There are better ways to deal with drug possession (for personal use) than putting the person behind bars.

Champagne is a drink that works all year round, as welcome on a chilly Christmas morning as on a hot day in June.

A 15-year-old Australian girl has described being thrown from a kayak by a great white shark as "everything you picture in the Jaws movie".

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

The waiting game is over for 16 of this year’s Rose of Tralee contestants last night, who found out they had made it through to the live TV stage of the competition on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Elon Musk’s Tesla has won a tender to supply what the billionaire says is the world’s largest lithium-ion battery to back up the state of South Australia’s blackout-plagued power grid.

AUSTRALIA is in the grip of a relentless and record-setting heatwave that is probably beyond the comprehension of anyone who has spent the majority of their life living in a temperate European climate.

The area is a 30km drive off the famous Ring of Kerry and connects Valentia Island, Portmagee and The Skelligs themselves with Waterville and the beautiful Ballinskelligs.

The June Bank Holiday weekend always feels like the beginning of summer even if the weather is often rather mixed.

A woman says she and a friend were injured when they were attacked by a kangaroo while on a cycling tour of an Australian wine region.

Two female backpackers from Europe were savagely attacked on a remote Australian beach by a travelling companion they had met hours earlier, police said.

A man has been arrested by police in Australia charged with attempting to rape and murder two female backpackers on a remote beach.

A man accused of killing a woman whose bones were found in an Australian forest has been charged with the murder of her two-year-old daughter, whose body was discovered in a suitcase 750 miles away.

According to Australian Police, he died after his car hit a tree around 11am on Sunday morming.

A man has been arrested for the killing of a woman, whose skeletal remains were found in an Australian forest 750 miles from where her daughter’s body was discovered dumped in a suitcase.

A man was arrested over the killing of a woman whose skeletal remains were found in an Australian forest 750 miles from where her daughter's body was discovered dumped in a suitcase.

Ebony Churchill had a rather ’bone chilling’ experience after being chased on her quad bike by, of all things, a local koala in South Australia.

The remains of a child found dumped in a suitcase in the South Australian bush are highly unlikely to be those of British girl Madeline McCann, police say.

Police say they now believe that bones found beside an outback highway in South Australia were those of a little girl, aged between two and four-years-old.

I have been rather neglectful of Australia in recent months so this week I want to focus on one of the great icon estates of Australian wine as a way of showing that there is more to this country than big blowsy Shiraz and Chardonnay.

One of the world’s rarest geese has successfully hatched in a nature park here, having previously failed because of harsh weather.

More than two dozen homes have been destroyed or badly damaged and almost 30 people have sought medical treatment as a result of a massive wildfire that has raged out of control for days across farms and woodland in southern Australia, officials said yesterday.

Hippocrates said sport was the preserver of health, writes Brendan O'Brien.

JAMES MULLIGHAN is in his second year as programme director of the Cork Film Festival, which runs until Sunday. Originally from South Australia, he has worked at Sony Classical and Columbia records, as well as helming the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

I mentioned last week of the sad death of Paddy Keogh of Wines Direct at the young age of 64 from a relatively short illness. 

Who could blame him? After spending three hours up close and personal with this year’s first 18-strong bunch of Rose of Tralee contestants, show host Dáithí Ó Sé was in desperate need of cooling down.

A woman who lost her husband, son, and unborn daughter when their car was rammed by a suicidal taxi driver is to help gardaí to train to deal with suicidal people.

A six-person team has been appointed to investigate services at a Midlands hospital where a number of babies died in controversial circumstances over a six-year period.

South Australia is set to be the top destination for Irish people looking for work this year, with hairdressers and cooks most in demand and heading the occupations list just published by the South Australian immigration department.

Andy Irvine recorded his new album while camping in the Outback, says Gerry Quinn.

A man has been killed by a shark while spear fishing off the south Australian coast.

Skies over south-eastern Australia darkened with huge plumes of smoke and lightning storms after an epic heatwave, with raging wildfires claiming one life and residents warned to “leave and live”.

Serious birth problems are twice as likely to affect IVF babies than those conceived naturally, research has shown.

This year's Roses of Tralee are applying the finishing touches before the first of the live television broadcasts, which get underway tonight at the Festival Dome.

The Rose of Tralee is often criticised by its detractors for failing to represent modern Ireland.

BEYONCÉ’S A GEM