News 28 July 2026

Iran turned down the American offer in Islamabad, and the Strait of Hormuz stays shut

A third straight night without US or Iranian strikes, but Tehran says it rejected the proposal tabled in Islamabad and is keeping Hormuz closed.

Three quiet nights are not the same thing as peace, and Iran went out of its way to say so. Tehran announced it had rejected the proposal the United States brought to the table in Islamabad, and that it has no intention of sitting back down with Washington any time soon.

The pause itself is real. After thirteen days of near-continuous strikes, the weekend went by without American attacks, and an Iranian official said the country will hold fire for as long as the US does. What the truce does not have is a deadline, a signed page, or even an open line of communication.

Why is the Strait of Hormuz still closed?

Because Iran has not moved an inch on the decision it took at the start of the conflict. The channel that carries a huge share of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas remains shut, and Iran’s deputy foreign minister repeated that his country will not let Americans decide “the moment of peace and war”. While Hormuz stays like this, the barrel price keeps sending messages to European pumps — that same escalation had already pushed oil past 100 dollars last week.

How long will the US-Iran truce last?

Nobody knows, and that is the uncomfortable part. The American ambassador to the United Nations said Trump is giving diplomacy space and time, then added in the same breath that more military assets are heading to the region. Translation: the pause holds until it does not.

Seen from Portugal, the practical reading is simple enough. What gets decided in Hormuz shows up in fuel, then energy, then the supermarket bill, a few weeks later. The navigation rules for this stretch of water are set out by the International Maritime Organization, and that is exactly the rulebook that has been ignored since the blockade began.

For now the world is breathing. Just don’t get used to it.

By Marta Carneiro

Image: OpenStreetMap / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

News 28 July 2026

Nearly all of mainland Portugal sits under a yellow heat warning on Tuesday, with 40C in the forecast

IPMA has every mainland district except Faro under a yellow heat warning from Monday into Tuesday, with highs of 40C expected in Santarem, Beja and Evora.

If you woke up today convinced the house was hotter than it had any right to be, you were not imagining it. IPMA placed every mainland district except Faro under a yellow heat warning, and the warning carried over from Monday into Tuesday. Almost all of them. The list runs from Braganca and Vila Real down to Setubal and Beja, and only the Algarve escapes, which for the Algarve is faintly ridiculous. The toughest highs are forecast for Santarem, Beja and…

News 26 July 2026

Ukraine struck an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea, and Tehran has already summoned Kyiv's diplomats

Ukraine's security service claimed a strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran calls it a hostile act against a commercial ship, with one sailor killed, and summoned Ukraine's representatives.

For months this war had two hot spots on the map: the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. This weekend it acquired a third, and it is the least predictable of them all — the Caspian Sea, an inland body of water ringed by five countries with no outlet to any ocean. Ukraine's security service claimed responsibility on Saturday for a strike on an Iranian vessel in those waters. Kyiv describes the target as a ship used to move military cargo between Iran and…

News 26 July 2026

The US skipped a night of strikes on Iran, and now it all comes down to Hormuz

For the first time in nearly two weeks the US announced no fresh strikes on Iran. Regional mediation is moving, and the compromise on the table is about how ships transit the Strait of Hormuz.

One quiet night, and in this war that counts as news. On Saturday the US military announced no new strikes on Iran for the first time in almost two weeks of bombardment, and countries hosting American bases in the region reported no fresh Iranian fire either. After thirteen straight nights of counting explosions, there is suddenly room for something else: talking. Because diplomacy got a foothold. An official involved in the regional mediation effort…

News 25 July 2026

Origin Energy was breached and customers' partial bank details went with it

Australian utility Origin Energy has confirmed attackers accessed names, addresses, birthdates and portions of banking information. It serves around 4.8 million accounts.

A company that sells you electricity knows a great deal more about you than your kilowatt-hours. That is the uncomfortable part of the Origin Energy story, after the Australian utility confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack. Names, addresses, birthdates, telephone numbers, account details and portions of credit card or bank information. The company serves roughly 4.8 million customer accounts, though it has not yet confirmed how many people were actually…

News 25 July 2026

Starship finally flew, and this time the Starlink satellites were real

On its 13th test flight Starship deployed 20 genuine Starlink V3 satellites and settled gently into the Indian Ocean. The booster had a rougher time of it.

After two scrubbed attempts, the largest rocket ever built finally left Starbase in south Texas on Friday. And Starship's 13th test flight came with the detail that had been missing all along: there were real satellites inside it. Twenty third-generation Starlink satellites, the V3s, and all of them deployed smoothly. That sounds like a footnote and is not one. Earlier flights carried mass simulators, blocks with the right weight and no function…

News 25 July 2026

Ávila's wildfires just pulled 128 Portuguese firefighters across the border

Portugal sent a 128-strong joint force to fight the wildfires burning in Ávila, Spain, under the mutual civil-protection aid protocol between the two countries.

The convoy left Guarda at three in the afternoon on Saturday. That is 128 Portuguese emergency workers heading for the Spanish province of Ávila, where rural fires have spent days outrunning local crews, and the army sent 500 combat rations along with them so nobody has to fight a wildfire on an empty stomach. It is called a Joint Operational Force and it pulls people from several places at once: the command structure and Special Civil Protection Force of…

News 25 July 2026

Kyiv's drone expo was hit by a Russian missile, and Moscow says it aimed for it

A Russian missile struck a defence-industry exhibition near Kyiv on Friday, killing at least ten. Moscow claimed the strike and Ukraine's prosecutor opened an inquiry into the event itself.

This one was not a miss. On Friday a Russian missile came down on a private training ground in the Kyiv region where a defence-industry showcase was under way, killing at least ten people and wounding close to a hundred — and Russia's defence ministry then said, in plain language, that this was the point. A drone exhibition. Moscow said the display featured Ukrainian and foreign-made unmanned aircraft, including models still in development, which it…

News 25 July 2026

The new US forced-labour tariffs are live, and Europe is paying 10%

The United States has started charging an extra 10% on everything the European Union sells it. What the Section 301 tariffs are, who got hit and what it means for exporters in Portugal.

Since Friday, everything the European Union sells to the United States carries an extra 10% at the border. This is not a threat or a proposal: it took effect on 24 July and American customs is already collecting it. The measure comes out of a Section 301 investigation, the tool Washington uses to punish what it considers unfair trade practices. This time the charge is forced labour: the US trade representative concluded that 60 economies, the EU, China…

News 25 July 2026

The US and Iran are 13 nights into this — and oil just topped $100

The escalation between the United States and Iran has reached a 13th straight night of strikes, with Iran hitting back at Gulf bases and Brent crude climbing past $100 a barrel.

The war grinding on in the Persian Gulf is not letting up. The United States has now reached a 13th straight night of strikes on Iran, with blasts reported across several Iranian cities, while Tehran hit back with drones and missiles against American bases in neighbouring countries. And, as always when that region burns, the effect reached fuel pumps half a world away in a hurry. Washington has stepped up the bombing and the US president again threatened…

An Air Tractor firefighting aircraft in flight, the type Portugal sent to France

News 24 July 2026

Portugal sent France two water-bombers to fight its wildfires — and Macron thanked the country by name

Portugal dispatched two Air Tractor planes to help France battle wildfires in the southwest, through the EU civil protection mechanism. Macron confirmed the reinforcement.

A few weeks ago it was Portugal asking for help with its own fires. Now it's the other way round: the country has sent two planes to southwestern France, where wildfires are eating through hectares and forcing thousands of people to flee. And it wasn't just any thank-you — it was President Emmanuel Macron himself naming Portugal on the list of reinforcements on their way. Two Air Tractor planes — the small yellow aircraft that dump water on the flames and…

News 24 July 2026

Portugal just sent Brussels the final reshuffle of its recovery fund — a sprint to not hand a single euro back

Portugal's recovery fund (PRR) is weeks from closing, and the government has filed its seventh and final reprogramming in Brussels to avoid losing EU money.

Portugal's recovery fund is genuinely running out of road, and the government has no intention of reaching the finish line with money still sitting unspent. This week it filed its seventh — and, it insists, final — reprogramming of the plan in Brussels, the last tweak to the books that exists for one reason: to avoid handing EU cash back because the country couldn't spend it in time. The logic is easy enough to follow. The Recovery and Resilience Plan…

News 24 July 2026

Portugal's ERs head into summer with rosters unfinished — and the health service is saying so

Portugal's SNS enters summer 2026 with its contingency plan active but emergency-room rosters not fully secured; the health minister has admitted a shortage of staff, and there are new incentives for doctors' overtime.

Summer in Portugal means beaches, festivals and packed roads — and, every single year, hospital emergency rooms under strain. This year is no exception, and the National Health Service has laid its cards on the table: the rosters aren't fully covered. The health minister admitted she does not have "the complete roster for the next three months", pointing to a shortage of staff. In plain terms: in some units, especially overnight and in the most…

Firefighting helicopter carrying a suspended water bucket against a clear sky

News 23 July 2026

Wildfire danger jumps across dozens of municipalities as the heat tightens its grip on Portugal

Wildfire danger has risen to very high in around 80 municipalities as the heat builds. See which districts are at risk and how to stay safe.

The heat won't let up and the scrub is bone-dry — the combination that worries firefighters most. Wildfire danger has climbed again across mainland Portugal, with around 80 municipalities at very high risk and dozens more at high risk, as temperatures rise through the week. The danger is concentrated mainly in the northern and central interior and parts of the south: districts such as Viana do Castelo, Braga, Vila Real, Viseu, Bragança, Guarda, Coimbra,…

News 22 July 2026

France is banning social media for under-15s — the first EU country to do it

France's parliament approved a ban on social media for under-15s and a phone ban in schools. The law still needs the Constitutional Council's sign-off.

France took a step this week that no other European Union country had taken: both chambers of parliament approved a law banning under-15s from social media. It's a flagship of Emmanuel Macron's second term, and it puts the country at the front of a debate raging worldwide — the effect of social platforms on the health and safety of the young. The law doesn't stop there. It also bans mobile phones inside schools and brings new advertising rules for…