Portugal
UPDATE 2-Portugal PM wins confidence vote, vows to meet bailout goals
LISBON, July 30 - Portugal's prime minister ruled out any backtracking on its bailout terms on Tuesday as his revamped government easily won a confidence vote intended to show it has repaired an internal rift over austerity.
CORRECTED-Portugal political crisis a catalogue of missteps
(Corrects 23rd par to make clear Seguro is Socialist leader, not president)
Portugal president approves reshuffle, ending government rift
LISBON, July 23 - Portugal's president approved on Tuesday the promotion of junior coalition party leader Paulo Portas to deputy prime minister and a wider government reshuffle as proposed by premier Pedro Passos Coelho to ensure the ruling coalition's unity after a rift.
UPDATE 3-Portugal bonds rally as president cools political crisis
* Portugal parties fail to reach "national salvation" pact
President cools, not cures Portuguese crisis
LISBON - Portugal's president has soothed investor concerns by keeping the government in place until 2015, but unresolved tensions over austerity mean the country's political crisis has not been laid to rest.
UPDATE 1-President cools, not cures Portuguese crisis
* Markets welcome decision, 10-yr bond yield falls 33 bps
Portugal PM confirms reshuffle request, Portas to be deputy PM
LISBON, July 22 - Portugal's prime minister confirmed on Monday his intention to make junior coalition party leader Paulo Portas his deputy, coordinating talks with Lisbon's EU and IMF lenders that has been a key condition to heal a rift within the government.
President cools but not cures Portuguese crisis
LISBON, July 22 - Portugal's president has soothed investor concerns by keeping the government in place until 2015, but unresolved tensions over austerity mean the country's political crisis has not been laid to rest.
Portugal PM vows to complete bailout, rebuild confidence
LISBON, July 22 - Portugal's prime minister said on Monday the country needs to rebuild confidence dented by this month's political crisis and pledged to stick to the timetable agreed with the international lenders for Lisbon's exit from its bailout by mid-2014.
Portugal yields dip after president rules out snap election
* Portugal parties fail to reach "national salvation" pact
Italy's top court confirms Berlusconi prison sentence
ROME - Italy's supreme court on Thursday upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud in a devastating blow to the former prime minister that could throw the country's fragile coalition government into crisis.
Ethiopia and Eritrea: An elusive peace on the cards?
Ethiopia and Eritrea are still at each others’ throats. The two neighbours fought hammer and tongs in sun-baked trenches during a two-year war over a decade ago, before a peace deal ended their World War I-style conflict in 2000. Furious veRed Sea, UNrbal battles, however, have continued to this day.



