Police in Spain have seized some 2.5 tons of cocaine which arrived in the country in a shipment of pineapples from Costa Rica.

"This is one of the biggest seizures carried out in European Union ports," the police statement said.

Portugal’s Hotels Association has meekly accepted the overnight withdrawal of the now illegal billing software used by many of its members but asks for a ‘reasonable period’ for it to be replaced.

The Association of Hotels, Restaurants for Portugal (AHRESP) is aware that many of its members are unable immediately to change the now illegal software programme marketed by Time Return but is carrying the government line in issuing a compliant statement.  

Portugal’s insurance companies are to adapt premiums according to the degree of flood risk in each of the country’s zones ‘because of climate change’ according to the president of the Portuguese Association of Insurers (APS).

Based on work by boffins at the University of Lisbon, "we will reorganise our models and classify risk in a different way," said Pedro Seixas Vale from the association.

The value of gold reserves held by the Bank of Portugal on behalf of the Portuguese people has crashed 31% in a year.

The central bank did not sell off any gold in the past year, but the drop in the international price of gold caused a significant drop in its value which has to be reported in the Bank's year end summary.

Across the eurozone, retail sales rose slightly in March, but sales in Portugal tumbled further.

The euro region overall had a 0.3% growth compared to the previous month of February.

A fictitious travel agency, Abortion Travel, has been set up in Spain by campaigners deeply opposed to the government’s curtailment of women’s freedom to terminate pregnancies.

If the proposed reforms to the country’s abortion laws are agreed, they would be among the most restrictive in Europe. Abortion could be legal only in cases of rape or a serious risk to the mother’s health.

Autonomous cars, those without drivers, are soon to hit the road as Volvo moves to launch the world’s first fleet of self-driving city vehicles.

The Swedish car maker is to provide 100 of them for a two-year project in Gothenburg, backed by the Swedish government from January 2017.

June 6th is Portugal’s Tax Liberation Day this year, according to a European study which shows this is the day when earned income after this date is the real net income for the year.

In 2011 the Portuguese had to work to May 29th to meet their tax obligations, in 2012 the date was June 3rd.