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'The coalition government is over' says Left Bloc's Catarina Martins

catarinamartinsCatarina Martins, of the recently empowered Left Bloc, declared today that the "Passos Coelho and Paulo Portas government is over."

The Left Bloc leader met António Costa, leader of the Socialist Party, this morning in what he described as a "very interesting” meeting.

Irish banking exec could face criminal charges

drummA leading Irish banker is being held in the US facing extradition nine years after the bank he led was forced into government hands six years ago.

David Drumm, former chief exec at Anglo Irish bank, was in charge during the boom times of 2005 to 2008. But in 2009 the Irish government had to rescue it to the tune of more than €29 billion.

Olhão's Berlin Wall, the farce continues

OLHAOCROSSINGREOPENEDThe pedestrian railway crossing which separates Olhão’s north and south was closed by the railway company Refer a year ago on the grounds of ‘health and safety,’ despite no known accidents since the railway line reached the town in 1904.  

Contractors erected fences and dug up concrete access paths either side of the railway line to stop people from using the crossing, forcing them to use the road underpass instead.

Ryanair emergency landing at Faro airport

ryanairThe Captain of a Ryanair flight called for an emergency landing at Faro Airport on Sunday morning due to unspecified ‘technical issues’ on-board.

The flight, from the Spanish island of Lanzarote to Shannon airport in Ireland, touched down at Faro airport at around 9:30 and came to a halt without incident.

Portugal's council workers go back to a 35-hour week

portimaocamaraThe government’s plan that every council should insist on a 40-hour working week from its workers has been found ‘unconstitutional.’

Most councils anyway had used a deliberate loophole in the legislation to avoid putting pressure on employees to work a full 40-hour week.

Gibraltar’s secret network to open as wine cellar

gibraltarGibraltar’s extensive tunnel system is likely to be converted into a mega storage facility for investment-quality wine from around the world.

Work is set to start to create a state-of-the-art wine cellar which would be capable of holding more than 850,000 cases.

ANA refuses to cover Lisbon's 'tourist tax' next year

lisbon2Portugal’s French owned airports operator ANA has stated that it will not pay out again to stop Lisbon council charging a per night tourist tax.

This year ANA will end up paying around €4 million to the capital’s council to avoid it imposing the tax which ANA sees as damaging to the tourist trade.

Driving licence scam raked in over €1 million

citroenProsecutors who have unravelled a widespread scam that involved handing out driving licences for cash payments claim that GNR officers were involved.

The focus of the investigation is the test centre in Vila Verde, Braga where students with enough cash could by their full driving licence.