The former mayor of Tavira and then of Faro formally has been accused of the crime of malfeasance* in public office due to urban licensing irregularities in 2007, when he was president of Tavira council.

The charges have been filed by the Department of Investigation and Penal Action in Évora and appear on its website, although not mentioning Correia by name, referring to ‘a former mayor of Tavira council.’

The Minister of the Environment today said that it was ironic that the demolitions on the Ria Formosa islands had been halted so as to preserve a species such as the chameleon as he believes that the habitat for this and other creatures will be improved when all the demolitions have taken place.

"It is precisely the renaturalisation of the Ria Formosa islands that will allow us to preserve all species," said the minister in a weak response to the suspension of the demolitions, adding that the government will appeal the decision made last Friday.

Convictions of internet “trolls” in the UK have increased ten-fold in the last decade.

Section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act used to prosecute the sending of “grossly” offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages has seen 1,209 people found guilty. Another 685 were cautioned.

In the face of sharp criticism over the appointment of Bank of Portugal governor Carlos Costa for a further term, the PM has decided that the matter will be debated in parliament after all.

News last Friday that Pedro Passos Coelho and Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque had offered Costa a continuation of his post from June this year set alarm bells ringing across Portugal's financial community and media, both fully aware of Costa’s track record of ineptitude when handling the regulation of Portugal’s financial sector.

The world-renowned Kimberley diamond mine has been put up for sale.

De Beers, the world’s largest diamond mining company, announced the sale of its oldest mine.

Bank of Portugal formally has accused 18 Banco Espírito Santo managers of ‘ruinous management.’

The regulator now has evidence that the BES chief executive Ricardo Salgado ordered that the accounts of Espírito Santo International should be doctored and that he lied to the parliamentary commission of inquiry.

The weak economy in France has given rise to makeshift mechanics creating a black market for car repairs.

All over greater Paris as well as in the rundown housing estates surrounding many French cities, amateur repair ‘shops’ spring up in the open air as well as in underground car parks, disused factories and warehouses and even supermarket parking areas.

The inhabitants of Farol on Culatra island in the Ria Formosa have reacted with understandable joy and relief as the anxiously awaited ruling from Loulé court is in, and it calls an indefinite halt to the programme of property destruction by Polis Litoral Ria Formosa.

Loulé’s administrative court has stopped the demolition programme of houses making up the community of Farol due to a rare and rather lovely chameleon which needs its habitat protecting, its habitat being the gardens and greenery in and near the islanders’ homes.