The parents of an Irish American US Navy Seal who was killed in action in Afghanistan a decade ago, and whose story inspired a Hollywood movie, have expressed delight at an Irish group’s decision to honour his memory.

THE Gulf oil spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez soill as the worst in US history, according to new estimates released yesterday, but the Coast Guard and BP said an untested procedure to stop it seemed to be working.

The bodies of two men who drowned while fishing were today recovered by Navy divers.

THE naval service has, for the first time, detained a trawler in a rare deep sea coral reef area off the south-west coast.

Divers found 32 more bodies today to boost the death toll in a weekend ferry sinking to 114, as rescuers searched for dozens more people missing in a river near the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka.

US forces pounded parts of Fallujah from the air and ground yesterday, targeting insurgents in a city where American forces were said to be gearing up for a major offensive.

Rescue services are en route to a stricken yacht which has made a May Day distress call off the South Coast.