The Deputy Prime Minister, Paulo Portas, said today that Portugal’s export figures for the third quarter are “fantastic” and that 2013 is clearly better than the best year ever.

Portuguese exports increased 5.8% in the third quarter with imports growing 3.6%, both compared to the same period in 2012.

Paulo Portas said the data shows "fantastic numbers," as "2012 was the best year ever for exports” and now "2013 is clearly above the best year ever.”

Seamus Montgomery, arrested in Essex back in 2010 for supplying fake British MoT certificates from his home in Alvor, Algarve, has been sentenced to a suspended sentence in a case that has been 'a great burden' on him and his wife.

Montgomery, now 70, admitted the charge of supplying false MoT certificates in a scam that ran for five years of more. He was in court with his wife Paula and he was given legal aid despite the huge sums raised by his criminal activities.

It was not revalent to the case in the UK whether any unsafe British registered vehicles with fake MoTs were involved in, or even caused crashes on Portugals' roads.

Portugal’s restaurateurs claim they are suffering discrimination and are to appeal to the Constitutional Court to force the VAT rate on meals back down to 13%. 

The restaurant owners movement claim that there is inequality as restaurant owners are not entitled to any unemployment benefits yet they are forced to pay social security like everyone else.

The movement's coordinator said that restaurant owners have been betrayed by this government which keeps promising to reduce the VAT rate from 23% to a more manageable 13%, yet has failed to do so.

José Manuel Durão Barroso, former Portuguese prime minister and current president of the EC, stopped short of criticising Portugal’s Constitutional Court, but warned of the ‘consequences of its decisions,’ and by describing those consequences, has attempted to discredit the court's role in the Portuguese political and legal system.

Barroso said that he never criticised Portugal’s Constitutional Court but warned that its decisions over unconstitutional parts of Portugal’s financial aid program may have negative consequences in terms of economic growth and employment, and may hinder the return of Portugal to the international finance markets.

The Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs, Paul Nuncio, claims that more than 140,000 taxpayers have made payments under the recently announced tax amnesty.

There has been "significant interest" from debtors keen to pay outstanding demands before getting into further trouble with court processes and interest charged.

A week after the ‘extraordinary settlement of debts’ scheme came into force, the Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs said that "the results achieved in the first week clearly exceed the initial expectations of the Government."

A Portuguese court had slammed Santander and its treatment of a business customer who was pushed into a complicated Swaps contract when all the management wanted was a loan.

The civil court in Lisbon said the €1.5 million fine reflected the 'speculative and illegal’ nature of the financial arrangement.

Pedro Marinho Falcão, the lawyer for the company that had complained said that this was the first time to his knowledge that any bank has been fined such a high amount.

The sturgeon are still juvenile but in good health, growing fast and when old enough will be able to produce high value caviar destined for the Algarve’s top level restaurants.

Ten top chefs recently visited Caviar Portugal which is well on the way to producing caviar, certainly an Algarve first.

"Chefs from renowned restaurants were on tour through the Algarve to visit different producers. They decided to come here to see what we were doing with our sturgeons,' according to one of the promoters of Caviar Portugal, Paulo Pedro.

GNR front line personnel are being taught English and German so they can interact with visitors and residents who lack skills in the portuguese language. Training sessions are taking place or scheduled in Portimão, Albufeira and Tavira.

Altogether about a hundred members of the Algarve GNR will take the language course.

In Portimão 20 officers already have started the 50 hour course in English and in Tavira the German course will start in early 2014 with 30 GNR students.