Waterford, its residents, and visitors may today be thankful for the bank holiday as they recover from three days of partying at the annual Spraoi festival.

A new movie on The Damned forms part of a season of punk films in Cork. Ellie O’Byrne speaks to the director and hears about the movement on Leeside

The fast-growing Irish packets and parcels market is currently worth up to €520m, and the average small business spends €11,000 a year sending items by post and courier, a survey by the Commission for Communication Regulation.

FedEx said yesterday that it would buy Dutch package delivery firm TNT Express for €4.4bn, aiming to take on bigger rivals United Parcel Service (UPS) and Deutsche Post in Europe.

Parcels delivery firm TNT Express is set for a takeover by rival FedEx after the Dutch firm backed an offer worth €4.4bn.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has ruled out a deal on Cork Airport’s debt despite the impending loss of another service.

Floyd Mayweather has denied claims a mega showdown with Manny Pacquiao has been finalised but hopes the fight can come to fruition.

Online retail giant Amazon’s delivery service will more than halve the growth potential for Royal Mail’s parcels business, the former state-owned British company said yesterday, sending its shares lower.

Britain's Royal Mail posted a drop in half-year profits today after its parcels arm was squeezed by Amazon’s drive to deliver more of its own business.

Time Warner yesterday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and boosted its stock buyback programme but the news failed to prevent its shares from tumbling 11% a day after Rupert Murdoch withdrew his bid for the company.

Royal Mail has warned of a threat to the universal postal service because rivals can “cherry-pick” easy-to-serve urban areas.

Because we need to obsess over it a little more while we can.

Royal Mail, the UK’s 360-year- old postal service, intends to hold an initial public offering of a majority stake “in the coming weeks” to help it gain a competitive edge against European rivals.

Lee Thompson Young, who began his acting career as the teenage star of the Disney Channel's 'The Famous Jett Jackson' and was featured in the film 'Friday Night Lights' and the series 'Rizzoli & Isles', has been found dead, police said. He was 29.

The UK government said it will sell a majority stake in 360-year-old Royal Mail via an initial public offering by the end of March.

The season-ending episode of Downton Abbey was a ratings success in the US, if not a fan favourite.

A proposed takeover deal between delivery firms United Parcel Service (UPS) and TNT Express collapsed today.

J.R Ewing will get a send-off with a proper funeral on "Dallas."

Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of international courier firm TNT Express last year dropped by 36% to €2.6m.

United Parcel Service said today it had agreed to buy TNT Express, Europe’s second-largest express delivery company, for nearly £4.3bn.

JR EWING has returned to Dallas after 20 years.

Actor Larry Hagman said today he had been diagnosed with cancer.

EMERGENCY food centres in drought-stricken eastern Africa are overwhelmed by thousands of starving people every day and mothers are forced to abandon their dead or dying children by the roadside, aid officials said.

A remake of 80s TV show ‘Dallas’ has been given the go-ahead.

THE Irish arm of international courier firm TNT Express said yesterday that it will be very, very difficult to maintain the performance of recent years as the challenging work environment in Ireland is almost like no other in the present day.

The 1980s US soap 'Dallas' is to be resurrected 20 years after the original ended and about 30 years after its heyday by US network TNT.

Suspected Greek terrorists unleashed an unprecedented two-day wave of mail bomb attacks in Athens and abroad, with one package reaching the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The darkly intimate 1960s-era drama 'Mad Men' and the comedy romp 'Modern Family' were the big winners at the Emmy Awards as American life past and present proved a winning formula.

National strikes by British postal workers will go ahead tomorrow and Friday after hopes of reaching a last minute deal collapsed.

Big Audio is bound for the July meeting at Newmarket after opening his account in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot.

CHARLIE SHEEN’s role as a wealthy, womanising bachelor on the top-rated sitcom Two and a Half Men has made him the highest paid TV actor this year with earnings of $825,000 (€533,000) per episode, including money from his ownership rights in the show.

'Star Wars' creator George Lucas has thrilled fans by announcing his upcoming spin-off TV series 'Clone Wars' will be preceded by a feature-length pilot movie to be released in cinemas.

The audience of a gadget show in the US burst into laughter when they watched Microsoft chairman Bill Gates take a starring role in his self-deprecating farewell video.

THE road-trip drama Into the Wild received a leading four Screen Actors’ Guild Awards nominations yesterday, including honours for lead actor Emile Hirsch and supporting players Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener.

CONSERVATIVES yesterday accused Alistair Darling of failing to tell “the whole truth” about the loss of confidential child benefit data, and demanded an emergency statement from the Chancellor.

A multi-million euro business park next to Belfast International Airport was launched today.

A CORONER warned people yesterday about the dangers of wearing dark clothing while walking in the dark on country roads.

Royal Mail today vowed to “fight for every letter” following the New Year’s Day postal revolution in which it will lose its 350-year monopoly on deliveries.

A bid approach for Exel and positive results from drinks giant Diageo helped the FTSE 100 Index post strong gains for a third session in a row today.

Telecoms firm BT tonight moved a step closer towards the purchase of a wireless data company, it announced.

BEYONCÉ danced provocatively in a deep V-neck halter dress at half-time of the National Basketball Association All-Star game in Los Angeles, two weeks after Janet Jackson’s breast-baring Super Bowl performance.

Beyonce danced provocatively in a deep V-neck halter dress at halftime of the National Basketball Association All-Star game in Los Angeles, two weeks after Janet Jackson’s breast-baring Super Bowl performance.

Pop star Justin Timberlake is going from centre stage to the sidelines as a special correspondent for a US TV channel.