Faro council is to spend an extra €4.3 million this year in "works in support to associations and parishes," according to mayor Rogério Bacalhau who also promised that the Christmas lights will be back on after years of gloom.

The council has invested in nothing much at all in the past few years as Bacalhau put in place measures to repair the council accounts left less than healthy by former mayor Macário Correia.

The long arm of the law has not been impeded by the strikes, demonstrations or petrol shortages in France.

In the midst of the chaos enveloping the country, French police announced on Thursday that they had raided the French headquarters of hamburger chain McDonald’s as part of a tax fraud investigation.

Personal transport company Uber wants help the best business ideas become reality and to give Portuguese entrepreneurs, dreamers and visionaries the opportunity to take their projects further.
 
As such, the UberPITCH challenge will enable those with a good business idea to be accompanied by a jury from the national business fabric on an Uber trip, with just a click on the application. The entrepreneurs will have seven minutes to sell their idea to the investor, during the Uber trip - an elevator pitch on wheels – and another seven minutes to get feedback.

The inevitable happened this afternoon when a motorcycle collided with a car on the single lane bridge to Faro island, blocking the road.

An INEM ambulance managed to get to the injured motorcyclist after an hour due to the backed up traffic hampered by the current roadworks to add a pedestrian walkway and resurface the road.

Three of the Algarve’s councils head the national raking for the most tax collected per head in local rates, or IMI.

Albufeira, Loulé and Lagos councils were the top three collectors for 2014 ranked by 'tax per head' in a year in which the total sum extracted from Portugal's property owners was €1.5 billion.

The German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, does not agree with the postponement of penalties for Portugal and Spain for running their economies with excessive deficits.

For Herr Schäuble, the fact that the governments in Lisbon and Madrid have been given a bit more time to balance their books does not really give rise to a warm feeling of confidence within Europe.

As the Isabel dos Santos’ camp issues statement denying any involvement in the race to buy British retailer BHS, a 'Portuguese-backed consortium' is said to be in pole position.

Matalan founder John Hargreaves and Select Fashions’ Cafer Mahiroglu have pulled out of the bidding after being asked to offer more money for the insolvent company.

News that will delight the Algarve's tourism industry, Britain has been found to have the highest proportion in the EU of “poor” bathing water sites.

The new rankings indicate water quality at thousands of beaches around the EU.