Louis Lovett returns to his native Cork with the classic operatic take on the story of Hansel and Gretel, writes Marjorie Brennan.

THE market for wine is like a pyramid: tiny quantities of rare and expensive stuff on top; rather a lot of widely available inexpensive wines in the middle, and cheapies competing on price at the bottom.

JUST €20.6 million of the €348.5m promised by 16 of the 18 religious congregations in the wake of the Ryan Report has been paid to date.

A GROUP awaiting a Bord Pleanála ruling on a controversial super-quarry is poised to launch an EU campaign to halt quarrying in their area.

The top prize at the Cannes Film Festival was today awarded to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, a scathing indictment of White House actions after the September 11 terror attacks.

THE Christian Brothers have been awarded legal costs estimated at up to €1m despite losing a High Court challenge to the Child Abuse Commission.

One hundred years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, an attempt to recreate the moment failed in the USA when a replica craft could not get off the ground and sputtered into the mud.