The Algarve’s regional tourist board and the Algarve Regional Health Administration have signed a collaboration that will train hotel workers in life-saving techniques and the use of defibrillation equipment.
The goal is to save the lives of any guest, or staff member, in any of the Algarve’s hotels who has a heart attack or is suffering from a life-threatening event.
The former INEM president, Luís Cunha Ribeiro, is being held in jail until his trial as the key defendant in the plasma corruption investigation, the Lisbon Criminal Investigation Court has announced.
Ribeiro will sit in jail until the investigation into corruption, money laundering and his free use of two luxury apartments is completed.
In a week during which the Algarve at last is being taken seriously by a traditionally Lisbon-centric government, the long-held anguish and anger over the marginalisation of the region’s two commercial ports is nearly over.
In a winning move, Fisheries Minister Ana Paula Vitorino announced on Friday that she is setting up a new administrative body for the Algarve’s docks, with the region’s mayors at the helm.
Management has already begun the negotiations to shut down three Banco Popular branches in the Algarve region with Vila Real de Santo António, Olhão and Almancil heading the wider closure of 47 outlets countrywide.
Employees of the three Algarve locations have been contacted by the bank's management with its proposals for leaving employment ‘by mutual agreement’ indicating these branches are the ones to be closed, although no official statement has yet been issued, according to José Manuel Martins, a Southern Banking Union representative.
The visiting Pope's dates have been confirmed for next year as Pope Francis pays a two day visit to Fátima on the centenary of the date when three children claimed they saw an image of the Virgin Mary above an olive tree.
Pope Francis will visit Portugal's magnet for religious tourists on May 12th and 13th, 2017, appearing at the traditional midnight mass on the 12th - a prelude to the anniversary of the first sighting of the Virgin Mary. The first apparition was May 13, but a midnight Mass and a candlelight procession on th 12th marks the start of the celebrations.
The Council of Ministers has approved a law to encourage the film industry in Portugal.
The incentive is by way of a tax credit that can be deducted from corporation tax, "of an amount corresponding to 20% of the amount of eligible expenses."
Some products and services will increase in price next year with incomes rising only slowly.
Council rents will go up 0.34% in 2017, the highest increase since 2014 and from February next year, sugary-filled soft drinks will increase in price by up to 30 cents for each 1.5 litre bottle due to the new sugar tax.
Olhão’s local parishes now know which projects have been successful in the council’s first Participatory Budget which will fund the winning suggestions for local improvements.
The council says the projects, one per parish, will be completed during 2017.
