Portugal's Minister for the Economy Pires de Lima said he has not discussed layoffs at TAP, after the politically disastrous and expensive ten day strike by pilots, but awaits with interest the downsizing plan to be presented by the president of the airline, Fernando Pinto.

Pires de Lima was questioned by journalists at the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the International Chamber of Commerce over how downsizing could be achieved with zero job losses.

The Uber web-based service that matches cars and drivers with customers in Lisbon and Oporto will continue to function until a further court decision into its legality.

Uber Inc was banned from operating in Portugal after a Lisbon Court accepted an injunction filed by Antral (the taxi drivers association) but Uber Portugal did not remove its website or service as management said they had not officially been informed by the court of the suspension.

The eurozone recovery was given a boost as both Italy and France returned to growth.

In the first three months of 2015, the euro region grew by 0.4%, and while slim, this was a faster pace than that experienced in either the US (0.1%) or the UK (0.3%). It was also the most rapid rate in nearly two years.

Portugal’s quota of refugees is set to increase from 40 last year to over 700, figures to be confirmed at the end of May.

The opportunity to take a slice of the increasing number of refugees who successfully have managed to cross the Mediterranean to southern Europe is being handled by a European Emergency Mechanism which announced the numbers on Wednesday.

British motorists are increasingly keen to purchase cameras for their cars after hearing that UK car insurers will accept footage as evidence when a claim is made.

The news came from Nextbase, a car parts provider and manufacturer of ‘dash cams’. It said it had contacted 29 major British auto insurance companies and received confirmation from each one that they would accept dash cam evidence in the event of a claim.

The president of TAP says the recent strike has forced him to resize the company.

Fernando Pinto today sent a letter to TAP workers, praising those who worked to minimise the damage of the recent ten day strike but making it clear that he now will start to downsize the company.

Portugal’s nurses union announced today that five of its members and two operating assistants have contracted tuberculosis from a patient.

The union also accuses the Secretary of State for Health, Leal da Costa, of playing down the situation while health managers failed to follow standard set procedures.

Bottled water is on course to overtake sales of carbonated sugary soft drinks for the first time to become the world’s best selling drink this year.

Sales of bottled water have gone up by an average of 6% every year since 2008, according to market researchers Canadean. At the same time, sales of carbonated pop drinks grew, but by only 1.3% a year.