NEXT month’s meeting of the GAA’s Management Committee will decide on the penalties for counties who default on regulations banning collective training or challenge games for inter-county squads during November and December.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said today that sanctions alone would not resolve the stand-off over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

The UN and the World Bank told international donors today that they must prepare for a potential flu pandemic that could kill millions worldwide and result in economic costs far greater than the $1.5bn (€1.2bn) now needed.

VIETNAM slaughtered thousands of birds in its two largest cities yesterday while China vowed to vaccinate its entire stock of 14 billion poultry against bird flu, with the government promising to help pay for the process.

MUNSTER hurling coach Joe O’Leary says the southerners are determined to win the M Donnelly Interprovincial championship after their tough semi-final against Ulster last Sunday.

A 48-YEAR-OLD man has died of bird flu in Thailand after eating his neighbour’s sick chickens, and Taiwan yesterday confirmed the island nation’s first case of the disease in birds smuggled in from China.

Unidentified gunmen assassinated a top Iraqi Foreign Ministry official tonight as he stood outside his Baghdad home, police said.

The sharp increase in oil prices may cost the world’s airlines billions of pounds in losses this year and further damage the industry’s recovery after a series of setbacks, the head of the global air transport association said today.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is urging other nations to follow his lead and allow international inspections for weapons of mass destruction.

Deaths worldwide from severe acute respiratory syndrome reached at least 100 today, as the main casualty China revealed that fatalities have been much more widespread than it had previously reported.

Israel has recalled its ambassador to Belgium and fired off angry letters to King Albert and his government following a Brussels court ruling that Ariel Sharon can be charged with war crimes when he leaves office.