As if on cue after yesterday’s report that top legal expert Alexandre de Albuquerque had criticised the relentless action of the tax authorities as being ‘inhumane,’* a charity in Oporto has had its food supplies seized due to non-payment of motorway tolls.

The president of the social support association in Oporto ‘O Coração da Cidade/The Heart of the City’ said that the not-for-profit association, that every day manages to feed 457 poor families, cannot pay the debt to the authorities that led to the seizure of its donated food supplies.

Confidencial Imobiliário has launched a new residential price index which uses actual deal prices rather than the current habit of taking asking prices when publishing figures on Portugal’s property market.

According to the new index, the residential property market rose 1.2% last year after seven long years of decline during which prices dropped 21.8%.

After seven nightmare years, average incomes in the UK have finally made it back to where they were before the banking crisis, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

The IFS analysis said that household incomes were “finally strengthening” after the slowest recovery following a recession in history.  It said that recovery had been a “remarkable feature” of the plunge into economic woe.

As part of a Judicial Police investigation, the Director and a Head of Department at Social Security offices, a lawyer and two accountants have been arrested and premises raided as part of an anti-corruption operation.

The Department of Investigation and Prosecution (DIAP) operation centred on Lisbon and the police and Attorney General's Office confirmed that the searches had taken place at two accounting firms, offices, garages and corporate headquarters, "in the context of an investigation under the DIAP Lisbon for alleged corruption."

The annual Quality of Living Index which has just been published includes seven European cities in the top ten, with Vienna stealing the show for the very best.

According to the new report, Vienna offers its residents the best quality of life in the world. Zurich was awarded second place.

The main Algarve hotel association today blamed the Left Bloc for upsetting tourists for placing large posters that it says are critical of Portuguese and German governments.

The politcal message to be seen on hoardings near many of the Algarve’s key tourist developments has been 'causing concern' to German tourists, according to the association boss..

Preparations for "one of the largest exhibitions of wines" are underway by Lagoa council which is hosting the exhibition at the under-used Arade Congress Centre in Parchal this Easter.

"As Lagoa has one of the region’s high quality wine producers, which has won all kinds of regional, national and international awards, Lagoa Council’s mayor, Francisco Martins and his team feel satisfaction and pride in hosting the Lagoa Wine Show," according to the publicity.

Consumer champion DECO is taking on the laws used in the motorway tolls system whereby an 80 cent toll turns magically into a fine of between €25 and €125 .

DECO has complained to the Ombudsman against ‘excessive penalties’ for the non-payment of tolls on the old SCUT roads, which now are tolled motorways, and is pushing for a review by the Constitutional Court.