Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova both shook off recent injury problems to sail into the Australian Open third round with straight-set victories.

Your guide to tonight's TV.

THE nation was glued as the latest television dating show kicked off on Channel 4 last night.

A kitten found sealed inside a plastic box which was hidden inside a holdall and thrown over a garden fence in England is lucky to be alive.

There were differing fortunes for two former French Open champions in Paris today.

Valerie Martin

These days, we want our celebrities to be approachable and authentic. Ahead of tonight’s Oscars, Louise O’Neill explains why ‘real’ is the new cool in Hollywood.

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has made billions out of the sport, but now faces the greatest test of his life off the racing circuit after his indictment this week over bribery allegations, reports Kyran FitzGerald

Petra and Padraig Quirke are a heady combination.

AT a coffee house, on a desert road, an ancient trade route where caravans once carried spices and silks from distant lands to Petra, I smoked my first hookah.

Serena Williams can still see room for improvement in her game despite racking up her 17th successive win at the Australian Open today.

Zoë Devlin

A DUBLIN man wanted in Hungary for causing the deaths of two children in a car accident in Budapest over 10 years ago has voluntarily entered custody until the outcome of his extradition fight is known.

YOU wouldn’t really want to be a passenger in the car when Zoe Devlin’s doing the driving — she’d have you in the ditch, within minutes, one way or the other.

An Austrian woman has blamed her satellite navigation system after she drove into a lake.

Sue Leonard finds there is more than a hint of autobiography in Douglas Kennedy’s tenth novel, which could possibly be his finest work.

Sara Paretsky

A date will be set by the High Court next week for the hearing of fresh extradition proceedings, brought against an Irishman wanted in Hungary for causing the death of two children 10 years ago.

TRAINERS Tony Martin and Edward O’Grady carry the hopes of Ireland as they bid to end a 29-year-old drought in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham today.

New extradition proceedings have been brought against an Irishman wanted in Hungary for causing the death of two children more than nine years ago.

Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano produced what he called the best round of his life to take the third-round lead in the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond today.

Nicky Henderson is praying the rain stays away from Cheltenham so as not to dampen My Petra’s prospects in Saturday’s Boylesports.com Gold Cup.

Chomba Womba’s victory in the Coral Ascot Hurdle proved the highlight of a 15-1 treble for trainer Nicky Henderson and jockey Barry Geraghty at the Berkshire venue.

My Petra is the more likely starter of Alan King’s pair of entries in the Racing Post Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday as long as the weather stays dry.

Police today killed one of Jordan’s most wanted al-Qaida suspects and arrested a second in a pre-dawn raid that authorities said had thwarted a terror plot against this key US ally in the Middle East.

British singer/songwriter James Blunt has laughed off constant speculation he's a womaniser, insisting he only has eyes for girlfriend Petra Nemcova.

A COMPETITOR in the Volvo Ocean Race died in the early hours of yesterday after being swept overboard.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II today threatened to crack down on supporters of terrorists following this week’s triple hotel bombings that killed at least 57 people.

Militants targeted a US patrol with a roadside bomb today in the northern city of Mosul, killing four nearby civilians, while the US military reported that a Marine died in action in a strife-riven western province.