So dire is the situation at Portimão’s public hospital that the Left Bloc leader, Catarina Martins is to visit on Friday to see for herself, accompanied by her colleague, the Algarve MP, João Vasconcelos.

After the walkabout, the Left Bloc delegation will meet the management of the Hospital Center of the Algarve to get some answers as to what has gone wrong and how the situation can be resolved.

Condominium owners can stop neighbours from letting their properties to tourists, according to a judgment in the Court of Appeal in Lisbon which states that as the act of letting property is a commercial activity and that the condominium owners assembly may prohibit the assignment of one or more parts of a building for rent to tourists.

The huge increase in city-focused tourism in recent years has driven the short-term local accommodation market like never before but has created tension between apartment owners with permanent residents turning against those owners who let their property to tourists.

Portugal’s Public Prosecutor has insisted on interviewing the twin sons of the Iraqi ambassador, Saad Mohammed Ali, stating that it is essential that the Iraqis’ diplomatic immunity be lifted.

The Public Prosecutor's Office, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has forwarded its file on the vicious assault on Rúben Cavaco in Ponte de Sor, Portalegre, after Iraq had claimed it was "premature to take a decision" on lifting the diplomatic immunity covering the ambassador's children as its diplomats had not had access to the case against the twins.

The Ikea Group has said that it will invest €1 billion to buy forests as well as more energy panels and wind turbines.

The investment comes after a rise in sales and profits and after netting €5.2 billion from the sale of its product development and supply chain business.  Last year, Ikea pledged to invest €600 million in renewable energy.

The Court of Auditors has reported a disastrous "lack of control" at Caixa Geral de Depósitos between 2013 and 2015 when Maria Luís de Albuquerque was Finance Minister in the Passos Coelho coalition government.

The audit report shows that the government approved documents without having complete information and that such control as existed, lacked transparency.

Loulé  council has leapt ahead of other of the region’s councils that have historic zones with an announcement in today’s Diario da República that protection and repair of of the city’s old centre is to be encouraged.

The new Urban Rehabilitation Area for the Historical Center of Loulé, and the old centre of Quarteira, are now subject to a range of incentives for poperty owners in the expectation that private money will be used to repair and refurbish old properties under the council's watchful eye.

Mount Pleasant Investments, is to build a tourist development including a 300-bed hotel, a sports injury clinic, shops and a leafy green zone along an area of unused waterfront in Vila Real de Santo António.
 
The deal with Docapesca, endorsed by the Minister for the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino, involves a 75-year lease with an initial investment of €5.6 million followed by annual payments depending on turnover, plus a fixed annual fee of €60,000.

The Algarve's hotel association has reported that, in relation to 2015, November 2016 had an average quarterly occupancy rate of 45.3%, an increase of 4.1% for this low-season month.

The occupancy rate for the region's hotels went up by 3.7% with the British leading the flight from northern Europe,  up 3.6%, followed by the French (+ 0.8%) and the Germans (+ 0.7%).