Portugal’s Environment Minister, João Matos Fernandes, has announced the way in which department will spend €3.5 million to increase the capacity of eight reservoirs. He also plans to refill the reservoir at Monte da Rocha where the water volume is down to 8% of capacity.

The Government spend, now that water levels are at historic lows, aims to improve the water quality so that more of the total volume in the reservoirs is useable.

Portugal had the fourth largest budget surplus in the eurozone between the second and third quarter last year, according to eurostat figures, out today.

The third quarter budget surplus was the highest in 23 years, with the eurostat data showing the relative position of Portugal within the eurozone.

Ahead of launching new legal proceedings against Banco de Portugal, the Novo Note Group’s coordinators – Attestor, BlackRock, CQS and PIMCO – have written the below article that outlines the negative impact the retransfer has had on Portugal and the need for urgent action:

Portugal’s return to the capital markets in September was widely heralded as a sign of the country’s recovery coming of age – it has now won back its investment-grade credit rating from S&P and Fitch, with sovereign bond yields falling to their lowest level in almost three years as a result.

A driver, taken ill at the wheel, lost control of his car which crashed into an electricity pole in Lagos.

The accident happened near the Intermarché supermarket.

Olhão’s 'Berlin Wall,' the name given to the on:off series of impediments that have been erected to stop pedestrians crossing the railway line, as locals have been doing since March 28th 1904, is to be reopened on February 1st, after a month of being closed - and two years of being open.

In the cat and mouse game with railway company Infraestruturas de Portugal, the town hall has received an extension to a two-year special licence that allowed locals to cross the railway line, but only until 31st December 2017.

The Government is considering using Civil Protection helicopters and drones clock speeding drivers, installing more radars and blocking mobile phone signals for those driving.

The Secretary of State for Civil Protection, Jose Artur Neves, spoke to journalists after a presentation on a study on drivers at the Automobile Club of Portugal and outlined new measures to counteract the "worrying" increase in the number of road deaths last year.

Beja court is not renowned for moments of dark humour. That all changed this week when the director of psychiatry at Beja Hospital was asked to carry out a psychiatric evaluation of a dead body.

According to Ana Matos Pires, she received the official court letter in which a "psychiatric expert evaluation of a dead person" was requested, something that is physically impossible to achieve, as she explained in response.

Portugal’s councils have rejected the new law that obliges them to clear-up forest areas if landowners do not carry out this vital fire prevention work.

The National Association of Portuguese Municipalities has requested an urgent meeting with the Government to hammer out a compromise.