It might not entitle you anything, but new figures show 2,200 people have secured a Certificate of Irishness — including people resident in Bhutan and American Samoa.

A tiny airline is offering a new reason to lose weight before your next trip - tickets sold not by the seat, but by the kilogram.

Rick Santorum won crucial primaries in Alabama and Mississippi in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, dealing a devastating blow to Newt Gingrich and securing his position as the chief conservative alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney.

Scientists surveying American Samoa’s coral reefs say the September 29 tsunami obliterated some corals and damaged others to the point that they may not recover.

Sirens have blared, parents grabbed their children and hundreds ran to emergency shelters in Indonesia as countries bordering the Indian Ocean conducted a test today of a warning system set up after the devastating 2004 tsunami.

Thousands of panicking South Pacific islanders ran from coastlines after a series of strong earthquakes rocked the region creating a small tsunami today, just over a week after a massive wave killed 178 people in the Samoas and Tonga.

The US Geological Survey reported that a powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the South Pacific near the Vanuatu archipelago, triggering a regional tsunami alert.

MOURNING islanders of American Samoa were set to hold a national prayer service Sunday for victims of the tsunami that obliterated villages and left at least 176 dead.

Taitasi Suapaia Fitiao is preparing for every parent’s nightmare – burying her child.

SOME frightened Samoans who fled to the hills as a tsunami tore through their seaside villages vowed never to return to the coastline, while aid workers delivered water and medicine amid the growing stench of decay.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near Tonga today, the US Geological Survey said.

INDONESIA said last night it fears thousands have died in a major earthquake as exhausted rescue workers clawed through mountains of rubble with their bare hands to find survivors.

SAMOANS searched flattened homes and debris-filled swamps, while dazed survivors told of being trapped underwater or flung inland by a tsunami that ravaged towns and killed at least 150 people in the South Pacific.

Stunned Samoans combed through the sodden wreckage of their lives today and told of the terror of the tsunami that ravaged towns and killed at least 149 people in the South Pacific.

Another powerful quake hit Indonesia’s Sumatra island today, the US Geological Survey said.

LIMERICK hotel manager Triona O’Neill ran for her life carrying her son in her arms to escape a massive tsunami that flattened Samoan villages, killing at least 119 and leaving dozens missing.

Thousands of people were feared killed by a massive earthquake that flattened homes in Sumatra today.

Scores of people were dead and missing today after a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hurled a massive tsunami at the shores of Samoa and American Samoa.

At least 82 people were killed when a powerful earthquake in the Pacific Ocean triggered a tsunami which swept ashore on Samoa and American Samoa.

Small tsunami waves caused by a powerful earthquake which hit Samoa in the Pacific Ocean reached Japan today, officials said.

A fresh tsunami alert rang out in the capital of Samoa in the South Pacific today, hours after tsunami waves crashed ashore, killing at least 39 people and leaving scores unaccounted for.

A tsunami swept into Pago Pago in American Samoa shortly after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 shook the Pacific area.

IN THE small hours of yesterday morning a giddy crowd of 250 gathered around televisions at the Lime Cafe Bar in Dún Laoghaire.

A former garment factory-owner convicted of enslaving, starving and beating his workers in American Samoa was ordered to pay $1.8m (€1.5m) in compensation and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Residents boarded up homes, businesses and church buildings on American Samoa today as a 190 mph hurricane headed toward the Pacific islands.