ENGLAND: Freemen of the City of London have exercised their ancient right to drive sheep over London Bridge

Allied Irish Banks is set to win European Commission approval for a restructuring plan tied to its €21 billion taxpayer rescue, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Justin Timberlake cancelled his sold-out concert in New York City on Wednesday night.

USA: A 99-year-old Iowa woman who dropped out of a high school more than 80 years ago despite needing only one credit to graduate has finally received her diploma.

Meter mechanic in a slot of bother

THE Galway man who claims he owns half of Facebook is in his native county, despite claims by his family that he is not in Ireland.

FACEBOOK founder Mark Zuckerberg said yesterday an alleged contract and emails that a New York man says entitle him to a huge stake in the social networking website are “forgeries.”

RORY McILROY’S newfound love of gridiron has raised a chuckle.

The number of victims of a suspected serial killer on New York's Long Island has doubled in the past week after the discovery of three more corpses along a remote beach highway.

Allied Irish Bank is to sell its 22.4% stake in US bank M&T at a price of $77.50 (€55.4) per share, a discount of about 1.8% on the current share price.

AIB last night announced that it was disposing of its 22% or €1.6 billion shareholding in US bank M&T.

THE New York man suing over claims that he owns 84% of Facebook Inc has a copy of a $3,000 (€3,638) cashier’s cheque that may support his contract claim against the company and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

A shooting today outside a restaurant in central Buffalo, New York state, left four people dead and three injured, police said.

POLICE say a traffic stop led to animal cruelty charges after they found a live cat “marinating” in oil and peppers in the boot of a car.

A 90-year-old man today admitted killing his wife of 67 years with a hammer during an argument but offered no explanation.

AIB is under pressure to sell off its prized US, British and Polish assets as the Government anticipates it could become a majority stakeholder in the bank.

A 90-year-old man killed his 89-year-old wife in a domestic dispute at a retirement home in the US.

A man suspected of shooting dead a well-known doctor in Kansas who performed late-term abortions was in jail today as investigators investigated his background, including the extent of his connections to anti-abortion groups.

Pilot training and fatigue are expected to be the focus of a public hearing into safety issues following the February 12 plane crash near Buffalo, New York, that killed 50 people.

Prosecutors have accused a couple of training the woman’s 12-year-old daughter to be a dominatrix, selling sexual services and photographing some of the acts.

A British-born executive of the giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer has been arrested on child porn charges in the US.

The decorated bathroom door from Jim Morrison's childhood home has been removed from auction website eBay.com a day after going under the hammer.

Horrible, real-world happenings are unfolding almost simultaneously in the virtual world, as Virginia Tech students and people from all over the world gather online to grieve and vent.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams is on his way to Boston by train following last night's incident when he was stopped at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC.

An Irish man has been appointed a vice president of the New York-based Moog Corporation, the worldwide aviation and electronics group.

After ABBA, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, John Lennon and the Four Seasons comes the music of country great Johnny Cash.

A teenager in the US charged with killing and dismembering his mother and the 50-year-old paedophile accused of influencing him has pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy.

A teenager in the US charged with killing and dismembering his mother and the 50-year-old paedophile accused of influencing him pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy today.

Robert Moog, whose self-named synthesisers turned electric currents into sound and opened the musical wave that became electronica, has died. He was 71.

US President George Bush named federal appeals court judge John Roberts for a seat on the Supreme Court, delighting Republicans while unsettling some Democrats with the selection of a young jurist with impeccable conservative credentials.

A BRAIN-DAMAGED firefighter who started speaking after almost a decade of near-total silence has had moments of clarity, but nothing as dramatic as that first long conversation on Saturday, his wife said.

Senator Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, yesterday fainted during a speech after complaining of flu-like symptoms.

Victoria Ward, New York

Senator Hillary Clinton collapsed before delivering a speech on social security in Buffalo, New York, a radio station reported today.

A hacker broke into an American wireless carrier network over at least seven months and read emails and personal computer files of hundreds of customers - including the Secret Service agent investigating him.

A public memorial service and viewing for funk legend Rick James is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles tomorrow.

Music stars have been shocked to learn of the death of funk legend Rick James, who was found dead at his Los Angeles home at the weekend.

THE euro rose against the dollar in New York for a third day after the European Central Bank said the currency’s yearlong rally wouldn’t crimp exports, easing concern that policy makers plan to sell euros or lower interest rates.

THE dollar fell to a record low versus the euro in New York yesterday, after the US raised its security alert because of what officials called a “substantial increase’ in the potential for terrorism during the holidays.

Collins sues newspapers over war crimes claims

Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger has expanded his empire by going into the film production business.

People in various parts of America are being inundated with telephone calls from callers wishing to speak to God because their number is the same as the one given for God in the new Jim Carrey comedy Bruce Almighty.

The sixth and final member of an alleged terrorist sleeper cell of Americans of Yemeni descent has pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism by attending an al-Qaida training camp shortly before the September 11 attacks.

AIB’S US bolt-hole, following the Allfirst rogue trader disaster, M&T Bank Corp is set to deliver earnings of close to €285 million next year — way ahead of anything a retained Allfirst would have generated.