With temperatures soaring towards 30°C and foreign currencies suddenly winning against the euro, Portugal is all set for a bumper Easter, with hotels everywhere filling up fast. The Algarve particularly has been labelled one of the “best bargain destinations for Brits” as flights from all over Europe have started bringing holiday visitors in droves.

Forget any bad news that might be swirling out there in the ether, Portugal is on track for an exhilarating Easter. From north to south, conditions could hardly be better.

Drivers along the A25 were horrified to see an elderly woman walking on the hard shoulder with the aid of a zimmer frame.

One “broke the law” to call police who quickly sent out a patrol car.

A Turkish Airlines flight to Lisbon has been diverted back to Istanbul due to a bomb threat.

Reuters news agency reports the plane was diverted after unaccompanied baggage was found on board.

Following the tragedy of Germanwings flight 4U 9525, in which 150 people died, all airlines based in Portugal are now obliged to ensure they have two pilots in the cockpit of every flight at all times. The announcement was made by Secretary of State for Transports Sérgio Monteiro on the recommendation of INAC, Portugal’s civil aviation authority.

It thus binds TAP, SATA, Euroatlantic, White and HiFly airways.

A PSP policeman is reported to have narrowly avoided being stabbed after answering an emergency call to a house in Olhão.

Faro PSP’s district command reveals agents were called to the scene by an 82-year-old man who was being threatened by his son, who wanted money to buy drugs.

Investigations in the fight against crime in Portugal’s National Health Service in 2014 detected scams totaling just €5.5 million, according to the Homeland Security Annual Report covering last year.

According to the document delivered to parliament today, in 2014 the Judicial Police unit that combats economic crime concluded "several investigations into crimes of active and passive corruption, improper receipt of advantage, document forgery, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and drug trafficking."

The popularity of Scotch whisky is beginning to taper off among Americans while being warmly received in other parts of the globe.

After ten years of growth, sales fell last year by 7%. This comes, however, after some ten years of strong global growth, when the total value of exports went up 74% since 2004, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.

João Cantiga Esteves, the chairman of the monitoring committee for the privatisation of Portugal’s state owned TAP has said that the airline is in a desperate financial state and that it is surviving on a day-by-day, minute-by-minute basis.

Esteves said today that the airline lives in complete financial despair, owing €2 billion with just €2 million in free funds with which to pay its bills.