The annual report from Portugal’s Environment Agency shows that the amount of rubbish produced in the country is rising and that all efforts to increase recycling are not working.

The Portuguese have been producing more garbage over the past four years but the biggest problem is that amount of waste being recycled fell by 50,000 tons last year, a 9% decline.

The Public Prosecutor is investigating MPs who have been fiddling their travel allowances by using registered addresses miles from the capital.

The revelations in March this year, centred around the Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party, may yet come back to haunt MPs who have been economical with the truth.

Algarve MP, Cristóvão Norte, has questioned the Health Minister about the increasingly parlous state of the region’s health service and the planned reduction in the health budget allocation for 2019.

The Social Democrat MP pointed out that the State Budget 2019 has set a budget for the University Hospital Center of the Algarve that is down €19 million on the current year, a 4.2% reduction.

MPs from the CDS-People’s Party have demanded that urgent measures are implemented to protect the dwindling seahorse population in the Ria Formosa.

In a press release issued today, no doubt in advance of a bandwagon of outraged political parties taking advantage of the emotive situation facing the seahorse population, the CDS-PP MPs want legislative and regulatory measures “directly aimed at the urgent and necessary protection of the species of sea horses existing in Portugal - Hippocampus hippocampus and Hippocampus guttulatus.”

The demolition of homes on the Ria Formosa island of Culatra continued today with the Polis Society overseeing the destruction of eight properties in the village of Farol. Six properties in Hangares are scheduled for destruction on Thursday, Nov 8th.

Home owners had filed injunctions, but this did not prevent the demolitions from moving ahead even though the injured parties said they had not been informed by Loulé Court of any final decision.

The Algarve’s Councils have set aside more than €500,000 to cheer up their shopping streets with Christmas lights this year.

In most municipalities, the lights will switched on at the beginning of December to get shoppers in the festive mood and boost retail sales.

In the first nine months of this year, fish and seafood sold at auction in the Algarve raked in more than €33 million, according to data from the Directorate General of Maritime Services.

Olhão's fishermen moved the largest amount of fish and generated the most income for the region.

The president of Quercus plans to sell some of the organisation's land, purchased with donations, to the owner of a hunting estate.

Quercus is the environmental organisation, founded in 1985, whose membership is composed of citizens who have an interest in the conservation of nature, natural resources and in defence of the environment in general.