Olhão’s mayor goes for dog-owners' vote

dogLeapingKeen to attract dog-owning voters, Olhão’s mayor, António Pina, has announced the opening of a €69,000 dog exercise and play area in Pinheiros de Marim.

Some 4,000 m2 has been set aside for dogs with a fun play area of 800m2 filled with ramps, tunnels and jumps.

Former Economy Minister caught up in EDP energy scam

ManuelPinhoManuel Pinho has been made a defendant in the EDP 'excessive profits' case but there seems to be little useable evidence against him, so far.

The lawyer acting for Pinho, the Minister of the Economy in the José Sócrates administration, requested the ‘arguido’ status be lifted as his client had turned up at the police station on Monday to be interviewed but claims not to have been asked any questions.

Two women fight off rapist in Faro and Olhão

olhaoNightTwo women have suffered separate serious attack in the Algarve. The victims, aged 25 and 29, managed to escape a man who struck in the space of three days..

One of the women had to receive hospital treatment after being assaulted in the pedestrian area of Olhão's historic centre in the early hours of June 30th.

Aljezur's anti-oil mayor fights for his job

aljezuroilFive years ago, the mayor of Aljezur was sentenced to three and a half years in jail and the loss of his job.

This prison sentence was suspended if he paid €5,000 to a local environmental organisation but the loss of his job would stand, whether he paid the money or not.

The Algarve 'is running out of houses for sale'

4805It’s a lack of houses on the market. This is the summary from the monthly Portuguese Housing Market Survey conducted by Confidencial Imobiliário and RICS. “The housing shortage continues to be one of the main factors influencing the market in a scenario of growing demand.”

"For the agents interviewed, the shortage of supply is the main constraint on their activity and also the main factor determining the evolution of prices. This situation should dominate the trends in the coming months," explains Ricardo Guimarães, Director of Confidencial Imobiliário.

Seven injured in Algarve motorway accident

a22A crash on the Via de Infante motorway has left seven people injured, one of them seriously.

The incident involved a collision between two cars on a section of the A22 in the Silves municipality on Monday afternoon, July 3rd. The wounded were transported to Faro Hospital.

 

Cristas uses meeting with president to call for ministers' resignations

cristasAssunção Cristas, who took over from Paulo Portas as the leader of the CDS - People's Party, has used a cozy chat with the president to launch a fierce attack on the government as it struggles with the fallout from the Pedrógão Grande fires and the theft of significant amounts of military arms and ammunition from the Tancos depot near Santarém. Click HERE

In today's meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Cristas demanded that the Prime Minister, António Costa returns to Lisbon (he is said to be on vacation on a Spanish island) in order to sack his ministers of defence and of internal affairs.

Anti-tank grenades and plastic explosive vanishes from army supply depot

ammoA burglary at an army supplies facility at Tancos near Santarém took advantage of a perimeter where the CCTV security coverage had been out of action for over two years.

The incident, on or before June 28th, is starting to look like an inside job and the scale of the theft now has become clear, only because a list of weapons and munitions was published by El Español this weekend.