CHINA: A salad store paraded dozens of half-naked Western men dressed as Spartans through China’s capital as a publicity stunt, causing a stir and drawing a crackdown by police who were photographed restraining some models the ground.

The number of people killed in workplace accidents rose again last year, with the number of fatalities in the farm sector soaring by 87%.

The drowning of three brothers who were fishing off Co Waterford has prompted one of the world’s top endurance swimmers to undertake a non-stop swim from Ireland to Wales to raise funds for the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

The Duke of Kent will make a three-day visit to Ireland next week, only the second formal trip by a member of the British royal family here since Queen Elizabeth’s two years ago.

The man being held by British police searching for missing five-year-old April Jones is now being questioned about her murder, it was announced today.

Children can suggest names for one of the first new style of lifeboats being used by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

HE’S more Heaven than Hell’s Angel but a Donegal priest did his bit for bikers across Ireland.

“I DON’T plan to do it again,” skipper and owner of the Rambler 100, George David, 69, said, just hours after he was plucked from the dark stormy waters off the Fastnet Rock.

PRINCE William and bride-to-be Kate Middleton performed their first official engagement as a couple yesterday, giving them an early taste of the life in the spotlight that awaits them.

RAMPANT erosion along several areas of Kerry’s coastline is set to continue unchecked in 2011 as the council has said it will spend no further money on such work until it receives €3 million it is owed by state agencies for work already carried out.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution received 450 call-outs during the summer months.

I SUPPORT of the suggestion by Nora Comiskey (Letters, June 14) to rename Dublin Airport after Tom Clarke to coincide with the Easter Rising centenary.

THE Government has been accused of putting lives at risk over plans to reduce the Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter service in the south-east.

THERE are few enough constants in our ever evolving world but the courage and dedication of the lifeboat crews all around our coast is one.

More than 1,000 people were rescued by Irish lifeboats last year, it was revealed today.

Lifeboats were scrambled after thousands of Tamil protesters calling for international action to enforce a ceasefire in Sri Lanka threatened to throw themselves into the River Thames.

A “HOLLYWOOD moment” when a lifeboat crew saved three fishermen seconds before their vessel sunk was among more than 800 incidents involving sea rescues in Ireland last year.

A FLEET of small boats battled gales and high swells yesterday to cross the English channel to raise money for the lifeboats.

TWO families who lost loved ones in one of the country’s worst trawler tragedies issued an emotional “thank you” last night for the support they have received.

The Irish Coast Guard helped more than 1,785 people last summer as hot weather saw thousands take to the sea and inland waterways.

A lifeboat crew had to mount an emergency operation after a groom suffered an unfortunate zipper accident on a remote Irish island.

DINGLE woman Nuala Moore is among six people who have started training for an 800-mile round-Ireland swim in the summer of next year.

A three masted tall ship avoided serious damage today when it struck one of the buttresses of Tower Bridge on the River Thames in London.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of a seven-year-old boy missing for two days were today following up several potential sightings of the youngster on the day he went missing.

A number of lifeboat crew members in a Co Down seaside town have returned to duty following a bitter internal dispute, it emerged today.

Lifeboat services have been withdrawn from a seaside town in Co Down after more than half its staff quit in a bitter internal dispute, it emerged today.

when her boat was broken up by a freak ebb tide and she was sucked beneath a car ferry.