Portugal’s ruling Socialist party has extended its lead, according to an opinion poll released three months before the general election.

This places António Costa's party on track to winning the majority he so keenly wants.

The Portuguese Government announced, on July 12, a firm order of five multi-mission airlifters Embraer KC-390 as part of the process to modernise Portuguese Air Force capacities to support national Armed Forces operations and increase readiness in missions of public interest.

Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2023.

Despite a demanding ceiling price of €45/MWh the Portuguese government's tender for solar generation facilities has received applications for projects with seven times the generation capacity it will allocate.

Portugal’s decision for public auction procurement process for PV plants has been met with spectacular demand, writes Marian Willuhn.

Faro Council's operations are at the centre of raids by police investigating a saddening, yet all too familiar litany of corruption and embezzlement.

So far, four people have been made official suspects after AMBIFARO, Gestão de Equipamentos Municipais, E.M., Faro’s municipal market and a lawyer's office were raided, as well as suspects’ homes, in the search for evidence.

A highly suspicious and partial report, issued in 2017 by the Institute for the Conservation of Forestry and Nature, has been discreditied by the PAN political party which is demanding that the Lagoa wetlands be classified as a protected zone.

The party also has demanded that the ICNF carries out a new study that takes the matter seriously and stops referring to the freshwaterr wetland as of no interest and not worth protecting.

During its meeting in Baku on July 7, the World Heritage Committee inscribed six cultural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The newly inscribed sites are located in Azerbaijan, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Spain, and the UK. Inscriptions will continue in the afternoon.

A bill passed last Friday by Portugal’s parliament sets out a legal basis for housing being treated as a citizens’ right. Under the new law, the Portuguese government becomes responsible for ensuring adequate housing for all citizens as “the guarantor of the right to housing,” writes Peter Yeung at Citylab.

The Basic Housing Law emphasizes the “social function” of housing, with the explicit goals of eradicating homelessness, prioritizing the use of public real estate for affordable housing, and prohibiting tenant evictions across Lisbon—a pressing issue in recent years—unless the state is able to provide similar accommodation nearby. Framers of the law describe it as a foundation and roadmap for future policies, albeit one with some explicitly defined targets, rather than a direct instrument for giving people homes.

A photograph of the dancing umbrellas of Olhão has won a competition in the Sunday Times, adding to the city’s ever-improving international reputation.

Once the Algarve’s most dangerous, drug-riddled and crime-ridden city, the influx of largely foreign money and property know-how has turned the formerly crumbling city centre into a must see destination, despite the city Council’s well deserved reputation for corruption, financial smoke and mirrors and patronage.