The sailor Ricardo Dinis will set sail from Portimão, heading for England, to deliver by hand a bottle a bottle of 1926 Port Wine to Queen Elizabeth II, as a present for her 80th birthday. On board the boat "Visit Portimão" Ricardo Diniz has as his co-skipper the British sailor Josh Hall, which reinforces the oldest alliance of the world, between Portugal and England.

Some 8,870 people, with a staggering 1,000 visitors in the first half-hour on Sunday, poured into Portimão’s new exhibition centre at ExpoArade over the weekend to find out why it really is Better Living in Portugal (BLiP). BLiP, now in its sixth year, brought together an array of products and services with the aim of enhancing business opportunities and levels of customer satisfaction here in Portugal.

The Algarve could become the Hollywood of Portugal following the official launch of the Algarve Film Commission (AFC), whose aim is to promote the region as a filming location for the global cinema industry. The Commission’s president is Portugal’s most internationally known actor, Joaquim de Almeida, who has starred in several high profile films including Clear and Present Danger with Harrison Ford, Desperado with António Banderas and Salma Hayek and the award winning television series 24, among others.

The approvals needed for the advancement of the project Vale do Lobo III have now been granted, thus allowing the development of the area. In all, the investment in the project will be around 500 million euros. The construction of a five star hotel, 180 suites and 126 plots for 283 villas is foreseen, plus luxury apartments around by the Royal Golf Course, for which the infrastructures are already being installed.

Forest residue could be used to generate electricity at a bioelectric centre in Monchique. Preliminary studies have been carried out and the project has been approved by Monchique Câmara. The Direcção Geral de Energia e Geologia (DGCE), the energy and geology board, has also approved the project, which is being considered as a Potencial Interesse National (PIN), a potential national interest project.

The Cultural Centre of Lagos welcomes fromn 21st October to 30th December the exhibitions "Travelling Plants: Colours and Flavours of the New World" and "Naturalia". The inaugurations take place on 21st between 18.00 and 20.00hrs.