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General news and current affairs from across Portugal.

A modern stone and glass office building on a quiet street in Belém, Lisbon, with parked cars along the kerb and a jacaranda in bloom to one side

The Labour Minister Says Women Are Still Dismissed for Being Pregnant, and the EU Law Meant to Help Is Three Months Overdue

Requests for a CITE opinion on parental dismissals fall on women ten times more often than on men. The pay transparency directive was due in force on 7 June and Portugal's bill has not reached the Council of Ministers.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The main entrance of a Portuguese public hospital under a curved canopy, with a green sign reading Entrada and Consultas Externas, Análises and Visitas

Told to Ask His Insurer for His Own Medical File, He Waited Fourteen Months. Portugal's Health Regulator Has Now Ruled

Two deliberations published this month say the same thing in different words: the record belongs to the patient, it is free, and no provider may route the decision through an insurer or an employer.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The Paço das Escolas courtyard at the University of Coimbra, its clock tower and colonnaded Via Latina facade under a blue sky with the Portuguese flag flying

University Applications Close Tonight With 20,317 Candidates Chasing 11,112 Second-Round Places

Three thousand two hundred more applicants than the whole of last year's second phase, and the official vacancy list starts at roughly one place for every two of them. Results land on 30 September.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

A row of tall pale residential apartment blocks on the outskirts of Lisbon seen from an empty road, with dry grass and young trees in the foreground

Portugal's Two New Rental Schemes Took Effect on 1 September, and Neither Can Be Used Yet

The decree gave the government 30 days to publish the rules. Four months past that deadline there is still no rent ceiling, so a landlord cannot tell whether a contract qualifies for the tax exemption.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

Traffic on the Via de Cintura Interna in Porto beneath blue overhead motorway signs for IC1 to Matosinhos and the airport and IC23 to the Ponte do Freixo

A Week Into Porto's Lorry Ban on the VCI, the Council Counts Traffic and the Hauliers Count Kilometres

Twenty-seven tickets in the first three days, detours of up to 57 kilometres on some runs, and a mobility councillor who says he is measuring the policy by accidents that do not happen.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

A stand of tall burnt eucalyptus trunks stripped of foliage in a Portuguese forest, silhouetted against a blue sky with white cumulus cloud

Eleven Districts Sit Under a Heat Warning Until Tuesday, and 62 Councils Are at Maximum Fire Danger Today

Coimbra is forecast to reach 37 degrees on Tuesday and Lisbon 35.4 on Monday. Three quarters of the mainland is at one of the top two fire danger levels on a Sunday in late September.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The main facade of the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon seen from the gardens, framed by pink oleander blossom, with flags flying above the entrance

The Day Portugal's Junior Doctors Queued in Five Halls to Claim a Specialty Is Over, and a Ranked List Decides October's Places Instead

ACSS has set out how the 2026 Internato Médico vacancy choice will run online. Candidates rank the posts they will accept and can revise the list until 23:59 the night before their lot is processed at 10:00. The ranking rule is unchanged, and speed of submission counts for nothing.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

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