Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

This little guy was born in CUH - and his daddy made a very sweet video about his birth

The Junior B Football game scheduled for the first day of the North American Finals at the end of this month stands out: Cayman Islands v Raleigh (North Carolina).

'American Hustle' and '12 Years a Slave' lead the Golden Globes 2014 nominations with seven nods each.

A 3-year-old boy who was among 13 people wounded in a late-night attack on a south-west Chicago park was alert when he arrived at the hospital and was apparently doing well, his family and friends said.

The Iseq advanced for the second day, adding 58.52 points to close at 4,248.69.

Positive news on the US economy outweighed worries about Syria, sending the stock market higher for a second straight day.

US president Barack Obama is taking his re-election campaign into the South on Labour Day, where he will offer a presence and promises of help to those flooded out recently by Hurricane Isaac.

IRISH investors suffered a double whammy yesterday, with the ISEQ starting the week with a fresh decline and new figures showing recent dramatic falls in domestic pension fund values.

No longer a hurricane, Irene spent the last of its fury and sloshed its way into Canada early today, inflicting relatively little damage to New York but leaving a trail of treacherous flooding and millions without power along America’s east coast.

Global stocks fell again today as fears of a possible US recession combined with worries over Europe’s debt crisis.

REPUBLICAN Sarah Palin has said she is still considering a potential 2012 presidential run, though her daughter said she has already made up her mind and is keeping the decision secret for now.

Oil prices eased off two-and-a-half-year highs to below 113 dollars a barrel today after US president Barack Obama announced that al Qaida leader Osama bid Laden had been killed.

TENS of thousands took to the streets across the globe for May Day yesterday, to press for workers’ rights amid tough economic times and to back an array of other causes.

WITH life-size statues and T-shirts with John Paul II’s famous phrase “Be Not Afraid”, pope mania is well under way in Rome ahead of a May 1 ceremony that will put him on the path to sainthood.

The last ferry left for the mainland and residents took shelter as Hurricane Earl closed in on North Carolina’s dangerously exposed Outer Banks today with 105mph winds.

Around 30,000 residents and visitors were ordered to evacuate a US island today as Hurricane Earl approached.

POWERFUL Hurricane Earl wheeled toward the East Coast, driving the first tourists yesterday from North Carolina vacation islands and threatening damaging winds and waves up the Atlantic seaboard over Labour Day weekend.

A powerful Hurricane Earl threatened to lash much of America’s East Coast, forcing Labour Day holidaymakers to rethink spending the traditional last week of summer at the beach.

The final plugging of BP’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well will begin next month, the US government said today.

European governments and the International Monetary Fund agreed to pull Greece back from the brink of default with €110bn in emergency loans, provided Athens made painful budget cuts and tax increases.

Greece has reached agreement with the IMF and European Union on a rescue package for the debt-laden country, prime minister George Papandreou said today.

Greece must undergo more spending cuts to survive, Prime Minister George Papandreou declared today, as talks on an international rescue plan entered the final stages.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama, whose approval ratings have taken a hit over heated debates on healthcare reform, will address Congress tonight in an attempt to regain control of one of his top legislative priorities.

American teenager Melanie Oudin continued her giant-killing run at the US Open when she knocked out a third Russian seed in succession Nadia Petrova at Flushing Meadows.

Manny Pacquiao will fight three-time world champion Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on November 14, their promoter announced today.

World health experts were today accused of initially ignoring the dangers of swine flu.

Google is releasing its own web browser in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine.

Oil prices fell back today as weather forecasters said Hurricane Gustav was not strengthening during its advance on the US coast.

Wall Street tumbled today after the US government said personal incomes fell last month by the largest amount in nearly three years while consumer spending slowed.

US President George Bush will tomorrow announce plans to reduce the American troop presence in Iraq by as many as 30,000 by the middle of next year, subject to continued progress.

Due to the Labour Day public holiday, the US markets were not open yesterday.

THE ISEQ Index continued its tentative upward momentum closing 38.42 higher at 8,439.35 on a quiet day in global markets due to the Labour Day holiday in the US.

FIREFIGHTERS struggled yesterday to prevent a fire that has charred nearly 39 square miles of brushland from crossing Interstate 5, which would force authorities to again shut down traffic on one of California’s busiest freeways.

Wall Street managed a modest advance in light pre-holiday trading today, boosted by weakening oil prices and a gross domestic product report that showed the economy expanding at a faster pace than previously thought.

Wall Street advanced for a second session in a row today after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting failed to produce any bombshells about the US economy, and oil prices dropped below $70 a barrel.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had lunch with steel workers on Monday to mark Labour Day as the country’s rapidly expanding economy faces a growing shortage or skilled staff.

WHAT should have been a five-minute cable car ride turned into a nearly 12-hour ordeal for dozens of people who had be rescued yesterday after two cars lost power over New York's East River.

Matt Damon and his fiancee Luciana Barroso are expecting their first child together.

Hurricane Wilma, the most intense storm to form in the Americas, lashed the coasts of Central America and Caribbean islands today as it lumbered toward Mexico’s Cancun resort and Florida.

Monroe County officials have ordered visitors out of Florida Keys ahead of Hurricane Wilma, the first US evacuations caused by the Category 5 storm.

A seemingly ideal day of sailing along a calm but busy US mountain lake turned abruptly tragic yesterday when a tour boat carrying a group of senior citizens overturned, killing 21 people and injuring dozens more.