A spokesman for Met Éireann has admitted they sometimes "overdo it" in order to err of the side of caution when it comes to issuing coded weather warnings.

Many parts of the country is bracing itself for further flooding today as yet another Atlantic storm looks set to hit.

Police in the US had to break a sex shop owner out of handcuffs.

Widespread loyalist rioting broke out in the North overnight and left several police officers injured.

Three men were charged today after an attack on an Orange hall in Limavady, Co Derry.

EUROPE was blasted by more snow yesterday as Britain endured its coldest night of the winter and fears for energy supplies intensified.

President Mary McAleese is to visit an Orange Order hall in Cavan today.

More residents of Southern California have been urged to leave their homes despite calming winds that allowed a major aerial attack on wildfires.

Firefighters battling wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes in Southern California were today aided by calmer winds.

Los Angeles appeared surrounded by flames today, with three wildfires consuming spacious mansions and tiny mobile homes at the edges where bone-dry wilderness meets burgeoning development.

The death toll from hurricane Ike rose to 30 in eight states today as the storm slogged across the mid-US leaving a trail of flooding and destruction.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas were today ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Ike.

A HOSPITAL chief executive has been arrested in what authorities say was a scheme to recruit homeless people as pretend patients and bill US government programmes for millions of dollars in unnecessary health services.

GOVERNMENT aid is likely to be sought for the redevelopment of an Orange Hall in Co Cavan, which was gutted at about 8pm on Thursday night in a suspected arson attack.

Firefighters battling wildfires menacing southern California discovered the bodies of six people killed by the flames.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated and thousands of homes remain at risk tonight as wildfires tear through southern California, US authorities said.

The Government was urged today to simplify the process of securing compensation in Northern Ireland for Orange halls targeted in arson and other attacks.

A wildfire that authorities believe was sparked by remnants of a controlled burn grew in size overnight but crews made significant progress in containing it, officials said today.

Hurricane Rita’s path of devastation along the Texas-Louisiana coast became shockingly clear as rescuers pulled stranded bayou residents out on skiffs and Army helicopters searched for thousands of cattle feared drowned.

HURRICANE Rita smashed into a region that is wealthier, more mobile and much less densely populated than the one devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Frances weakened to a tropical storm today and crawled inland with heavy rain after leaving two people dead and more than five million without power.

Hurricane Frances swept across Florida today submerging entire roads, tearing off rooftops and leaving more than four million people without power.

Surging flood waters killed three men and swept a woman off a bridge in storms that lashed southern France, closing schools, roads and power plants and causing dozens of people to flee their homes.

A Texan woke up today with a stiff back after spending the first of 30 nights sleeping in a dog kennel in his front garden as punishment for beating his stepson.

A dust cloud swept across eastern Australia today, dumping fine red powder on towns throughout the region.

The Parades Commission has upheld its ruling that this year's annual Drumcree march cannot proceed down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road.

An 800-acre fire in central Florida has closed five major Orlando highways and contributed to a nine-car crash on the Florida Turnpike. No serious injuries were reported.

A veteran loyalist was under fire today for urging the RUC to stand up for ‘‘their own Protestant people’’ in the Drumcree parade dispute.

French socialists today moved into position to wrest Paris from the right in the first round of municipal elections but failed to carry the country as polls had predicted.