Expat life in a number of countries was said to have become a lot more expensive.

The annual Overseas Living Price index, brought out by the Overseas Guides Company, said that many European spots popular with expats had grown more pricey than ever.

The most popular car journey in Britain is the A470 which takes in Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons.

Roads traversing the Peak District were in second and third place, with the Snake Pass, which bypasses Whinstone Lee, and the Cat and Fiddle Road, worth it just for the names it would seem.

How many chauffeurs does the French government need?

The justice minister in France employs 22 drivers, but the staff numbers only 17 people. Even then the minister herself, Christiane Taubira, says she prefers to cycle.

After six months working to pay the state, workers in Portugal yesterday had their first ‘tax free’ day.

Portugal’s date on which its workers stop working for the state and start earning for themselves is not the latest in the European Union, but it has been increasing steadily.

Intrepid outdoor types wishing to walk the Via Algarviana now can find a passport in any of the region’s Tourist Information offices. This can be stamped as proof of completing the various sections.

The passport scheme aims to highlight and publicise the route as well as to provide a mental incentive to keep going along the 300 kilometre path spanning the Algarve.

The draft of a new law to bail out insolvent, no-hope councils using the Municipal Support Fund (FAM) has been approved by the Council of Ministers and now will be forwarded to the National Assembly for a vote on June 18th.

The fund may win MPs' support but it lacks the support of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) with which the Government is 'still in negotiation.'

Portugal’s President today expressed confidence that the tension between the Government and the Constitutional Court will be overcome, adding that the Executive depends on the political confidence of Parliament.

"I think the problems will be overcome Portugal. I hope it does not have a political crisis, it would have a very, very high cost for Portuguese," said Cavaco Silva at a meeting at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.

Spain’s government has approved a draft law which will grant nationality to the descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from the country.

The country’s Jews began leaving the county in significant numbers following the imposition of the 1492 Inquisition. They continued to leave over the course of at least the next three centuries.