Authorities in the US have refused to return 137,000 kroner that was confiscated from a Danish policeman who attempted to legally purchase Cuban cigars from Germany.

Torben Nødskouv intended to resell the cigars through his small business Cigarhuset and made the transaction in dollars with a Hamburg-based distributor. But the transaction, which was automatically routed through the US, was picked up by American authorities who froze the money, arguing that the transaction violated the American trade embargo with Cuba.

Nødskouv appealed after the $20,000 transaction was frozen last autumn, but the money may be permanently lost after he was recently informed that it would not be returned to him.

When a senior detective re-opened a notorious murder inquiry, the suspects were able to intimidate his wife and family with the help of an executive at the News of the World, the Leveson inquiry has been told.

Making one of the gravest Leveson allegations so far, former Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames, the then wife of Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook, broke down in tears as she accused the paper's then editor Rebekah Brooks of covering up the real reason why her family were targeted.

The intimidation was carried out after an offer of a £50,000 reward on Hames's Crimewatch programme for fresh information on the murder of Daniel Morgan, a partner in a private detective agency.

The German parliament approved the second bailout of Greece last
night, backing Chancellor Angela Merkel's call to support the
€130bn (£110bn) measure by 496 to 90 despite her admittance that
there was "no 100 per cent guarantee" it would be a success.

The vote was also passed despite widespread scepticism among the German electorate,

Baltasar Garzón, Spain's superstar human rights judge known for
taking on high-profile international cases, was acquitted yesterday
on charges of overstepping his jurisdiction by launching an
investigation into right-wing atrocities during and after the
Spanish Civil War.

Mr Garzón misinterpreted Spanish law but did not do so knowingly, the Supreme Court justices said in their 6-1 vote and 63-page ruling.

The ruling comes a month after he was barred from the bench for 11 years after being found guilty of similar charges in a separate domestic corruption probe. Mr Garzón has said he may appeal that cas

At least six people were killed and 12 others injured when part of a
nine-storey apartment building in southern Russia collapsed following a
natural gas explosion, officials said today.

Anzhelika Barinova, of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, said five people are still missing after the blast in Astrakhan, 800 miles south-east of Moscow, yesterday.

Today, several hundred rescuers were searching through the debris for victims.

The Irish cabinet decided to hold a referendum on the ESM Treaty after receiving legal advice from the attorney general; the argument is that the treaty is outside the legal architecture of the EU; referendum is expected to take place in May or June; a No vote might mean that Ireland might not be eligible to receive funds under the ESM; polls show that a narrow majority favour to support the treaty; Ireland's main opposition party Fianna Fail says it will support the government in the Yes campaign; the German constitutional court strikes down a secret parliamentary committee to monitor the ESM; committee can only be used for secondary market bond purchases; the Bundestag must now set up a structures that is more transparent and representative; the Dutch parliament approved the second Greek loan programme; the Greek parliament approved cuts in defence, investment and pensions; the Greek cabinet also agrees to a 22% cut in the standard minimum wage to €751 per month; Jean-Claude Juncker says he wants a EU Commissioner with the special task of co-ordinating the Greek reconstruction efforts; the troika has completed a positive report on Portugal, paving the way for the next loan tranche; Vitor Gaspar says that he can reach the 4.5% deficit target for this year without further measures; ECB says Greek bonds are no longer acceptable as collateral for now; EFSF collateral scheme is not yet in place, as a result of which the gap is covered through recourse to the central banks' emergency liquidity assistance; Fitch gives an extreme sceptical assessment of the impact of the ECB's liquidity operations; the Dutch finance minister says an agreement to extend the ESM and the EFSF is likely by March or April; French opinion polls show Nicolas Sarkozy closing the polling in the first round, but Francois Hollande has a 10 point lead in the second round; Wolfgang Munchau, meanwhile, says that Spain would fall into a black hole if it tried to follow the EU's deficit target of 4.4% for this year.

Support for the three principal candidates in the French presidential election :