Quintas D'Al-Gariya is a new development project from the BES Real Estate Investment Fund located next to Morgado de Reguengos golf course, north of Portimão.

The project covers 439 hectares and far from offering hundreds of apartments, town houses and the inevitable spa the company is to build just 12 individual homes on plots of between 27 and 64 hectares each. This may have been a planning requirement from the council but the opportunity is an interesting and welcomed departure from the norm.

Two men arrested and charged with the death of a receptionist at the Hotel Afonso III in Faro in the early hours of April 14th last year were found guilty in Faro Court today and have been sentenced.

The death of the receptionist, who was 82-years old, occurred as he was held at gunpoint then attacked during a robbery following which the two men stole the safe from the small hotel near Faro railway station.

The mayors of Faro and Oporto are working together to promote tourism in both regions and are working on summer promotions, according to Faro's new mayor, Rogerio Bacalhau.

'The creation of greater levels of awareness and promotions in both regions' is the vacuous stated aim of these two Portuguese municipalities, 500 kilometres apart.

People in Portugal have one of the lowest levels of sport and physical activity in the EU.

A Eurobarometer survey found 64% of people in Portugal said they never exercised or played sport.

Tracker devices were placed on luxury cars in the UK by a gang of thieves, a court has heard.

The criminals staked out airport car parks and fitted cars with sophisticated cloning devices which can replicate “contactless” keys.

Santander UK has been fined £12.4 million because of its widespread failings in its investment advice.

The Financial Conduct Authority initially levied a fine of £17.7 million but the bank got a 30% reduction for agreeing to pay up early.

At the upper end of real estate brands sits Sotheby’s, an estate agency business that negotiated the sale of 51 luxury properties to foreign customers last year, especially in Lisbon and the Algarve, for an average value of €755,000.

Gustavo Soares, the Director-General of Sotheby’s in Portugal said that Portugal continues to attract foreign capital, benefiting Portuguese sellers and the country with inflowing capital and increasing domestic consumption."

An Algarve-based caviar project has steadily and stealthily been developed at the Gambelas Campus of the University of the Algarve.

Successful tests show that the famous beluga and sevruga sturgeon roe - the most expensive in the world worth between €6,000 and €12,000 per kilo - can successfully be produced at an Alentejo-based nursery.