The European Commission was not prepared for the request for financial assistance from Portugal and other countries during the 2008 financial crisis because warning signs had passed unnoticed, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors.

The auditors found that the Commission did succeed in managing assistance programmes which brought about reform, despite its lack of experience, and they point to a number of positive outcomes, but they also identify several areas of concern relating to the Commission’s “generally weak” handling of the crisis: countries treated differently, limited quality control, weak monitoring of implementation and shortcomings in documentation.

British buyers remain the largest group of foreigners who buy property in France, but overall figures show that sales to all foreigners have plummeted over the course of the last decade.

Of all properties sold last year, non-resident foreigners bought just one per cent.

Portugal's Justice Directorate has released figures that show the number of court cases for debt collection have declined since a 2013 scheme came into force that allowed many cases to be archived by the State if the accused has no registered assets.

Debt collection cases have declined since 2013 to a current total of 963,439 proceedings as at June 30, 2015, although how this is good news remains unclear.

A British expat has been arrested in Spain after confessing to having strangled his wife with a telephone cable.

Police and council chiefs have said Warren Lyttle, 50, admitted to killing wife Lisa Jane, 49, in a phone call to the emergency services from the sixth-floor flat where they had been staying for a month near Magaluf.

Serafim Martins, arrested last May on suspicion of fraud and laundering the proceeds of sales at his textile shop chain, has been in custody ever since but at last has a chance to argue his case in court.

The investigation into millions of euros of profits that Martins failed to declare involved a extraordinarily complex network of fictitious businesses and overseas bank accounts which enable him to channel millions into offshore tax havens.

A major earthquake measuring 6.1 hit the Mediterranean between Spain and Morocco early on Monday morning and just one day after a 3.9 quake hit the Algarve.

It struck at 4.22 am, 161 km south-east of Malaga, 164 km east-southeast of Gibraltar and 62km north of the city of Al Hoceima, Morocco, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

In contrast to the political mishmash created by the recent general election, Sunday’s presidential poll shooed in a clear winner who promises to be a force for stability.

The 20th President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is expected to play a crucial role in calming the country’s current volatile situation. He could be pivotal in Portugal’s political future.

Three people have been badly injured in a head-on collision involving two cars on Saturday morning near Zoomarine, Guia, on the EN125.
 
Two Swedish tourists in a rental car were in a collision with a BMW driven by a British expat said to be in his 80s.