Luanda, May 21 (Lusa) - A citizen of Gambia was detained at Luanda airport on Sunday as he attempted to board a plane for South Africa with more than $2 million (Euro1.5 million) in his backpack, the Jornal de Angola newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Four airport staff are also in detention, under suspicion of having attempted to facilitate his departure.

Under Angolan law, residents and foreign citizens may not leave the country with more than $15,000 in cash.

According to the airport's director, the Gambian was stopped as he was stepping out of the transfer bus and heading for the steps up to the aircraft, because of his suspicious manner. He is now being held for interrogation, while the money is with customs officials and is to be passed on to Angola's central bank.

NME/ARO // ARO.

Maputo, May 21 (Lusa) - Mozambique's government dismissed as unsustainable the demands by doctors for a doubling of their salaries and danger money, even as they continued their five-day strike to press for better pay and conditions.

The main union, the Associação Médica, told Lusa on Monday that 90% of doctors were taking part in the strike, but the government said the impact was limited and that it had managed to find sufficient replacements to ensure most health units functioned more or less as normal.

The strike follows a similar one in January, ended by the signing of an agreement between the union and government. The union has since accused the government of violating the terms of that document, and rejected as inadequate the 15% pay increase recently announced.

At a news conference on Monday, a government spokesman said yielding to the strikers' demands would create still worse problems for the country, given its financial situation.

"The government decided that the salary increase for the doctors must be phased in, because otherwise we may not have the capacity to pay salaries halfway through and the situation will become more serious than it already is," said António Tchamo, minister for strategic management of mineral resources at the Ministry of Public Administration.

According to government sources, the plan is to increase doctors' salaries by 15% this year, 13% next and 13% in 2015, in order to gradually bring them more into line with those of judges.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health, said the union had failed in its objectives since the strike had not had a major impact on services, except temporarily in a few places. Francelina Romão said the ministry had also brought in medical staff from the Ministries of Defence and Home Affairs, medical students and Red Cross doctors to limit the strike's impact.

PMA/ARO // ARO,

Lisbon, May 21 (Lusa) - Portugal's situation is "clearly different" from that in Cyprus and its banks are "more solid" than six months ago, the chairman of one of the largest has said, in a bid to clear up misunderstandings arising from an earlier interview.

"Cyprus and Portugal have completely different situations - they're known and they're clear," Nuno Amado, chairman of Banco Comercial Português, told journalists after the bank's annual shareholder assembly on Monday. "The financial sector in Cyprus had an absolutely extraordinary dimension [and] a large part of the deposits were by non-residents. That is nothing like Portugal."

Nuno Amado made his comments as what he termed an "explanation" of an article published by the UK newspaper The Financial Times, headlined "Portugal's banks fear 'Cyprus virus'". The article quoted top Portuguese bankers, including Amado, as saying that customers were jittery in the wake of the recent Cyprus crisis, and as warning European Union officials to stop "playing with fire".

That was a reference to the initial decision by EU officials to scrap the 100% guarantee on bank deposits under Euro100,000, in order to help fund the country's bailout.

Amado's comments to the FT, he told journalists on Monday, were made on 2 May, when memories of the Cyprus crisis were fresh, and had nothing to do with the fundamentals of Portuguese banks.

"Unquestionably, they are today safer than they were six months ago, a year ago and two years ago," he said of Portugal's own institutions. "What we can't allow is decisions that increase people's level of insecurity in an unsuitable way, as happened with the first decision on Cyprus."

SMS/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 21 (Lusa) - Angola's opposition leader, Isaías Samakuva, expressed suspicions as as to the origins of the funds from Angola that have been used of late in acquiring goods and services in the Portugal.

"When activities of this nature are carried out in a climate of transparency ... there are no fears," the leader of UNITA told Lusa in an interview published on Tuesday. But, he added, "when things are done as they are done, that's worrying for Angola, above all because we don't know if these purchases [are made] in the name of the Angolan state or in the name of individual people."

He declined to say more, saying he was awaiting clarification from Angola's MPLA government.

Samakuva is in Lisbon at the tail-end of a two-week tour of the US and Europe. While in town, he is to meet the prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, and other party leaders, as well as representatives of business.

In the interview with Lusa, the UNITA leader said there is no freedom of expression in Angola.

"The regime has cut off the access of democratic forces to the press," he declared. "Journalists have been permanently persecuted and others have even died as a result of this persecution."

Last week, the Angolan goverment accused the weekly Folha 8 and broadcaster Rádio Despertar of "offensive and libellous" content against state institutions and officials, and of calling for "public disorder". In a statement quoted by the state news agency, Angop, the Ministry for the Media called on the two organs to change their approach and warning that, if they do not, it may take steps including the temporary suspension of broadcasts by the radio station and the publication of the newspaper.

This move by the government, Samakuva told Lusa, "only reflects its nature" because "the government or those who represent the government can't listen to voices against what they proclaim." Still, he maintained, "Angola is changing" and "the Angolan people won't allow this threat to be carried out."

Samakuva said his tour of the US and Europe had gone well, but that he noted that much of what "the international community" knows about Angola is gleaned through "propaganda" by the government. It thus "does not know about the people's suffering" because "state media is completely controlled by the government," he concluded.

If there is to be conflict in Angola in future, the UNITA leader said, it is "a conflict between the people and the MPLA, between the people and the government." A conflict between UNITA and the government "will never exist again in Angola," he affirmed, while acknowledging a "latent tension that rises with every day that passes."

PJA/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 21 (Lusa) - Portugal's state publisher and national mint, the Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda, is on Wednesday to unveil a special Euro2.5 coin dedicated to the late José Saramago, the only Portuguese-language winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The new coin, made of gold and silver, forms part of the 'European Writers' collection in the 'Europe' series, in which 10 European Union member states are taking part, dedicated to writers that include Miguel de Cervantes, Stefan Zweig, James Joyce and Gustave Flaubert. The coins are only valid in the country where they were issued.

According to a statement released by the Portuguese mint, the new coin - designed by Portuguese sculptor Vítor Santos - features "a stylised image of the face of José Saramago, as well as an allusion to the distinction made in 1998 by the Swedish Academy to the Portuguese writer". Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998.

The new issue is to be unveiled at 6pm on Wednesday at the Casa dos Bicos in Lisbon, the headquarters of the Fundação José Saramago, a foundation set up by the writer and his wife, Spanish journalist Pilar del Rio.

On Tuesday the same building is to host the launch of a theatre project dubbed "A viagem do elephante" (The elephant's journey) that is to re-enact with a giant stage prop the writer's last novel of the same title. The novel itself is a fictionalised account of the real journey taken across Europe by an elephant, Solomon, gifted to the emperor of Austria by his uncle, Joáo III of Portugal, in the 16th century.

The first public presentation of the project and stage prop is to be on 29 June in Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo on the border with Spain. From there it is to continue on to Sabugal, Fundão and Castelo Branco, among other places in Portugal, and Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain and other European cities the real elephant is believed to have passed through.

The elephant is to make its appearance in Lisbon on 14 and 15 September.

NL/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 21 (Lusa) - Newspaper "Diário de Notícias" reports that manager José Mourinho is leaving Real Madrid without a payoff, as he rescinded his contract with the Spanish club. According to the paper, the "Special One" will leave the Bernabéu at the end of the season by mutual consent and prepare his likely return to Chelsea FC.

Público

«Post-troika: Council of State caught between criticism and appeals for austerity», reports Público, after the president's advisors released a document arguing for the need to strike an "adequate balance between financial discipline, solidarity and stimulus to economic activity" within member states with the help of European Union institutions. The daily also reports that they discussed the current guarantee for bank deposits below Euro100,000.

Correio da Manhã«Teachers pay for strike against evaluations», reports Correio da Manhã, as pupils' grades are being jeopardised by a strike by teachers, who have decided to boycott tests.

Diário de Notícias

«Marathon in Belém to find consensus between government and Socialists», writes Diário de Notícias, as the Council of State meeting which aimed to discuss the country's post-troika phase lasted well into the night.

Diário de Notícias also reports that Portuguese football manager José Mourinho is leaving Real Madrid without a payoff, as he rescinded his contract with the Spanish club. According to the paper, the "Special One" will leave the Bernabéu at the end of the season by mutual consent and prepare his likely return to Chelsea FC.

Jornal de Notícias«4-year-old girl used in Euro5.2m fraud scandal», writes Jornal de Notícias, as a programme which was intended to stimulate growth ended up just filling the pockets of a senior official from the employment institute, as a 4-year-old girls' account was used to receive millions of euros.

i

«A trip to Portugal after the troika», writes i, as the daily newspaper reports that after the so-called troika of international lenders have left the country, consumption and investment will be at a record low and unemployment at a record high, while the deficit will only shrink by 62%.

Diário Económico«Social Security to boost purchase of national public debt», reports financial daily Diário Económico, as the Ministry of Solidarity and Social Security considers building up the Social Security Stabilisation Fund's holdings of public debt by up to 90%. According to the paper, this will enable the government to contain the rise in the ratio of public debt.

Jornal de Negócios«Portugal's journey to reach post-troika phase is long and hilly», writes financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios, as the troika of international lenders are expected to leave the country in little over a year, but the paper reports that the government could soon face "one of the hottest autumns in the last two years."

A Bola«Markovic close to Luz», reports Record, as Benfica is targeting the Belgrade winger from Partizan, Lazar Markovic.

Record«Lion Jardim», reports Record, as troubled Sporting Lisbon has appointed Leonardo Jardim as its new head coach.

O Jogo«No one's done better after me», writes O Jogo, as manager Leonardo Jardim boasts of a career "full of achievements" as he joins Sporting Lisbon.

PDV/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 21 (Lusa) - The Lisbon stock market was trading in line with the main European bourses, as investors waited for Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, to testify before Congress.

PSI-20, the Portuguese benchmark index, was trading 0.6% lower this Tuesday morning at 6,033.37 points, while the main European markets were trading mixed, as caution seems to be the dominant sentiment ahead of key events.

US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify before Congress on Wednesday, as investors look for clues about its monetary policy.

In the banking sector in Lisbon Banco Espírito Santo was falling 0.7%, while Banco Comercial Português was dropping 0.9% and Banco BPI was retreating 0.7%.

Galp Energia was leading losses in the energy sector, slumping 1.1% after announcing it was abandoning a well in Namibia, as it found oil in volumes that cannot be used commercially. EDP Renováveis was adding 1.2% and EDP -- Energias de Portugal was climbing 0.2%.

Blue-chip Portugal Telecom was receding 0.3%.

PDV/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 21 (Lusa) - Representatives of Portuguese business and labour on Tuesday reacted with scepticism to the outcome of Monday's meeting of the Council of State, the president's top advisory body, and called for urgent action to tackle the current economic crisis.

President Aníbal Cavaco Silva on Monday night chaired a meeting of the Council, which is made up of former presidents and prime ministers, military chiefs and other experts. The main item on the agenda compiled by the president was the "post-troika" period - after Portugal's euro-zone bailout programme ends in June 2014.

The meeting ended at around 1am after seven hours, with a spokesman reading out a five-point statement to journalists that calls for balance between financial discipline, solidarity and economic stimulus. The statement stresses the need for further deepening of the European Union, including a banking union and joint efforts to boost growth.

On Tuesday, Arménio Carlos, secretary general of Portugal's largest trades union federation, the CGTP, said the statement's five points "talk about everything and say nothing" and described Monday's meeting as "a lost opportunity" to tackle the scourge of record unemployment. The federation had demanded that the president dismiss the government.

Carlos Silva, secretary general of the rival UGT federation, said the meeting "unfortunately brought nothing" and so was "another disappointment". In its statement, he told journalists before a meeting with government officials and employers on Tuesday morning, the Council said there was a need for more solidarity, while insisting on sticking to austerity.

"Well, we think the austerity programme has clearly overtaken the limits for suffering of the Portuguese people, so combining the two questions is difficult," Silva said.

The president of the Portuguese Confederation of Commerce and Services, João Vieira Lopes, meanwhile, expressed "concern" at the fact that, in view of Portugal's economic situation, it was "not very clear" how deeply the issues were debated in the Council of State.

DD/VAM/ARO // ARO.

Maputo, May 20 (Lusa) - The secretary general of the United Nations on Monday said Mozambique is "on the right road" despite regrettably high levels of poverty.

Ban Ki-moon was speaking at a roundtable in Maputo on the UN's Millennium Development Goals at which participants lamented the poverty and human rights violations in the country.

He arrived in the capital on Monday for a two-day visit, before travelling on to Addis Ababa for ceremonies to mark the 50th anniversary of the African Union.

"Mozambique is on the right road, and the United Nations are committed to walking with you, side by side, hand in hand," Ban said, in a speech to hundreds of people at the Joaquim Chissano conference centre in the country's capital.

"Right across Africa, we see growth," he went on. "Freedom and good governance are growing. Confidence is growing. That's what I see in Mozambique: a country reborn, a nation in motion, a people with confidence in the future."

In his speech, the UN chief warned of the dangers posed by climate change, which he said is taking place "faster than foreseen" and reminded his audience that Mozambique "is one of the countries that are most vulnerable to the phenomenon".

On the Millennium Development Goals, Ban said it was important not to let the obstacles created by the global financial crisis, particularly to the European Union, stop all progress.

Earlier, he told journalists he wanted to praise the "social, economic and political progress" that Mozambique's people and government has achieved since 1992, when the civil war ended, but lamented the persistently high levels of poverty in the country. They indicated the need to invest more in the social sector to stem the suffering of women and children above all, he said.

Ban Ki-moon also called on Mozambique's president, Armando Guebuza, to use his "leadership" in helping promote peace and security in the Great Lakes region of Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC - which has been unstable for more than a decade despite the presence of UN forces there - is a member of the Southern African Development Community, of which Guebuza is currently president.

PMA/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - The president of Portugal's main business confederation on Monday stressed the need for energy to be available to companies at competitive prices, saying that in some segments of the market this is not the case.

Under Portugal's step-by-step model of liberalisation, regulated tariffs for gas and electricity have been abolished, but many households and small businesses have been transferred onto interim tariffs because they have not yet chosen a free-market supplier. Larger-scale users, though, are all in the free market.

"Energy is not cheap or expensive, energy in Portugal is [either] competitive or it is not, and in some segments it is not competitive," António Saraiva told journalists after a meeting with unions and government officials at which they discussed energy issues to be debated at Wednesday's European Union Council of Ministers meeting.

Portugal must, he stressed "do its homework", but is inevitably dependent on EU policy in the field.

"We in a European Union framework that must take the question of energy into account in a global competitiveness in which we face the US and Asia," he said.

Trades union federations the UGT and CGTP, for their part, said energy prices in Portugal remain "high" and expressed regret that there was no prospect of their falling in the coming years, independent of any political will.

CGTP secretary-general Arménio Carlos went so far as to say that the policy measures now being discussed at EU level "will lead to an increase in electricity prices".

After the meeting, secretary of state for energy, Artur Trindade, said the government had reaffirmed "what it established last year: [that it would] moderate and limit energy costs to 1.5% above inflation" and that this target was being met.

ICO/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - Portugal's largest trades union federation, the communist-linked CGTP, repeated its call for the president to dismiss the right-of-centre government, while the smaller UGT said it was "anxiously" awaiting a clarification of economic policy.

After a meeting between the government, unions and employer organisations to prepare for Monday's meeting of the Council of State at the president's palace, the UGT's deputy secretary-general, Nobre dos Santos, called for a "clarification of policy" from the various members of the government.

"We are all in a situation of great anxiety relative to the near future, given that different ministers have differentiated positions and it may be that a conjugation of interests comes out of the Council of State," he told journalists.

The CGTP's leader, Arménio Carlos, said this was not the time for the Council of State to be discussing the "post-troika" as the president has said it will.

"You can't discuss the future without finding answers for the present," Carlos said.

Meanwhile, António Saraiva, the president of Portugal's main business federation, CIP, once more stressed the need to bring forward measures to boost growth and jobs, to break "the cycle of recession [and] austerity".

The meeting of the Council of State began at 5pm.

ICO/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - The speaker of Portugal's parliament is on 28 May to formally appoint the parliamentary committee of inquiry into the sale of derivative contracts to state enterprises, with the panel to be chaired by a member of the opposition Socialist Party.

According to an order issued by Assunção Esteves on Monday, the committee is to sit for 90 days and focus on the sale of swap contracts by public sector companies in the past decade.

Parliament on 10 May unanimously approved a resolution by the governing coalition to set up the committee, with a view to seeking responsibility "of all those involved in the various levels of decision-making", in particular at the Ministry of Finance and supervisory bodies.

Officials are trying to stem potential losses of up to Euro3 billion from complex hedging products sold by banks to public companies such as the Lisbon and Porto Metros, recalling similar battles in Italy and other countries, where the authorities argued there was widespread misselling. Both sides have threatened legal action, even as talks to revise the contracts continue.

The companies signed the contracst to protect against any rise in interest ranks linked to the Euribor interbank rate. But rates slumped in the subsequent years, leaving the companies with losses or potential losses.

HPG/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - The Lisbon stock market bucked the trend in European markets and ended in negative territory, as energy stocks were discounting the dividends that are to be paid to shareholders.

PSI-20, the Portuguese benchmark index, ended 0.8% lower this Monday at 6,069.12 points, as the index value reflects the adjustment of dividends some companies will pay to their shareholders, while the main European markets finished higher.

In the banking sector, Banco Espírito Santo and Banco Comercial Português ended with no moves, while Banco BPI up 0.8%.

In the energy sector, Galp Energia advanced 0.6%, while EDP Renováveis and EDP -- Energias de Portugal were trading without the right to dividends. EDPR shed 0.5% and EDP climbed 0.9%.

Blue-chip Portugal Telecom added 0.9%.

PDV/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - Portugal has no plans in place aimed at ensuring children's rights are not abused in industries such as advertising, the former director of the country's now defunct child labour prevention programme told Lusa on Monday.

Joaquina Cadete was commenting on a written opinion from the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) - a consultative organ of the European Union - that calls for EU-level regulations to limit children's participation in adverts, as well as on ads aimed at children.

"I consider it particularly important that children not take part in advertising not suitable to their age" and in adverts not aimed at children, Cadete said.

On the other hand, she arged, "care should also be taken with the characters that children represent so as not to clash with their harmonious development".

With the winding up in 2009 of Portugal's programme to prevent and eliminate the exploitation of child labour and in 2012 of the programme for inclusion and citizenship, Cadete warned, "there is at this moment no concrete programme dealing with these subjects". In general, they are covered by the authorities for social security and for work conditions.

In a statement to Diário de Notícias newspaper, the EESC's Portuguese coordinator, Jorge Pegado Liz, said the document was agreed by all members of the committee, but a line about children not appearing in adverts was opposed by the European Commission "because of pressure from the advertising lobby".

In Portugal, existing rules are often ignored, he added, citing the case of an advert by utility Energias de Portugal in which the children of company employees appeared and spoke.

HN/ARO // ARO.

Cidade da Praia, May 20 (Lusa)- Cape Verde's imports, exports and re-exports were all down in the first quarter of 2013 from the same period in 2012, by 12.7%, 7.3% and 13.1% respectively, according to provisional trade figures released by the National Statistics Institute and cited by the news agency Inforpress on Monday.

The trade deficit for the same period narrowed 13.1%, while the coverage of imports by exports improved by 0.4 percentage points.

Europe remained Cape Verde's main client in the period, taking more than 99% of all exports. Spain leads among individual countries, accounting for 63% of all exports, down 10.7 percentage points from a year earlier; Portugal's share was unchanged at just over 25%.

Exports of the country's two main products - canned fish (44%) and fresh fish, crustaceans and molluscs (33.5%) - increased.

Europe also harbours Cape verde's main suppliers, accounting for 81% of the country's imports. Portugal leads with just under 42% of all imports, followed by the Nnetherlands with 17% and Spain and 7%.

Consumer goods made up 43.9% of Cape verde's imports in the first quarter, followed by intermediate goods at 29%, fuel at 18% and capital goods at 10%.

JSD/ARO // ARO.

Luanda, May 20 (Lusa) - Angola exported an average of 1.74 million barrels per day in March, almost 10% more than in February and the highest monthly total since 2010, according to figures released by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Monday.

The former Portuguese colony is the second-largest producer in sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria, although there have been months when it has overtaken the West African giant.

Angola's oil sales are believed to have continued rising in April and May, but are expected to slow in June. For that month, Angola has contracts signed equivalent to an average 1.63 million barrels a day, according to sector specialists cited by Bloomberg News.

Market operators, who requested anonymity because of the confidential nature of the information, described the drop in exports as "normal" given the season.

Oil is Angola's main export, accounting for 45% of the country's gross domestic product, 70% of tax receipts and 90% of exports.

According to the official OPEC figures released on Monday, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela all reduced their oil exports in March, while producers in West Africa increased theirs.

Total exports this year from OPEC member countries - which account for about 40% of world production - are expected to average 29.8 million barrels a day. OPEC is now projecting a drop in production this year of 400,000 barrels a day from last year, compared wit the 300,000 drop it was projecting a month ago.

MBA/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - Portugal will have to have to negotiate with international lenders to secure funds to cover the period after June next year, since the state cannot finance its activities with yields above 3% as they are at present, the economist and former finance minister José Silves Lopes said on Monday.

The average yield on the 10-year bonds auctioned last week - the first such operation since Portugal sought a euro-zone bailout - was almost 6%, Silva Lopes pointed out at a conference at the University of Lisbon to mark the second anniversary of the signing of the bailout accord whose implementation is overseen by the 'troika' of International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank.

Given its huge debt burden, he said, Portugal would have "a lot of difficulty in bearing rates even of 3%". So the impossibility of its making a full return to the markets "will make the position so unsustainable that we shall have no alternative except to turn again to the troika."

Against that backdrop, Silva Lopes said, the decision by Portugal's president to call a meeting of the Council of State for Monday to debate the "post-troika" situation was the right one because, Silva Lopes said, "the post-troika may be worse than the troika".

While many are calling for the repudiation or at the very least the renegotiation of the accord, he said, they may not like what they get.

"The renegotiation that is so much talked about will end up happening and, in contrast to what others would have you think, the renegotiation won't be for an easy situation, with lighter conditions," he warned. "It will be, on the contrary, to much harsher conditions."

Despite this continued austerity, he maintained, there will have to be measures to boost growth beyond the supply-side reforms promoted by the current finance minister, Vítor Gaspar.

"Growth policies don't emerge only from structural reforms that will promote greater liberalisation and better functioning of the market," he argued. "They demand action on the part of the state to support the export sector."

Silva Lopes is among contributors to a book on the troika's first two years in Portugal, in which 66 citizens from a range of political and professional backgrounds assess the situation.

AJG/ARO // ARO.

Maputo, May 20 (Lusa) -- Brazilian mining giant Vale has said it is scaling back its output forecasts for this year by about 30%.

The alterations were due to flooding last February which temporarily paralysed train traffic on the Moatize line from the mines to the port of Beira.

Vale now expects to export about 3.4 million tons instead of 4.7 million tones.

Vale has been faced with a series of setbacks since it started operations in 2011 due to weak infrastructures that stop it betting the coal out of the country.

Competitor Rio Tinto are also facing the same up-hill struggle and announced earlier in the month they were getting rid of about 100 workers.

LAS/ADB // ADB

Brussels, May 20 (Lusa) -- Portuguese workers will take until 4 June to pay taxes and only, after more than five months will they really get anything from their wages according to a study released Monday.

According to "The tax burden of typical EU workers in the EU27", released by the new direction organisation, the number of days Portuguese have to work to pay their tax contribution has been going up over recent years.

In 2011, they had to work until 29 May the last year it was until 3 June.

Nevertheless, Portugal is one of the first countries to pay of the burden with only six out of the 27 paying their dues earlier.

This year, the study by James Rogers and Cécile Philippe, say Cyprus is still at number one, paying the tax bill by 14 March, followed by Ireland (24 April) and Malta (29 April).

The people who have to work longest to reach tax freedom day are the Belgians, as they will have to work until August 8 to pay their taxes, three more days than in 2012.

VAT in Portugal has gone up from 20% to 23% since 2010.

CSJ/ADB // ADB.

Maputo, May 20 (Lusa) -- Mozambique's government and Renamo, the main opposition party, are to restart negotiations Monday on resolving the political crisis in the country, three days after the government rejected all the conditions presented by Renamo.

The government rejected demands to involve domestic and international mediators in the negotiation process, the withdrawal of police from the Gorongosa hills, the former base of the Renamo guerrilla group and where its leader, Afonso Dhlaklma returned to last November and the release of party members detained in April following a police raid of the party's headquarters in Muxungue.

The current negotiations between the two main parties come after confronts between the two sides in April that killed five and left various injured.

Rename has threatened to boycott November's local elections and next year's general and presidential elections if the government does not give ion to their demands that the National Election Commission has an equal number of members from all three parties with seats in parliament.

Meanwhile UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon is beginning a two-day official visit to Mozambique Monday for institutional meetings.

He is to meet President Armando Guebuza and give a speech on the Millennium Development Goals and the 2005 Agenda.

LAS/PMA/ADB // ADB.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) -- More than 80% think Portugal should renegotiate or tear up the memorandum of understanding with the country's bail-out troika (International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission) according to a survey conducted for Lisbon Law School by Eurosondagem.

Asked what the country should do regarding the troika negotiations/impositions, 41.5% said the agreement should be scrapped and almost as many (41%) said it should be renegotiated.

Only 10.8% said Portugal should comply with the deal.

Almost half of those asked (47.8%), believed the agreement should never have been signed and a similar number (45.4%) argued that the government had given in too much to the international lenders.

More than half of those who replied (55.1%) said they had no doubts that Portugal would be "in worse conditions" when the troika finished and went away, "with the economy in collapse and more unemployment", compared with 11.8% who reckoned the country would be in a better situation.

No great differences were found in the answers from the various different parts of the country.

JNM/ADB // ADB.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) -- The number of job seekers with a higher education diploma Rose 32.1% between April 2013 and the same month this year, according to figures released by the Employment and Vocational Training Institute (IEFP).

The unemployed with secondary school qualifications are the biggest group, though there are almost as many in each of the other three stages of schooling, up to 4th grade, 5th-6th grade and 7th to 9th grade, the IEFP said Saturday.

The number of jobless men went up more than jobless women.

There were just under 730,000 people enrolled at the IEFP centres at the end of April as unemployed and just over 900,000 were searching for a job, or a change of job.

Month-on-month there was a small (0.8%) drop in numbers.

RCR/ADB // ADB.

Porto, May 20 (Lusa) -- The current Bishop of Porto Manuel Clemente (64) has been appointed patriarch of Lisbon taking over from José Policarpo who resigned but has remained in his seat since 2011, when he turned 75 the Ecclesia agency said Saturday.

The agency said the "swearing in ceremony is scheduled for 7 July".

Speaking to reporters Sunday, Clemente asked politicians to be "caring, helpful" and to speak "clearly" to society or everyone would be so "mixed up, they would stop trying to understand".

Following Mass at Porto cathedral, the new patriarch of Lisbon criticised the "contradictory information" and "possibilities presented as foregone conclusions" people heard every day as this left them confused.

Clemente acknowledge it would be "very difficult" for him to leave Porto "where everything is simpler", he said.

ACG/ADB // ADB.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) -- Porto football club conquered its 27th Portuguese championship, its third time in a row, by beating Paços de Ferreira 2-0 Sunday in the last week on the calendar.

Argentine Lucho Goncalez and Colombian Jackson Martinez put the "blues and whites" ending the season at the top of the Portuguese 'I Liga', with a total of 78 points.

Benfica, who had a chance of winning the Liga failed to take their 33rd title.

Benfica would have had to win and Porto had to lose, for Benfica to come out on top.

Despite Benfica beating Moreirense 3-1, the ended the season with 77 points, just one behind the tri-champions.

Celebrations in Porto continued through the night with parties in Brussels, London and Newark while the Bissau and Paris, while Bissau, and Paris, Benfica strongholds, were much more subdued.

PFO/ADB // ADB.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - Weekly newspaper "Expresso" reported that the government has confirmed public sector wages will be cut by 4% in a bid to save Euro378m through pay cuts.

Over the weekend

Expresso«Government makes cuts of 4% in public sector wages», wrote Expresso on Saturday, as the government looks to save Euro378m with salary costs. The weekly newspaper also reported that public servants who retired in 1993 are facing a 11.1% cut to their pensions.

Monday

Público«Council of State: Cavaco wants to discuss the post-troika, but there may be more troika in the post-troika period», revealed Público, as the Portuguese president is meeting with the Council of State this Monday to discuss the post-adjustment programme period, as there is mounting consensus among analysts that Portugal will still need some form of monitoring once the troika of international lenders end their bailout programme.

Correio da Manhã«Nun tried for millionaire fraud», reported Correio da Manhã, as a Catholic nun who worked in the accountancy department of a charity in Porto is being tried for a fraud worth Euro400,000 after forging Mother Superior's signature in over 100 cheques.

Diário de Notícias«Pending tax cases worth Euro6bn», wrote Diário de Notícias, as around Euro6.25bn are being disputed at court relating to tax procedures after the troika of international lenders set up teams of technicians to resolve cases amounting to more than Euro1m.

Jornal de Notícias«State took Euro2.5bn from pensioners in last 3 years», wrote Jornal de Notícias, as more than one third of the Portuguese population is retired and outraged, with figures revealing that the state has taken some Euro2.5bn from pensioners and retirees with cuts and other austerity measures in the last 3 years.

i«Majority of Portuguese want to renegotiate or denounce troika agreement», wrote i, after a survey carried out by Lisbon's Law School found that only 10.8% of the population is in favour of the troika of international lenders.

Diário Económico«Vitor Gaspar's role is worn out», reported financial daily Diário Económico, quoting former Minister of Finance Bagão Felix, who said the government really resides in the Ministry of Finance and that the new tax on pensions will not be enforced because it is no longer demanded by the troika.

Jornal de Negócios«Electricity war enables saving up to Euro58», wrote financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios, after an auction held by consumer watchdog DECO attracted hundreds of thousands of Portuguese and rattled the electricity market, meaning consumers will save money.

A Bola«Porto's party», reported Record, as FC Porto clinched its third straight Portuguese League title on Sunday with a 2-0 win against Paços de Ferreira.

Record«TriPorto», reported Record, as Porto clinched a third Portuguese Premier League title after beating Paços de Ferreira 2-0 on Sunday.

O Jogo«3 time champion again», wrote O Jogo, as FC Porto clinched its third straight Portuguese league title on Sunday.

PDV/ADB // ADB.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) -- President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva and his advisors are meeting Monday in a 'Council of State', to discuss what is to happen "post-troika" and at June's European Council.

"I considered it important to hear and reflect on what the advisors have to say about matters of clear importance, as the financial assistance programme is coming to a close for Portugal and what stance the government should take at the up-coming European Council", the president said.

Although the president chooses the topics for the meeting, other subjects such as the recent fractures between the coalition parties, particularly the junior member's refusal to accept more austerity measures on old people, are also expected to be discussed.

Former president Mario Soares has said he would rather discuss the current situation in the country than the "post-troika", while the former of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said the council of state would focus on the future one, two, three years".

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who is also a member of the council because of his position, said the discussion would focus on the "country after the troika" and not on the situation within the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, disconnecting the meeting from any "internal struggles" in the government.

VAM/ADB // ADB.

Lisbon, May 20 (Lusa) - PSI-20, the Portuguese benchmark index, was trading 0.6% lower this Monday morning at 6,079.80 points, as the index value reflects the adjustment of dividends some companies will pay to their shareholders, bucking the trend among European markets.

Banking stocks were trading higher. Banco Espírito Santo was adding 1.5% leading the index, while Banco BPI was gaining 1.3% and Banco Comercial Português was trading 0.9% up.

In the energy sector, Galp Energia was edging 0.2% up, while EDP Renováveis and EDP -- Energias de Portugal were trading without the right to dividends. EDPR was climbing 0.5% and EDP was rising 1.2%.

Blue-chip Portugal Telecom was adding 0.7%.

PDV/ADB // ADB.

Lisbon, May 17 (Lusa) -- The French technological and consultancy firm Altran is to invest just under Euro7 million in the Portuguese town of Fundão to develop a near-shore service support centre and creating 120 jobs in the meanwhile, following the signing of the contract with AICEP, Portugal's trade and development agency.

Minister of the Economy and Employment, Álvaro Santos Pereira, took the Thursday evening signing ceremony to highlight the prevailing economic situation.

"We have had various investments in this field in recent times and have been showing how many highly qualified persons we have alongside some very strong incentives to make them still more competitive," the minister said.

Santos Pereira also used his speech to highlight how the government planned to make significant cuts to corporate tax to drive "greater fiscal competitiveness" and "capture more investment" in addition to continuing to simplify bureaucratic and other procedural requirements.

ALU/KAR //KAR.

Cidade da Praia, May 17 (Lusa) -- Cape Verde is to make recourse to Portuguese expertise to train its armed forces to ensure their eligibility to participate in international peace-keeping missions, Jorge Tolentino, Minister of Defence, announced Friday.

Cape Verde wants to capitalise on the "long experience of Portugal in keeping the peace, specifically within the framework of the United Nations," explained Tolentino before categorising Cape Verde's own experience as "reduced and dating a long way back in time."

The defence agreement provides not only for the actual provision of training but also the participation of Cape Verdean troops in Portuguese peace-keeping force contingents on completing the program.

Furthermore, Tolentino explained that cooperation would also extend to deepening naval cooperation in conjunction with the United States, France, Brazil as well as other West African countries.

"The objective is to maintain the presence of naval forces throughout every month of the year to ensure there are no loopholes as regards control over our waters and our territorial extent" explained the minister before adding that the agreement with Portugal now provided a legal framework for this cooperation.

This training program falls under the scope of the defence agreement signed at the summit between the two countries in December 2012 and ratified Friday by Cape Verde's government.

CLI/KAR //KAR.

Lisbon, May 17 (Lusa) -- Portugal failed even to meet European averages in terms of the level of tolerance shown to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) community, according to a study released by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights release Friday to commemorate the International Day against Homophobia.

In an Internet based survey, 51% of Portuguese citizens self-identifying themselves as members of the LGBT community expressed having experienced discrimination or harassment over the last year due to their sexual orientation against a European Union average of 47%.

"Fear, isolation and discrimination are daily phenomena for the LGBT community in Europe," wrote the Agency's director before placing a particular emphasis on the environments prevailing in schools and educational establishments.

94% of Portuguese respondents stated that their education had been affected by negative comments from their colleagues with 60% stating that they habitually disguised their sexual orientation throughout this phase of their lives and against European averages of 91% and 67% respectively.

In Portugal, 36% of respondents said that they had experienced discrimination in non-employment situations on account of their sexual orientation against a European average of 32%, 27% in Spain or down to 20% in the Netherlands, returning the lowest level.

Meanwhile, 19% of the Portuguese citizens surveyed reported job related discrimination, in line with the European average with Denmark proving the most tolerant and Cyprus, on 30%, displaying the highest level of workplace sexual discrimination.

Paulo Corte-Real, President of the gay rights organisation ILGA termed the results "absolutely shocking" and called on the community to do more.

"Only around 10% of persons denounce discrimination and that is absolutely frightening. Furthermore, even in cases of assault and hate crimes, they are only reported by 26% of all this sample, by 35% of transsexuals in particular and with only 18% of cases actually reported to the police in Portugal," said Corte-Real.

JRS/KAR //KAR.

Lisbon, May 17 (Lusa) -- Portuguese teaching trade unions have called a national demonstration for June 15 and a strike for June 17, coinciding with the first day of secondary school finalist exams, sector representative Fenprof has announced.

The decision was taken by nine trade unions in response to measures recently announced by the government impacting on both teaching timetables and mobility allowances.

With strike action also targeting evaluation services in the run up to the national demonstration, the teaching unions have decided to hit the examination processes undertaken by students in the 9th, 11th and the 12th and final year of secondary school education.

"This is a complicated period but now there is no other. Leaving this struggle to September is absolutely pointless and unnecessary as in September if we don't take action beforehand, thousands of teachers will have lost their jobs" explained Mário Nogueira, Secretary General of Fenprof, the national teachers federation.

Pointing out that strikes in July and August made no sense as schools were closed, Nogueira justified the strikes on the grounds that recent government measures meant teachers were "experiencing a horror film in real life."

The Secretary General added that the unions were fully open to negotiations and that the strike had been called in due time precisely to allow the time for talks to take place.

After alleging that the government was using the Ministry of Finance to enact changes in the Ministry of Education, Nogueira said that the government needed to show goodwill: "if they do not want to, there is one thing that we are certain of -- teachers have nothing left to lose."

PMC/IMA/KAR //KAR.

Lisbon, May 17 (Lusa) - Weekly "Sol" reports that Prime Minister Passos Coelho went to see President Cavaco Silva last Sunday determined to hand in his resignation, amid the political crisis that shook the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, but the president convinced him not to and called Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Portas and mediated the conflict.

Sol

«Passos went to Belém to resign», reports weekly Sol, revealing that Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho went to see President Cavaco Silva last Sunday at the presidential palace in Belém determined to hand in his resignation, amid the political crisis that shook the PSD/CDS-PP coalition government due to divergences regarding a proposal to tax pensions. According to the paper, the president convinced him not to resign and called Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Portas, leader of the junior coalition partner, and mediated the conflict.

Público

«A day after slamming Barroso off the record, German government praises him on the record», reveals Público, as the German Chancellery issued a statement following reactions from Brussels after high-level German officials criticised the European Commission, guaranteeing that Berlin fully supports the austerity programmes.

Correio da Manhã«Property tax more expensive in 84 municipalities», reports Correio da Manhã, as the councils of Setúbal, Vila do Conde, Portimão and Albufeira have opted for the maximum possible increase in property tax.

Diário de Notícias

«Teachers' strike threatens assessments and national exams», writes Diário de Notícias, after trade unions announced "exceptional actions" for an "exceptional situation", with four days of strike between 11 and 14 June, a demonstration on 15 June and a general strike on the first day of national exams, which the daily newspaper reports could interfere with the Portuguese exam for year 12 pupils.

Jornal de Notícias«Five "fake invoices" gangs defraud state in Euro23m», writes Jornal de Notícias, as 419 people have been formally charged for what the daily newspaper reports is the "biggest attack ever" by police and the tax authorities on organised tax evasion in the construction sector.

i

«Merkel blames Barroso and troika for austerity», writes i, after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said during an informal meeting with journalists that the troika's adjustment programmes were "too rigid", and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso should have appointed a commissioner for Greece, accusing him of incompetence. According to the paper, Chancellor Angela Merkel defended in the same meeting that the Euro6bn package to promote youth employment should be used to pay for retirement pensions instead, so as to create new jobs in the existing posts.

Diário Económico«State reform could have no room to spare», reports financial daily Diário Económico, as the package of cuts in expenditure presented by the government and estimated at Euro4.8bn could be worth less, according to the parliament's technical committee on the budget, which warns there will be no room for manoeuvre.

Jornal de Negócios«These people are mocking us. They're treating us like subjects», writes financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios, quoting political analyst and former PSD MP José Pacheco Pereira, who says there is "no government" any more and merely just "a group of people", each looking after their own political career.

A Bola«Jesus makes decisions removed from the emotions», reports A Bola, as the Benfica head coach raised doubts regarding the extension of his contract after the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the Europa League final in Amsterdam.

Record«Jesus to renew contract», reports Record, as Benfica manager Jorge Jesus is expected to announce the extension of his contract next week, which the daily sports paper says will have a duration of 2 years.

O Jogo«Mangala has enormous potential», writes O Jogo, as FC Porto defender Eliaquim Mangala has been called up by France boss Didier Deschamps for friendly away matches against Uruguay and Brazil.

PDV/KAR

Lisbon, May 17 (Lusa) - PSI-20, the Portuguese benchmark index, was trading 0.2% higher this Friday morning at 6,076.080 points, while the main European bourses were trading in negative territory.

The possbility of the US Federal Reserve tampering with its quantitive easing programme is setting a cautious tone in the markets this Friday.

In Lisbon, banking stocks were trading mixed. Banco Espírito Santo was falling 0.3%, while Banco BPI was adding 1.5% and Banco Comercial Português was losing0.9%.

In the energy sector, Galp Energia was trading 0.2% up, while EDP Renováveis was gaining 0.6% and EDP -- Energias de Portugal climbed 1%.

Blue-chip Portugal Telecom was rising 0.6%.

PDV/KAR.

Brussels, May 17 (Lusa) -- Car sales showed some sign of recovery at both the European and the Portuguese level even if in a somewhat contradictory fashion in figures released by the Association of European Car Constructors on Friday.

Portugal led the way among financially distressed countries as the only country receiving a bailout registering an increase in vehicle sales over the first four months -- up 0.9% on a year-on-year basis and contrasting with a 44.4% slump in Cyprus, and falls of 13.3% and 9.8% in Ireland and Greece respectively.

Meanwhile, over the border in Spain, sales fell by 6.7% in the first four months of this year.

Indeed, there were quarterly falls in most European markets with Germany down by 8.5% and both Italy and France registering falls of just 12% even while the United Kingdom turned in a 8.9% surge in sales.

However, reflecting the delicate state of consumer confidence across the European Union, Portugal actually bucked the trend in April with year-on-year sales in that month falling back 4.4% whilst for the European market as a whole the month represented a success.

Despite falling away 7.1% over the first quarter, April saw the European car market notch up 1.7% higher sales -- the first positive year-on-year figure since back in September 2011.

AJG/KAR //KAR.

Lisbon, May 17 (Lusa) -- The Portuguese financial group Banco Espírito Santo has acquired a further 18.9% holding in the capital of the Mozambican entity Moza Banco for an undisclosed sum, according to a statement released late Thursday.

The deal would take the Portuguese bank's holding in Moza to around 44% although this remains subject to approval by the authorities with the investment entity Moçambique Capitais retaining a controlling 50.1% state.

Banco Espírito Santo made its acquisition through its holding BES África that reached agreement with the Macau based investment vehicle Geocapital for the deal.

The Portuguese financial entity first took up a stake in Moza Banco in January 2011 with its stated objective at that time of leveraging the bank's activities, enabling greater acceleration in the process of network expansion and boosting the institution's technological infrastructure.

At the end of 2012, Moza Banco ran a 20 strong network of agencies backed up by 32 business units and serving a total of 10,626 clients, with 79% retail clients, 10% corporate, 11% private and 1% institutional.

JNM/KAR //KAR.

Lisbon, May 16 (Lusa) - It would be "beneficial" to the Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP) if Equatorial Guinea were to join, the foreign minister of East Timor, which takes over the revoloving presidency of the organisation next year, told Lusa, stating that he believes this will happen "in the next few years".

The tiny, oil-rich West African country has had observer status at CPLP summits since 2006, but its application for full membership has not been accepted, amid campaigning by human rights defenders who condemn the Equatorial Guinea government for alleged abuses. At last year's summit, in contrast to the previous year, no deadline was set for the subject to be debated again.

In an interview with Lusa in Lisbon, where he is on a four-day work trip, the Timorese foreign minsiter, José Luís Guterres said there was in principle no reason why the tiny West African country's application to join cannot ultimately be accepted.

"East Timor does not see any problems in Equatorial Guinea taking part so long as it fulfils the conditions, such as the introduction of the teaching of the Portuguese language and the commitment to respect human rights and democratic values," he said.

Noting that any applicant needs to secure a consensus among the CPLP's eight members - something that Equatorial Guinea has failed to manage at the last two annual summits - Guterres expressed the hope that a solution to the impasse can be found.

"If it's not now and if it's not in 2014, it will be in the next few years," he said. "It's a subject that's already on the agenda, and will continue on the agenda, because I know there is a very serious will" on the part of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang.

Obiang, who has presided over the country since 1979, has already moved to make Portuguese one of the country's official languages, and pledged to improve its human rights record. Recent days have, however, seen reports of state agents targeting opposition groups in the run-up to elections on 26 May to a national legislature that currently has just one opposition member.

On Timor's priorities for its two-year stint running the CPLP, Guterres said the government has created a committee to work on these, "in particular the need to think about what to do so that the CPLP is more successful and is not just a community of governments, but so that there is also participation by its peoples."

FPA/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 16 (Lusa) - East Timor expects to start negotiations soon with Australia over the maritime border between the two countries, reopening a process blocked since 2007 by a treaty that the Timorese government said is now invalid, said its foreign minister on Thursday.

"In terms of frontiers, the only one that is defined is the land border [with Indonesian West Timor] and the negotiations continue," said José Luís Guterres in an interview with Lusa in Lisbon, where he on Wednesday began a four-day work trip. "We hope that in the near future we can also start maritime negotiations."

The minister declined to set a deadline for the talks with Australia, noting that "sometimes a hurry to reach an agreement leads to badly made accords". The most important thing, he asserted, is that each party argues for what it has a right to under international law.

According to many analysts, the International law of the Sea, if applied, would put the oil riches in the Timor Sea under the exclusive domain of East Timor.

The problem for the Timorese government has been that, in signing the 2007 Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) to facilitate the exploration of oil and gas in the region, the country agreed not to start any proceedings to seek to define its maritime frontiers with Australia for 50 years. Meanwhile, both countries would receive half the revenues from Greater Sunrise, the largest oil field in the region.

In the interview with Lusa, Guterres recalled that CMATS also provides for either side to bail out of the treaty if the Development Plan for Greater Sunrise were not approved six years after the treaty came into effect. That six-year deadline fell in February of this year.

At the end of April, East Timor sent a missive to Canberra stating that it considered the 2007 treaty to be invalid because Australia had engaged in espionage during the negotiations that led to its signing. The alleged spying prompted Timorese to inform Australian government that it wanted the case to be sent to an arbitration panel on which both sides would be represented, as well as a third independent entity.

"Australia has acknowledged receiving the letter and we are waiting for them to nominate their judges," Guterres said, adding that his government is "completely convinced that the evidence is extremely strong".

FPA/ARO // ARO.

Luanda, May 16 (Lusa) - Angola's goverment aims to privatise 33 of the some 90 companies owned by the state over the next five years, in a bid to boost efficiency and reduce costs, the economy minister said in an interview.

Among the companies up for sale are construction company Bricomil, which is a unit of state oil company Sonangol, two banks and and insurance company, Ensa - Seguros de Angola, Abrahão Gourgel told the financial news agency Bloomberg. Neither Sonangol itself - whose activities account for some 40% of the Angolan economy - nor state mining companies will be on the block.

The privatisation plans come as the government moves to diversify and build up the economy just a few years after the definitive end of a lengthy civil war.

"The war, a limited internal market and the lack of capacity of those who bought state companies in the past meant only a few successes in areas like beer and light industry," Gourgel said in the interview. "The new strategy is to sell non-essential companies, reduce their costs and the amount of government subsidies."

MBA/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 16 (Lusa) - The economic outlook outlined in the government's medium-term budget strategy is "relatively optimistic" and plans for further spending cuts constitute an "additional risk factor" for growth, according to a team that provides expert support to Portugal's parliament.

The written opinion by the Technical Budgetary Support Unit (UTAO), a copy of which Lusa has seen, warns that the government's plan for further cuts "constitutes a factor of additional risk and uncertainty" for the economy and thus the likelihood of the government's hitting its declared budgetary targets, as outlined in its Budget Strategy Document (DEO) for the period to 2017.

It is, the UTAO opinion conclude, uncertain "to what extent the DEO macroeconomic scenario already included the full impact" of the spending cuts most recently announced.

"In contrast to previous editions [of the DEO], the budget cuts to be implemented in the timescale of the projection are not specified in the ambit of the DEO 2013/17," it states. "Only the financial restriction to be imposed, overall, on the public administration is specified."

The UTAO's written opinion describes the macroeconomic scenario foreseen in the DEO as "relatively optimistic", noting that the Bank of Portugal's spring economic bulletin, published in March and taking into account only the budget cuts included in the 2013 state budget, makes the same projection as the DEO for economic growth this year, and of half a point more for 2014.

"The Bulletin presents an adjusted macroeconomic scenario that incorporates as a hypothesis additional measures of budgetary consolidation in 2014 equivalent to 1.5% of GDP and thus less than the measures of 1.7% of GDP announced by the government at the start of this month," the UTAO document points out. It also takes the view that the strong recovery in investment and exports that the DEO foresees from 2014 "is subject to major risks".

The government submitted the DEO to parliament on 30 April. It foresees a contraction of GDP this year of 2.3% followed by growth of 0.6% next year and 1.5% in 2015, accelerating to 2.2% by 2012.

JMG/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 16 (Lusa) - Fewer than 44% of Portugal's registered jobless were in April receiving benefits because of their unemployed status, according to the latest figures published online by the country's social security authorities.

The figures show 418,153 people receiving unemployment benefit in April, 1,517 more than in March, while the estimated number of jobless at the end of the first quarter was a record 952,200, according to the National Statistics Institute. That jobless total is almost certain to have risen in April.

The figures from the social security authorities include unemployment benefit or one of the less generous subsequent payments: initial social unemployment benefit, subsequent social unemployment benefit and extended social unemployment benefit. In April, the average level per claimant of these various benefits was Euro487.67, up from Euro501.13 in the same month of 2012.

Porto is the district with most claimants, at 89,404, followed by Lisbon with 82,879.

Nationally, men outnumber women with 223,847 male claimants against 194,279 female.

ICO/ARO // ARO.

Geneva, Switzerland, May 16 (Lusa) - Portuguese has become the fifth most used language online, as growing internet use in Brazil in the past decade or so has enabled it to overtake Arabic, French and German, according to figures from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for the industry.

Some 83 million internauts now use Portuguese to communicate and browse online, according to the UIT analysis covering the years 2000 to 2011, which was released on Tuesday. That compares with 75 million users of German, 65 million users of Arabic, and 60 million users of French.

According to the ITU, the advance of Portuguese is above all thanks to the rapid growth in internet use in Brazil, whose population is 194 million against Portugal's 10 million.

Experts believe that, before long, Portuguese could overtake Japanese - currently with 99 million users - to move up to fourth place, given that internet use in Brazil, Angola and Mozambique still has a long way to go to reach the levels in developed economies. They also say that a language's influence will in future be increasingly linked to the number of its online users.

English remained in the top spot in 2011, with 565 million users, but now much more closely followed by Chinese, with 510 million. In third place was Spanish, with 165 million.

SK/ARO // ARO.

Bissau, May 16 (Lusa) - Guinea-Bissau's attorney-general has warned that democracy is in danger in the country, citing reports of systematic beatings of citizens by individuals linked to the state.

In comments to journalists in a break from a meeting with the new president of the country's Supreme Court, Abdú Mané cited the treatment meted out at the weekend to Ensa Sanha, the recently nominated human rights ambassador.

"We regret that we're living through a kind of cyclical deterioration in freedom and life," Mané said. "We can't accept beatings in our society. It must be investigated, if there is evidence that a crime was admitted, we shall move ahead, against whoever it may be."

According to the Guinean Human Rights League, which reported the case, Sanhá was seized by a group of unidentified men in a restaurant in Bissau and taken to the suburbs where he was beaten "in a cruel and barbarous fashion".

He was subsequently taken to the intensive care ward of the Simão Mendes hospital in Bissau but has since been flown out to Senegal for specialist treatment.

Mané said he had asked the police to investigate the case and submit their results by Thursday. With this case, "democracy itself may be in danger", he said.

MB/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 16 (Lusa) - Around eight in every 100 patients in Portugal's care homes contract infections during their treatment, according to a study carried out last year for the national health authorities that also calls for more detailed analysis to determine the most suitable strategy to tackle the problem.

The results of the study - the first to be carried out at a national level under the National Infection Control Programme, between 23 May and 8 June of last year - found that 8.1% of 5,150 patients in care homes surveyed contracted infections in the period.

The study pinpoints some of the key reasons for the high prevalence rate.

"Malfunctions of the immune system and the physiological alterations associated with ageing make the residents of Nursing Care Units more vulnerable to infections and, on the other hand, the close proximity and socialising increase the risk of transmission," it states.

However, the rate for Portuguese care homes is twice the average level for the European Union, as recorded in a pilot study by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control between 2009 and 2011. In addition, while the most common types of infections found in Portugal were those affecting skin and soft tissues, followed by respiratory infections and urinary infections - which altogether account for 85% of cases - the EU study found that respiratory infections were by far the most common across the 27-member bloc.

In view of the high prevalence rate in Portugal, the study calls for the adoption of "more intensive" epidemiological monitoring, "a more detailed analysis to identify the causal factors, with a view to outlining control strategies" and the training of more specialists to diagnose and treat these infections.

PMC/ARO // ARO.

Lsusa

Brussels, May 16 (Lusa) - Consumer prices in Portugal fell 0.1% in April, making for an annual inflation rate of just 0.4%, as inflation for the euro zone slowed to 1.2% and for the European Union as a whole to 1.4%, the EU's statistical arm said on Thursday.

According to Eurostat, that compares with an annual rate in March of 0.7% for Portugal, of 1.7% for the euro zone and of 1.9% for the EU as a whole.

In April of 2012, consumer price inflation was 2.9% in Portugal, 2.6% for the euro zone and 2.7% in the EU.

Portugal's inflation rate in April of this year was the fifth lowest in the EU.

The lowest rates were Greece's, at 0.6%, Latvia, at 0.4%, and Sweden, with zero inflation. The highest rates were in Romania, with 4.4%, Estonia, with 3.4%, and the Netherlands, with 2.8%.

IG/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 16 (Lusa) - "Público" reports that German leaders criticised the path of austerity and tax hikes followed by the European Commission and its Portuguese President José Manuel Barroso for being "rigid" and "incompetent".

Visão

«Sacked because of Facebook messages», is the lead story in Visão, as labour disputes in Portugal are on the rise and the first case is going to trial. The weekly news magazine questions: Where does the barrier between your personal and professional life lie?

Sábado

«Alternative therapies that help you sleep better, relieve stress and prevent illnesses», is the cover story in Sábado, as managers of big companies, MPs and even doctors have changed their life-styles through yoga, acupuncture and osteopathy. The weekly magazine reports that 43% of Portuguese citizens have tried these therapies.

Público

«Berlin slams austerity and accuses Barroso of incompetence», reveals Público, after German leaders criticised austerity, tax hikes, the doublespeak they said was used by the troika of international lenders and in particular the European Commission and its Portuguese president, José Manuel Barroso, as "rigid" and "incompetent".

Correio da Manhã

«Curse halts the "glorioso"», reports Correio da Manhã, as SL Benfica lost in the final of the Europa League to Chelsea FC due to a last-minute effort by Branislav Ivanovic.

Diário de Notícias

«Police interrogate Teixeira dos Santos for 3 hours», writes Diário de Notícias, as the former minister of finance during the last Socialist government was questioned in relation to public-private partnerships on Wednesday. The daily newspaper reports that his home and workplace were searched last December.

Jornal de Notícias

«Hospital beds at stake», writes Jornal de Notícias, as the government is looking to reduce the number of hospital stays to save on expenditure.

i

«Grizzled earthquake in 2014», writes i, as the government is still working on finding a way to save Euro740m in the convergence scheme between public and private sector pension funds. According to the daily, the idea is for the cuts to be related to the pensioners' insurance history and the government will take into account their age so that older pensioners are less affected.

Diário Económico

«Recession looks to be worse than forcast by PM», reports financial daily Diário Económico, as in the first quarter of this year the country's GDP registered the biggest fall since 1978, when compared with the same period of 2012.

Jornal de Negócios

«Euro MPs want to protect largest deposits», reports financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios, as European MPs are about to propose that bank deposits above Euro100,000 enjoy greater protection under the new banking resolution mechanism adopted by the European Union.

A Bola

«90+ pain», reports A Bola, as Benfica lost 2-1 to Chelsea in the very last minutes of the Europa League final in Amsterdam.

Record

«Curse lies in "extra time"», reports Record, after Benfica lost the UEFA Europa League final despite playing better than Chelsea for most of the 90 minutes.

O Jogo

«Curse of the 90'», writes O Jogo, as Benfica lost the Europa League to Chelsea on Wednesday. The daily sports paper quotes players as saying they had more scoring opportunities but ran out of luck.

PDV/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 16 (Lusa) - The Lisbon stock market was trading in line with the main European bourses, ahead of more eurozone data.

PSI-20, the Portuguese benchmark index, was trading 0.6% lower this Thursday morning at 6,056.29 points, while the main European bourses were also trading in the red.

Financial newspaper Diário Económico reports that the Portuguese government may progressively reduce the country's corporate tax rates, in order to promote activity and attract foreign investment.

In Lisbon, the banking sector was trading mixed. Banco Espírito Santo was falling 1.4%, Banco BPI was advancing 1.8% and Banco Comercial Português was retreating 0.9%.

In the energy sector, Galp Energia was trading nearly unchanged, while EDP Renováveis was edging 0.1% down and EDP -- Energias de Portugal was sheding 0.3%.

Blue-chip Portugal Telecom was trading 0.5% down.

PDV/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 15 (Lusa) - Consortiums in which Portugal's Galp Energia have a stake have secured the concessions to explore nine onshore and offshore blocks in Brazil for oil and gas, according to a statement released by that country's National Oil Agency on Tuesday.

The blocks are to be explored by Galp, through its Petrogal unit, in partnership with Brazilian state oil and gas company Petrobras. In the case of one of the blocks, BP is involved, and in the case of four blocks, gas specialist BG Group.

Towards the end of the auction, a consortium in which Galp has a 20% stake secured the concession to explore a deepwater block in the Potiguar basin, with a premium of some 8 million reais (Euro3 million). Its partners in the consortium are Petrobras and BP, each with 40%.

Earlier in the same auction, consortiums involving Petrobras, Galp and the BG group had secured the concessions to explore four blocks in the Barreirinhas basin, paying premiums totalling 251 million reais (Euro96 million). In this case, Galp has a 10% stake in the consortiums.

In a 50-50 joint venture with Petrobras, Galp also secured the concessions to explore oil in four onshore blocks in the Parnaíba basin, paying premiums totalling 22.3 million reais (Euro8.6 million).

Brazil is expected to provide a growing slice of Galp's revenues. It has been involved in some 20 projects in partnership with Petrobras since 1999, including the Lula oil field in the Santos basin, which contains among the world's largest offshore reserves. Onshore, Galp operates in several blocks in the Potiguar and Sergipe-Alagoas basins.

This latest auction by the Brazilian authorities, launched on Tuesday, raised a record 2.8 billion reais (Euro1 billion), exceeding the reserve price by some 800%.

According to Brazil's National Oil Agency (ANP), at the end of the 11th round, 142 of the 289 blocs up for auction had been placed, representing more than 100,000 square kilometres, distributed by 11 sedimentary basins.

In all 39 companies from 12 countries took part, of which 30 won something; of these 12 were Brazilian and 18 foreign. Galp was the only Portuguese company involved.

JNM/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 15 (Lusa) - "Público" reports that President Cavaco Silva told the coalition partners they should avoid any public expression of divergences, stressing that internal issues should be settled without publicity.

Público

«President tries to halt public expression of government divergences"», reveals Público, after President Cavaco Silva told the coalition partners they should avoid any public expression of divergences in the government. According to the daily, the president believes divergences are natural in any coalition, but a joint effort is needed in the name of national interest, stressing that internal issues should be settled without publicity.

Correio da Manhã«Eight bankers under suspicion», reports Correio da Manhã, as last year the bank authorities opened 21 proceedings against bankers due to money laundering.

Diário de Notícias

«OECD calls for VAT hike in hotels to 23%», writes Diário de Notícias, as according to a report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Portugal still has a margin to increase VAT rates in essential goods from 6% and 13% to 23%, according to the agency. The OECD also highlights the hospitality industry as a key sector to raise VAT rates.

Jornal de Notícias«New recipe: higher VAT and property tax to reduce income tax and social security contributions», writes Jornal de Notícias, as the OECD released a report on Portugal, calling for structural reforms but fretting about the country's pension problems.

i

«Eight centuries of financial folly», writes i, as the OECD stated that before the financial crisis Portugal was already the most unequal country in Europe. The daily also reports that President Cavaco Silva told reporters Tuesday that the conclusion of the troika's seventh quarterly assessment of Portugal's adjustment programme seemed inspired by "Our Lady of Fátima", whose feast day falls on 13 May.

Diário Económico«Pensioners are able to save the most in Portugal», reports financial daily Diário Económico, as figures released by the Bank of Portugal reveal that pensioners save 23% of their disposable incomes.

Jornal de Negócios«OECD calls for convergence without cuts in state pensions», reveals financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios, as the think tank's Secretary General Ángel Gurría defends the convergence of state pensions with those of the private sector, but without retroactive cuts. According to the paper, the suggestion was part of a report on state reform which the Portuguese government had ordered.

A Bola«Make history», writes A Bola, as Benfica gets ready to face Chelsea this evening in the Europa League final played in Amsterdam.

Record«All for one», reports Record, as Benfica faces Chelsea this Wednesday in the Europa League final in Amsterdam.

O Jogo«They are only 11», writes O Jogo, as the daily sports paper says the day coach Béla Guttman made Benfica champion 51 years ago in Amsterdam is still a valid lesson, ahead of this evening's Europa League final against Chelsea.

PDV/ARO // ARO.

Braga, Portugal, May 15 (Lusa) - Cuts in Portugal's network of consulates "may bring into question" the social protection provided to citizens seeking a new life abroad, whose needs are increasingly met by informal groups and the Catholic Church, according to specialists.

"The closure of consulates really does makes the situation of emigrants more precarious," said Vítor Gil, a sociologist working for the directorate general of consular and Portuguese community affairs. "The consular network, which has been shrinking, is an extremely important factor in ensuring the protection of emigrants, which can thus be brought into question."

In an address to a conference in Braga on 'Social protection and migration', Gil said the fact there are no reliable statistics on citizens living abroad "says a lot" about how Portugal sees emigration, with no state-sponsored body taking a strategic view of the phenomenon.

At the same conference, a former Catholic chaplain for emigrants in Paris and in the US, Abílio Cardoso, said that church itself is starting to lack the means to respond to all the requests for its help, many of them from less-qualified immigrants who struggle in labour markets abroad.

Like Gil, Cardoso stressed the importance of "informal networks" composed of groups set up by emigrants in destination countries, which he said serve to "cushion" new arrivals from the worst difficulties.

The Catholic Church, according to the chaplain, remains the institution with the widest reach in terms of welcoming and helping immigrants to their new country of residence.

JYCR/ARO // ARO.

Lisbon, May 15 (Lusa) - People in Portugal are not free to have the number of children they would like, according to the Portuguese Association for Large Families, which is organising various activities for children and their parents on Wednesday to mark the International Day of Families.

With the birth-rate plummeting in the current recession, argued the association's secretary general, Ana Cid, the state should do more to ensure that it is possible for people to have more children if they want.

"Families want to have more children but don't," Cid told Lusa. "There is not true freedom for families to have the children they want."

In 2009, the association did a study that concluded that the average number of children that people in Portugal want to have is 3.1, while the average number they actually have is 1.2.

The association is calling for the government to make changes to the tax code, so that personal income tax takes account not only of income but of the number of people this income supports.

"What we want aren't privileges for families with children, but for them to be trated with fairness and justice," Cid said. "Taxation in Portugal looks only at income and forgets how many people that income feeds and clothes."

The country needs more children and young people, she argued.

ARP/ARO // ARO.