Unable to resist creating yet another money-wasting white elephant, Portimão council has thrown its weight, and ratepayers’ money, behind its latest poorly-thought-out idea – to turn part of the international autodrome into a ‘business incubator’ called ‘Startup Portimão.’
This will open on August 10th in two floors of the round building in the middle of the empty racetrack, a business which also is being propped up by taxpayers through Portugal Capital Ventures.
Lottery prize collection rules have been changed, using the all encompassing excuse of ‘anti money laundering measures.
Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, which runs Portugal’s lottery, is changing its rules for the payment of prizes of between €2,000 and €5,000 as from today, August 6th.
With an embarassed silence still surrounidng the Algarve region's existing white elephants, the mayor of Albufeira is pushing ahead with his pet project, a maritime and oil services training centre in Paderne at an old factory site on the Ferrarias road at Mem Moniz.
Mayor, Carlos Silva e Sousa, said this is an "investment that he feels very proud of" and wishes to see the “enormous potential” realised.
The Algarve's hotels association reported today that the effects of the UK decision to leave the European Union are hitting tourism in Portugal.
“British tourists are losing interest in the Algarve and the cause is Brexit,” according to the association as the number of trips decreased by 12.6% in July compared to the same period last year.
The flight instructor and trainee pilot of the Cessna that landed on a crowded beach near Lisbon, appeared in court on Thursday over the violent deaths of José Lima, 56, and Sofia António, aged just 8.
The two men refused to speak to reporters as they arrived at the court in Almada for questioning by a prosecutor.
Portugal’s GNR military has seized €430,000 in cash from a Chinese citizen at the border in Caia, Elvas.
The man was arrested on suspicion of money laundering, bring more than €10,000 in cash into the country and attempting to bribe his way out of trouble.
High temperatures across the Algarve region will increase from the already high 30s with the whole region on yellow alert until Saturday evening.
According to the Portuguese weather service, thermometers will reach 37°C in Faro on Saturday with Alcoutim reaching 39°C (102°F).
The president of the Algarve’s regional tourist authority, Desidério Silva, has criticised the EN125 project, now that most of the road works on the western section of the road have been completed.
In an interview published on Algarve Económico, Silva said the work, at certain points on the EN125 was "a complete aberration."
