China has launched its biggest relocation programme since the Three Gorges Dam, with 330,000 residents set to be moved to new homes to make way for a water project that will serve thirsty Beijing.

NATIONAL Park authorities in Killarney have been given the all-clear to allow treated effluent from an old world café flow into a lakeland area.

BARACK Obama pledged last night that the age of unilateral American action on the world stage was now over.

A MIDDLE-AGED man confessed yesterday to carrying out an arson attack on the southern headquarters of the Health Service Executive in June 2007. The fire is estimated to have cost the HSE €2 million.

Creditors of collapsed Lehman Brothers have asked a US judge to allow an investigation into whether JPMorgan played a role in weakening the investment bank as it headed towards bankruptcy.

IN ALL the hundreds of articles devoted to the subject of Europe in recent weeks and months, I’m not aware of anyone seriously canvassing the only sane course — complete withdrawal.

Not one of the world's top 20 is in the field for the US Tour's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic starting over three courses at La Quinta in California tomorrow.

The airline carried 350,000 passengers from Shannon to Heathrow last year; its closure of the route has shocked and angered aviation and industry sectors in the region, writes Conor Ryan.

Alexander the Great founded Alexandria to immortalise his name amid his quest to conquer the world – but it was apparently not the first city on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.

MIDDLE-AGED city dwellers — a new radio channel just for you is on its way.

A €30 million joint venture between Dawn Farm Foods, based in Naas, Co Kildare, and Minerva Sao Paulo, one of Brazil’s largest beef producers and exporters, was announced yesterday.

European Union leaders have agreed to take a tough new line on EU hopefuls - but remained divided today over how to reform the faltering EU constitution before any new expansion of a union that will swell to 27 members in January.

YESTERDAY’S developments in the Israel-Lebanon crisis stem from the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.

COMPUTER giant Dell has announced a further 420 new jobs, over the next three years, as part of a company expansion in Dublin.

THE exploits of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s only son have often come under scrutiny over the years.

TWO men prevented from boarding a Ryanair plane at Stansted Airport in England after knives were found in their bags were last night being questioned by police.

AS AN advocate of the UN I applaud the industry and determination of a young Jewish people in developing the lands given them in 1947 by that body, as does Breda C Smith (Irish Examiner letters, July 8).

PROSECUTORS are investigating whether to file charges against a witness accused of intentionally misleading investigators by falsely claiming he saw a sniper open fire with an assault rifle and flee in a cream-coloured van.

Osama Bin Laden is both one of the CIA's most wanted men, and a hero for many young people in the Arab world.