Pineau De Re, ridden by Danny Mullins for his new boss Barry Connell, stormed to an emphatic win in the Toals Bookmakers Ulster Grand National in Downpatrick yesterday.

In a super-arid desert at an altitude of 5,000m, with almost no humidity or vegetation, the world’s largest ground-based astronomy project opened for business yesterday — ready to probe the universe with unprecedented might.

On the 75th anniversary of his death, we recall the father of modern comm unication, writes Jonathan deBurca Butler

GAVIN BRYARS’S The Sinking of the Titanic is one of the most important pieces of contemporary music, but when it debuted in the early 1970s it received a critical battering.

THE woman, who used the pseudonym Lying Eyes in the soliciting of a hitman to kill her partner and his two sons, is to write about her experiences and her time in jail.

WHAT’S the betting that former Government minster, now bookmaker and broadcaster, Ivan Yates completes a cross-border radio link, for family and old times sake?

IRELAND has more than 6,000 lakes and, according to author John Dunne, we don’t appreciate them. They are, he thinks, a neglected part of our heritage.

The jury in the trial of a Clare woman and a former Las Vegas poker dealer accused of conspiring to kill her partner and his two sons, has been sent to a hotel for a second night.

A Clare woman accused of hiring a hitman to kill her partner and his two sons told gardaí she obtained a passport with her partner’s’ surname as a "gesture" to him a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A Clare woman accused of hiring a former Las Vegas poker dealer to kill her partner and his two sons told gardai she had been blackmailed into sending €15,000 to her co-accused’s Nevada address a jury at the Central Criminal Court jury has heard.

A Clare man whose partner is accused of hiring a hitman to kill him and his two sons has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court that he asked his partner to travel to America last year to find the woman she says had access to computers used to contact the hitman website.

A man whose partner is accused of conspiring with a Las Vegas poker dealer to organise his assassination and those of his two sons, has told a jury in the Central Criminal Court he decided not get married a second time after his solicitor told him prenuptial agreements had no legal standing in Ireland.

Vodafone faced more pressure from shareholders today after a former Marconi director led calls for a restructuring at the mobile phone group.

The writing was on the wall for Marconi after the loss of its contract with BT earlier this year.

RADIO is the medium of the mind and still remains a powerful force.

ALISTAIR COOKE, the broadcaster and journalist, has died.

Marconi has secured a deal estimated to be worth at least €320m to supply Ericsson with DWDM technology for use in high-speed telecom networks.

Beleaguered telecoms group Marconi made a massive £5.1bn loss in the last half year - equating to £28m a day - which was today seen as one of the worst corporate figures in history.

Marconi is to meet with union bosses to discuss its plans to cut 2,100 UK jobs.