JJW Hotels & Resorts, owned by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, has revealed a plan to completely refurbish the much loved Dona Filipa Hotel in Vale de Lobo with the aim of "maintaining the position of the hotel as one of the best luxury properties on the market ."

To Mohsen Al Jaber , Director of Innovation at JJW,  "this is the right time to invest in the future of the property and ensure that it will continue to offer the highest standards of comfort and elegance that our guests deserve."

It is estimated that €150,000 will be saved in year one if all the water leaks can be stopped in the water supply system in Castro Marim.

A new report has been commissioned in an agreement reached between the council and a company called Hubel which specialises in solutions, equipment and the undertaking of works for the supply and treatment of water.

The deputy prime minister is in Russia this week and has taken the opportunity to tell the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the gathered press what a good idea the Portuguese ‘golden visa’ scheme is for those Russians with €500,000 to spend on a house in Portugal which goves them free European access within the Schengen area.

Russia is currently second only toChina in the uptake of these valuable visas.

The ratings agency Fitch stated today that Portugal will get access to financial markets next year, but the option of arranging a ‘precautionary’ line of credit with its lenders would make the country look more stable.

In this way Portugal should be able to avoid a second bailout and should also escape a full scale debt restructuring if by taking early precautions investor jitters are calmed.

Statistics released today by the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP) show 79,291 new unemployment registrations during the month of October, 4.7% more than in October last year.

Although this is a decline compared to September this year when 80,176 newly unemployed were registered, the figures are rather too close to the 80,462 new signees in September 2011 which broke an unenviable 13 year record.

A new strain of viral haemorrhagic disease is ravaging Portugal’s population of wild rabbits and has put at risk the 2014 release of Iberian lynx.

According to the Secretary of State for Nature Conservation, Miguel de Castro Neto, the first releases were due to go ahead in the first half of 2014 but if this now was to happen there is a serious risk that the lynx will not survive.

"In the Alentejo, for example, populations of wild rabbits have reduced by 80% this year due to the illness” according to wildlife expert Pedro Esteves from the University of Oporto who is leading the team that has identified the new DHV -V2 variant.

Portugal’s Musicians Association is to take over Faro’s old beer factory in April 2014 and use it as their base. The Recreational and Cultural Association of Musicians (ARCM) decided at its annual general meeting that it would take over and relocate to the old factory and shortly will sign a lease to enable it to start preparatory work .

"The decision to leave the current association base was agreed by the members at the AGM in order to ensure the continuity of the association’s objectives" announced the ARCM in a statement.

However, the association stated that the conditions of this new space "are not adequate" for its activities so that in March “efforts will be directed to cleaning, renovating and constructing rehearsal rooms and the technical infrastructure needed.”

More than 10,600 people died in Portugal last year due to smoking tobacco, which corresponds to about 10% of all deaths in the over 30s, according to data from the Directorate General of Health (DGS).

In the European Union tobacco kills about 700,000 people every year and according to DGS, the overwhelming majority of Portuguese start smoking before the age of 25 with eight out of 10 smokers starting the habit due to peer pressure. In the Alentejo region where smoking is on the increase about 70% of secondary school students have tried smoking.