The lawyer for the state-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation threw the kitchen sink and $300,000 (€220,000) worth of other furniture at David Drumm yesterday in Boston.

Hostages freed in a daring helicopter rescue said today their gruelling existence as captives of Colombian rebels worsened in recent months as government troops closed in and supplies became more scarce.

The danger of the US economy tumbling into a “substantial downturn” appears to have waned despite a recent increase in unemployment figures, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said early today.