The Kremlin gave gifts to heads of state at a G20 meeting in St Petersburg that were actually bugging devices, it has been reported.

The arrival of Barack Obama and the G8 world leaders to Enniskillen is threatening to rob Fermanagh of a home tie in the Ulster SFC.

The European Central Bank looks unlikely to make an announcement on the restructuring of the Anglo promissory note today, as had been hoped.

Amnesty International is today urging the Government to address discrimination faced by Travellers issues during its term as President of the European Council.

Ireland won a small victory in its fight to retain as much as possible of it’s €1.6 billion a year from the EU’s common agriculture fund as negotiations on the Union’s seven-year €1 trillion budget got underway.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has today signed the EU fiscal compact in Brussels.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny is meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel amid claims by a British MEP that the eurozone crisis has produced a "German-dominated Europe".

The President of the European Council is in Dublin today for talks with Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

THE German food scare has cost Continental farmers more than €300m per week, according to fresh produce industry estimates.

Chambers Ireland has today called for the abolition of Employment Regulation Orders (ERO) and Registered Employment Agreements (REA) in its submission to the Independent Review of ERO and REA wage-setting mechanisms.

LEINSTER Council Chairman Sheamus Howlin is set to be the fourth candidate to challenge for the post of GAA President at next April’s Congress in Mullingar.

Two police officers were slightly injured in an explosion in the centre of Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, today ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Meath are set to begin their defence of the Leinster SFC crown with a Quarter-final against Kildare or Wicklow, it has been announced.

The draws for the 2011 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship took place tonight at Croke Park, with reigning champions Kilkenny getting a bye into the semi-finals.

MUNSTER COUNCIL chiefs have agreed to play Saturday’s provincial semi-final replay between Cork and Kerry at an earlier time of 5pm to secure live television coverage.

GAA disciplinary chiefs look set to take a hard line stance in the wake of Sunday’s ill-tempered Ulster SFC quarter-final between Derry and Monaghan.

HANDS off the Munster Hurling Championship: that was the message provincial chairman Jimmy O’Gorman sent out loud and clear from his home town yesterday at the launch of the Munster Championships in Lismore Castle.

Johnny Murtagh is poised to ride Duke Of Marmalade rather than stablemate Henrythenavigator in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Saturday week.

MUNSTER GAA and camogie chiefs will invest in excess of €150,000 to develop the ladies game in the province.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has called on its members to vote Yes in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will join other EU leaders in Lisbon tomorrow to sign the controversial EU Reform Treaty.

THERE are calls for mandatory heart screening of all schoolchildren after four young boys died playing sports in one week.

AN INNOCENT child’s laugh and the creaky balcony stairs were the only sounds to break the heavy silence for 10 minutes before the start of Saturday’s vigil Mass in Kilworth.

YESTERDAY’S announcement, naming the members of the first Irish Press Council, is a welcome and long-awaited milestone in the evolution of how Irish society and Ireland’s print media interact.

Closing arguments get under way today in a landmark case over a secret deal between Ryanair and the North's only publicly-owned airport.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida-linked militant who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings, kidnappings and hostage beheadings in Iraq, has been killed in a US air raid north of Baghdad.

New York GAA chairman Seamus Dooley is to fly to Ireland next weekend in an attempt to iron out the issues surrounding the postponed Ulster SHC final.

Barristers this afternoon said they were encouraging accountants, tax consultants and other professionals to come directly to them, and not through solicitors, when they were simply seeking advice.

The National Parents Council has urged parents not to allow their children to travel on school buses unless they are fitted with seatbelts.

THE GAA is optimistic that the Government is prepared to give formal recognition to the game of hurling by grant-aiding it as a separate entity from Gaelic football.

THE Ulster Council is unperturbed by the failure of All-Ireland champions Tyrone to qualify for the provincial final in Croke Park on July 11.

Iraqi Governing Council President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was named Iraq’s new president today – but only after former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi turned down the job.

THE student council at Carrigaline Community plays an enormous role in the running of the school.

Ireland is expected to become the most expensive country in the 12-nation eurozone this year, according to a report by Forfas, the Government's enterprise policy advisory board.

The man widely regarded as the founder of modern haemophiliac treatment in Ireland has received stringing criticism at the Lindsay Tribunal.