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DIÁRIO DE NOT͍CIAS
Founded in Lisbon in 1864, Diário de Notícias is one of Portugal's leading dailies. Now representing the center of the political spectrum, it was during the dictatorship one of the publications that best reflected the government's position. In the months that followed the Carnation Revolution of 1974, the newspaper briefly adopted a Communist stance, under the leadership of future Literature Nobel Prize winner, José Saramago.
Why The Right To Die Is Expanding Around The World
Society
Anne-Sophie Goninet

Why The Right To Die Is Expanding Around The World

Euthanasia and assisted suicide laws are still the exception, but lawmakers from New Zealand to Peru to Switzerland and beyond are gradually giving more space for people to choose to get help to end their lives — sometimes with new and innovative technological methods.

The announcement last month that a “suicide capsule” device would be commercialized in Switzerland, not surprisingly, caused quite a stir. The machine called Sarcophagus, or “Sarco” for short, consists of a 3D-printed pod mounted on a stand, which releases nitrogen and gradually reduces the oxygen level from 21% to 1%, causing the person inside to lose consciousness without pain or a sense of panic, and then die of hypoxia and hypocapnia (oxygen and carbon dioxide deprivation).

While active euthanasia is illegal in Switzerland, assisted suicide is allowed under certain conditions and under the supervision of a physician, who has first to review the patient’s capacity for discernment — a condition that Sarco aims to eliminate. “We want to remove any kind of psychiatric review from the process and allow the individual to control the method themselves,” Australian doctor Philip Nitschke, the machine’s creator, told news platform SwissInfo. Some argue that this is against the country’s medical ethical rules while others expressed concerns about safety.

But Nitschke says he found the solution: an online AI-based test, which will give a code to the patient to use the device if he passes.

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The scene in New York
CLARIN

Truck Attack in NYC, 16 Front Pages From Newspapers Around The World

A day after a suspected 29-year-old Uzbek national killed eight people and injured a dozen more with a rented pickup truck in Manhattan, newspapers around the world devoted their front pages to the worst terrorist attack in New York since 9/11. Here's is how it looked in 11 different countries, including Argentina, home to five of the victims:

UNITED STATES

New York Post

Portada de Wall Street Journal (USA)

Wall Street Journal

Portada de The Washington Post (USA)

Washington Post

CANADA

MEXICO

ARGENTINA

BRAZIL

Portada de O Globo (Brasil)

O Globo

UNITED KINGDOM

Portada de The Times (Reino Unido)

The Times

PORTUGAL

THE NETHERLANDS

GERMANY

Portada de Bild (Alemania)

Bild

ITALY

Portada de Corriere della Sera (Italia)

Corriere della Sera

ISRAEL

Portada de Haaretz (Israel)

Haaretz

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho during Parliamentary debate Monday
Portugal

Portugal Political Crisis: Minority Governments Don't Rule

LISBONPortugal is relearning one of the basic tenets of democracy: Majority rules.

The country's four left-leaning parties are expected to bring down the minority center-right government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho with a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday, newspaper Diário de Notícias reports.

The center-right coalition that has been governing since 2011 scored only 38.5% in the Oct. 4 general election, failing to secure a majority, even if Passos Coelho's party scored the single highest vote tally.

But when the four left-leaning parties, led by the Socialist Party of António Costa, proposed a majority government, President of the Republic Cavaco Silva unexpectedly refused to allow the coalition (which combined score was 50.7%) to rule, arguing that their commitment to reverse austerity policies, as well as the anti-Euro and anti-NATO stances of the Communist and Left Bloc parties, were a threat to the country's stability. Instead, he decided to grant Passos Coelho, 51, a second term, and a minority government.

But now that this short-lived experiment in minority government is crumbling, what's next? New elections are not an option in the near future: The Portuguese Constitution doesn't allow the President to dissolve a Parliament in its first six months, meaning months of great political and economic instability lie ahead — unless the left parties manage to convince Silva this time around to take a chance on a majority.