Russia’s Syria Intervention Paved the Way for its Attack on Ukraine

Media accounts report that long-range, nuclear-capable Tu-22M3 bombers and MiG-31K strike fighter jets carrying the latest Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missiles landed at the Russian air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia as part of the drills. Russian amphibious assault vessels docked at Tartous for refueling and maintenance before departing to the Black Sea for Ukraine-related military drills and deployment.

Why do some nations fail while others succeed?

"whether or not a nation succeeds or fails depends on how the people in that society themselves organize that society"

Around 30% of those born in Portugal aged between 15 and 39 decided to emigrate. According to figures from the Emigration Observatory and reported by Expresso, this percentage corresponds to more than 850,000 people.

“Looking at what Portugal's score has been over the last 10 years, [this] shows a worrying stagnation"

Portugal, through 6 national and 10 regional programmes, benefitted from EU funding of EUR 29.4 billion under the 2014-2020 ESIF programmes. This represented an average of 2 820 euro per person in the 2014 population.

“Looking at what Portugal's score has been over the last 10 years, [this] shows a worrying stagnation, 

The key question now, though, is what will Portugal to address the still serious short-comings in the rule of law that still exist on its own doorstep. The Council of Europe has also been critical of Portugal over several years.

Domestic violence' Second most reported crime amounting to 8% of all crime. 84% of victims were female. 23% of cases there were previous incidence of violence. Tragically in 35% of cases these were witnessed by children. 78% victims and perpetrators current or formerly partners. 2019 – 29,400 cases up 11.5%

Yet another less than transparent situation has been flagged by Público in the wake of the hugely embarrassing Abramovich probe. It now seems that, along with various Russian oligarchs and sundry business leaders...

The blaze – that was almost certainly the work of arson – has now devoured large areas of the Serra da Estrela natural park.

The firefighters ... accused by the Public Prosecution Service (MP) of causing forest fires in Lisbon district, between 2017 and 2018, have appeared the Court

Approximately one fifth of Portuguese citizens live abroad, according to World Bank data. A total of 860,000 people have left the country since the beginning of austerity in 2011, with government efforts to convince young people to return through fiscal incentives largely unsuccessful.

The huge scandal of sexual abuse of children in the century-old state educational institution of Lisbon, which caused a lot of ink to flow in the Portuguese and international media, broke on 23 November 2002 with a report by journalist Felícia Cabrita published in the weekly Expresso newspaper and a report on SIC TV, of the same business group

One of the difficult chapters to deal with will be the cover-up of cases by the Catholic hierarchy, a detail in several of the testimonies presented in Portugal.

Portuguese monstrosities

On May 7, 1996, a detainee was killed, beheaded, and his body and head were hidden in different places at the GNR station in Sacavém.

A 37-year-old man, Public Security Police (PSP) officer, was accused of three crimes of sexual abuse against a minor, his 12-year-old niece, diagnosed with autism

GNR soldiers filmed themselves torturing immigrants in Odemira

... the boys describe that they tried to flee, but were attacked with batons, punches and kicks. Three of the friends were then taken to the police vehicle and, they say, blindfolded with their own shirts and attacked again until they reached the Trofa GNR

The gang were also threatening to make their victims’ daily business activities impossible if they failed to comply. Suspicion was first directed to police officers owing to their ostentatious lifestyles that seemed incompatible with the GNR officers’ earnings.

José Braz and another colleague from the PSP, who was also stationed in the Torres Vedras area, were dedicated to illegal security, participated in aggressions and were allegedly bribed to control, with the Police, any complaints that ran against their accomplices. As for the guard João Pina, from the GNR, who worked in the Torres Vedras Traffic detachment, he was detained for corruption.

two police (PSP) officers, who appear on a list of 15 defendants, were arrested by the Judiciary Police (PJ) when accompanying a shipment of 375 kilos of cocaine between the port of Setúbal and a warehouse in Azambuja. They were in uniform, with service weapons, and, according to the MP's accusation, they helped remove the drug from the banana container.

Cascais police in court accused of setting up a trafficking and corruption network: the main suspects accessed the police database to use information in exchange for which they issued threats or demanded money; created a parallel activity to that of the police and developed private security services for people or companies, services or favors in exchange for money or influence

The Court of Appeal of Porto confirmed the sentence of 13 years and six months in jail imposed by the Court of Penafiel to José Coelho, head of the prison guard accused of introducing drugs in the Paços de Ferreira prison. The sentences of Mário Barros (10 years) and Diamantino Oliveira (6 years and three months) were also confirmed. In question, crimes of drug trafficking, active and passive corruption and money laundering

Despite being accused, for now for omission of assistance and illegal exercise of private security, neither the security guards nor the company Prestibel will be subject to PSP sanctions, at least until the conclusion of the judicial process. The lawyer for the family of Ihor, José Schwalbach, confesses to being "scared" that these security guards remain at work

images that show the victim talking to two police (PSP) officers near Setúbal train station, Nuno Jorge Pires being found about 200 meters ahead with a head injury that, according to the autopsy, may be compatible with a blow

A key witness who alerted authorities to Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner has claimed that he let slip that she “didn’t scream” when she was kidnapped. In his first public interview, Helge Busching explained that his former acquaintance appeared to incriminate himself in the disappearance of the three-year-old girl (the Portuguese authorities tried to incriminate the girl's parents!)

witnesses say a group of about 15 men (in Bragança) approached Luis Giovani dos Santos Rodrigues and two of his friends armed with belts, sticks and other weapons. The report goes on to say that Rodrigues was beaten and left unconscious with bruises to his head. He spent 10 days in the hospital before succumbing to his injuries

The commander of the Volunteer Firefighters ... about three dozen firefighters from this corporation, two military personnel, security guards and pre-hospital emergency technicians, are among the “clients” who requested these false certificates.

Jessica’s mother would have gone to the false nursemaid, Ana Cristina, to do a “witchcraft job” and maintain her relationship with the girl’s stepfather. The debt, of 400 euros, would be behind the kidnapping of the girl, held by her captors for five days and beaten into a state of agony.

A child murder case that horrified the nation for its callous brutality has seen perpetrators Sandro and Márcia Bernardo sent to jail for 25 years and 18 years and nine months respectively. The duo rose to national infamy after ‘pretending’ Sandro’s nine-year-old daughter Valentina Fonseca had mysteriously gone missing

The Judiciary Police are looking for Luís Lopes' accomplice who helped him to dismember and hide the corpse of Valdene Mendes

Maria Malveiro and Mariana Fonseca were a couple and were accused of being responsible for the death of Diogo Gonçalves, aged 21, in 2020. The death was caused by suffocation and the young man's body was later dismembered, with the body parts of Diogo Gonçalves being found in different areas of the Algarve, such as Sagres and Tavira

"... sexually abused, repeatedly, in various circumstances and places, by her father", "with the consent and participation of her mother".

One refers to an alleged pedophile in Faro accused of no less than 100,000 crimes; another to a former firefighter accused of causing 18 fires in Alfândega da Fé.

Several footballers who played in Rio Ave in 2020/21 denounced sexual harassment by the then coach of the Vila do Conde club, Miguel Afonso, who was currently the coach of Famalicão.

114 young people were rescued from the Bsports Academy, in Riba d'Ave, being in reception centers to be given to their respective families in Latin America, Africa and Asia. At stake are suspicions of trafficking in human beings that led Mário Costa, president of the General Assembly of Liga Portugal and Bsports Portugal, to be accused by the Public Ministry in the case

"What Tiago Guedes calls 'agreeing', I call censorship, emotional blackmail, coercion, threat and abuse of power", reads a publication by Tiago Correia, on the social network Facebook, about not publishing a text by the playwright Regina Guimarães, in the theater sheet of the show "Turismo", which was on stage at the Campo Alegre auditorium at Teatro Municipal do Porto (TMPorto).

From the 18-question survey, which was addressed to 1,052 students aged between 17 and 30, it was found that many students had been victims of sexual violence at least once.

"increase in the number of rapes committed by unknown persons or individuals unrelated to the victim and in the number of individuals from younger age groups constituted as defendants seem to be the indicators that will, in the future, deserve particular attention". 

The Judiciary Police arrested a 26-year-old man for sexually abusing four children between the ages of seven and nine in the municipality of Loures, in Lisbon

A 39-year-old man was detained by the Judiciary Police (PJ) for being heavily indicted for committing aggravated crimes of kidnapping, rape and pornography that targeted a 13-year-old minor, in Vila do Conde. the same defendant allegedly committed identical acts in Póvoa de Varzim,

A 33-year-old man is suspected of sexually abusing his 14-year-old daughter in Vila Nova de Gaia. He was detained by the Judiciary Police and will await trial in preventive detention.

A 40-year-old defendant, suspected of having abused a 12-year-old partner's daughter, had already served effective prison sentences for the same type of crimes

Grandfather in custody for sexual abuse of his granddaughter in Ponte de Sor

A man was arrested for sexually abusing a 10-year-old child in Santa Maria da Feira

A 27-year-old man was detained by the Judiciary Police of Braga for being "suspected of the possible practice of several crimes of aggravated child sexual abuse"

A 58-year-old farmer was arrested in the Bragança area on suspicion of sexually abusing a child, currently aged 13

Two men, aged 47 and 59, were detained in the Azores due to "strong indications of committing crimes of rape and sexual coercion", According to the Judiciary Police, the victims were "two children and a teenager, aged 11, 12 and 16".

The Madeira PJ arrested a 28-year-old man on Tuesday for allegedly committing the crime of sexual abuse of children, of which two minors, currently aged 14 and 13, were victims.

A 31-year-old man was arrested by the Judiciary Police (PJ) for strong indications of having sexually abused a minor in his family circle, in Algarve 

Catholic clergy in Portugal have abused at least 4,815 children since 1950, an independent commission said

Reports that paedophiles were using Casa Pia orphanages to source victims surfaced in the early 1980s but they were swept under the carpet. Teresa Costa Macedo, a senior government official, said she informed the country's then president, General Ramalho Eanes, and provided photographic evidence. But the photographs were "lost" by police and Mrs Macedo said she was also intimidated by phone calls from anonymous callers. "They said they would kill me, flay me and a lot of other things," she recalled.