There is no hope of finding survivors after a mudslide tore through a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, a senior official has warned.

Vocaliser, trained by Jim Bolger, proved an emphatic winner of the Irish Stallion farms 2-Y-0 Maiden in Roscommon last night, producing a performance which suggested he could develop into a smart staying colt.

One of Ireland’s last surviving D-Day veterans has penned a poignant message to his fallen comrades after being forced to abandon hopes of travelling back for the 70th anniversary.

Man, we Irish love our tea. Brewin' it, drinkin' it, making it just right - we're mad about the stuff, just like our neighbours across the water.

IT began when Michael Hyde went to plant trees on scrub land in the estate he inherited from a cousin in Co Galway nearly 60 years ago.

Poems 1952-2012

Sri Lanka is the largest producer of real cinnamon in the world. It is a beautiful gentle spice which has been used both for cooking and medicine since ancient times.

WE arrived home to spring in all its glorious colours, and to lovely weather.

AS our train from Colombo snaked up the jungled hills to Kandy, ancient capital of Sri Lanka, the rain came down and the distant mountains disappeared behind mist rising like smoke from valleys far below us.

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

WHEN Eric the Red landed in Greenland in the late 900s he established a farming settlement, with sheep and cattle feeding on grass.

AMERICA’S first celebrity chef and television cooking pioneer Julia Child died recently, just a few days before her 92nd birthday.

Sri Lanka’s tea – famed as some of the world’s best for more than a century, and still the country’s top export earner – now has keen competition from frothy cappuccinos, milky lattes and dark espressos.