The country’s seafood industry will have much to celebrate and many challenges to ponder in Galway this coming weekend when Bord Iascaigh Mhara holds its second maritime festival.

A campaign group on issues affecting older people has announced it will close at the end of June when its grant funding runs out.

Nasa’s Opportunity rolled off its lander and on to the rusty soil of Mars early today, a week after the six-wheeled rover arrived on the Red Planet – and just hours after confirmation of its first major geologic discovery.

THE Mars rover Opportunity appears to have landed in a small crater, the US space agency said after looking at pictures the vehicle has returned.

NASA'S Opportunity rover zipped its first pictures of Mars to Earth early yesterday, delighting and puzzling scientists just hours after the spacecraft bounced to a landing on the opposite side of the red planet from its twin rover, Spirit.