Rome calling

Operating profits at the Chinese-owned firm that operates the luxury Fota Island Resort in Cork fell last year by 37% to €232,845.

WE CAN relax at last and know that spring is really here because Ellen Kent Opera arrives in Cork today with two spectacular performances at Cork Opera House — Die Fledermaus tonight, and Carmen tomorrow.

Belgian prosecutors have launched a public appeal seeking any information on the “man in hat” suspect in the Brussels Airport suicide bombings.

Belgian prosecutors have released new footage of the key surviving Brussels Airport attacks suspect, showing the route he took after leaving the area.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has become the first US hotel company to sign a deal with Cuba since the 1959 revolution, coming as a result of President Obama’s historic visit to the country earlier this week.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide yesterday agreed to a higher $13.6bn (€12bn) offer from Marriott International, a proposal that trumped a bid by China’s Anbang Insurance.

US hotel operator Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide yesterday received a higher buyout offer from a consortium led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group that could derail Marriott International’s planned takeover of Starwood.

Marriott International will buy Sheraton owner Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in a $12.2bn (€11.4bn) deal to create the world’s largest hotel chain.

The Chinese-owned firm that operates the luxury Fota Island Resort hotel in Cork recorded pre-tax profits of just over €113,000 in its first year in business.

Des O’Sullivan finds considerable variety on display at Woodwards upcoming event.

This early Irish Georgian dining table is at Lynes and Lynes in Carrigtwohill on July 26. Also up for sale is a copy of ‘The Music of Freedom’ by patriot Terence MacSwiney.

All schools and government offices in Nigeria’s capital will close during a three-day international conference next week, according to a presidential order that follows two bomb attacks in three weeks that killed nearly 100 people in Abuja.

IF you watch the Antiques Road Show on BBC1, you will be familiar with that suspense-soaked pause before the expert examining a piece breathily declares it to be — genuine.

Opera buffs should be well pleased this week with Ellen Kent’s Opera & Ballet International staging two legendary Verdi productions plus a Puccini from the Chisinau in Moldova.

WOMEN have long had to depend on their looks and inner resources to get by.

Antique Cork furniture on offer at Woodward’s on Sept 25 at 6pm includes a set of six Cork 11-bar dining chairs and a Georgian longcase clock by George Aickin.

IF you stuff most contemporary homes to the PVC gutters with period antiques, or insist on nothing but fine reproductions, drowning a brand new semi-d in scar-tissue reds and sombre library greens, the Keeping Up Appearances finish is just about odds-on.

The O’Sullivan family that owns the four-star 153-bed Galway Bay Hotel shared a dividend of €4.5m last year, new figures show.

AS developer Bernard McNamara’s misguided Burlington hotel purchase is put back for sale at a quarter the price he paid for it only five years ago, one of his other hotels is close to a sale via a receiver.

TDs pored over and passed around the glossy fold-out maps of the redrawn boundaries like pre-internet era schoolboys used to do with soft porn pictures as they pointed excitedly at the enticing and exotic curves of the new constituencies.

Six Irish officials are reported to be traveling to a conference in Brazil with the Environment Minister Phil Hogan costing the taxpayer more than €10,000.

If, as the property gurus would have us believe, it’s all about location, location, location, then Ireland can already claim victory in the European Championships.

Giovanni Trapattoni will not be imposing a Twitter ban on the Irish players during their stay at the European Championships.

US billionaire Sheldon Adelson said yesterday he plans to spend $35 billion (€26.3bn) on a mini-Las Vegas strip in Spain where he is courting the country’s two top urban areas, Barcelona and Madrid, with plans for a casino complex.

Creative food entrepreneurs can avail of expert industry advice and a €5,000 feasibility grant by applying for the new Food Works initiative launched yesterday by Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc.

World No 1 hotelier InterContinental Hotels is looking to emerging markets and especially China to drive growth after a recovery in the United States and a string of new Chinese hotel openings helped push 2011 profits up 26%.

WHEN TMZ’s Peter O’Riordan was first beamed onto TV screens last August, eyes widened and ears perked, around homes in the US as curious fans took to the internet to question the identity of the new “hot Irish guy”.

A RADICAL Muslim sect responsible for attacks that left more than 100 people dead in north-east Nigeria at the weekend could bomb three luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in oil-rich nation’s capital, the US Embassy warned yesterday.

DESPITE consumer spending concerns, top-end Irish hotels are still busy with bookings and are defying the recession with innovative offers and ways to cut costs.

STARWOOD, the owners of the luxury Sheraton brand, and the Fota Island Corporation have agreed to go their separate ways from next month.

WOKE up dis mawnin’… Or, rather, by the time you read this, yesterday morning, but why mess with the opening line of every self-respecting blues lament ever written? Anyway, waking up, whatever de mawnin’, is always an encouraging start to the day, I find.

LEE Travel has teamed up with UK-based agency Enjoy Travel to present Craic on the Cruise, Ireland’s only Floating Fleadh!

UP to 250 jobs will be created in Athlone with the development of the 12-storey Sheraton Athlone Hotel, which opens in April next year.

History oozes from an unusual home, Tommy Barker reports

Paul Casey has set his sights on securing the first Major title of his career at the Masters in April, after capturing the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

Padraig Harrington took advantage of a nervy start to the third round by overnight leader Phillip Price to move to the top of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship leaderboard today.

Padraig Harrington made a superb start to the second round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship as he displaced overnight leader Phillip Archer at the top of the early leaderboard at 10 under par.

Retief Goosen lived up to his billing as the tournament favourite by making a good start to his Abu Dhabi Golf Championship campaign but he was upstaged by Englishman Philip Archer who topped the leaderboard after completing his round.

Paul Casey is determined to make up for the disappointment of missing out on the European Tour Order of Merit last year by getting 2007 off to a successful start at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

Traders were still in the festive spirit today as drinks firms helped boost stocks during an upbeat return following the Christmas break.

The FTSE 100 Index added almost 1% during a buoyant return from the Christmas holiday today.

ALMOST 100 jobs are to be lost at Couristan carpets in east Cork after the company announced it was bringing carpet manufacturing in Youghal to an end for the first time since 1954.

THE Sheraton Fota Island Golf Resort and Spa is hosting over 500 people to a private party to celebrate the opening of the resort hotel on Friday.