There was a heightened security presence at Shannon Airport today, as the US Secretary of State paid a flying visit.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have made a surprise visit to Iraq to show support for the country's new Prime Minister-designate.

ANTI-WAR activists yesterday demanded the Government bring in a blanket ban on CIA and American war planes using Irish airports — in a bid to prevent the torture of foreign prisoners.

The Government today insisted they would take all necessary action if it emerged that US security agencies were carrying prisoners through Ireland.

Anti-war activists today demanded the Government bring in a blanket ban on CIA and American war planes at Irish airports to prevent the torture of foreign prisoners.

A KEY Republican committee chairman put the Bush administration on notice yesterday that his panel would hold hearings into a report that the National Security Agency eavesdropped without warrants on people inside the United States.

Fine Gael MEP Simon Coveney has backed calls for the European Parliament to investigate the controversial US treatment of suspected Islamic militants.

WE didn’t realise it, but there are two comedians in the White House. The other is Laura Bush.

THE appointment of Condoleeza Rice as US secretary of state was a great step forward for women on the political scene.

Several hundred tons of conventional explosives are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that once played a key role in Saddam Hussein’s efforts to build a nuclear bomb, the UN nuclear watchdog said today.

Thousands of anti-war protesters gathered outside a major EU-US summit in Ireland today as the nation launched its largest ever security operation.

US President George Bush was due to hold talks in Ireland today in a bid to repair relations between Washington and the EU, which had been damaged by differences over the war in Iraq.

US President George Bush flew into Ireland tonight amid the biggest security operation in the history of the State.

EVEN the manhole covers on the roads around Shannon Airport are deemed a security risk ahead of the visit by US President George W Bush to Dromoland Castle for the EU-US summit this weekend.

It was the biggest of holiday surprises. The troops were getting irritable, 300 sitting for more than an hour, waiting – for no good reason, it seemed – to get in the chow line at the Bob Hope Dining Hall at Baghdad International Airport, ready for their turkey dinners.

US President George Bush today jumped into an international row over Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s comments that Jews rule the world, condemning them as both “reprehensible” and ”hateful.”

US President George Bush today moved to head off possible tensions in his relationship with key ally Tony Blair, conceding that the United Nations must play a “vital role” in the reconstruction of post-war Iraq.

JUST hours before the attack on Iraq began, the CIA reportedly told US President George Bush that the spy agency believed it had a fix on Saddam Hussein’s location.

THE US and Britain are on the verge of war with Iraq. The pretext for war is to prevent Iraq making “weapons of mass destruction” and to destroy any stocks of such weapons it already possesses.

Russia is unlikely to veto a second UN Security Council resolution that could lead to war with Iraq, a senior US official said today.

President Jacques Chirac said tonight France would oppose any effort to draft a new UN resolution to explicitly authorise war against Iraq at this time.

The leaders of Northern Ireland's power sharing executive are heading to Washington for a series of meetings with senior figures in George W Bush's administration.

US President George W Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleeza Rice, has said the United States will not call a halt to its attacks on Afghanistan for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

US President George W. Bush said he is disturbed that China is helping Iraq build a more sophisticated and effective defence against American and British air patrols.