The Catalonia region of Spain has said a referendum on independence is scheduled for next November.

Polls show that about 50% of residents would opt for independence.

The new team at Loulé council has heard back from the external auditors, called in last September to address a noticeable lack of cash, and found the damage was worse than they had been led to believe.

The new socialist mayor Victor Aleixo has taken over after a 12 year period of financial incompetence from the Social Democrats and ordered the audit to see what needed to be done. 

The Troika today commented that actual fiscal adjustments in Portugal have been ‘very small’ and the heads of the Troika mission are not happy with the cuts that the Government has managed to achieve.

The message is that the changes have been very small and, therefore, austerity is to continue.

The third quarter 'Market Pulse Portugal ' report from Jones Lang LaSalle showed that 2013 has been marked by a good recovery in property investment.

In the first nine months of the year the investment in real estate amounted to €235 million against a total of €125 in 2012. According to the 'Market Pulse Portugal' data this performance, albeit a long way from the heady pre-crash years, marks a significant recovery compared to 2012.

The ‘Vagrant’ was docked at the Madeiran port of Caniçal and was under orders to move on after a 30 year stay as the area it occupied is being made into a green space with some of the detritus and rubble from the 2010 storms.

The boat was being used as a restaurant, as well as acting as a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans, but was very run down. It finally sunk where it was moored due to the high seas and winds on Tuesday night.

The chairman of the board of directors of Águas de Portugal warned today that the whole sector is a time bomb that could jeopardise water services in the very near future.

"Unfortunately, problems remain in the sector needing urgent resolution at a cost of more than €700 million. The current water tariffs do not cover costs. We have a situation that, unless things are resolved, will cause services to suffer in the near future," according to Afonso Lobato de Faria.

Windavia Airlines today made its inaugural flight, the shortest commercial flight in the history of continental Portugal, from Beja to Lisbon and back.

Windavia is betting on high passengers numbers to and from the Alentejo airport and "will start flying all summer to and from Beja in a very ambitious operation."

The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, says it is too early to declare that the crisis in the eurozone is over.

The IMF called on the European Central Bank to take pre-emptive action to alleviate the lending crunch for small and medium businesses.