CANADA: A Canadian man who repeatedly entered Michigan to buy and ship thousands of turtles to his native China only to be caught with 51 of them strapped to his legs was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for smuggling.

USA: A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the line at a drive-through restaurant.

The financial problems for a Dublin city centre club and restaurant stemmed from its directors acquiring a company that had extensive debts, of which they were unaware, a judge stated yesterday.

STEVIE ‘G’ Grainger is a DJ on Red FM in Cork, and releases music on his Soul Jamz label. He’s bringing his Vinyl Love night to the Odessa in Dublin on March 22 in aid of marriage equality.

Ten people were killed and five severely injured when a Texas prison bus carrying 15 people skidded off an icy highway overpass and hit a moving freight train yesterday, officials said.

At least 10 people were killed - 8 officers and 2 prisoners - when a bus carrying state prisoners skidded off an icy highway overpass in Texas, slid down an embankment and collided with a passing train.

Ellen Kent braved a war zone in her efforts to bring two marvellous operas to Ireland, writes Jo Kerrigan

So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.

Some of Ukraine’s top officials have ended up in a wheelie bin after being targeted by far-right groups.

POOR Robots. There’s always such pressure on them.

The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of internet videos.

Germany is pushing for a second round of diplomatic talks in Geneva in an effort to halt the violence in Ukraine.

Authorities in Ukraine say government forces have reclaimed a television tower during a security operation to quell pro-Russian rebel activity in the eastern town of Kramatorsk.

Police in the Ukrainian city of Odessa said 31 people have died as the result of a building fire that broke out during a clash between pro-Russia demonstrators and supporters of the central government in Kiev.

Ukraine has launched its first major offensive against the insurgency sweeping the east of the country, killing and wounding a number of militants.

A magazine interview with Ukrainian-Moldovan model Valeria Lukyanova (aka “the human Barbie”) offers some insight into her bizarre and fascinating world.

WE have been here before.

Saturday night, the first day of February, an orange weather warning across the country and still 26,000 fans turn out to watch the first game of the National League under lights.

Sometime, hopefully, an enterprising tv production unit might take a punt and invest a year of their careers living under the skin of a parish GAA club.

A passenger plane carrying football fans skidded past a landing strip and overturned in Ukraine, killing five people.

ESPN has to be careful how it goes at the best of times.

Eighteen people were treated after a toxic gas leak on a ship docked at a Northern Ireland harbour.

Security forces have uncovered a plot to assassinate Russia’s Vladimir Putin and have arrested suspects linked to a Chechen rebel leader known for other terror attacks, Russian state television reported yesterday.

Russian and Ukrainian special services have arrested a group of suspects over an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia’s state television reported today.

Germany has agreed after a year of tough negotiations to pay pensions to about 16,000 additional Holocaust victims all over the world.

Hitler’s attack on Russia on this day 70 years ago was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany, writes Geoffrey Roberts

A major new cardiac programme for Ukrainian children will be officially launched in the former Soviet state today by campaigner Adi Roche.

THE International Transport Federation will this morning begin to repatriate four of the nine crew of a Latvian vessel currently detained in Cork Harbour.

Bolton’s Idal Tal got the ball rolling, netting in the 19th minute, with star striker Roberto Colautti heading in number two before half-time.

Andy Murray kept his nerve to clinch a fiery fourth rubber and seal Great Britain’s Davis Cup Euro-African Zone Group One relegation play-off victory over Ukraine in Odessa.

Greg Rusedski summoned enough spirit from the wreckage of his injury-ravaged summer to leave Great Britain on the brink of victory in their Davis Cup relegation play-off with Ukraine in Odessa.

A swan has been discovered with bird-flu antibodies near the Ukrainian border, Romania’s agriculture minister said today.

A freight train crashed into a passenger bus at a road crossing in southern Ukraine today, killing 14 people, emergency officials said.

One of Bewleys much-loved cafes reopened on Dublin’s Grafton Street today after a six-month revamp.

BERNARD DUNNE just can’t wait for Saturday night’s version of the Odessa File when he touches gloves with Ukrainian southpaw Yuri Voronin at the National Stadium.

Cormac O’Keeffe

DIRECT evidence of "citizenship tourism" is revealed in documentation obtained by the Irish Examiner.