The hopes of the Algarve’s hoteliers have been dashed as the expected flood of home grown tourists may be off target with 76% of those Portuguese interviewed said they will be staying at home over the Christmas period

Of these, 49% say they are staying at home as they are pretty much broke, and staying put will save what little money they have left.

The secret heart of the diamond trade is said to be Antwerp and specifically on Hoveniersstraat, an otherwise unremarkable street of office blocks.

Here in 1,500 diamond offices, eight thousand people, representing 160 nationalities, handle diamonds worth £85 million every day.  

About 85% of all the diamonds on the world market are bought and sold here and vaults contain gems worth hundreds of millions more.

The Greek budget for 2014 contains more than €3 billion in austerity cuts.

But it also predicts that Greece will exit its recession after six long years with growth of 0.6%.

The OECD, on the other hand, believes the economy will continue to shrink in 2014.

A former leader of the Labour Party in the UK believes that 50% should be the top rate of income tax.

Lord Kinnock said this would demonstrate the party’s “unerring” commitment to fairness.

The last Labour government raised the upper tax band from 40% to 50% in 2010 in response to the recession but the coalition has since cut it to 45%.

The existing tax on air travel is to be increased, as announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

Air Passenger Duty for people flying from the UK will go up for the sixth time in as many years.

The increase comes in on 1 April and will hit medium and long-haul flights.

Using pension figures to discern countries where expats chose to stay, Canada holds the number one position.

Expats signing up for their pensions in the countries they live in is one indicator of those who chose not to return to the UK.

The Duke of Westminster, long known as the UK’s richest property owner, has been knocked into fourth place as new money from Asia sweeps into the UK.

As Britain’s super-rich property market continues to boom, London has become “the real estate capital of the world”. The number of prestige houses being built in Westminster more than doubled in just the last two years.

Police were called to clear the public galleries in Portugal’s parliament today as anti-toll protestors took exception to the cursory treatment given to its 14,000 signature petition to have the tolls suspended.
 
Protesters shouted in parliament that the struggle will continue while the government machine stifled any sensible debate on the topic which has become a huge financial embarrassment to the ruling coalition.

The vote was taken along party lines, with some notable exceptions this time, but the day was lost for the redoubtable protestors and the expensive, loss making tolls stay for the time being.