Ryanair is to compel adults travelling with children younger than 12 to pay for an allocated seat.

The policy change comes into effect from 1 September.

The International Monetary Fund has been criticised by its own watchdog.

That independent body, the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), said that the Fund failed to see the scale of the eurozone crisis, was guilty of overly optimistic forecasts while giving the impression that it was treating Europe differently.

“No VAT rise this year” said the Minister of Finance in response to a recommendation from Brussels that a 1% rise on the lower two VAT rates would help balance the nation's books this year.

After the European Commission's decision not to punish Portugal and Spain by imposing a fine, Brussels followed up with a suggestion that the 6% and 13% rates of VAT should be hiked by 1% to augument State income this year.

...and so the bed news continues with Moody's reporting today that increased liabilities have heightened the risks for Portugal's weak banks and its government, with the State likely to need to raise more money, further increasing the debt burden from already high levels.

The ratings agency also notes the current uncertainty over Caixa Geral de Depósitos which needs an unquantified capital injection and suggests that the banking sector represents "a continuing risk to the government's own creditworthiness."

The boss of French automaker Renault has seen his salary slashed in the wake of a shareholders revolt.

Renault officials said on Wednesday that CEO Carlos Ghosn’s pay package would be reduced.

Italy is to combat its migrant crisis with an online glimpse of reality.

The €1.5 million “Migrant Aware” project was unveiled on Thursday by the government.

A policeman and two other people have been admitted to hospital suffering from bullet wounds after a shoot out on the Via do Infante motorway at 02:00 on Thursday morning, 28th July.

A gang of suspected drug traffickers travelling from Spain refused to stop at a police road-block and attenpted to drive through it. The incident took place near the Olhão-Moncarapacho exit of the Algarve's motorway.

The curator of a forthcoming exhibition of the works of Miró, still in State ownership after botched attempts to sell them off, Robert Lubar says the set of 85 pieces should stay in Portugal, be kept together and that the pictures deserve to be on permanent display.

The eagerly awaited Miró exhibition to take place at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Oporto, said "there is no doubt that the collection deserves to be exposed permanently in a top end Portuguese cultural institution."