A new book argues that the knowledge and weaponry developed by Israel in its wars against the Palestinians have allowed it to carve a place in the world’s military-industrial complex, TP O’Mahony is not convinced.

Millions are spent each year on promoting neoliberal ideas worldwide. JP O’Malley reads between the lines of a subtle example of this. 

A woman who prosecutors say lived with her dead baby girl’s body for three months was charged with murder.

I have been thinking a lot about helicopters lately. Mostly this is down to the regular reminders to Santa not to forget to bring a helicopter, with doors that open and close and a rescue boat.

Oscar Wilde’s greatest contribution to our culture is not his writing but the invention of celebrity. JP O’Malley is not entirely convinced.

Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't want his children to be "trust fund kids".

Macroeconomics is hard.

An average of 10,000 people a year send letters to the Italian city of Verona, asking romantic advice of Shakespeare’s tragic teenage girl, the personification of young love, says Richard Fitzpatrick

That Used To Be Us

WE now face into an election which is unlikely to result in substantial changes to the provisions of the budget and Finance Bill.

Creative guru Brian Friedman has described 'X Factor' reject Wagner as the “elephant in the room” – and said he was glad the wannabe had been kicked off the show.

Cheryl Cole and Derek Hough are “incredibly happy” together.

MILTON Friedman, the architect of the current version of capitalism foisted on the world, must be looking down from wherever he is spending his afterlife and cracking a wry smile at the goings on in Ireland.

SINGER Al Martino, who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in The Godfather and recorded hits including Spanish Eyes and the Italian ballad Volare in a 50-year musical career, died on Tuesday. He was 82.

Veteran politician senator Edward Kennedy left hospital today a week after undergoing surgery on a brain tumour.

Veteran politician Edward Kennedy was making a good recovery from surgery on a brain tumour, doctors said today.

A fed-up judge told Sean Connery and his downstairs neighbours to end their feud, it emerged today.

Michael Jackson is in talks to embark on a three-month tour in a bid to pay off his outstanding debts.

Simon Cowell denied the X Factor misled viewers today as a 14-year-old who is lucky to be alive, a dinner lady, and a mother-of-two whose father sent off for her application just before he died, were unveiled as this year’s hopefuls.

An eight-year-old Israeli boy was found alive after spending six hours floating at night in the Dead Sea, rescue workers said today.

A US judge has denied a request from a small Virginia company to stop online auction giant eBay from using a feature that allows shoppers to buy items at a fixed price.

Dannii Minogue and Grease Is The Word judge Brian Friedman are replacing Louis Walsh on The X Factor, it was confirmed today.

MILTON FRIEDMAN, the free market economist who died last November, had little truck with the idea that businesses had responsibilities for anything other than making profits for investors.

Pop superstar Michael Jackson has reportedly agreed to stage a comeback tour alongside The Jackson 5.

US President George Bush wants Congress to aggressively expand the use of alternative fuels, mainly ethanol, to reduce the need for petrol and put the brakes on growing US oil consumption.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s publishing arm has sacked high-flying controversial executive Judith Regan, who masterminded OJ Simpson’s hypothetical murder confession, If I Did It.

Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who championed individual freedom, influenced the economic policies of three presidents and befriended world leaders, has died at 94.

Lebanon seeks an immediate ceasefire in the nearly two-week old Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah in the country’s south, Lebanon’s ambassador to Japan said today.

CIARÁN POWER (Dan Morrissey) claimed stage victory in a sprint with Lukasz Modzelewski (Poland Legia Bazylisek) in a spectacular finish to stage four of the FBD Insurance RAS in Listowel last evening.

Maria Friedman, the British star of the US production of The Woman in White, will be out of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical for six weeks to complete treatment for breast cancer, producers said.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End musical The Woman In White is to close, it was announced today.

Wilson Pickett, the soul pioneer best known for the fiery hits Mustang Sally and In The Midnight Hour, died of a heart attack yesterday in a Reston, Virginia, hospital, according to his management company. He was 64.

A judge has relaxed restrictions on John Hinckley, the man who shot former US president Ronald Reagan, to allow him his first overnight visits outside the Washington area in almost 25 years.

YOUR columnist Noel Whelan (Irish Examiner, July 7) is right to point out that Ireland has been singled out for praise by Tom Friedman, one of the world’s most famous neo-liberal advocates.

WHAT is it about us Irish that makes it so hard for us to take a compliment? In recent weeks the New York Times has carried two glowing tributes to Ireland’s economic success by its leading columnist, Thomas L Friedman.

The Ukraine’s potentially powerhouse economy is being sucked dry by a crooked government in bed with big business cronies. Europe Correspondent Anne Cahill reports from Kiev.

Tom Cruise's extravagant plans for the long-awaited Mission Impossible III film are reportedly causing problems for Patamount Studios, who fear the budget will spiral out on control.

Camilla Parker Bowles took fashionable inspiration from last night’s premiere of The Woman In White, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical.

The market is infatuated with the euro which rose to $1.2450. Richard Blackden reports.

THE man who tried to kill Ronald Reagan won permission for un-monitored daytrips with visits to with his parents, a decision criticised by the former president’s family.

THE man who shot President Reagan no longer poses a danger to himself or others, a hospital psychiatrist testified yesterday.

GREGORY PECK, the handsome movie star whose long career included such classics as Roman Holiday, Spellbound and his Academy Award-winner, To Kill a Mockingbird, died yesterday. He was 87.

THE US market opened badly yesterday on the back of the United Airlines bankruptcy announcement and a downgrade by IBM.