European states to share 54,000 refugees after divisive deal reached

Greece has been cast as Europe’s bad boy, with other states happy to deliver a kicking, but in fact it fulfilled many of its troika commitments, writes Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill

Dozens of stranded foreign trekkers have been rescued and more bodies have been found following a blizzard and avalanches in northern Nepal, taking the death toll to 27.

Search and rescue teams have found the bodies of eight more trekkers killed in a series of blizzards and avalanches in central Nepal in recent days, raising the death toll to 25.

SLOVAKIA may have dented Irish qualification hopes by claiming a draw in Dublin last Friday but Richard Dunne is using Vladimir Weiss’ side as inspiration ahead of the Republic’s latest crucial showdown, in Moscow, today.

RIGHT from the very start of European Championship qualifying, Ireland’s game against Russia in Moscow on September 6 was seen as the big one in the group.

IN the immediate and deeply gloomy aftermath of the crushing setback of Friday’s loss to Russia, Ireland would happily have settled for a point in this one.

SUDDENLY, everything appears to be falling into place for Shane Long.

THE pity for Ireland was that Armenia had done Giovanni Trapattoni a huge favour earlier yesterday in Yerevan by claiming their first Euro 2012 Group B win over our group rivals Slovakia.

IT IS hard to imagine how anyone with a little foresight could ever starve in Slovenia, in south-central Europe, where I spent the last week.

THE Football Association of Ireland are awaiting responses from letters they have written to both UEFA and the Slovakian Football Association (SFZ) demanding that Bratislava be instated as the venue for Ireland’s European Championship qualifier on October 12.

WITH all the skill and efficiency of a bomb planting operation by Slovakian intelligence, the Government finally swung into action to deal with the worst winter weather crisis for nearly half a century.

DIPLOMATS and legal experts were working through the night to resolve last-minute hitches in Ireland’s securing treaty status for its Lisbon guarantees.

BRIAN COWEN took a tentative step into reality yesterday and accepted the looming tax and slash spectacular is indeed a budget.

To the sound of midnight fireworks and pealing church bells, Slovakia joined the eurozone, putting it under the shared currency’s protective umbrella amid a world financial downpour – and

Three people have been arrested for trying to sell 1kg of an unspecified radioactive material for €700,000, police in Slovakia said tonight.

SLOVAKIA rounded off their Group D campaign with a resounding win over minnows San Marino.

ON a human level, you had to feel for Steve Staunton on Wednesday night.

Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton today attempted to fire up his players ahead of the clash with Germany by revealing how they were roundly criticised by a delegation from the country.

A CRAIG BELLAMY-INSPIRED Wales stormed to victory in their Euro 2008 qualifying group D match in Slovakia – scoring five goals in an away match for the first time in 11 years.

Slovakia 2 Wales 5

Petr Cech’s face beams out from billboards across Prague and it takes a brave man here to suggest that the Czech Republic and Chelsea number one has any serious rivals for the title of the best goalkeeper in the world.

Slovakia 2 Republic of Ireland 2

Republic of Ireland boss Steve Staunton says he will not think beyond tonight's Euro 2008 qualifier in Slovakia as he enters a double-header which will make or break his side's campaign.

Republic of Ireland boss Steve Staunton is under no illusions about the size of his task as he heads into the first of two crucial European Championship qualifying clashes against Slovakia in Bratislava tomorrow.

STEVE STAUNTON believes that Ireland must overcome an historical away phobia if they are to get the results they crave in the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers in Bratislava and Prague.

READING striker Kevin Doyle was the hero as the Republic of Ireland kept their European Championship qualifying campaign on track with a 12th-minute winner that keeps Ireland in the hunt for a top-two finish in Group D, and with it a place in next year’s finals.

Republic of Ireland 1 Slovakia 0

Manager Steve Staunton has singled out Damien Duff and Aiden McGeady as the players to send the Republic of Ireland into the summer on a high.

“Devastated” Robbie Keane will watch from the sidelines when Ireland chase a place in the record books.

Steve Staunton said today that he wants to see Germany win every game, with the exception of the Irish clash, for the remainder of the Euro 2008 qualification campaign.

GERMANY face arguably their toughest task yet under Joachim Low when they travel to Slovakia looking to add to their four-match unbeaten run.

FOR hundreds of destitute Polish nationals living here, the Celtic Tiger dream has become a nightmare.

Investigators today began sifting through the wreckage of an exhibition hall in southern Poland to establish why its roof collapsed under a layer of snow.

Polish authorities said today that they were unlikely to find more survivors under the twisted wreckage of an exhibition hall that collapsed during a racing pigeon show, killing at least 66 people and injuring 160.

SLOVAKIAN international midfielder Miroslav Karhan has accused football’s governing body FIFA of not wanting his country to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals at the expense of Spain.

Slovak prime minister Mikulas Dzurinda is to face a vote of no confidence in a special session of parliament in Bratislava today.

Day in and out, Frantisek Danihel steers his ferry back and forth over the slow-moving Morava River, linking what were two separate worlds only a year ago - the European Union and its aspiring members.

NEARLY one million people prayed in a Polish field, North Americans slipped into pews before dawn and Asians gathered by the thousands at outdoor Masses in a global goodbye to Pope John Paul II yesterday.

EUROPE’S big guns play World Cup 2006 qualifiers this afternoon in the knowledge they have little room for error.

US President George W Bush is urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to reverse Moscow’s recent retreat from democratic reforms, while seeking to refresh his “close relationship” with his Russian counterpart.

Slovaks see Russian President Vladimir Putin as more of a guarantor of democracy in the world than President George Bush, a poll revealed today.

FORMER Czechoslovakia coach Jozef Venglos says the current Czech side have many qualities of the team he helped guide to the 1976 European Championship title.