January 27th is the date for the first of two week-long visits to Portugal this year by a team from the Troika of lenders that bailed out the country in a financial move that at least one of the three since has regretted.

There has been a change of government since the last visit which resulted in a report that accused the Passos Coelho administration of slacking off in the run up to last October’s election.

David Bowie has been given his own constellation, which is composed of seven stars which create the shape of a lightning bolt.

Belgian astronomers announced that they have registered the constellation which sits in the vicinity of Mars.

"What the Government's intentions regarding the mining of feldspar in the Monchique mountains?"

This is but one of the questions put to the government by the Communist Party whose Algarve MP Paulo Sá has been made aware of the covert action by mining company Sifucel Silicas SA.

Germany began tightening its deportation arrangements for migrants who are rejected for political asylum, including housing them in special expulsion centres.

After poor cooperation from a host of North African countries which have been slow to accept the return of their nationals, the weekend saw Germany take a number of steps to expedite the process.

In 2015, GNR road patrols caught nearly 29,000 people who were driving along, chatting away on their mobile phones.

This was an increase of almost 30% compared to the previous year and represents a mass rejection of a driving law designed to prevent accidents.

French president Francois Hollande (pictured) has promised to “redefine” the country’s economic model in an effort to conquer the unemployment crisis.

He admitted that France is in “a state of economic and social emergency” as the country has seen its 10.6% rate reach an 18-year high.

A British MP has criticised Portuguese legislation that has allowed thousands of Indians to settle in the UK.

Portuguese laws allow anyone born in Goa, Daman and Diu in India before 1961, as well as their children and grandchildren, full rights to Portuguese nationality and thus a ticket north to settle anywhere in the European Union.

Paulo Portas has risen from recent media obscurity to warn of the current trend set by the Socialist government of undoing everything that the coalition government managed to achieve when it was in power.

The former deputy prime minister says that we must continue to ensure that Portugal is an attractive country "for Portuguese and foreign investment."