Marion Barry, the scandal-plagued former mayor of Washington DC, who was jailed for smoking crack cocaine before making a surprising return to office, has died aged 78.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford has refused to resign amid immense pressure to step down as leader of Canada’s largest city, after admitting for the first time that he smoked crack “probably a year ago” when he was in a “drunken stupor”.

A video purportedly of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack has caused an uproar in Canada. Mr Ford yesterday called the allegations “ridiculous”.

WHEN Larry Jones noticed a foul odour coming through a vent in his apartment, he put it down to dead mice and spoke to his landlord.

A DUBLIN graduate scooped a national design award yesterday for creating a computer shaped like a tree.