Alltech Ideas Conference speakers looked ahead towards a new, sustainable version of global agriculture

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 New Hampshire police officer paid the thief’s tab after learning the culprit stole the items from a store to bake her child’s birthday cake.

An antidepressant drug made here and commonly used by younger adults in Ireland and elsewhere may not be either as effective or as safe as originally believed.

A Canadian software company which plans to create more than 100 customer support jobs in Cork over the next two years has announced an open recruitment event to fill the roles.

A reduction in the number of farmland birds in some European countries is being attributed to insecticides which are also claimed to have caused massive bee deaths globally, according to new research.

Avril Lavigne wants to make a Christmas album now she has beaten Lyme disease.

The two-year wait to earn a ticket to Gleneagles will finally come to an end today for some of the world’s best golfers, just as an Irish club pro and his six-handicapper team-mate tee off at the Scottish resort in search of silverware.

Toxicology reports show Justin Bieber had marijuana and prescription medication in his system when he was arrested in Miami.

IT was an October evening in 1999 when 22-year-old Julie Bouvier was stabbed six times outside a Walmart in Cornwall, a small city in Ontario, Canada. She was about to be married and went to the shopping centre, with her friend, to buy nappies and baby formula.

A 19-year-old man has been charged with assault causing harm to an Irish-Canadian woman who was visiting Ireland as part of the Gathering earlier this month.

Neil Young has cancelled the rest of his European tour.

Redheads have set their sights on smashing a biscuit-baking world record to prove they’re ginger nuts.

THE Body & Soul Festival is becoming a fixture of the Irish summer.

Regarding Justin Bieber’s UK meltdown: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul” (Matt. 16-26).

Regarding Brigitte Bardot’s efforts to save two Asian elephants from being euthanised, I commend animal rights activist and anti-euthanasia advocate Brigitte Bardot for her efforts to rescue the elephants allegedly suffering from tuberculosis in a Lyon zoo.

Working in a “toxic soup” of chemicals linked to certain occupations can double the risk of developing breast cancer.

Justin Bieber’s mother is to release her memoir.

Dublin could become the game development capital of Europe, given the right tax incentives, according to Popcap Games general manager Paul Breslin.

Los Angeles caught a bad case of Bieber fever when hundreds of Justin Bieber fans – along with his famous friends Miley Cyrus, Will Smith, Usher and Selena Gomez – filled the LA Live complex for the premiere of the teenage pop star’s first film, 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never'.

Country singer Shania Twain and businessman Frederic Thiebaud tied the knot in a New Year’s Day wedding in Puerto Rico.

THE uncertainties in the global economy are reflected in the annual results of Aryzta with sales in its key geographic areas, Europe and north America, both down.

Violent storms carrying possible tornados tore across parts of Ontario, Canada, killing one person.

AN anti-smoking lobby group will continue to lobby for smoking to be banned in cars to protect children, despite failing to persuade the Government to introduce the prohibition.

TYPICALLY “western” diets that include a lot of fried food, salty snacks and meat contribute almost a third of the heart attack risk around the world, a study has found.

The man who attacked Oasis star Noel Gallagher during a concert in Canada may have breached security by hiding under the stage, according to reports.

THERE will be high drama in a Limerick fast food outlet tonight.

DOCTORS have made an accidental breakthrough that may unlock how memory works, during experimental brain surgery to control the appetite of an obese man.

Bill Cosby has settled a civil lawsuit filed by a woman who said the entertainer drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home outside Philadelphia.

A STUDY of 27,000 people around the world has shown that all forms of tobacco exposure multiply the risk of having a heart attack.

Newlyweds Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban returned to Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday, after spending a romantic honeymoon in Bora Bora.

THE president of the University of Limerick Professor Roger Downer has decided to step down from his post on health grounds. He made the announcement at a meeting of the UL governing authority yesterday.

General Motors will cut 30,000 jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand and position the world’s biggest carmaker to start making money again after absorbing nearly €3.4bn in losses so far this year.

Actor Lloyd Bochner, best known for his roles as Cecil Colby in TV’s Dynasty, has died of cancer at the age of 81.

COMEDIAN Bill Cosby is at the centre of a sex scandal following allegations that he drugged and sexually molested a woman.

A court in Ontario, Canada, has ordered Conrad Black to return 12 boxes that a security camera showed him removing last week from the headquarters of Hollinger Inc., his holding company.

AN Oregon man who used an internet chat room to try to set up a mass suicide on Valentine’s Day had been trying to persuade women for at least five years to engage in sex acts with him and then kill themselves, a sheriff said.

Police in Washington State have arrested a man for allegedly stalking teen pop star Avril Lavigne.

A twelve-year-old tycoon has been lecturing Hong Kong business leaders on the future of Silicon Valley.