Portugal’s on-line shoppers increased e-commerce sales by 12.5% last year by spending €4.145 billion.

Four out of ten Portuguese shoppers now purchase online at an average rate of 15 sales annually.

Alcoutim’s Partridge Fair, to be held at Martim Longo on November 10th and 11th, now is in its 11th year and appeals to those of the hunting, fishing and shooting fraternity.

The Council and ADECMAR - Cultural Ethnographic Development Association of Martim Longo, have organised the event at the Martim Longo Municipal Sports Pavilion.

Four Portuguese hotels are among the winners of the Condé Nast Johansens 2019 Excellence Awards covering the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Mediterranean zone.

Hotel Infante Sagres in Porto won the Best New or Renovated Hotel, the Tivoli Carvoeiro was considered Best for Families, the Santiago de Alfama Hotel in Lisbon was the Best Urban Hotel, and Terra Nostra Garden Hotel in the Azores, received the Readers' Award.

Faro Council has approved its budget for 2019, with a planned spend of €39.7 million, €2 million up on the current year.

The priorities include renovating public areas and roads, improvement to the Parque Escolar, renovation of an obsolete municipal car park, support to local associations and parish Councils and pushing ahead with the application process for ‘Faro, European Capital of Culture.’

A British motorcyclist, said to be a participant in the MadRon, ‘Hard Enduro’ bike trial, died on Friday after colliding with a minivan.

MadRon is the organiser of the GPS based ‘Hard Enduro’ off-road biking experience around the forests and mountains in the Monchique area - running from Thursday, to Sunday 11th November.

A clear indication of EDP’s actual trading has become clear as the company announced that that, in the year to September, the EDP Group has made €297 million, down 74% on 2017. The business in Portugal is making a loss for the first time since privatisation.

EDP, led by António Mexia, now has to get along without hundreds of millions in support payments from taxpayers under the 'Custos para a Manutenção do Equilíbrio Contratual' (CMEC) payments system, set up when the business was sold by the State to private investors .

After a 15-month investigation by Eurojust and Europol into illegal gambling websites and machines, Portugal’s GNR carried out 267 national house searches and 8 house searches in Luxembourg earlier this week.

As a result, 30 individuals were arrested in Portugal and one detained in Luxembourg under a European Arrest Warrant.

Those finding themselves at the western corner of the San Lorenzo Golf Course lake, at Quinta do Lago, have been treated to an unexpected glimpse of a shy and equally unexpected guest as a Green Heron has made the area its home, albeit temporarily.

This small heron comes from North and Central America and is likely to have been blown in on the back of the recent windy weather that has been troubling the Atlantic.