Spain is trying to cope with a 70% increase in the number of illegal migrants attempting to enter the country last year.

Caught last year while attempting to get into Spain illegally were 12,549 people, up from just 7,472 in 2013.

The new Minister of Internal Affairs today opened new facilities at the helicopter base to the south of Loulé.

The new building will allow civil protection and medical emergency services to operate with better facilities and coordination.

“To maximise revenue, to promote the Algarve as a tourist destination and to reduce sales costs” are the noble objectives of a new online sales website created by the Algarve’s hotels and tourist association.

The AHETA’s blub outlines the "increasing demands imposed by online holiday buyers, combined with new trends of tourism markets needing strategies to increase the exposure of hotels to digital customers, a segment which rapidly is growing in the worldwide holiday market."

Portugal's communist party has decided that the government should intervene to keep Litográfica do Sul going, even though it is insolvent and unable to find a buyer.

The management of the Vila Real de Santo António printing company announced that it is applying to the court for insolvency protection to safeguard jobs which are ‘important for families and for the local economy.’

Lagoa council has announced a €600,000 tidy up and is to employ only local building companies.

In danger of contravening a raft of fair competition rules, the council states that its two step process for the rehabilitation of its public spaces will be restricted to local architects and then local builders only may apply.

The French are recognising the need to reduce food wastage, opening up the possibility that ‘doggy bags’ will be offered in restaurants.

Wasted food costs the average French household €400 every year and the country up to €20 billion, said a report this week.

The Stranglers are to top the bill at this year’s International Bike Festival in Faro.

The dates have been announced and between 16 and 19 July thousands of bikers will arrive for fun, music, the wet T-shirt competition, brotherhood and a wide range of mild narcotics.

In the UK give-away election bonanza, the Green party has vowed to end frozen pensions if it holds the balance of power after the general election.

Its manifesto, published today, contains a commitment to resort full state pensions to expats who have taken up residence in countries where their British pensions are frozen at the time of moving.