Europe’s money market funds will not have to hold costly capital to shield them from financial shocks following a vote by MEPs to soften proposed new rules for the trillion-euro industry.

We, as a nation, are in serious hock to all and sundry. We recently learned that the State, Central Bank, banks, businesses and households, aka you and me, owe a combined €1.64 trillion.

The Obama administration faced a breakdown in confidence yesterday from key foreign allies over secret surveillance programmes that reportedly installed covert listening devices in EU offices.

It is an ill wind that blows no good.

The European Parliament is right not to accept a reduced budget because it would harm growth prospects, write Martin Schulz and Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso

There are tentative signs of an improvement across the eurozone in three key areas — the banking system, sovereign debt, and politics — that will ensure the survival of the single currency, says London-based, senior vice-president of Franklin Templeton John Beck.

So, Spain escapes the pain, Greece is let off the leash, but Ireland is still expected to take a good hiding from the EU — why?

Ireland and the UK have been told they cannot send asylum seekers back to Greece because of the country’s inadequate asylum arrangements.

THE days of the Finance Minister arriving in the Dáil on budget day with a secret list of how he will raise and spend your money is over.

GREEK Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to step down as premier to allow the creation of a national unity government that will secure international financing for the country and avert a default.

Shares in Britain’s banks fell by as much as 5% today amid increasing fears that the eurozone debt crisis could spread to Italy or even Spain.

European Union regulators have given Chinese manufacturer Geely the go-ahead to buy Sweden’s Volvo Cars.

The National Treasury Management Agency is to auction up to €1.5bn worth of government debt tomorrow.

The European Parliament today strongly rejected a deal that would have allowed US authorities access to European bank transfers – a vote Washington said disrupted an important source of information for anti-terror investigators.

EU leaders including Taoiseach Brian Cowen will consider bailing out Greece today in a move to restore global confidence in the single currency.

The European Commission said that hackers used a spoof European Union website to try and steal information that would allow them to profit from the EU’s cap-and-trade program.

The upcoming standardisation of all EU Government building contracts and tenders in Eurocodes provides the Irish construction sector with a golden opportunity to adopt best practice and explore new business markets, according to John Gormley TD, Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The European Commission was accused today of abdicating its responsibility - for letting an EU government ban wild animals from circuses.

THE Common Agricultural Policy health check negotiations entered a crucial phase at a Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels.

An EU scheme to provide free fruit and vegetables to schools across Europe was backed by MEPs today.

THE surprise capture of Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, is expected to transform Serbia’s place in the world and greatly increase its chances of entering the European Union.

ANGRY farmers last night joined Ireland’s largest supermarket chain in rejecting claims by a top chef that chicken sold in shops is akin to poison.

European Union and US negotiators have reached a deal on the sharing of trans-Atlantic air passenger data used in anti-terror investigations, diplomats said in Luxembourg today.

The transfer of confidential banking records by a Belgium-based company to US authorities for use in anti-terrorism investigations breached EU data privacy rules, the premier said today.

EU leaders today backed bids by Romania and Bulgaria to join the 25-nation bloc next year, but urged the two Balkan countries to speed up essential reforms.

THE imminent farming crisis as a result of the nitrates directive is a far greater scandal than mere official mismanagement in Ireland.

Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company today approved the official launch of the new Airbus A350 plane, designed to rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

EU government officials from all 25 member states met today to consider a deal with China to unblock some 77 million garments held up at European borders after Chinese textile imports broke through 2005 quota limits.

European leaders today paved the way for Turkey to join the EU as its first Muslim country.

The government of the Czech Republic was under pressure tonight to end “barbaric” treatment of handicapped children.

THE social and environmental impact of financial policies must be taken into account if Europe is to maintain its high standard of living and quality of life, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned yesterday.

Bertie Ahern and other EU leaders sparked a battle for power tonight as talks began in earnest on the final shape of a new constitution for Europe.

VOTING Yes to Nice will give the country’s neutrality its strongest protection-ever, Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen said yesterday.

Connaught-Ulster MEP Dana Rosemary Scallon is hitting out at European Commission plans to introduce an EU Government.

Calls for the creation of a European Government from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder were today sending shockwaves through Britain.