Toll gantries on Portugal’s motorways was "a mistake," admits the Estradas de Portugal president

On a national network where motorists happily were using Via Verde to pay tolls, putting up gantries on motorways was "an error."

Retailers appear to have paid the price for heavy discounting in advance of Christmas as December figures were at their worst level since the financial crisis.

Retail sales fell by 0.4% in December, the poorest performance since 2008.

Inflation in the UK fell sharply to 0.5% in December.

The drop was triggered largely by lower fuel prices. At the same time, the price hikes in December 2013 on gas and electricity fell out of the equation.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the Ballon d’Or world footballer of the year for the third time and the second year in a row.

The Portugal captain who plays for Real Madrid beat Lionel Messi, Barcelona’s forward, and Manuel Neuer, Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper.

The mayor of insolvent Portimão council has insisted that the aerodrome at Alvor will be upgraded to National Institute of Civil Aviation standards as it prepares to receive visitors from as far away as Tras-os-Montes in the far north of the country.

Isilda Gomes said the municipal airfield will be able to receive flights as from June this year that take off in Bragança. Gomes considers the investment significant given the importance of the route to the ‘sustainability of tourism.’

Money sent from people resident in European Union countries to those outside the EU28 amounted to €28.3 billion in 2013.

At the same time, funds being sent to people inside the EU stood at €10.3 billion.

Both Heathrow and Gatwick airports report record-breaking passenger numbers for 2014, intensifying the rivalry between them for bagging the promised third runway.

Heathrow coped with 73.4 million travellers in the year, a 1.4% increase over 2013.

João Mello Franco, chairman of the PT board said today that its shareholders had decided to postpone the vote on the company’s sale to the French company Altice until January 22nd, 2015.

It is not yet clear legally if additional points can be included for shareholder voting at the next meeting but the main vote remains the company’s sale to Altice which already owns Cabovisão and Oni in Portugal.