At a press conference Monday, Lance Armstrong announced his intention to retire from professional cycling after going for his 7th Tour de France title in July 2005.

After three rounds of voting, including one re-run, mass protests, accusations and reports of corruption and election fraud from international observers, legal challenges, changes to the electoral system, threats of separatism, accusations of Russian manipulation, and probable Dioxin poisoning, Ukraine today swore in it’s third post Soviet president, Viktor Yushchenko today in Parliament climaxing many weeks of extraordinary behaviour and activity.

Across Europe’s cities today a three minute silence has been honoured in memoral to the 150,000 people known to have lost their lives and those many thousands who are still missing in the tsunami which hit Indian Ocean last week

Finland’s Janne Ahonen won the second leg of the ‘4 Hills’ tournament at Gamisch-Partenkirchen on New Year’s Day.

The public holiday which celebrated the 1917 Bolshevik coup was yesterday scrapped in Russia and replaced by new public holidays

Hungry has become the second state of the EU to approve the new EU constitution after Lithuania
Like Lithuania the treaty was approved by parliament and not national referundum. The Hungarian parliament ratified the …

At the Dutch city of Cheveningen EU officials have agreed to look at how ‘euro’ is being spelt in the new states which joined the Union after central bankers noted several discrepancies.

According to the Association of German Banks (BDB) in Berlin, Germans have ammassed almost €4 billion in savings through last year, the highest level in recorded history.

The Irish presidency of the European Council in Brussels today nominated Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso as it’s chosen President of the European Commission succeeding the outgoing President, Romano Prodi.

PHASE ONE MATCHES
12th June 2004 – Group A
Portugal 1-2 Greece
Spain 1-0 Russia 13th June 2004 – Group B
Switzerland 0-0 Croatia
France 2-1 England
4th June 2004 – Group C
Denmark 0-0 Italy
Sweden 5-0 Bulgaria 15th June 2004 …