Silvio Berlusconi should lose his Senate seat due to his tax fraud conviction, a Senate committee has recommended.

Italy’s fragile coalition government has been pushed into a full-fledged crisis after ministers from former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s political party announced their resignations.

The Taoiseach has criticised much of the commentary around Ireland's corporate tax rate.

THE Ivor Callely expenses affair should be immediately referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Fine Gael demanded.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said proposals for new sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme have been agreed.

US president Barack Obama, who quoted a new White House study suggesting that small businesses pay far more per employee for health insurance than big companies, said the disparity was “unsustainable” and “unacceptable”.

Democrats took the first step toward a wartime repudiation of US president George Bush today, convening a Senate committee to endorse legislation declaring that the deployment of additional troops to Iraq is “not in the national interest".

Pakistan’s army destroyed suspected al-Qaida hideouts in an air strike near the Afghan border today, killing several militants including foreigners, the army said.

A rebellious Senate committee is defying President George Bush with its approval of terror-detainee legislation that the US president has vowed to block.

THE ongoing negotiations in the world trade talks were discussed at a meeting in Washington between Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan, senior personnel in the Bush administration and members of the United States legislature.

Former UK Labour MP George Galloway will appear before a US Senate committee to defend himself against accusations that he received vouchers for millions of barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was heckled at a Senate Committee today as he apologised to Iraqis tortured by US military in a Baghdad prison.

The White House reaffirmed President George Bush’s support of his embattled Defence Secretary today as pressure mounted on him to sack Donald Rumsfeld over the military’s abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair was last night under severe pressure to make a statement to the House of Commons to answer claims that the Government exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.