President Barack Obama has announced a series of steps to ease fears about the scope of secret domestic and foreign surveillance activities.

After 15 minutes of Saturday’s gripping Heineken Cup semi-final, I feared for Munster.

Officials investigating the Boston Marathon bombing said no additional explosive devices have been discovered other than the two that detonated near the race’s finish line, a development that could complicate the case.

A Kashmiri man convicted over the 2001 attack on India's Parliament has been hanged after a final mercy plea was rejected.

The US military did not intervene quickly during the attack on America's consulate in Libya because military leaders did not have adequate intelligence information and felt they should not put their forces at risk, defence secretary Leon Panetta said.

As Frankel faces his final race, Brian Viner talks to his trainer, Sir Henry Cecil, and others who know the world's greatest racehorse best.

The man who once bragged about planning September 11 "from A to Z" may mount a defence after all to charges that he orchestrated the worst terror attack in US history, with families of the dead watching intently from the US on closed-circuit TV.

IT IS a “national disgrace” that some children are being sent overseas on care placements, a conference was told yesterday.

The FBI and Homeland Security have issued a nationwide warning about al Qaida threats to small planes, just days before the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

FOTA ISLAND’S Belvelly course can offer EuroPro Tour golfers a very good test when the Audi Cork Irish Masters gets underway at the resort tomorrow, says director of golf Kevin Morris.

IT’S been over a decade since so many words were written about Osama bin Laden and more than a decade since he came to symbolise everything about Islamic radicalism that is so disquieting and incomprehensible to western sensibilities.

A soldier in Afghanistan learned about the death of Osama bin Laden on Facebook. A TV producer got a tip from comedian Kathy Griffin on Twitter. A blues musician received an email alert from The New York Times. And a woman found out as she scrolled through the internet on her smartphone while walking her dog.

Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man, is dead, US president Barack Obama announced today.

Skirmishes broke out today at a controversial demonstration by far-right group the English Defence League.

PAKISTAN detained a middle-aged American armed with a dagger, a pistol and night vision goggles for allegedly trying to sneak into Afghanistan to hunt and kill al-Qaida head Osama bin Laden, police said yesterday.

Two more American troops were killed in Afghanistan today pushing the Nato losses to 23 in just over a week.

IRISH light-middleweight boxer James Moore is confident he can take full advantage of a second shot at the big time when he faces Pawel Wolak at Yankee Stadium tomorrow night.

Insurgents launched a brazen pre-dawn assault today against the giant US-run Bagram Air Field, the second Taliban strike at Nato forces in and around the capital in as many days.

THE seaside town of Dungarvan will play host to a major international intelligence conference in July which will feature a speech from a former US secretary of homeland security.

An American student extradited from Britain admitted on the eve of his terrorism trial that he helped a friend deliver protective clothing to an al Qaida commander in Afghanistan.

OSAMA bin Laden threatened in a new message released yesterday to kill any Americans al-Qaida captures if the US executes the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks or other al-Qaida suspects.

A remote-controlled bomb killed six Afghan civilians today as they travelled in the centre of the country, an official said.

AMERICA’S national security adviser James Jones said yesterday that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden still spends some time inside Afghanistan.

Nato’s top commander in Afghanistan confirmed civilians were wounded by a devastating air strike targeting militants in northern Afghanistan.

The United Nations fears next week’s anti-racism conference may descend again into heated debate over Israel that marred the last gathering eight years ago.

ACTOR and political activist Ron Silver, who won a Tony Award as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood producer in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, died on Sunday at the age of 62.

Brian O’Driscoll today displayed a philosophical streak as he reflected on Ireland’s RBS 6 Nations clash with England at Croke Park.

Lloyds TSB Bank has agreed to forfeit $350m (€260m) for helping customers skirt US sanctions on business transactions with Sudan, Iran and Libya.

Asian stock markets partly recovered today after the US government announced a £47.2 billion plan to bail out troubled insurance giant American International Group.

BARACK OBAMA hit out at John McCain yesterday over a comment from his campaign manager that the presidential race will be decided more on personalities than on issues.

ADVANCED DNA testing led federal investigators to suspect a government scientist in the 2001 anthrax killings.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will today ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in the second leg of his trip to the United States.

US First lady Laura Bush, on a mission to highlight signs of rebirth in war-weary Afghanistan, ventured outside of Kabul today to an area that symbolises both the destruction of war and Afghanistan’s attempt at rebirth.

The government has spent €2m on reassuring the nation that it has a plan to cope with any upcoming major national disasters.

Warren Gatland’s hopes of leading the British and Irish Lions on next year’s tour of South Africa have been dented after the Welsh Rugby Union claimed they had every right to block his appointment.

Air traffic controllers could be brought in from other countries to help Ireland's overworked staff, the IMPACT union said today.

A study by two non-profit journalism organisations says US president George Bush and administration chiefs issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terror attacks.

Afghanistan’s president arrived in Pakistan today for talks aimed at co-ordinating the fight against Taliban and al-Qaida militants along the countries’ shared border, a subject that has led to tension between the two US allies.

America’s admission price is going up to help pay for post-September 11 security measures.

Wall Street finished only slightly higher in an erratic session today as investors remained unconvinced by a Federal Reserve plan to work with other central banks to alleviate the global credit crisis.

A British researcher who discovered genetic fingerprinting that has helped solve crimes and settle paternity disputes is among potential candidates for the Nobel Prize in medicine, the first of six prestigious awards to be announced today by the Nobel committees.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today said the American people are eager to hear different opinions about the world, and he is looking forward to having the chance to voice them during his trip to the US, state media reported.

Osama bin Laden will release a new message soon declaring war on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, al-Qaida announced today.

The World Trade Centre site will be transformed into the “most dynamic state-of-the-art business district anywhere on Earth” as New York City rises from the ashes of September 11, architects and city officials said.