Below is a join-the-dots of some of 2020’s cultural anniversaries around Europe.

Eyecare manufacturer Bausch and Lomb is to create 100 jobs at its plant in Waterford City, bringing the number of people employed there to almost 1,500.

Bill ‘Dady’ Hogan, a 73-year-old retired cheesemaker, often thinks of Martin Luther King. 

Two people linked by an extraordinary facial transplant procedure have had an emotional meeting in Minnesota.

It’s official. After widespread speculation, the powers that be announced on Tuesday that the professional golf calendar as we know it will look remarkably different beginning in 2019.

Exercise can rebuild muscle health, says Gretchen Reynolds.

Chatting about the procedure, he said that organ donation needs to be discussed more openly in Ireland.

USA: Firefighters put out a blaze at an office building in New Jersey — after waiting for 100,000 rounds of ammunition stored inside to explode.

A man has died after falling from a hot air balloon basket in New York state.

She ran an extra ten miles with no training.

US wrestling star Chyna has died in California at the age of 45.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has branded The Boston Globe "stupid" and "worthless" in response to a satirical front page printed by the newspaper which lampoons the notion of a Trump presidency.

Ben Barnes has assembled an impressive cast for the Irish premiere of a play by Eugene O’Neill, writes Padraic Killeen

More than 100 cinemas in the UK and Ireland will be screening the upcoming special episode of Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, on January 1st, 2016.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump faces more criticism after he declined to correct a questioner at a town hall event who incorrectly said US president Barack Obama is a Muslim.

JAPAN: A Japanese railway company is turning to cameras as a way to spot drunken behaviour and keep late-boozing patrons from tumbling onto the tracks, a spokesman said.

Seven people have been charged after a cache of weapons including automatic rifles and machine pistols was recovered in the largest seizure of its kind in Britain.

USA: A hen owned by a Massachusetts woman who specialises in chicken rehabilitation and rescue is getting fitted with a prosthetic leg at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

A one-time high-achieving Trinity College graduate is finally to return home, nearly 10 years after he was caught following a dramatic and reckless armed robbery of a bank in the United States.

USA: A Staten Island plumber who’s won a $136m (€121m) Powerball jackpot says he wants to keep working — but also plans to “relax a little more”.

Nigel Farage has vowed to quit as Ukip leader if he fails to become an MP at the UK's general election, declaring it would be “curtains for me”.

USA: Two men who vandalised a historic military structure at a national park near San Francisco had to be rescued after they were stranded on a steep cliff while trying to escape.

ENGLAND: Britain is trying to make sure its citizens are more nice than naughty while soaking up the Arabian Gulf sun this Christmas.

ENGLAND: A species of magic mushroom has been discovered growing in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.

With a fifth child on the way, Jude Law has mixed feelings about being so busy with his film work, writes Jeananne Craig

An amazing and emotional moment for all involved.

David Cameron has been warned that barring European Union nationals from claiming benefits in Britain would be “totally discriminatory” as he prepares to deliver a key speech on immigration.

British prime minister David Cameron’s Conservatives lost a second parliamentary seat to the anti-EU Ukip, an embarrassing defeat heralding a possible fragmentation of Britain’s two-party system in next year’s national election.

Campaign dominated by immigration as Cameron digs in

Angela Merkel has warned David Cameron that his drive to curb immigration within the European Union is pushing Britain towards exiting the EU, according to German news reports.

James Foley was a compassionate journalist who tried to see the good in people, friends said at a memorial for the man beheaded by Islamic State group extremists.

Ukip has its first elected MP after a dramatic night which left the two main Westminster parties licking their wounds.

A New York State man accused of plotting to kill members of the US military and others faces new charges that he tried to aid the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

MEDAL FOR SALE

Rescuers have lost hope of finding a prominent New York couple or recovering wreckage from their small plane which crashed into the sea off Jamaica.

A small plane with its pilot slumped over flew a ghostly 1,700-mile journey down the Atlantic Coast shadowed by two US fighter jets before finally crashing in the waters off Jamaica.

The parents of murdered American journalist James Foley have released a letter their son wrote during his time in captivity.

The parents of killed US journalist James Foley have said they regarded an email from his captors last week as a hopeful sign they could negotiate with the Islamic militants holding him.

US President Barack Obama has pledged to continue attacking the group responsible for the death of journalist James Foley, despite its threats to kill another American hostage.

American fighter jets and drones have conducted nearly a dozen airstrikes in Iraq since Tuesday, a US official said.

A grisly video shows Islamic State militants beheading American journalist James Foley, US officials said, in what the extremists called retribution for recent US airstrikes in Iraq.

Comedian Harry Hill and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig are to receive honorary degrees in recognition of their talent and contribution to the arts.

A former police officer suspected in the deaths of two women whose bodies were stuffed into suitcases and discarded on a rural Wisconsin highway met victims online, in one case possibly through a bondage website, according to police.

Siptu has called on management of a major pharmaceutical plant to come good on a promise to invest in the future after union members’ voted by more than three to one to accept a cost-cutting deal.

Ireland’s embassy in Washington has contacted a US senator to raise concerns over his call for over 1,100 at-risk jobs at a pharmaceutical giant in Waterford to be moved to New York.

On May 23, IDAIreland advertised for ‘35 results driven global business development opportunities’. The job is to win investment and employment for Ireland.

A US senator has been criticised for encouraging the CEO of Bausch + Lomb’s parent company to move the 1,100-plus Waterford-based jobs to New York.

Union representatives for more than 900 workers facing an uncertain future at a pharmaceutical plant in Waterford are hoping to press for compromises with management when they begin "high-stakes" talks today.