The unemployment rate in Spain edged down by the close of the year, giving relief to a great many.
On Wednesday the employment ministry said the number of people without paid work fell by nearly 400,000 during the course of 2016, bringing the total to 3.7 million by the end.
One of the main defendants of Monte Branco investigation has died while waiting for trial
Francisco Canas, aka Zé das Medalhas (medals) was suspected of helping rich clients move money to Switzerland using his network of contacts and bank accounts used in his metals trading business.
Work has been completed on upgrading the three old routes near Bordeira, out west in the Aljezur council area.
The Aromas Trail, the Tides Trail and the Hills Trail, (Trilho dos Aromas, Trilhos das Marés and Trilho dos Montes) add 42.5 kilometres of hiking opportunities for the increasing numbers of outdoors folk who travel to the western Algarve for leisure pursuits and holidays.
Workers at SUCH (Serviço de Utilização Comum dos Hospitais) who provide maintenance, hygiene and food services at the Algarve’s public hospitals have gone on strike to demand better working conditions.
These workers demand the hiring of additional workers, a 4% increase in their salaries (with a minimum of €40 per month), 25 days holiday, a reduction in working hours to 35 per week as well as re-categorising staff according to the tasks they actually perform.
The Bank of Portugal announced late on Wednesday night that it has failed to choose a winner of the race to control Novo Banco but has suggested that Lone Star might perhaps be the best placed company to complete the deal but that there are still others who might come up with a better offer.
The Lone Star bid contains elements that, if accepted, would harm the public accounts as the Americans are not stupid and want some guarantees that what they are buying won’t suddenly fold beneath them - Portugal's banking sector is not known for its truthfullness, after all.
The idiotic law in force that each returned bottle of gas should be weighed and any liquid gas left in the bottle be refunded, may have to be scrapped because nobody involved could be bothered to follow the rules.
The current government has looked at the practicalities and, like the rest of the population, must have wondered how on earth such an unworkable law ever could have been passed in the first place.
The GNR has stumbled across a highly organised international network of thieves after the criminals were tracked down having robbed a villa in Patacão near Faro and taking off in the owner’s car.
Three men were arrested when the car was identified in Almancil and a search of the vehicle, and later at an address in the Alvalade neighborhood of Esteval not far from the new Ikea store, revealed the extent of the criminal activities that had been taking place.
The court building in Monchique reopened on January 4th, 2017 having been closed in 2014 as part of the previous justice minister’s reorganisation of Portugal's justice provision, referred to as her ‘new judicial map’.
Monchique Mayor Rui André was not in favour of the closure of the town’s second biggest employer and set out to lobby Minister, Paula Teixeira da Cruz, for the reopening of the facility - today his wish was granted, despite the €50,000 cost of sorting out the mess left behind when the court was shut down.
