Qantas Airways chief executive Geoff Dixon said today that his airline is “probably the safest” in the world after Australia’s aviation agency launched a review of its safety standards.

SHOPS are doing a roaring Christmas trade in carp, trees cut in half, crackers made from old paper and climate-change tree lights.

A Nato and Afghan operation to retake a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan has killed at least 12 Taliban fighters and two children, the Afghan Defence Ministry said today.

Elite amateur sports people should be awarded tax-free grants and Physical Education (PE) should be made a points subject in the Leaving Certificate, the Labour party claimed today.

Members of an Indonesian family who died of bird flu probably passed the disease among themselves, but world health officials said there was no evidence the virus had mutated and decided against raising the pandemic alert level.

The Conference of Religious of Ireland has called for social and environmental assets to be taken into account when assessing Ireland's national wealth.

A ROCKET slammed into an American logistics base yesterday near the city of Balad, killing two US soldiers and wounding 26 people, and saboteurs again blew up a key oil pipeline.

The Conference of Religious in Ireland has expressed its support for the proposed partnership deal negotiated by the social pillars during talks earlier this year.

Protesters trying to obstruct a nuclear waste shipment have chained themselves to a rail bridge over a river in Germany.