Most financial institutions in the UK will be able to escape strict European rules aimed at curbing bankers’ bonuses under a new code issued today by the City watchdog.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern today accused the European Parliament of failing to act to ensure CIA flights are not carrying terror suspects to torture camps.

THE Aughinish Alumina plant is facing a new EU pollution probe following complaints by local farmers.

ACCORDING to a recent EU committee report, Ireland is the third worst offender in all of Europe, after Germany and the UK, in allowing torture flights to land and refuel, with 147 CIA flights identified at Shannon airport.

I’M not sure which is the greater indignity: that Shannon is used for so-called rendition flights, or that we have a Government prepared to tell the world it believes the Bush administration when it says they don’t happen.

WITH only 29 days to the Special Olympics, Health Minister Micheál Martin is under intense pressure at home and abroad to reverse his controversial ban on teams from SARS hotspots coming to Ireland.

THE Government should stop issuing new taxi plates immediately and rethink its entire taxi policy, the Oireachtas Transport Committee heard yesterday.

A European Union parliamentary committee has voted down drastic changes to proposed rules to marry copyright legislation with the internet.