Sally Rooney’s second book Normal People and Donal Ryan’s From A Low and Quiet Sea have been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award, considered the most prestigious award for a novel open only to British and Irish writers.

Coca-Cola has agreed to buy coffee chain Costa for £3.9bn (€4.4bn) to extend its push into healthier drinks and take on the likes of Starbucks and Nestle in the booming global coffee market.

Whitbread, Britain’s biggest hotel and coffee shop operator, reported a sharp slowdown in revenue growth at its Premier Inn business, helping knock its shares which had risen sharply the past month.

Diego Costa has pleaded with Chelsea to lower their asking price to allow him to return to Atletico Madrid.

After opening shops across New York, UK sandwich and coffee chain Pret A Manger may be heading for Wall Street.

Whitbread said underlying sales at its Costa Coffee chain recovered over the last three months and its Premier Inn hotel brand continued to grow, sending shares in the company 3% higher.

Whitbread, an operator of hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops, stood by its expansion plans in the UK and international markets, after posting a near 12% rise in full-year profit.

The loss at Everton had the feeling of a game too far for the fans. The air of resignation which had met many of the losses this season was replaced by anger.

There’s good dates, there’s bad dates and then there’s straight-up bizarre dates. Lauren Crouch’s most recent foray into romance definitely fell in to the latter category.

Applegreen, the Irish petrol forecourt firm which made its stock market debut in June, plans to open a further 10 outlets across Ireland, the UK, and the US by the end of the year as it seeks to tap the strong economic recovery.

Last month Apple said that its mobile payment system, Apple Pay, would arrive in the UK in July. Documents from retailers indicate that July 14th is when it will launch.

West Brom 3 Chelsea 0: This was an extraordinary evening at The Hawthorns in every sense.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa is contesting the FA’s charge for violent conduct with the full support of the club.The Spain international is facing an immediate three-match ban for his apparent stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can during Tuesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge.

Helen Macdonald has won this year’s Costa Prize for her memoir H Is For Hawk.

A popular pub in Cork has spoken out against chain brands coming to the city centre.

Eva does Dublin in style.

Manchester City 1 Chelsea 1

Britain’s burgeoning coffee shop culture has helped Costa grow annual profits by more than a fifth as sales and store numbers surged.

Fond emotions translate to good deeds in this week’s collection from Esther N McCarthy who also throws in a little something for caffeine addicts, amongst others

The captain of the doomed Costa Concordia hit a reef off the coast of a Tuscan island after being disappointed at not getting close enough to it on an earlier attempt, his trial has been told.

Profits at coffee shop chain Costa have risen by a fifth after more strong sales and a surge in the size of its UK estate to more than 1,600 stores.

Power giants Centrica and SSE saw UK shares tumble after Labour leader Ed Miliband’s vow to freeze household energy bills spooked markets.

The crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship was pulled completely upright early today after a complicated, 19-hour operation to wrench it from its side where it capsized last year off Tuscany.

Hopes of an international compromise on the Syrian crisis fuelled gains on the FTSE 100 Index as oil prices also eased back from recent highs.

Whitbread unveiled a compact version of its Premier Inn hotel brand today in an effort to attract city centre visitors who favour price over space.

Italy’s Costa Crociere, the biggest cruise operator in Europe, has accepted limited responsibility for the Costa Concordia disaster, as the employer of some of those under investigation over a shipwreck tragedy in which 32 people died.

Italian cruise line Costa Crociere has been fined €1m for the Concordia cruise ship sinking which killed 32 people.

Efforts are being made to refloat the Costa Concordia cruise ship, as Italy prepares to mark one year since 32 people lost their lives.

The crew of the Costa Concordia have been awarded the Seafarer Of The Year award at the Lloyds List Global Awards ceremony for “the courage and professionalism” demonstrated when the ship hit rocks and capsized last January.

Experts have blamed the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship for the disaster in which 32 people died.

The rapid growth of Premier Inn and coffee chain Costa continued today after their owner Whitbread reported better-than-expected sales figures.

THE most sobering aspect of Thursday night was that, really, this was how it felt to be insignificant. This was how it felt to be a Honduras 2010, a Costa Rica 2006 – in other words, one of the worst teams in a tournament.

Work to remove the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship from its rocky perch off Tuscany will begin early next month and is expected to take 12 months, the ship’s owner Costa Crociere SpA said today.

Hot and tired passengers disembarking from a disabled cruise ship in the Seychelles said they had prepared to abandon ship when fire broke out in the engine room three days ago.

A disabled cruise ship will spend an extra 10 to 12 hours at sea without electricity, air conditioning or toilet facilities because of a row over tugs, a Seychelles minister says.

The disabled Costa Allegra cruise ship is expected to reach the Seychelles’ main port just after dawn tomorrow, an aviation official said today.

Helicopters ferried food, phones and flashlights to more than 1,000 passengers and crew stuck aboard a disabled cruise ship being towed to the Seychelles Islands through waters prowled by pirates.

A French vessel has reached an Italian cruise ship adrift in the Indian Ocean and is towing it to an island, the Seychelles coastguard said today.

The Costa Allegra cruise liner, stranded in the pirate-infested Indian Ocean after a fire aboard, is stable and upright while being pushed by the current, officials said.

Passengers on board the cruise ship which crashed off the coast of Italy are being offered €11,000 compensation.