The Boy Scouts of America has thrown open its ranks to gay youngsters, but not adult leaders, in a compromise that some warned could fracture the organisation and lead to mass defections.

The ICMSA has confirmed that all county chairpersons, secretaries and National Council members in the Glanbia catchment area will meet at Kilkenny’s Springhill Court Hotel next Monday at 8pm to discuss the Glanbia JV proposals.

THE President of ICMSA, John Comer, has stated that any sensible examination of our options with reference to the upcoming referendum can only result in a recommendation to vote ‘Yes’.

SYRIA’S opposition yesterday urged the Arab League to stand strong against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as the United Nations said its crackdown on dissent has left more than 3,500 people dead.

SYRIAN security forces killed 10 people in Homs yesterday, activists said, and there was no sign yet of troops leaving cities under an Arab League agreement to end bloodshed after seven months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

THE killing of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi fuelled anti-government rallies across Syria after Friday prayers and security forces killed 13 people in a continued crackdown on protesters seeking President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, activists said.

LIBYA’S new masters offered a £1 million bounty for the fugitive Muammar Gaddafi yesterday, after he urged his men to carry on a battle that kept the capital in a state of fear.

EU leaders backed off demanding a no-fly zone over Libya, saying they would leave it up to the UN to decide, but they united in demanding that Gaddafi go and declaring he no longer represented the country or its people.

SWITZERLAND’S effort to end a tax-evasion dispute with Washington hit a major setback yesterday when lawmakers blocked a treaty that would have seen the largest Swiss bank give US authorities files on thousands of American clients.

RACIST sheep and rabid ravens picking at a map of Switzerland propelled the country and its referenda into the spotlight worldwide in recent years.

THE National Council of ISME, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, has unanimously recommended member companies unilaterally introduce an immediate 12-month pay freeze.

FINE Gael has called for the immediate removal of “offensive and inappropriate posters” which form part of a state-sponsored campaign to combat ageism.

Thousands of Bhutanese are voting today to elect a National Council, the final stage before democratic elections that will end nearly 100 years of absolute monarchy in the secluded Himalayan country.

ZIMBABWE’S main opposition party said last night that talks with President Robert Mugabe’s government on a constitution were in a deadlock.

Dublin mid-west TD Paul Gogarty today put himself forward for chairman of the Green Party.

J.J. Killian MD of Flancare Holdings has today been elected as chairman of Irish Small and Medium Enterprise (ISME).

SPENDING one or two years in agricultural college is all very well, but don’t expect it to do anything for your credibility if you ever end up in court over some farming matter, even if you have decades of farming experience.

FARMERS have insisted they be allocated carbon credits for their forestry plantations and for reducing their livestock herds.

NEVER before did those vying for the IFA presidency face such an enormous challenge.

THE Republic of Ireland could be forced to finish their World Cup qualifying campaign in Britain in the event of Brian Kerr’s team finishing second in Group 4 and having to take part in a two-leg play-off game.

A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up at a Shi-ite mosque during a funeral in Mosul yesterday, killing at least 30 people.

FAI officials are adamant the Genesis report will be fully implemented, in spite of the resignation of chief executive Fran Rooney.

The negotiator for the militant Shiite stronghold of Fallujah was freed from US custody today but refused to resume peace talks.

IRAQ’S interim prime minister yesterday threatened military action against the main insurgent stronghold of Fallujah if residents don’t hand over Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Negotiators have hammered out the basis for an agreement to end fighting with followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said today

The FAI has elected Michael Cody as the organisation's new honorary secretary to succeed Kevin Fahy, recently ousted from the post.

One person was injured when mortar rounds hit a checkpoint near the Baghdad convention centre where delegates to Iraq’s new National Council met for the first time today inside the heavily guarded Green Zone.

Delegates began voting today for members of the new Iraqi National Council but said they would not send another delegation to the holy city of Najaf after a failed mission to end nearly two weeks of fighting there between US forces and Shiite militants.

FAI president Milo Corcoran has succeeded in removing Kevin Fahy from his position as honorary Treasurer.

HEAVIER work loads for IFA county chairpersons have been rejected in early reaction to proposals for restructuring the main farmers' organisation.

FAI honorary secretary Kevin Fahy last night vowed he will “not be silenced” as his row with the association’s president Milo Corcoran rumbles on.

LIMERICK IFA has asked the association’s National Council to investigate the insurance levy collected on all livestock slaughtered at meat plants.

FULL de-coupling of direct payments from production is in the best interests of Irish agriculture, Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh declared at the Bord Bia national beef and sheep producers conference in Tullamore, County Offaly, yesterday.