The staggering price of property in central London has been outstripped by that of farmland in the UK.

The cost of prime arable land rose by nearly 11% to £7,594 an acre last year.

French DIY stores look set to be able to open on Sunday, after a landmark ruling by the appeal court in Paris.

The decision to allow two popular chains near Paris, LeRoy Merlin and Castorama, to trade on Sunday will add to the existing debate in the country over its strict opening times.

A revolutionary new electric bicycle is due to hit British bike ways next summer.

The Jive Bike is the first of its kind and was the inspired idea of a Polish postgraduate student at University College London.

According to the report, ‘Doing Business 2014," Portugal has moved from 29th place to 31st in an evaluation of 189 developed countries of the ease of setting up a company, funding it and doing business.

Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand lead the global ranking in the section for ease of starting a business. Next in the top 10 are the United States, Denmark, Malaysia, South Korea, Georgia, Norway and the UK.

The mayor of Tavira, the socialist party’s Jorge Botelho, was today elected to chair the Intermunicipal Community Algarve (AMAL), succeeding the former mayor of Faro Macario Correia.

The socialist party now dominates the Algarve’s councils after success in the municipal elections of September 29^th.

The Algarve has two projects on the shortlist of nominees for the 6th "Construction Awards' organised by Building magazine. The awards pick out the very best in the categories of construction, architecture, real estate and engineering.

Villa Escarpa in Lagos, a project by Mário Martins, is in the running for 'Best Private Project’ in the architecture section, and the Epic Sana Algarve, a hotel in Albufeira, is in the running for the 'Best Tourist Enterprise' in the ​​real estate section.

The mayors of Vila Real de Santo António and Castro Marim voiced their criticism today of the successive postponements by government of the project to dredge the Guadiana river between Spain and Portugal to allow larger craft to navigate the river, bringing much needed tourist income to this once busy area.

This work has been promised for years with zero action by successive governments.

Two adult vultures have been rescued and are recovering in the bird hospital in the Ria Formosa National Park. GNR environmental protection officers from Portimão took charge of the two large birds which are likely to have run out of energy on their annual migration to north Africa.