treated at the CASAI indigenous health center hospital and a field hospital set up there, Weibe added. Their mineral-rich lands attracted wildcat miners for decades, especially after a military government built a road through the Amazon rainforest in the 1970s.

☆ Illegal miners in Yanomami reservation seek Brazil government help to leave
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRASILIA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Illegal gold miners blamed for causing a humanitarian crisis on Brazil's largest indigenous reservation are asking authorities to help them leave, one of their leaders and a Brazilian senator said on Monday. In a video he posted on social media, Mesquita asked the government to unblock rivers for 10-15 days for the miners to leave the reservation in the northern state of Roraima. "What matters is that the miners leave peacefully and protected," he said. Some of the miners that are beginning to leave the Yanomami reservation are expected to head across the border into neighboring French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana. Their mineral-rich lands have attracted wildcat miners for decades, especially after a military government built a road through the Amazon rainforest in the 1970s.

☆ A Floridian is leaving for Portugal because he said pollution, traffic, and overcrowding have turned his home of 20 years into a rotten paradise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Victor Zubriski, 74, is leaving the Boca Raton area after 20 years and moving to Portugal. According to Redfin, the median sale price in Boca Raton is $585,000, an increase of nearly 17% from this time last year. The median rent in Boca Raton has increased $339 from the same time last year to a median of $3,675, according to Zillow. That's 75% higher than the national median rent of $2,097. Miami Herald/Getty Images"The essential factor down here in Boca Raton is overcrowding," he said.

☆ Fact Check-Clips of people fainting at public events are unrelated to COVID-19 vaccines
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video compilation of people fainting includes clips that either predate or are unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine. The footage, depictingAir Force Maj. Gen. James Martin Jr fainting, can be seen on CNN (here) and ABC 7News (here). It was taken in July 2020 and predates the COVID-19 vaccine rollout (here). All but two of the clips featured in this compilation predate the COVID-19 pandemic. The individuals portrayed in the two other videos, in April 2021 and July 2020, were not vaccinated at the time of filming.

[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.

☆ Why are Brazil's Indigenous Yanomani being decimated by diseases, mining?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

BOA VISTA, Brazil — Severe malnutrition and disease, particularly malaria, are decimating the Yanomami population in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and on Jan. 20 the federal government declared a public health emergency. An estimated 30,000 Yanomami people live in Brazil’s largest indigenous territory, which covers an area roughly the size of Portugal and stretches across Roraima and Amazonas states in the northwest corner of Brazil’s Amazon. Illegal gold miners were first present in Yanomami territory during the 1980s, but then were largely expelled. Their numbers surged to 20,000 during Bolsonaro’s administration, according to estimates from environmental and Indigenous rights groups. Miners destroy the habitat of animals that the Yanomami hunt, and occupy fertile land that the Yanomami use to farm.

☆ Brazil declares emergency over deaths of Yanomami children from malnutrition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BRASILIA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's ministry of health has declared a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory, the country's largest indigenous reservation bordering Venezuela, following reports of children dying of malnutrition and other diseases caused by illegal gold mining. In four years of Bolsonaro's presidency, 570 Yanomami children died of curable diseases, mainly malnutrition but also malaria, diarrhea and malformations caused by mercury used by wildcat gold miners, the Amazon journalism platform Sumauma reported, citing data obtained by a FOIA. Lula visited a Yanomami health center in Boa Vista in Roraima state on Saturday following the publication of photos showing children and elderly men and women so thin their ribs were visible. In recent violent incidents, men on speed boats on the rivers have shot with automatic weapons at indigenous villages whose communities oppose the entry of gold miners. Lula said the new government will put an end to illegal gold mining as it moves to crack down on illegal deforestation in the Amazon, which surged to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro.

☆ Ronaldo v Messi: the last dance in Saudi Arabia or a fresh start?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Shady Amir | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Messi's Paris St Germain take on a combined Al Hilal-Al Nassr team in an exhibition match, giving Ronaldo and Messi a chance to rekindle their old 'El Clasico' rivalry when they played for Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Finance, had recently indicated that the door was open for moves by Saudi clubs to try and sign both of soccer's biggest stars. Messi and Ronaldo won every Ballon d'Or award from 2008-2017 until Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric broke their hegemony and the Argentine has since won two more to lead 7-5 over his Portuguese rival in the race to be the world's best player. Should the Argentine move to Saudi Arabia, Thursday's encounter between the sport's two biggest stars of the modern era could signal the dawn of a new age in Asian football. Reporting by Shady Amir; Editing by Ken FerrisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ECB's Centeno projects 'a few' more rate hikes in the next couple of meetings 'at least'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

DAVOS, Switzerland — There will be "at least" a few more rate hikes in the next couple of meetings, an ECB member told CNBC Tuesday. December inflation came in at 9.2% in the euro zone, according to preliminary numbers. "We have and can expect a few more rate hikes in the next couple of meetings at least," Mario Centeno, Governor of the Bank of Portugal, said in Davos. The latest ECB projections suggest a growth rate of 0.5% for the euro zone in 2023, followed by 1.9% in 2024. Economists have become more positive on the euro zone outlook in recent weeks.

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