Planting Paradise: Cultivating the Garden 1501 — 1900

FARMERS have been working the land of Ireland for 5,000 years, but recent evidence suggests cows and goats were being milked in the Near East and the Balkans some 3,000 years earlier.

Israeli archaeologists today said they’ve stumbled upon the site of one of the great dramatic scenes of the Roman sacking of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago – the subterranean drainage channel Jews used to escape from the city’s Roman conquerors.

OUR CHRISTMAS traditions often have rather strange and obscure origins.

The US is the largest supplier of weapons to developing nations, delivering more than $9.6bn (€7.86bn) in arms to countries including those in the Near East and Asia in 2004, and boosting worldwide sales to those countries to the highest amount since 2000, a congressional study says.

Three independent witnesses will be used to support the accusation that Michael Jackson gave alcohol to his alleged sex abuse victim, it was reported tonight.

The judge in the Michael Jackson child abuse case today set a tentative trial date of September 13 and heard arguments on whether to reduce the pop star’s bail but did not issue an immediate ruling.

Michael Jackson’s prosecutor is opposing a move by the pop singer to reduce his $3m (€2.5m) bail, arguing that he may be planning to flee the country.