Actress Kate Beckinsale accepted £20,000 (€23,000) libel damages today over a newspaper claim that she was going to miss out on her dream role as “sexy heroine Barbarella”.

Michael Owen today accepted a public apology and substantial undisclosed damages regarding “incredulous allegations” his football career was over.

Comedians David Walliams and Matt Lucas accepted libel damages and a public apology today over a claim that they had caused uproar among gay protest groups.

Robert Murat today accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages over an allegation that there were strong grounds for believing that he was guilty of abducting Madeleine McCann.

THE friends known as the “Tapas Seven” who were on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when daughter Madeleine vanished have accepted £375,000 (€482,000) libel damages from Express Newspapers.

The friends known as the Tapas Seven, who were on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when daughter Madeleine vanished, have accepted £375,000 (€480,000) libel damages from Express Newspapers.

Seven friends who were on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when their daughter Madeleine vanished are to receive a “substantial” libel payout from a newspaper group, a source said today.

Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat today accepted £600,000 (€757,000) in libel damages over claims that he was involved in her abduction.

ROBERT MURAT, the first named suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has settled libel claims against several British news outlets for £500,000 (€630,000), it emerged yesterday.

A SUSPECT in the case of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann is to sue 12 top British media outlets, his lawyers said on Sunday, in what could be the country’s biggest-ever libel claim.

PORTUGUESE police are set to fly to Britain on April 7 as part of a last-gasp attempt to solve the Madeleine McCann mystery.

Kate and Gerry McCann accepted £550,000 (€698,000) libel damages today over allegations that they were responsible for the death of their daughter Madeleine.

Two newspapers today published front page apologies for a series of articles about the parents of missing Madeleine McCann.

PROFITS at the Irish Daily and Sunday Star have increased by 26% in 2006 to €5.83 million.

THE mastermind behind the Harry Potter phenomenon JK Rowling has expressed disappointment after her four-year-old son lost a case claiming his right to privacy was infringed by the publication of his photograph in a newspaper.

Postman Pat owner Entertainment Rights today said the loveable postie’s march across the globe had helped it to another year of record profits.

The biggest takeover of a UK company for five years and a rush of other bid activity drove the FTSE 100 Index beyond the 5300 barrier today.

An agreed offer for mobile phone giant O2 led a dramatic morning of takeover activity which sent the London market soaring today.

TERENURE PRINTERS of Dublin is to close with the loss of more than 160 jobs.

More than 320 jobs were lost today with the closure of a major printing firm in Dublin and a construction company in Co Galway.

RICHARD Desmond is known to detest the “porn baron” title afforded him, but porn baron is exactly what he is.

THE British billionaire businessmen the Barclay brothers are set to rejoin the battle for control of the Telegraph newspaper.

Hollinger International, the US unit of Conrad Black's media empire, has moved to prevent the ousted chairman from completing a £253m (€366m) deal to sell off the empire to the Barclay brothers.

TABLOID newspaper Ireland on Sunday is set to post a loss this year despite doubling circulation.

THE battle in the Sunday newspaper market is about to hot up with the launch of a Sunday edition of the Star.

Northern and Shell, the publisher of Express Newspapers, is to launch a London evening newspaper early next year.

Chat show host Patrick Kielty was today awarded substantial damages and received an apology from a tabloid newspaper over a report about his conduct outside a Dublin bar.

Danny Kemp reports on a week of hope and heartache

POLICE hunting missing schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman want to speak to four people shown on closed circuit television footage.

Yvonne Ridley is expected to fly back to Britain tomorrow. She is returning for a party with her family, including her 9-year-old daughter Daisy.

British journalist Yvonne Ridley tonight spoke of her delight at being freed by her Taliban captors - and her desperation to get home to see her daughter Daisy.

Hopes were rising that British journalist Yvonne Ridley could be released from Afghanistan some time today after her employers said she could be freed ‘‘within hours rather than days’’.

Celebrations for the birthday today of Daisy Ridley - whose journalist mother Yvonne is being held in Afghanistan - have been postponed until she safely returns home, the family said.