Lawyers acting for jailed former Prime Minister José Sócrates have tried everything since his arrest last November to get him out of Évora prison.
Sócrates could have been allowed home on house arrest but as this involved wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, he refused, preferring the media attention of being held in jail while claiming he is innocent of all allegations against him.
In November, 2014 new rules came into force in Portugal for the ‘local lettings’ sector - the rental of apartments and villas on a short term basis to tourists.
By the end of July this year, inspectors from ASAE claimed to have checked out 293 owners and found that 31% in some way did not comply with the rules.
A Spanish woman has been given a fine of €800 because she used her Facebook page to post a photograph of a police vehicle parked illegally in a disabled bay.
The comment “Park where you bloody well please and you won’t even be fined” accompanied the picture.
Quelle horreur! The renowned Palace of Versailles is to open its doors to paying guests in order to make ends meet. The French symbol of royal opulence could have guests lodging there for the first time in 300 years.
State funding was trickled down to €40.5 million this year, from €47.4 million just two years ago. Even with an annual visitor head count of 7 million, a 50% increase over a decade, the palace and its grounds can’t cope with the upkeep costs.
Passos Coelho, prime minister and president of the Social Democratic party, yesterday defended the need for “a politically unambiguous result” in this autumn’s general election as he stressed the importance of stability in government.
In an address to the party faithful at the annual Festa do Pontal rally in Quarteira, Passos Coelho made the curious comment that he is looking for a result that allows him to govern to solve people’s problems and not go looking for ways of how to solve the government's problems.
Prisoners in Greece have seen their escape tunnel undermined by a dog.
The break-out plot from a jail on the island of Corfu was undone when the dog, out on a morning walk with its owner, heard unusual noises below the ground in the woods near a prison.
The fire which today broke out in the woods by Falesia beach in Albufeira was all but extinguished by the late afternoon, according to the National Civil Protection Authority.
A firefighting team of 39 bombeiros, supported by water dumped by air, were quickly at the scene as holidaymakers stood on the beach watching the enormous plumes of smoke fanned by the wind.
The annual inflation rate in Portugal has been climbing since March of this year.
In July the rate was recorded at 0.7%, making it the fifth month in a row of rising inflation.
