Emergency services in Ireland and elsewhere could turn to Facebook and other social media to tackle natural and manmade disasters.

A Syrian living in Clonakilty, and two volunteers, tell Louise McCarthy of their fears for the war-torn state

Police in Italy have issued 17 arrest warrants for Iraqi Kurds on terrorism-related charges in a Europe-wide blitz.

An 18-month-old child has been killed after suspected Jewish assailants attacked a Palestinian village in the West Bank and threw fire bombs inside two homes.

PSYCHOLOGISTS say we don’t like food on a plate that points towards us, no matter how beautifully it is presented. According to new research, anything pointy — a young carrot, perhaps — should be at a 45-degree angle from the diner.

ENGLAND: Boris Johnson has insisted his sex appeal will not prove pivotal in swinging the election in the Tories’ favour.

Police and the FBI are trying to determine whether the killing of three Muslims during a neighbourhood parking and noise dispute was a hate crime.

Check out our spolier-free guide to what to watch on TV tonight.

As the sacred month of Ramadan begins, Louise Roseingrave speaks to a Muslim doctor who is diabetic and also being treated for cancer about the challenges fasting poses for the sick

An express train slammed into a parked freight train in northern India, killing at least 40 people and reducing cars to a heap of torn and twisted metal, officials said.

US secretary of state John Kerry said yesterday that the evidence of a massive deadly chemical attack last week was “undeniable” and accused the Syrian government of trying to cover it up, signalling the United States was edging closer to a possible military response.

Unregulated death traps or handy urban transport? Claire Droney hears from both sides.

MID-December and Christmas mania is in full swing.

A woman suicide bomber detonated her explosives near the convoy of a former leader of Pakistan’s largest Islamist party, a government official said today.

Radical cleric Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects have been extradited to the United States.

The UK's Home Office said today that radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects would be extradited to the US “as quickly as possible” after High Court judges threw out their last-ditch pleas against removal from the UK.

Radical cleric Abu Hamza, who held sermons in and around Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, has launched a last-minute High Court bid to avoid extradition to the United States, it has been confirmed.

Radical cleric Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects could be put on a plane to the United States within days after Europe’s human rights judges rejected their bid for an appeal.

Radical cleric Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects could be put on a plane to the United States within days after Europe’s human rights judges rejected their bid for an appeal.

Para-equestrian riders had to dip into their own pockets, after expected funding for the Paralympics did not materialise, according to their chef d’equipe.

Overcrowded hospitals in northwest Iran struggled to cope with earthquake victims yesterday as rescuers raced to reach remote villages after two quakes killed nearly 300 people and injured about 5,000.

China made badminton headlines for the right reasons as Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei produced a world-class performance to claim Olympic gold at Wembley Arena.

Fourteen members of a family returning from a wedding were burned to death when the minivan they were travelling in caught fire in northern India, police said. The dead include 10 children.

Five terrorist suspects including radical preacher Abu Hamza can be extradited from the UK to America for trial, human rights judges ruled today.

A LONDON management consultant was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of making about £500,000 (€586,146) using confidential tips from a hedge-fund trader.

Clashes between Syrian troops and army defectors in the country’s north west killed four people today, while gunmen shot dead a political activist in the latest in a wave of targeted killings in a rebellious central city, activists said.

A MAN arrested after his brother-in-law’s severed thumb fell from the sky has been jailed for 30 years for his murder.

A 110-year-old Malaysian man has reportedly found an 82-year-old bride.

A Florida pastor said today his church will never burn a Koran, even if a mosque is built near Ground Zero.

Afghan and international forces have killed about 40 Taliban fighters east of the Afghan capital Kabul as part of operations to provide security ahead of parliamentary elections next month, Nato said today.

FOUR British riot squad officers have been charged with beating up a Briton now awaiting extradition to the United States to face terrorism charges when they arrested him, prosecutors said yesterday.

Two Muslim extremists wanted to kills thousands of innocent people in a massive explosion New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, a court heard today.

Authorities arrested six suspected Taliban militants with a suicide vest and hand grenades allegedly on their way to attack a five-star hotel and kill Americans in Pakistan's cultural capital, said police.

Today’s suicide car bomb explosion in the Afghan capital Kabul killed four civilians and wounded 91 Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry spokesman said.

Thousands of angry villagers who have laid siege to a group of Taliban gunmen in Pakistan were today backed up by army helicopter gunships.

Two French humanitarian aid workers kidnapped at gunpoint last month have been released, aid group Action Against Hunger said today.

OFFICIALS in Indian-Kashmir have poisoned hundreds of dogs and aim to kill all 100,000 strays in the region's main city — saying the animals pose a risk to humans and make urban life unbearable.

The trial of a former US Navy sailor accused of communicating with suspected terrorists and leaking information to UK supporters will begin today.

The deputy governor of Helmand province and five other people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in southern Afghanistan today, officials said.

Pakistan’s military leader ran up a huge majority in a presidential election largely snubbed by his opponents today.

Management at the Walkinstown branch of Domino’s Pizza told workers that they “would not be able to come back” if they joined a Tallaght workers in a protest over pay, according to a spokesman for the delivery persons’ strike.

Militants shot dead a local police chief and five other officers in an ambush on a desert road in western Afghanistan today.