The Judicial Police have arrested the former president of Fernave, a subsidiary of national railway company Comboios de Portugal, on suspicion of embezzlement and abuse of power in dealings with Angola.

“The Judicial Police, through the National Anti-Corruption Unit, as part of an investigation led by the Lisbon prosecutor, stopped at Lisbon Airport the former president a public transport company for crimes of embezzlement and abuse of power in a cooperation with Angola," read a police statement.

PEPEX, the new ‘pre-executive extra-judicial procedure’ that enabled creditors to find out in advance whether debtors have assets, has been used to good effect by Portugal’s un-loved telecommunications companies.

Operational since November 2014, the extra-judicial procedure that allows creditors to know whether those who owe them money have assets to nab, and evaluate whether it is worth going to court, so far has kept 30,000 customers out of court as there have been no assets registered to seize and liquidate.

The Algarve has been anticipating a fire as the countryside is tinder dry and winds continue to sweep across the region, ready to fan any blaze.

This afternoon the wait was over as a large area of farm and scrubland rather too close to Vilamoura for comfort, caught fire, triggering a huge and successful emergency action from firefighters and the civil protection agency.

To the intense irritation of those companies forced to foot the bill, airports operator ANA has announced a further series of above inflation price hikes for those companies operating at Portugal’s airports.

French owned ANA has proposed an average increase of 2.93% in airport charges for 2016 and justifies this figure by its investment “exceeding €250 million over the next four years to respond to the increased traffic.”

The Spanish economy outperformed the eurozone’s other big economies last month.

The country is the fourth largest economy in the euro area and it experienced a 1% growth at the start of the third quarter, boosted by the healthy performance of its services sector.

From March, to May, to August, the opening date for the Faro bypass was always a vague, elfin concept until now when even the myopic management at Infraestruturas de Portugal can see that the section of road that has been under construction for several years is at last being swept clean in preparation for opening.

Local media has been briefed that the road will open next week and on inspecting the work in progress today for once this may be closer to the truth, closer certainly than previous excited announcements from a road company that does not like to rush things.

Ryanair claims to have carried more than 10 million international passengers in July, boasting that it is the first airline to do so in one month.

The Dublin-based no-friller flew 10.14 million customers last month, an increase of 11% from July 2014.

The Born Free Foundation today welcomed a recommendation by the Federation of Veterinarians for Europe (FVE) for all European countries to ban the use of wild mammals - such as lions, tigers and elephants - in travelling circuses.

The powerful statement, made by the group which represents 46 national veterinary organisations across 38 European countries, recommends “all European and national competent authorities to prohibit the use of wild mammals in travelling circuses across Europe since there is by no means the possibility that their physiological, mental and social requirements can adequately be met”.