In addition to the government’s tax on sugar-laden soft drinks, the Health Minister is preparing a fiscal assault on junk food.
 
Portugal restaurateurs association, AHRESP, has called for an urgent meeting with Minister Adalberto Campos Fernandes, whose proposal to tax food with high levels of saturated fat and salt may affect their members’ profitability.

Five members of the Loulé housebreaking gang that operated between October 2015 and January this year have been charged by the Faro Public Prosecutor's Office and will be tried.

The defendants, aged between 22 and 28, dedicated themselves to robbing homes and commercial establishments in the Loulé area, especially in Almancil, many of them belonging to foreigners.

A  long-awaited project to build a new exhibition, fair and open market area in São Bartolomeu de Messines, Silves will see contractors start work on June 12th.

The €981,000 investment is planned to be completed within nine months.

Faro Airport’s French-owned operator, the Algarve Tourism Association and easyJet today inaugurated new routes to Nice and Lille with the baptism of an Airbus A320 from Lille and a special welcome for all passengers on the inaugural fight.

With the inauguration of the new service for Nice and Lille, the Algarve is connected to 10 French airports with the number of available seats showing a 30% increase this summer over last.

Banco Santander has announced that with its purchase of Banco Popular for €1, it has become the largest bank in Spain and Banco Santander Totta now is the largest private bank in Portugal in terms of assets.

In today's statement, the institution said that Banco Santander Totta will incorporate Banco Popular Portugal, "creating the conditions to further develop its activity to support Portuguese families and companies," and admitted that 3,000 people will lose their jobs.

The Municipality of Lagos has signed a financing agreement with Turismo de Portugal for the creation of city WI-FI zones.

In addition to some existing zones, Lagos will have five more areas of WiFi coverage, namely in Largo de la Iglesia de Santo António, Praça Infante D. Henrique, Praça de Gil Eanes, Largo do Marquês de Pombal and the area near the municipal market.

Excessive payments to EDP were discussed in parliament today, the veteran communist leader, Jerónimo de Sousa, calling on the Socialist Government to end EDP’s "excessive revenues" and use the money to invest in better public transport.

In the fortnightly parliamentary debate with the Prime Minister, the secretary general of the Communist Party said "why must consumers pay these millions of profits for the big energy companies by paying for the most expensive electricity in Europe," referring to the latest row over the hideously complex Power Acquisition Contracts and Costs to Maintain Contractual Equilibrium (CMEC) which electricity consumers have been paying for since market deregulation.

Two years ago, the court ruled that stories published about one of José Sócrates’ ex-girlfriends were in the public interest and that claim for €200,000 for each news item was dismissed.

Journalist, Fernanda Câncio, has lost in court again and Sábado again has the right to publish news about her, her relationship with Sócrates and Operation Marquês.