Given the demands on the modern-day intercounty player, it’s surprising the victorious Limerick panel have time for fomenting violent revolutionary discord, writes Tommy Martin. 

Munster’s planning for a Zebo-less future has solidified with new contracts for Andrew Conway and Stephen Fitzgerald confirmed and a first start of the season for the latter in this evening’s Guinness PRO14 trip to Cardiff Blues.

So much for transparency. For all the good intention of overseeing the most open, least questionable bidding process for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, governing body World Rugby is this morning as big a loser as South Africa, whose bid it unanimously recommended on October 31.

The season is its infancy but already there are positive signs that Jaco Taute and Chris Farrell are developing into a formidable centre partnership for Munster.

South Africa offers an up close and personal look at nature. Just don’t get too close to the cheetahs, writes Paul McCarthy.

Mary Lee South, mother of actor Tom Cruise, has passed away at the age of 80, according to people.com.

Thousands of South Africans have called for the resignation of president Jacob Zuma in a series of demonstrations.

A senior North Korean diplomat based in London has defected to South Korea, becoming one of the highest level officials to do so, South Korea has said. 

South Africa's ruling party the African National Congress (ANC) has lost the metropolitan area which includes the capital in its biggest election setback since it took power 22 years ago.

When a friend and colleague retires it always gives pause for thought and Mike Ross is no exception, but Eoin Reddan’s decision to quit the game has not prompted a rethink for the Ireland prop.

Brendan Griffin, a Fine Gael TD for Kerry South, has pledged to continue a long-standing arrangement with a primary school in his locality to donate half his TD’s salary to employ an additional teacher at the school.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service is to carry out a cull of lowland deer, in and around Killarney, amid an outcry about an increase in the number of deer and collisions with motorists.

The standard one-year warranty on 10 PlayStations bought for the entertainment of children hospitalised with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is in danger of expiring before the ward for which they were purchased even opens.

FORMER Justice Minister Michael McDowell may have taken many ordinary Irish citizens by surprise by revealing that the total abolition of the IRA was never part of the Northern Ireland peace process.

South Africans must be patient with the pace of transformation in the country’s national rugby side and will not be asking for more black players at the World Cup, sports minister Fikile Mbalula said yesterday.

The HSE’s national recruitment service has been asked to prioritise staffing a new €2.3m respiratory ward, funded by a charity, that remains closed at Cork University Hospital (CUH) due to nurse shortages.

A young South African man who had the world’s first successful penis transplant last December, has impregnated his girlfriend, said the doctor who led the surgery.

“There was nothing in life I could do without Jayde by my side,” the South African businessman said in his eulogy to his murdered wife.

Garda manpower resources in the southern region, which covers Cork, Kerry, and Limerick, fell by 2.2% last year with 48 fewer gardaí stationed in the three counties compared to 2013.

Tears and grief mixed with anger as relatives mourned the 300 people, mostly schoolchildren, killed a year ago when the ferry Sewol sank in cold waters off the South Korean coast.

A missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said, as countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search.

There is concern for the health of former Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae who was readmitted to hospital earlier this week.

South African track star Oscar Pistorius should serve three years of partial house arrest and community service for the negligent killing of his girlfriend, a witness said at the first day of the athlete’s sentencing.

Oscar Pistorius faces sentencing this week in a South African court after being convicted of culpable homicide for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius was yesterday convicted of culpable homicide — the equivalent Irish legal term is manslaughter — escaping the more serious charge of murder for the killing of his girlfriend, and will now battle to avoid going to prison.

South Africa’s election commission completed a vote count that confirms the ruling African National Congress as the winner, but also shows the strengthening of prominent opposition groups, according to results yesterday.

Roy McIlroy is desperate to join the Masters legends for breakfast in the Champions’ Locker Room.

Oscar Pistorius buried his head in his hands and wiped away tears after a South African court heard grisly details of the killing of his girlfriend, the first sign of emotion from the track star in his murder trial.

Oscar Pistorius buried his head in his hands and wiped away tears after a South African court heard grisly details of the killing of his girlfriend, the first sign of emotion from the track star in his murder trial.

Holders Blackrock College remain on course to secure back-to-back Leinster Schools’ Junior Cup crowns after the Justin Vanstone outfit ruthlessly put CUS to the sword 53-0 in Donnybrook yesterday.

Ireland's President Michael D Higgins has described the memorial ceremoney for Nelson Mandela as a very moving experience.

Joyous, singing South Africans gathered in the rain today to honour Nelson Mandela at a massive memorial service that is expected to draw some 100 heads of state and other luminaries, united in tribute to a global symbol of reconciliation.

INCARCERATION is said to leave you with a feeling of helplessness and vulnerability. But the truth of life for a political prisoner, even for one on a hunger strike, is the opposite.

South Africans have flocked to houses of worship for a national day of prayer and reflection to honour former president Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela worked his magic once more yesterday, uniting friends and foes alike in a global outpouring of grief as they mourned the death of the anti-apartheid icon.

South Africans have gathered to mourn the death of Nelson Mandela – and celebrate his colossal life.

It’s only a few months since I last put pen to paper yet so much has happened in the intervening period, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Nelson Mandela’s health improved overnight and although his condition remains critical it is now stable, the South African government says. One of the former president’s daughters said he is still opening his eyes and reacting to the touch of his family.

A realisation that the inevitable may not be far away was growing among South Africans as they said prayers for their ailing former leader Nelson Mandela.

A factory complex that is North Korea’s last major economic link with the South was a virtual ghost town today after Pyongyang suspended its operations and recalled all 53,000 of its workers, cutting off jobs and a source of hard currency in its war of words and provocations against Seoul and Washington.