The impact of asset purchases by the European Central Bank is visible in the euro-area economy, according to Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen.

The ECB slowed purchases of covered bonds as officials prepare to expand their asset-buying programme to include other securities.

To German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble, the European Central Bank is at the end of the road.

Vitor Constancio said any policies announced by the ECB in June will complement each other.

The European Central Bank (ECB) following a meeting of its Governing Council today said it has decided to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at an historic low of 1%.

The European Central Bank (ECB) at a meeting of its Governing Council today opted to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at an historic low of 1%.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS have been hit hardest with e343,919 cut from their 2009 funding but with total funding amounting to e11.47m, budgetary cuts fell well short of the feared 8% when Government grants to sports’ governing bodies were announced by the Irish Sports Council (ISC) yesterday.

The European Central Bank, still collecting economic data on the effect of its last interest rate increase, is set to hold steady today, but set the stage for a series of raises starting next month.

FOUR American and four Italian military personnel were killed in separate aircraft crashes, military officials said yesterday, as Iraq’s prime minister condemned the arrest of a top Sunni political leader by US troops.

GUNMEN killed Baghdad's governor in Iraq's highest-profile assassination in eight months yesterday.

The deadly showdown between US troops and Iraqi militants in Najaf dominated Iraq’s national conference, with tribal and religious leaders deciding to send 60 delegates to the holy city to persuade a radical Shiite cleric to call off his fighters.

A tape recording purportedly made by al-Qaida-linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to assassinate Iraq’s interim prime minister and said the fight against “infidels” would continue “until Islamic rule is back on earth”.

Four Iraqis were killed and 13 injured as Shiite gunmen seized an Iraqi police station in the holy city of Najaf and held it for two hours today.

The Anglo-American blueprint for a post-occupation Iraq falls short of expectations, the president of the Iraqi Governing Council said today.

The US governor of Iraq said today that the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis must go ahead as scheduled despite the killing of the head of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council in a suicide bombing.

The head of Iraqi Governing Council was killed today in a car bombing near a US checkpoint in central Baghdad, an Iraqi official said.

“Osama bin Laden” has offered rewards in gold for anyone who kills top US, British and United Nations officials in Iraq.

“Osama bin Laden” tonight offered rewards in gold for anyone who kills top US and UN officials in Iraq.

An Iranian envoy headed to the Iraqi holy city of Najaf today on a mission to end the American stand-off with a radical Shiite cleric.

Iran has ended negotiations with the United States about how to bring calm to Iraq because they were going nowhere, Iran’s foreign minister said tonight, in a rare acknowledgement of official talks with Washington.

A fragile ceasefire held between Sunni fighters and US marines in the besieged city of Fallujah, where doctors said more than 600 Iraqis, including civilians, were killed in the past week.

A YEAR after Saddam Hussein’s statue was toppled in a central Baghdad square, US marines are battling Sunni Muslims west of the capital. Across central and southern Iraq, coalition forces try to put down a Shi’ite uprising.

Militiaman loyal to an anti-US Shiite cleric controlled large swathes of three Iraqi cities today after clashes with US-led coalition forces, while US marines backed by airstrikes fought insurgents for the second day around a mosque in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah.

IRAQI politicians and a top Shi'ite cleric are due to sign the new Iraqi interim constitution charter today.

Iraqi police and US troops arrested 15 people, including several possible Iranians, in the devastating suicide attacks against Shiite pilgrims as authorities tried to discover how militants staged Iraq’s bloodiest attacks since the war ended.

At least 10 Iraqi civilians were killed today when two suicide bombers launched an attack on a coalition base where international troops are based.

Roadside bombs have claimed more US lives in Iraq, killing three US soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad and Sunni Muslim areas to the north of the capital.

Three Iraqis were killed when a truck bomb exploded soon after a US patrol passed by as two UN security experts arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to study the possible return of international staff.

Iraqi authorities expressed surprise and disappointment today at reports that Pentagon lawyers have determined that Saddam Hussein has been a prisoner of war since American forces captured him last month.

Saddam Hussein’s family wants the former Iraqi leader to be tried by an international court instead of a special tribunal set up by the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council, one of his daughters said today.

Iraq is preparing to put deposed dictator Saddam Hussain on trial in his absence for war crimes and genocide .

Ireland’s racing authorities have set up a Safety Review Group in the wake of the death of two jockeys after riding accidents recently.

On the day that the International Rugby Board informed the 20 nations competing in the World Cup that it will start testing for the new designer anabolic steroid THG, Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan said he hopes the authorities will keep catching the drug cheats.

THE US-chosen government of Iraq said yesterday that it does not want peacekeepers from other countries to replace US-led forces, ending days of disputes over proposals by Turkey to commit peacekeeping troops.

A new US draft resolution is to be submitted to the United Nations giving Iraq’s US-appointed Governing Council until December 15 to develop a timetable for elections and a new constitution.

YESTERDAY’S suicide bomb attack aimed at a Baghdad hotel used by US officials deals a further blow to US President George W Bush who is trying to bolster support for his invasion of Iraq by highlighting post-war successes.

A mortar blast at a market north of Baghdad killed eight civilians shortly after the United Nations announced plans to scale back its international staff because of continuing violence.

A powerful Shiite member of Iraq’s US-picked Governing Council raged against the occupation of the country during a eulogy at the funeral of his murdered brother attended by almost half a million people today.

IRAQ got its first post-war cabinet yesterday as the funeral march for Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, killed in the Najaf car bomb massacre, continued its three-day journey to the revered cleric’s final resting place.

US troops arrested seven suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists in raids north of the capital, while the interim Governing Council warned the US military its bruising tactics risk alienating the hearts and minds of the population.

A tape recording, purportedly to be of Saddam Hussein, was broadcast by a Gulf TV station today, with the deposed Iraqi dictator saying British and US weapons of mass destruction claims are “baseless”.

A TOP entrepreneur has vowed to leave no stone unturned in his campaign to develop Waterford Institute of Technology.