Noel Mooney has revealed he is open to Niall Quinn being part of the FAI’s ‘rebirth’ but admits tensions with the Government will not ease until he departs.

Two members of An Garda Síochána have been honoured by Spanish police for their work relating to investigations associated with organised crime.

Latest: A Garda Inspector arrested as part of an investigation into suspected corruption in the force has been released without charge.

A series of raids have been carried out in west Dublin today as part of a major insurance fraud crackdown.

Arsenal will play their second leg at the Emirates on a Wednesday at 5pm.

Latest: A 24-year-old man arrested in connection with the discovery of heroin in Dublin has been released from questioning.

Gardaí in Dublin have arrested four members of an organised crime gang for conspiracy to murder.

World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan will kick off his bid for a fourth World Snooker Championship crown with a first-round tie against Stuart Bingham.

Thirteen-year-old identical twins Lisa and Leona Maguire have been named in the Great Britain and Ireland senior squad for the Vagliano Trophy against the Continent of Europe in Hamburg next July.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin today accused the US of starting the fighting in Georgia.

Russia’s hopes of international support over Georgia were dealt a blow today when an Asian security alliance denounced the use of force and called for respect for every country’s territorial integrity.

China and other members of an Asian security group were today being asked to sign a declaration of support today for Russia’s role in the Georgia conflict.

Portstewart's Paul Cutler will face Johann López Lázaro of France in the quarter-finals of the Spanish Amateur Championship in Girona tomorrow.

THE curtain comes down on a successful IRB under 19 World Championship in Belfast today, with the host nation bidding to finish on a positive note when they face Scotland in the 9th Place Play-Off Final at Ravenhill (3pm).

Luke Donald may have to wait only until this Friday rather than next week’s Ryder Cup for the chance of some revenge over Tiger Woods.

Ryder Cup teammates David Howell and Colin Montgomerie will meet in the first round of the HSBC World Match Play championship at Wentworth on Thursday, it was confirmed today.

Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald and Colin Montgomerie have all qualified for the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in three weeks’ time.

Sergio Garcia has qualified for the HSBC world match play championship at Wentworth in three weeks – but Luke Donald and Colin Montgomerie need there to be more withdrawals if they are to play.

Chelsea will remain among the second seeds for the Champions League next season despite the almost-certain exclusion of Juventus and AC Milan from the competition.

Carlow’s Tara Delaney sets out to capture an unprecedented third consecutive title at the Irish Open Strokeplay Championship in Rosses Point this weekend.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today called the stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear activities an unwarranted “Western outcry” and vowed not to surrender his country’s nuclear programme.

World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan will be looking to better last year’s quarter-final exit by opening up with a 888.com World Championship victory against Stoke’s Dave Harold, his opponent still going strong at a sprightly 40 years of age.

Nearly 9,000 Russian and Chinese troops began a mock assault on the beaches of northern China today for the final stage of unprecedented joint war games between the two former Cold War rivals.

LIVERPOOL and Manchester United may have to beat Spanish or Italian opposition to qualify for the lucrative group stages of the Champions League.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are guaranteed to avoid the most powerful sides in Europe should they all reach the group stage of the Champions League.

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN faces the toughest possible start to his defence of the Embassy world title next month.

Celtic have been handed a tough clash with Spanish giants Barcelona in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup.

Computer security experts warned today of a new worm known as Doomjuice that is expected to attack computers infected by Mydoom.

The MyDoom Internet worm claimed its first scalp yesterday, paralysing the Web site of American software firm SCO Group with a massive data blitz.

MYDOOM, the latest worm to infect computers over the internet, has become the fastest-spreading attack since last summer’s twin attacks by the Blaster worm and SoBig virus, computer security experts said yesterday.

A malicious program attached to seemingly innocuous e-mails was spreading quickly over the Internet, clogging network traffic and potentially leaving hackers an open door to infected personal computers.

European Hockey results

Ken Doherty will go into action at the 2003 Embassy World Championship later today two frames behind Graeme Dott.

FORMER champion John Higgins recovered from a poor start to clinch a commanding lead over Ian McCulloch at the Crucible.

World Match Play Championship latest:

Today’s order of play in the Embassy World Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield (prefix denotes seeding):

Semi-final scores: (2) J Higgins leads (6) M Stevens 5-3.

Today's order of play

Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins can both move a stage closer today to proving right the Glasgow nightclub fortune teller who predicted they would meet in this year’s Embassy World Championship final.

Embassy World snooker championship quarter-finals: P Wallace (NIrl) leads (16) J Swail (NIrl) 6-2. Frame scores (Wallace first): 86-21 68-9 15-70 70-8 19-90 68-4 77-6 64-8.

Second round play resumes today in the Embassy Snooker World Championships in Sheffield today.

Embassy World Championship, The Crucible, Sheffield

Today’s order of play in the Embassy World Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield (prefix denotes seeding).