All of that, plus liberalising textiles and limiting anti-dumping abuse, would do much to help poorer countries, who feel, with some justice, that they got a raw deal out of the Uruguay round.

ECONOMIST: Storm over globalisation

His target was fairly obviously Sinn Fein, but whilst Martin McGuinness replied only tangentially - pointing out that all the other major parties in the Republic had welcomed the Hillsborough deal on justice - it was Peter Robinson who took the SDLP's argument about democratic legitimacy head on.

BBC: Referenda still on the agenda on both sides of the border

Not long after the news of the commission's objections filtered out the justice department backed up its ruling by issuing a statement arguing that the deal does not raise any antitrust concerns.

ECONOMIST: Oracle and Sun Microsystems