It’s a long road to recovery.

Having worked as an estate agent in the vast expanse of Texas, there was no way the woman of this house was ever going to build small, or put up with pokey rooms, when she returned to her native Cork, writes Tommy Barker. 

Here’s a prediction: the next great Irish athlete, the one we take a hiatus from work to watch challenge for an Olympic medal, will not be a distance runner.

The International Space Station's Joe Acaba, the first astronaut of Puerto Rican heritage, has been affected by two hurricanes - even in orbit.

The official death toll after Mexico's 8.1 magnitude earthquake has risen to 96 as more deaths were confirmed in the hard-hit southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Rescuers are continuing to search waterlogged neighbourhoods in Houston, Texas, as officials turn their attention to finding temporary housing for those in shelters in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

European markets sunk into the red on Tuesday after North Korea ratcheted up tensions with the United States by firing a ballistic missile over Japan.

Hurricane Harvey has deluged America's fourth-largest city with devastating floods, with rising water forcing thousands on to rooftops and overwhelming rescuers receiving constant calls for help.

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

Innovative research into irritable bowel syndrome, a condition which causes agonising pain to thousands of sufferers, will be presented at a prestigious international conference in Cork this week.

Scientists have potentially narrowed the search area for the missing Malaysian airliner to three specific locations in the southern Indian Ocean, through new satellite and drift analysis of the 2014 crash released on Wednesday.

Two gang members who are in the US illegally held three teenage girls against their will in Houston, Texas, and killed one of them in a satanic ritual, authorities have said.

A teenager who captured the hearts of people with a heartbreaking video in a bid to raise money to help with her rare cancer treatment has suffered a worrying health setback.

Kieran Marmion is not about to argue he is a viable alternative to Conor Murray for the Ireland number nine jersey. Not yet at least.

Her plight also inspired Belfast-based MMA fighter Andrew Murphy to donate the ticket profits from his upcoming fight.

Oil major BP has approved a $9bn (€8.5bn) investment in its ‘Mad Dog’ project in the Gulf of Mexico, its first major new platform in the region since a 2010 explosion at its Macondo well led to the worst offshore disaster in US history.

Switzerland: It was built to help uncover the building blocks of our universe — but scientists have found that Cern’s Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator can write beautiful music too.

Brawling from the beginning, a fiery Marco Rubio went after front-runner Donald Trump in the last Republican presidential debate before the key ‘Super Tuesday’ contest, lashing out at his position on immigration, his privileged background, and his speaking style.

The touching photo of Charlotte and her rider has since gone viral.

The four women who made a little bit of Irish sporting history by competing in the weightlifting World Championships for the first time finished much nearer last than first, but the venture was still a success for one of the country’s fastest-growing sports.

Lai Nguyen, his wife Thuy and his teenage daughter Tham usually spend their nights cooking, packing and serving delicacies such as aromatic duck, yuk sung, and spicy prawn coconut soup to customers at their family business, the Clarehall Chinese Takeaway in Dublin.

USA: A New York man is building his own sovereign nation called Zaqistan on a remote piece of land in Utah.

A woman who previously dated the man accused of fatally shooting her, her husband and six children had texted her mother before her death that she was being held at gunpoint.

Eight people, five of them children, were killed at a house in Houston, Texas, and a suspect in the shooting surrendered to police after an hour-long standoff, law enforcement officials said yesterday

Former US president George H.W. Bush suffered a neck fracture in a fall at his home in Maine, though he was listed in stable condition and his hospital stay was expected to be brief, his spokesman said.

A standing ovation and fond reminiscences marked a family-and-friends memorial to the late blues great BB King’s life and legacy.

A leading American professional handball promoter has described 21-year-old Cork sensation Catriona Casey as “the best female handball player that has ever lived”.

Jordan is going after Islamic State group militants wherever they are and plans to “wipe them out completely,” Jordan’s interior minister said.

Two men arrested in Houston, Texas, have been accused of stealing an iPad and using it to take selfies that they unknowingly uploaded to the owner’s iCloud account.

Two men arrested in Houston, Texas, have been accused of stealing an iPad and using it to take selfies that they unknowingly uploaded to the owner’s iCloud account.

The mother of a 14-year-old boy murdered by a teenage gamer warned of the “very real danger” posed by “online predators”.

A US student is gaining an internet reputation as a "squirrel whisperer" for befriending, feeding and dressing up a furry little friend she has named Sneezy.

Man saved by firefighters with just seconds to spare - this is like something out of a movie.

A Russian academic embroiled in an international tug-of-love dispute with his British-based former wife has gone into hiding with their two sons in defiance of a court order, lawyers say.

A postman has been shot dead while delivering mail in Maryland.

Two people were killed and at least 22 others were injured when two gunmen opened fire at a house party in Houston, Texas.

Justin Bieber reportedly partied in a strip club in Houston, Texas, last night.

Hard case blames Viagra for failure to tax car

THE voice down the phone from Houston, Texas, is as familiar as a favourite uncle, an easy drawl heard countless times over the airwaves singing any of his multitude of hits.

Saturday morning in Houston, Texas and it’s already too hot for rugby or anything really.