TAP airline cancels 1,000 flights in March-April as travel worries lower demand

tap flight cancelNational airline carrier TAP cancelled around 1,000 flights scheduled through March and April on Thursday after overblown media panic in covering the coronavirus has led to a fall in demand. An unspecified impact on revenues is expected, the airline added.

Rainless February leaves dam situation in the Algarve and Alentejo even worse off

rainless februaryAn almost completely dry month of February has not alleviated the drought situation currently causing worries in the south of the country, which is already considered to have reached an “extreme” stage across almost all of the Algarve. The lack of rain has further reduced water availability, mainly in the Guadiana Basin, largely affecting the dams in the Eastern Algarve.

Albufeira Council suspected of corruption by laundering money through construction work

albufeira construction corruptionA building, sold to the Municipality of Albufeira for 1.7 million euros, but which had been officially purchased, months before, for 825 thousand euros. This has been revealed as the main line of investigation of “Operation Emporium” that is carrying out searches in the Algarve municipality due to suspicions of corruption and tax fraud, according to the Jornal de Notícias (JN) newspaper.

Family of tourists help ICNF agents catch four metre python in Loulé

python tourist familyAn albino python snake over 4 meters in length was this Thursday, March 5th, captured in the late afternoon at Fonte da Benémola, in Loulé, by two ICNF nature watchmen following reports of the exotic reptile at around 16:00, by a family of distressed tourists who were taking hiking at the protected site under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Loulé.

Albufeira Council targeted by police search for corruption, Mayor and councillors under investigation

albufeira corruptionThe Albufeira City Council was the target of searches by the Judiciary Police early this morning, Thursday, March 5th. This was revealed by broadcaster SIC Notícias and later confirmed by regional news website Sul Informação.

Lisbon investigators likely to freeze proceeds from dodgy Angolan heiress’ bank sale

dodgy angolan heiressThe International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICNJ) have today revealed that the government is likely to freeze proceeds from the expected sale of billionaire Angolan heiress Isabel dos Santos’ 42.5% stake in the EuroBic bank, worth around 180 million euros. This revelation originally came from central bank governor Carlos Costa, who told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

How the Portuguese Space Agency is joining the next satellite space race

portugal space raceLisbon-based company Tesselo is a tech company which is capable of using satellite imagery with AI-based algorithms, to help improve future infrastructure. As an example of what they’re capable of, when Hurricane Dorian hit the US last summer, houses got wrecked, creeks overflowed and vast stretches of land flooded. But help came from an unlikely source on this side of the pond.

Portuguese tax officials raid Benfica, Porto, Sporting offices over dodgy football money leaks

tax raidPolice and tax inspectors have carried out a series of nationwide searches on Wednesday morning with a number of high profile football club's offices being targeted, most notably Portugal's “big three”:Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP as part of an investigation into suspected tax evasion.