Vila Real de Santo António council completed vital sewage treatment works nearly a year ago, but as the government has failed to let the European Court of Justice know, a huge fine has been levied.

Vila Real council told the government that the work was finished and sewage no longer was being poured in to the Guadiana.

France could be poised to fine Apple €1 million for not decrypting one of its smartphones if a proposed amendment to French law is approved.

The proposed law could impose fines on US companies Apple and Google if they refuse to open access into smartphones which belong to terrorists.

Portugal’s restaurant association boss said today that "Obviously that prices in restaurants will drop," referring to the July 1st drop in VAT on food from 23% to 13%.

José Manuel Esteves said that his conclusion is categorical with customers soon to enjoy cheaper meals, even though the VAT on most drinks will remain at the higher rate.

Morocco has promised Germany that it will accept the return of its citizens whose asylum applications have been rejected.

The German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere flew to Rabat with the precise intention of pressing the Moroccan government into cooperation.

A Portuguese fishing tycoon known as the ‘Codfather’ has been arrested in the US for fraud and will appear in court later this week.

The case involves conspiracy, alleged false accusations, the illegal capture and sale of protected species and a Portuguese 'rags to riches' multi-millionaire.

John Hodgson, the aggressor in a violent incident that left a 23-year-old Portuguese brain dead in 2011, has been sentenced to seven years in jail.

Hodgson again failed to turn up in Portimão court which found him guilty of grievous bodily harm to Ricardo Teixeira who later died.

The eurozone’s drooping economy has brought the area back into deflation.

Prices fell by 0.2% in the year to February, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat.

Appealing a 10-year jail term for qualified fraud and money-laundering, Duarte Lima - the former PSD MP wanted by Interpol - may finally be tried in Portugal for the murder Brazilian authorities claim he committed in 2009.

Lima has been eluding Brazilian justice due to a clause in the constitution which prevents extradition between Portugal and its South American ‘cousin’ for anything other than cases of terrorism or international organised crime.

Qualified murder, as Diário Económico explains today, escapes either classification.