Spain has begun to evaluate the impact that whirlwind tourism is having on the country.

Fate conspired to deliver a bountiful year, the best tourist season in 15 years, with visitors seeking not only sun and sea but also safety from terror incidents.

Wind power in Spain is sufficient to provide energy to nearly 30 million homes every day.

Last November a night time record was set of 70% of Spain’s electricity needs being met which followed a January 2015 day time record of 54%.

Iraq has failed to answer Portugal’s request for the lifting of diplomatic immunity from the twin sons of the ambassador to Portugal who beat a young man from Pont de Sor, Alentejo.

The Iraqi embassy said today that "it is still too early to make a decision regarding the application to waive immunity."

Of every 100 marriages in Portugal, 70 end in divorce, according to a study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

The report, published for European Statistics Day on October 20th, showed Portugal had beaten off the opposition to lead the field in marital disharmony.

The French version of Top Gear includes a special hour-long overseas episode featuring a trip through the western Algarve.

There are only two episodes in the current series that have been made outside notoriously insular France, one in Japan and the other featuring a journey from Faro to the Costa Vicentina.

The pride and joy of the Algarve’s regional tourism board, the replica caravel Boa Esperança, is on a tour of duty in the northwest of Spain including a stop-off in the harbour of the city of Vigo whose harbour authorities are less than impressed with Portuguese seamanship.

The caravel was meant to stop once it reached Vigo harbour but failed to, suffering what the local newspaper politely called ‘an engine problem’ which causing the ship to plow into a metal walkway at full speed ahead.

The population of Spain could fall by more than 10% by 2050 because of the country’s low birth rate and long life expectancy.

The demographic depopulation was set out by the country’s national statistics agency on Thursday which said current trends “will lead to 5.3 million fewer inhabitants”.

A high court in Spain has invalidated the ban on bullfighting which the regional government of Catalonia had introduced in 2010.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the “preservation of common cultural heritage” was the sole preserve of the state.