The Assistant Secretary of State for Finance, Mourinho Félix, has been strutting his stuff in the US and persuading CNBC television viewers that Portugal is doing well and the rating agencies are having an increasingly hard time justifying their 'junk' ratings for Portugal.

"I would say that the three credit rating agencies (who attribute a junk rating to Portugal) will find it increasingly difficult to explain how and why they maintained this rating for an extended period of time, when Portugal in 2017 is very different to Portugal in 2014," said Mourinho Félix.

Revenue from tourism in Portugal increased in February this year to €677.5 million, a 13% increase over the same month in 2016, according to a statement issued by the Office of the Secretary of State for Tourism.

The Bank of Portugal data for the first two months of 2017 show total revenue at €1.362 billion, 15.2% above January and February last year.

Notaries and Conservatórios soon will have to include bank account and cheque numbers used in property purchases, if Portugal adopts new EU regulations, according to a report in Jornal de Negócios.

The Tax Authority will be keen to thwart money laundering by making it easier to identify the money trail used to buy property. The move is part of a package of new regulations under the catch-all excuse attributing the rules to ‘new European guidelines to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.’

The telecoms regulator’s March report contains details of fines levied against operators for some of the most blatant cases of deception and customer abuse yet recorded in this overpriced sector.

NOS was fined €210,000 for aggressive commercial practices and for providing customers with completely false information about services and prices as well as non-compliance with its legal obligations related to the termination of contracts.

The Court of Leiria has sentenced a former president of the parish council in Famalicão da Nazaré for two crimes of embezzlement.

Abilio Romão received a four year sentence which was suspended, to the anger and astonishment of locals seeing a politician in a position of trust, walking free despite a conviction for the theft of parish funds.

Portugal's Civil Protection authorities have banned controlled fires in northern and central regions of the country due to a heightened risk of their getting out of control in the current dry, windy conditions.

In the Algarve, Portimão Civil Protection has sent out a warning that the condition are perfect for forest fires as, according to the weather man, the next few days will have maximum temperatures ​​between 28C and 30C, and relative humidity between 20 and 30%.

Pousadas de Portugal is 75 years old and to mark the event the President of the Republic presided over a celebration in the Palace of Queluz on Wednesday.

Portugal’s first Pousada, a "small unit with regional cooking," opened in Elvas in 1942 during the decades-long oppressive reign of Portugal's very own dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar.

A reduced sentence of seven years has been handed out to a Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) manager for "extremely serious" conduct that "encourages people to start saving their money under the mattress," according to the judge in Santa Maria da Feira court, Aveiro.

Fernando Gonçalves, a former bank manager of BPN in Oliveira de Azeméis, Oporto, also has to pay €5 million in compensation to the bank which was bailed out by the State with €1.8 billion of taxpayers' money in 2008 and later sold to Angola’s Banco BIC for €40 million.