Update 8.22pm: A Junior Minister has tonight defended the shooting dead of five cattle by Army marksmen earlier today.

A tale of alleged fraud, denial, mistrust, rogue traders, falsified passports and illegal trafficking that has captivated the entire western world. The perfect setting for Ben Affleck’s next Hollywood thriller one would think? In a perfect world the answer would be ‘yes’, but in reality, Tinseltown’s talented young director is no match for the imaginations of capitalist ‘meat prospectors’.

THE cost to the taxpayer of cleaning up the toxic sludge left by diesel laundering will reach nearly €1 million for 2011 in one county alone.

A LEADING advocacy group for sex abuse victims said it was deeply disappointed by the refusal of Clogher Diocese to apologise to a victim it paid compensation to just five months ago.