The Mayor of Lagoa, Francisco Martins, and many of the city's councillors, welcomed a delegation from the Chinese embassy which included the ambassadors Cai Run and Wu Jun and the cultural attaché for education and policy.
Martins gave a talk on the history of the municipality, with special emphasis on the culture of Lagoa’s people and highlighted the contribution that the Chinese community makes to local life and culture with many Chinese children now attending local schools.
Portimão’s water company is to try out some smart meters in customers' homes and has been extolling the virtue of this technology even before the pilot project goes live.
The company aims to install 124 meters that can transmit readings to a central point, thus making billing cheaper and, so the manufacturers claim, more accurate.
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arbitrary suspension by the Angolan operator, ZAP, of two Portuguese news channels. The company is controlled by the president's daughter, Isabel dos Santos.
Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), has denounced the suspension of SIC Notícias and SIC Internacional from the ZAP satellite package serving Angola and said it is concerned about the repression of freedom of information in the country, just five months before the general election.
A 16-year-old Lisbon-based computer hacker faces five years in prison if convicted of attacks on websites including the one run by the Polícia Judiciária (PJ).
The youth was detained by the National Unit to Combat Cybercrime and Technological Crime (UNC3T), a division of the PJ, and he is said to have links to Anonymous and to other computer hackers and to have participated in attacks on the Attorney General's Office website and those of some large, but unnamed, companies.
The head of Portugal’s tourist board has launched a plan to double the country's tourist revenue over the next ten years.
Turismo de Portugal’s boss, Luís Araújo, was at the Lisbon Tourism Fair to launch his Strategy 2027 to the tourism sector from which he expects €26 billion in revenue in 2027. Last year, Portugal recorded tourist revenues of €12.7 billion, so to reach Araújo’s target, an annual growth rate of 7% is needed.
Portugal’s Finance Minister, Mário Centeno, fears an "irreversible breach of trust" if details of dodgy loans made by Caixa Geral de Depósitos are released. Centeno also wants details of Caixa Geral's 2012 recapitalisation kept well away from scrutiny, even by MPs.
Both financial regulators - the Bank of Portugal and the stock exchange regulatory body, CMVM, - also fear the release of certain documents that could reveal what really went on at the State-owned bank. Their concern is that there will be such an uproar that the further recapitalisation planned may be seen as throwing good money after bad, and is scrapped.
Portugal’s vehicle accident rate in urban areas, "is much higher than in Europe," with excess speed being the main factor.
The president of the Portugal’s road accident prevention authority (PRP), commented, "We continue with a particularly serious problem within urban areas, particularly if compared to the other European countries. We have out-of-town accident claims that are below the European average, but within towns and cities the claims ratio is much higher than the European average."
The National Maritime Authority reports that a man has been rescued from the base of a cliff in the Aljezur area.
"The Port Captain and the head of the Maritime Police in Lagos coordinated a rescue operation for a bodyboarder who fell down the cliff at Praia da Pipa, Aljezur."
