Two of EDP’s hydroelectric plants have had to be shut down due to the continuing drought, with four more on the closure list.
The Vila dam in Tabuaço and the Santa Luzia dam power plants have ceased electricity production because the water in the reservoirs is low. What remains is needed for public consumption. The rules are clear: humans come first.
A mythical 'new bridge' to Faro beach has yet another completion date, this time the council’s mayor has worked out that, if all goes well, the bridge will be open "in the first quarter of 2020."
The comedy show continues as Polis Litoral Ria Formosa Society, a company owned by several western Algarve local councils and the Ministry of the Environment, currently is in liquidation but anyway has launched the public tender for the construction contract for the new bridge.
Environmental association Almargem has put its weight behind Barão de São João locals protesting at the wholesale destruction of natural Algarve trees, removed as part of a land clearance operation to make way for a vast avocado farm.
Cork oaks and carob trees have been destroyed by fruit company Citago*, based near Loulé, which commissioned land clearance across nearly 80 hectares of countryside - with more planned.
A 64-year-old shepherd, who had been living in conditions close to slavery on a farm in the Alentejo, has been rescued by local GNR and referred to a social housing institution, after a good hot meal.
Évora GNR reported that the case came to light on Tuesday following a road accident involving sheep.
Police were alerted to an apartment full of dogs, 29 of them, which were never exercised, eating and defecating in urban confinement.
The criminal investigation division of the Lisbon PSP carried out a search at the Campolide address after a warrant was issued due to ‘the suspicion of the crime of mistreatment of pet animals.’
"It is the Government's understanding that Portugal's presence on the Executive Board of UNESCO is adds value for the projection of the image of our country at an international level and allows an increased capacity for intervention in the international community," was the official government line on confirmation of the news.
Portugal’s election to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation means a place at the top table until 2021.
The European Trade Union Confederation has spotted that the minimum wage in Portugal is too low for workers ever to raise themselves above subsistence level.
The Confederation says that the minimum wage in Portugal, although it may seem statistically high, is still "very low" in absolute terms and insufficient "for workers to live on what they earn."
As from today, November 8, Amazon’s service centre in Spain will not charge shipping costs to those customers in Portugal who spend over €29, or €19 on books.
The Spanish on-line subsidiary of the US giant explains that customers in Portugal will have access to "more than 165 million products across all categories" without having to pay postage charges.
