Portugal’s increasingly paranoid treasury has ensured that deposits of €5,000 or more paid into an account other than the customer’s own will automatically trigger a referral to the Bank of Portugal. The reason give is the fight against money laundering.

The new rules come into force in February this year as depositors of €5,000 or more into a bank account other than their own will have to be identified. Those making transfers of €15,000 or more from their own account and the recipient of such largesse both will come under increased scrutiny.

Passengers who were affected by flight cancellations on 24 December to Gatwick are being offered £100 good will payment by Gatwick Airport. It's not being well publicised in the UK let alone here in Portugal, and may brighten up some travellers day!

Extraordinarily adverse weather across the region, including exceptionally heavy rain, caused all local waterways around Gatwick Airport to flood.

The captain of the cruise ship Funchal decided to make an unscheduled visit to Portimão for the safety of his passengers and crew as the west coastal seas to Lisbon are too heavy for comfort.

Good news indeed for the shops and cafes of Portimão as 400 passengers were expected to spend some retail and recovery time in the Algarve in a city that has set itself up as a port of call on many cruise company schedules.

The number of people in the world classified as obese has reached nearly one and a half billion.

The figure has quadrupled since just 1980, according to the UK think tank Overseas Development Institute.

This means that one in three people in the world are overweight.

The UK’s frozen food retailer, Iceland, was hit by the tax man after it spent £4 million for a trip to Disney World in Florida.

The company had treated 800 of its managers to a five-day trip which took in Universal Studios and the Kennedy Space Centre as well as the Disney attraction.

Argentina has been increasingly nipping at Britain’s heels over the Falkland Islands, deeming Britain a colonial aggressor.

Only last week a lengthy denunciation from the country’s foreign minister said: “the lion roars, but does not inspire fear” over “the colonial and military occupation of Argentine territory”.

Portugal's 2013 tax amnesty saw €1.253 billion paid to the state by its debtors with the extension to the end of December encouraging payment of a further €400 million.

Altogether, the tax amnesty measure resulted in a cash inflow of €1.253 billion of which €763.5 million hit the state's bank account by the initial deadline of December 20th 2013, with an additional 40% paid by taxpayers in the extra days allowed to the end of that month.

The BMW Group closed 2013 with record sales in Portugal. In the year just ended BMW sold 7,629 cars, an increase of 20% compared to 2012.

The total was bolstered by good sales of the highly popular Mini which were up 18% on 2013.

BMW gained its best market share ever in Portugal at 7.2% making it the forth best selling brand in the country. The Mini’s market share of 1.2% was its largest ever.