Portugal

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s parliament approved Friday new labor laws on working from home, introducing additional protection for employees who do their job away from company premises.

The new rules are a response to the trend of more staff working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Portugal’s Socialist government said. It said it sees benefits in working from home but wanted to adapt labor legislation to it.

LISBON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Faced with a likely rejection of the 2022 budget by parliament and the prospect of a snap election in Portugal, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Tuesday he would not step down if his hopes of reaching a last-minute deal fall through.

His minority Socialist government's hard-left former allies have said they would vote against the bill in its first reading on Wednesday, leaving it few chances of being approved, short of just three abstentionsin the 230-seat parliament.

LISBON, Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The COVID-19 pandemic and the situation in Afghanistan, top the agenda of the 67th annual session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which is hosted by the Parliament of Portugal, between Oct 8 and Oct 11.

The event is attended by Portuguese government officials, NATO representatives, defence experts, legislators from the 30 NATO member states, and representatives of the alliance’s partner countries.

LISBON, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Portugal has completed the vaccination of 85 percent of its population against COVID-19, the country's Director-General of Health Graca Freitas said on Saturday.

Freitas told Lusa news agency that Portugal managed to lead global vaccination race by having "given an opportunity to everyone ... to be vaccinated" and thanks to the collaboration of the public and health professionals.

LISBON, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Portugal will give a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people aged 65 and older from next week, starting with the most vulnerable groups, such as care home residents and those over 80 years old.

The southern European nation, which has the world’s highest vaccination rate with 85 per cent of its total population fully jabbed, started last month to give an extra COVID-19 shot to those aged over 16 with weakened immune systems.

OEIRAS, Portugal (AP) — As Portugal closes in on its goal of fully vaccinating 85% of the population against COVID-19 in nine months, other countries in Europe and beyond want to know how it was accomplished.

A lot of the credit is going to Rear Adm. Henrique Gouveia e Melo. With his team from the three branches of the armed forces, the naval officer took charge of the vaccine rollout in February — perhaps the moment of greatest tension in Portugal over the pandemic.

LISBON, Jul 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, said yesterday that, the country’s economic recovery after the pandemic crisis will be done “with an eye to the future.”

“For this reason, the two great engines of this recovery are to face two major challenges that lie ahead — the climate transition and the digital transition,” he said, in a speech in the city of Coimbra, central Portugal.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A strike by airport baggage handlers and ground crews in Portugal was expected to cause a second day of disruption Sunday, with most flights into and out of Lisbon canceled.

The 48-hour walkout forced the cancellation of around 300 flights on Saturday, mostly in Lisbon. Long lines formed as stranded passengers sought to rearrange their travel plans.

A similar number of flights could be affected Sunday.

LISBON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Portugal will accelerate the immunization campaign against COVID-19 to curb the rapid spread of the Delta variant, vice-admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, Portuguese vaccination coordinator, said Saturday.

The goal is to vaccinate "about 850,000 people a week" using the "maximum stocks of vaccine" available, Gouveia e Melo told the Portuguese news agency Lusa. "We are in a war against the virus, and we are going to give as much as we can to advance the vaccination process, taking it to the limit."

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Countries across Europe are scrambling to accelerate coronavirus vaccinations and outpace the spread of the more infectious delta variant, in a high-stakes race to prevent hospital wards from filling up again with patients fighting for their lives.

The urgency coincides with Europe’s summer holiday months, with fair weather bringing more social gatherings and governments reluctant to clamp down on them. Social distancing is commonly neglected, especially among the young, and some countries are scrapping the requirement to wear masks outdoors.