One of the biggest banks in Ireland says there's been a major decline in the size of its deposits, adding to the deep crisis in the banking sector. Allied Irish Banks said its deposits had fallen by $18bn - that's 17% since January. Huge losses in the banking sector have forced the Irish government to negotiate with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund on a rescue package. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports.
Negotiations on an international rescue are focusing on fixing Ireland's banks and also on the deficit in the government's finances. Those discussions are continuing amid reports they are likely to end with loans of tens of billions of dollars. Any deal will also include further measures to curb the government's borrowing needs. One area that will be
contentious
is Ireland's low tax rate on company profits. It's seen by some European governments as an unfair inducement to business to move to Ireland.
The head of the committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize has confirmed there'll be nobody to collect this year
on behalf of
the winner, the jailed Chinese human rights campaigner Liu Xiaobo. Thorbjoern Jagland told the BBC the award would be kept until Mr Liu could collect it himself. It's the first time since 1936 that the award won't be
handed over
to either the winner or a close relative. Mr Liu's wife is under house arrest.
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