IRELAND has come under pressure from the Council of Europe to stop criminalising women who have abortions and allow them access to the procedure.

SCIENTISTS from the European Environment Agency have called for a halt to plans to increase the share of biofuels used in transport, to which EU leaders have committed themselves.

ANTI-TREATY campaigners are distorting the truth and telling lies, claims vice-president of the European Commission Margot Wallstrom.

GARDAÍ are investigating an attack on Dublin MEP Proinsias De Rossa who was attacked and assaulted by a group of anti-Lisbon treaty protesters.

CONTRACT workers employed by the state must get the same salaries and pension schemes as their counterparts in full-time employment, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

THE French government was told to keep out of Irish politics and to stop interfering with the Lisbon referendum by Europe Minister Dick Roche and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore.

THE provision in the Lisbon Treaty to have commissioners from just two-thirds of member states could affect the democratic legitimacy of the European Union, according to commission vice-president Margot Wallstrom.

INTERNATIONAL business and investment will lose confidence in Ireland if voters reject the Lisbon Treaty, according to Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

IRISH government hopes of fighting off EU attempts to introduce a harmonised method for companies to calculate their tax was dealt a severe blow yesterday when France said it intends to push it during their presidency of the union.

SCIENTISTS have discovered the gene that turns tobacco smokers into addicts, and makes giving up the weed very difficult.