This is very sweet (sorry).

European leaders negotiating the bloc’s budget must not lose sight of the project’s overarching purpose, argues Hans Zomer

Irish oil exploration company Tullow Oil has discovered the first natural gas find off Kenya, adding to Tullow’s recent first inland oil discovery in March.

Having converted a low cross from the right to give Nigeria the lead against Bulgaria, Yekini stood in the goal, arms through the net, hands alternately clenched around the strings and clasped to his face as tears rolled down his cheeks.

BANGERS at daybreak: it was Chinese New Year in Bangkok.

WHAT comes after the last-chance saloon?

EGYPT, winners of the last three tournaments, will not be there when the African Cup of Nations begins in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in a fortnight. Neither will Cameroon, who won in 2000 and 2002.

Ivory Coast’s strongman leader Laurent Gbagbo holed up in a bunker defiantly maintaining he won the election four months ago even as troops backing the internationally recognised winner encircled the presidential residence.

THERE has always been a special relationship between Ireland and France going back to at least 1798. The French, unlike the brutish Brits, are a civilised, rational people, right?

African diplomats descended on Burkina Faso to ensure a deal is sealed calling for Guinea’s injured leader to step down and for his country to hold democratic elections within six months.

TULLOW Oil has reiterated that its first-half revenues this year will be down by nearly £100 million (€115.6m) at around £290m (€335m), due to falling sales volumes and a fall in commodity prices.

Tullow Oil has today issued an upbeat operational update in respect of its activities in Uganda and Ghana.

A MINI World Cup soccer tournament brought 150 players from 14 countries representing Cork’s rapidly growing immigrant community together for the first time over the weekend.

I NOTICE that the Tricolor on the port side of Ryanair planes is back to front. Perhaps Michael O’Leary is ploughing money into the Ivorian economy!

An oil discovery at the Lianzi-1 exploration well, in which ISEQ-listed Tullow Oil plc has a 2% stake, has been announced by the operator ChevronTexaco, and further evaluation is ongoing.

TULLOW OIL made pre-tax profits of €33.1m (£22.6m) in the first half of this year, up more than 50% on the same period last year.

The battle to modernise the Defence Forces will continue this year with the delivery of new armoured personnel carriers and training aircraft, its chief of staff is expected to say today.

Shares in oil and gas exploration group Tullow Oil today climbed more than 11% after it unveiled plans to buy a bigger South African-based counterpart.

Tullow Oil plc has recorded record turnover of £132.4m (€196.8m) for the year ended December 31, 2003.

As the UN’s chief weapons inspectors today began their second day of talks in Baghdad before their crucial report to the Security Council next Friday, Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the US must not go to war with Iraq alone without the backing of the international community.