PORTUGAL will pay bailout interest rates similar to those imposed on Greece and Ireland, but the final numbers are yet to be decided.

Huge gains for a nationalist eurosceptic party in Finland’s general election have posed a challenge to EU plans to rescue Portugal and other debt-ridden economies.

Finnish voters dealt a blow to Europe’s plans to rescue Portugal and other debt-ridden economies, ousting the pro-bailout government and giving a major boost to a Eurosceptic nationalist party.

A nationalist party that rejects bail-outs for Portugal and other debt-ridden eurozone members is expected to make strong gains in Finland's election today but remains unlikely to join the next government, according to a series of recent polls.

Estonia’s centre-right government is poised to stay in power for a second term after winning a clear parliamentary majority in the Baltic country’s first election as a eurozone member, preliminary results showed.

Estonia holds its first election as a eurozone member today, with the centre-right government hoping for an unprecedented second term for steering one of Europe’s most depressed economies back to growth.

THE Scannal programme on the 1970 Arms Crisis on RTÉ television this week began with me proclaiming that the whole thing was the most serious crisis since the civil war. It has never been properly investigated but then no one should be surprised because the civil war was largely ignored, too.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen and his party certainly did not distinguish themselves with the cabinet reshuffle during the week, but the contortions of Leo Varadkar helped to take some of the spotlight off the Government.

A CONCISE version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was about to be finalised when somebody noticed a howler. The encyclopaedia wrongly suggested that our civil war of 1922-23 was fought between the Catholics of the south and the Protestants of the North.

Norway’s prime minister today said fighting climate change would be a priority in his second term after his left-leaning government beat a splintered opposition to win re-election.

Sweden today scrapped a 30-year ban on building new nuclear reactors, saying they were needed for future power.

Fine Gael could become the biggest political force in the country in coming years, it was claimed today.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s Centre Party won Finland’s Parliamentary election by a razor-thin margin ahead of the opposition Conservatives tonight.

THE new president of the Garda Representative Association, John Egan, exhibited incredible insensitivity in essentially issuing a threat to his political bosses. “We are waiting in the long grass for them,” he warned.

NORWAY’S prime minister, who presided over four years of unprecedented prosperity fuelled by high oil prices, yesterday said he will resign after a left-wing opposition bloc won parliamentary elections.

Norway was poised for a power shift after the left-leaning opposition won a majority of seats in Parliament with pledges to spend more of the nation’s vast oil wealth on welfare, official election results showed early today.

Estonian politicians today demanded a new investigation into the 1994 sinking of the Ferry Estonia, after Sweden acknowledged the vessel had been used to transport abandoned Soviet military equipment from the Baltics.

Finland’s former Prime Minister Anneli Jaatteenmaki stands in court with her lawyer Aarno Arvela ahead of the so-called Iraqgate leak trial.

A FORMER journalist and EU specialist was named as Finland’s new prime minister yesterday, replacing the first woman to hold to post after only two months when she was toppled by a leaked document scandal.

EIGHTY years ago on Sunday last, a new political party was publicly unveiled at a convention in the Mansion House.

EXACTLY 80 years ago, on December 7, 1922, Sean Hales, TD, was shot dead on his way to a Dáil meeting. This barbaric act occurred a day after the formal establishment of the Irish Free State.

Israel's small Centre Party has accepted an invitation to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon coalition Government.