Ireland to unveil austerity plan

The Irish government is set to publish an austerity plan required for its EU- and IMF-led bail-out.

The four-year plan targets total cuts of 15bn euros ($20bn; £13bn), or 11 percent of the Irish economy's annual output. Meanwhile, Taoiseach Brian Cowen confirmed he was negotiating a bail-out package with the EU and IMF, to be worth about 85bn euros.On the markets, the euro continued to fall against the dollar, and yields on Irish government debt rose sharply.

At a heated session of the Irish Parliament, Cowan said that bail-out negotiations were ongoing, and that no final figure had been agreed. He described the package as an "overdraft", which would continue to be available and could be drawn upon as required, and stressed that the government would have had to borrow the money from international investors in any case.

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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