Cloned cards had been used to rack up spending of €1.1 million in more than 3,800 fraudulent transactions. The group had been impeded by the arrest of two of its members but the capture and arrest of the remaining five suspects should bring the record spending spree to a halt.

Portugal’s National Anti-Corruption Unit of the Judicial Police detained the final four men and one woman all of which are accused of cloning and credit card fraud, passing counterfeit currency, computer fraud and the falsification of documents.

The Minister of Agriculture, Assunçao Cristas, said in Tavira today that the next Rural Development Programme will provide incentives for farmers to save water in order to encourage good irrigation management.

"These measures are aimed at giving bonuses to those who manage water sensibly because we are aware that irrigation is extremely important, and should be done in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner," she told reporters during her visit to an exhibition in Tavira on the Mediterranean Diet.

Loulé council has dragged itself, kicking and screaming into the modern age of customer service and has decided to open its variuos departments over the lunch period so that its customers can ask questions at a convenient time.

Don’t all rush at once though, as this delicate new procedure will take three months to be fully operational.

Parts of Britain may be sacrificed to the sea after December’s tidal surge and continued heavy flooding.

The surge was the worst in 60 years and prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Scotland’s Forth Bridge has been put forward to World Heritage status consideration.

The railway bridge linking Edinburgh and Fife, now 124 years old, was the first major British construction to be built out of steel. It carries trains for more than a mile and a half across the Forth.

Aviva health insurers will launch a new scheme to allow expat customers to keep their insurance cover when they are in another country.

Its new international medical policy, Aviva claims, will allow policyholders to cross national boundaries without paying full "globetrotter" premiums.

The USA and the Caribbean, however, are not included.

According to the latest Portuguese Housing Market Survey it is predicted that house sales in Portugal will continue to rise in the next three months.

The report showed that Lisbon was "the only region where there has been an increase in the level of house sales, Oporto remains stable and the Algarve shows a slight decrease."

Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, Secretary of State for Tourism, has decided that Portugal does not have nearly enough hotels, even though significant numbers have to close each winter due to a lack of tourists.

New rules speeding up and facilitating the planning permission and building stages for new hotels have been drawn up and already have been published in the Official Gazette.