Public libraries in the UK are facing an “absolute disaster” and should try to emulate coffee shops, the author of an independent report into the service has said.

Goalkeeper Darren Gleeson is the most notable inclusion in the Tipperary side for Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final against Kilkenny in Nowlan Park (throw-in 3.30pm).

British playwright Harold Pinter will today be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

UNITED Technologies Corp, the maker of Carrier air conditioners and Otis elevators, is in talks to buy Chubb Plc, the world's third-largest provider of security services, people familiar with the situation said.