Novo Banco has reached 73.4% of its target for bondholders to accept a discounted bond buyback - a vital condition that must be met before any sale can go ahead to US vulture fund, Lone Star.

Novo Banco’s management issued a statement on Friday that several bondholders has had meetings in London and the bank now had €4.6 billion of orders for early redemption and that the remaining holders have until Monday to accept the terms of the buyback. Currently, the bank is short of €1.66 billion of pledges.

Highly complex bickering has broken out at in EDP’s executive suite with the energy company’s president refuting each and every calculation that has been used to show he has overseen a €500 million consumer rip-off.

The head of EDP, António Mexia, has criticised the energy regulator’s maths as a "mere theoretical simulation" and that the calculations that show EDP has been gouging customers, "grossly violates the law."

The unemployment rate in Portugal, as at the end of July 2017, stood at 8.9%, according to the National Institute of Statistics. This is the lowest figure since November 2008, when the rate also was 8.9%.

The Secretary of State for Employment, Miguel Cabrita, believes that the numbers show that "the economy is more dynamic and that the government has made the right decision in restoring the incomes of families."

The government has asked the European Commission to investigate fuel prices in Portugal and their relationship to prices charged across the rest of the community as, compared to purchasing power,  Portugal’s are the highest in the European Union.

Brussels, keen to protect the business sector to the detriment of the public, has decided that there currently is no reason to carry out such an analysis, but will be available to do so if new evidence emerges that demonstrates that there is a problem in the Portuguese fuel market.

The Algarve has the highest valued property in the country, according to data released by the National Institute of Statistics.

In August this year the average price in Portugal for a square meter was €1,122 - according to the institute.

Four hooded and armed men robbed the Davis Rosas up-market jewellery shop in the Quinta Shopping complex at the entrance to Quinta do Lago this morning, Thursday 28th September.

According to TVI, the robbery happened at 10:30 am, when the four men entered the shop, brandishing guns and smashing display cases with a hammer. They stole luxury watches and jewellery.

“Portimão has now lost the support of cultural foundation Cultugarve due to lack of interest from the city hall,” comments the founder of Cultugarve, the Algarve’s premier cultural agenda organisation.

The main reason for this decision is that the foundation been trying to establish a working relationship with the city hall for over a year, with no success. Letters and e-mails have remained unanswered despite the foundation funding events itself for the benefit of locals and tourists.

The British government has awarded a further €175,000 to fund the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The ongoing Operation Grange so far has cost the British taxpayer the sterling equivalent to €12.5 million in the ten year search for any trace of the British girl who disappeared in Praia da Luz on May 3rd, 2007.