It is the best performance by Portugal’s exporters so far this year as, according to data from the National Statistics Institute, imports have slowed and exports have risen significantly compared to October 2013.
 
October’s exports of goods increased 9.4%, the largest annual increase of 2014, with factories invoicing €4.638 billion. The imports of goods into the country increased just 1.2% enabling the overall balance of trade for the year to decrease by €190 million.

The world’s longest rail journey came to an end in Madrid this week after travelling 8,111 miles from China.

It is the first direct link between China and Spain. The maiden journey began 20 days earlier in Yiwu in eastern China and passed through six countries - Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France.

The black economy is nearing its full potential in Portugal with some €46 billion now estimated to be traded without trace or taxation.

Despite the political rhetoric, and the punitive weapons being employed by an increasingly despotic tax authority, the efforts are failing as the real unregistered economy has grown to the equivalent of 26.8% of GDP.

The Health Minister Paulo Macedo has admitted that the latest report on fraud within the national health service this year shows that €118 million has been fraudulently spirited away.

The internal investigation unit of the health service has looked into 61 cases and there have been 64 disciplinary procedures involving NHS staff following the uncovering of corrupt practices. Macedo did not say how many had been prosecuted.

A taxpayer in Fafe, Braga has waiting for a year and a half for a refund from Finanças.

The man has been waiting since April 2013 for the return of €76,808 incorrectly demanded by the Tax Authority, and is fed up with waiting. So much so that he has instructed a lawyer to proceed with a criminal complaint.  

Members of Scotland Yard's 'Operation Grange' team investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007 have been in Faro today to sit in on a series of interviews of witnesses, and to catch up with their Portuguese police contacts.

The team arrived at Faro at 09.20, among them Chief Inspector Andy Redwood who has been responsible for the British side of the investigation for the past three and a half years and who retires later in December, passing the case to DCI Nicola Wall.

The Association of Professionals and Real Estate Companies of Portugal (APEMIP) has called on the government to carry out an urgent audit of the estimated 1,900 Golden Visas issued to date.

The request comes in the wake of suspicions of corruption in the allocation of Golden Visas that has led to the arrest 11 people, including the president of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), and the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Miguel Macedo.

Investors from Abu Dhabi have shelled out no less than £370 million to buy New Scotland Yard.

The Abu Dhabi Financial Group spent £120 million above the expected price of £250 million to secure the purchase.