EUROPEAN UNION

The financial and fiscal crisis in Spain entered a new and dangerous phase Tuesday as economic, political, civic and diplomatic links appeared to quickly disintegrate in the face of panic-stricken markets.

Greece is not likely to be able to pay its debts, meaning the twice bailed-out member of the euro zone will have to restructure about $240 billion of sovereign debt, European Union officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Syrian army's response to the rebel siege of Damascus has created military-control vacuums in other parts of the country that have been exploited by rebel forces.

Polish migrants in Northern Ireland principally work in blue-collar jobs (cleaners, construction site workers, warehouses, etc.), or they work in hospitality services

Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras likened his country's deep economic slump in the wake of the European debt crisis to the Great Depression of the 1930s in the U.S. while meeting with former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Athens.

A national election is expected to take place in Zimbabwe next year. Without sanctions to condemn, Mugabe would be hard-pressed to find something else to blame.

The Syrian government for the first time acknowledged Monday it has chemical and biological weapons and that it would use them to repel any foreign attack.

The price of platinum, the precious metal used to make anti-pollution equipment for vehicles, is in a slump due to the global economic downturn, but it's especially bad in Europe where platinum demand is greatest. Nevertheless, analysts are bullish, believing the price will rise in the latter half of the year and into the next.

Poles have streamed into Northern Ireland by the thousands since Poland joined the European Union in 2004.

The legendary German Nurburgring racetrack is bankrupt after pouring millions into an amusement park.

An animal rights campaign underscores the power activists have to pressure companies to stop using inhumane suppliers.

Yemen is going through a difficult political transition after the ouster of president Ali Abdallah Saleh, but that isn't as bad as its humanitarian crisis

The European Union has called into question Romania's respect for democratic institutions, following the center-left government's attempt to impeach conservative President Traian Basescu.

The Irish government will spend more than ?2.25 billion ($2.76 billion) on new infrastructure projects and to restart existing road, school and health care construction projects to create as many as 13,000 jobs without hiking debt, government officials said on Tuesday.

Greece?s jobless rate is about double the average for the EU, while the unemployment rate among youths under 25 is an astounding 51.5 percent --- having doubled over the past three years.

Considering her South African roots and the many serious challenges facing the African Union today, Dlamini-Zuma will be under intense scrutiny in the coming weeks.

Euro zone nations, collectively, posted an $8.42 billion trade surplus in May, well ahead of a $1.46 billion deficit in the year-earlier period, as exports rose and imports remained relatively steady, the European Union's statistical office said Monday.

A bill requiring the Iranian government to design and build nuclear-powered commercial ships was approved by a parliamentary committee Sunday. The measure stipulates the government must provide nuclear fuel for the ships, which would require the Islamic Republic to continue its uranium-enrichment activities.

One of the euro zone's two bailout funds could begin disbursing monies to Spain at the end of this month in a €100 billion ($120 billion) rescue of the country's embattled banks, according to an article by the Associated Press based on a story in the German newsweekly Der Spiegel on Saturday.

The euro zone will not disintegrate. Instead, there is a fifty-fifty chance of a split between the financially sound countries and economically weaker ones, the Economic Outlook Group said on Friday.

This summer, both Greece and Europe are between a rock and a hard place. Greece faces the possible prospect of domestic coalition collapse, or ouster from the euro zone; Europe’s leaders, an elongated repayment for their loans to Greece, or a Greece default.