Sicily's Mount Etna erupted on Monday with more than 130 earthquakes registered of up to 4.0 in magnitude, according to Italy's INGV volcanology institute.
Lava is spewing from a fracture near its south-eastern crater in the volcano's first serious eruption in over a decade. The biggest tremor was on the north-east side of the volcano, near Piano Pernicana, with another on the northern flank with intense eruptions from a new crater on the south-east side.
Faro Council’s mayor has launched a blistering Christmas attack on the government’s health provision in the Algarve, blaming the minister of failing to ensure sufficient medical staff, especially in the Gynecology and Obstetrics departments which may have to be shut down, albeit temporarily.
An emailed message was sent from Faro Council to the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, in which Mayor Rogério Bacalhau expressed his concern about the neonatal unit over the Christmas period.
The president of Caritas, the Catholic Church's charity, claims that 18.3% of the Portuguese live in poverty and called on the Portuguese to put a candle in the window of their homes on Monday from 8:00 p.m. in recognition of this fact.
After a ceremony at the Palace of Belém on Sunday, Portugal’s President received the "Light of Peace" candle that symbolises peace, love and solidarity, handed to him by Caritas.
Portugal’s airports operator, the French-owned company, ANA, has asks passengers to arrive two to three hours before their scheduled flight time at Lisbon airport over the Christmas holiday period.
ANA issued the warning to passengers, explaining that, "the holiday season is traditionally a period of peak traffic at Portuguese airports, namely at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon," while not alluding to the planned strikes affecting services.
The Portuguese are not natural protestors, preferring now to support campaigns on social media rather than do yellow hi-viz jackets and gather under the watchful eye of the police.
The plan hatched in cyberspace, to gather in 25 cities on Friday to disrupt traffic in protest at a range of government-inspired ills, produced low numbers of protestors in most venues and only 200 in Lisbon.
A few days before Christmas, 26-years ago on December 21, 1992, Martinair flight MP495 crashed at Faro Airport.
On board were 13 crew members and 327 passengers, mainly holidaymakers from the Netherlands. Two cabin crew and 54 of the passengers were killed in the accident. Additionally, 106 people were badly injured.
The British government has warned air travellers between the UK and Portugal to expect delays this holiday period due to the planned strike action by borders staff.
The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) has scheduled a stoppage between the 26th and 28th of December.
Representatives from the Algarve’s hotel and restaurant workers’ union demonstrated along the streets of Faro today, handing out leaflets outlining their protest against low wages and poor working conditions.
"This action aimed to contact workers to clarify the contradictory situation in the sector, where, on the one hand, there is a growth of company profits, and, on the other hand, wages and workers' purchasing power is decreasing and working conditions are deteriorating," the union leaders explained.
