At the beginning of 2017 the Alagoas Brancas wetland was turned upside down by bulldozers and lorries. The worked then stopped just as suddenly and the machines disappeared leaving behind an unsightly mountain of rubble which remains there to this day, writes the Save the Alagoas Group.

What happened? Who was responsible? What does the future hold for this wildlife sanctuary?

With little information coming from the local authorities the general public has been left in the dark. The following information chronicles the events of the last six months from the point of view of the Save the Alagoas Group (Grupo de Defesa das Alagoas Brancas) which was formed to save the site from this commercial development.

A serious procedural mistake by the handling company Groundforce has led to the delay of 17 flights at Lisbon airport due to security fears.

Passengers of a TAP flight from Dakar, Senegal, were dropped off by the airside bus service at one of the entrances designated for Schengen flight arrivals, thus they could have entered the country without the normally stringent security checks.

The Minister for the Environment, João Matos Fernandes, was in the Algarve today to re-announce various projects, expecting everyone to have forgotten his previous announcements to show how much the government is doing for the region.

In a classic pre-election visit to the region, Fernandes said that tenders will be invited “by the end of the year” for old projects such as the fabled bridge to Faro Island, dredging sea channels at Armona, Fuzeta and Alvor and a new plan for Ancão beach.

The Government has no interest in removing the miles of single white lines and traffic separators that have turned journeys on the western section of the EN125 into slow and frustrating trecks as no overtaking is allowed.

The Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure replied to some written questions from the Algarve Left Bloc MP, João Vasconcelos, and said the main objective for the creation of these white lines and the installation of the separators was to reduce the number of accidents.

If the incompetence of the Polis Litoral Ria Formosa company needed any further coverage, here it is, with the traffic chaos caused at Faro Island a direct result of the slack management at this well-funded but deeply incompetent, State-owned company.

The installation of an electronic traffic management panel earlier this year, at the roundabout before the straight road leading to the single lane bridge to Faro Island, was meant to advise drivers of the availability of parking spaces on the island.

Should the island’s car parking areas be full, drivers could use the new car parking area 800m short of the bridge and walk the rest of the way - not ideal but sensible enough.

A new kindergarten in Almancil is to be paid for by IKEA and built under the direction of the Social and Cultural Association of Almancil (ASCA) and is underwritten by Loulé council.
 
The new facility will have space for 157, 0 to 5-year-olds and will take in children from neighbouring parishes as well as the growing number from Almancil itself.

Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa has confirmed the death of a second Portuguese national resulting from the terror attack in Barcelona last Thursday, August 17th.

The 20-year-old woman had been missing since the attack but fears grew for her safety as her 74-year old Portuguese grandmother, with whom she was on a family reunion shopping trip, was one of the 13 killed after a van was driven through a crowd in Las Ramblas.  A further 120 pedestrians were injured, 17 of whom remain in critical condition.

The pilot of an Everjets helicopter on fire fighting duties in Cabril, Viseu, died on Sunday just before midday.

The helicopter hit some high voltage cables, span out of control and crashed to the ground, bursting into flames with the pilot trapped inside, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.