Excess deaths spark run on COVID-19 and flu vaccines // Portuguese citizen taken hostage by Hamas dies in Gaza
Portuguese news in English on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.
NOTE: I’ll be on vacation next week so will see you with another newsletter in the first week of February.
Excess deaths spark run on COVID-19 and flu vaccines
Pharmacies have seen a jump in people wanting jabs against COVID-19 and the flu following appeals by experts and authorities to get vaccinated, Diário de Notícias reports. The alarms sounded in the health sector as the number of excess deaths spiked higher in Portugal than any other European country while between a third and almost half of those aged over 60 remained unvaccinated against the latest strains. The appeal appears to have worked, with several pharmacies now ordering more stock to keep up with demand.
In tangentially related news, a Portuguese research team has been granted 8 million to work on creating antivirals able to work against a wide range of infectious agents, Público reports. The aim is for the world to be better prepared for the hypothetical so-called “Disease X”, which does not yet exist but the World Health Organisation warned could be anywhere up to 20 times deadlier than COVID-19.
Portuguese citizen taken hostage by Hamas dies in Gaza
A Portuguese citizen taken hostage by Hamas has died in Gaza, Israeli authorities have confirmed following the release of a video by the militant group, Lusa reports. In the video, the group says Yossi Sharabi, 53, – who also had dual nationality – and Itai Svirsky were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes, Diário de Noticias reports. His wife, Nira Sharabi, was in Portugal in December to ask the Portuguese government to do more to free her Husband. Israel’s ambassador to Portugal, Dor Shapira, said Yossi was assassinated by Hamas while in captivity.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza passed 25,000 at the weekend, The Associated Press reported, citing figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry there. Hamas killed more than 1200 people — mostly civilians — and took about 250 hostage in the October 7 attack.
TAP responds to ex-CEO’s €5.9m sacking compensation claim
Portuguese flag carrier TAP alleges its former CEO created a conflict of interest relating to her husband and violated an exclusivity clause, Público reports. The company, in response to Christine Ourmières-Widener’s lawsuit seeking €5.9 million over her sacking, also claims she failed her duties by hiding the €500,000 exit of former administrator Alexandra Reis. TAP sacked Ourmières-Widener for just cause over the Reis affair, which prompted the resignation of Pedro Nuno Santos (now Socialist Party leader) and Hugo Mendes, a parliamentary inquiry into the company.
She’s suing the airline for the money she would have made had her contract been fulfilled, claiming she was moved on for “purely political motives”. TAP now claims that, even without the justifications it had already made, the former CEO could have been fired exclusively for the alleged exclusivity breach. TAP knew she was on the board of Britain’s Met Office and ZerAvia, a company working on hydrogen electricity. TAP claimed Ourmières-Widener’s husband made presentations to the company on behalf of an Israeli company he was hired by.
You can read more about the TAP saga in my June 19 newsletter.
In brief
Taxpayers forked out €153 million more on COVID-19 tests than recommended. An audit has found the non-adoption of prices proposed by the Instituto Nacional Ricardo Jorge and delays in updating them cost the government millions from March 2022 to April 2022. (Diário de Notícias)
Fentanil addiction has arrived in Portugal. Twelve people have reached out to the nation’s biggest drug assistance group for help, including a man with no history of drug abuse prescribed the dangerously addictive opioid for back pain. (Expresso)
Biggest NATO exercise "in decades" begins. The will involve 90,000 soldiers from the transatlantic defence alliance, including 37 from Portugal’s armed forces. (Diário de Notícias)
Journalist forcefully removed from event with Chega leader André Ventura. The Expresso reporter was “grabbed by the feet and arms” to force his exit, after being confronted by three students saying he couldn’t be there. The far-right party’s PR had warned there would be no filming but didn’t say anything about journalists being allowed in. (Expresso)
Chinese company to invest €2 billion in Sines battery factory. The project is set to create 1800 direct jobs making 187,000 electric car batteries a year. (Expresso)
On a lighter note
The big waves are back in Nazaré. The TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge brought some of the world’s best tow surfers to Praia do Norte yesterday in big and clean conditions. Brazil’s Lucas Chianca and Pedro Scooby took out the top prize with Chianca winning best male individual performance. Maya Gabeira made it a clean sweep for Brazil with the best individual performance by a woman.