IT’S HOT AND HUMID in Hell’s Kitchen but in a stuffy classroom on the second floor of the Irish Arts Centre, Elaine Ní Bhraonáin wants to turn the noisy air conditioner off.

IT WASN’T a hugely significant handball tournament but that didn’t matter to the two NFL stars who had travelled all the way to Seattle to lend their support to Eric Plummer in January, 2004.

FIRST he held up Europe. Now he’s holding up New York. Or a section of it, at any rate.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange today but the smiles from those present will mask growing concern about the economy both in the US and at home.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen begins a four-day visit to the US today during which he will visit the New York Stock Exchange and meet prominent Irish Americans on Wall Street.

ACTOR Gabriel Byrne is to extend to the US a campaign to clear the name of an Irish army lieutenant sacked without explanation more than 30 years ago.