Within the 28 countries of the European Union, the study of the English as a foreign language was undertaken by an astonishing 96.7% of all lower secondary students in 2012.
English far outstripped the study of French (34%), German (22%) and Spanish (12%).
The French government has announced new laws designed to reduce the number of cigarette smokers in the country.
Smoking is the principal cause of death in France. Around 73,000 people die each year after contracting tobacco-related conditions.
Monarch airline reports that its staff have voted overwhelmingly in favour of pay cuts of up to 30%.
Its chief executive, Andrew Swaffield, said the vote was "a step forward" in the company's re-organisation.
The number of those unemployed and registered at the Employment Institute of the Algarve has dropped below 20,000 for the first time in three years.
The end of August total unemployed figure was 19,851 with a small majority being male (53.3%), and predominantly between 35 and 54 years (48.5%).
Portugal's socialist party leader, António José Seguro (pictured), has asked the Prime Minister to clarify, once and for all, the mystery surrounding payments from Tecnoforma and his salary status at the time.
"The first reaction that Passos Coelho had was to say that Parliament should clarify the matter, it is now the prosecutor that should clarify it. The country requires clarification," said Seguro who believes that "it is easy to verify whether the prime minister received money or did not during the time he was an MP."
The Minister of Education Nuno Crato announced today that he had accepted the resignation of Mário Agostinho Alves Pereira, after admitting that errors in the placement of teachers this year came from within his ministry.
Pereira, Director General of School Administration since 2009, took the blame for the chaos by incorrectly applying a formula rather than by applying some common sense to the annual turmoil caused when teachers are allocated jobs in a system that causes the maximum disruption for the maximum number of teachers each year.
Portugal's government has agreed a deal to raise the national minimum wage for an estimated 500,000 workers to €505 a month as from October.
The action results from an agreement between the government, unions and associations of various sectors to lift the rate from just €484 a month.
In April next year the Algarve Tourist Board is to host and promote an "Algarve Nature Week" which aims to be a showcase for the nature tourism sector and the start of an anual promotional push.
The vice president of the regional board, João Fernandes, said that management were planning a week in which nature tourism businesses can promote themselves to regional, national and international markets.
