A meeting of the finance chiefs of the 17 eurozone countries to discuss Greece’s second multibillion bailout planned for Wednesday has been called off after Athens failed to deliver on several demands made by its partners in the currency union.

Iraq’s deputy justice minister has finally acknowledged that the convicted killer of aid worker Margaret Hassan has escaped from prison – 11 months after the event.

Ian Paisley had words of encouragement for his Sinn Féin deputy minister as he prepared to bow out as leader of the Northern Ireland Executive.

More than 50 gunmen dressed in Iraqi security forces uniforms broke into an oil ministry compound in Baghdad today and abducted a senior deputy of the oil minister and four other officials, a ministry spokesman and police said.

THE North has turned its back on violence and its politicians must now build a stable and strong future, First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley said yesterday.

North Korea may be preparing to shut down its main nuclear reactor, news reports said today.

THE North was on the brink of a power-sharing breakthrough last night as Sinn Féin gave its conditional backing to the St Andrews Agreement.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have thanked the impoverished African nation where their daughter Shiloh was born by giving nearly €247,900 to help other babies.

Iraqi security forces questioned terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the Fallujah area last year but released him because they didn’t realise who he was, the deputy interior minister said today.

China will hold down industrial investment as it tries to rein in surging growth, officials said today, warning that wasteful spending and inflation could threaten its economic boom.

SEVERAL new lines of inquiry have opened up in the IRA money laundering investigation between Ireland and Bulgaria.

Thirteen Saudis who allegedly mistreated their domestic help have been banned from importing foreign maids.

Israel’s deputy defence minister said today that Palestinian militants apparently were not involved the deadly car bombings in two Egyptian resorts crowded with Israeli tourists.

REVOLUTIONARY reforms for new ‘gay marriages’ were proposed by British ministers yesterday.

AN apparent natural gas explosion destroyed part of a nine-storey apartment building in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk early yesterday as residents slept, killing at least 21 people. About 20 people remained missing hours after the blast.

A petrol tanker loaded with explosives rammed into a small bus and exploded near a police station in Baghdad today, killing up to 17 people, police said.

China is eager to learn from Northern Ireland’s business community and work in partnership with it, a senior Chinese government official told a trade delegation from the North.

Hardliners within the Ulster Unionist Party are preparing to block David Trimble's re-election as First Minister following IRA decommissioning.