The Court of Appeal confirmed the condemnation of the actions of millionaire property speculator Aprígio Santos at Quinta da Rocha that he controls through his vehicle Butwell Trading and Investment Services SA.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction that the habitat at Quinta da Rocha alongside the Ria de Alvor must be completely restored to its original condition. The appeal court went one step further and ordered the permanent suspension of activities in the protected areas, increasing the original 10 years to ‘for ever.’

GNR fundraising teams tomorrow start a week of pulling over drivers who are seen not to be wearing seat belts whilst driving.

Restraint systems for children will also be targeted in an operation that starts on Monday March 10th.

The GNR operation will run until March 16th and GNR soldiers will of course be on "roads where violations for failure to use restraint devices are more frequent," according to a briefing note.

Google Glass, the headgear which takes pictures and videos on voice command, is not being well received in San Francisco.

A woman wearing Google Glass in a San Francisco bar was attacked in the early hours. Her attackers told her “F*** Google”, and accused her of “killing this city”, before tearing the gear from her head.

The casino industry in Macau, having gained the status of the gambling capital of the world, wants to change its image.

The former Portuguese colony on the southern coast of China worked hard since returning to Chinese control in 1999 to position itself as the global leader of casino gambling.

One of the inevitable results of the current lack of doctors in Portugal, and particularly the Algarve, is that the mortality rate will increase, according to the president of Portugal’s Medical Association.

Speaking on ‘The State of Health in Portugal' at the 11th Portuguese Conference on Diabetes taking place in Vilamoura, José Manuel da Silva (pictured) drew attention to an English study that points to this conclusion and handed out strong criticism of the health policy of the current Government.

This forthright commentary earned a standing applause from the delegates as the president pointed the finger at the current disinvestment in the National Health Service, and described "the adverse political philosophy to the NHS in the current government."

According to damning figures in a report about the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve there are 139,116 people in the region without a family doctor, 31% of the total population of the Algarve.

The most serious area lacking GP's is Lagos where 72% have no doctor.

Portugal’s tax department is encouraging taxpayers to add their Fiscal numbers (NIF) to receipts in the new monthly ‘Fatura da Sorte’ lottery so that it can draw up taxpayer profiles and monitor expenditure against an individual's declared income, confirmed Vasco Guimares of the Associação Sindical dos Profissionais da Inspeção Tributaria e Aduaneira (Professional Association of Tax and Customs Inspectors.)
 
"What the Tax Authority wants is another tool for monitoring people’s expenditure against their declared income," said Guimares at a seminar titled "The unregistered economy and organized crime" held in Lisbon.

The production of Algarve oranges has declined between 10% and 20% this winter compared to last, and the quality is down due to excessive humidity, according to producers.

"We have had less quantity than in 2013 and at a lower quality," said Lusa Horacio Ferreira, one of the leaders of the Agricultural Cooperative of Citrus Growers Algarve (Cacial).