THREE DAYS of national mourning have been called in Egypt following violent clashes between rival football fans in the city of Port Said. The altercation between fans of top-tier clubs al-Masry and al-Ahly left at least 74 people dead and hundreds more injured. In the wake of the incident, all Egyptian premier league ties have been postponed and emergency meetings of the cabinet and parliament have been called.

UNEMPLOYMENT IN the eurozone has reached the highest level since June 1998 and is only expected to get worse in the coming months. Youth unemployment, in particular, remains a serious issue. In Britain, one of the world's top ten economies, 22% of under 25-year-olds are without jobs. EU leaders met in Brussels this week to discuss how best to combat the current situation, deciding that $107bn of unspent funds from the EU's 2007-2013 budget will be used to boost employment.

ALL EU countries, with the exception of Britain and the Czech Republic, have agreed to sign up to a new treaty designed to control budget expenditure and stimulate growth across the region. The Czech Republic cited “constitutional reasons” for their refusal to sign, whilst British PM David Cameron argued that the UK need to keep authority over their financial services in London. Meanwhile, the Eurozone crisis dominated Monday's summit meeting, as leaders discussed implementing measures to boost growth and reduce crippling levels of unemployment.

STEPHEN HESTER, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, has decided to not accept his controversial bonus worth £1m after succumbing to enormous political pressure. The decision has been welcomed, as it is a medium of getting back billions of pounds for the taxpayer who owns 82% of the bank. The announcement has come after a crackdown on executive pay has been announced, in order to give shareholders more power to vote on pay deals.

AHEAD OF the election on 1 April, Aung San Suu Kyi is visiting for the first time outside Rangoon on a political tour. The visit is seen as a test of how freely she and her party can afford to campaign. Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) is contesting all the available constituencies in the coming by-elections. It will be the first time that Ms Suu Kyi will participate directly in an election.

A GROUP of Papua New Guinea soldiers have taken control over the military, arresting the defense chief and demanding the restoration of the ousted PM. It is assumed that the conflict between Peter O'Neill and Sir Michael Somare, both of whom claim to be the Prime Minister, grounds this mutiny. The self proclaimed commander, retired Colonel Yaura Sasa who is a former defence attache to Indonesia, is the leader of the soldiers. He has warned that the military will take action unless Michael Somare, a former prime minister, is reinstated following the order by the national supreme court last month.

A NEW Zealand judge has refused to bail Kim Dotcom, the founder of file-sharing website MegaUpload, due to fears he might try and flee the country. Accused of copyright infringement, the German national was arrested along with three others in a raid by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The four men are accused of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue by offering pirated copies of movies, TV programmes and other content. US officials have also announced that Dutch police have recently arrested a fifth man in connection with the case.

EU FOREIGN ministers have agreed to sanctions banning all new oil contracts with Iran due to concerns over the country's nuclear programme. The embargo, which also freezes the assets of Iran's central bank in the EU, has been dismissed as “unfair” by Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast. US President Barack Obama declared that the agreement, formally adopted by EU foreign ministers on Monday, demonstrated international unity against the “serious threat” posed by Iran's nuclear initiative.