The use of cannabis products for medical purposes was approved in parliament today, Friday 15th June, by all the parliamentary parties with the exception of the opposition CDS, which abstained.

The parliamentary committee on health had issued the final document for discussion by MPs, which reinforced the role of drugs regulator, Infarmed, but stopped short of recommending the drug could be grown at home for a bit of 'self-medication.'

The Portuguese government is launching a citizenship card for registered foreigners in Portugal.

The card, similar to the national ‘cartão de cidadão,’ groups together identification references for tax, social security and the national health system but does not make the holder a 'citizen.'

Cristiano Ronaldo has been handed a two-year jail sentence and will pay €18.8m in a deal with the Spanish court in a high-profile tax evasion case.

Ronaldo, who is with the Portuguese national team at the World Cup in Russia, has agreed to pay a fine for four tax offences and will be given a two-year jail sentence.

Several INEM ambulance, car and motorbike team members have been done for speeding and fined by the National Road Safety Authority, despite being on life-saving missions.

One INEM motorcyclist in the Algarve responded to a call and ended up with a €300 fine, a two year ban and three points taken off his licence.

The Left Bloc has called for an end to Portugal’s Golden Visa scheme, claiming that only nine of the 5,700 applications received so far, were submitted under the job creation category.

Adding that Golden Visas promote money laundering, cause real estate speculation and are an unjustified privilege, the party has submitted a bill to parliament that adds 'corruption, influence peddling, embezzlement, tax and criminal offences' as further reasons to ditch the scheme.

A new App has been launched, allowing requests to be submitted to burn forest and scrubland waste.

The  App simplifies requests to burn such rubbish and the applicant receives an automated response based on 'real time' local information, such as the prevailing weather conditions and the number of fires in recent days.

The relocation to the mainland of 49 families from the fishing village area on Faro Island, has been announced by Faro Council.

Mayor, Rogério Bacalhau said that the number of families roughly corresponds to half of the fishing community of Faro Island and that their properties will be torn down when families have been removed to the mainland.

A victim of last October’s fires, who was receiving long-term in-patient care in Coimbra Hospital, has died of her injuries and increases the number of fire related deaths to 50.

Much of the woman’s body was burned, as was her wind pipe. She died on Thursday 14th of June, three days before the year’s anniversary of the deadly inferno that shocked the nation and resulted in a government review of the land clearance laws.