Temperatures will reach over 35°C degrees in regions of mainland Portugal on Friday and Saturday, leading to a risk of fires. The heatwave will be caused by hot air coming from North Africa which will also lead to dust, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).

Paula Leitão from the IPMA has said that the regions of Northern and Central Portugal are cloudy and facing rain today, but that after Thursday temperatures will slowly begin to increase, with high temperatures coming on Friday and Saturday. Friday is projected to be the day with the largest temperature increase, particularly in the region of Alentejo.

Temperatures are above the normal amounts at this time of year, even minimum temperatures. Paula Leitão has said that minimum temperatures will also be high for this week at 20°C in some districts. However, after Sunday, temperatures will start to decrease and rain and thunder are expected.

A cloud of dust from North Africa is coming from the Sahara desert and moving through the Atlantic between May 12 and 17. The dust is expected to reach western Europe between May 20 and 21. Hot temperatures are also coming to Spain and France this week.

Aerosol forecasts from #CopernicusAtmosphere observed another large plume of #SaharanDust moving across the Atlantic between 12-17 May and heading towards the Caribbean.
The forecast shows a strong plume predicted to reach western Europe on 20 & 21 May

➡️ https://t.co/tBveTTMaJu pic.twitter.com/1sCD2eBQK6

— Copernicus ECMWF (@CopernicusECMWF) May 16, 2022

Portugal’s economy has seen the most growth in the European Union in a year, according to the European Commission. Brussels projects that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase by 5.8% in 2022, particularly due to tourism. The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni has said “the reopening of tourism to a country mostly based on external rather than internal tourism also played an important role”.

Ireland is the second country after Portugal with the most positive GDP growth at 5.4%. The projections for the European bloc and the eurozone are just 2.7% for 2022. However, Portugal’s growth project is the highest among the EU member states because it did not grow as strongly in 2021 compared to other countries. Portugal’s GDP increased by 4.9% in 2021, below the EU average of 5.4%. The projection also states that the Portuguese economy’s growth in 2023 will be lower, with a growth of 2.7%.

A report by the European Commission has stated that “the growth projects remain favorable, despite struggles related to the prices of commodities, global supply chains, and greater uncertainty in external demand”.

Growth forecast for 2022 (%):

🇵🇹 5.8
🇮🇪 5.4
🇲🇹 4.2
🇪🇸 4.0
🇦🇹 3.9
🇸🇮 3.7
🇵🇱 3.7
🇭🇺 3.6
🇬🇷 3.5
🇭🇷 3.4
🇳🇱 3.3
🇫🇷 3.1
🇪🇺 2.7
🇷🇴 2.6
🇩🇰 2.6
🇮🇹 2.4
🇱🇺 2.2
🇸🇪 2.3
🇸🇰 2.3
🇨🇾 2.3
🇧🇬 2.1
🇱🇻 2.0
🇧🇪 2.0
🇨🇿 1.9
🇱🇹 1.7
🇩🇪 1.6
🇫🇮 1.6
🇪🇪 1.0

Spring #ECForecast ↓

— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) May 16, 2022

The European Commission has also predicted that inflation in Portugal will reach its peak in the second trimester of this year and gradually stabilize. The Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) are projected to increase from 0.9% in 2021 to 4.4% in 2022, before decreasing to 1.9% in 2023.

The unemployment rate is also projected to decrease to 5.7% this year and to 5.5% in 2023. In 2021, the unemployment rate stood at 6.6%. The European Commission’s projection is more favorable than the one released by the Portuguese Ministry of Finance which estimates the unemployment rate will decrease to 6% in 2022 and 5.7% in 2023.

Prime Minister António Costa said on Twitter that the “economic projects published today by the European Commission are very favorable to Portugal, surpassing even the current projects of growth of the government”. 

As projeções económicas hoje publicadas pela @EU_Commission são muito favoráveis a #Portugal, superando mesmo as atuais previsões de crescimento do @govpt.
De acordo com a Comissão, teremos o maior crescimento da #UE em 2022 e retomamos a convergência.

— António Costa (@antoniocostapm) May 16, 2022

Portugal finished 9th in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 on Saturday night, after getting 5th place by the national juries. The country has reached this position in two other Eurovisions. Maro’s performance of “Saudade, Saudade”, an indie-pop track was accompanied by the voices of Beatriz Fonseca, Beatriz Pessoa, Carolina Leite, Diana Castro and Milhanas. 

The results of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 are decided by a national jury for each country and televotes from the public at home (50% each). Even countries that did not qualify for the final get a jury, amounting to 40 countries. Each jury also gives 12 points to one country that is their favorite. Unfortunately, Portugal did not receive 12 points from any jury. Portugal received 36 points from televotes and 171 points from jury votes, winning a total of 207 points.

Let’s look at the voting and points for Portugal. Only 36 points were televotes from the public, with only France (6 tele), Belgium (1 tele), Spain (4 tele), Italy (1 tele), Lithuania (7 tele), Switzerland (7 tele), Armenia (4 tele), Montenegro (5 tele), and Poland (1 tele). All other 16 countries gave Portugal 0 points from televotes.

Regarding jury points, Italy and Spain were the only two countries to give Portugal 0 points. The 171 points from the jury came from Albania (1 jury), France (1 jury), Moldova (2 jury), United Kingdom (3 jury), Greece (3 jury), Slovenia (3 jury), Bulgaria (4 jury), Ireland (4 jury), Czech Republic (5 jury), Iceland (5 jury), Australia (6 jury), Belgium (5 jury), Latvia (6 jury), Azerbaijan (7 jury), Estonia (7 jury), France (1 jury), Georgia (7 jury), Romania (7 jury), Serbia (7 jury), Denmark (8 jury), Netherlands (8 jury), Poland (7 jury), Montenegro (4 jury), Austria (10 jury), Croatia (10 jury), Norway (10 jury), Ukraine (10 jury), Armenia (8 jury), Switzerland (5 jury), and Lithuania (8 jury).

The band Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine was crowned first place, as predicted. The performance reflected a fusion between folk music and rap.

The winner of the #Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is Ukraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/vPbOdfzKx9

— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 14, 2022

Last year, Portugal’s Black Mamba finished 12th place with the song “Love Is On My Side”. Portugal has only won the Eurovision Song Contest once in 2017, with Salvador Sobral’s song “Amar Pelos Dois”.

The first time Portugal participated in Eurovision was in 1964, missing five editions in 1970, 2000, 2002, 2013, and 2016.

⬇️Who was your favorite country at Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below⬇️

A floating solar farm of 12,000 solar panels will be ready to produce power in July of this year in Portugal’s Alqueva reservoir on the Guadiana River in Alentejo. This will be Europe’s largest floating solar park on a reservoir in Europe, the size of four football pitches. Built by EDP, a Portuguese electric utility company will generate 7.5 GWh a year and power around 1,500 households in the region, more than 30% of the families in the region. The project involves a total investment of 6 million euros.

This innovative technology is expanding all over the world and the Alqueva project is focused on hybridization, combining hydro and solar energy using only one point of access to the electricity grid. The floating solar park also includes the installation of a battery with a storage capacity of 2MWh, another groundbreaking innovation.

This floating solar farm on a hydropower reservoir can be connected to existing links to the power grid making it cost-effective and “excess power generated on sunnier days can pump water up into the lake to be stored for use on cloudy days or at night”, according to Reuters.

For the past few years, Portugal has been called one of the last crypto tax havens in Europe. However, it seems this is coming to an end in the near future. The new Minister of Finance Fernando Medina confirmed in parliament on Friday that cryptocurrencies will be subject to taxation in the near future. Medina said that “many countries already have systems, many countries are building their models in relation to this subject and we will build our own”.

How is Portugal a crypto tax haven currently? Portugal does not view cryptocurrencies as an asset, but rather as a form of payment so the country does not tax them as the former. Cryptocurrency is treated like any other currency, essentially. You will not be charged VAT or Personal Income Tax (IRS) as an individual. However, businesses that provide services related to cryptocurrency are taxed on gains between 28% and 35%.

While details are not yet set in place for the taxation of crypto in Portugal, the government has said the future plan will include, among others, a tax on the gains of selling cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The Secretary of State for Fiscal Issues Mendonça Mendes also announced that the government will not only tax crypto gains but cryptocurrencies will be included in other types of taxation, such as VAT (known as IVA) and Stamp Tax (known as Imposto de Selo).

The Left Bloc (BE) proposes that cryptocurrencies be taxed in Personal Income Tax (IRS) like any other gain, arguing it would be disappointing if the Socialist Party (PS) rejects this change to the State Budget for 2022 to end the current “offshore of cryptocurrencies”. The member of parliament for BE Mariana Mortágua told the media, “It is unbelievable how the PS refuses to tax fortunes created within seconds on the internet while maintaining the VAT on electricity and not increasing the minimum wage in the context of inflation”.

Mendes has said that the taxation of cryptocurrencies is not as simple as Mortágua makes it out to be. He said, “We are evaluating by comparing internationally what is the definition of crypto assets, which includes cryptocurrencies. We are evaluating the regulations in this area, be it in the fight against money laundering and the regulation of markets, to present a legislative initiative that truly serves a country in all aspects, not a legislative initiative that makes the front cover of a paper”.

The ex-banker João Rendeiro was found dead a few hours ago in his cell in Westville Prison, South Africa, reports CNN Portugal. The circumstances of the death are still under investigation, but it is known that he was in an 80m2 prison cell with around 50 inmates. However, Observador has reported that the South African authorities have suggested that Rendeiro committed suicide. The Portuguese ex-banker was captured on December 11 of this year in South Africa after escaping Portugal to not be imprisoned for the BPP case.

Rendeiro had been in prison in South Africa for 6 months while opposing the process of the extradition request by Portugal. He was sentenced in three distinct cases in 2013 related to the collapse of the Private Portuguese Bank (BPP), where it was proven in court that the ex-banker took 13.61 million euros from the bank. He was facing 19 years and 2 months in prison for his crime. He had been sentenced for fiscal fraud, money laundering, forgery, and more.

In September of 2021, Rendeiro announced in his blog that he would not be returning to Portugal for the trial and international arrest warrants were issued. In December of 2021, Rendeiro was arrested in South Africa by Interpol’s National Crime Bureau.

In April, Rendeiro’s lawyer June Marks had visited him in imprisonment and said that the ex-banker was well and “anxious” for the start of the trial. He was set to return to court next week on May 20 for the preparatory session, with the trial set for June 13 and 30.

Law Professor André Thomashausen told Observador radio that Rendeiro was in the “worst prison in South Africa” and maybe “even the worst in all of Africa” with 40,000 inmates in overcrowded conditions, with a lack of security and budget, as well as “managed by groups of organized crime”.

The collapse of the BPP in 2010 financially burdened thousands of clients and caused a 450 million euro loss to the state.

Over 200,000 people have gathered in Cova da Iria in Fátima for the first celebration of the 13th of May without Covid-19 restrictions, on Thursday night for the candle procession. The ceremony was led by D. Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute of the Secretary of State of the Vatican. May 13 is known as the Day of Our Lady of Fátima, celebrating the day of the first apparition of Fátima.

During the prayer, a request for peace in Ukraine was brought up and three children prayed in Ukrainian, wearing the typical outfits of the country. Carlos Cabecinhas, a priest, said during the press conference, “We will pray that the Queen of Peace brings peace to Ukraine”.

While the procession occurs the night before the 13th of May, there are plenty of other celebrations happening on May 13, most of them in Portuguese. The international celebrations for today are the following:

• “Rosario” celebration at 9 a.m in Capelinha
• Mass at 9.am in “Recinto de Oracao”
• “Rosario + Prec. Velas” at 9:30 p.m in Capelinha

A hot stop for religious tourism, Fátima, a city in Santarém receives around 8 million pilgrims a year due to the Miracle of Fátima.

What happened at the Miracle of Fátima?

In 1917, three shepherd children witnessed the apparition of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, six times over six months. The first apparition occurred on May 13, 1917 – this is why this day is so widely celebrated in Fátima.

The children said that Mary, also known as Fátima told the children the “Three Secrets of Fátima”. These were apocalyptic prophecies that according to Catholic interpretations mentioned events such as World War II, the rise and fall of communism, and the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II. The children were told to spread these ideas and convert sinners as they were allegedly the main cause of these future events.

These three apparitions and the spread of the messages throughout the city culminated in the Miracle of the Sun, allegedly witnessed by over 70,000 people. There are many accounts of what this miracle consisted of but most say that after a period of rain, the skies cleared and the sun appeared as a spinning disc in the sky with radiant colors.

The Catholic Church declared these events miracles in 1930 when religious buildings were built to honor them, leading to the Sanctuary of Fátima. The Sanctuary of Fátima in the city of Fátima is a group of Catholic religious buildings that includes the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Chapel of the Apparitions which was built in the place where the three shepherd children were visited by Mary. The most common day to visit is May 13th, the day of the first apparition where thousands gather at the sanctuary to celebrate the Day of Our Lady of Fátima.

For a full overview of the miracle take a look at this article.

Guide to Fátima