It is estimated that by 2050, seven out of 10 people will live in cities. Planners recognise something clever is required, writes Richard Fitzpatrick.

ONE of the crucial decisions before visiting the city that allegedly never sleeps is where to lay your head.

Investigators are looking into whether embattled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie misused about $2m (€1.5m) in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for an ad campaign that put him in the spotlight in an election year, a politician has said.

OVER the last three decades, economic losses associated with natural disasters like floods, storm surges, hurricanes, and droughts have risen in lockstep with the steady climb in global temperatures.

IT was a bitter political defeat. Formerly a front-runner for one of the United States’ most prestigious offices, an emotional Christine Quinn accepted her failure to secure the Democratic nomination for the New York mayoral election, and with her vanquished hopes went the last vestige of the Irish grip on Gotham.

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is due out tomorrow.

What’s Wrong with Climate Politics and How to Fix It

Andy Murray is looking forward to getting back on the match court after a crash course in the business of being a defending grand slam champion.

RTÉ is set to close its Washington DC bureau for at least four months in a further cost-cutting measure.

Paul McCartney said there was "great power" on stage when he performed with Nirvana on Friday.

IT SPEAKS volumes for Bruce Springsteen’s popularity that his three shows in Ireland this week — Limerick tonight, Cork on Thursday and Belfast on Friday — are all sold out.

IN THE US something very interesting is happening, it’s virtually a grassroots revolution.

Yankee Stadium may not be a mecca of football but Giovanni Trapattoni believes it’s the perfect arena for James McCarthy to prove himself against the world’s best.

The country’s chief fire officers have warned that equipment and fire stations could deteriorate if money is not provided by the Government.

It was an image shared thousands of times on social media soon after the Boston Marathon explosions – that of a blonde, bespectacled girl running along a street and wearing a red T-shirt, runner’s gear and a bib.

On Monday, a number of cowardly, horrific attacks on innocent people occurred, both in Boston and Iraq.

As unfair as it is, Lar Corbett is still seen, both inside and outside his county, as the personification of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final humiliation to Kilkenny.

The US vice-president, Joe Biden, is to fulfil a long-standing promise to come to Ireland later this year, when he is expected to visit his ancestral home in the Taoiseach’s native Co Mayo.

The Taoiseach has become the first international leader to visit Freedom Tower — the under-construction building on the site of the Twin Towers which came down in the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.

“It’s east Ireland over here,” explained Jim Killoran in his green baseball cap on his way to Mass.

Building materials giant CRH has reported better- than-expected earnings for 2012, and has said that improving performance at its American operations can outweigh pressures being felt in Europe and drive further growth this year.

LONG gone was the awkward curly-haired teenager with braces, fiercely protected from the media during her White House childhood. Gone too, the determinedly private young woman who spent much of her twenties in denial of her status as a public figure.

Recent events such as Hurricane Sandy and the Australian heatwave provide further evidence that the variability of the global climate system is increasing.

Shay Byrne’s the man who gets the day started on RTE Radio 1 at 5.30am with Risin’ Time.

The 11th-hour US compromise deal satisfied few people fully and saw a vital vote on a $60bn aid package for Sandy victims delayed, giving an outraged Governor Chris Christie a chance to take centre stage, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

China will become our global powerhouse, the world’s population will hit 8bn, and we’ll have grown used to biblical floods. Richard Fitzpatrick finds out how Earth will look in 12 years.

New Kerry captain Eoin Brosnan expects manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice and coach Cian O’Neill will conduct a lot of personal sessions with players this coming season.

A woman charged with trying to swindle donors by posing as a relative of a child killed in the Connecticut school massacre had allegedly also been soliciting money for Hurricane Sandy relief.

A 50-year-old man is looking forward to the “best present ever” when he enjoys Christmas Day with his father for the first time.

Madonna threatened to cancel a show after she caught an onlooker smoking during rehearsal.

Many Irish in the US would love to return for Christmas, but some can’t risk it, writes John Riordan in New York

Dave Grohl is reportedly planning a Nirvana anniversary tour with a "secret frontman".

It was the question Barbara Walters called the elephant in the room: Is Chris Christie too fat to be president?

Irish people are apparently looking to the internet to answer to that age-old question "What is love?".

New York came to sunny West Cork as Clonakilty got its bite of the Big Apple’s Hurricane Sandy mop-up and 2,500 athletes worked up a pre-Christmas appetite at the town’s third Waterfront Marathon series of races.

From Machu Picchu to King Tut’s grave, the ‘National Geographic’ auction takes us on a rich pictorial history, writes Trevor Coin

Governments must speed up talks on a joint response to global warming, which is an “existential challenge for the whole human race”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned.

The first tensions at the UN climate talks have emerged as island and African nations criticised rich countries for refusing to offer new emissions cuts.

The Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg says the total cost to the city of Hurricane Sandy is over $19bn (€14.6bn).

Talks on a new climate pact have started in oil and gas-rich Qatar, where nearly 200 countries will discuss fighting global warming and helping poor nations adapt to it.

Extreme weather events such as superstorm Sandy and this summer’s drought in the US will become more frequent as the climate changes.

AMERICAN presidential politics never really takes a break these days, so the circling contenders and their gurus are already focused on 2016.

Once the musical, which began life as a tiny budget film on the streets of Dublin, is fast turning into a financial juggernaut.