In the first week of April 2015 news was released that an affiliate of the American 'Lone Star Real Estate Fund III' had acquired the Vilamoura resort and building land for just €200 million, a significant reduction on the €380 million paid to resort development legend André Jordan in 2004.

To any developer, the jewell in the crown is the proposed Lacustre resort area due to be excavated and flooded to make way for a series of lakes connected to the existing Vilamoura marina and surrounded by a resort with 3,000 new beds.

A Serb man was arrested in Spain for trying “to buy an immigrant’s kidney”.

The man, described as a gangster for his position as head of a clan based around Tarragona in the northeast, was said to want the kidney for his adult son who suffers from kidney disease.

Comandante Filipe Silva  may be looking for a new job as he was caught on film after yesterday’s Vitória de Guimarães vs  Benfica football match, laying into a father with a riot baton and punching the man’s father in the face, twice in what media across the country has called an 'unprovoked attack.'

José de Magalhães from Matosinhos had gone to the 0-0 match with his two sons, 9 and 13, along with his elderly father and all were held inside the stadium with other fans after the match had ended due to security risks. Benfica had beaten Guimarães and won the championship, the crowd was celebrating and close to losing control.

After a baking hot weekend and today’s brisk winds, the whole area of Monchique is at maximum risk of fire.

The information on the Portuguese weather service’s website shows Monchique on red alert, set after the normal lunchtime readings for air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and any rain showed a combination leading to danger.

The population of the UK is growing at a faster clip than any other EU country, according to Eurostat.

The statistic is the absolute numbers of people.

The omnipresent International Monetary Fund has reviewed Portugal’s spending on education, the conclusions will not be welcomed by teachers.

The usual blurb about 'improving efficiency' and a 'need to raise performance in education' were as expected but an emphasis on one unstoppable trend will help elevate the subject to the forthcoming election battlefield.

Burglars in the UK are sending unmanned drones over private houses in order to identify potential targets, police have warned.

Drones, or “remotely piloted aircraft” (RPA), can be purchased for as little as £30 although the outlay is likely to be higher for advanced, high definition cameras for both still and video close-up pictures.

Portugal's Minister of the Environment, Jorge Moreira da Silva, finished his Algarve tour on Friday at a meeting in Faro that was meant to be a discussion about the Ria Formosa demolition programme being carried out by the Polis company but currently on hold.

The highly controversial demolitions already have set affected islanders on a collision course with the government but a previous meeting with the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho gave organisers a degree of hope that his Minister of the Environment would listen to their genuine and well reasoned opposition to their eviction, the removal of their homes and subsequent ending of their unique way of life.