Ban Ki-moon is to be awarded an international peace prize for his role in tackling climate change, global conflicts and natural disasters, it has been announced.

The recognition of the contribution Albert Reynolds made to the peace and stability we enjoy today has been widely recognised since his death.

The former US president Bill Clinton has been heckled over Iraq during a speech in Derry.

Former US president Bill Clinton has begun a day long visit to the North by crossing a symbolic peace bridge.

Nelson Mandela guided South Africa from the shackles of apartheid to multi-racial democracy, as an icon of peace and reconciliation who came to embody the struggle for justice globally.

President Michael D Higgins is expected to travel to South Africa to join other world leaders at a memorial service in Johannesburg on Tuesday for Nelson Mandela.

Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney was acclaimed as the “universal poet” during cross-party tributes at Stormont.

Family and friends of Nobel Laureate poet Seamus Heaney will join dignitaries and literary figures today as Ireland bids farewell to one its most famous sons at a funeral service in Dublin.

Books of condolence are due to be opened in Seamus Heaney's native Derry and in Belfast on Monday.

As news broke of the passing of poet and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney yesterday, tributes were shared from around the world. Here are some of the many.

President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to Seamus Heaney on the news of his death saying the poet's contribution “to the republics of letters, conscience, and humanity was immense”.

I must admit to having been unaware of the upcoming charity fundraising event at the K Club to raise funds for the Jack and Jill Foundation, a most worthy cause, until I read the letter from Peter Mulvany (Irish Examiner, Sept 14).

On Friday night, former US President Bill Clinton addressed the annual dinner of the Worldwide Ireland Fund at Ballymaloe House in Cork. In the audience were Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and 250 delegates from around the world. The following is an abbreviation of his 30-minute unscripted address

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to visit Britain on her first trip abroad in 24 years in June.

The Gare St Lazare Players bring their unique adaptations of the Nobel Laureate’s work to Cork for St Patrick’s weekend, says Colette Sheridan

THE Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to a Canadian cell biologist who died three days ago will stand, the Nobel Foundation said yesterday after examining its statutes against posthumous awards.

Mindfield, the spoken word arena at this year’s Electric Picnic festival, is set to include Bob Geldof, Nobel Laureate Jerry White and Booker Prize winners John Banville and Roddy Doyle, it was confirmed today.

TIBET’S spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has arrived in Ireland for his first visit in 20 years.

Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has arrived in Ireland for his first visit in 20 years.

HOW you do your doodle may say more about you than any personality test and celebrities are no less prone to doodling than anyone else.

Imprisoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was today named Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience.

A new independent organisation, Ireland for Europe, has been launched by the former President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, calling on people to vote “Yes” in the forthcoming referendum on the Lisbon treaty.

An international conference on the difficulties facing the global economy is taking place at Trinity College in Dublin today.

A GREAT-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin has become the new Oxford Professor of Poetry following a contest tinged with controversy.

Tributes were today paid to Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney as he reached his 70th birthday.

IRISH people should count their blessings and put their economic woes in perspective, according to Nobel Laureate and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

THE Burren is widely regarded as one of Europe’s most outstanding and distinctive landscapes, with a rich plant life and a cultural heritage stretching back 6,000 years.

TACKLING climate change, and not the global economic crisis, is the greatest challenge facing humanity, international experts will tell a major conference in Cork next month.

BOOKER prize winner Anne Enright last night added another literary award to her growing list of successes.

An historic visit by the Queen to the Republic has moved significantly closer but depends on the completion of devolution in the North, President Mary McAleese said today.

Dignitaries from around the world will attend the funeral of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow today.

Israel has blocked a UN fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip that was to be led by Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu, officials said today.

Northern Ireland will not have a power-sharing executive by the November deadline set by the Irish and British governments, former First Minister David Trimble forecast today.

Irish rock legends U2 tonight added another award to their collection as they were named Amnesty International Ambassadors of Conscience for 2005.

TONIGHT at the stroke of midnight, the sixth social partnership agreement comes to an end.

A NEW booklet published by the Limerick-based Irish Peace Institute is to be sent to groups around the world involved in conflict to help cultivate reconciliation.

WRITING is hard work, Doris Lessing told the 500 people who gathered to hear her read on Saturday. “And keeping writing is even harder.”

AS a nation we may be somewhat uncomfortable with displays that smack of pomp and ceremony more associated with the heads of our neighbouring monarchy.

The war in Iraq is dissuading the international community from intervening in the growing crisis in Darfur, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said today.

Former President Nelson Mandela, who has kept a hectic schedule in the public eye since his retirement five years ago, appealed today for time to spend with his family and friends.