THE finance ministers of the 15 euro countries told Ireland in no uncertain terms that it must act immediately to cut the burgeoning public debt, putting further pressure on the Government to make cuts in next week’s budget.

WHILE global leaders struggled in London to agree on policies that would let each do their own thing, Bill Clinton had a simple message for the alternative globalisation event in Brussels: “Just do it.”

IRELAND increased its transport emissions more than any other country in Europe, up by a massive 165% from 1990 to 2006, compared with an average of 28% among 28 European countries surveyed.

THE patient is not at the centre of Ireland’s healthcare system, an international survey has found, and patients here are among the least empowered in Europe.

CLOSE to a third of Irish people say they are exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace, despite the ban that came into force five years ago, according to an EU-wide survey.

FINANCIAL services is now more likely to be included in plans for an EU-wide common base for calculating corporation tax, given the current economic crisis, according to European Commission sources.

AID to the world’s poorer nations reached its highest level ever in 2008, but charity levels are likely to be doubly hit by the growing economic crisis, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and aid agencies have warned.

THE president of the European Central Bank Jean Claude Trichet gave a boost to confidence in the Irish economy when he said that it was absurd to imagine a euro member being a problem for the euro area.

IRISH schoolchildren report the easiest access out of 35 European countries to a range of drugs as well as alcoholic spirits.

THE head of the UN relief agency in Gaza has called on Israel to allow immediate access for supplies and aid into the war-torn region warning that up to 90% of its citizens are surviving on handouts.