Portugal’s President is in Faro on Saturday, March 18th, and will be faced with an anti-oil and gas demonstration outside a conference "For the Excellence of the Economy of the Algarve."

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Minister of Economy, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, are to attend the conference organised by Algfuturo at the School of Hospitality and Tourism of the Algarve.

The Algarve’s mayors have demanded the "immediate suspension" of the demolition plan planned for villages on the Ria Formosa island of Culatra, specifically at Hangares and Farol, and want clarification of the objectives for the Polis Litoral Ria Formosa company as set by the Environment Ministry.

The decision to stand up for the islanders unanimously was approved at a meeting of AMAL on Tuesday despite five of the councils being shareholders in Polis and having board level representation.

The former president of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, António Domingues, remains in breach of his transparency obligations at the Constitutional Court by failing to file his income and asset statement on leaving office.

Domingues has passed the deadline to file his declaration, having resigned on November 28th last year after which he had 60 days to deliver the declaration which "must reflect the evolution of assets during the term of office," according to the law of Public Control of the Wealth of Political Officials.

The chairman of Sonae is delighted that at last the truth is coming out about his company’s failed bid for Portugal Telecom which was thwarted by Espírito Santo’s Ricardo Salgado who is alleged to have bribed PT directors to swing the deal his way.

Sonae’s Paulo Azevedo admits satisfaction with the recent revelations in the Operation Marquês investigation and is sitting back "to watch justice take its course."

Vila do Bispo and Aljezur councils have presented a project to set up new cycling and walking routes through the two council areas in a scheme that will cost around €3 million.

The ‘Ecovia and Ciclovias do Litoral’ project was presented at the Lisbon Tourism Fair by the two councils and will be a "structuring for these two municipalities that, from the point of view of mobility and attractiveness of the countryside, will be another fundamental piece in the sustainable development of these territories.”

A collision between two cars at Ponte Barão late this morning injured six people and closed the road for several hours.

The road leading to the bridge, near the landmark Kadoc nightclub, currently is being used as a rat-run as the EN125 is down to one lane and as a result is even more congested than usual.

The Mayor of Lagoa, Francisco Martins, and many of the city's councillors, welcomed a delegation from the Chinese embassy which included the ambassadors Cai Run and Wu Jun and the cultural attaché for education and policy.

Martins gave a talk on the history of the municipality, with special emphasis on the culture of Lagoa’s people and highlighted the contribution that the Chinese community makes to local life and culture with many Chinese children now attending local schools.

Portimão’s water company is to try out some smart meters in customers' homes and has been extolling the virtue of this technology even before the pilot project goes live.

The company aims to install 124 meters that can transmit readings to a central point, thus making billing cheaper and, so the manufacturers claim, more accurate.