Hurricane Irene has smashed into the North Carolina coast, forecasters said.

HURRICANE Irene caused extraordinary disruption Friday as it zeroed in for a catastrophic run up the Eastern Seaboard. More than two million people were ordered to move to safer places, and New York announced plans to shut down its entire network of subways for the first time because of a natural disaster.

President Barack Obama says people in Hurricane Irene’s path should be prepared for the worst and take precautions now.

A 5.9 MAGNITUDE earthquake centred in Virginia yesterday forced evacuations of all the monuments in Washington and rattled nerves from the southern state of Georgia to Martha’s Vineyard, the Massachusetts island in the northeast where President Barack Obama is vacationing. No injuries were immediately reported.

THE dramatic advance of Libyan rebels over the forces of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi offers vindication, at least for now, for President Barack Obama’s decision to refrain from using US troops on Libyan soil and to let Nato take the lead in degrading Gaddafi’s military power.

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of the United States today shaking much of Washington and sending people spilling into the streets near the White House.

Clashes broke out near Muammar Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli early today, a day after rebels poured into the Libyan capital in a stunning advance which met little resistance from the regime’s defenders.

FILM director Jim Sheridan and his wife, Fran, have been allowed by the High Court to specifically itemise alleged defects in the construction of their luxury seafront home at Dalkey, Co Dublin.

The detail of a €4m claim by film director Jim Sheridan and his wife, Fran, over alleged defective works on their luxury seafront home in Dalkey, Co Dublin, has been challenged in the High Court.

HURRICANE EARL packed winds near 225km/h as it blew toward North Carolina yesterday, putting the eastern seaboard on alert for a Labour Day weekend pounding by waves, gales and rain.

WANT to live next door to US President Barack Obama? The colonial mansion next to his Chicago home is now available — for the right price.

When Jean came in to my office in Iveagh House she was taken aback and moved to see my photo of her brothers. On leaving Ireland after her term as ambassador she kindly gave me a gift of one of her own photos of the three brothers at home.

PRESIDENT Barack Obama said yesterday the nation had lost “the greatest United States senator of our time” as world leaders joined inlionising Ted Kennedy.

US President Barack Obama has announced he wants Ben Bernanke to get a second four-year term as head of the Federal Reserve, praising his “calm and wisdom” in the face of a near financial collapse.

US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, widely credited with taking aggressive action to avert an economic catastrophe after the financial meltdown last autumn, will be nominated by President Barack Obama for a second term.

Patricia Zengerle reports from Washington on the President’s one-week break away from two wars, global recession and domestic politics.

THERE’S more than the touch of the phoenix about Park House, it is a place that rose up through the ashes of its elder precedent.

The snail-paced Ophelia, downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm, moved out to sea early today after a three-day drenching that was far less severe than many had anticipated.

Cue the ominous bass line and close the beaches.

More than 700 pieces of furniture, jewellery and bric-a-brac from the Kennedy family’s homes went on display at Sotheby’s in New York in preparation for the second sale of property from the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Heirlooms belonging to the Kennedy family dynasty – including a Father’s Day card from JFK Junior to the former president and a letter from the Queen – were stolen from a top auction house in New York, it emerged today.

JOHN F Kennedy Jr and his wife Carolyn were having marital problems and were living apart when they died in a plane crash in July 1999, a new book claims.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has said her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, lied to her about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky until the weekend before he admitted as much to a grand jury.

CUTTING its cloth to a buying market’s measure is Golden Point, a waterside home and possible mariner’s berth in Cork harbour at the mouth of East Ferry: its asking price has been reduced from €1 million to €850,000 to expedite a sale.