UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan, sanction leaders and commanders who are blocking the implementation of a peace deal and fortify a UN peacekeeping mission.

Yesterday’s Doha summit of the major oil producing nations is the latest attempt to bring order to a chaotic oil market.

Earlier this week, as I waited on the line to do an interview with Waterford Local Radio, I overheard the Independent TD for the constituency, John Halligan, say that 24-hour cardiac services in Waterford hospital would be “a red-line issue” for him in terms of supporting a government.

The UN Security Council has been asked to vote on imposing tough new sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test and rocket launch.

The last of three high-profile prisoners known as the Angola Three could walk free within days after a US federal judge ordered state officials to release him immediately.

Medical card changes

Health cover penalty plan a non-runner

Brian Cowen famously described the Department of Health as Angola, which makes you wonder what country child and family services represents.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has deplored the use of chemical weapons in Syria and demanded that those responsible are held accountable.

The fear that up to 100,000 people could lose medical cards due to the Government’s plan to cut €660m from funding for the Department of Health is leading to a considerable degree of anxiety among older vulnerable people. This seems to be a perennial problem for successive governments.

Mali 1 Nigeria 4

Mali secured the first victory in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations with an uninspiring 1-0 win over Niger in Port Elizabeth.

Angola 0 Ivory Coast 2

THIS has been the tournament that restored the glee to the Cup of Nations.

Salomon Kalou’s early goal helped Ivory Coast book their spot in the African Nations Cup quarter-finals and consign opponents Burkina Faso to an early exit.

The smallest nation ever to host an African Nations Cup caused one of its biggest shocks last night, as Equatorial Guinea dumped Senegal out of the competition with a dramatic 2-1 victory in Bata.

THE Ivory Coast made hard work of winning their first game in this year’s African Cup of Nations last night, beating Sudan 1-0.

WHAT comes after the last-chance saloon?

EGYPT, winners of the last three tournaments, will not be there when the African Cup of Nations begins in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in a fortnight. Neither will Cameroon, who won in 2000 and 2002.

Newly crowned Miss Universe Leila Lopes hopes her victory will allow her to assist her native Angola further escape its history of war and impoverishment and said she plans to focus on combating HIV around the globe.

SECRETARY General Ban Ki-moon opened a summit yesterday with a plea to the assembled presidents, prime ministers and kings to use their power to meet UN goals to help the world’s poorest by 2015.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua, long plagued by poor health, died aged 58, his spokesman said.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has announced his retirement from international football after admitting he is still haunted by the attack on the Togo team during this year's African Nations Cup.

Angola and Algeria both advanced to the quarter-finals of the African Nations Cup thanks to a goalless draw in Luanda, with Mali crashing out despite picking up their first win of the competition.

Ivory Coast 3 Ghana 1

Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor has told French radio his team will head home from the African Nations Cup this afternoon on the advice of the Togolese government.

The African Cup of Nations tournament will go on despite an attack on the Togo national soccer team that killed one Angolan and injured eight team members, an Angolan official said today.

GUNMEN opened fire on a bus carrying the Togo football team to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola yesterday, wounding at least nine people, a Togolese football official said.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor escaped unharmed after a bus carrying the Togo national team came under attack from gunfire in Angola.

Gunmen have opened fire on a bus carrying the Togo football team to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, wounding at least six people, a Togolese football official said.

COMMODITY prices are expected to continue to rise this year but oil may prove to be the exception, according to international analysts.

Denmark came from behind to earn a 3-1 friendly win over the USA in Copenhagen tonight.

Bolton 1 Hull 1

The pope made a final appeal at the end of his African pilgrimage today for greater world solidarity to ensure the Earth’s resources are more equally shared.

Tens of thousands of Angola’s Catholics lined the streets of the capital for a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged the country’s faithful to reach out and convert people who believed in witchcraft.

Pope Benedict XVI today appealed to the people of largely Catholic Angola to reach out to and convert believers in witchcraft who feel threatened by “spirits” and “evil powers” of sorcery.

Congo’s army clashed with rebels in some of the worst fighting in a week despite the rebel leader’s promise to support a ceasefire, the United Nations said today.

Food supplies were delivered across rebel-held areas of eastern Congo today for the first time in weeks.

Tensions escalated in war-battered eastern Congo today after Angola announced it was sending troops to aid government forces.

Fears that fighting in eastern Congo will spread were raised today after it was revealed that Angolan troops joined government forces attacking rebels near the city of Goma.

Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo fought pro-government militiamen for a second day in the town of Kiwanja today, forcing thousands to flee.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government today refused rebel leader Laurent Nkunda’s demand for direct talks to solve the crisis in eastern Kivu province, where tens of thousands of desperate refugees were receiving international aid.