A major earthquake measuring 6.1 hit the Mediterranean between Spain and Morocco early on Monday morning and just one day after a 3.9 quake hit the Algarve.
It struck at 4.22 am, 161 km south-east of Malaga, 164 km east-southeast of Gibraltar and 62km north of the city of Al Hoceima, Morocco, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
In contrast to the political mishmash created by the recent general election, Sunday’s presidential poll shooed in a clear winner who promises to be a force for stability.
The 20th President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is expected to play a crucial role in calming the country’s current volatile situation. He could be pivotal in Portugal’s political future.
Three people have been badly injured in a head-on collision involving two cars on Saturday morning near Zoomarine, Guia, on the EN125.
Two Swedish tourists in a rental car were in a collision with a BMW driven by a British expat said to be in his 80s.
The new Director General of the Treasury, Helena Borges, has been thrown in at the deep end with demands for a clear explanation from MPs as to why Portugal’s rich people seem to be paying proportionally less tax than its hard-working families.
Finanças has selected 240 taxpayers with high incomes and millions in assets, who pay a lower personal income tax rate than expected. This is just a sample from a greater total and all can expect to be reviewed.
An earthquake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale with an epicenter about 100 kilometres west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent was registered by monitoring stations on Saturday at 15:35, according to the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
The epicenter was in the ENI-Galp ‘Gamba’ oil and gas exploration bloc although no drilling is yet taking place.
The new AeroVIP Bragança - Vila Real - Viseu - Cascais and Portimão service opened a month ago and has reported an average of 5.5 passengers per trip, considered ‘normal’ by the company’s management.
An occupancy rate of around 30% in the one 18-seater aeroplane is planned to rise to a target of 60% by the end of 2016, according to Sérgio Leal, the company’s commercial director.
Portugal’s government generously has offered to share the management of former state airline TAP which it intends to renationalise.
The Gateway consortium, owned by Humberto Pedrosa and David Neeleman, purchased 61% of the almost bankrupt carrier in a deal that involved a small payment of €10 million to the Treasury and an undertaking to recapitalise the business.
This headline will come as no surprise to the public with ‘problems,’ according to the auditors, being blamed as much on lack of local controls and management weakness, as the farmers who have been fiddling grant applications.
The European Court of Auditors considers that an astonishing 75% of the audited projects that had been financed under the scheme for agricultural investments ‘to improve the environment’ largely have been a waste of money, with plenty of examples coming from Portugal.
