Portugal is one step closer to legalising euthanasia.



On Thursday a debate in parliament by lawmakers ended with the approval of all five bills.



The Socialists&#8217; bill took the highest number votes in favour, a total of 127.



The approval of the bills opens the door to the next phase – in which a special commission will discuss the final bill that will be presented to the President.



Dozens of people protested against the proposals outside parliament in the capital, Lisbon.



Amongst the demonstrators were representatives of the Catholic Church and professional bodies representing the medical profession as well as the Ethics Committee for Life Sciences.



In 2018 Parliament rejected the legalisation of euthanasia by only five votes.

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Portugal is a step closer to legalising euthanasia

Venezuela&#8217;s decision to suspend TAP Air Portugal&#8217;s flights to Caracas is &#8220;completely unfounded and unjustified,&#8221; Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said Tuesday, VOA news <a href="https://www.voanews.com/americas/portugal-airline-suspension-venezuela-unjustified">reports</a>. 



&#8220;I can&#8217;t see any kind of justification&#8221; for the 90-day suspension, Santos Silva said. Venezuelan authorities took the step Monday after TAP last week carried opposition leader Juan Guaido and his uncle home from an international tour aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido&#8217;s uncle was arrested upon landing and accused of trying to bring a small amount of explosives into Venezuela. Portugal ordered an official investigation into that allegation, and Santos Silva said it hasn&#8217;t finished yet. The suspension is a &#8220;hostile act&#8221; against Portugal, Santos Silva told national news agency Lusa, in comments published by online newspaper Observador. Portugal is in a coalition of European and Latin American nations, called the &#8220;International Contact Group,&#8221; that has backed Guaido against Maduro. Thousands of Portuguese immigrants live in Venezuela. Santos Silva said the suspension would also hurt Venezuelans because the Portuguese flag carrier is one of the few international airlines still serving Caracas, with twice weekly flights. TAP said in a statement it &#8220;meets all the legal and safety requirements demanded&#8221; by authorities in both Portugal and Venezuela.

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Portugal: Airline Suspension by Venezuela is Unjustified

Over 4,500 people planted some 20,000 trees in the Portuguese capital on Sunday. The initiative was Lisbon&#8217;s first as the European Green Capital 2020. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Welcome to the European Green Capital 2020! Meet the new Lisbon emerging from the will to do more and differently at the heart of the city and the country. All of us are the ingredients and doing better is our biggest asset to the future. Choose to evolve ??? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/evolui?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#evolui</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EGCA2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EGCA2020</a> <a href="https://t.co/3DMDaHV5Ru">pic.twitter.com/3DMDaHV5Ru</a>&mdash; @GreenLisboa2020 (@greenlisboa2020) <a href="https://twitter.com/greenlisboa2020/status/1215936382734041088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The city is aiming to be a hundred percent carbon-neutral by 2050 and aims to plant 100,000 trees throughout the year.



&#8220;Tree planting helps to counteract one of the most negative effects of climate change and global warming, which is the heatwaves,&#8221; Lisbon Mayor Fernando Medina told reporters. &#8220;When these kinds of areas are planted, the surrounding temperature can drop by three to five degrees centigrade.&#8221;



Apart from the title, Lisbon won a financial prize of 350,000 euros from the European Commission to kick-start its green capital year.



&#8220;Get organized as you have been but even more so that you force us the politicians to do the right things,&#8221; European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans told the audience at the opening ceremony to launch the Lisbon initiative.



<h4>Time to end the war on nature</h4>



At the same ceremony the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who is Portuguese, said it was time to get serious about the planet.



&#8220;This year, in 2020, we must provide the proof that we want to end the war that humanity has launched against nature,&#8221; said Guterres.



Portugal&#8217;s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, says his country is betting on green, betting on the environment and betting on facing climate change and global warming.



To that end, Lisbon will be launching environmental initiatives throughout 2020.

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Lisbon kicks-off year as European Green Capital 2020

For the second time in 12 months, Portuguese police discovered a large stash of cocaine concealed in a shipment of bananas from Latin America, The Associated Press reports.



This time the haul was 825 kilograms with a street value of more than 30 million euros ($33 million). Last year, the seizure was 430 kilograms and worth around 15 million euros ($17 million).&nbsp;



Cocaine hidden in bananas from South America is not uncommon. Over the past year, authorities in the United States, China and Germany have found large quantities of cocaine concealed in banana shipments.&nbsp;



Portuguese detectives said Wednesday the highly pure cocaine was found in recent days inside boxes in northern Portugal. They say it was heading to other European countries. They declined to provide further details, saying the investigation is continuing.

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It’s in the bananas: Portugal finds another big cocaine haul

Students took to the streets in eight cities across Portugal on Friday to call for action on climate change, but Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was unable to join them because she was held up by bad weather in mid-Atlantic, Euronews <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/29/portugals-students-march-for-climate-as-greta-visit-delayed">reports</a>. 



Thunberg had been due to join the students’ strike in Lisbon, but her journey back from a U.N. Climate Conference in New York by sailboat was hit by heavy winds, delaying her arrival by a few days, she told social media followers.



Still, Portugal’s student movement expects thousands to join the marches on Friday, building on momentum of Thunberg’s arrival to mobilise ahead of the United Nations&nbsp;COP&nbsp;25 climate summit in Madrid from Dec. 2-13.



“We wish she’d been here, but the movement has to carry on without her – we’ve got to send our message and pressure politicians ahead of the climate summit,” Marianna Louca, 14, told Reuters.



Thunberg is due to speak in the Portuguese parliament on arrival in Lisbon before going on to Madrid.SPONSORED CONTENTCrashing barriers: Angola&#8217;s female entrepreneursFrom SMEs to corporates, Angola taps the power of women in business. In this edition of Business Angola, we look for the stories behind a statistic: a global study finds a high ratin partnership with Infotur



Her team confirmed she would be arriving in the middle of next week and would also give a news conference with Portuguese student activists.



Friday’s climate strike is the fourth in Portugal and one of thousands taking place in 2,300 cities in 153 countries around the world, according to Friday For Future’s estimates.



Portugal was the first country to commit to carbon neutrality by 2050, and its parliament declared a climate emergency in July. In October, it moved the deadline for closing the country’s coal plants from 2030 to 2023.



But activists say the government continues to take actions which will prevent the country from reaching its decarbonisation goals. “On the contrary, a new airport, lithium mines and bigger ports are in the works,” a member of civil disobedience group Extinction Rebellion told Reuters.

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Portugal’s students march for climate as Greta visit delayed

Polls opened on Sunday morning in Portugal&#8217;s general election. The current Socialist PM, Antonio Costa, is running for re-election.



Costa, 58, formerly the mayor of Lisbon, is the race&#8217;s favourite. If he wins another term, his victory would confirm Portugal&#8217;s position as one of the rare European countries where Socialists are politically successful and where the far-right isn&#8217;t rising.



Latest polls, published Friday, showed Costa&#8217;s Socialist Party at 36 to 39%, far ahead of the centre-right Social Democratic Party at 25 to 30%. The Social Democratic Party is led by Riu Rio, 65, the former mayor of Porto.



Such a result, if confirmed, would renew the Socialists&#8217; grasp on the Portuguese Parliament, which counts 230 seats, but wouldn&#8217;t offer them an absolute majority.



Costa would then need to form a coalition, probably with the left-wing Left Bloc, the Communist Party or the smaller party People-Animals-Nature.



Exit polls will be published at 20:00 CEST.

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Polls open in Portugal general election

A strike by Ryanair’s Portuguese cabin crew started on Wednesday, with the low cost airline warning passengers that a small number of flights may be affected and the government ordering workers to deliver a minimum service to avoid chaos.
The five-day strike called by Portugal’s SNPVAC union is the first of a wave of planned walkouts by unions in Ireland, Britain and Spain. It comes a year after strikes over pay and conditions forced Europe’s largest low cost carrier to cancel hundreds of flights.
Ryanair said on Tuesday a small number of fights from its Portuguese bases might be affected by minor schedule changes and that affected customers had been notified. There are no delays or cancellations reported so far at Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports.
Management say significant progress has been made since last year’s strikes, with collective labour agreements concluded with a number of pilot unions throughout Europe.
But SNPVAC said Ryanair had refused to comply with a protocol signed last November, which it said included holiday pay, 22 days of annual leave per year and full compliance with Portuguese parental law.
At the height of the busy summer season, Portugal’s government set out a minimum service for Ryanair and its staff to deliver, including a daily round trip between Lisbon and London.
SNPVAC said the minimum service order was “abusive”, arguing it undermined the right to strike.
Belgium’s CNE and ACVPULS trade unions told members on Tuesday not to comply with a Ryanair request to staff flights affected by the Portuguese strike.
Spain’s STICPLA union also sent a letter to its members, advising that they were not obliged to “answer company calls” if they were in their rest time, on days off or on holiday.
Unions representing cabin crew in Spain said their plans for 10 days of strikes next month still stood after more than seven hours of mediated talks with the airline ended on Tuesday without agreement.

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Ryanair strike kicks off in Portugal, minimum service guaranteed

Portugal’s fuel-tanker drivers voted on Sunday to call off an indefinite strike, with their union agreeing to negotiate with employers in government-brokered talks due on Tuesday.
Demanding better salaries and working conditions, the National Hazardous Goods Drivers’ Union (SNMMP) started striking on Monday after negotiations with their employers’ association ANTRAM failed.
It was their second strike this year.
ANTRAM said they were open to government-moderated negotiations but only if the strike was suspended or called off.
The drivers’ return to work is a relief for Portugal’s Socialist government which feared the impact of a prolonged strike on the country’s tourism-dependent economy.
“Given that all conditions are in place to negotiate with ANTRAM (employers’ association) and the government, it was decided that the strike would be called off,” Pedro Pardal Henriques, SNMMP’s vice president, told reporters.
ANTRAM could not immediately be reached for comment.
During the strike, motorists were limited to buying up to 15 litres (4 gallons) of petrol at special filling stations, but there was no mass queuing at stations as there was in April.
The tourist-packed Algarve in the south was the hardest hit by the strike, with the largest marina in the region running out of fuel on Thursday. It has since been refuelled.
No major problems were reported at the country’s airports.
To avoid chaos and ensure minimum supplies of fuel, the government triggered a legal mechanism to order drivers to go back to work on Monday, or risk penalties.
The strike in April provoked criticism of Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s Socialist government, but better contingency planning this time could even give a boost to the administration in the October parliamentary election, analysts said.

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Portugal’s fuel-tanker drivers call off strike to negotiate

Portuguese fuel-tanker drivers will maintain their strike indefinitely after a 10-hour meeting of union leaders and government officials ended without an agreement.
The meeting, which started on Friday afternoon and lasted until the early hours of Saturday, took place after the striking drivers said they would suspend the now six-day-old strike and negotiate with their employers association ANTRAM in government-brokered talks.
With the Socialist government acting as a mediator, ANTRAM and National Hazardous Materials Drivers’ Union (SNMMP) submitted their proposals but did not sit at the same negotiating table. The proposals were rejected by both parties.
“In a negotiation, there must be compromises from both sides,” SNMMPS’s vice president Pedro Pardal Henriques told reporters shortly after the meeting. “There were none from ANTRAM.”
ANTRAM’s spokesman Andre Matias de Almeida explained that “companies do not have the financial capacity” to meet the drivers’ demands.
Drivers began the indefinite strike on Monday, the second of the year after similar damaging industrial action in April.
About a quarter of Portugal’s filling stations remained either completely out of fuel or were partially dry on Saturday morning, according to a website monitoring the strike.
Motorists have been limited to buying up to 15 litres (4 gallons) of petrol at a network of special filling stations around the country, but there has so far been no widespread mass queuing at stations as there was in April.
To avoid chaos and ensure minimum supplies of fuel, the government had triggered a legal mechanism to order drivers to go back to work on Monday, or risk penalties. An energy crisis was declared ahead of strike.
No major problems have been reported at the country’s airports so far.
On Sunday, striking drivers will gather at their union’s plenary meeting and are expected to discuss next steps.
“In plenary, I hope that drivers, after seven days of strike, will be able to choose the negotiated route,” said Pedro Nuno Santos, minister of infrastructures. “It’s very rare for open-ended strikes to happen in Portugal.”

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Portugal’s fuel-tanker drivers back down, walkout continues

The Portuguese government imposed fuel rationing at petrol stations on Monday as fuel-tanker drivers started a strike and it promised to prevent the labour action from paralysing the country at the height of the tourist season.
A strike in April was Portugal’s worst outbreak of industrial unrest in years. Tanker drivers decided to stop work for the second time this year after talks with their employers over better pay and workers’ rights failed.
The Socialist government declared an energy crisis on Friday ahead of the strike, allowing it to ensure full supplies to ports, hospitals, airports and other priority users.
The fuel rationing for the public restricts drivers to a maximum of 15 litres of petrol or diesel per filling at specially designated stations covered by the government-decreed minimum services scheme, and 25 litres at all other stations.
Some stations were out of fuel on Monday morning, but there were few lines so far.
The National Hazardous Materials Drivers’ Union (SNMMP), which called the strike, said they would comply with the minimum services, but there are concerns they may fail.
“It’s absolutely essential that everyone does their part, that those on strike exercise their right and that the minimum services enacted are respected,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Sunday. “Common sense must prevail.”
The government stands ready to launch special measures to ensure steady supplies, he said.
The fuel-tanker drivers said the strike will carry on until the employers’ association ANTRAM makes a “reasonable proposal”.
“Until then we will strike for a day, a week, a month, as long as it takes,” said SNMMP vice president Pedro Pardal Henriques. The Independent Freight Drivers’ Union (SIMM) will also take part in the strike.

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Portuguese fuel drivers strike, government imposes rationing

More than 1,000 firefighters managed to bring a major wildfire in central Portugal under control on Tuesday, and the operation will carry on to avoid reignitions, officials said.
After around 70 hours, the last of three wildfires that broke out on Saturday in Castelo Branco, a district 225 km (1 40 miles) northeast of Lisbon, is under control, with firefighters now keeping an eye on adverse weather conditions.
Strong winds, high temperatures and low humidity are expected later on Tuesday, the Civil Protection said.
So far, 41 people have received support from emergency services, including 16 people who suffered minor injuries and one who was in serious condition. Portugal’s Civil Protection department said some villagers had been evacuated as a precaution and houses had been destroyed.
Villagers, as well as authorities in Macao and Vila de Rei, areas in the heart of the fire zone, said there were not enough firefighters and resources to combat the flames.
“A tractor burned, a jeep burned and a house burned. No firefighter showed up, no police, nobody showed up,” a local resident, Carlos Martins, told Reuters. “We were alone.”
Covered in eucalyptus and pine trees, central Portugal is frequently hit by summer blazes, with hilly terrain making it especially difficult for firefighters to reach.
Around 1,020 firefighters remain on the ground, supported by 320 firefighting vehicles and three aircraft. No more firefighters will be mobilised, Civil Protection said.
Data from the European Union fire-mapping service showed about 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) burned over the weekend.
The fire was small in comparison with a massive blaze that hit the same region in June 2017, killing 64 people and burning about 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres) in a few days. That was the worst disaster in modern Portuguese history.
Internal Administration Minister Eduardo Cabrita said police had opened an investigation into the fires. Portugal’s judiciary police have collected evidence that could be related to the fires’ origin, an official told Lusa news agency.

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Portugal wildfire under control, firefighters remain on the ground

More than 1,000 firefighters battled three blazes sweeping across central Portugal early on Sunday, prompting authorities to partially evacuate a village and leaving one person with severe injuries, Reuters reports.
Strong winds are making it tougher for firefighters to put out the blazes, which started on Saturday afternoon in Castelo Branco, a district 225 kilometres (139 miles) northeast of the capital Lisbon.
One village was partially evacuated as a precaution, Portugal’s Civil Protection said, adding that one person was taken by helicopter to a Lisbon hospital with first and second degree burns. Seven firefighters were also injured.
One wildfire made its way to Macao, a municipality in the nearby district of Santarem, where temperatures are expected to reach 34 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
“The wildfire came with force,” a Macao resident told Portuguese TV channel SIC, complaining there are not enough firefighters on the ground. “We (residents) had to fight the flames.”
Ricardo Aires, the mayor of another affected municipality, Vila de Rei, also told Portugal’s public broadcaster RTPthat firefighters and resources were lacking.
Portugal’s armed forces said 20 soldiers were on their way to support the operation, bringing four bulldozers.
The Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said in a statement that he is following the situation closely and sent solidarity to those affected.
Authorities said they hope to bring the wildfires under control by 6 or 7 a.m local time.
In June 2017, a devastating wildfire in the central town of Pedrogao Grande killed 64 people and injured more than 250. The fire was the worst disaster in modern Portuguese history.

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Wildfires hit central Portugal, 1,000 firefighters mobilised