Another Alentejo tourist mega-development up for sale

HousingEstatePlanNovo Banco, which already has taken possession of Herdade do Pinheirinho Beach and Golf Resort, aims to sell off the stalled real estate and tourism enterprise located on the Alentejo coast in Melides, Grândola.

Granted a Potential National Interest classification, the project’s promoter is insolvent and the assets ended up with Novo Banco which was owed €140 million of the estate’s €204 million debt pile.

Azores - four Europeans arrested after 840 kilos of cocaine found on catamaran

cocaineA huge shipment of cocaine has been intercepted off the Azores by the Portuguese Police with the help of the Air Force which tracked the catamaran without being seen.

The drugs boat was taken to the marina in the town of Horta, on the island of Faial, where it was searched and the concealed drugs were found.

PM's pro-oil excuse published in full

OilReferendumSMALLOne of the Algarve’s anti-oil groups, MALP, has published the content of a letter received from the Prime Minister, António Costa, in response to the demands that the Minister for the Environment and the President of the Portuguese Environment Agency both should resign.

The suggestion that employment should be sought elsewhere for these two pro-oil protagonists came after the Galp-ENI Aljezur test well was allowed to circumvent the neccessitity of providing an Environmental Impact Assessment.

Left Bloc files formal complaint against Ryanair

ryanair1Portugal’s Left Bloc parliamentary party has filed an official complaint against the Irish airline, Ryanair, whose management has refused to send a Director to answer MPs’ questions.

The president of the Left Bloc’s parliamentary group, Pedro Filipe Soares, said, "It is a protest about the way Ryanair treated the house of democracy in Portugal."

Spanish controlled media group closes down Portugal's ...@iol.pt email service

6208aThe closure of Media Capital’s @iol.pt email service is scheduled for November this year as the company decides to focus on its content provision and shut down peripheral services.

After 18 years, the official date for emails ending in @iol.pt is November 30th.

Algarve hotels nearly full this August

hotel3Average occupancy per room in Algarve hotels hit 95% in August, 0.5% higher than August last year.

The hoteliers’ association of the Algarve, AHETA, added that income had risen 1%.

Roma girl can drop out of school 'on cultural grounds'

SchoolClassA schoolgirl from the Roma community based in the Alentejo has been told by a court that she doesn’t have to go to school anymore.

The fifteen-year-old had pretty much stopped going to school, claiming she was helping her sick mother with domestic tasks. A case was brought under the Protection of Minors legislation concerning the seventh year pupil at a school in Avis, in the Upper Alentejo.

'Brits in Portugal hell' Armona couple protest outside Ministry

ARMONAtODDHOUSEDepressed, angry and at their wits’ end, the high-profile British couple given permission to create a home on the Ria Formosa island of Armona - and then told it was illegal and would have to be bulldozed - took their fight to Minister, Pedro Matos Fernandes yesterday by mounting a protest in front of the Environment Ministry.

For two hours, James Tod and Paul Roseby handed out leaflets to incoming Ministry staff complaining that they are caught in the middle of a legal wrangle that has nothing to do with them and, the way things are going, will not be resolved in their lifetime.