IT was a contented Nickey Brennan that greeted the media in the foyer of Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt Hotel the Monday morning after Ireland’s emphatic first Test win over Australia.

The military leader who ousted Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said today the coup was necessary to end mounting rifts within Thai society and Thaksin's efforts to undermine democracy.

Two high-ranking Palestinian security officials, a senior Palestinian banker and the commercial attache at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo died in the bombings in Jordan, the Palestinian envoy to Amman said on today.