Last year’s December exports rose 4.9% compared to the year before but this was not sufficient to mitigate the effect of those months in which Portugal’s companies exported less than expected.

In a year that was marked by a delayed recovery in the eurozone, the crisis in Ukraine, sanctions for Russia and a sharp decline in oil prices, the Portuguese exports of goods increased to pre-Troika growth levels of just 1.9%, the worst result since 2009.

The most ‘sustainable’ city in the world is Frankfurt, Germany while London captured the number two spot.

Frankfurt won top grades in part due to its long established climate protection work and the large forests which are easily accessible from the centre.

For his 75th birthday, Cliff Richard is to give a concert tour in the UK beginning in September.

The singer has added an extra date at the Royal Albert Hall in October with concerts in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield already sold out.

The heiress of a flour manufacturer in Spain has left her entire fortune worth millions of euros to helping students in her village.

Virginia Pérez Buendía, 86 when she died, gave her legacy to a fund which will give grants to students from the village of Valverde de Júcar (pop 1,350), in the central region of Castile-La Mancha.

The number of foreign holidays taken by Brits is 16% lower than it was before the recession.

At the same time, holidays taken in England rose 12% between 2008 and 2013.

The man who shot his estranged wife between the Lake Resort Hotel and Falésia Beach in Vilamoura and then attempted suicide, has died of his self-inflicted injury.

The man was rushed to hospital last Thursday morning after the bizarre incident. He remained in Faro’s intensive care unit but died on Saturday evening.

British people over the age of 55 are now able to obtain a forecast of what they can expect to receive from their state pension when they retire.

The estimate is based on people’s current National Insurance record.

Members of the International Platform against the continuation of tolls on the Via do Infante and their supporters met up on the Guadiana bridge on Saturday afternoon in the largest anti-tolls protest yet seen.

Over 50 vehicles from Spain and Portugal were driven in slow procession by protestors to the car park on the Portuguese side of the Guadiana bridge for speeches, expressions of solidarity and good humoured but serious discussion about the tolls and the damage they are continuing to cause to the economies in the Algarve and Andalucia.