More houses were built in the UK since the start of the economic meltdown in 2007.

Figures show 133,670 homes were built in 2013, a jump of 28% over 2012.

The socialist party has urged the Government to extend the deadline for small farmers to sign up for a  new tax regime that may see many of traditional small farmers simply give up.

Socialist deputy Miguel Freitas today criticised the political machinations of Assunçao Cristas, Minister of Agriculture, in the fortnightly parliamentary debate.

The survivor of the December student drowing tragedy 'Dux' (Joao Miguel Gouveia) may not be the only witness to that night's events that have been surrounded by increasing suspicions of a prank gone wrong, a university initiation ceremony that led to disaster and many other suggested reasons why intelligent students would put themselves so obviously in harm's way on a night when the sea was producing huge waves at a beach notorious for its treacherous conditons.

'Dux' has been made an ‘arguido’ (defendant) in the case of the deaths at Meco beach, Sesimbra, according to a lawyer who claimed today that there were "at least 12 people" on the beach where the accident took place on December 15th last year.

"I'm not satisfied. Unemployment is still very high,” according to Portugal's prime minster in response to today’s Eurostat figures which showed the unemployment rate in Portugal fell to 15.4% in December 2013, the 10th consecutive fall.

Passos Coelho's curious admission of failure included a rare statement that Portugal had squandered opportunities created by European funds.

"I'm only working as a hospital director in the Algarve because I feel that in this role my experience and my knowledge can be very useful. It’s not for career reasons, it is not for the money, and it’s not that I like living away from my family which is in Lisbon while I try to run the Hospitals of the Algarve,” claimed Pedro Nunes, the President of the Board of Directors of the Hospitals of the Algarve (CHA), in a further example of his deluded management style, this time on a local radio station.

Over 100 hundred workers at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Vilamoura have yet to receive their Christmas subsidy pay for 2013, according to their trade union, the Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Industria de Hotelaria, Turismo, Restaurantes e Similares do Algarve (STIHTRSA).

The regional union coordinator, Tiago Jacinto, explained that there are more than 100 employees at the Crown Plaza Hotel that have not yet received their contracted payment and that he has requested as a matter of urgency a meeting with the hotel administration.

The European Commission says the UK is treating expats like “second class citizens” by denying them the vote.

Britain is “punishing” its expatriates for leaving the country by denying them the right to vote, the European Commission has said.

When Spain’s interior minister claimed the government was receiving divine intervention, an opposition party asked for clarification.

Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the minister, recently said that he was certain that Saint Teresa of Ávila was “making important intercessions” on Spain’s behalf “during these tough times”.

St Teresa, a Carmelite nun who died in 1582, is a popular saint in Spain.