Hundreds of family and friends attended Custume Barracks in Athlone to formally bid farewell to the 107th Infantry Battalion, which leaves for Lebanon next month.

A gang of travellers thought to have been responsible for nearly half of the UK's caravan thefts over a three-year period were jailed today.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese vowed to continue her work to make Ireland an inclusive society as she was sworn in for a second term at a ceremony in Dublin Castle yesterday.