President Vladimir Putin has lamented the latest round of US sanctions against Russia, saying they are stalemating bilateral relations and hurting not only Russian but also American businesses.

The manager of Jean-Claude Juncker’s campaign to become president of the European Commission has accepted a job with a London-based international financial organisation.

The leader of the International Monetary Fund tipped as a candidate for the French presidency was taken off a plane moments before take-off last night and questioned by police over an alleged sex attack on a hotel maid.

A NUMBER of state-appointed bank directors are being paid ministerial and TD pensions of up to €130,000 a year on top of their earnings in the bailed-out financial institutions.

THE PM Group has beaten off stiff competition to win €10 million in EU-funded consultancy projects in the Balkans.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan will continue his ’hard-sell’ of Ireland’s economy next week with visits to EU financial capitals of Frankfurt, Milan and Amsterdam.

AN EU recovery plan including measures to cushion the impact of the economic downturn on the real economy, and especially on jobs, is being drawn up by the European Commission.

INTERNAL market commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been harshly criticised by the leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament.

TWENTY-TWO years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, work is under way on a colossal new shelter to cover the ruins and deadly radioactive contents of the exploded power plant.

MORE balance in rural planning has been called for by Environment Minister Dick Roche during a debate on renewable energy.

IRELAND has been told to make real reductions in carbon dioxide emissions at home rather than trying to buy its way out of our commitments.

Ireland was ordered to alter its national plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission confirmed today.

THE Government is to pay over €2 million toward building a protective shell around the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear reactor, it emerged yesterday.

The Government is to pay more than €2m towards building a protective shell around the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear reactor, it emerged today.

Ukraine wants to build 11 new nuclear reactors by 2030 in a strategic move aimed at boosting its energy independence, the state-run Energoatom company, which operates all nuclear plants in the former Soviet republic, said today.

A British-based bank is suing Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, his Sibneft oil company and another former director of a now-defunct Russian firm that owes £9.37m (€13.3m) to the bank.

A rapid fall in house prices is the biggest threat to the UK economy this year, a survey showed today.

The Progressive Democrats, who celebrate 19 years in politics today, plan a major recruitment drive in 2005 to sustain the party’s future.

Horst Koehler, a former head of the International Monetary Fund who has called for bolder economic reforms in Germany, was elected today as the country’s ninth postwar president.

Frenchman Jean Lemierre has been re-elected president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Frenkel to retire from Merrill Lynch at end April

EU finance ministers are unlikely to be able to agree on their choice for the next head of the IMF at informal talks starting today.

FINANCE Minister Charlie McCreevy will host his EU colleagues and central bank governors at a meeting in the controversial Punchestown Exhibition Centre in his Kildare constituency tomorrow.

The EU's Irish presidency played down hopes of a decision on a new IMF leader at informal talks this weekend among EU finance ministers.

FINANCE ministers are expected to name the new appointee for the vacant seat at the European Central Bank today when they will also discuss nominations for the International Monetary Fund position.

Dr Brian Hillery has been appointed non-Executive Director of Independent News and Media.

EU budgetary rules need to be relaxed to allow Ireland to borrow more money for infrastructure projects, the Tánaiste said yesterday.

Des O’Malley is to become an alternate director of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

IRELAND will not lose its automatic right to an EU Commissioner until 2010 at the earliest, a study published yesterday says.

US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said his upcoming Africa trip with U2 lead singer Bono is designed to help start reversing 50 years of poor performance in development aid.