EVERYTHING is very plain and modern now,” a dying man tells the author Jack London roughly halfway through Minds of Winter, warning the writer against the gothic, supernatural excesses of the yarn he is spinning in a hospital ward.

The Witcher 3 may have been out for months and already released its 16 extra free bits of DLC but that doesn't mean things are slowing down.

He doesn’t treasure many memories from his adventures in America last year, but Shane Lowry would love to be back stateside this week as the world’s finest golfers descend on San Antonio for the Valero Texas open.

Your spoiler-free guide to what to look out for on the box tonight.

You find this column in a holding pattern today which, as anyone who has ever experienced the same situation in the sky above Heathrow will know it could mean a landing any time between now and Christmas.

The roads in some parts of rural Cork might be a bit bumpy but they’re nothing compared to what a married couple will have to endure when they take part in a 1,000-mile rally in North Africa.

Pope Francis’s relentless pace on his tour of Brazil is wearing out his aides.

President Barack Obama has arrived in Israel and vowed "eternal" support for his top Middle East ally.

One word to sum up Sunday’s events in Croke Park?

You’ve the squad memorised, and the tactics sussed. Ben Lyttleton and Iain MacIntosh help broaden fans’ minds a little further with some topographical titbits on the other 15 nations at Euro 2012.

Pope Benedict XVI issued pleas for peace to reign across the world during his traditional Christmas address today, a call marred by Muslim extremists who attacked Christian churches in Nigeria, including bombing a Catholic Mass.

THEY bask in the warm after glow of September glory but it is then that the hard choices emerge for All-Ireland winning managers.

NINE young people were taken to hospital in Eng-land after taking notorious party drug meow-meow.

MICHAEL BROWNE knows plenty about bringing teams to the Promised Land.

The High Court gave Ian Bailey’s legal team two weeks “to get its house in order” today, stating it did not want the case “to drift off into Never Never land”.

Ireland‘s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Sean Brady, tonight called for Israel to lift its military blockade of Gaza.

DASHING around to the ground on Saturday, late as ever, an Only Fools & Horses style t-shirt on one of the stalls caught my eye, featuring Harry Redknapp as Del Boy and a rib-tickling variation of his catchphrase: “This time next year we’ll be Champions League”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today appealed to Pope Benedict XVI “to make his voice heard” and use his moral authority to condemn the harsh anti-Israel rhetoric voiced by Iran’s hard-line president.

STANDING in the cradle of Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI told Palestinians yesterday he understood their suffering and offered his strongest and most symbolic public backing yet for an independent Palestinian state.

I WISH to compliment you on the series of articles (Irish Examiner June 27-29) commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. It needs to be remembered.

POPE BENEDICT XVI yesterday urged the use of diplomacy to defuse nuclear crises, in a clear reference to worries over Iran, and prayed that Palestinians would have their own state alongside that of Israel.

A man was killed today by an explosion at a water treatment plant which propelled a storage tank through a roof and 200ft in the air.

A man was killed in a chemical explosion at a water treatment plant in Northern Ireland today.

DESPITE an ongoing knee problem, Allstar John Leahy could be tempted to make a dramatic return for his club Mullinahone’s semi-final clash with Toomevara in the Tipperary county senior hurling championship at Thurles tomorrow.