Faro council at last has expressed its opposition to the contract for the ‘rehabilitation’ works on the islands in the Ria Formosa which encompasses the demolition of fishermen’s houses, considering the Pilos plan "detrimental to the best interests of Faro."

The motion presented by the Mayor of Faro, Rogério Bacalhau to the councilors at a full assembly meeting was approved unanimously and marks a solid step forward in another Algarve struggle of the poor against the state.

Portugal’s 'golden visa' programme has just had its best month ever as the October figures are released by the Confederation of Construction and Real Estate.

The influx of more than €126 million was registered in the month from non-EU residents investing in businesses or in property purchased for €500,000 or more.

The former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said today that this recognition of Portugal, through the award given to him by the President of the Republic Cavaco Silva, means that "the decision was correct" when he left the Government in 2004.

Cavaco Silva said in a short by glowing tribute that "Portugal has benefitted greatly by the fact that we have had as the head of the European Union a Portuguese person who knows Portuguese reality, understands the world, and has the prestige of Barroso," before handing Barroso the ‘Grande Colar da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique’ to a ripple of polite applause.

The evaluation of the environmental impact of the first five-star hotel in the Castro Marim council area starts its public consultation period today, as announced by the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the Algarve.

The Panoramic Natura Hotel plan has 226 beds in an area of ​​25.7 hectares in Monte Francisco, near the Guadiana River and the Nature Marshland Reserve of Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António, according to the developer José Eduardo Marques Celorico Drago who has commissioned the environmental impact study which thyerefore is unlikely to dwell on any downside.

People in Portugal save a higher percentage of their wages than those in Britain.

British savers, in fact, were found to be amongst the worst in the EU.

Scottish whisky was touched into the long grass after a Japanese single malt was declared the best in the world.

Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 was given the title by the 2015 World Whisky Bible, which is compiled by whisky expert Jim Murray.

Águas do Algarve management today said that it wants to take over the responsibility of supplying water to the end user, a business that until now the region’s councils have carried out, often at a huge mark up.

Águas do Algarve's director Isabel Soares says that only by controlling the supply to the end user, and taking over the billing, can it equalise the price and assure customers of the quality of the water supplied.

More than half the people in the UK think the country should be part of the European Arrest Warrant.

The warrant requires EU countries to arrest and transfer a suspected criminal to the country which requested the warrant so that that person can be tried.