Kate and Gerry McCann said today they have "no doubt" that the Portuguese authorities will eventually reopen the investigation into their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

The owner of value clothes retailer Primark, which trades as Penny's in Ireland, today said it would continue to open new stores despite reporting a slide in full-year profits.

Further flight disruptions were expected in European airspace today as a plume of volcanic ash snaked its way through southern France, Switzerland and northern Italy, the European air management agency in Brussels said.

WIND energy company Airtricity — now owned by Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) — has entered two separate joint ventures to develop wind farms in Portugal.

Severe storms this week have destroyed more than 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) of the port wine crop in 17 parishes in northern Portugal, the Agriculture Ministry said.

MILLIONS of people living in Europe, Africa and Asia watched as the moon passed across the face of the sun, causing an annular eclipse in which only a fiery solar rim can be seen.

London swings it as the EU’s richest region, according to EU data released today, while Poland had five of its regions languishing at the bottom of the bloc’s wealth table.

Rescue services launched a search early today for a fishing boat with six men on board that went missing in stormy weather off northern Portugal, officials said.

SEVERE winter weather has wreaked havoc across Europe, with nearly 200 people freezing to death in Poland, two killed by storms in Germany and floods threatening several European countries.

Two bodies presumed to be from the bridge collapse in northern Portugal have washed up more than 125 miles away in north-west Spain.

Sixty-seven people are feared dead after a bus plunged into a river when a bridge collapsed in northern Portugal.