The August holiday month is nearly over for the hundreds of BES depositors who returned to Portugal and spent much of their holiday mounting protests in front of Novo Banco branches to demand their money back.

The fight is not over as today their lawyer said that one option being followed up is to seek redress in the Portuguese courts and at international judicial institutions such as the United Nations and the European Court of Justice.

Violent protests in a small German town have taken place over two nights, leading the authorities to say they will counter xenophobia.

The eastern German town of Heidenau, near Dresden, saw one night of violence followed by one of scuffles as police intervened against right-wing militants and racists who were threatening a refugee shelter there.

Champagne and Burgundy are seeking to use their new Unesco world heritage listings to garner more tourists.

The areas are already popular for wine tourism, but the country as a whole is attempting to further enhance this sector. The foreign minister’s goal is to increase tourist numbers from 84 million last year to 100 million, with wine as one of the key areas.

The taxman’s favourite method of collecting overdue sums, the so called ‘coercive collection’ system, has risen 25% in a year.

The treasury has raked in €430 million in the first half of this year by seizing assets including vehicles, thus rendering many families and workers immobile.

Barcelona has pushed so rapidly to become the poker capital of Europe, it has become second only in popularity to Las Vegas among the world’s top players.

The remarkable achievement comes only twelve years after the game was legalised in Catalonia.

Eleven people now have been confirmed dead after a 1950s Hawker Hunter jet hit cars as it crashed onto the A27 at Shoreham in West Sussex, wiping out drivers, two cyclists and a motorcycle rider.

The pilot survived and was flown to the Royal Sussex Hospital where he is in a critical condition.

French police are still investigating yesterday's terrorist incident on a moving TGV near Arras in France as a gunman opened fire with an automatic weapon. 

The shooting happened just before 6pm yesterday evening on a train carrying over 500 passengers but two American servicemen and one British civilian manage to deal with the attack.

Praise was heaped on the trio by French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Carlos Santos Silva is staying under house arrest, according to today’s decision from the Central Court of Criminal Investigation.

Silva is the childhood friend of José Sócrates and both are held as part of ‘Operation Marquês’ which is investigating them and others for qualified tax fraud, money laundering and accepting bribes.