Many people ask themselves why Portugal is plagued by more wildfires than larger countries in Europe, which is as much as half of the total acreage lost to flames across the rest of the European Union, writes Jay Fernandes.

As consequence of the social and economic transformation that took place in Portugal over the last 50 years, when it  joined the European Community, Portugal become one of the most heavily forested countries in Europe, most of the land privately owned.

José Eduardo dos Santos (pictured) is to step down after the general election in Angola, as 9 million voters head to the ballot box on Wednesday to elect a new president.

The battle for power is between the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the political party that has been in power under dos Santos for more than 40 years, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) which has been kept in opposition for over 50 years.

Portimão firefighters have rescued a Moldovan worker who fell down an access hatch and was swept along a large diameter pipe.

The worker had fallen down the Poço Seco - Boavista access point. He dropped 20 metres into the water below.

'A day late and a dollar short,’ the government has decided to fine SIRESP SA over claims that the emergency communications system supplied by the company has failed to allow communications during emergencies.

This will not be a cash fine of course, the owners of SIRESP SA are far too influential for that, but the government will agree a discount to the whopping annual cost of a system that in fact needs upgrading or scrapping.

Trees at risk of shedding their branches not only are to be found in Faro’s Alameda João de Deus gardens, the council now has admitted that it has a list of 130 trees across the regional capital that need urgent attention.

A huge branch crashed to the ground last week in the Alameda João de Deus garden, provoking urgent questions about public safety, especially after the accident in Madeira last weekend where a falling tree killed 13 people at a religious festival.

The Minister of the Environment, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, has come to the rescue of the city’s Socialist Party mayor, António Pina (pictured).

On Monday's agenda, as minister João Matos Fernandes visited Olhão's town hall, was the hot topic of the feud between mayor Pina and Sebastião Teixeira at the Portuguese Environment Agency which has resulted in Teixeira issuing a demolition notice to a British couple who were half way though building a home on Armona island.

A proposal for owners of short-term rental apartments and townhouse in condominium schemes to pay higher fees, forms a key part of a report from a Socialist and left Bloc working group on housing policy.

Owners of properties who rent to tourists under the Alojamento Local scheme, will be paying more condominium fees 'as their clients use the common parts of properties more than owner-occupiers.'

At the beginning of 2017 the Alagoas Brancas wetland was turned upside down by bulldozers and lorries. The worked then stopped just as suddenly and the machines disappeared leaving behind an unsightly mountain of rubble which remains there to this day, writes the Save the Alagoas Group.

What happened? Who was responsible? What does the future hold for this wildlife sanctuary?

With little information coming from the local authorities the general public has been left in the dark. The following information chronicles the events of the last six months from the point of view of the Save the Alagoas Group (Grupo de Defesa das Alagoas Brancas) which was formed to save the site from this commercial development.