PORTUGAL

Almost a quarter of the European Union's 500 million people have never used the Internet and there is a widening division between the web-savvy north of Europe and the poorer south and east, figures released on Wednesday showed.

The amount of gold held in exchange-traded products is near record highs and although the gold price is suffering from investors' desire for the safety of cash, the risk of this $116 billion stash of bullion being jettisoned is distant.

German lender Commerzbank and the government have been in talks for several days over possible state aid, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Spain's pre-historic burial chambers have survived invasion, war, a long dictatorship and a property bubble which paved over vast tracts of the country.

It was billed as a summit to save the euro. It may be remembered as the day Europe lost patience with Britain, as most of the continent threw its lot in with European Union founding members France and Germany and committed to binding their economies ever more tightly.

United have crashed out of this year's Champions League.

Manuel Noriega, Panama's ruthless drug-running military dictator of the 1980s, is to be returned home on Sunday, headed for a jungle prison to serve a 20-year term for the murders of opponents during his rule.

European governments -- many of which are already struggling to woo buyers for sovereign debt -- could find it even harder to raise money as the investment banks they relied on to sell the debt baulk at the cost.

Talk of Greece voluntarily leaving -- or being kicked out of -- the eurozone was once verboten. Now bank economists, investors, and even central bankers are talking about it as though it's a done deal. The divide between rhetoric is also growing. Those predicting the future Greek exit are calling it "manageable," while those saying it won't happen are labeling the possibility "catastrophic."

The following are remarks by EU leaders at a meeting of the conservative European People's Party in Marseille, southern France, ahead of an EU summit in Brussels.

European stocks fell on Tuesday on fresh anxieties stemming from the European debt crisis.

Italy risked a Greek-style economic collapse which could threaten the future of the euro without the austerity package approved by the government, Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Monday, calling on European partners to do their part.

You can't blame investors for feeling a bit hesitant regarding deploying new money in the U.S. stock market these days. Lingering concern about Italy's finances, along with below-trend U.S. GDP growth has created an uncertain U.S./Europe economic outlook. Where's the Dow likely to head in the next six months?

Italy would have collapsed without the government's tough new austerity package, Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Monday, saying his country ran the risk of a Greek-style emergency.

Prime Minister Mario Monti, boosted by positive market reaction, takes a 30 billion euro austerity package to Italy's parliament on Monday to help stem a debt crisis threatening to overwhelm the Eurozone.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is set to urge key European officials to take decisive action next week at a make-or-break summit to prevent a debt crisis from turning into runaway contagion.

The Euro 2012 draw took place Germany, Netherlands and Portugal all tied together in the so-called 'Group of Death' while reigning champions Spain faces a Italy in Group C.

British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened on Friday to obstruct a Franco-German drive for swift change to the European Union's treaty intended to help save the euro.

The euro zone debt crisis cannot be solved overnight, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday, urging instead a long-term approach that relies on tougher fiscal rules being enshrined in European treaties.

Fans of the English national team have been set a new ticket limit by the organizers of the 2012 European soccer championships; they will be allocated only 5,000 seats for the quarter and semi-finals, assuming Fabio Capello's men actually reach that stage.

Scientists at the University of Seville in Spain have developed a technique that can distinguish among beers made in Germany, Spain and Portugal with 99 percent accuracy.