Tourism ambassadors have, for the first time, begun selling Cork city’s visitor attractions to passengers on board the luxury cruise ships calling to the Port of Cork in a bid to capture a slice of an estimated €12m market.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s controversial St Patrick’s Day meeting with US president Donald Trump will take place during an expanded trade mission, writes political correspondent Fiachra Ó Cionnaith.

Donald Trump has vowed to spend some of the final hours of the presidential campaign in Democratic strongholds in a bid to pull off a shock in states that have not voted for a Republican in decades.

The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War.

Police divers in South Florida have recovered a body that was being eaten by a pair of alligators.

This is an idyllic existence that we are probably all lusting after.

The Port of Cork has this week embarked on an effort to attract more cruise liner visits to the famed harbour.

The funeral has taken place in Moyvane, Co Kerry, of the former inter-county footballer Patrick (Paddy) Curtin who died on December 29, following a car crash shortly before Christmas while working in Guatemala.

Kerry footballer Paddy Curtin remained in critical condition on a life-support machine in a Florida hospital last night after suffering catastrophic injuries in a car accident.

USA: When it comes to holiday decorations, Kathy and Mark Hyatt go to extremes.

ENGLAND: Children should be encouraged to read from their cereal boxes at breakfast time, the headmaster of Eton has said.

BRITAIN: The comeback Teletubbies have been revealed — complete with touch-screens on their stomachs.

US: Nine brains were found along a street in a New York village, but authorities say there’s nothing to fear.

A handful of Miami Beach police officers sent hundreds of racially offensive and pornographic emails and possibly jeopardised dozens of criminal cases in which they are witnesses, the department’s chief said.

One man ran naked through a Florida neighbourhood, tried to have sex with a tree, and told police he was the mythical god Thor.

A US-bound passenger plane was forced to dump over 20 tonnes of fuel to make an emergency landing in Shannon, after a Miami barman got into a drunken rage after drinking a huge quantity of vodka on board, a court has heard.

A 28-year-old American man has been fined €1,000 after a plane was forced to divert to Shannon Airport.

VENEZUELA: A woman who bashed President Nicolas Maduro on the head with a mango has been promised a new house for her troubles in a surreal tropical tale that has gone viral in Venezuela.

Rory McIlroy admitted he would need more of the same over the weekend after a second round 66 was not enough to move closer to leader Morgan Hoffmann in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Daniel O’Donnell has spoken movingly of how he missed his mother Julia who was absent from her favourite chair when the family returned home from Christmas midnight Mass.

Three people died and eight were injured in a crash that happened after a motorist hit a bear on a road in the Florida Everglades and stopped.

Tommy Barker hears how a chance sing-song opened extraordinary doors for owner of this Waterville home.

An American woman who has claimed she is the daughter of priest Fr Michael Cleary has said she will take a DNA test to prove she is his child.

There was an increase in the number of passengers flying to and from Gatwick last month.

At least six US airlines cancelled 47 flights to and from Mexico City and Toluca airports after the Popocatepetl volcano spewed ash, steam and glowing rocks.

Seamus Power’s PGA Tour dream will have to wait for at least another year after the West Waterford man fell at the penultimate stage of the dreaded Q School for the second year running.

Back in April when it was scored most everyone agreed that Chris Forrester’s exquisite goal for St Patrick’s Athletic against Shamrock Rovers — a scooped lob which was as immaculate as it was audacious — would not be bettered in the Airtricity League this season.

Tropical Storm Isaac churned across the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, disrupting US offshore energy production and threatening to hit Louisiana on the anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

A stomach virus has made nearly 100 passengers ill on a Princess Cruise Lines ship sailing from South Florida, as people on another of its liners complained of gastrointestinal illness.

A freak October storm knocked out power to more than 3.1 million homes and businesses across north-east America, with close to 2ft of snow falling in some areas.

Kenmare-born Australian expatriate Frank O’Shea reflects on a recent visit to Cobh aboard the cruise ship, the Dawn Princess.

A Florida judge said former teen idol David Cassidy was expected to plead guilty or no contest to a drink-driving charge.

THERE are just a couple of days to go before Crystal Ski ends the special package offers it initiated last year.

A strike by Spirit Airlines pilots has shut down the budget carrier, stranding thousands of travellers.

Legendary rockers Aerosmith have announced dates for a North American summer tour.

The aid flooding into Haiti is not reaching earthquake victims quickly enough to stem growing unrest due to transport bottlenecks, officials said today.

The United States booked a place at Rugby World Cup 2011 with a 27-6 second-leg victory over Uruguay in Florida.

A SOUTH Florida jury has ordered Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million (€202m) to a former smoker, agreeing that the tobacco company’s negligence was the cause of her emphysema.

EDDIE O’SULLIVAN’S USA Eagles will play next month’s Rugby World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay in Florida in a last bid to reach the 2011 tournament.

PANORAMA Holidays is offering May departure specials from Cork to Majorca. The largest of the Balearic Islands caters for all tastes, offering lively, family-friendly resorts, as well as relaxed, low-key resorts, cultural excursions, golf courses and countless beaches.

KITE surfer Kevin Kearney had just come ashore for safety reasons when a blast of wind, spun off by Tropical Storm Fay, landed the 28-year-old in a Fort Lauderdale hospital and put him on computer and television screens around the world.

AN AUSTRIAN tourist died after being bitten by a shark while diving near the Bahamas in waters that had been baited with bloody fish parts to attract the predators.