Only half of the fruits and two-thirds of vegetables sold in Portugal’s supermarkets are produced in the country, according to survey results published by the environmental association, Zero.

The in-depth analysis relied on analysis of the origin of vegetables and fruits and concluding that many of the products sourced from abroad could be produced in Portugal.

Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, is swinging into action to stop a referendum organised by the wannabe independent region of Catalonia.

Rojoy is demanding that Spain’s constitutional court looks at revoking a law passed on Wednesday by the Catalan parliament that triggers an October 1st vote for independence from Spain, which Rajoy claims is unconstitutional.

The Lena Group’s tourism and hotels company has applied for protection from its creditors under a PER special revitalisation process.

The principal creditor is Novo Banco which is owed just under €20 million and could do without a major failure on its hands at a time when the  bank’s every move is being watched as it prepares to be transferred to US vulture fund, Lone Star.

Deco’s Regional office in the Algarve has received numerous complaints from consumers who are being plagued by debt collectors, pressing to extract payment for old telecommunications and energy company bills.

The debt collectors are working through lists that are so old - some of them almost 10 years overdue – that customers are under no legal obligation to pay for services for which they have never been sent a bill.

A fire that broke out on Wednesday afternoon, September 6th, in Barranco da Vaca, Aljezur, has been put out with the help of five specialist firefighting aircraft.

According to José Amarelinho, mayor of Aljezur, the fire most likely was started by a brush-cutter being used by a member of a maintenance crew clearing scrub near EDP cables and electricity poles.

Ryanair is changing the rules for existing and all future bookings by ending its policy of allowing non-priority passengers to carry two items of hand luggage on board.

The no-frills Irish airline said it had made the decision because many if its flights are being delayed due a lack of space in its fleet’s overhead lockers.

In February this year, the government was reported to have decided that Montijo airbase should be converted to civilian use to ease the congestion at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado’s airport.

The government was said to have chosen the Montijo air base solution, rather than developing airports at Sintra or Alverca, or building a completely new airport at Alcohete, on logistical, cost and speed grounds.

In a survey, guaranteed to gain wide coverage across Portugal’s media, the country has been nominated as the fifth best in the world in which expats live and work.

The Expat Insider survey, conducted annually by InterNations, this year received opinions from 13,000 expatriates from 166 countries.