Obama to host Democratic candidate Sanders in Oval Office

EVEN if you leave aside the absurd fact that an American presidential race where the two frontrunners — Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton — represent long-tailed dynasties that have already had their feet under the Oval Office table for two decades, the tremendous sums committed to succeeding President Barack Obama hardly show democracy, or at least American democracy, in an inspiring or reassuring light.

Two men aged in their 30s and 40s are due before Dublin District Court this morning in connection with an attempted armed robbery at a Post Office in the capital yesterday.

George Clooney reportedly wants to run for Governor of California.

Ireland will be without a US ambassador for a second St Patrick’s Day in a row, despite earlier expectations that the position would be announced during Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s visit there later this week.

President Barack Obama has named long-time foreign policy aide Denis McDonough as his next White House chief of staff.

Democrats kicked off their 2012 convention with first lady Michelle Obama firing the first shots of a three-day salvo aimed at breaking the electoral deadlock with Republicans.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning as he continues a busy trip to the US to continue the St Patrick’s weekend celebrations.

A quantity of cash has been recovered following an armed robbery in a Post Office in Bray Co Wicklow at 11.45am this morning.

President Barack Obama will mark a promise kept in a speech today, declaring the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq and wagering the wobbly Baghdad government can hold together against a still-dangerous uprising.

US Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal was sacked by Barack Obama tonight for publicly criticising the president.

The top US commander in Afghanistan was summoned to Washington today after criticising politicians and civilian officials over their attitude to the war.

President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in an unusual pair of low-profile meetings at the White House amid a serious dispute about settlement construction.

BARACK OBAMA has begun one of the toughest sales jobs of his presidency, launching the much-awaited roll-out of his Afghan war strategy by informing top military and civilian advisers in Washington and Kabul and telephoning key allies around the globe.

Millions of Americans held parties across the US last night, including at the gates of the White House, as they celebrated their new leader who will bring in a different era of politics and transform race relations in the country.

INTERNATIONAL financial services giant, Citigroup is set to significantly expand its Irish operations by adding a further 145 jobs in Belfast at a new information technology centre, which will support customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Actor Sean Bean wed for the fourth time today.

The inquest into the fatal shooting of two armed raiders by Gardaí in north Dublin is continuing amid tight security today.

The diaries of former US president Ronald Reagan – described as the most detailed presidential record in American history – have been unveiled.

A tiny Kerry club with huge ambition lines out on the GAA’s biggest stage tonight in Croke Park.

Ordinary Americans joined President George Bush and other dignitaries in Washington to pay final respects to Gerald Ford as the former US president’s flag-draped coffin rested under the Capitol dome, before a last round of funeral services and burial near his family home in Michigan.

US President George Bush calls Joshua Bolten, his new chief of staff, a “creative policy thinker”.

Events to mark the forthcoming centenary of the birth of Nobel-winning writer Samuel Beckett will be announced today.

AMERICAN president George W Bush has for the second time been chosen as Time magazine’s Person of the Year, after winning re-election and “reshaping the rules of politics to fit his 10-gallon-hat leadership style” - a reference to his cowboy image.

BOTH Presidents Bush, rock stars and ordinary admirers of Bill Clinton turned out yesterday to pay homage to the former president at the opening of the Clinton Presidential Centre in Arkansas.

AT 6am yesterday, a good hour before dawn, George W Bush was already up and about.

AS Bill Clinton strode through Easons bookshop, in Dublin, every shelf held a chapter of his life.

US presidential candidate John Kerry has said that a shake-up is needed to end the Bush administration’s mistakes and incompetence over the war in Iraq.

Opposition activists today refused to disband protests until authorities agree to re-count Taiwan’s weekend presidential election, won by the incumbent one day after he was wounded in a mysterious shooting that critics say influenced the vote.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush urged the US “forward into the universe” last night, outlining a costly new effort to return Americans to the moon as early as 2015 and use it as a way-station to Mars and beyond.

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH was supported by a grim-faced shadow cabinet last night as he gave his farewell speech.

American First Lady Laura Bush today rejected claims that her daughter Barbara had worn jeans to meet the Queen.

US President George W Bush pressed Ariel Sharon to move forward on a US-backed Middle East peace plan, but the Israeli prime minister said violence must end first.

Bill Clinton, in a farewell from the Oval Office, has told the US that "America has done well" during his presidency.