After a sustained four-year campaign by locals and celebrities alike, the Scottish company Cairn Energy said it is to abandon its plan to prospect for oil 30 miles off the coast.
Approval had been granted in 2011 by Madrid which has been eager to reduce Spain’s 80% reliance on imported oil. Locals, however, were resolutely opposed, concerned that the work would harm the environment and tourism.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has chosen to keep quiet about the TAP privatisation suspension but did make several comments today including that the government will come up with a well-reasoned counter argument to yesterday’s Supreme Administrative Court decision.
The government line is that the sale of TAP is ‘in the public interest’ and the PM said to journalists today that he hopes that the privatisation does not get derailed as “the process of privatisation is essential to save the company."
HSBC is to pay a cool 40 million Swiss francs (£28m) to Swiss authorities in order to end the money laundering investigation into its private bank in Geneva.
The money will close the investigation into “suspected aggravated money laundering” without admission of guilt.
Portugal’s communist party has weighed into the Dona Ana beach controversy, demanding that the Lagos beach remains much as it is and that the current destruction should be halted right away.
In April, Portuguese Environment Agency contractors started to 'remodel' the famous beach, recognised as one of the finest in the world, to "ensure the safety of persons and property."
Monarch airline has announced that it expects to be back into profit this year after skirting around the precipice of collapse just eight months ago.
The restructuring undertaken by the carrier has so far reduced losses by £40m but it also resulted in the axing of 700 jobs and pay reductions of 30% for pilots.
Consumer association Deco today expressed "some concern" about an increase in consumer credit which has returned to the worrying levels of 2011.
The orgaisation’s concern is for overstretched households and the "many difficulties" that the country still faces.
The OECD has reduced its forecast for global growth for 2015 and 2016.
It now estimates expansion will be 3% this year, followed by 3.8% growth in 2016. Earlier it had predicted growth of 4% and 4.3% respectively.
A basic error by the Secretary of State for Transport has led to the Supreme Administrative Court having to suspend the privatisation of TAP.
The Peço a Palavra movement which included the civic movement Não TAP os Olhos, today announced that the privatisation of TAP officially is suspended as their injunction was upheld by the highest court in the land.
