Ireland must not allow itself to be “punished” for having a clear market need to continue selling products to Britain in a post-Brexit world.

A former solicitor who stole €260,000 from her clients over a three-year period has been jailed for a year.

Since March of this year, the A Head Full Of Dreams Tour has played to 2.5 million people across Latin America, the US and Europe, including four sold-out nights at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Ireland's political leaders have condemned the Brussels attacks in the strongest possible terms, saying they are an attempt to strike at the "very heart of the European Union" and to plant fear and racism in member nations.

A lone attacker tried to smash his car through the gates of an army barracks in southern Belgium and fled in the vehicle after shots were fired, Belgium’s defence minister said.

European Union (EU) leaders met today to seek solutions to two major challenges - how to jump-start sluggish economic growth at home and how to deal long-term with Russia.

The tradition of Christmas markets dates back to the late-Middle Ages throughout the German-speaking regions of Europe, but these days they pop up all over the world. Tony Clayton-Lea chooses the best and most atmospheric to visit in the UK and Europe.

A former Nama official has been served with a book of evidence and returned for trial accused of leaking confidential information.

Greece's coalition government has said it will use emergency powers to prevent teachers from disrupting university entrance exams as part of their planned strike this month.

Madonna has announced her 2012 World Tour. It includes a July 24 date in Dublin's Aviva Stadium.

SHOW jumper Billy Twomey looked to be motoring in the €150,000 grand prix at the Audi Masters in Brussels, Belgium, yesterday until an unexpected two refusals with Je t’Aime Flamenco at the double put the brakes on his effort.

Tickets to see Liam Gallagher’s new band, Beady Eye, in the UK sold out in under half an hour.

Eurostar passengers spent several hours waiting in darkness after two trains were left stranded by a power cut to overhead lines.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Iran’s hardline leaders of fomenting divisions in the Arab world, promoting terrorism, posing threats to Israel and Europe, and seeking to “intimidate as far as they think their voice can reach”.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is using her second overseas trip to assess Mideast peace prospects, reconnect with European allies and remind her Russian counterpart that US efforts to rebuild relations with Moscow have their limits.

Russia took the first steps towards a troop pullback from Georgia, but at the same time paraded blindfolded and bound prisoners on armoured vehicles and seized four US Humvees.

American forces were on their way to Georgia tonight after President George Bush announced a massive humanitarian aid operation and warned Russia not to stand in its way.

Radiohead have ruled out performing at the Glastonbury Festival in Britain this year because poor public transport to the event is bad for the environment.

US President George Bush said today the US will work to prevent violent clashes following Kosovo’s declaration of independence. The State Department was reviewing the development with European allies as the province sought swift recognition from the West.

The move by Kosovo to become an “independent and democratic state” is backed by the US and key European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator and the European Union’s foreign policy chief are to meet this week in an effort to explore whether there’s room to resume negotiations over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.

A meeting between Iran’s leading nuclear negotiator and the European Union’s foreign policy chief has been postponed, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said today.

With the threat of new UN sanctions looming over Iran, senior European officials met an envoy from Tehran, in what officials described as an attempt to defuse the crisis over the Islamic republic’s refusal to scrap uranium enrichment.

The world’s biggest industrial countries are failing to keep up with financial promises they made to Africa, rock star Bono said, calling a new progress report “a cold shower” for the Group of Eight.

The world’s biggest industrial countries are failing to keep up with financial promises they

The European Union and the Nato alliance hailed Boris Yeltsin today as a healer of the Cold War divide who opened up Russia to the rest of Europe.

The European Commission is launching a fresh drive to open up the EU’s €30bn-a-year defence market to increased cross-border competition by breaking down protection for national champions.

Coming on the eve of an EU-Russia summit, the suspicious death of an ex-Russian spy in London might have been expected to fuel animated discussions on Moscow’s human rights record between Western leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett today said the international community should be open to discussions with Iran and Syria to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and to bolster the reconstruction of Iraq.

The European Union plans to pull its peacekeepers out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on schedule, despite heightened tension over the upcoming results of key elections, senior officials said today.

France and Britain were poised to clash today at European Union talks seeking to end London’s decades-old opt-out of the EU’s 48-hour maximum working week.

The European Commission today said it would recommend that European Union governments impose visa requirements on US diplomats because Washington had failed to waive visas for all 25 EU countries.

Nato defence ministers were today expected to approve an extension of the alliance’s Afghan security mission across the whole of the country, taking in the volatile eastern region and bringing around 10,000 US troops under allied command.

EU foreign ministers in plan to signal strong support today for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ bid to form a national unity government.

Ambassadors from 26 Nato allies are holding more talks in Brussels, Belgium, today on the shortfall of more than 2,000 troops which alliance generals are struggling to muster for the battle with Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan.

Top European Union officials today said, on the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, that the 25-nation bloc was more determined than ever to fight terrorism, and that closer co-operation was key to thwarting new attacks.

Iranians today stuck by their refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for talks on its nuclear programme despite Western insistence that Tehran commit to the step as demanded by the UN Security Council.

Syria opposes the deployment of an international force along its border to prevent arms shipments to Hezbollah, and Israel is calling the situation in Lebanon “explosive”.

Cuba, seeking to reassure its people after Fidel Castro temporarily stepped down from power for surgery, released a statement from the long-time leader saying his health was stable and the defence of the island guaranteed, even as it sent more police today into neighbourhoods that have seen civil disturbances in the past.

Diplomatic efforts to stop the week-long conflict between Israel and Lebanon gained momentum, but Israel said it was preparing to fight Hezbollah guerrillas for several more weeks and might send in ground forces.

The European Union signed a €18m aid deal with East Timor’s beleaguered government today, pledging to support democracy and economic development in the newly independent nation which has been torn by violence in recent weeks.

US President George Bush has hailed the killing of “the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq” but said it would not stop the violence there or bring a speedy withdrawal of US troops.

World powers converged on Vienna, Austria, today for talks on how to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis, strengthened by a US decision to join in direct talks with Tehran if it agrees to suspend uranium enrichment.