Brazilian telecoms company Oi has confirmed that Espirito Santo Group’s Rioforte subsidiary has failed to repay an €879 million bond owed to Portugal Telecom, despite a week’s extension to the deadline.

Oi and Portugal Telecom are merging and the Oi board of directors has watched in shock as Portugal Telecom is caught in the crossfire of the Espirito Santo meltdown, leaving its carefully constructed deal with some major structural weaknesses.

Maria Luís Albuquerque, Portugal’s Finance Minister, is the hot favourite to become a European Commissioner.

Albuquerque’s name has been sent to Brussels and she is widely tipped to take up the post.

An ‘international tender’ for the establishment of a Network of Private Communications for the Regional Government of Madeira, has been awarded to a company that is owned by the island's regional government which has been led by the controversial politician Alberto João Cardoso Gonçalves Jardim since 1978.

The contract was awarded to EMACOM-Telecommunications Madeira Unipessoal Lda, according to a resolution spotted in the Official Journal of the autonomous region.

Which? has accused Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s of misleading their customers by creating “special offers” which are no offers at all.

All three retailers were found to discount products and leave them at a lower price for a far longer period than they were at the original price.

The mentality of employers in the UK towards youth employment has improved in the space of a few years.

Employers are now helping to tackle the problem of youth unemployment instead of casting blame on “clueless” school leavers.

Pyramid shaped tea bags are superior to other types, according to the Advertising Standards Agency.

The British agency has ruled that it is the pyramid bag which is more effective in that it allows the leaves to better infuse the tea.

The work to renovate the EN125 road, winding across the Algarve through towns and villages now choked with traffic, should be completed "in 2016" - no month given.

This is the promise of Estradas de Portugal which yesterday presented the schedule of works to the Algarve Mayors Group, AMAL.

As widely predicted, Loulé Council has decided not to host the popular ‘White Night’ event this year, due to ‘financial reasons.’

In today's statement, which guaranteed the return of the event in 2015 as a sop for the locals, Loulé council stated that "this decision lies primarily with the financial legacy left by the previous executive, in the order of €80 million of liabilities, and accordingly this event would have had a major financial impact on the city council budget."