The Ferragudo lifeboat team was called out to rendezvous with a cruise ship off Portimão after a passenger had been taken seriously ill and needed land-based medical care.
The British passenger was taken ashore safely after the Maritime Police had been advised that the Saga Pearl II had requested help at 11:00am on Saturday Nov 17th.
Silves Council’s water services department is starting to install water meters that transmit readings to the billing centre.
"This system works by installing a highly accurate volumetric meter, equipped with a radio transmitter module for remote reading and processing of various data, including water use volume and leak detection information, among others," says the Council.
The former president of Banco Português de Negócios, Oliveira e Costa, has been given an extra year in jail to add to the 12 handed out earlier in the week and the 14 years he received in 2017.
The group of judges of the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, chaired by Luis Ribeiro, have had a chance to go through the paperwork of the main BPN case and decided that Oliveira e Costa should really be given an extra four years for ‘breach of trust.’
Portugal’s weekend weather will be stirred up by the approach of a frontal system, bringing rain, strong winds and high seas.
Friday is OK, sunny in the Algarve with weak wind but things will deteriorate - starting on Saturday.
To improve the communication with the Authorities and emergency medical services, Safe Communities Portugal has developed an emergency identification card for tourists and foreign residents in Portugal, but that can be used by any national citizen.
The Minister for the Environment and Energy Transition estimates a 3.5% reduction on part of customers' electricity bills next year.
João Pedro Matos Fernandes, said that anyone who wants to pay less VAT on energy can always choose to lower the contracted power, and, bingo, you pay VAT at 6%.
The ‘consultancy' company, Ernst & Young, has released another report, this time it’s all to do with the economy of the sea, worth 2.2% of the country's Gross Domestic Product.
Economic activities linked to the sea generated a turnover of €7.5 billion in 2016, concludes the study, employs ‘about’ 100,000 thousand people and contributes 3.1% of the national VAT take.
The growth rate of tourism, Portugal’s economic lifeblood, has been logged at the slowest since 2012.
Tourism is still growing, with the number of guests reaching new highs, but a slowdown is evident and concerning as much of the economic forecasting is based in straight line increases.
