A crude bomb killed two people at a busy bus stop a day after another explosion injured five people in the same north-east Indian city.

... but McCarthy remains in running for Ireland return

Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio has revealed that Argentinian full-back Gino Peruzzi will not be joining the club after all.

Gardaí and customs officers have made the largest seizure of ecstasy in nine years after confiscating 350,000 tablets in Dublin.

Two mothers who suffered severe drug-induced reactions were last night out of danger and talking with their families.

At least two people have been killed and 40 others injured when a Polish double-decker bus toppled over on a road in north-east France.

A national charity for men who are victims of domestic abuse has experienced a 33% increase in the number of calls received to its helpline in the first six months of this year.

Police in the Bahamas said today nine people have been shot during a fight at a nightclub, and three men are in a critical condition.

Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill has insisted Stephane Sessegnon is happy on Wearside despite continued speculation that he could leave the club.

MOST women should be offered midwife-led care that uses fewer interventions and is just as safe as the consultant-led model, a major study recommends.

An attack by a radical Muslim sect which killed at least 69 people in north-east Nigeria has been condemned by the United Nations.

THE Health Service Executive has spent more than €100 million on predominantly private security services for its facilities over the last six years.

Japanese farmers took to the streets in Tokyo today demanding compensation for radiation contamination to their crops and livestock from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

At least 10 people have died and three are missing after heavy rains and flooding in north-east Romania, authorities said today.

Peter Mandelson today issued a warning to straying Labour voters who are considering voting Liberal Democrat – flirt with Nick Clegg and you will end up married to David Cameron.

A LEADING north-east GP has claimed patient referral letters are being left unopened across the country to help hospitals avoid waiting list-related fines.

A UKRAINIAN chemistry student was killed chewing explosive bubble gum that tore off half of his face.

London’s blue chip share index soared almost 2% today amid encouraging news on the US housing market and a new record for gold prices.

England striker Peter Crouch has reached an agreement to join Tottenham, the London club have confirmed.

A US swimming pool was at the centre of a 1960s-style race row today after its members allegedly turned away black and Hispanic youngsters and pulled their own children out of the water.

A leading French online retailer is to establish its UK and Ireland regional headquarters in Dundalk with the creation of 50 jobs over the next two years, it was announced today.

TALKS over Alan Shearer’s future continued yesterday amid renewed speculation that owner Mike Ashley could sell the club.

Flogas has announced plans to roll out a natural gas service for commercial customers throughout Ireland, following a successful pilot launch in the North-East.

The Irish Nurses Organisation says A&E departments in the north-east are struggling to cope with a huge number of patients today.

Newcastle head coach John Fletcher believes yesterday’s thrilling 22-19 triumph at Saracens showed Jonny Wilkinson exactly why he should remain in the north-east.

UK banking group Abbey’s Spanish owner set out plans for an additional 300 branches as part of attempts to bolster the UK business today.

A cycle race to raise the awareness of missing persons is taking place in north-east today.

THE armies of Turkey and Iran are massing troops along the Iraqi-Kurdish borders, threatening to invade the only relatively peaceful area of Iraq.

A fourth person has been arrested in the abduction of a five-month-old girl from her adopted parents’ home in north-east Mississippi, authorities said.

A parked car struck a convoy of Iraqi police commandos and gunmen opened fire on police on a foot patrol in a mostly Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad today, police said, a day after gunmen stormed a senior Iraqi police officer’s home north-east of the capital.

Silvio Berlusconi has been campaigning to the point of exhaustion in hope of boosting fellow conservatives’ fortunes in local balloting across Italy and dealing a blow to Premier Romano Prodi, his archrival who beat him a year ago for the nation’s leadership.

A suicide bomber struck outside a college campus in Iraq today, killing at least 31 people and injuring dozens.

A winter storm that slathered the US Midwest and Plains under a thick coat of ice crashed into the North-east today, downing power lines, making roads treacherous and chasing away spring-like temperatures.

An explosion today at a refinery in north-east Romania left three workers dead.

Sri Lanka’s military carried out airstrikes on Tamil rebel artillery positions today in the first air raid since failed peace talks in Switzerland, the Defence Ministry said.

A militant group ambushed and killed 11 people today, including seven soldiers, in India’s remote North-East.

The Football Association have charged agent Charles Collymore with breaching rules on touting players as part of their investigation into claims made by Luton manager Mike Newell.

NOVATION will launch its first Enterprise Day at Dundalk Institute of Technology today.

NOVATION will launch its first Enterprise Day at Dundalk Institute of Technology today.

The Minister for Communications says he hopes that the testing of digital terrestrial television pictures in Ireland will be underway by the autumn.

UNLIKELY hero Daryl Murphy is refusing to give up on his Premiership dream, after snatching just a fourth home point of the season for Sunderland.

A FARMER in north-east China has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the government said yesterday, making her the country’s fifth confirmed human case of the disease.

A farmer in north-east China has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the government said today, making her the country’s fifth confirmed human case of the disease.