Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin will renew their battle for World Championship gold this afternoon after the pair cruised into today’s 200 metres final (1.55pm Irish time, live on BBC2).

WE SOMETIMES end up in the strangest and most unexpected places for the silliest, unthinking, asleep-at-the-wheel blunders. 

Will chronic water shortages kill the California dream? by Elijah Wolfson

For most sportspeople, the suggestion of Iraq as the next step in a fledgling career might, you’d imagine, hasten the search for a new agent.

The oldest rivalry in Irish basketball will take to the court at the Neptune Stadium tomorrow when BGFNeptune face fellow Cork rivals C&S UCC Demons.

USA: A group of New York’s homeless people could have been forgiven for thinking they were dreaming when they were treated to a slap-up meal at a posh restaurant and then handed $300 (€220) each.

Anyone with a basic grasp of history should be asking a few simple questions.

THE devil isn’t just in the detail at Ballyfin; it’s in the big picture too. A lavish, Regency-era mansion sitting pretty in a private demesne beneath the Slieve Bloom Mountains, this is not only one of the most extravagant five-star hotels in the country, but one of its most exquisitely restored country estates.

US reluctance to engage militarily with Russia in the past suggests it would be well-advised to back off and give the lead role in the Crimea crisis to a group of EU leaders, writes Anne-Marie Slaughter.

Let’s be brutally honest please, and face the fact that if the USA had been in Russia’s position, and had its recent past, they would have sent troops and armour into Crimea, also.

Nigella Lawson is "very close" to her French co-star on cooking show 'The Taste'.

At the beginning of 1983, Irish ambassador Tadgh O’Sullivan believed it was going to be a decisive year for US President Ronald Reagan whose competency was being severely questioned both on the ideological and economic fronts.

Robert Heffernan’s medal chances have been significantly enhanced with the withdrawal of Russian Olympic champion Sergey Kirdyapkin for this morning’s 50km race walk at the World Championships in Moscow and double 50km Olympian Colin Griffin believes the Corkman is on course for a treasured medal.

YIPPEE, another book from Stevie Parle, one of the New Young Voices in food who is now really going into orbit.

Oscar Pistorius insisted he was not at the London Olympics to prove a point as he bowed out of the 400 metres tonight.

An injury to Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt was the big talking point of the Diamond League meeting in Monaco last night.

THE SWIMMER: Sycerika McMahon, 17

The Reuters photographs of lines of bodies at Ali Bin al-Hussein’s mosque in Huola in Syria put our debate about this week’s EU referendum into perspective.

He took a 17-year break from music, now Billy Ocean is enjoying being back on the road. He talks fame, family and Boyzone with Ed Power

American Ashton Eaton set a new world record in winning the men’s heptathlon title at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, but the home nation celebrated the loudest with two medals today.

ROSSLARE FERRY DEAL FOR MUNSTER MATCH

CONRAD MURRAY became Michael Jackson’s personal physician after treating one of the King of Pop’s children in 2008.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE expressed satisfaction with preparations for the World Championships in South Korea after covering the 3,000m walk in 12:52.85 — 15 seconds faster than last year.

US President Barack Obama is set to meet the Navy Seals who joined the daring raid of Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound.

FROM business-class flights, lavish meals and chauffeur-driven journeys to Ryanair, no hotels and just two internal trips in six months — cutbacks, it seems, are even happening at the top of the health service.

Airline giant Virgin Atlantic has announced the creation of 450 jobs under plans to expand its fleet this year.

Military sightings of UFOs, an "alien abduction" in London and an unidentified aircraft shadowing a Lancaster bomber feature among thousands of close-encounter documents released by the British National Archives today.

IT was a knife-edge battle of wits when two schools went head-to-head in the Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) All Ireland Schools Quiz yesterday.

THE person who replaces Prof Brendan Drumm as HSE chief executive when his five-year reign comes to an end this summer should be given a seven figure salary, a leading expert has claimed.

A LIFEBOAT crewman orchestrated a dramatic sea rescue 6,400 km away in the Caribbean from a DIY store in Britain.

Countries most vulnerable to climate change today attacked rich nations for rethinking the global treaty timetable that would enforce legally binding emissions cut targets.

LONG-HAUL operator Tropical Sky could have picked anywhere to feature in their latest holiday promotion, but chose the tiny unspoilt island of Grenada to offer chill-out breaks to Irish clients.

Blackburn striker Jason Roberts will be out for three weeks with a stress fracture of his foot.

NEPTUNE will have a hot reception arranged for DART Killester when they host the first leg of their NIVEA for MEN SuperLeague semi-final at Neptune Stadium tomorrow night.

EMMET Dunphy’s flawed analysis of the situation in Georgia (Letters, August 13), and his consequent petty attempts to take a swipe at anti-war activists, should not pass unchallenged.

Reading 0 Blackburn 0

INDIAN DREAMS, a Dublin based travel company specialising in travel to the subcontinent don’t just offer the normal package holidays.

UCC DEMONS will have revenge on their minds against NIVEA for MEN SuperLeague favourites, Abrakebabra Tigers, at the Mardyke Arena tonight.

Jason Roberts believes Blackburn are primed for a Champions League challenge this season and is determined to be part of it.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will follow the same path that took her to world indoor gold and European outdoor silver medals last year when she launches her indoor season at the Irish indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast at the end of January.

RONAN McGARRITY will be back in the starting five when Merry Monk Ballina travel to Neptune Stadium on Sunday to renew rivalry with Neptune in the NIVEA for MEN SuperLeague.

Hurricane Felix rapidly strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm as it headed through the Caribbean Sea towards Central America, where forecasters said it could make landfall with “potentially catastrophic” effect.

Hurricane Felix gathered strength early today and became a Category 2 storm, the US National Hurricane Center said. It was forecast to pass just north of the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.