"Not to insult people who want a consensus," said the stately warhorse of Portuguese politics, but "I have said enough for people to realise that I do not agree with it.”

 The former President of the Republic of Portugal was asked his opinion of yesterday’s speech by the current Head of State, Cavaco Silva who has called for an ‘arc of governance’ in Portugal’s political scene, exhorting parties to converge and agree on austerity measures so as to please foreign lenders.

Portugal’s President believes an all party consensus in the next legislature could lower interest rates as long as they all agree on austerity measures.

The last time the Head of State called for a political convergence was when Paulo Portas caused a crisis by threatening to lead his party from the coalition and bizarrely was rewarded by the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho with the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

Tenders for the long-delayed new bridge to Faro Island may be opened this year with work ending in 2017 according to Faro’s mayor, Rogerio Bacalhau.

"What is envisaged is to launch the contest this year and if this goes well we can have the work contract signed at the end of the year and the work can still be started later this year or, at worst, early next year" said an unhurried Bacalhau today.

The Spanish interior minister has admitted that police should not have fired rubber bullets as migrants swam towards Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa.

The incident, in which at least 15 migrants are known to have drowned, occurred on 6 February.

The body of 75-year old Louis Jacinto Duarte was found this morning with a bullet in his head at Auto Peçusa in the industrial zone of Pateiro near Estombar, Lagoa.

The victim was found around 8.00am on Monday by his son and employees turning up for work.

The Court of Appeal confirmed the condemnation of the actions of millionaire property speculator Aprígio Santos at Quinta da Rocha that he controls through his vehicle Butwell Trading and Investment Services SA.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction that the habitat at Quinta da Rocha alongside the Ria de Alvor must be completely restored to its original condition. The appeal court went one step further and ordered the permanent suspension of activities in the protected areas, increasing the original 10 years to ‘for ever.’

GNR fundraising teams tomorrow start a week of pulling over drivers who are seen not to be wearing seat belts whilst driving.

Restraint systems for children will also be targeted in an operation that starts on Monday March 10th.

The GNR operation will run until March 16th and GNR soldiers will of course be on "roads where violations for failure to use restraint devices are more frequent," according to a briefing note.

Google Glass, the headgear which takes pictures and videos on voice command, is not being well received in San Francisco.

A woman wearing Google Glass in a San Francisco bar was attacked in the early hours. Her attackers told her “F*** Google”, and accused her of “killing this city”, before tearing the gear from her head.