Heavy rain has pounded the central Sri Lankan region where at least three villages have been swallowed up by mountains of mud, forcing soldiers and police to suspend rescue efforts.

One of Britain’s highest ranking Royal Marines has branded the cold-blooded execution of an injured Afghan insurgent as “truly shocking and appalling”.

Solo

WHEN Mark Thatcher went missing in the Sahara while taking part in an international motor race in Jan 1982, his ashen-faced mother, upset and distressed, appeared on television close to breaking down.

The lead detective in the investigation of Oscar Pistorius over the alleged murder of his girlfriend has been dropped from the case after it emerged he is due to appear in court himself.

Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius arrived at a court in South Africa today, charged with murdering his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria.

The lawyer for Oscar Pistorius has said the athlete is "doing fine" after he was charged with murder in South Africa.

Oscar Pistorius’ first appearance before a Pretoria court on a murder charge has been delayed until 7am Irish time tomorrow, local police have said.

Oscar Pistorius will appear in a Pretoria court this afternoon after South African police opened a murder case against the Paralympic athlete.

Striking miners killed one man by setting him on fire, South African police say.

A British commander has warned against international forces “rushing for the exit” in Afghanistan.

She was a national hero, an accomplished soldier, and champion parachutist, but bigotry and sexism have meant Khatool Mohammadzai has been forced on to the margins, write Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau

THREE weeks today, we will elect Ireland’s ninth president.

Four people were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a police building in southern Iraq.

Muammar Gaddafi has called Nato to decalre a ceasefire in Libya, in a rambling speech which lasted more than an hour and was broadcast on television.

At least 57 people have died in fighting between government forces and a rebel militia, according to a Southern Sudanese official.

FANCY a bargain?

A wealthy businessman accused of paying for the murder of his wife on honeymoon committed an “unforgivable” crime if the allegation is true, his sister-in-law has said.

IT has always been “no, nay never” for Paisley to a united Ireland under Irish rule, but apparently Big Ian’s Majesty is more reluctant to share her thoughts on a reunion under her reign.

Socialite Paris Hilton took some of the spotlight away from the World Cup after she was questioned on suspicion of possession of marijuana, then had the case dropped at a midnight court hearing.

Paris Hilton was detained in the South African city of Port Elizabeth today for possession of marijuana, two police officers said.

THE case against the England fan who berated the players after wandering into the team’s dressing room after Friday’s World Cup match with Algeria was adjourned yesterday.

The case against the England fan who berated the players after wandering into the team’s dressing room after the Algeria match was adjourned today.

THE fan who walked into England’s dressing room and ranted at the dejected players was charged with trespassing yesterday and banned from World Cup matches.

Fourteen civilians killed on Bloody Sunday died as a result of "unjustifiable firing" by British soldiers, the long-awaited Saville Inquiry found today.

Israel and Egypt signalled a temporary easing of the Gaza Strip blockade today after widespread international condemnation of the deadly Israeli raid on an aid flotilla en route to the sealed-off Palestinian territory.

Hundreds of Sri Lankan troops surrounded the hotel where the opposition candidate was holed up today as early returns from the nation’s hard-fought presidential election gave the incumbent a comfortable lead.

A bitterly-fought British military operation in southern Afghanistan has ended in success with the Taliban being driven out of a former stronghold, senior officials said today.

SRI LANKA has for the first time made public its heavy casualties from the last phase of the 25-year war.

Aid groups pushed for access to Sri Lanka's former battlefield today to check on the fate of any wounded civilians stranded there, as the country celebrated a holiday to honour the military's victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger leaders remained at large today after the president declared victory in his nation’s quarter-century civil war with the rebels.

Sri Lanka’s military said today it had taken control of the island’s entire coastline and cut off any sea escape for Tamil Tiger leaders trapped in a tiny slice of remaining rebel territory.

SRI LANKAN troops advanced on the Tamil Tigers yesterday and 5,000 civilians fled the shrinking war zone, signalling an end to Asia’s longest modern war.

Hundreds who fled heavy fighting in Sri Lanka’s war zone waited to be evacuated from a tiny coastal village today as the UN reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the last three months.

Sri Lankan troops closed in on separatist rebels in an ever-shrinking coastal war zone, as two prominent guerrillas surrendered and tens of thousands of refugees clutching their belongings fled the fighting in boats.

The Sri Lankan military said soldiers have killed 35 Tamil rebels in the latest fighting inside the ever-shrinking sliver of rebel territory in the war-torn north.

Around 1,400 people in Dublin signed books of condolence after two soldiers were shot dead in the North, it was revealed today.

The Sri Lankan military said government troops have killed 93 Tamil Tiger rebels in fierce fighting in the war-ravaged northern region.

A suspected rebel suicide blast near a mosque in southern Sri Lanka killed 10 people and wounded three government ministers.

The North's most senior soldier paid tribute today to the two “magnificent” servicemen shot dead by Real IRA gunmen outside an Army barracks.

Political leaders were united today in demanding the capture of the Real IRA gunmen who shot dead two British soldiers outside an army barracks.

Hundreds of sick and wounded people are stranded in a makeshift hospital in war-wracked northern Sri Lanka, the Red Cross said today as it urged the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to let the patients out of the conflict zone.

SRI Lanka’s prime minister yesterday rejected calls for a ceasefire from donor countries concerned by reports of growing civilian casualties in the South Asian nation’s civil war and instead demanded the Tamil Tiger rebels’ unconditional surrender.