DISGRACED deputy Michael Lowry brushed off the humiliation of a Dáil censure motion, insisting he may take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

AN anti-corruption body has asked the Director of Corporate Enforcement as well as foreign authorities to follow up on the damning findings of the Moriarty Tribunal.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has claimed his shamed former Cabinet colleague Michael Lowry would quit politics in “an ideal world”.

Businessman Denis O'Brien has said that Fine Gael asked him to give the party a donation of $50,000.

FINE GAEL’S failure to disclose a secretive $50,000 donation it received from one of the partners in the winning consortium was “regrettable”, the Tribunal has said.

MICHAEL Hourigan is confident the step up in trip will not trouble Dancing Tornado in the Powers Whiskey Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday.

THE widow of a former associate of both Denis O’Brien and Michael Lowry has been called to give evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal today.

THE widow of a former associate of both Denis O’Brien and Michael Lowry has been called to give evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal today.

GUNFIRE and rioting erupted yesterday as more than 70,000 people joined Pakistan’s biggest protest yet against Mohammed cartoons, burning cinemas, a KFC restaurant and a South Korean-run bus station.

More than 1,000 protesters stormed into a diplomatic enclave in Islamabad today, and thousands set fire to a provincial assembly building in another city during Pakistan’s most violent wave of protests against the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The United Nations last week temporarily grounded all helicopters involved in earthquake relief work in northern Pakistan due to growing anger over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in Western media, an official said today.

Vodafone announced today that it has agreed to sell its 100% interest in Vodafone Sweden to Telenor, the pan-Nordic telecommunications operator.

A Norwegian teenager, angry and frustrated by his internet connection ended up in court for making death threats against the supplier’s support staff.

The Norweigan government has reduced its stake in telecoms company Telenor.

Four of Europe's biggest mobile phone firms have announced an alliance, as the increasing demand for international roaming services drives providers to work together more closely.

NORWEGIAN executive Hans Myhre told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he was “shocked and upset” to discover his signature on a cheque linked to a £4,000 (5,078) donation to Fine Gael.

ATTEMPTS by chairman Denis O’Brien to gain control of Esat Digifone threatened to collapse the Irish/Norwegian consortium bidding for the country’s second mobile licence, a witness told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday.

DAYS before Esat Digifone got the licence to run the country’s second mobile phone network in May, 1996, Norwegian executives feared businessman Denis O’Brien would use his Dermot Desmond connection to gain control of the consortium, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

NORWEGIAN executive Per Simonsen insisted at the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday that Esat Digifone chairman Denis O’Brien told him Communications Minister Michael Lowry had suggested, when the two Irishmen met in a Dublin pub, that he get financier Dermot Desmond to back the Digifone consortium.

PUBLIC relations consultant Eileen Gleeson told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday she and the Esat Digifone consortium were surprised by the earlier-than-expected announcement of the winning bid for the country’s second mobile phone licence.

FINANCIER Dermot Desmond’s company prevented “World War 3” breaking out between Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp Group and Norwegian State telecoms firm Telenor, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

ESAT Digifone would never have signed the country’s second mobile phone licence if the Department of Communications was unhappy financier Dermot Desmond had come on board, entrepreneur Denis O’Brien told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday.

ANTI-BIN charge protesters received a solicitor’s letter threatening legal action an hour after announcing they would picket Dublin Castle to coincide with the appearance of businessman Denis O’Brien before the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday.

MILLIONAIRE businessman Denis O’Brien told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday his Esat Digifone consortium won the competition for the second mobile phone licence in 1995 because it was the best bid.

ENTREPRENEUR Denis O’Brien, who runs a business empire from his Algarve base in Portugal, is due to return to Dublin Castle next Tuesday to give further evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal about the controversial award of the GSM2 licence to Esat Digifone.

FOUR days before Esat Digifone got the licence to run the country’s second mobile phone network, businessman Denis O’Brien threatened legal action against financier Dermot Desmond, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

FORMER Fine Gael minister Sean Barrett told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he considered businessman David Austin, who handled a controversial $50,000 Telenor/Esat Telecom donation to the party, to be an honest man.

Mm02, the company which operates the 02 mobile service, has said that it has formed an alliance with some of Europe’s smaller mobile phone companies.

DERMOT DESMOND has failed in his High Court bid to restrain the Moriarty Tribunal from allowing reference to the 10-year-old Glackin Report, critical of his part in the purchase of the former Johnson Mooney and O’Brien site in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

ACCOUNTANT Donal Buggy told the resumed Moriarty Tribunal hearing yesterday the Department of Communications asked him to carry out a financial analysis of the Denis O’Brien-led Esat Digifone consortium just days before the State’s second mobile phone licence was issued.

FORMER civil servant Fintan Towey yesterday denied the reason department officials took no notes of a key meeting with Esat Digifone was to conceal what was being discussed before the GSM2 licence was issued.

SENIOR civil servant Fintan Towey viewed a letter showing Dermot Desmond’s early involvement in Esat Digifone as the consortium’s attempt to boost its prospects of winning the State’s second mobile phone licence competition.

SENIOR civil servant Ed O’Callaghan told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he was never put under political pressure in his life.

A CIVIL servant told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he would have blown the whistle if he was pressurised from doing his job.

FINANCIER Dermot Desmond has personally contacted Mr Justice Michael Moriarty on a number of occasions to complain about the way the tribunal is conducting its inquiry, the clearly annoyed chairman said yesterday.

FORMER department secretary general John Loughrey insisted yesterday there was nothing sinister in the fact that civil servants took no notes of vital meetings with Esat Digifone executives just days before the consortium got the country’s second GSM licence.

THE former department secretary general John Loughrey yesterday regretted allowing civil servants hold a press conference in April 1996 to defend their decision to give the second mobile telephone licence to Esat Digifone.

A RETIRED civil servant told the Moriarty Tribunal he never had any direct business dealings with financier Dermot Desmond.

SENIOR civil servant Martin Brennan told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he would have probed Dermot Desmond’s link to the second mobile phone licence if he had known about the financier’s part in an earlier controversial property deal.

ROWS between the Irish and Norwegian partners threatened Esat Digifone’s survival less than a week before the consortium was granted the licence to operate the country’s second mobile phone network, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

RUMOURS surfaced that financier Dermot Desmond was an Esat Digifone shareholder when the consortium won the competition for the country’s second mobile phone licence, the Moriarty Tribunal was told yesterday.

BUSINESSMAN Denis O’Brien pledged that Esat Digifone would remain Irish-controlled and there would be a three-to-one voting ratio in favour of the Irish investors, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

FINANCIER Dermot Desmond’s backing of Esat Digifone was not known to the civil servant in charge of the evaluation process when the Irish-led consortium won the second mobile phone licence, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.