Apprenticeships in England are being taken up by an increasing number of teenagers.

In the last 12 months there has been a 15% increase in the number of 16 and 17-year-olds getting apprenticeships straight from school.

The management of Portugal's Viana do Castelo Shipyard has sold the 'Atlântida’ to the Greek company ‘Thesarco Shipping’ for €13 million.

The administration launched an international public tender last March for the sale of the vessel which had been commissioned and then rejected by the regional government of the Açores.

The Bank of Portugal today thought it politic to issue a statement about the financial state of Espirito Santo Financial Group, owner of high street bank BES.

Despite the discredited group losing nearly half its value in the past six months Portugal’s central bank today said that its subsidiary Banco Espírito Santo (BES) was in a state of “solid solvency, which has been strengthened by the recent capital increase,” adding that it is closely monitoring the situation in the bank.

Macau, the heart of gambling in China, is now the world’s fourth richest territory per person in the world.

It has surpassed Switzerland where GDP per capita rose by 2% in 2013 to £46,946, according to World Bank data.

Suspected football hooligan Lewis Andrews has had his trial in Albufeira suspended as the Portuguese authorities don’t know where he lives.

The man was arrested in 2004 amid the street violence that erupted in several locations across the Algarve, most particularly in Albufeira, and two days later was deported.

Forward guidance from the European Central Bank notes that interest rates in the eurozone will stay put at 0.15% for an “extended period of time in view of the current outlook for inflation”.

To this end, review meetings will take place only every six weeks beginning next January instead of every month.

Citizens Advice Bureau has warned of scams on eBay, Gumtree and other online market places.

It issued a warning after its consumer service bureau found one in six consumer problems it investigated from Gumtree was a scam or potential scam.

Germany has at last introduced a minimum wage.

An hourly rate of €8.50 will come into effect from January 2015.