Auroras Encore could bid to emulate the legendary Red Rum by attempting to complete a rare National double in the same season.

Trainer Sue Smith reports Auroras Encore to be "unbelievably well" the morning after his glorious triumph in the John Smith's Grand National yesterday.

Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies has insisted the latest horse death on the Grand National course at Aintree was "one of those things".

Bookmakers believe punters will go angling for Seabass to put Katie Walsh into the record books as the first female jockey to win the John Smith’s Grand National.

Imperial Commander heads a list of 49 horses left in the John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree on Saturday following the five-day stage.

TDs pored over and passed around the glossy fold-out maps of the redrawn boundaries like pre-internet era schoolboys used to do with soft porn pictures as they pointed excitedly at the enticing and exotic curves of the new constituencies.

Possol emerged as a possible Hennessy Gold Cup contender when running out a convincing winner of the £35,000 stanjames.com Festival Chase at Perth.

Nigel Twiston-Davies reports Hello Bud to be A1 following his victory in the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr on Saturday.

Cloudy Lane now heads the weights for the John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree on Saturday following the confirmation stage.

NIGEL Twiston-Davies is playing a waiting game over which race to run Cheltenham Festival hero Imperial Commander (right) in at Aintree this week/

Few people characterise the British national hunt racing scene better than Nigel Twiston-Davies. A countryman at heart, he is also a rugged and independent voice within the sport and Declan Colley found out what makes him tick.

Zimbabwe has won approval to head a key United Nations body charged with promoting economic progress and environmental protection.

A RECENT article in another newspaper, entitled “Trees obscured by forest of verbiage” neatly sums up the current Irish Forestry Policy.

Mr Dinglawi became the first horse to win since competing at the Cheltenham Festival when he ran away with the Army Benevolent Fund Handicap Hurdle at Chepstow today.

Nigel Twiston-Davies has the Martell Cognac Grand National in his sights once more after 2002 Aintree hero Bindaree battled his way to a thrilling triumph over Sir Rembrandt in the Coral Welsh National at rain-soaked Chepstow yesterday.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams was due to meet Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid today to voice fears over the future of the political process.

THE environmental isolationist policy of America and other countries at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg will spell disaster for all on planet earth.

IN his speech to the Earth Summit on September 3, the Taoiseach described the decline in overseas development aid during the last decade as “shameful“.

IT is a measure of Bertie Ahern’s capacity to exude hypocrisy that he actually stood up before about 190 of the world’s leaders at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg and lectured them about aid to the Third World.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday launched an Irish aid project to help combat the alarming spread of HIV in southern Africa.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, repeatedly interrupted by jeers and protests, defended the United States’ environmental record and its efforts to help the poor in the developing world at the Earth Summit’s closing day.

THE North’s First Minister David Trimble has held talks about the case of three IRA suspects detained in Colombia for training left-wing rebels with the country’s vice president.

IRAQ said again yesterday it was ready to discuss the return of UN weapons inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending sanctions and restoring Iraqi sovereignty over all its territory.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has criticised the United States for trying to obstruct Earth Summit plans to protect the poor and save the environment.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern’s spirited argument at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg for richer countries to commit more financial help in overseas development aid would have had a greater ring of conviction but for the fact that Ireland has cut its own contribution this year.

Carrying the US case against Saddam Hussein, Secretary of State Colin Powell tonight headed to Africa for a world summit where he was expected to face criticism from foreign leaders upset by the Bush administration’s threats to attack Iraq.

Iraq said again today it was ready to discuss the return of UN weapons inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending sanctions and restoring Iraqi sovereignty over all its territory.

Sinn Féin has hit out at the North’s First Minister for meeting the Colombian Vice-President today to discuss allegations that the IRA provided training to rebels in the South American country.

Environment Minister Martin Cullen says the overall deal struck at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg is good for Ireland.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair today arrived back in Britain to face a barrage of questions over his stance on Iraq.

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is attending the Earth Summit in South Africa this morning in the wake of the controversial passing of a new “Energy Accord”.

World leaders at the Earth Summit in South Africa have reached a compromise on the last details of a global plan to eradicate poverty and reverse environmental decline.

IRELAND has formed an alliance with five other European Union countries in a bid to limit the expansion of nuclear energy.

IRAQ signalled a softer stance on UN weapons inspectors in a renewed bid to stave off a threatened US assault.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair last night urged fellow world leaders to agree radical cuts in harmful greenhouse gas emissions — going beyond even the existing Kyoto protocol which the United States still refuses to ratify.

Negotiators were upbeat today about the prospect of achieving further deals on tackling world poverty and the environment as heads of state prepared to join the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble tonight held wide ranging talks in South Africa with an African National Congress official who was a former weapons inspector in Northern Ireland.

World leaders are under pressure to save the Earth Summit from disaster.

At the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, there is still no agreement on crucial issues.

Sinn Fein today urged Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble to visit a nationalist community in east Belfast.

THE UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson has accused the United States of trying to scale back plans to save the world’s poorest people.

THERE were mounting fears last night that the Earth Summit in Johannesburg would fail to reach agreement before world leaders arrive for the climax of the meeting next week.

YOU’D be forgiven for thinking the vast campus where Government officials have gathered in Johannesburg is more a trade convention than a summit to save the world.

THE United States and European nations began showcasing public-private partnerships to fight poverty at the Earth Summit yesterday amid growing criticism they will help businesses more than the poor.