(ESPN) What makes Portugal one of the best leagues in Europe?

 In the men's game, Portugal boast one of the best players in the world (Cristiano Ronaldo), one of the most influential coaches (Jose Mourinho), and one of the most notable agents (Jorge Mendes). But the women's side of things is still playing catch-up as it starts its journey to full maturity.

The women's domestic league (now named the Campeonato Nacional Feminino) has been around since 1985, but with Boavista (11) and 1º de Dezembro (12) dominating things in the early years, traditional powerhouses Benfica and Sporting CP only became a force seven years ago. Sporting reactivated their women's team in 2016-17 after a 21-year absence and immediately won the title and cup, while Benfica only created a team in late 2017 and have now picked up the last three titles in a row. The other major side in the country, FC Porto, does not yet have a women's team.

Now, with an appetite for women's football growing around the world, Portugal has, at long last, begun to make a name for itself on the biggest stages. From Benfica's continued presence in the UEFA Women's Champions League group stages, to the national team's debut at Euro 2017 and then 2023 World Cup, it's clear that the Portuguese game is on the rise.
So what can the women's game learn from the success of the men? And how can the men's game continue to grow while also generating huge sums from moving its best players on. Former scout and CEO Tor-Kristian Karlsen and women's football expert Sophie Lawson assess what makes Portugal so special.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to double the number of his country's troops stationed along its border with the Baltic states and Finland

  

Trade between Iran and the European Union (EU) has flourished over the years; this economic and diplomatic partnership is a large art of what has been fueling the Ayatollahs' support for terrorist groups and undermining regional stability. In recent years, the extent of their trade has reached significant levels, with billions of euros exchanged in goods and services. Behind these seemingly benign economic transactions, however, lies a troubling reality: the funds generated from Europe's trade with Iran are being funneled into activities that are now prolonging violence and conflict across the Middle East and beyond.

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"Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to double the number of his country's troops stationed along its border with the Baltic states and Finland as part of Moscow's preparations for a potential military conflict with NATO within the next decade, Estonia's Foreign Intelligence Service said Tuesday."
The head of Estonia's intelligence service recently said:
"Russia has chosen a path which is a long-term confrontation ... and the Kremlin is probably anticipating a possible conflict with NATO within the next decade or so."

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Pela primeira vez sondagem apresenta empate técnico entre PS, AD e CHEGA para as legislativas

  

É a primeira vez que uma sondagem aponta para um empate técnico entre PS, a AD e CHEGA. Ventura afirma estar “confiante na vitória.” Faltam pouco mais de duas semanas para o ato eleitoral de 10 de março e o partido de André Ventura aproxima-se cada vez mais do pelotão da frente, com o CHEGA a alcançar 16,9% de intenções de voto, sem distribuição de indecisos. Neste estudo, a AD surge na frente, com 21,4%, seguida do Partido Socialista com 21,1%, também com os indecisos por distribuir.
Folha Nacional (jornal do "Chega") - Fevereiro 22, 2024
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ERC abre processo de averiguação a sondagem divulgada pelo Chega

 

O trabalho de campo foi desenvolvido pela empresa portuguesa Intercampus com o compromisso de não ser divulgada nos órgãos de comunicação social em Portugal. No entanto, o jornal do Chega, que está registado na ERC, acabou por divulgar o estudo.
A Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC) vai abrir um processo de averiguações a uma sondagem divulgada pelo Chega.
O estudo foi feito por uma empresa brasileira não credenciada em Portugal e difundido nas redes sociais e no jornal do Chega, o Folha Nacional.
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Swedish PM says integration of immigrants has failed, fueled gang crime (Reuters)

 

Sweden has failed to integrate the vast numbers of immigrants it has taken in over the past two decades, leading to parallel societies and gang violence, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Thursday, as she launched a series of initiatives to combat organised crime.
Many Swedes were shocked earlier this month after violent riots left more than 100 police injured. The violence erupted after a Swedish-Danish politician burned the Quran at a rally and sought to hold more in several immigrant-dominated neighborhoods.
Andersson blamed criminals and said both Islamism and right-wing extremism had been allowed to fester in Sweden, in unusually frank and self-critical comments.
"Segregation has been allowed to go so far that we have parallel societies in Sweden. We live in the same country but in completely different realities," Andersson told a news conference.
The number of people in Sweden born abroad has doubled in the last two decades to 2 million, or a fifth of the population. Andersson's Social Democrats have been in power for 28 of the last 40 years, including the last eight.
Andersson said she wanted to introduce local youth crime boards where social services and police could collaborate. She also proposed tools to make sure that youths stayed in schools and off the streets without the consent of parents.
"Integration has been too poor at the same time as we have had a large immigration. Society has been too weak, resources for the police and social services have been too weak," she said.
Sweden, which holds a general election later this year, has radically tightened its immigration policies since taking in more people per capita than any other European Union country during the migration crisis in 2015. It now has one of the bloc's most restrictive policies.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International has been critical of Sweden's tightening of policies, claiming it is causing human suffering and making integration even harder for immigrants.

April 28, 20222 (Continue)

Reality Check: Are migrants driving crime in Germany? (BBC)

 

The claim: The deputy leader of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) said there had been "447 killings and murders" by illegal migrants in Germany last year.
Reality Check verdict: The German interior ministry says that in fact last year 27 illegal migrants either committed or attempted to commit murder or manslaughter. The 447 figure refers to killings or attempted killings by all asylum seekers and refugees, most of whom are in Germany legally. Overall crime in Germany has fallen to the lowest level since 1992, but there has been an increase in migrant crime.
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Bar a blip in the mid-2000s, overall crime has been decreasing in Germany since the early 1990s. But that changed in 2015 - about the same time hundreds of thousands of refugees began entering the country.
The AfD has made claims about a link between the influx of migrants and a rise in crime.
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Since 2014, the proportion of non-German suspects in the crime statistics has increased from 24% to just over 30% (when we take out crimes related to immigration and asylum irregularities).
Breaking that down even further, in 2017 those classified as "asylum applicants or civil war refugees or illegal immigrants" represented a total of 8.5% of all suspects.
This is despite their population representing just 2% of Germany as a whole.
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Igbo Jews are people of Nigeria who practice Judaism

 

Jews have been documented in parts of Nigeria since the precolonial period, but it is not known for the Igbo to have claimed Israelite descent or practiced Judaism in precolonial times. Significant Igbo identification with Jews concretized during and after the Biafran war (1967-1970). No formal census has been taken in the region and the precise number of Igbo in Nigeria who practice Judaism is not known. 

An estimated 30,000 Igbos, having at least 26 synagogues of various sizes, were said to be practicing some form of Judaism in 2008. In 2021 there were said to be approximately 12,000-15,000 mainstream Igbo Jews in Nigeria, comprising some 70 active communities. A more conservative figure of at least 2,000-3,000 Igbo practicing Judaism, and at most 5,000, has also been given.
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Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists

 

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64. They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is "just full of big young boys who like us older girls." Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex.
Allie and Bethan -- who both declined to give their full names -- said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya's palm-fringed beaches. They would do well to avoid the country's tourism officials.
"It's not evil," said Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, when asked about the practice of older rich women traveling for sex with young Kenyan men. "But it's certainly something we frown upon."
Also, the health risks are stark in a country with an AIDS prevalence of 6.9 percent. Although condom use can only be guessed at, Julia Davidson, an academic at Nottingham University who writes on sex tourism, said that in the course of her research she had met women who shunned condoms -- finding them too "businesslike" for their exotic fantasies.
The white beaches of the Indian Ocean coast stretched before the friends as they both walked arm-in-arm with young African men, Allie resting her white haired-head on the shoulder of her companion, a six-foot-four 23-year-old from the Maasai tribe.
He wore new sunglasses he said were a gift from her.
"We both get something we want -- where's the negative?" Allie asked in a bar later, nursing a strong, golden cocktail.
She was still wearing her bikini top, having just pulled on a pair of jeans and a necklace of traditional African beads.
Bethan sipped the same local drink: a powerful mix of honey, fresh limes and vodka known locally as "Dawa," or "medicine."
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