U.S. website 'The Inertia' is the reference point for tens of thousands of surfers worldwide. In a December report, the waves of Praia da Rocha gain a special mention and a series of shots by a local specialist surf photographer.

The observations are contained in an article entitled "Southern Portugal Steals Nazaré’s Thunder" and brings together a series of images by João Bracourt, aka Brek, regarded as one of the best surf photographers in Portugal today currently residing in Lagos.

Aircraft Accident Investigation chief Alvaro Neves said today that the cause of the Monchique helicopter crash was due to the aircraft hitting power cables. Neves added that this was a provisional finding as research was still being carried out but is looks pretty clearly to be the case.

As the final accident report will take one year to produce, initial findings have been published in case safety rules can be amended or improved.

Portugal's police operation last December saw 366 motorists done for drunk driving, 113 for driving without a license, 90 arrested for having current warrants out for them, 47 for drug possession, 43 for theft and robbery, 25 for disobedience when stopped, 24 for possession of illegal weapons and 19 for assaulting and/or injuring officers.

A banker on the run in the US was captured by police in a routine traffic check.

The fugitive is alleged to have faked his death in order to avoid charges of defrauding investors of $21 million.

Similar to concerns in the UK, politicians in Germany are nervously facing a possible influx of workers from Bulgaria and Romania.

Tensions have arisen in the country’s new governing coalition over the question of potential “benefit tourism”.

Conservatives believe that extra measures should be taken to prevent abuse of the welfare system and to curb “poverty-driven migration in the EU.

The largest donation made in the US last year was from Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social media phenomenon Facebook.

Zuckerberg, 29, and his wife Priscilla Chan donated nearly $1 billion, the biggest public donation in the US.

In all, 15 people there donated $100 million or more to charity in 2013.

A cracking December has helped lift Portugal’s moribund car sales sector from its death bed.

An overall growth for last year of 11% is a surprising and very welcome result for those dealerships still in business.

Electricity consumption edged up 0.2% in 2013 after two years of decline but if variations in temperature and the number of working days are both taken into account, the growth was close to zero.

According to data from REN, which runs Portugal’s national grid, after a fall of 1.7% in electricity consumption in the first half of 2013 there was a recovery in the second half of the year which meant that the year overall saw a rise of 0.2%.