Defence Minister resigns still denying knowledge of Tancos cover-up

grenadeThe Minister of National Defence, José Azeredo Lopes, has handed in his resignation.

Lopes said he could not let the Armed Forces be eroded by continuing political attacks on the minister who supervises them.

Bank of Portugal issues scam warning against OneCoin

fibreopticThe Bank of Portugal has joined a long list of regulators that have warned the public that OneCoin is a scam.

The central bank warns that OneCoin Network Limited, OneCoin Limited, and One Network Services Ltd, from Belize, Dubai, and Bulgaria respectively, are not allowed to receive deposits or other repayable funds in the country.

'Participatory Budget Portugal' funding for four Algarve projects

booksFour of the Algarve’s submissions for grants under the government's Participatory Budget Portugal scheme have received funding.

More than 1,400 ideas were received and the public chose from 691 national and regional projects.

Faro Council plans to build a temporary crematorium

CrematoriumFaro faces a shortage of space in which to bury its dead with cemetery space all but occupied.

According to the mayor, Rogério Bacalhau, around 2,000 corpses in the ‘Cemitério Novo’ are not decomposing quickly enough. Normally, bodied are dug up after five years and the remains moved to make space for new arrivals.

Faro Island bridge project stalled - budget was out by €1 million

farobridgemaydayThe budget to construct the new bridge to Faro Island was set so low that it attracted zero offers from civil engineering companies.

The tender was launched in November 2017 and stipulated that the maximum payable was €2.5 million. After this less than enthusiastic response, the Council has revised the spend, upwards, to €3.5 million and now has even less chance of getting the bridge built.

Island demolitions - government ignores 2016 law and presses ahead this November

CulatraRepossessions81The Ria Formosa islanders seem only to have one political friend left, in the form of the Left Bloc which is insistent that the government sticks to its anti-demolition legislation and halts the destruction of 14 further houses this November.

The Bloquistas are adamant that the Minister for the Environment explains the latest round of planned demolitions at Hangars and Farol, now scheduled for the 7th of next month.

Montijo 'bird strike' threat means airport is unworkable

ducksThe proposed new civil airport at the Montijo Air Force base should have radar installed to detect flocks of birds, according to the amended environmental report.

The Association of Portuguese Airline Pilots already are saying that the radar to detect birds near the airport is a sign that the choice of the site is wrong.

Erratic 'Hurricane Leslie' heads towards Madeira

hurricaneHurricane Leslie is highly likely to hit Madeira late on Saturday but will have been downgraded to a ‘tropical storm,’ according to the Portuguese IPMA weather service.

This severe weather system has been hard hard to pin down, with different modelling programme offering different scenarios and the fact that the storm itself has been behaving erratically, meandering around the ocean since September 23rd.