The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) claims to have recorded thirty rockfalls at Algarve beaches since last summer, due to Winter and Spring storms.
Half of the cases are said to have occurred at Maria Luísa beach, Albufeira, the scene of a gruesome accident in August 2009 when five people were crushed to death by a huge rockfall. (pictured)
The area surrounding Pego do Inferno, the waterfall and pool in the Tavira countryside, was burned to a cinder in the 2012 fire that swept across the eastern Algarve which left 21,500 hectares blackened and charred.
For five years, the Pego do Inferno site has been ignored by the local council, despite the area once attracting thousands of locals and visitors.
The government ban on planting new eucalyptus forests is a “huge loss to the Portuguese economy,” according to the Portuguese Association of the Paper Industry, CELPA.
The head of Portugal’s leading eucalyptus pulp producer, Altri, already has threatened to halt investment in new pulp mills if Portugal continues to demonise the tree.
The Roman city of Balsa, in the eastern Algarve's Luz de Tavira, at last is being professionally investigated by a team of architects under Tiago Miguel Fraga from the specialist company, Archaeofactory.
Alexandra Rodrigues Gonçalves, the Algarve’s Regional Director of Culture, explained to Sul Informaçao that "geophysical detection has already been carried out and this now is the second phase of the work, which involves digging and excavation".
The number of refugees taken in by Portugal and who subsequently have left the country, has doubled in the past two months.
The man in charge, Ministerial Assistant in the PM's cabinet, Eduardo Cabrita, acknowledges that Portugal "is not a preferred destination" for refugees and that it has to "better inform" refugees.
The plan to connect Morocco and Portugal’s electricity supply is a "project of great importance" according to the Portuguese prime minister, referring to a project that seems mired in bureaucracy and hardly off the ground.
This long-discussed electircal connection has yet to be made but at least now an agreement has been signed, but only to commission a feasibility study. The Moroccan Director of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy, Mohamed Hajroun, and the Director General of Energy at the Portuguese Ministry of Energy, Carlos Almeida were on hand to sign the agreement and smile for the camera but both must be aware of the time that already has been wasted.
The beach at Praia da Rocha was the start point for a Europe-wide 'Surf Salva' project that promotes safety on the beaches by familiarising swimmers and surfers with the work, techniques and equipment of the rescue services.
The bathing season will open soon in Portugal and the project, sponsored by Lidl Portugal, is on a tour to emphasise the importance of teamwork to raise safety standards on Portuguese beaches where last year 1,317 swimmers had to be rescued.
Portugal’s banks lead a charmed corporate life. When they go bust, the taxpayer bails them out and when they are short of cash, they simply charge customers more.
A spiral of higher and higher charges and commissions, many “without justification,” has been identified by consumer watchdog, DECO, which reports that the top four banks last year charged customers an extra €90 million by way of various charges.
