A woman has been charged with two counts of manslaughter, and one of arson, following a fire in which two men died, in the Cork town of Mallow.

British mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley said today that profits virtually halved last year after an "eventful and difficult" period for the banking sector.

UK mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley today sold £4.2bn (€5.8bn) of loans as it moved to boost cash reserves at a time of soaring wholesale funding costs.