Two storms which flooded large areas of New Zealand’s North Island in recent weeks may have encouraged dairy product buyers, whose bids moved the GlobalDairyTrade average index up 3.1% at Tuesday’s auctions.

ENGLAND: A Church of England vicar was named ‘funeral celebrant of the year’ at the Good Funeral Awards.

IF you chose your concerts wisely this past Cork jazz weekend, your experience would have belied the negative media previews, which focused on the dilution of jazz in favour of a mélange of soul, rock and pop.

MICHAELLA McCollum-Connolly and Melissa Reid, caught with a total of 11kg of cocaine hidden in their luggage at Lima airport, may have so far underestimated the situation they are in. They could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, and their claims of being forced into the crime will be scrutinised heavily.

Bankrupt US energy giant, Enron, is investigating the reported destruction of documents that allegedly took place at its Houston headquarters after the federal government began investigating the company, a lawyer for the company said.