The number of foreigners living in Switzerland has leapt above the two million mark for the first time.

The foreign population now makes up nearly a quarter (24.6%) of the total population, according to the Swiss statistics office, which reported that in 2015 there were 2,048,700 foreign nationals with permanent residence permits.

An inquiry has been launched in Sweden to find the reasons why the country has one of the highest EU rates of deaths from drugs.

The country has a zero-tolerance policy, but nonetheless the number of deaths linked to the use of narcotics has soared in recent years, rising to 93 deaths per million of adults in 2014. This is approaching five times the European average of 19.2 deaths per million.

The area surrounding Pego do Inferno, the much-loved Tavira waterfall and pool, was burned to a cinder in the 2012 fire that swept across the eastern Algarve and consumed 21,500 hectares.

The site then was cordoned off by the council and the game of ‘pass the buck’ started in earnest.

Lagos hospital is not alone is trying to run medical services without enough doctors but it is the first area where the local council has denounced the situation as "dramatic" and "unsustainable."

The hospital covers the population of Lagos, Vila do Bispo and Aljezur but is failing, as are many of the regions health units as they all are missing the key ingredient – doctors.

Monchique council is spending €350,000 on buying up an old wood-yard and sawmill in the town to create an exhibition area for the council’s annual festivals that now attract thousands of tourists and locals.

The council wants also to convert the buildings into a multi-purpose space and have the first part of the project opened within twelve months, but first it needs to complete the deal to buy the building before the year end.

The United States is becoming increasingly sniffy about the way the EU is conducting tax investigations into the US multinational companies, such as Apple, Amazon and Starbucks.

Despite the swinging tax requirements it metes out to its citizens living abroad, the US Treasury on Wednesday threatened to retaliate if the EU continues tax avoidance probes into American companies.

The temperature of the Algarve’s seawater was two degrees warmer this July than last, according to the national weather service.

The water varied in temperature from between 22 degrees Celcius in the west and 26 degrees Celcius in the east due to warm winds blowing across from Gibraltar bringing balmy waters from the Mediterranean.

'Amending the State budget is the natural consequence of the public recapitalisation of Caixa Geral de Depósitos,' according to the Left Bloc’s Mariana Mortágua who argues that public money has to be used to keep the bank stable and reiterates that the Left Bloc will not accept redundancies at the State-owned lender.

Mortágua said today 'that if you argue the case for recapitalisation and that the bank remains publically owned, you can’t then be against the injection of public money.'