The Chinese demand for gold looks set to continue to rise, according to the World Gold Council.

The agency believes demand will increase by some 20% over the coming few years, with private sector demand going to at least 1,350 tonnes by 2017.

As promised at the last Troika review, Portugal’s government is now full steam ahead in its effort to clamp down on undeclared rental income.

The Ministry of Finance said that 2014 is the year it is going to intensify inspections in the real estate rentals sector to combat the "many situations" of fiscal irregularity under its general clean up of fraud and the black economy.

House prices in the eurozone were reported by have declined by -1.4% in the final three months of 2013 compared with the same time in 2012.

Following a slight upturn in June 2011, prices in the region have been steadily falling since, Eurostat reported.

Industrial output in Portugal grew by 0.2% in February, according to Eurostat.

This was the same percentage as the average growth across the eurozone, which was what analysts had expected.

Spanish Bank BBVA has warned that unemployment in the country could take as much as 10 years to get back to where it was before the financial meltdown, even if it could recover at the rate of 2% a year.

Its report claims the economy is bogged down by low wages, low skills and a lack of investment in research.

Lagos council are cutting it fine as it announced today that work on the access stairway to its famous Dona Ana beach will  start and finish this week.

The main access to Praia da Dona Ana in Lagos is by a wooden staircase which was all but destroyed by the sea in the February storms. The mayor said today that the repairs would be finished in time for the Easter rush, just days away.

The Coastal Control Unit of the GNR announced the arrest of two men and the seizure of a tonne of hashish from a boat on the Guadiana river. The drugs were concealed in the false bottom of the vessel.

In a statement, Coastal Control at Vila Real de Santo António reported that the arrests were made on Sunday afternoon under a joint operation with the Spanish Guardia Civil who arrested two further suspects and seized an unspecified amount of hashish.

Only 6% of corruption cases brought by the state between 2008 and 2013 resulted in a conviction.

Between 2008 and 2013 more than half of corruption and embezzlement prosecutions were filed, according to the latest report from the Corruption Prevention Council, which reported that 40% of the cases that come to court for these types of crimes relate to local government and local authorities.