Portugal’s People-Animals-Nature party’s single MP has informed parliament that since 2001 it has been mandatory that all municipalities have a kennel for stray cats and dogs and that, after 15 years, only 180 of the 308 municipalities have such facilities.

PAN announced today that the Government has budgeted €1 million for the construction of municipal kennels in 2017, but that it rejected a proposal to reduce the VAT on pet food.

Former MP and vice president of the National Policy Committee of the Social Democratic Party between 1989 and 1991, the lawyer Duarte Lima is to face trial in Portugal for the 2009 murder of Rosalina Ribeiro in Brazil.

The Lisbon judiciary has said that unless the case was transferred to Portugal from Brazil, there was risk of the former MP escaping unpunished.

A leading Spanish politician has said that his country would resist attempts by Nicola Sturgeon for Scotland to remain in the EU single market after Brexit.

Esteban Gonzalez Pons is reported to have said that Sturgeon’s proposals for a special deal for Scotland are “impossible” and would be opposed by the Spanish government.

The proclamation at the end of last week’s United Nations climate change conference in Morocco was rather wordy, but the central point was clear: “Our climate is warming at an alarming and unprecedented rate and we have an urgent duty to respond.”

What is not clear is where do efforts to curb global warming go from here, now that Donald Trump has been elected leader of the free world?
Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa was among the delegates from almost 200 countries who gathered in Marrakesh to push ahead with the Paris Climate Agreement adopted at the end of last year.

Portugal has won two new ‘two-star’ ratings in the 2017 edition of the Michelin Guide to Spain and Portugal, and seven new ‘one star’ distinctions.

The Yeatman (Vila Nova de Gaia) and Il Gallo d'Oro (Funchal) each now boast a 'two star' rating, joining Ocean in Porches and Vila Joya in Albufeira (pictured).

Luís Figo’s Madrid home has been burgled and as estimated €500,000 worth of watches and jewellery stolen from the former footballer and his wife, Helen Svedin.

Criminals apparently took ‘bundles of cash’ while Figo and his wife were out, late on Tuesday night.

The woman who owned the poor moggie that was put in a clay pot on top of a burning pole, in a bizarre ritual, finally has been to court.

The Court decided to sentence Rosa Santos, 64, (pictured) to pay a fine of 90 days at €5 per day, which is €450.

Portimão Judicial Police officers have detained three youngsters suspected of involvement in four robberies, two of them involving assault, which took place in Albufeira on June 9th this year.

According to a police statement, "the three suspects, all members of a group, decided to rob passers-by who were walking alone and were unable to defend themselves."