Those customers that have been financially disadvantaged by the loss of their savings in the BES 'commercial paper' scam, carried out by staff on the orders of the old hierarchy, refuse to go away and die even though this would an ideal solution for the Bank of Portugal's governor Carlos Costa.

Around 100 BES depositors who have had their money snitched away on the orders of disgraced Espírito Santo chief Ricardo Salgado, gathered today in front of the Novo Banco head office in Lisbon.

British expats seeking to buy property in the UK may now be able to get a mortgage through Skipton International.

Applicants must be aged 70 or under and meet strict income criteria to qualify. The loan must be repaid by recipient’s 85th year.

Portuguese police have seized 850 kilos of hashish off the Vilamoura coast and arrested three men, all non-Portuguese.

The sizeable discovery of drugs happened after an inflatable boat was intercepted and found to have the hashish hidden on board.

Portugal’s judicial authorities have confirms five searches and the seizure of family assets of those involved in the Espírito Santo case including family members and former directors.

Houses belonging to Ricardo Salgado (pictured) in Estoril and Comporta have been searched where jewellery, gold, tapestries, artwork and cash have been seized along with and other assets such as boats and cars.

So far, there have been 13 court decisions in favour of supermarkets which challenged the government’s new food safety fee, created by the Ministry of Agriculture to fund 'food safety.'

The fee, based on the size of each supermarket, has been challenged by all the big supermarket chains.

Prices in Portugal are set to rise as the annual inflation rate went up by 1% in May this year.

This was against a eurozone average rise of 0.3%.

Angola’s capital city, Luanda, remains the most expensive city in the world for expats.

The league table of the priciest places to live was reported in Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey which considers what more than 200 items cost, such as housing, transport, food clothing, household goods and entertainment in 207 cities around the globe.

Portugal’s under-18s are to be banned from buying alcohol from July 1st in a government attempt to reduce long-term alcohol dependency.

The law now published in the Government Gazette makes it illegal for under-18s to purchase spirits, wine and beer. Current regulations allow those over 16 to buy wine and beer.