Thousands of Latvians living in Ireland have the chance to exercise their democratic right today and vote for a referendum on their country's future.

Some 100,000 Poles filled Warsaw’s biggest public square today, joining together for a memorial and funeral Mass for the 96 people killed in a plane crash a week ago.

LATVIAN officials are struggling to come to grips with an enigmatic group that stole millions of classified tax documents from government computers in a purported effort to expose waste and graft in Europe’s weakest economy.

A senior Western diplomat says talks with Russia have collapsed on the sensitive issue of sending additional international monitors to keep tabs on South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

US president George Bush sent a stern warning to Russia today that it cannot lay claim to two breakaway provinces in neighbouring Georgia, a US ally, and said there was no room for debate on that point.