António de Sousa, chairman of the monitoring committee for the ANA sell off, said yesterday that taxpayers benefitted in the short term, but in the longer term, users of Portugal's airports will be paying increased prices as a result of the sale.

ANA-Airports was sold to the French Vinci Group in 2012 with the infrastructure specialist paying a full price in the knowledge that it easily can recoup this from higher charges to businesses using the airport to trade, and from increased landing fees paid for by travellers as part of their ticket price.

The Secretary of State for Transport on a visit to the Algarve to discuss, among other things, the renovations promised for the region's crumbling EN125 ‘alternative to the motorway’ road, said yesterday that Estradas de Portugal is to "submit a plan by the end of the month."

Sérgio Monteiro has never wanted to spend any money at all on the EN 125 and his previous attempt at blackmail, offering a stark choice between rail or road upgrades for the Algarve, endeared him not a bit to the Algarve’s business and resident community.

House owners now can enter details on a DECO website and discover how much they should be paying in property rates each year.

According to consumer champion DECO, householders recently have shelled out an extra €8 million due to the Treasury’s flawed method of calculating the valor patrimonial of properties.

Repsol will start drilling for gas in the Algarve next year according to the company's chariman who announced the news after a meeting with President Cavaco Silva in Lisbon today.

Antonio Brufau, the president of the Spanish multinational oil and gas company said today that the company will begin drilling for natural gas in the Algarve next year as “it would almost be irresponsible not to.”

The president of the Algarve's main hotel association said today that losing the Portugal Rally to the north of the country is due to the "failure in negotiations" led by the Algarve region’s tourism body and represents "a loss of €100 million" to the Algarve.

The president of the Algarve mayor’s group, AMAL, commented also that the loss of the rally would be a "major setback for the region," which had played an important part in keeping the event going after security problems up north in recent years.

Stretched households in Britain have been given a bit of a reprieve as consumer goods and clothing prices have dropped considerably.

The fall in June was at the steepest rate in the last eight years and the 14th consecutive month of declines.

A second German has come under investigation in the spying row between the US and Germany.

German authorities searched the house of an employee of a defence ministry who is suspected of spying.

Seven million people in Britain alone have lost money because they do not understand their consumer rights, according to new research.

Research by price comparison site uSwitch.com found that nearly two fifths (38%) of shoppers do not know what their rights are, while only 4% say that they fully understand them.