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Low interest rates to stay

europeForward 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.

Scam warnings for online buying

ebayCitizens 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 salaries get boosted

factoryGermany has at last introduced a minimum wage.

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

Cocaine on offer at Lidl

exportsA large shipment of cocaine hidden in dozens of boxes of bananas has been seized by Portugal's police.

The unexpected ‘Columbia’s Finest’ promotion from Lidl involved the concealment of 198 packets of cocaine weighing in at 237 Kilos.

Loulé medical emergency unit closes again

pillsdesignerSocialist and Communist MPs today raised in parliament the matter of Loulé’s medical emergency unit, already closed twice this week due to a lack of qualified staff.

On Tuesday, and again today, the unit that has been confirmed as the responsibility of the Algarve Central Hospital group, was closed for several hours with patients asked to make their way to Faro hospital.

TAP in limbo as Minister again delays privatisation

tap2The privatisation of national airline TAP will only proceed when the government feels that "the proposals are as advantageous for the interests of the country, as for the company."

Minister for the Economy Pires de Lima today said there is "no rush and no urgency" in the privatisation of the airline, "It will only occur when all the conditions for its success are reasonably assured."

Illegal migrants aiming for the UK are arrested

refugeesMakeshift refugee camps in Calais are being cleared by French police.

Some 1,000 refugees are estimated to be living rough on the northern French coast, with around 650 near Calais.

Facebook research sparks official investigation

facebookA British regulator is investigating Facebook to determine if it broke data protection laws in its controversial “emotion” study.

Facebook studied 700,000 of its users without their consent in a psychological project. It manipulated news feeds by making either positive or negative messages predominate to see if recipients adopted the same emotions.