The man who took a peninsula of sand and gas and turned it into one of the most influential countries on the planet died on Sunday. Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar’s former emir, was 74. The royal court announced the death without giving a cause, and the country declared four days of national mourning, with flags at half-mast and government work suspended.

Who was Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani?

He was the emir who ruled Qatar from 1995 to 2013 — and the chief architect of its transformation. During his reign, an aggressive bet on liquefied natural gas made the small emirate the richest country in the world per capita. He also founded the Al Jazeera television network in 1996, giving Qatar a global voice wildly out of proportion to its size, and secured the hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first ever held in the Arab world.

His most unusual move came at the end: in 2013 he voluntarily abdicated in favour of his son Tamim, then 33 — an absolute rarity among Gulf monarchies, where power usually changes hands only at death. He had since stayed out of active politics, known at home as the “father emir”.

What changes in Qatar now?

In practical terms, nothing in the power structure: Tamim has governed for thirteen years and the succession was settled long ago. But the patriarch’s passing comes at a delicate moment for the region, days after the Gulf found itself at the centre of the escalation between Tehran and Washington — Iran’s strikes on American bases in Qatar and the Emirates are still fresh in the memory. The condolences pouring in from presidents, monarchs and football fans alike say plenty about the reach Hamad gave a country with fewer inhabitants than greater Lisbon.

Iran launched simultaneous waves of missiles and drones at targets in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday morning, and claimed further strikes in Jordan and Oman. It is Tehran’s broadest retaliation since its confrontation with the United States turned direct — and the targets are the American bases dotted across the Gulf.

What did Iran hit on Sunday?

The Revolutionary Guard says it struck Al-Udeid air base in Qatar — the largest US military installation in the region — claiming it destroyed a command-and-control centre and an aircraft maintenance facility. Doha tells a different story, insisting it intercepted the missiles heading for the base. Kuwait’s army said it was engaging hostile aerial targets and told residents to shelter, Bahrain activated its air defences, and the UAE confirmed intercepting several projectiles. Tehran also claims hits on Prince Hassan air base in Jordan and on Oman’s Duqm port, which is used by the US navy.

Why now?

The escalation follows a tit-for-tat logic that has been building for weeks. A ship was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday night; the United States answered with a fresh round of strikes on Iranian territory, adding to the dozens of targets already hit in previous days; and Iran answered that with Sunday’s offensive. Along the way, Donald Trump had already threatened Tehran with a “1,000-missile” response, which gives a sense of the rhetorical temperature between the two capitals.

What happens next?

What is new here is the direct involvement of the airspace of half a dozen Arab states hosting American assets — including allies that were trying to stay out of the line of fire. US Central Command’s regional operations are detailed on CENTCOM’s official site. So far none of the countries hit has announced casualties, but every wave like this narrows the room for diplomacy — and leaves oil prices, flights and global supply chains holding their breath.

The numbers speak for themselves: only around 2% of Portugal’s national exams are ever re-marked — yet when a student does request a review, the grade rises in 76% of cases. It is one of the most telling statistics of this exam season, reported this weekend, and it lands at a moment when confidence in the process was already strained by the IT chaos that marred the first phase.

Is it worth asking for an exam review?

Statistically, very much so. If three in every four reviews end with the mark going up, the classic fear that “touching the grade” might backfire has little basis in the data. For anyone who missed their course by decimals, that extra point can be worth a university place: entry averages in Portugal are decided to the hundredth, as we explained in our guide to the national university admissions round.

How does re-marking work?

The process has two steps: first you request to consult the marked paper at your school, to see where points were lost; then, if there is a case, you file for re-appraisal within the deadlines set for each phase by the National Exams Jury and the Directorate-General for Higher Education. It is worth weighing the case with a subject teacher — grades can also go down, though the data shows that is rare.

Why do so few students ask?

Between unfamiliarity with the mechanism, July’s tight deadlines and the paperwork, most families never try. This year add fatigue to the list: between electronic grade-sheet failures and a process dogged by controversy, the ministry had already come under fire in parliament. Numbers like these are unlikely to calm the debate.

Typhoon Bavi reached the Chinese coast on Saturday, and the scale of the response says everything about how seriously it was taken: more than one million people were moved out of their homes before the cyclone made landfall.

What do we know about Bavi’s landfall in China?

The cyclone came ashore on July 11 after days of warnings and mass evacuations across coastal provinces. Authorities suspended ferry links and kept alerts in place for torrential rain, destructive wind and coastal flooding, with official updates coming from the China Meteorological Administration.

This is not Bavi’s first stop. Earlier this week the same system tore through the Northern Mariana Islands as a super typhoon, leaving the archipelago assessing the damage from the worst cyclone in its history before tracking west across the Pacific.

Why does the scale of the evacuation matter?

Because it is a snapshot of the typhoon season the Pacific is having: systems that intensify fast and force quick decisions in densely populated areas. Moving a million people in a few days is an enormous logistical operation — and, generally, it is what separates a scare from a tragedy. A clear picture of the damage in China should emerge over the coming days, and we will return to the story if the bill turns out to be heavy.

Buy an Intercidades ticket between Lisbon and Évora these days and, on many departures, you will be travelling on something else entirely: CP is swapping the usual intercity sets for trains borrowed from regional lines because it simply does not have enough rolling stock. You pay for the fast, comfortable service — you ride in carriages built for short hops with frequent stops.

Why is CP using regional trains on the Évora line?

The short answer: there are not enough carriages to go around. The Intercidades fleet is ageing, and CP itself acknowledges that some series of rolling stock have age-related limitations — from comfort to air conditioning, no small thing in the extreme-heat weeks Portugal is going through. Service alerts and changes are published on CP’s official website. Alentejo passengers had already been stacking up complaints about delays and breakdowns since spring, and the train swap was the last straw: social media is full of accounts of Intercidades-priced journeys made on regional seats.

When will the service improve?

The government has admitted the Lisbon-Évora limitation, blaming reduced carriage availability, and only expects a better response in 2027, when new rolling stock already on order enters service. Until then, CP says the regional stopgap is what keeps trains from being cancelled outright.

For now, the Alentejo summer runs slower and less comfortably — in a month when fuel prices also went up, so driving instead offers no mercy to the wallet either. Évora, European Capital of Culture in 2027, had better brace: the new trains and the visitors look set to arrive at the same time.

A boat trip off Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s most touristy island, ended in tragedy on Saturday: the vessel capsized and 15 tourists died. It is one of the deadliest accidents in years in a destination that lives off the sea — and one that has become an increasingly common stop for European travellers touring Southeast Asia.

What happened to the boat off Phu Quoc?

The vessel was carrying tourists when it overturned near the island’s coast, in the south of the country. Rescue teams confirmed 15 dead, and Vietnamese authorities have opened an investigation into the causes — from sea conditions to passenger numbers and the state of the boat, the usual questions in this kind of accident still have no official answer.

Were any Portuguese nationals involved?

So far, authorities have reported no Portuguese victims. Anyone travelling in the region can register and find emergency contacts on the foreign ministry’s Portal das Comunidades, the official channel for Portuguese citizens abroad.

The accident closes a heavy week of international news — in which we also followed the rising Portuguese death toll in Venezuela’s earthquakes — and once again puts the safety of tourist boat trips in high-demand destinations under the spotlight. Phu Quoc welcomed millions of visitors in the past year; the question Vietnam now faces is whether inspection kept pace.

It was one of the biggest anti-drug operations in northern Portugal this year — and the courts have now had their first say. Of the 26 people arrested by the GNR of Oliveira de Azeméis in a sweeping trafficking operation, 13 will await trial in pre-trial detention. The network operated across the districts of Aveiro and Porto.

What did the GNR seize in the operation?

The list is striking: around 40 kilos of hashish — roughly 80,000 doses — plus 1,720 doses of cocaine, along with crack, heroin, cannabis and ecstasy, cash and firearms. The operation, carried out on Tuesday with support from the PSP, involved 43 home searches and 44 other searches, and the execution of 11 arrest warrants.

Who are the suspects?

Twenty-one men and five women, aged between 17 and 61, suspected of belonging to the same trafficking network. Beyond the remands, the remaining defendants were placed under lighter restrictive measures. The investigation continues, and official statements are published on the GNR’s website.

Summer usually means more patrols on Portugal’s roads and beaches, but the GNR has been repeating that high season is also prime time for opportunistic crime — home burglaries included. This time the target was bigger: an entire network, in one strike.

The number of Portuguese citizens and luso-descendants killed in the earthquakes that struck Venezuela on 24 June has risen to 107, with 57 people still missing, according to the latest count from Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among the community’s victims are 19 children, and 91 of the 107 dead also held Venezuelan nationality.

It is a heavy deterioration from the early weeks: when we took stock at the end of June, authorities were reporting 589 deaths nationwide and rescue teams were still pulling out survivors. Today Venezuela’s overall death toll is approaching 3,900, with thousands injured or displaced. The Portuguese community — one of the largest in the diaspora, concentrated around Caracas and neighbouring states — was hit hard by building collapses in the two quakes, of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5.

When does TAP resume flights to Venezuela?

TAP resumes its Venezuela service on Monday, 13 July, with one change: flights will use Arturo Michelena airport in Valencia while infrastructure problems around the capital persist. For many Portuguese-Venezuelan families it is the first real window for reunions — in both directions — since the operation was suspended after the quakes.

Portugal is keeping reinforced consular support on the ground, and families seeking information about relatives can reach the emergency consular line through the Portuguese Communities Portal, which centralises the ministry’s contacts.

The numbers are likely to keep moving: with 57 people unaccounted for and rubble still being cleared in several neighbourhoods, nobody in Lisbon or Caracas is calling this count final.

The escalation between Washington and Tehran is no longer confined to the Gulf. For the second straight day, the United States bombed Iran — this time around 90 military targets, according to US Central Command, a day after the wave that hit more than 80 targets around the Strait of Hormuz.

What was hit in the second day of strikes?

Mostly air defences and missile storage sites along the coastline, per CENTCOM’s statement. But the target everyone is talking about sits far from the sea: cruise missiles struck the Aq Tekeh Khan railway bridge in Golestan province, in the country’s northeast — one of the deepest strikes inside Iranian territory since the conflict began.

Why does a bridge in Golestan matter?

Because it is not just any bridge. The Gorgan-Incheh Borun line is part of the rail corridor connecting Iran to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and, beyond them, China and Russia — the trade artery Tehran has leaned on to dodge isolation. Washington has not publicly confirmed responsibility for this particular strike, but Iranian state media and the Revolutionary Guard attribute it to US forces.

The ceasefire that held for much of June feels ever more like a distant memory, as was already clear when oil markets reacted to the truce collapsing. Iran has answered with fire aimed at Gulf Arab states, and each passing day widens the conflict’s map — now reaching the doorstep of Central Asia. Official operation statements are being published by US Central Command.

If you usually fill up at the weekend, this is the weekend to do it. Fuel prices in Portugal rise again on Monday: diesel is set to climb seven cents per litre and petrol three, according to an estimate from Anarec, the fuel retailers’ association, released this Friday.

How much will diesel and petrol cost in Portugal?

If the trend holds, simple diesel will cost an average of 1.863 euros per litre and simple 95 petrol will reach 1.923 euros. The numbers are based on current figures from the energy directorate DGEG and Thursday’s market close — the final average is only locked in at the end of the day and can still shift with oil prices. As always, the price at the pump varies by brand, station and location, and it pays to compare on the official DGEG fuel price portal.

Why are fuel prices going up?

The short answer: more expensive oil. Recent months have brought almost continuous increases, against a backdrop of intense geopolitical tension in the Middle East that has kept pressure on international prices — the same story we have been following in our daily markets tracker. Every week of instability abroad shows up, two or three weeks later, on receipts at Portuguese pumps.

For a driver filling a 50-litre diesel tank, the difference is about 3.50 euros per fill — not much each time, but real money by the end of the month for anyone clocking daily kilometres. This week’s trick is simple: if you can, fill up on Saturday or Sunday, before the price tag changes.

At least 12 people have died and around twenty remain unaccounted for in the wildfire that has been tearing through Almería province, in south-eastern Spain, since Thursday. Andalusian authorities are already calling it the deadliest fire in the region’s history — and just a few hundred kilometres from the Portuguese border, it lands as a warning in a summer when the whole Iberian Peninsula is baking.

Where did the Andalusia wildfire break out?

The fire started on Thursday around Los Gallardos, an area of rugged terrain, ravines and isolated homes scattered through bone-dry scrubland, and spread fast enough to catch residents mid-escape. In little more than a day it burned through over 3,000 hectares — roughly four thousand football pitches — and around 500 firefighters are still on the ground fighting the flames and searching for the missing. Official emergency updates are being coordinated by the regional government of Andalusia.

What is known about the victims?

Beyond the 12 confirmed dead, at least eight people are injured and 19 are still missing, a figure that was reported as higher at points during the day. Many victims appear to be foreign residents: four bodies were found in a right-hand-drive car, leading authorities to believe they were British — the area is known for its scattered developments of northern European retirees. Some died in their cars; others were caught trying to flee along routes the emergency services had warned against.

The scene is painfully familiar on this side of the border. Portugal is living through its own maximum-risk days, with the state of alert extended into next week and the whole country watching the thermometer. What Almería shows is how quickly a fire in an area of scattered housing turns into tragedy — and why the instructions to leave early, by the right roads, are not bureaucracy.

Portugal’s wildfire state of alert is not going anywhere. With the thermometer stuck above 40ºC, the government has signalled the restrictions will carry into next week — and the country heads into the weekend still watching the districts that burned over the past few days.

How long will Portugal’s state of alert last?

At least into next week, according to the interior ministry, which says the measures will hold for as long as the extreme heat does. In practice that means the usual bans stay in place: no agricultural burns, no unauthorised fireworks, and no machinery work in rural areas during the highest-risk hours. The health authority DGS has meanwhile raised its heat warning to orange and hospitals have stepped up contingency plans, much as the fire season promised when it opened in early July.

What happened with the Vouzela fire?

It’s under control, but the scar is a heavy one. The blaze that broke out on July 2 in Cambra, in the Vouzela municipality, spread into Oliveira de Frades, Tondela and Águeda and burned close to 14,000 hectares — the largest fire of the year so far. It took the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to turn the tide: Spain sent a military emergency unit with over a hundred personnel, and two Italian Canadair aircraft from the rescEU reserve began operating out of Beja. In Santo Tirso, overnight flare-ups kept more than a hundred firefighters on the ground.

The heat is squeezing other fronts too: in Almada, record water consumption pushed the council to declare its own alert and ration supply in the middle of the heatwave. Active fires can be tracked in real time on the official SGIFR portal, with weather warnings on the IPMA website.

The weekend forecast is full beaches and empty hills — which is exactly how civil protection wants it. If your plans involve the interior, take water, avoid forest tracks, and leave the lighter at home.

Almada’s water crisis has moved up a gear. Mayor Inês de Medeiros has declared an alert in the municipality — the most serious level adopted so far — after days of supply failures left thousands of homes with dry taps, with Costa da Caparica among the hardest-hit areas. We covered the initial network rupture; what began as a breakdown is now full-blown scarcity management in the middle of summer.

Why is Almada still running out of water?

Record demand. The council says 2026 has seen the largest volume of water ever distributed in more than 75 years of public supply in the municipality, driven by extreme heat — the same heatwave that has already cost Portugal 125 excess deaths — and by the seasonal population surge in Caparica. The water regulator adds another ingredient: illegal tapping of the network. To keep the system standing, municipal services have switched to rotating rationing — temporary cuts by zone, so the network can recover pressure and water reaches everyone in turns.

When will the supply improve?

The first reinforcement has a date: a second extraction borehole is due to start operating by the end of July. Behind it come three more boreholes in licensing and another three at project stage. Until then, the rule is restraint — the council is asking residents to stick to essential use, banning garden watering and car washing, with updated information by parish on Almada’s municipal website.

The crisis has reached politics too: the PSD has filed a censure motion against the municipal executive, accusing the council of failing to plan. In a municipality surrounded by river and sea, tap water has become the story of the summer.

The Vouzela wildfire, in the Viseu district, has become the worst fire of the Portuguese summer: it has now consumed more than 10,000 hectares and keeps over 1,200 firefighters on the ground, supported by nine aerial units. At the same time, Thursday’s risk map turned red — more than 80 municipalities across the inland North and Centre, the Alentejo and the Algarve are at maximum rural fire risk.

How many municipalities are at maximum fire risk in Portugal?

More than 80, according to the Portuguese weather institute IPMA, concentrated in the inland North and Centre and in the Alentejo and Algarve regions. Heat is making things worse: Bragança and Guarda were under orange alert, with highs reaching 37°C in Castelo Branco. The updated fire-danger forecast is on IPMA’s website.

The fight in Vouzela caps an already worrying start to the summer: Portugal recorded six heatwaves by early July and activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism last week to reinforce firefighting resources. The nationwide state of alert is expected to remain in place into next week.

What does the state of alert change?

While it lasts, agricultural burning, fireworks and machinery work in rural areas are banned in the highest-risk municipalities — and emergency services stay on reinforced readiness. Guidance for residents and visitors is on the Civil Protection site.

This is also the summer when the heat stopped being a mere nuisance: health authority DGS confirmed this week 125 excess deaths since June. With the weekend promising more high temperatures, the watchword inland is a simple one — caution.

This summer’s heat in Portugal is starting to take on a statistical shape. Between 13 June and 7 July, an analysis by the Directorate-General of Health (DGS) confirmed 125 deaths above what would be expected for the period — an excess the health services link to high temperatures. It is the kind of figure that rarely leads the news on the day, yet it sums up the human cost of a long heatwave.

What does “excess deaths” mean?

It is the gap between the deaths actually recorded and those you would expect in a normal period without extreme heat. When that excess climbs in step with temperatures, epidemiologists read it as a signal of heat impact — above all in older people and those with chronic illness, the most vulnerable groups.

How can you stay safe on the hottest days?

The advice is familiar but still saves lives: drink water through the day even without thirst, stay off the streets during the hottest hours, seek out cool spaces, and check on elderly neighbours and relatives who live alone. A phone call mid-afternoon can matter more than it sounds.

We followed the WHO Europe warning on extreme heat and the end of this heatwave. Official warnings and advice are on the Directorate-General of Health site.

This is a sensitive topic. In Portugal, health support is available via SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24.