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General news and current affairs from across Portugal.

Stone and schist houses packed tightly on a steep hillside in the village of Piódão in central Portugal, with slate roofs, blue painted doors and washing hung out between them.

A Six-Country Survey Finds One in Five in Portugal Cannot Pay for the Energy They Need, and Its League Table Looks Nothing Like the Official One

Researchers at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Fraunhofer IAO put Portugal at 19 percent, second worst of six countries. On Eurostat's official measure, refreshed on Thursday, Portugal is the worst of the six but Poland is the best.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

Traffic in motion on the A20 motorway in Porto, Portugal

Three Months On, Portugal's Self-Driving Test Regime Has Produced Plenty of Meetings and Zero Licence Applications

The IMT says it has fielded several requests for preliminary meetings about testing automated driving systems on Portuguese roads, and that not one formal licence application has arrived. A 5,000 euro fee and a 40,000 euro deposit help explain the gap.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

The Rossio railway station in Lisbon, its Manueline horseshoe arches and clock tower seen across the square from the corner of the Praca dos Restauradores

General Daily Briefing: Friday, 18 September 2026

Good morning. Here is your Friday briefing for 18 September 2026: the day's essential Portugal stories for residents, expats and anyone keeping an eye on the country, running from the December cheque now confirmed for two million pensioners to the summer policing figures that show what a roadside

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

A PSP police station in Nazare, a low modern building with the blue and white POLICIA sign on the corner and a marked patrol car parked at the kerb

Portugal's Summer Policing Operation Ended With 7,214 Arrests, and the Commonest Ticket Was for a Phone in the Driver's Hand

Drink-driving and driving unlicensed came within one arrest of each other. Of 60,420 penalty notices, 11,730 were for using a mobile at the wheel.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

A Portuguese public health centre in Rio Maior, Santarem district, a low white and blue-trimmed building with a pitched glazed section and cars parked outside

The Health Regulator Has 368 Beauty Clinics Queued for Inspection and Has Managed 223 Since 2023

Two establishments were shut down in the first half of this year, both over people performing medical procedures they are not qualified to perform. Those files go to the prosecutor.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

The Teatro Nacional D. Maria II on Lisbon's Rossio square, its columned neoclassical facade behind the bronze fountain and the wave-patterned calcada paving

Portugal's National Theatre Reopens on the Rossio This Weekend With Free Tickets and the Play That Was On Stage When It Burned

Three years closed, 15.1 million euros of recovery-plan money, and a Macbeth that deliberately echoes the night of 2 December 1964. Entry is free until Sunday.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

An Alentejo landscape in late summer, dry golden pasture with scattered cork oaks and grazing cattle, and a block of vineyard and olive groves on the rise behind

What Farmers Pay for Fertiliser and Fuel Is Rising Again, and the Bill Arrives With the Next Harvest

EU farm input prices rose 4.7 percent in the second quarter while what farmers were paid fell 5.8 percent. Portugal had the gentlest increase in the Union and will not be spared the result.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

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