In May 1954, English runner Roger Bannister broke the seemingly impenetrable barrier of the sub-four-minute mile, a month after his rival John Landy proclaimed it to be impossible.

There have been calls for immediate answers to be given on the Irish Greyhound Board’s future following an independent consultants’ report that said it needs to sell tracks to stay in business.

A homeless Cork man was so desperate to get arrested that he decided to commit a bizarre crime, going behind the counter of a busy pharmacy and rummaging through boxes for D10 sleeping tablets.

Aidan O’Mahony, a garda and a footballer for Kerry, had to use quick reflexes yesterday to catch a chair hurled through the air at Cork District Court.

Labour Senator Denis Landy is claiming he was offered a holiday if he missed last week's votes on the abolition of the Seanad.

Mobile services provider Zamano has returned to full-year profit while eliminating all of its outstanding debt.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has hit back at criticism over Labour’s choice of a luxury venue for its annual party think-in.

A YOUNG man crashed a stolen Honda Civic into a Garda car injuring the driver and then sped off and did not stop until he crashed and wrote off the car.

Johnny Depp is to play an undead wizard in a new movie, based on books by Irish author Derek Landy.

THE streets of Dublin rang out last night to demands that the Israeli ambassador be expelled and trade sanctions be imposed against the mideast state as about 2,000 people marched through the capital to protest against yesterday’s aid flotilla attack.

A children’s writer turned one of the newest literary prizes on its head today and beat some of the world’s best sellers to win the Irish Book of the Decade title.

The funeral takes place today of murdered Dublin man Ken Fetherston.

A CONVICTED drug dealer has agreed to forfeit €90,000 in cash seized during a drugs raid on his house last year.

THE partner of a 27-year-old man stabbed to death in a Killarney housing estate in January 2005 yesterday described his last moments.

A BOY killed when a pick-up truck reversed into him on a Dublin building site may have been struck by a second works vehicle, an inquest heard yesterday.

THE mother of a four-year-old boy who died after he was struck by a truck as he played, in August 2001, yesterday said it was a disgrace she had not received any information about the accident.

IF Senator John Kerry is elected, his presidency is likely to bring a sharp shift in White House direction — along with pragmatic backpedalling on some of his boldest campaign promises.

THE GAA and the Australian Football League are in negotiations about committing themselves to a 10-year extension of the International Rules Series.

The BBC was today launching a new digital cultural and arts channel to replace BBC Knowledge.