Health chief Francisco George has said he is “really worried” over five cases of measles reported in Portugal since the start of the year - all of them in children unprotected by statutory vaccines.

The cases - one in the north, and four in the Algarve - are the first in decades to be registered in the country, as the highly contagious virus had been eliminated “due to an efficient vaccination programme”, George told TSF radio.

Nevertheless, with conflicting attitudes to vaccinations, an increasing number of parents have taken to eschewing them - leading the World Health Organisation to warn countries of the risks of measles returning.

Portugal’s maritime authority (AMN) has advised people to be especially careful at beaches this week as although the weather is delightfully warm and sunny, beaches are still unsupervised.

Thus risky behaviour near the sea should be reduced to a minimum.

Will it carry any weight in the fight to save it from the ravages of gas and oil exploration? The question hangs in the air as international magazine Condé Nast Traveller praises the magic of Costa Vicentina, running from the western Algarve up into the Alentejo.

The magazine’s April edition tells readers looking “for a hit of relaxed beach life” to forget the Algarve and its condominiums, its billboards about summer parties, its shopping malls and water parks, and instead head west where they will find “some of the loveliest” beaches in the world especially north of Odeceixe - probably the least developed stretch of coastline in southern Europe.

While stories about his high-profile client’s alleged involvement in a web of ‘old-boy net’ corruption continue to splash across the tabloid press, outspoken lawyer João Araújo is back in the public eye for alleged debts of over €94,000 to the nation’s pension fund for lawyers.

According to reports, the money has been calculated on the basis that Araújo has missed two decades of mandatory payments to the Caixa de Previdência dos Advogados e Solicitadores.

An investigation is underway in Loulé after a 54-year-old Ukrainian man was found dead in a makeshift carpark .

The man, who was apparently homeless and living in a car, was found early this morning with various injuries, particularly to his face.

He was allegedly discovered by two friends who maintain he was alive at the time, and told them he had been in a fight.

Of all the excuses judges may have heard, this one takes some beating. An Anadia couple have told Aveiro court that they planted more than a thousand cannabis plants in a greenhouse, “initially thinking they were saffron”.

What a surprise it was when during a storm the greenhouse blew over, and the ‘grower’ who had asked them plant the plants “became very agitated”.

It was only at this point, the couple explained, that they realised what they were dealing with.

Adding to the furore over government plans to “sell” Novo Banco to US “vulture fund” Lone Star, ratings agency Moody’s has slashed the bank’s already abysmal ratings to the eighth level of “rubbish”.

Negocios online explains Moody’s was prompted by the ‘€500 million voluntary bond swap’ aspect of the deal, which it says will provoke losses for senior bond investors concerned.

Spring is not simply in the air, it’s in people’s steps. National statistics institute INE has just reported that “consumer confidence” is at a 17-year high following the Bank of Portugal’s upward review of the national economic recovery. Growth is increasing (finance minister Mário Centeno has told Bloomberg it could reach 2% this year), unemployment is markedly down (forecasts are for levels to drop below 10%) – and investors are stacking up on the horizon.

Confidence began to bubble last September, reports TVI24 – stressing this is the first upward sign since the height of the austerity years in 2013, and the “highest upward trajectory since March 2000”.