2010-03-25

Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has announced he is setting up a new centre-right party to challenge his bitter rival Nicolas

Republicans in the Senate have forced a second vote on Barack Obama’s healthcare bill in the lower House of Representatives. The Senate has been

The Murphy affair comes only a day after a top Irish Clergyman stepped down and is just the latest wave in the child sex abuse saga to hit the

Germany has said it will urge its fellow European Union states to agree International Monetary Fund aid for Greece, and bilateral European aid as a

The first thing Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on arrival at the EU summit in Brussels was: “Greece has taken very important measures

It was still an impressive spectacle but Greece today staged a cut-price Independence Day parade. With tanks, planes and helicopters missing

Portugal is on the brink of approving an austerity plan aimed at reducing its overweight budget deficit. The minority Socialist government should

The French are tightening their purse strings, according to new data that shows a surprise drop in consumer spending for February. Analysts had

Bringing together some of Eastern Europe and the Balkans’ best musicians, the floating Danube Music Festival takes place on a boat – the Sofia – as

Julianne Moore stars in Chloe, an erotic thriller about a woman who hires a high-class call girl – Amanda Seyfried – to test her husband, played by

They may be crackly but there is something special about an old record. Researchers in Switzerland are working on a technique to revive old records

There is renewed optimism over Dubai’s ability to get the debt monkey off its back. The emirate’s government has announced it is to support its

The US treasury is reportedly preparing to announce a sell-off of its 27 percent stake in the bailed-out bank Citigroup. Details could come next

Germans are starting to see a brighter economic picture, according to a monthly indicator of consumer morale. The GfK index had been in decline for

The Catholic church has always maintained the primacy of spiritual law rather than the laws of men. However today’s New York Times bombshell suggests

Heading home from Washington, he said progress had been made. But the White House’s relative silence over talks with Benjamin Netanyahu suggests

Here are a few extra excerpts from our interview with Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, now performing in Verdi’s “Falstaff” at Monte-Carlo Opera

Public opposition to any Greek bailout was pretty clear on the streets of Berlin today, although some saw it as a question of keeping Europe strong

There are more accusations that Vatican officials, including the Pope himself, did not deal adequately with sex abuse cases involving priests

EU leaders face a busy day as they strive to find a European solution to Greece’s financial meltdown. Socialist leaders have arrived in Brussels

The US Supreme Court has suspended the execution of a Texas prisoner just an hour before he was due to face death by lethal injection. Hank

The Democrats have suffered a major reverse over procedural irregularities in their historic health bill, and will have to send it back to Congress

Elephant polo tournament in city of Chiang Rai

A volcano at Eyjafjallajoekull in south-central Iceland continues erupting, raising fears among Icelanders of eruptions under glaciers, which would

Kosovo Serbs protest against Kosovo strategy to control north.

The FBI and French police have arrested a 25 year-old unemployed man for targeting the Twitter accounts of, among others, Barack Obama.   The man

It’s another major cultural event for Monte-Carlo. At the famous Opera House, in the building shared with the legendary Casino, a new production of

The German government has set up round table talks to tackle a wave of child sex abuse cases that have shocked the country. Some 250 separate

Almost three weeks after Iraq’s general election, final results are still not known and feelings are running high. Amid allegations of fraud, these