Nearly 1,500 Australians and 400 New Zealanders will be VIPs tomorrow when they land in Ireland on part of a round-the-world cruise.

Your daily, spoiler-free guide to what to look out for on the box.

THE British are peculiar. Their desire to conquer the world has been matched only by their obsession with bringing bits of it home with them.

The world’s first “hotel” made entirely of cake is to welcome guests for one night only — with room service in the form of vanilla sponge cushions and a hand-stitched meringue rug.

A hotel made from cake. Well, not quite. But close.

Ireland has been listed by prestigious travel guide Fodor’s as one of the top 25 places in the world to visit next year.

The trend in football is towards ever-greater analysis of performance data, but some outposts of resistance remain.

Veteran artist Hans Josephsohn’s sculptures have their first Irish outing at Lismore Castle Arts, writes Tina O’Sullivan

Ports and beaches were temporarily shut and islanders and coastal residents ordered to higher ground up and down Latin America’s Pacific seaboard ahead of the tsunami surge triggered by the killer Japanese quake. But it did little damage.

Tsunami waves have hit Hawaii and swept through the island chain after an earthquake in Japan sparked evacuations throughout the Pacific and as far as the US western coast.

Japan has declared a state of emergency at a nuclear power plant when its cooling system failed after the massive earthquake struck.

I WAS sad to see my old mate Gennaro Gattuso in trouble this week.

A MILITARY plane carrying riot police reinforcements landed on Easter Island, and Chile’s Interior Minister said they will continue evicting Rapa Nui islanders who have been squatting in government buildings built on their ancestral properties.

A military plane carrying riot police reinforcements landed on Easter Island, and Chile’s Interior Minister said they will continue evicting Rapa Nui islanders who have been squatting in government buildings built on their ancestral properties.

ACCORDING to Eileen McCarthy of Arup (Irish Examiner, July 9), the Cork-Limerick motorway will save 70 lives over a 30-year period, based on 35 fatalities in 20 years on the roads which it would replace. But this simplistic calculation works out to 52.5 lives saved, not 70, and assumes no one will be killed on the motorway.

SO, on the eve of renewed battle with the old foe, the big question for England: is the glass half-full or half-empty?

A tourist who chipped an earlobe off an ancient Moai statue on Easter Island has been allowed to go home after paying a €10,600 fine and agreeing not to return for three years.

A Finnish tourist has been detained after allegedly stealing a piece of volcanic rock from one of the massive Moai statues on Easter Island.

THE Great Wall of China, Rome’s Colosseum, India’s Taj Mahal and three architectural marvels from Latin America were among the new seven wonders of the world chosen in a global poll.

The Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome and Peru’s Machu Picchu are leading contenders to be among the new seven wonders of the world, as a massive poll draws to a close.

THERE have been numerous letters published in the Irish Examiner regarding the destruction of our archaeological heritage at Tara by road-building, and one asked, ‘Is nothing sacred?’

PROJECT Travel has teamed up with Scandinavian Airlines to offer a special five-night Norwegian break from €769 per person sharing — three nights in Oslo and two in Bergen plus the special ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ journey between the two.

Garden lovers inspired by this year’s Chelsea Flower Show — which included the award-winning 100% Pure New Zealand garden — might like to consider a new Boutique Gardens of New Zealand holiday, exclusively offered by English-based specialist Bridge & Wickers.

THE other papers presented to this conference on The Disappeared Civilisations deal with historic or pre-historic cultures which became extinct: Easter Island and the Inca empire in Peru among them.

THE other papers presented to this conference on The Disappeared Civilisations deal with historic or pre-historic cultures which became extinct: Easter Island and the Inca empire in Peru among them.

THE day before 9/11, a satellite photograph of the United States showed the country covered by a white grid. Straight lines going up. Straight lines going across.

The Government of Chile will present a replica sculpture of an "Easter Island Moai" to the City of Dublin at a ceremony at 11am tomorrow.

NOT only was she a tubby unknown, but, just before the official photograph, she managed to spill coffee all over her good jacket.

ONE woman got abortion, Iraq and the Kyoto Protocol into one shouted sentence. She’d also have got the Stars and Stripes right in the kisser if someone hadn’t pulled away the pro-Bush man who clearly intended to belt her with it.