Monchique Bombeiros awarded €200,000 grant

bombeirosA grant of €200,000 was approved by Monchique council this week and will be paid monthly to the volunteer firefighting service.

The money will ensure the operation and readiness of the Bombeiros throughout the year. The sum may be topped up if there are any severe forest fires this summer.

Algarve’s public hospitals "have had years of special attention"

hospitalchartThe Algarve’s Regional Health Administration (ARS) today claimed that the Ministry of Health has in the past three years paid special attention to the Algarve region to strengthen and improve the responsiveness of health care.

Last weekend’s demonstrations outside Portimão and Faro hospitals by a newly formed citizens’ movement aimed to highlight the decline in services and the shambolic management of the public health services in the Algarve and demanded the resignation of the Hospitals of the Algarve Administrator (CHA), Dr Pedro Nunes and for good measure the resignation of the Health Minister himself.

€65 million investment for Portugal's airports

4811The recently privatised ANA, which holds the long-term contract to maintain and develop Portugal’s airports, has announced that it is to invest €65 million in 2014, 16.8% more than was spent in 2013. Lisbon will receive over half at €33.8 million.

Sources at ANA, now owned by the French ‘Vinci Group’ said that much of the money would be spent in operational areas to increase capacity at passenger check-in, baggage handling and security control areas.

Eurozone registers manufacturing growth

factoryManufacturing output in the Eurozone grew strongly in January.

This was the best surge since mid-2011.

Nearly half of Portugal's babies born to unmarried mothers

baby2012The Portuguese have more children out of wedlock than the Spaniards, and live shorter lives

Some Iberian reality from the National Statistics Institute concludes that in 2012 the percentage of live births outside marriage was 45.6% in Portugal, and 35.3% in Spain.

'Factura da Sorte' lucky drawer to pay out €10 million a year

financasPortugal’s Ministry of Finance has picked the first week in April to launch Finanças' new draw which will dole out prizes with a cash value of €91,000 per week to happy citizens.

The tax authority is planning to give away cars, but the law provides for the possibility of the state handing out other, as yet undefined, goodies.

Portimão Urbis may be wound up

portimaoarenaMayor Isilda Gomes has ordered a working group to provide solutions for the council’s trading company Portimão Urbis which has accumulated unsustainable losses.

"The current situation is not sustainable, so there must be change," said Gomes in a statement about the failed municipal company.

Chinese trickster brings 1,000 illegal immigrants to Portugal

fraudA Chinese businessman with Portuguese nationality has been accused of having brought over a thousand Chinese citizens to Portugal, quite illegally.

The 41-year old was arrested in 2011 by the Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiros (SEF) and was charged with 528 crimes but the judge let him go free pending trial. Unsurprisingly, the accused is now nowhere to be found.