Fiann Ó Nualláin’s horticultural hero for this month is geographically linked to the TV show, The High Chaparral.

U2 guitarist The Edge has won approval to build five hilltop homes in the California celebrity enclave of Malibu despite opposition from environmentalists who fear it will endanger crucial wildlife corridors for such animals as mountain lions and bobcats, officials said.

IT’S AUCTION season — time to bag a bargain — if you have a few million to spare that is.

UNION HALL AND LOCH CLOCHAR

RATHBARRY, CASTLEFREKE AND THE LONG STRAND (CLONAKILTY)

A great white shark caught in the waters off California is on display at an aquarium where it can be viewed in person or via a live webcam.

GRAEME MCDOWELL threw open the curtains of his $500 a night hotel room at the Monterey Plaza on Cannery Row and stepped out onto the balcony to drink in the salty air and the stunning views.

More fire crews were deployed across California today to gain control of a series of growing wildfires that have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.

At least five people died and dozens were injured when a bus carrying French tourists overturned on a US motorway bridge, it was revealed today.

Damien Enright says the world of nature has been knocked out of kilter.

“I'M going back to school tonight”, quipped 16-years-old Patrick Mullins, after he had partnered Diego Garcia to a smooth victory in the Denny Havasnack Race at Tralee yesterday.

A NEIGHBOUR of mine has a large garden and about 30 years ago he planted a lot of trees in it. The trees grew well, perhaps a little too well, and he became uneasy about the fact that they were starting to crowd him out. I was called in to give my opinion.

ALMOST all EU countries have been accused of inflating their overseas aid figures in a report released by Oxfam.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said his love life suffered after he endorsed President George Bush in his speech at the Republican National Convention.

The key issue in the discovery of 11 warheads in an Iraqi bunker is whether they were intended to be filled with lethal chemical agents or explosives, former UN weapons inspectors said.

Six years after they identified Sudden Oak Death syndrome, scientists are still struggling to understand the disease that’s killing thousands of trees in California.