The shape of a deal to avert the US "fiscal cliff" is emerging with just hours to go before a midnight deadline, Washington sources have said.

The White House and US Senate Republicans sorted through disputes over taxing the wealthy and cutting the Defence Department and other federal agencies as tonight’s midnight deadline for avoiding a “fiscal cliff” drew to within hours.

PRISON chaplains have called for the creation of smaller, community-based prisons throughout the country to allow a more “humane” regime for prisoners and their families.

A NEW €226 million container terminal in Co Cork could affect the economic viability of ports in Waterford and Dublin, and result in traffic gridlock and more deaths on the roads.

EVEN Kris Boyd could not see Rangers safely through to the last four of the Scottish Cup as Partick Thistle earned a well-deserved draw at Ibrox last night.

IRELAND’S burgeoning eastern European population is helping to maintain the tradition of Lent as a time of increased prayer and attendance at religious services.

PADDED cells are being used to punish prisoners despite a rule that they should be restricted to inmates at highest risk of self-harm, according to chaplains working in jails.

A fresco in a Romanian Orthodox Church depicts Osama bin Laden as satan riding on an aeroplane to hell, a newspaper reported today.

Two detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base who revived a hunger strike are still refusing meals and will be fed intravenously if they do not eat by tomorrow, US military officials said.

The captain of HMS Illustrious said today he would write to relatives of the crew to allay fears that they may form part of an attack on Osama bin Laden or the Taliban regime.

A 27-year-old man stabbed his pregnant wife to death and then drove 10 miles and killed four more relatives before fleeing with his three-year-old son.