The DUP's Lee Reynolds said his party would be trying to persuade the Alliance Party to block the move at the full council meeting.

BBC: Belfast council committee votes to take down Union flag

The debacle has also exposed Australia to a new reality over its other foreign-policy block, the American alliance.

ECONOMIST: Australia: Friends no more | The

Sinn Fein, however, joined by two MLAs from Alliance and the Green Party, managed to block the move.

BBC: NI Assembly fails in bid to change abortion law

Matthew Sinclair, from campaign group the Taxpayers' Alliance, told the BBC the government should block any bonuses for Mr Hester until the taxpayers' investment in RBS is repaid.

BBC: RBS chief Stephen Hester's ?963,000 bonus criticised

That is what has driven Mr Kirch towards a cross-border alliance of the sort that the authorities are less likely to block.

ECONOMIST: European media

Back then, the NATO alliance held firm in the face of an all-out Soviet campaign to block the basing of such weapons and destabilize the governments involved.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: America's commitment to freedom

The earlier proposed deal would have Santander buying the 22.5% stake in MTB that was put on the block by Allied Irish Banks, but STD wanted to have control over the new alliance.

FORBES: Tempted To Step Into Spain With Santander

The project stretched from Londonderry to Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, but it faced a legal challenge from the Alternative A5 Alliance (AA5A) - a group of farmers, landowners and supporters who sought to block work on the 53-mile stretch.

BBC: A5 cash 'must go to other road projects' says CBI

Mr Sadr's 30-strong block of followers in parliament, which has 275 members, was the largest faction in the ruling Shia alliance and had backed Mr Maliki as prime minister largely to stop the post going to the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), their bitter rivals in the Shia alliance.

ECONOMIST: The prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, is ever more embattled