It’s rainy up north, with the added threat of tornados along the coast with many of Portugal's areas already on yellow alert this Thursday.

Heavy rain with thunderstorms will continue to affect the mainland at least until Saturday but the Algarve will only get rain, from this evening with showers already showing up in western areas.

Work to restore the Pego do Inferno beauty spot in the Tavira countryside at last has started with the council determined to limit public access to stop the pool and intermittent waterfall getting over over-run with people.

After five years of dithering, Tavira council finally has ordered the removal of the damaged wooden access route along the Ribeira da Asseca and plans to open a different access point in order to deter users, rather than to encourage them.

The sale of the Espírito Santo family’s ‘jewel in the crown,’ the Comporta estate, has collapsed as Portugal's Public Prosecutor’s office refused to release the land for sale.

Despite receiving to go-ahead from the Luxembourg administrator of the collapsed Grupo Espírito Santo property offshoot, Rioforte, Pedro de Almeida from Ardma Imobiliária has run out of time and the 90-day period set out in the promissory contract now has expired.

Ricardo Salgado, the former president of Banco Espírito Santo, refused to admit in court that management decisions he made had anything to do with the collapse of the bank and that he has "a deep conviction that he will prove this."

Salgado was in the appeal court in Santarém on Tuesday and said he did not feel the slightest bit guilty about the dire situation in which he left many of his customers.

Marking the ‘European Day of Wine Tourism, Silves council is launching a new brochure, ‘Vinhos de Silves,’ which features the county’s eight wine-makers.

This updated offering gives visitors contact details and helps to brand the municipality as a wine growing area in which producers constantly have been improving.

The president of Portugal’s privatised Post Office CTT, announced lower than expected results on Tuesday and saw the company’s share price plummet 21% in a day.

Luís Pereira Coutinho announced a dividend in an attempt to keep shareholders happy but this was insufficient to overcome fears caused by a worse than predicted slide in letter handling revenue.

European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, is deciding whether or not to reorganise Europe’s civil protection service after the response to Portugal’s deadly summer fires was less than swift.

“We will consider, at Portugal’s request, the reorganisation of civil protection in Europe,” Juncker pronounced at a press conference alongside Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Former BES president, Ricardo Salgado, said in Santarém on Tuesday that he has never bribed anyone in his life and that he has “a perfectly clear conscience.”

Questioned by reporters outside a hearing over Salgado’s €4 million fine, the former banker said he is sure to be cleared of the accusations in Operation Marquês.