Mark Hayes continues his regular diary of a Corkman in LA with a survival guide to Lent and St Patrick’s Day in Hollywood – think Mardi Gras with green hats and leprechaun suits.

Martin D Stern (Letters, January 6) wrongly suggests that in my letter on January 13 I was trying to imply Israel was ultimately responsible for recent Saudi executions.

SINCE being plucked from slush-pile obscurity by a Lilliput Press intern after suffering a slew of earlier rejections, Donal Ryan has enjoyed an incredible rise to literary stardom. 

THE teachers’ conferences begin in earnest today and, like more or less any such professional assembly, they will be animated by idealism, commitment to a noble vocation, and a passionate desire to improve our education system.

Your daily, spoiler-free guide to what to look out for on the box.

Even in death, Joan Rivers got what she wanted: A star-studded funeral, with the worlds of Hollywood, fashion, media, and money represented among the mourners.

As the world watches the horror in Gaza unfold, Michael Moynihan examines a new book to try and understand why the situation seems so intractable.

Family holidays can lose the magic when the kids hit the the teenage years. Never one to give up, Tommy Barker tries to recapture the good old days with his two grown-up children in the Algarve.

Jazz album:Marius Neset/Trondheim Jazz Orchestra

In 2008 evidence uncovered by an Irish law student led to the release of a man who had served 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Now Niamh Gunn has a new mission — to create a National Wellbeing Centre for Ireland in the stunning surrounds of Liss Ard estate.

Nicollette Sheridan has been granted a new trial in her case for wrongful termination from 'Desperate Housewives'.

UN climate talks were deadlocked on yesterday as the US and China clashed over what role the Chinese and other fast-growing economies should play in a new pact to fight global warming.

A two-year waiting list and a minimum €20,000 price tag — welcome to the world of Patek Philippe.

Tweet of the week/month/year/decade?

NBA player Jason Collins caused a stir in the US this week by becoming the sport’s first active player to come out as gay, writes John Riordan

The beautiful Skibbereen estate has revamped its hospitality business and is also free for walkers, writes Tommy Barker

America has challenged China’s view of how to split the burden of curbing carbon emissions, saying the rich-poor divide of previous climate agreements will not work in a future pact.

Brad Pitt has spent £250,000 (€315,000) on one of the world's most expensive watches as a wedding present for fiancée Angelina Jolie.

US shock jock Howard Stern is to replace Piers Morgan on 'America's Got Talent'.

NBA players rejected the league’s latest contract offer and will disband as a union, a move that could wipe out the entire season with the sides taking their labour dispute into the court of law.

Seth Rogen will not sign a prenuptial agreement before getting married.

Anna Nicole Smith’s psychiatrist and boyfriend were convicted of conspiring to use false names to obtain prescription drugs for the reality TV star.

Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer-manager Howard Stern was also her best friend and lover and would never have been part of an alleged plot to furnish her with harmful drugs, a defence lawyer said today.

The judge in the Anna Nicole Smith drug conspiracy case acquitted her boyfriend-lawyer Howard Stern of two charges of obtaining drugs for her by fraud and deceit including use of false names.

Former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith was "obsessed" with pills and was helped in taking drugs by her lawyer-boyfriend in the weeks before her death, her bodyguard told a court.

A Los Angeles prosecutor claimed today two doctors prescribed massive amounts of drugs to Anna Nicole Smith even though they were warned she was addicted to painkillers.

South Korea accused North Korea today of firing a torpedo that sank a naval warship in March, killing 46 sailors in the country’s worst military disaster since the Korean War.

IN a showdown between the world’s two largest polluters, China accused the United States and other rich nations yesterday of backsliding on commitments to fight global warming and the top American envoy declared the US would not change its offer on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Larry Birkhead, who gained fame in a custody battle over Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, testified today that he regularly saw the ex-model take prescription drugs, including methadone.

Defence lawyers in the drug case surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith have been notified that prosecutors will file an amended complaint at a discovery hearing today.

Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer-turned-boyfriend and two doctors denied have conspiring to provide thousands of prescription pills to the former model before her overdose death two years ago.

Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer-turned-boyfriend was the principal enabler in a conspiracy with two doctors to provide the “known addict” thousands of prescription pills in the months before she died of an overdose, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said.

THE late Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend and two doctors have been charged with illegally providing the ex-Playboy model with addictive prescription drugs, two years after she died of an overdose.

Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two doctors were charged with giving thousands of prescription drugs to the former Playboy playmate in the years leading up to her 2007 fatal overdose.

Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger has dropped his appeal against his drink-driving conviction.

AT Davos, it seems, sorry is the hardest word.

IN his letter (January 23) Martin Stern accuses me of having incorrectly asserted that Hamas was not responsible for breaking the recent ceasefire that resulted in the bloody Israeli assault on Gaza.

A settlement has been reached in the legal fight over seven nude and semi-nude photographs taken during Marilyn Monroe’s Last Sitting in 1962.

PEOPLE around the world want governments to take decisive action on climate change — despite the economic downturn, according to new research.

US “shock jock” Howard Stern has married his long-term girlfriend Beth Ostrosky.

A judge has ordered a Texas doctor and his wife not to distribute video footage of Anna Nicole Smith’s breast augmentation surgery in 1994.

Anthony Hopkins has been confirmed as the latest actor to play King Lear in a big screen adaptation of Shakespeare's great tragedy.