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Breaking news and developing stories from across Portugal.

An empty school classroom with wooden desks and chairs, a whiteboard, an interactive screen and shelves of colourful binders

The Cabinet Clears a Rolling Teacher-Hiring Contest and Extends the School Phone Ban to Ninth Grade

The Council of Ministers has approved a 'continuous' teacher-recruitment model to fill classroom vacancies faster from 2026/2027, and extended the school smartphone ban to grades seven to nine. Secondary school will now start on 21 September.

The Portugal Brief 03 Aug 2026

Facade of a Portuguese public hospital with the word HOSPITAL, a stone staircase and an azulejo tile panel

The SNS Retires Its Two-Decade-Old Surgery Waiting-List System for a New Digital Platform

From 1 August, the National Health Service has replaced the 20-year-old SIGIC with SINACC, a new platform for managing access to surgery and, later, consultations and diagnostics — alongside new rules for contracting private and social-sector providers to cut waiting times.

The Portugal Brief 03 Aug 2026

A yellow Lisbon tram number 28 on a narrow cobbled city street lined with parked cars and pedestrians

The Mobility and Transport Fund Launches Its First Calls, Worth Nearly €2 Million

Portugal's Mobility and Transport Fund has opened its first funding calls — about €2 million for urban logistics, taxi-fleet decarbonisation and school mobility — the opening tranche of a €14.8 million scheme run by the IMT under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing.

The Portugal Brief 03 Aug 2026

The Sines oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Portugal, with gas flare stacks and a tall industrial chimney seen across pine forest by the coast

A New 33% Windfall Tax Will Hit Oil Companies' Excess Profits for 2026

The Council of Ministers has approved a one-off Temporary Solidarity Contribution on the Oil Sector, taxing at 33% the part of 2026 profits that runs more than 20% above the 2024–2025 average. The revenue is earmarked for shielding vulnerable households from fuel-price rises and cutting fossil-fuel

The Portugal Brief 03 Aug 2026

The EU's AI Act Reaches Its Enforcement Phase, and Portugal Turns to a Late-Chosen ANACOM to Police the New Rules

The EU's AI Act Reaches Its Enforcement Phase, and Portugal Turns to a Late-Chosen ANACOM to Police the New Rules

The EU's AI Act moves into its enforcement phase on 2 August, with fines reaching €35 million or 7% of global turnover. In Portugal the regulator is a late-chosen ANACOM, now racing to build the teams to police transparency rules, general-purpose models and high-risk AI.

The Portugal Brief 03 Aug 2026

Exam Re-Grade Requests More Than Triple to Over 20,000 as Portugal's First Digital Marking Season Backfires

Exam Re-Grade Requests More Than Triple to Over 20,000 as Portugal's First Digital Marking Season Backfires

More than 20,000 re-grade requests — triple last year's — have hit Portugal's national exams after the first all-digital marking, with final results due 7 August and university places on the line.

The Portugal Brief 02 Aug 2026

AIMA's Regularisation Drive Leaves Roughly 30,000 'Complex' Cases From a Near-Million Backlog

AIMA's Regularisation Drive Leaves Roughly 30,000 'Complex' Cases From a Near-Million Backlog

The task force that inherited nearly a million immigration files has cleared all but about 30,000 — the harder cases that need documents, checks or a direct call before AIMA can decide.

The Portugal Brief 02 Aug 2026

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