Carles Puigdemont, the leader of Catalonia, who saw through a vote for independence on Sunday in the face of State interference and police violence, has not yet declared unilateral independence and is open to talks with Madrid.

Puigdemont has urged international mediation to settle matters between Madrid and Catalonia, but stressed that the results announced by the regional government after yesterday's pro-independence referendum should stand.

The body of the second of the two fishermen who disappeared a week ago in the Alentejo’s Alqueva reservoir, surfaced this morning and has been recovered.

The corpse was spotted on the surface of the water at 09:37 near the place where the two men had disappeared.

Monarch Airlines ceased all operations this morning, Monday, October 2nd, with the Civil Aviation Authority now working to repatriate over 110,000 stranded holidaymakers.

An estimated 300,000 bookings will not be honoured and creditors will be forming an orderly queue as the airline plunges so deeply into debt it may take some suppliers down with it.

Socialist control of the Algarve is 46.23% - up from 36.7% in 2013.

See: https://www.autarquicas2017.mai.gov.pt  for up to date results and analysis.

Here are the October 1st results:

The intransigence of the Catalan regional government and the government in Madrid under Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has led to 844 members of the public being injured by police as Catalans tried as best they could to vote on their future, under or outside of Spanish control.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said, "The unjustified use of violence... by the Spanish state will not stop the will of the Catalan people," speaking of unjustified violence dished out by the Guardia Civil and the National Police who had flooded the region to back up the local police force, Mossos d'Esquadra.

For the first time, Portugal has been voted as the 'Best European Destination' in the latest round of Tourism Oscars at the World Travel Awards ceremony in St Petersburg, Russia.

Present at the boondoggle was Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, who commented that receiving this unprecedented distinction "is an honour” and shows that "the whole country is an incredible asset and a 'must' to visit."

Spain holds its collective breath as tension mounts in Catalonia where voters already have occupied polling stations in advance of Sunday's referendum on independence, already declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, with the support of the court, is determined to prevent this vote on Catalonia’s independence from Spain and had ordered local police to block entrances at all polling stations across the region.

Novo Banco has reached 73.4% of its target for bondholders to accept a discounted bond buyback - a vital condition that must be met before any sale can go ahead to US vulture fund, Lone Star.

Novo Banco’s management issued a statement on Friday that several bondholders has had meetings in London and the bank now had €4.6 billion of orders for early redemption and that the remaining holders have until Monday to accept the terms of the buyback. Currently, the bank is short of €1.66 billion of pledges.