Hurricane Harvey, the fiercest cyclone to hit the US in more than a decade, has slammed into Texas, lashing a wide swathe of the Gulf Coast with strong winds and torrential rain.

A workman trapped inside a cash machine in the US was forced to pass handwritten notes through the receipt slot to summon help.

Ireland’s great houses have a habit of throwing up the odd spectacular piece, writes Des O’Sulivan.

Despite all of the advances we have made, or imagine we have made, in trying to understand each other, two of this week’s events are chilling reminders of how fate is such a dominant, almost insurmountable, force in young lives and how some individual and social behaviour is utterly incomprehensible.

A teenager accused of murdering teacher Ann Maguire in her classroom has “accepted responsibility for the unlawful killing”, a court has heard.

Heartbroken girls at Scoil Mháithair Dé in Abbeyfeale cried as a special prayer ceremony took place yesterday.

Teacher Ann Maguire, who was stabbed to death in her classroom, died from “shock and haemorrhage” following an injury to her neck that severed her jugular vein, an inquest has been told.

The husband and daughters of a teacher who was stabbed to death in her classroom have seen the 15-year-old boy accused of her murder appear in court.

A 15-year-old boy remains in custody in the UK following the fatal stabbing of a much-loved teacher in her classroom.

Cork-based heavyweight Mike Perez will bid to clinch a shot at the world heavyweight title in Texas next month.

A man convicted of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, her young son and her mother 13 years ago has been executed by Texas prison officials.

Pope Francis, who is earning a growing reputation as a 'regular guy', surprised his newspaper vendor at home with a phonecall.

In the first of a two-part series on Limerick Regeneration, David Young talks to locals who are disillusioned by broken promises and broken homes

The US has accused Iranian government agents of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, immediately using the thwarted plot to step up sanctions and recruit international allies in a bid to further isolate Tehran.

THERE is no doubt the month of May was special this year, what with the visit of Queen Elizabeth and her husband, followed by the shorter visit of President Barack Obama and his wife.

A GROUP of elite cadets from the US military academy at West Point will this week visit schools in Limerick to share with hundreds of primary students the excitement that engineering and science have to offer.

BP’s massive oil spill became the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, based on the highest of the federal government’s estimates, an ominous record that underscores the dire need to halt the gusher.

BP says it could be tomorrow or later before it knows whether its latest attempt to clog the source of America’s largest oil spill is working.

AS Americans anxiously waited for a slick in the Gulf of Mexico to wash up along the coast, globules of oil were already falling to the bottom of the sea, where they threatened virtually every link in the ocean food chain, from plankton to fish on dinner tables everywhere.

As Americans anxiously waited for a slick in the Gulf of Mexico to wash up along the coast, globules of oil were already falling to the bottom of the sea, where they threatened virtually every link in the ocean food chain, from plankton to fish on dinner tables everywhere.

A skydiver whose parachute collapsed as he was photographing skydiving tandems died after crashing through a house roof in Texas.

EDUCATION on the northside of Limerick will reach a milestone tomorrow when the €12 million St Nessan’s Community College at Moylish opens.

A FORMER state employee responsible for some of Texas’s most vulnerable residents has been convicted of injuring them during orchestrated fights at a state facility for the developmentally disabled.

Health officials in Texas today confirmed a 33-year-old man died last week from swine flu.

LIMERICK gardaí were last night on full alert in Moyross as the body of stab victim Darren Bennett was brought to the local Corpus Christi parish church.

Staff at an inner-city high school made pupils settle differences by fighting bare-knuckle brawls inside a steel cage, a shock report revealed.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas were today ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Ike.

A number of elements to the oil pricing dynamic have been jostling for dominance in the market so far this week with the result that oil stands at somewhat of a crossroads.

As Hurricane Ike charged into the Gulf of Mexico and toward the Texas coast, officials prepared today to evacuate the first of a million residents who could be in the way of the storm’s path.

IRISH AMATEUR boxing president Dominic O’Rourke believes the future stars of Irish boxing will be on display at the National Intermediate Championships which glove off at the National Stadium tonight.

AMID mounting concerns at the amount of junk food being consumed by tens of thousands of young children, a school in a disadvantaged area of Limerick continues to lead the way with it’s healthy eating programme.

A hurricane watch was issued for a portion of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean as Tropical Storm Dean slowly moved across the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said.

Pope Benedict XVI will take part in a religious procession in central Rome today – a day after a German man tried to jump on the open Popemobile in a security scare in St. Peter’s Square.

THE lawyer shot by US Vice President Dick Cheney during a hunting trip was discharged from a hospital yesterday, saying he was sorry for the trouble his hunting companion had faced.

The lawyer shot by US Vice President Dick Cheney during a hunting trip was discharged from a hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, today and told reporters he was sorry for all the trouble Cheney had faced over the past week.

US vice president Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded an elderly companion during a weekend quail-hunting trip in Texas, spraying him in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

AN 18-YEAR-OLD murder victim’s funeral Mass heard yesterday how his parents maintained a three-day vigil by his beside before a life support machine was turned off.

THE post-mortem results on Limerick teenager Darren Coughlan, who died after a vicious attack, were still being finalised by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis last night.

HURRICANE Rita is a storm of breathtaking size, chillingly described by experts as the “perfect storm.”

Hurricane Rita roared toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts early today, a major Category 4 storm that spurred a traffic-snarled exodus toward higher ground and fears it could cripple the heart of the US petrochemical industry.

OUTER bands of rain from Hurricane Rita began falling in New Orleans yesterday and forecasts of between eight and 13 centimetres of rainfall in the coming days raised fears the patched levee system could fail and flood the city all over again.

Traffic came to a standstill and petrol shortages were reported today as hundreds of thousands of people in the Houston metropolitan area rushed to get out of the path of Hurricane Rita, a monster storm with 170mph winds.

Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward the Gulf Coast as a Category 5, 175-mph monster today as more than 1.3 million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.

AS many as one million people were ordered to clear out along the Gulf Coast as hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated yesterday.