People buying houses in the UK are said to be paying nearly 97% of the seller’s asking price.

This is the highest average percentage in almost 12 years, according to property analyst Hometrack in its report for April.

The controversial helipad on the island of Culatra was used this morning for the first time.

An emergency flight of a medical helicopter landed at 07.00 to transport a woman with serious heart problems to Faro hospital.

ALMARGEM believes that the government's support of Cidade Lacustre, Vilamoura, has in effect authorised the destruction of farmland, “one of the biggest and best areas of agricultural land in the Algarve" and is lodging a complaint at the European Commission.

The Secretaries of State for Tourism, Forestry and Rural Development are fully aware of the plans to destroy the farmland but were happy that the ‘countervailing measures’ were sufficient recompense for this irreversable destruction.

The director of the European Policy Centre said today that Portugal’s bailout programme was absolutely necessary, but that the country had suffered from the inexperience of the European institutions that funded the rescue package - the Troika.

Fabian Zuleeg sees the Portuguese case as a successful one as it approaches the end of the Troika involvement and its return to the international funding markets, but that the price paid in social terms has been very heavy and the damage will remain.

Saddening news has been released this afternoon of the death of a Dutch couple near Lagos Marina.

The couple died today just after noon after they apparently fell from their balcony at the Fábrica tourist apartments near Lagos Marina.

Loulé council has emphasised its commitment to the construction of the research centre at Fonte da Benémola near Querença, but if the project does not proceed, 'it will not be the council's fault.'

Local news service SulInformaçao reports that Loulé municipality has responded to an item in yesterday’s 'Correio da Manha' which said the €10 million investment is likely to be abandoned due to local council bureaucracy.

To mark the 40th anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution, the old chaimite tank decorated with peace signs has once again trundled along the Avenida da Liberdade. People walked the streets holding carnations and singing the verses of Grândola vila morena, the song by Zeca Afonso that has become the symbol of the Portuguese revolution.

Andalusia’s wetland haven for rare birds and wildlife is still being hit by local farmers in their quest to provide early season strawberries to northern Europe.

The nearby strawberry farms are fed by boreholes, many illegal, which have lowered Doñana’s water table. Silt washed from nearby farms is also choking the channels that crisscross the park.