According to the weather models employed by the Portuguese Met
Office, forecasts are that the months of June, July and August
will be among the hottest and driest the past quarter of a
century.
Continue reading "PORTUGAL BRACED FOR SCORCHING SUMMER WEATHER" »
BOM SUCESSO - PORTUGAL - NEW GOLF COURSE TO OPEN
Continue reading "BOM SUCESSO - PORTUGAL - NEW GOLF COURSE TO OPEN" »
RED PALM WEEVIL IS ATTACKING PALMS IN PORTUGAL
Continue reading "PORTUGAL - PALMS AT RISK FROM PLAGUE" »
Named ‘Wizi', the new technology will allow the locating of any other member on a friend or family network, much like what happens with the ‘Messenger' online service.
Continue reading "PORTUGUESE COMPANY PIONEERS PERSONAL TRACKING SYSTEM" »
The government is in the final stages of adopting ground-breaking reforms to the country's labour laws. The Minister of Labour and Welfare has this week spoken out against these laws, saying they are among the "most rigid in the world". Calling for reforms, such as the implementation of the controversial flexicurity labour practice, Vieira da Silva is risking the wrath of trade unions whose members gathered this week in their thousands across the country to protest against these planned reforms.
THE PORTUGAL NEWS
President Cavaco Silva, ending an official visit to Mozambique, has urged Portuguese expatriates in the southern African country to become "active participants" in launching "a new cycle of relationship" between Lisbon and its former colony.
Braga is the first region of the country to make condom purchases easier,
Continue reading "PORTUGAL - CONDOMS ON SALE VIA CIGARETTE VENDING MACHINES" »
Murders lowered substantially (194 to 133), rapes (341 to 306), jewellery shop hold-ups down to 98, bank robberies (139 to 108) and charges of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm (673 to 662) also registered a decrease.
Continue reading "PORTUGAL - VIOLENT CRIME FALLS" »
A lawyer from Madeira returned to the Algarve this week where he is jointly sponsoring a search for missing Madeleine McCann’s body. In four days of searches so far at the Arade dam in Silves, divers have found a rope and an item they say is a girl’s sock made of a fabric uncommon to Portugal.
Continue reading "DAM SEARCHED FOR MADDIE - ALGARVE, PORTUGAL" »
Inmates of Leiria's old ‘Prison-School' were given a week out of the ordinary by making the most of their time behind bars to learn a new skill, in this instance, winemaking.
Continue reading "PRISONERS LEARN TO MAKE WINE IN PORTUGAL" »
This year's ‘fire season' has officially drawn to an end with historic results regarding the amount of hectares that have been burnt, thought to have been aided by unusual rainy spells.
Continue reading "RELIEF ALL ROUND AS 'FIRE SEASON' IN PORTUGAL DRAWS TO A SUCCESSFUL CLOSE" »
Coverage of former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's arrival in Portugal prompted one of the country's former PMs to walk out of a television interview.
Continue reading "MOURINHO ARRIVAL AT LISBON UPSTAGES FORMER PM" »
Last Saturday, September 15th, dive school ‘Divers Cove', based in Carvoeiro, Algarve, was amongst the many associations that took part in a global awareness-raising day, that saw coasts and sea beds around the world being cleared of debris and rubbish. During the morning's ongoings, they discovered two significant examples of Roman history, off the Western Algarve coastline.
Continue reading "CLEAN UP REVEALS ROMAN ARTEFACTS IN PORTUGAL" »
Portugal has come from nowhere to set the trend for the rest of Europe to follow. The country has sky-rocketed seven places up the 2007 e-government rankings and is now the third best European Union state when it comes to providing online services at both the citizen and business level. The study, presented on Thursday afternoon, shows that Portugal has successively climbed the rankings since they were first released in 2000 and the country has now clearly become an example to its fellow 26 EU member states of how to make rapid progress in this department.
Continue reading "PORTUGAL'S GOVT SERVICES ON LINE" »
This summer is the coolest in two decades and also the the wettest this century, the Met Office said this week.
Average temperatures recorded this past summer are 0.5 degrees below established figures since records began, making it the coolest summer in continental Portugal since 1987.
Taking into consideration only this century, between 2001 and 2007, the difference in temperatures measured in summer is even greater, with this summer 1.9 degrees cooler than other summers.
This was also the first summer since 1997 to have not recorded a heatwave.
The last heatwave in Portugal took place last year and brought higher than usual temperatures for 14 consecutive days.
This year, no heatwaves have been recorded, through the first fortnight in July was the closest the country has come to reporting one this summer.
The Met Office classes a heatwave as being when temperatures are five degrees above the average for a period of six consecutive days.
The summer of 2007, which ends on September 21, has recorded an average temperature of 20.7 degrees, whereas the temperature between 1971 and 2000 was 21.2 degrees.
Four of the five hottest summers since records began (1931) have occurred since the year 2000. The summer of 2005 was the hottest ever, followed by those of 1949, 2004, 2003 and 2006.
Health authorities recently reported that there have not been increased mortality rates this summer that could be attributed to hot weather. In 2003, a total of 2,700 are reported to have died as a result of scorching temperatures.
In the north, sea temperatures have been as low as 14 degrees, while in the Algarve, the water is two to three degrees cooler than usual at a current average of 19 degrees.
This drop is explained primarily due to wind currents, which have kept the warmer Mediterranean waters away from the Portuguese coastline.
As far as rainfall is concerned, the Met Office describes this summer as having been "rainy" with values 50 percent above average.
The month of June was the 11th wettest month since 1931, and the wettest since 1987, the Met Office said.
The Portugal News
A decision on whether to ask Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to a European Union summit in Lisbon will be made after talks with other African guests, a senior Portuguese diplomat said on Wednesday.
Continue reading "PORTUGAL TO WELCOME MUGABE?" »