One of Barack Obama’s initiatives begun a decade ago in the US has strengthened civil society by innovative means over here, writes Pádraig Hoare.

Firms in Cork have been encouraged to practice so-called ‘social innovation’ by engaging in community projects and not only raising funds for good causes.

A policeman has appeared at a disciplinary hearing, accused of taking a tin of biscuits belonging to a colleague.

A UK policeman who was filmed attacking a car has been put on "restricted duties" and his use of force will be examined, Scotland Yard has said.

The number of medical card holders taking oral contraceptives has more than doubled since 2009, according to the HSE.

Most of Detroit's public schools are closed for the day after the teaching union urged members to call in sick following a weekend announcement that the district will not be able to pay school staff from this summer.

FINLAND: Angry Birds are getting angrier, because some of their real-life counterparts in the South Pacific are facing extinction.

Australia’s Parliament House lifted a short-lived ban on facial coverings including burqas and niqabs after the prime minister intervened.

Police have shot dead a man who was threatening a woman with a knife at a house in London.

The secluded Texas ranch where followers of imprisoned polygamist Warren Jeffs lived in near isolation has been seized by state agents, nearly six years after the FBI raided the property and removed hundreds of children amid child sex allegations.

Three police officers from the unit in charge of protecting Downing Street have been arrested on suspicion of accessing hardcore pornography on their mobile phones.

A retired senior Scotland Yard police officer has admitted authorising secret recordings of a meeting between a friend of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, his lawyers and detectives.

Up to 16,000 medical card holders who have coeliac disease will no longer be able to use their cards to buy gluten-free products — a change in policy that could add up to €80 a month to a person’s grocery bill.

A Metropolitan Police inspector has been arrested on suspicion of racial abuse, the force said.

A 18-year-old woman plunged 18 floors to her death today as police raided her flat.

Scotland Yard was under the spotlight today after facing fresh allegations of racism amongst its officers.

Scotland Yard’s race row deepened today as three officers were referred to the police watchdog over comments to colleagues.

THE Irish Pharmacists’ Union has said it has no control over members who are putting substantial mark- ups on the gluten-free products they sell for coeliac customers.

THE Irish Pharmacists’ Union has said it has no control over members who are putting substantial mark- ups on the gluten-free products they sell for coeliac customers.

Cork: DPS Engineering, the Irish project management and process engineering group with offices in Dublin, Cork, Holland and Singapore has expanded its operations into North America with the acquisition of the Massachusetts engineering group, Biometics LLP.

THE State and its agencies are Cork’s biggest employer, a major new report has found.

Evelyn Ring

UP to €100 million will be saved on Government medical costs annually following a decision to allow pharmacists prescribe cheaper over-the-counter drugs to medical card holders.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen delivered a seemingly generous spending programme for 2005 yesterday - but it came with a nasty sting in the tail.

OPPOSITION parties and patients’ groups have accused the Government of hammering public patients through a series of stealth taxes outlined yesterday in the Book of Estimates.

CORK-based DPS Engineering are planning to double its workforce to over 500, as part of major expansion plan.

BUSINESS users take the early train, and astute business looking to future prime locations in Cork will have an eye on the Kent Railway redevelopment and piggy-backing on the massive investment set to flow on the Horgan's Quay site rein.