The owner of the Irish Daily Star newspaper saw a 60% drop in profits in 2011, mainly arising from the closure of its Sunday title, with the company also lurching from a net cash to a net debt position by the end of the year.

A French court has banned a gossip magazine from further publishing topless photographs of Kate Middleton and ordered it to hand the pictures over to the royal couple.

Industry sources believe the Irish Daily Star will not close even if joint shareholder Richard Desmond follows through on his threat to pull out of the title, while the Government has moved to shore up privacy laws as a result of the controversy.

The editor of the Irish Daily Star has been suspended after its shareholders agreed to a joint investigation into publication of topless photographs of Kate Middleton.

Independent Newspapers has launched an investigation into the decision to publish topless photographs of Kate Middleton in the Irish Daily Star.

GROUCHO Marx once observed: “I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.”

A boardroom row is on the cards after Independent News and Media warned it would not be happy to see the Irish Daily Star shut down.

Red tape and inflexible EU state aid rules have been blamed for the collapse of the Cork-Swansea ferry service which was wound up by order of the High Court yesterday.

PAUL COOKE is to step down as managing director of Independent Star Limited — the publisher of the Irish Daily Star — at the end of this week.