Portugal’s ‘Golden Visa’ property-for-residency scheme has helped one Lisbon-based estate agent sell over €35 million of property since the scheme started, but in the Algarve the French are moving in courtesy of France's penal tax rates.

Charles Roberts, Managing Partner of Fine & Country Cascais, says the agency’s average sale is €2.7million, “The demand comes 85% from China -  also from South Africa, Libya, and Lebanon. There is a significant amount of interest from the Middle East in countries like Egypt due to the political conditions.”

The Algarve is Portugal’s most important tourist region and quite rightly is showing off at the Lisbon Tourism Fair that started on Wednesday and runs until Sunday.

The tourism fair is one of the major such fairs in Europe and thousands of tourism sector companies gather, attracting 65,000 visitors last year.

Portugal's president, Cavaco Silva,  today showed no mercy to two advisors who disagreed with his point of view, he sacked them.

The advisers to the Presidency, Vítor Martins and Sevinate Pinto made the tactical error of signing a manifesto, among 68 others, calling for the restructuring of Portugal’s debt.

The parliamentary group of the Communist Party has questioned the government on the changes imposed by the government on taxation of agricultural activities, including the end of the VAT exemption scheme, which "represent a veritable death sentence" for thousands of producers.

Recently, a delegation from the Communist Party met olive oil producers from Tavira who exposed "a real problem" resulting from the changes in taxation.

Chinese teachers are on their way to England in order to help raise the standard of education in English state schools.

As many as sixty teachers from high-performing schools in Shanghai will use Chinese teaching methods in maths instruction.

Data protection regulations will be strengthened in Europe in order to ensure people have more effective control of their personal data online.

This is the first major overall by the EU since 1995.

Exports of Scottish salmon to the US have reached the £200 million mark after a sharp rise last year.

The figure has been hailed as a “major breakthrough” by the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation. Exports to the US have had a four-fold rise in just five years.

A small but vociferous group of protestors exercised their legal rights in Faro today calling for an end to a wage freeze in much of the Algarve's hotel sector, a freeze that has gone on for several years, in some cases 12 or more.

About three dozen employees in the hotel and tourism industry said they were afraid of being fired but had to protest against a situation that should not be allowed to continue.