Rory McIlroy’s official unveiling with sports giant Nike took on Academy Award presentation proportions but with the world number one denying his reputed $200m (€150m) deal is about the money.

Iran says it will sue Google over dropping the name of the Persian Gulf on Google Maps.

The fact that Etihad’s energetic chief executive is showing interest in our one-time national carrier spells good news at a time when Ireland’s economy is in rebuilding mode, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

THERE’S no doubt about it, Irish people are taking fewer foreign holidays.

Seven-night western Mediterranean fly/cruise

THOMAS COOK IRELAND, featuring offshoot companies Panorama, Sunworld and Direct Holidays offer flights from Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock airports this summer.

Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed Bin Hammam has ruled out holding the 2022 FIFA World Cup in winter, as well as dismissing the notion of it being shared among other Gulf nations.

UEFA president Michel Platini has called for the 2022 World Cup to be played across the whole of the Arabian Gulf rather than just in Qatar.

IRELAND face tournament hosts, the Arabian Gulf, in the Rugby World Cup Sevens Bowl quarter-finals today after a Friday of mixed of emotions in Dubai.

World road-running championships silver medallist Patrick Makau Musyoki will switch his attention to cross-country for next month’s Belfast International.

The International Rugby Board has announced the dates and teams for the first two events of the 2007/08 IRB Sevens World Series.

Peter Chapple-Hyam’s hot favourite Authorized heads a field of 19 for Saturday’s Vodafone Derby at Epsom, after none of the five-day confirmations were withdrawn.

Authorized heads 19 confirmations for the Vodafone Derby at Epsom on Saturday.

Solider Of Fortune laid bare his Vodafone Derby claims with a gritty success in the MBNA Chester Vase on the Roodee.

Kerrin McEvoy struck at the first time of asking this season when driving Michael Stoute’s Vodafone Derby entry Arabian Gulf home in the Xplor Maiden Stakes at Newmarket.

Budget airline easyJet stuck by recently improved profits forecasts today after seeing an 11% rise in passenger numbers during July.

A budget airline’s hopes of becoming the transatlantic equivalent of Ryanair or easyJet moved a step closer today thanks to a tie up with Bank of Scotland, it was claimed.

Mining and banking stocks helped London’s leading shares bounce back today from the shock of Thursday’s interest rate hike.

easyJet said today it was considering a franchise opportunity which would allow a Saudi-based carrier to use the airline’s brand name on flights around the Arabian Gulf.

Tiger Woods was out and about in Dubai today, doing the sort of things that the world’s most famous sportsmen are asked to do, much though he might have liked a day to recover from a marathon journey across 12 time zones,

A TERRIFYING rumbling shattering a still winter’s night, was the prelude to Ireland’s worst maritime disaster, a quarter of a century ago.

Sheikh Abdulrahman Al Khalifa is “exploring a number of options” with regards to possibly investing in Leeds.

A MEMORIAL service was held on board HMS Ark Royal yesterday for three British servicemen who died when two Navy helicopters crashed.

THE names of three Royal Navy officers who died when two British helicopters collided in the Gulf at the weekend were released yesterday.

The Iranian government has lodged a formal protest with the US authorities after soldiers from a US warship forcibly boarded an Iranian tanker in the Arabian Gulf today, injuring one crew member.