Irish hockey chiefs were left with a dual conundrum yesterday following the confirmation of dates and venues for next year’s Champions Challenge I.

It has long been a mecca for artists, writers, musicians, and craft workers — now researchers are to investigate why West Cork attracts so many creative people, assess their contribution to the economy and outline how the sector could be developed to create more jobs.

LOUISE MILLAR

WHEN Professor Fan Hong returned to China after studying abroad, she stopped in the neighbourhood where she thought she had lived and wondered where her home had gone.

Jessie J has won four MOBO awards.

Brad Pitt saved a woman on the set of ‘World War Z’ from being trampled.

Sean Wight, the former Kerry minor footballer and one of the first recruits for the so-called 'Irish Experiment' in Australian Rules, has died following a short illness.

P. Diddy is previewing his new material at a free concert.

Geri Halliwell has become the first 'X Factor' guest judge.

Fleetwood Mac are planning to release a new album.

Shoppers' growing appetite for menswear and beauty products helped spur an "improving trend" in sales, UK department store chain House of Fraser said today.

The four ' X Factor' judges use joke names when they stay at hotels.

Rockband Feeder have escaped unscathed after their tour bus crashed and exploded on a British motorway on Friday.

Two close friends of Elvis Presley have refuted claims the star once made a secret visit to London - insisting the singer never set foot in the British capital.

Slash forced Scott Weiland to leave Velvet Revolver by deliberately ignoring him throughout the band's UK tour.

Singer Avril Lavigne has set herself a tough task - by promising fans she'll sing her hit track 'Girlfriend' in eight different languages.

Irish rock star Bono has dismissed reports he silenced an audience in Glasgow, Scotland, recently to demonstrate the plight of poverty in Africa by clapping his hands.

Amy Winehouse has pleaded with fans to send Blake Fielder-Civil red roses to show their support for her jailed husband.

WHEN a 37-year-old man walked into a hospital emergency room in Glasgow, Scotland, last October complaining of “wavy” vision and a non-stop headache that had lasted four weeks, doctors were at first stumped, the British journal The Lancet reported yesterday.

The Australian government has come under fire from civil libertarians and supporters of an Indian doctor accused of links to the failed car bomb attacks on London and Glasgow.

An eighth suspect wanted in connection with the terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow was arrested in Australia, a television network reported today.

The Ireland schools team defeated Italy 22-5 in the first game of the Schools tournament in Glasgow, Scotland.

THE International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced that a photograph by Morgan Treacy of the Inpho agency in Dublin has won the inaugural IRB/Emirates Airline Rugby Photograph of the Year Award.

British actor Robert Carlyle said his last goodbyes to his father Joe at a funeral in Glasgow, Scotland, on Saturday.

Canadian video game developer DC Studios is to create 50 jobs in Dublin with a new development studio.

American rockers REM will resume their European tour tonight, because bassist Mike Mills has recovered from a severe ear infection.

Busted singer James Bourne was lucky to escape injury when he was involved in a car crash earlier this week.

SIX US-bound flights from England, Scotland and France have been cancelled because of security concerns.

Six US-bound flights from England, Scotland and France were cancelled yesterday because of security concerns.

AN escapologist yesterday set a new world record after breaking free from a straitjacket while suspended upside down from a burning rope — 160ft above a city centre.

AN estimated six million people around the world marched in protest against a US-led war on Iraq.

2002 PGA European Tour Schedule