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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY travels to Brussels today for an EU leaders summit, but the prospect of developing a grand plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis appears in doubt.
European leaders have agreed the broad strokes of the measures necessary to contain the Greek crisis and guard against future uncertainties. These include boosting the power of the European Financial Stability Fund and writing down some Greek debt.
However, tensions remain between national governments on the details after a previous meeting on Sunday – at which it was hoped that the plan could be finalised today. Points of contention include the extent of the debt write-down, and the mechanism by which the EFSF can be strengthened.
Dutch finance minister Jan Kees de Jager said yesterday that the summit may not reach final agreement and had been unduly hyped as decisive, CNBC reports. A meeting of EU finance ministers was called off this morning, apparently to give officials more time.
Italy is seen as a key problem to address. The government of Silvio Berlusconi was publicly dressed down at Sunday’s talks, with German chancellor Angela Merkel calling on Italy to “live up to its responsibilities” by implementing tougher austerity measures.
Berlusconi’s government yesterday said it had reached a deal on controversial reforms, but it is not clear whether these will be accepted by EU leaders. The BBC reports that his coalition partner Umberto Bossi said “In the end we have found a way. Now we will see what the EU say.”
Analysts’s hopes were muted on the potential for a comprehensive deal yesterday. Former IMF official Domenico Lombardi told Bloomberg: “Europe is finally moving in the right direction but there is a sense that the remedies will fall short of the shock and awe response that is required to stabilize market expectations”.
- Additional reporting by Susan Ryan
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iOS might be using the Mars maps instead of Earth
Google Sky Map is a great app for the astronomy nerds out there..
Nah, starwalk is better
Google sketchup for building 3d models
Sketchup wasn’t developed by google. They bought it 4 years ago and sold it off 2 years ago, so not in their portfolio anymore.
Cool
As per above. Sketchup is an amazing tool. It helped design the house we now live in for free!
Problem with the Google products is that once you start to rely on it they go and scrap it ala Google Reader and iGoogle.
Google notepad was awesome as well
Also Lively.
What’s really galling about Notepad is that they’ve now introduced a similar service called “Keep”. I won’t be switching back from Evernote.
A very good sub for google reader is greader and greader pro, available in app store.
I can see my surface rover from here…:)
I would be happy if they could just fix the bugs in Chrome, Like Flash Player using all the CPU.
It’s Groundhog Day! Saw this on twitter and LinkedIn this week. Does anybody credit the real originators of articles anymore?
It says Business Insider right there at the bottom of the article.
Right beside “about the author”
Google Encrypted is now default for all logged in Google users (note the HTTPS in the address bar when logged in)
This was in response to the allegation that the Chinese government hacked the GMail accounts of some activists because they weren’t using HTTPS.
Agreed. Google Encrypted doesn’t count as a service, it really should have been standard from the beginning.
Check out ChromeMaze
It’s a game for chrome turns any website into a ‘marble madness-esq’ maze
Another similar service to Google Art Project is Google Business Photos: a very cool new service that allows people to take virtual throughs of shops and businesses. A couple of examples here: http://niallleechphotography.com/portfolio-2/google-business-photos-my-tours/
That’s amazing! Great work Niall Leech!
Sound search is not available in Ireland for some reason. Pity, I’d prefer ab alternative to shazam and soundhound
Very interesting
Is image labeller still around? Very addictive!
Edmodo is a great google product for teachers – it’s a social media platform for schools. Powerful and very safe.
Using edmodo for college. .. great idea but can’t access lectures from my mobile so useless unless @ a pc
Just had a look at your google business virtual tours there, Niall Leech. Impressive work. Is that service available all over?
Tried to dl google sound.. not available in my country. Wtf
What browser are you usuing? There are ways around that – firefox actually have an add-on that let’s you download stuff which isn’t availabke in your country. Can also be used to view youtube vids not available in country.
The Niantic Project?
have your say