The former mayor of Vila Real de Santo António says that all accusations leveled against him of illegally authorising several buildings and developments are "lies and slander" and today reassured property owners that nothing is going to happen that will affect their properties.

António Murta, denies that there were any violations of the Municipal Master Plan when he was mayor and says that all the projects listed this week as being illegally authorised "had the favourable opinion of all the competent authorities" and "were approved with the vote of (current mayor) Luís Gomes," who then was an opposition councillor.

The body of leading economic advisers to the German government has urged European politicians to find ways to halt the UK’s planned departure from the European Union.

“An exit of the United Kingdom from the EU would not only mean an economic loss, but above all a bigger political loss,” the Council of Economic Experts wrote in their annual report, which was released on Wednesday.

The High Court in London has stated that the British government requires approval from parliament to trigger 'Brexit' - the process of exiting the European Union.

The government said it would appeal against the decision and a spokeswoman for Theresa May said the prime minister would press ahead with planned talks on the Brexit terms by the end of March.

Ryanair has announced its plans to provide flights direct to Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest hub, starting in March 2017.

Currently, the carrier flies into Frankfurt Hahn airport which lies about 100 kms away from the lively city of Frankfurt.

Lisbon wants be seen as one of Europe’s innovation centres as it prepares to host the 2016 Web Summit, Europe’s largest technology event.

To fuel the expansion of start-ups and to attract foreign investors, the government lobbied to lure the annual Web Summit to Lisbon, away from its Dublin home.

Health authorities have closed down a Faro hotel that was the common factor in four cases of Legionnaires' disease detected in three Britons and a Spaniard, announced the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve in a statement issued on Wednesday, November 2nd.

"Following the notification of four cases of Legionnaires' disease epidemiologically associated with a stay in hotel establishment in Faro, prevention and control measures have been adopted,” which is a long-winded way of saying that the hotel has been evacuated and closed.

Three members of the new board at State-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos are prepared to quit if they have to submit their tax returns and asset statements to the Constitutional Court.

The Social Democrats and Left Bloc have presented a joint proposal to Parliament to lower these directors’ ‘millionaire salaries’ and force managers to submit their tax returns, as is expected of those in this category of public position.

Lowering the VAT rate for Portugal’s restaurant sector on July 1st appears to have done wonders for employment levels as according to the Secretary of State for Tourism 45,000 new jobs were created in the tourism sector up to September, more than half of them in restaurants and bars.

This cheering jobs analysis was based on data from Social Security with restaurants accountable for the creation of 28,000 new jobs between January and September - which, for the Secretary of State for Tourism, is a sign that the drop in VAT from 23% to 13% is having a positive impact on job creation and business confidence.