SHANE BYRNE likes to take on a challenge.

A teenage boy who smeared faeces on a member of staff at a care unit claimed it was Nutella chocolate, Limerick Children’s Court has heard.

Listening to interior designer Deirdre Whelan’s soft Dublin lilt, it’s difficult to believe she spent the first 15 years of her life in Holland.

Colette Sheridan looks at a new art exhibition at the Glucksman at UCC that hopes to cause some rumblings as it explores the relationship between food and feeling

Personalised persents are a big trend for the season of giving. Ruth O’Connor picks some of the best gifts you can add the lucky recipient’s name to, to make it extra special.

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

A Breaking Bad-obsessed sado-masochist strangled a police officer in England, then copied a plot from the hit American drama by dissolving his body in an acid bath, a British court has heard.

IS is using kittens and Nutella to recruit vulnerable wannabe jihadis online.

Google turned to the internet in a bid to get names for its upcoming Android N operating system. Perhaps it was hoping for something as ridiculous and notable as Boaty McBoatface, but the poll hasn’t gotten off to the smoothest of starts.

An Irish man living in London discovered just how convincing he can be when ordering personalised jars of Nutella in Selfridges.

They never thought to stay in Wexford when they drove to the ferry in Rosslare. But for once, Pet O’Connell stopped for a look.

Usually my job involves shuffling around the house in my pyjamas talking to myself, interspersed with the odd burst of writing. Occasionally it involves getting dressed and leaving the house, and rarer than a blood moon eclipse, it requires a trip.

Roz Purcell, Natalie B Coleman, Elaine Crowley, Courtney Smith and Glenda Gilson reveal their favourite restaurants, bars and gyms in Dublin’s city centre.

Nutella is a great foodstuff. It’s near-liquid chocolate that can be eaten with a spoon, spread on bread, or used on pancakes or in baking. It’s also made with some nuts, so we can pretend - much like its advertising - that it’s vaguely healthy somehow.

WE ALL know that when it comes to cultural superiority, France has cornered the market. If any of us remain unconvinced, look no further than books which tell us French Women Don’t Get Fat and French Children Don’t Throw Food.

WHEN is a croissant not a croissant? When it has no butter perhaps? When it has nothing like the short list of ingredients in the traditional croissant — flour, yeast, water, butter, a little sugar and salt, and instead a long list of cheaper non-hydrogenated fats and oils, emulsifiers and acidifiers, dough enhancers and antioxidants.

Ferrero, maker of Nutella, has offered to buy British chocolate firm Thorntons for £112m (€155m), marking a rare acquisition by the Italian group.

The world’s richest confectionery maker Michele Ferrero, famed for Nutella, died on Valentine’s Day. The 89-year-old, who had been ill for several months, died yesterday in Monte Carlo where he lived, surrounded by his family, his company said in a statement.

The world’s richest confectionery maker Michele Ferrero, famed for Nutella and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, died on Valentine’s Day.

SOUTH KOREA: For more than 30 years, chef and restaurant owner Oh Keum-il built her expertise in cooking one traditional South Korean delicacy: dog meat. But the 58-year-old’s experience with a food eaten for centuries is about to become history.

Nooooooooo!!!!

Thinking of investing in some works? Here are some useful tips, writes Kya deLongchamps.

FRANCE is the most visited country on earth — 80-something million of us go there each year. So there’s no point going on about it, because you’ll already know all about the French joie de vivre, savoir vivre, savoir faire, sang froid, maybe even the hauteur or froideur if you commit a faux pas like turning up topless to the village post office to buy stamps, having walked a mile along a Cote d’Azur beach in 35 degree heat.

World Nutella Day has been saved after Ferrero dropped a Cease and Desist complaint.

IF you ever want to feel old, fat and naff, go to the South of France.

IF you watched Vincent Browne’s interview with Sean Quinn last week, you’ll know that he is not a delusional capitalist gambler, but a victim: a victim of the Anglo collapse, of a government searching for baddies, and of the smug Dublin 4 media, which enjoys stamping on the pain of others.

Interiors go topsy-turvy when little ones come along, but as Kya deLongchamps reveals, a space for all can be found

MY CAR is parked, hazards on, up on the kerb in Cork.

ANGRY mobs attacked Western embassies and UN offices in Tripoli after NATO bombed Muammar Gaddafi’s family compound, reportedly killing the leader’s second-youngest son and three grandchildren.

EUROPE got it right on all counts with its decisions on anti-obesity health promotional food labelling, according to one leading food industry figure.

Prospects of a bid battle for Cadbury were dampened today after reports suggested Italian chocolate group Ferrero had abandoned plans to rival Kraft’s £10.5bn (€11.7bn) offer.

Italian chocolate group Ferrero is still considering joining the bid battle for Dairy Milk maker Cadbury, according to reports.

A commercial for Nutella broke advertising rules by overplaying the nutritional value of the high fat, high sugar spread, the UK advertising watchdog ruled today.

An investigation has been launched into a Nutella advert which claims the chocolate spread is part of a balanced breakfast for children.

SHOPPING sensibly for a week’s groceries for a family of four is one thing. Shopping sensibly for that family on a ripcord tight budget is quite another. Stressful would be a good word.