A decade-long ban on the export of Irish beef and sheep meat has been lifted by countries in the Gulf Region.

Kingspan is hopeful of another decent performance this year, despite management anticipating a potentially tricky first half.

Shipping and other companies from the Middle East and beyond will be sending more workers for expert training in Cork over the next year.

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, expects the eurozone to remain intact and its slow pace of recovery to create opportunities for outside investors, its co-chief executive said yesterday.

Kuwait’s ruler has said parliamentary elections will be held on December 1 in a bid to ease months of deepening political turmoil that has pit the pro-Western ruling family against opposition forces led by Islamists.

Building insulation specialist Kingspan has entered into agreements to buy two firms for a combined price of nearly €100m

Insulation company Kingspan have announced that it has entered into an agreement with ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG to acquire 100% of the share capital of various companies which comprise ThyssenKrupp Construction Group, the leading European insulated panels business.

A settlement being hammered out between BP and victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill finally provides a system for monitoring health concerns and compensating people with illnesses linked to the disaster.

Seven members of the UK House of Lords and a leading British politician have called on the FIA to cancel this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

An Irish company has been awarded a 25-year contract to supply energy for the tallest building in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Tropical Storm Lee dumped more than a foot of rain in New Orleans and spun off tornadoes elsewhere as its centre came ashore in a slow crawl north that raised fears of inland flash flooding in America’s Deep South and beyond.

British Prime Minister David Cameron flew into Cairo today in the first visit by a world leader to Egypt since a popular uprising forced president Hosni Mubarak out of office 10 days ago.

Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, posing a threat to its neighbours, and the United States is “very ready” to counter Iran should it make a move, the top US military officer said today.

ENGINEERING and construction firm Sammon Group has secured contracts worth €120 million to build five primary schools in the United Arab Emirates.

A week-long trip to the Middle East will help Irish companies land export deals and secure new jobs at home, Trade Minister Batt O’Keeffe said today.

Plans to create 300,000 jobs over the next five years were today dismissed as reheated targets already published by state agencies.

Oil was spewing freely into the Gulf of Mexico as BP crews claimed progress yesterday in the first stages of replacing a leaky cap with a new containment system they hope will finally catch all the crude from the busted well.

THE US Coastguard says BP has been forced to remove a cap that was containing some of the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Embattled BP chief executive Tony Hayward is at the centre of a new controversy today after he went sailing in the UK despite mounting criticism that he is not doing enough to control the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

President Barack Obama’s chief of staff said today BP chief executive Tony Hayward had committed yet another in a “long line of PR gaffes” by attending a yacht race while the Gulf oil spill disaster continued.

PRESIDENT Barack Obama said progress apparently is being made in fighting the enormous Gulf oil spill.

IN Dublin yesterday the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Martin Mansergh, and Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister for Finance in Bahrain, signed a convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion for taxes on income and capital gains.

A Saudi prince wants to buy half of debt-saddled Liverpool, in a deal worth up to £350m (€382m)that would mark the latest buy-in by Gulf investors in an English team, according to reports.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin leaves today for a week-long visit to the Middle East and Gulf region.

President Mary McAleese leaves Dublin today for a five-day official visit to the Gulf region.

President Mary McAleese leaves Dublin tomorrow for a five-day official visit to the Gulf region.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen today praised FÁS chief Rody Molloy for resigning and described him as an honourable public servant.

THERE has been much frenzied commentary and analysis in the international media recently about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites

Luxury shoe specialist Kurt Geiger has teamed up with a Middle East retailer to open a string of stores in the Gulf region, it was announced today.

The new Minister for Trade and Commerce, John McGuinness embarks on his first overseas' trade mission to the United Arab Emirates today.

An al-Qaida front group broadcast a video in Iraq today showing dozens of masked men singing religious and patriotic songs and brandishing automatic weapons as they praised Osama bin Laden and the leader of the Taliban.

HALLIBURTON’S decision to move its base from Texas to Dubai has sparked a political firestorm as Senator Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats expressed outrage at the oil services giant.

The Government is to open a new embassy in the Gulf region, it emerged today.

Iran today condemned the abduction of its diplomat in Baghdad, adding that it holds the United States responsible for his life.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said today that the decision to send a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf region does not mean the United States is planning for a war with Iran.

Iran conducted missile tests today as its leadership stepped up warnings of possible military confrontation with the United States.

Iraqi officials today said multinational forces had detained five Iranians in a pre-dawn raid of Tehran's diplomatic mission in the northern city of Irbil.

Irish companies have secured €1bn worth of new export sales this year and gained strong positions in global markets.

The Taoiseach will lead 120 Irish firms on a major trade mission to the oil-rich Gulf region in January.

President George Bush today said fresh threats by North Korea in the nuclear test row are designed to test the will of the five countries that are working to achieve a political settlement.

Al-Qaida’s No 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, condemned UN peacekeepers in Lebanon as enemies of Islam and warned the terror group would strike the Persian Gulf and Israel, suggesting new fronts in its war against the West in a video today marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

U2 and Green Day are set to make a charity record together to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

A top government official said today that Iraq has an agreement to take over security responsibilities from foreign forces in the south of the country this month.

Spy planes that Iran claims to have shot down over its territory were not operated by the US Air Force, a top American general said today.