With a recorded 132,000 visitors in ten days, the twelfth Silves Medieval Fair was claimed as a success by the council which said the event continues to grow and establish itself as one of the Algarve's most important summer events.

During the 10 days of ‘history recreated’ the organisers in the ‘Magic Capital of Culture’ counted in 236 exhibitors and participants such as artisans, merchants, mystics, and food sellers, with 22 groups performing on horseback and providing other forms of street entertainment.

Portugal’s taxi drivers union ANTRAL is threatening to hold demonstrations in September to highlight the encroachment of the web-based Uber car hire service into its members territory.

The second complaint from the union is that the government simply is not doing anything to uphold the court injunction that ANTRAL claims ordered a ban on Uber’s operation in Portugal.

There are hundreds of Gold shop operators who continue to operate without licenses.

This has cost the taxman a conservatively estimated €4.5 million so far, a figure based on an audit by the Finance Inspectorate which reports there are gold trading operators who have closed down their registered fiscal activity but continue to operate, paying no income tax, company tax and VAT.

A German company is to take over the running of 14 regional airports in Greece.

The sale of the rights to operate the airports for 40 years, worth some €1.2 billion, is the first privatisation Greece has been forced to make in order to meet the conditions of its third bailout loan worth €86 billion. The deal will also bring in €23 million every year in rent.

Struggling retail giant Asda has recorded its worst sales in its 50 years of operation.

It was the worst performance of the UK’s ‘big four’ who have all taken a hit from changing consumer preferences and the fierce price wars initiated to grab customers back from Aldi and Lidl which are said to offer goods at considerably less than Asda.

The well endowed Chinese insurer Anbang has slapped a €3.5 billion offer on the table to buy Novo Banco.

However there are conditions. The company is insisting on a discount if Novo Banco needs a capital increase greater than has been suggested by the Bank of Portugal.

The Gorringe bank, located 210 kilometres west of Portugal, between the Azores and the Strait of Gibraltar along the Azores–Gibraltar fault zone and is considered one of the most important underwater areas of environmental diversity of Europe.

One of the mountainous peaks, the Gettysburg Seamount, is just 25 metres below the ocean surface with a base 5,000 metres below sea level.

In excess of 4 million Portuguese now live outside of Portugal, according to the records held by consulates across the world.

The Emigration Observatory data released today show that the 27 major communities around the world there are 4.022 million citizens that hold, or are entitled to, a Portuguese passport.