Madrid is getting tough on anti-social behaviour.
This month the mayor announced strict fines of €750 for dog owners who fail to clean up their dog’s excrement. The fine can be exchanged for a spell of hours cleaning up the capital’s streets on weekends.
News today was received with relief by Portugal's government that the DBRS ratings agency has left its credit rating for long term government debt at ‘BBB with a stable outlook’ , one level above 'junk' but enough to ensure the European Central Bank can continue to prop up the country's s finances by buying bonds.
The Canadian agency has held the grade for Portugal’s debt at BBB since May 2014 despite other ratings agencies dropping their assessments to ‘junk status.’
Portugal's National Statistics Institute today disclosed that in 2015 the proportion of births to unmarried mothers increased to over 50%.
Over five years the percentage has risen from 41% to 50% for mums that are not married. The Institute also revealed that this rise has been particularly influenced by the increase in the proportion of births outside marriage where the parents are not even cohabiting.
The government has announced that a reduction in tolls on the A22 is to go ahead, but is a bit vague about the date.
Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Marques, said to Parliament that he wants to move forward with the reduction of tolls on the former SCUT roads in the interior of Portugal and on those where there is no suitable alternative road, such as the Algarve’s Via do Infante.
Not only are house prices set to rise in the Algarve, the number of sales is predicted to increase, according to the crystal ball at the Association of Professionals and Real Estate Companies (APEMIP) head office.
Lisbon, Oporto and the Algarve will see rises of up to 3% over the next 12 months with APEMIP trying to promote "market confidence" with positive press releases.
An Algarve member of parliament in Passos Coelho's PSD, Cristóvão Norte, claims that the government simply has given up on boosting employment in the region.
Norte says that regional funds made available to the Institute do Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP) have been reduced and that 2,000 applications by companies to take on workers under IEFP schemes are sitting in a bottom draw waiting to be approved.
The legal appeal of the captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia has begun in Italy.
Francesco Schettino claims that he has been made the solitary scapegoat for the disaster which took 32 lives in 2012 when the cruise ship struck underwater rocks off Tuscany.
Portugal’s Tax Authority has admitted that there is little its staff can do to those caught with offshore accounts that were revealed in the Swissleaks case.
More than 600 names of account holders that had direct links to Portugal were uncovered and published by the International Consortium of Journalists but under Portuguese laws, any prosecution or tax demand is not possible due to the amount of time that has passed.
