Equestrian: Thomas Ryan endured what would typically be a frustrating four faults in the World Cup class at Mechelen on Tuesday.

Former government spin doctor PJ Mara has spoken for the first time about his baby and how the recent birth has changed his life after becoming a father again at 71.

A Kildare man accused of murdering his ex-partner by stabbing her six times phoned the emergency service hours before the stabbing as he had concerns for her welfare.

Up to 7,000 homes in the Beara Peninsula have been targeted by a voluntary group campaigning to prevent the expansion of Marine Harvest’s fish farms in Bantry Bay.

A gingerbread man party, freckle counting, and an Olympics-themed carrot-tossing competition were the big crowd-pullers over the weekend at Ireland’s annual Red Head convention.

The majority of Mardyke residents have been refused flood cover and had their insurance premiums doubled since the Cork floods of Nov 2009, a residents’ spokesperson has said.

An Irish family celebrated the birthday of a man missing for three years in the Netherlands with a protest at the Dutch embassy in Dublin yesterday.

THE family of an Irishman who went missing in the Netherlands three years ago want the Dutch courts to force a full police investigation into his disappearance.

THE Murphy household in Killarney are all smiles this week but husband and wife Denny and Breda realise it will be a different matter for one of them after the weekend.

UP to 1,600 hours of CCTV footage is being scanned by gardaí as part of the double murder investigation into Des Kelly and Breda Waters, who were shot dead in Limerick’s Southill estate last Sunday morning.

PROUD redheads are set to paint a seaside town red at a special convention celebrating ginger locks next week.

BILLY HORGAN’S life isn’t a mirror image of legendary Frank Sinatra.

IN response to Tom Gilsenan who thought he heard someone laugh recently (Letters, February 11) ... ‘surly’ not, Mr Gilsenan, more the sound of mild hysteria.

THE National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI), has a strong mandate representing 500,000 of the country’s two million women.

ABOVE the giddy jingling of New Year’s bells rose the noisy jangle of newborn howls as maternity hospitals around the country kick-started the business of delivering babies in 2008.

I WISH to thank the wonderful passengers on the Turkish airline Onur Air flight from Cork to Bodrum on September 8 who saved my life.

I WAS delighted to read the article by Harry McGee reviewing the criminal law in relation to the age-old rights enjoyed by accused people on trial (Irish Examiner, October 21).

AS THE nation celebrated the beginning of a new year, babies across Ireland were getting used to their new surroundings.

The bishop of Breda, in The Netherlands has called for term limits of 10 to 15 years on popes.

A BOMB blast blew the front door off a Muslim elementary school in the Netherlands yesterday and extensively damaged the building in what police suspect was a revenge attack for the killing of a Dutch filmmaker last week.

A suspected bomb blew the front door off a Muslim elementary school in a southern Dutch town and shattered windows across the street, days after a suspected Muslim radical killed a Dutch filmmaker, police said today. There were no reports of injuries.

THE Ulster Unionist Party must put its own house in order or face political extinction, a party strategist warned last night.

Sir Bobby Robson gives a rare chance to his reserve keeper Steve Harper for Newcastle’s Carling Cup third-round tie with West Brom at St James’ Park tonight.

Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy is out of the derby trip to Middlesbrough after failing to shake off his knee problem.

NEWCASTLE are preparing for another club versus country row over Craig Bellamy as concern mounts about his injury problems.

NAC Breda 0 Newcastle (Newcastle win 6-0 on agg)

FT NAC Breda 0 Newcastle 1 (Newcastle win 6-0 on aggregate)

Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy’s injury jinx has struck again after the Welshman was ruled out of tomorrow night’s UEFA Cup trip to NAC Breda, raising the prospect of more conflict between his club and his country.

SO now we are to have ritual circumcision of our citizens if some Irish medics and others have their way.

A PRIVATE market research poll carried out by the Labour Party has found that its new leader, Pat Rabbitte, is not widely known.