The police are investigating a scam at hospital canteens in Lisbon, Almada, Setúbal, Oeiras, Portimão and Faro with dozens of officers swooping on Tuesday, 7th Febuary.

The anti-corruption unit of the Judicial Police is investigating the massive contracts fiddle covering concessions for the hpspital in-house coffee shops. Inspectors today carried out searches and collected bundles of documents as part of Operation Clean Dishes.

The Council of the European Union on has given its approval to a three-month extension of border controls at several key frontiers in the Schengen area due to the threat of more migrants.

The recommendation for the extension of internal border controls due to exceptional circumstances was made by the European Commission on 25 January and was formally given the green light on Tuesday by the EU Council of Ministers for General Affairs.

A row has broken out over the success, or otherwise, of the '365 Algarve' promotional programme and whether it was designed to increase tourism or merely, ‘to give people choices.’

The programme is half way through its October 2016 to May 2017 run and Dália Paulo, in charge of the series of events, says the purpose is to give people a choice of cultural events across the region.

A pre-election row has erupted in the hillside town hall of Monchique as mayor Rui André comes under heavy fire from his Socialist Party opposition which has managed to push through a motion of censure.

The motion was approved at a meeting of the Municipal Assembly of Monchique last Thursday.

A Portuguese man living in London was stabbed to death on July 21^st last year.

Bradley Quaresma was knifed at the packed West Ham Lane Recreation Ground in front of horrified families. 

Portugal’s poorest familes, 140,000 of them, do not have enough money for adequate food.

Many now are reliant on the country’s food bank system, with family heads saying that their lack of income means the quantity and quality of food they have available for consumption is severly compromised.

The President of the Republic gave the Bank of Portugal governor a free pass today by blaming the state of the country’s banking system on the Troika, rather than on the country's banking regulator who failed to spot that the light at the end of tunnel was, in fact, an approaching train..

Marcelo Rebelo da Sousa (pictured left with Germany's chancellor) said the Troika should have spotted that Portugal’s banks had chronic weaknesses and really should have done something about it sooner.

The Algarve’s most active MP, Paulo Sá from the Communist Party, has asked the government what it is going to do about the appalling state of many of the region’s Finanças offices.

Sá noted the Dickensian conditions at the offices in Alcoutim, Aljezur, Castro Marim, Monchique, São Brás de Alportel and Vila do Bispo.