The ‘Vagrant’ was docked at the Madeiran port of Caniçal and was under orders to move on after a 30 year stay as the area it occupied is being made into a green space with some of the detritus and rubble from the 2010 storms.

The boat was being used as a restaurant, as well as acting as a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans, but was very run down. It finally sunk where it was moored due to the high seas and winds on Tuesday night.

The chairman of the board of directors of Águas de Portugal warned today that the whole sector is a time bomb that could jeopardise water services in the very near future.

"Unfortunately, problems remain in the sector needing urgent resolution at a cost of more than €700 million. The current water tariffs do not cover costs. We have a situation that, unless things are resolved, will cause services to suffer in the near future," according to Afonso Lobato de Faria.

Windavia Airlines today made its inaugural flight, the shortest commercial flight in the history of continental Portugal, from Beja to Lisbon and back.

Windavia is betting on high passengers numbers to and from the Alentejo airport and "will start flying all summer to and from Beja in a very ambitious operation."

The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, says it is too early to declare that the crisis in the eurozone is over.

The IMF called on the European Central Bank to take pre-emptive action to alleviate the lending crunch for small and medium businesses.

Monarch airlines, which had been ailing, is now back in profit.

The Cosmos holiday company, part of the same group, has also been turned around.

Scientists have identified the coldest spot on Earth.

Using satellite technology, the measurement of minus 93.2 Celsius (-135.8F) was found to be in the heart of Antarctica.

In the two years since the toll system was imposed on the Via do Infante (A22) motorway across the Algarve it has caused a "worsening economic and social situation." 

This is the view of the communists who today mounted protests at eight locations on the EN 125 to highlight the economic folly of the tolls system and the damage it has done and continues to do to the Algarve's economy.

A fishing float was found today near the beach of Meia Praia in Lagos and has been identified as coming from the Olhão fishing boat missing since Monday.

Today’s swell and high winds prevented any searches by sea, but the authorities patrolled the coastline supported by vehicles where possible in an attempt to recover what certainly now will be the corpses of the two missing fishermen.