The French economy rallied over 2015 allowing the country to close its books with a 1.1% increase.

It was the largest leap in four years after three long years of stagnation.

The word in Lisbon is that the VAT reduction for restaurants is only on sales of food, not on accompanying wine, beer and spirits.

The country’s restaurateurs had pinned their hopes and investment plans on a reduction in both aspects of a good meal but the government, under early pressure from Brussels to fill a €700 million income gap, may be trying to weasel out of its pre-election promise.

The world’s first driverless bus has been trialled on public roads in the Netherlands.

The electric WePod shuttle bus went on Dutch public roads on Thursday. On board were six passengers who were taken on a short ride back and forth along the side of a late in the central Dutch agricultural town of Wageningen.

When Santander Totta bought Banif at the very end of December 2015, it was worth €600 million, somewhat more than the €150 million purchase price.

Banif’s package of assets and liabilities that the state sold to Santander Totta had a book value of €600 million at the time the deal was done - hence the price paid was at a whopping 75% discount, according to a report in Jornal de Negócios today.

Spain’s economy ended the year with a grand finale result of an enviable 3.2% growth in 2015, according to official statistics.

It was the second consecutive year of growth.

Portugal's Public Ministry finally has charged six defendants, including four former directors Banco Privado Português (BPP), of qualified tax fraud, abuse of trust and money laundering, crimes allegedly committed between 2003 and 2008.

According to the District Attorney General for Lisbon, the case which started in 2009 involves Joã Rendeiro (the bank’s former president) and former directors Paul Guichard, Salvador Fezas Vital and Fernando Lima, among others.

British expat Nigel Jackson today was found guilty of murdering Brenda Davidson, 72, at their home in Alcalar, Portimão, and of burying her body in the garden in November 2014.

Jackson had been charged with murder, desecration of a body, larceny, IT and telecoms fraud and two counts of misusing Davidson's bank card.

The Riverside Park in Faro will soon be maintained and cleaned by a private company under a contract for services concluded last Saturday between the municipality and Elogioverde - Construção e Manutenção de Jardins, Lda.

This contract was needed as the warranty in place from the company that built the park, Polis Litoral Ria Formosa, had ended.