The decline of Spain’s population deepened when more deaths than births were recorded in the first six months of 2015.

Deaths exceeded births by more than 19,000 in the first half of the year.

The Municipal Assembly of Lagos has voted by a large majority to demand the abolition of tolls on the Via do Infante.

The proposal still had one councillor voting in favour of the tolls, and one abstention, but the remaining 23 voted to demand the scrapping of the toll system.

Barclays is to pay €237 million to an Italian bank to offload Barclays’ branches in Italy.

Che Banca!, a subsidiary of Mediobanca Group, will take over the 89 branches and 220,000 customers. Its plan is to integrate them into its existing network.

Aljezur council's mayor has expressed his 'total opposition' to the planned conversion of his patch of the Algarve into an oil and gas production zone.

Just days after Vila do Bispo council held an historic vote to reject the government’s authorisation of its land for oil and gas exploration, Aljezur mayor José Amarelinho has stated that he has requested an urgent meeting with João Pedro Matos Fernandes, the new Minister of the Environment, so he can express the views of his constituents that a local oil industry would present an economic, social and environmental risk to the Aljezur council area.

A process of impeachment has been started against the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.

The president of the lower house of Congress, Speaker Eduardo Cunha, opened impeachment proceedings after having accepted a petition to start the procedure on the basis of alleged financial irregularities in Ms Rousseff’s public accounts.

Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien had suspended the offer for sale of his Quinta do Lago resort after bids fell short of the €220 million asking price.

O’Brien is worth an estimated $4.2 billion and became the third owner of Quinta do Lago in 1998, buying the property from British food entrepreneur David Thompson for around €31 million.

In a taste of things to come, claims of ‘against the public interest’ already are being levelled at TAP's new managers Gateway as it plans to end long-haul flights to and from Oporto’s airport.

The mayor of Oporto, Rui Moreira, said this evening, "From what I know, the shareholders of TAP want the long-haul flights to stop using Francisco Sá Carneiro airport. For long-haul TAP flights, passengers will have to go down to Lisbon on the old Embraer fleet run by Portugalia.”

Olhão’s council-owned water services company was granted €500,000 in 2013 to sort out the city’s long standing and increasing problem with sewage flowing uninterrupted into the Ria Formosa.

News today that Ambiolhão has spent just over half of this amount in two years will not impress locals and businesses that are dependent on tourists and their repeat visits.