Deepening concern over the possibility that the US vulture fund, Lone Star, may gain control of Novo Banco, unions and left wing luminaries are increasing the pressure on the government and the Bank of Portugal to opt for a "transitional nationalisation."

The National Union of Banking Staff and Technicians has added its influence to those calling for an end to the current long-running and seemingly haphazard negotiations that have seen Portuguese contenders drop out of the running, China’s Minsheng head the list only to fail due to a lack of funds and now, Lone Star, in the front running despite its track record of buying undervalued assets and selling them on as soon as it can sniff a decent profit.

Four Portuguese nationals have died in France after a coach left the road. A further 28 Portuguese were injured, among them a child of two years of age, in an accident early on Sunday morning on the RN79, the notorious ‘road of death.’

The coach was taking Portuguese workers back to Switzerland after the holidays but left the road in Charolle, in eastern France at around 04:30 at a time when the road was especially dangerous due to sub-zero temperatures.

Portfuel, the company owned by Algarve millionaire Sousa Cintra, has little chance of winning its legal challenge to recover costs after the government acted to cancel its two onshore oil and gas exploration and extraction licenses.

The pugnacious Portfuel boss obtained the concession licenses under highly suspicious circumstances as his newly formed company lacked the necessary three year trading and safety record, was the only bidder and was handed the concessions on a plate.

Portugal’s unemployment rate was down to 10.5% at the end of November 2016, according to a provisional figure from the national Statistics Institute (INE).

The November figure for 2015 was 12.3% when the socialist government took over from the right-of-centre Passos Coelho coalition.

Portugal is now a worldwide ‘must do’ destination for backpackers with the Algarve’s top destination of Lagos entering the Top 100 cities visited.

Lisbon registered a growth of 6% in hostel demand and maintained its 12th position of the backpackers’ list of most visited cities in the world.

The lumps of congealed palm oil washed up along the beaches of the Ria Formosa barrier islands has been cleared up in an efficient, labour intensive operation that much relied on volunteers.

Thanks only to the willingness of the public to help the authorities, the polluting tide of palm oil is no longer visible, while the search is on for the tanker skipper who thought it a good idea to flush his tanks off the Algarve's coastline.

The Algarve’s hoteliers have been taking full advantage of the laws of supply and demand with the average summertime price for a double room topping €200.

The average price over the full year was €69, up from €60 in 2015 - a growth of 14.2%.

The Diário Digital online news service has closed down after 17 years “due to a lack of financial viability.”

Pedro Curvelo, the last acting director, announced the end of the 'online only' service which was launched in July, 1999 and struggled through the recession losing money as it went.