CYNTHIA ADINA KIRKWOOD

The people of Ereira, in Montemor-o-Velho Municipality, on the Lower Mondego River, have been in isolation for 14 days, depending on amphibious vehicles of the Armed Forces to take them for groceries and voting in the national election on February 8, reported RTP (February 16). Today, it is also possible to reach Ereira by truck in addition to the military's land-and-water vehicles, reported CNN Portugal (February 17). (Photo from Lusa ) Portugal faced drought in 2022. Si

A section of the A1 motorway, in the Casais area of Coimbra Municipality, where the Mondego River dike burst from the force of water on February 12. Traffic on the motorway, which connects Lisbon to Porto, had been stopped earlier as a precaution, reported SIC Notícias . (Photo from SIC Notícias ) Before dawn, I woke to the sound of strong wind and a slow ping, ping, ping, rain trickling in from the chimney, which has a defect that is silent, usually. However, livi

The Iberian wolf, endangered in Portugal, is protected by national and international laws. An international environmental law firm has joined the fight against the open-pit lithium mine project of Savannah Resources, which would destroy the country’s U.N. Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in the Barroso region of Vila Real District. The prominent law organization, ClientEarth, and the local Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso Association, which has been in the

About 6,000 secondary and college students responded to the victims of the flash floods of November 25-26, 1967, with medical and social assistance. It may be that more than 700 lost their lives in the neighboring municipalities of Lisbon, such as Loures, Vila Franca de Xira, Alenquer, and others. The exact number remains unknown, partly because of the difficulty of reclaiming bodies from the mud and partly because of censorship of António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo ,

The author with her mother and father At the table, when I was a girl in New York City, my father would say that Belize will never change, that the old man selling fruit outside Brodies general store in Belize City always would be there. Between mouthfuls of rice and beans, family and friends, other emigrants from then-British Honduras, got his meaning, shaking their heads in agreement. Change had been slow to nonexistent, and there was comfort in that. They could go back hom

Study in Red (1964), by Júlio Pomar: "The body of work dedicated to the theme of 'races' and 'entrances' -- namely through the representation of horses, jockey races, bull runs and cowboys -- is for Pomar a reason for intense exploration of movement in painting. Júlio Pomar is in motion and imprints movement on his tools. He moves while painting and moves spirits while writing. He seeks movement and this, as if already escaping his control, gaining autonomy, advances from hi

(Photo from Pixabay ) To protect young people from the "radicalism which leads to violent extremism", the Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) began an online campaign, said the force's national director, Luís Neves, according to Expresso (January 13). Both the Judicial Police and the government warned of the possible dire consequences of exposure to hate speech at the conference, Prevention of Online Radicalization of Children and Young People, in Lisbon at the Judicial Police b

The Grand Sanatorium, one of 20 units, around 1930 (Photos by Diário da República from Expresso ) At the beginning of the 20th century, Caramulo was only a few houses and as many buildings for commerce and the accommodation of patients convalescing from tuberculosis and other debilitating disease. By mid-century, what became a village in the Serra do Caramulo mountains, in Tondela Municipality, attracted thousands of tuberculosis sufferers from Portugal an

Since she was six years old, Ana Martins,16, has chosen the elective of Mirandese, studying it since Year 1 in school. She talks with older villagers in Malhadas, Miranda do Douro, in January 2019. (Photo by José Coelho/ Lusa) . When Portugal recognized Mirandese as a second language, "the people began to lose their shame and started speaking with pride", said Júlio Meirinhos who, as a deputy of the Assembleia da República, was the first person to speak the centuries-old lang

This filigree dress, which was exhibited in the Portugal pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka and Expo 2020 in Dubai, is on display at the Filigree Museum in Gondomar. This unique handcrafted piece took 2,040 hours of work. The bodice is made of several pieces of filigree. On the skirt is the embroidery of three Portuguese caravels, the sails of which also are made of filigree. The dress was a collaboration between master filigree artisan, Arlindo Moura, of Gondomar, and the stylis

Street vending of turkeys during the Christmas season, Lisbon (From @ Arquivo de Municipal de Lisboa/ Photo from the collection of Paulo Guedes) "An unusual image from a time (decade of 1910 or 1920?) when turkeys, served on the Christmas menu of the more fortunate, arrived in the city still alive, coming from the countryside. Bred on the outskirts of Lisbon, they were led by vendors through the streets of the capital, in flocks, until they found a buyer." A Childhood Christm

The median age of the population in Portugal was 47.3 years in 2024, reported the National Institute of Statistics (Photo from INE) On the U.N.'s International Migrants Day, Portuguese media took stock of the country's politically fraught situation with sobering facts and figures. Although, at the same time, the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, said that, for years, immigration data was

Judges at the 19th century Ratton Palace, in Lisbon, which housed the Constitutional Court after the State acquired it in 1982 (Photo by Gerardo Santos) The Constitutional Court affirmed the unconstitutionality of four provisions, three unanimously, of the Nationality Bill , which cites stricter rules and longer deadlines for applying for Portuguese citizenship. One of the rejected provisions of the bill resets all pending nationality applications at the time of the law

(Photo from Education at a Glance 2025: Portugal (September 9), Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD) One-fourth of Portuguese second-year students read a maximum of 51 words correctly per minute compared to an adequate international benchmark of 70 to 130 words, presenting increased risks of future reading comprehension difficulties. In a national survey of more than 90,000 public and private school students, the results show that students had an average pala

(Photo by José Sena Goulão/ Lusa ) One of the most acclaimed voices in contemporary Portuguese literature, author of novels, short stories, essays, poetry and chronicles, Lídia Jorge, 79, is the winner of this year's Pessoa Prize, reported Expresso (December 11). Named after celebrated writer Fernando Pessoa , the prize was founded by journalist Francisco Pinto Balsemão in 1987. It is an initiative of Expresso newspaper and Caixa Geral de Depósitos bank. Worth 70,000 euros

(From Mimosa website) Seven out of 10 Portuguese, in what is considered the first scientific survey of emotions in the country, say that affection is not being fully expressed in the family, reported Renascença (November 21). "It's not an absence of feelings, but of tools. The Portuguese express themselves more in discreet gestures. It's as if affection needs a mask to circulate without discomfort," said Joana Barbosa, one of the survey's authors and partner at the consultanc

"The fountain water is crazy. Look what it is saying -- that it kissed your mouth when you went there to drink," wrote José Garcês, in História de Oliveira do Hospital: Povo Valoroso, Passado Heróico (2001). At the end of the 19th century, numerous alder trees, probably some as tall as 25 meters (82 feet), created a shaded tryst of bliss around what was popularly known as the Fonte dos Amores (Fountain of Lovers ) in Oliveira do Hospital, Coimbra District. In 1895, during a

Lifthium Energy plans to establish a lithium hydroxide production research and development unit at Coimbra iParque in Antanhol, Coimbra Municipality. (Photo from the Vamos, Coimbra Facebook group, December 23, 2024) Lifthium Energy's proposal for environmental licensing of a lithium hydroxide research facility in Coimbra iParque in Antanhol, a science and technology park in Coimbra Municipality, is open to public consultation until December 18. Lifthium plans to b

L'Exode (The Exodus) ( fabric and paper, color screen printing) (1968) (@ Maria Helena Vieira da Silva) Maria Helena Vieira da Silva revolutionized the way of representing space on canvas. Drawn from memory and imagination, her works evoke urban landscapes and interior architectural spaces. She merged abstraction and figuration, blurring the boundaries between reality and ideas, according to Guggenheim Bilbao . "During her lifetime, Vieira da Silva (1908-199

“At present, CALB has set up several industrial bases to build industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Delta, Southwest, Central and the Greater Bay Area to achieve a full range of domestic industrial layout, and make overseas industrial layout to become a leading global enterprise!” according to the firm’s website. (Photo from CALB's website) China Aviation Lithium Battery Technology (CALB) is seeking Portuguese companies for involvement in its €2 billion manufacturing c