SWEDEN: Worried that Swedes aren’t having enough sex, the government wants to analyse the bedroom activities of its citizens in a major study.

Nearly 700,000 postal votes will decide whether a hardline Austrian will become the European Union's first far-right president.

Greece’s leftist-led government said it will today submit a request to the eurozone to extend a “loan agreement” for up to six months, raising prospects of a last-minute deal to keep the heavily indebted country afloat.

It would be a delicious irony if the greatest opportunity given to the parties of the left in the history of this State achieved what generations of moderate, loosely Christian Democratic, Social Democratic politicians with more or less the same objectives failed to do. 

A proposed Swiss-German tax accord is dead and buried amid growing public opposition in Germany to any deal that is seen as too easy on evaders, senior members of chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition said.

British prime minister David Cameron has distanced himself from a proposal by the North’s attorney general to end prosecutions in Troubles-related murders.

Germany’s Social Democrats want to strip euro policymaking out of the finance ministry in chancellor Angela Merkel’s third term, according to three people familiar with the party’s negotiating strategy.

German chancellor Angela Merkel has absolved herself of blame for the eurozone’s north-south split during the debt crisis, saying she has Europe’s best interests at heart when pressing the need to become globally competitive.

It is tragic to hear of a housing estate in Tullow, Co Carlow, which took millions if not billions of working class Irish savings and pensions, all held in banks in credit union bonds, deposit, and savings accounts, being sold for €150,000, the price of a small house in the country.

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats suffered a crushing defeat in a regional election in the northern German city-state of Hamburg yesterday that will make it harder for her coalition to pass laws.

The main opposition Social Democratic Party has made huge gains in regional elections in the Czech Republic, possibly threatening plans to host part of a US missile shield in the country.

A forecast based on the first partial results in Sweden’s parliamentary election today showed the Social Democratic-led bloc in a dead heat with the centre-right opposition alliance, national broadcaster SVT said.

Members of Germany’s leading parties were expected today to approve the 143-page agreement that would see a left-right coalition take power, with Angela Merkel as the country’s first woman chancellor.

Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel today defended her coalition’s programme of hefty tax hikes and benefit cuts as the right action for creating jobs, stimulating growth and putting Germany back among Europe’s top three countries.

GERMANY’S biggest political parties reached a deal last night to form a coalition government, sealing an accord that would make Angela Merkel the nation’s first woman chancellor.

Germany’s biggest political parties today reached a deal to form a coalition government, a senior Social Democratic official said.

Germany’s Social Democrats pressed for a new tax on high-income earners today as negotiators opened a decisive week in their efforts to form a new government - talks that will focus on plugging a huge budget shortfall.

A senior conservative’s participation in Germany’s proposed new left-right government was in doubt today as politicians struggled to digest the implications of a sudden leadership crisis in the centre-left Social Democrats.

Social Democratic Party chairman Franz Muentefering will serve as vice-chancellor and labour minister in a coalition government under conservative Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel, party officials said today.

Conservative leader Angela Merkel was set to become Germany’s first female Chancellor under a power-sharing agreement that would end Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder’s seven years in office, Social Democratic officials said today.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and conservative rival Angela Merkel head into a third round of talks today on forming a possible coalition to resolve a deadlock over who should lead Germany.

The two biggest political parties in Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s centre-left Social Democrats and conservative challenger Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, will meet for coalition talks on Thursday, a Social Democratic party official said today.

A GRINNING Gerhard Schroeder leapt onto a giant stage to thumping music and applause from several thousand Social Democratic (SPD) supporters.

German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder plans to hold a parliamentary confidence vote by the beginning of July, the chairman of his Social Democratic Party said today, a move that would mean new elections must be held by September 18.

Danes have given prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen a second four-year term, embracing his government’s pledge to keep immigration in check and taxes, among Europe’s highest, from rising.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s centre-right government won its second term today.

A group of left-wing activists frustrated with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s drive to trim the country’s social programmes is creating a new party that could eat into the support base of the German leader’s Social Democrats.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will lay a wreath at the tomb of an unknown German soldier during this weekend’s 60th anniversary commemorations of the Allied D-Day invasion in Normandy.

A senior parliamentary official today defeated a candidate backed by right-wing populist Joerg Haider in a presidential election that showed voter dissatisfaction with the country’s government.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder hopes to quell persistent dissent over his efforts to trim the generous welfare state by handing over the leadership of his governing Social Democratic Party today.

TWO people were killed in violent unrest in Venezuela after electoral officials said there were insufficient signatures to hold a referendum on recalling President Hugo Chavez, authorities said, as the sharply divided country awaited the opposition's next move.

Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds and Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly today became the first two Assembly members to be elected in Northern Ireland.

Swedes were today voting on whether to adopt the euro after a shadow was cast over the referendum by the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.

A DAY after his far-right Freedom Party suffered a crushing defeat in Austria’s general election, Joerg Haider said yesterdayhe was planning to step down as governor of Carinthia province, hinting he would leave the political scene altogether.

A day after his far-right Freedom Party suffered a crushing defeat in Austria’s general election, Joerg Haider said he was planning to step down as governor of Carinthia province, hinting he would leave the political scene altogether.

A young man was left with two broken arms and a broken leg because he refused to pay protection money to the IRA, it was claimed today.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today highlighted the role of the British and Irish governments as “guardians” of the Good Friday agreement following tomorrow’s anticipated suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

John Hume is quitting as leader of Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party.