Motorists in the UK have been warned of dangerous conditions on the roads and air travellers of potential disruption as snow and ice hit large swathes of the country.

North Ronaldsay is the northernmost island of the Orkney archipelago. 

Richard Collins has discivered an educational comic book with a millenia’s old story and he’s here to tell you all about it.

An eyewitness account of the failed French invasion at Bantry dated December 31, 1796, comes up at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on January 21.

Parts of Scotland are experiencing heavy snow showers and winds of more than 125km/h as Storm Conor makes its presence felt across the north of the UK.

PLASTIC PADDING: Exposure in the womb to a common chemical used in plastic water bottles and food cans may predispose babies to obesity, research suggests.

David Cameron is preparing for another term as the UK's Prime Minister, as the General Election put his Conservative Party on the brink of securing an absolute majority in the House of Commons.

A major rescue operation has been launched after a cargo vessel believed to be carrying eight people overturned off the north of Scotland.

A 72-year-old woman jailed for hugging her granddaughter in breach of a court order banning contact has been freed by a judge.

An oil platform has been evacuated off the coast of Scotland after a cargo vessel carrying radioactive waste from Scotland to Belgium began drifting towards it.

ACCORDING to Waterbirds in the UK 2012/13, a report just published by the British Trust for Ornithology, the populations of some duck and wader species are declining. Birds don’t recognise political boundaries and wetland ones are great travellers.

THE Old Man of Hoy, in Orkney, is a spectacular sight. This vertical pillar, rising from the sea, 60m out from a sheer cliff-face, is 137 metres high and about 30m thick.

A Cork-based firm is set to become Europe’s largest independent developer of tidal power.

Around a million Britons can claim direct descent from Vikings, according to a new DNA study.

West Skeam, in West Cork’s Roaringwater Bay, is looking for a one-in-a-million buyer. Tommy Barker reports

The highest rate of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the world has been found in a small group of islands in Scotland, researchers have said.

Graveyards for unbaptised children are scattered throughout Ireland. Now, towns and villages are reclaiming these lonely and forgotten burial places writes Carl Dixon

THE visit to the Dublin coast of an exotic creature from the Arctic ended in tragedy recently.

George Mackay Brown: The Wound and the Gift

Motorists battled with hazardous conditions on the roads today as the widest-spread November snowfall for 17 years gripped the UK.

THE mournful call of the curlew resonates with the Irish psyche, a reminder of ancient tragedies, the great famine or the emigrant ship.

Harland and Wolff shipyard has won a contract to build a new tidal turbine for testing, it was revealed today.

Sweeping reforms to parliamentary constituencies in Britain will be introduced alongside moves to change the voting system, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced today.

A Scottish activist who was caught up in the storming of the Gaza aid flotilla today spoke of her “horrendous” ordeal.

Flight restrictions affecting Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been lifted, British air traffic control company Nats have said.

The UK flights’ ban was today extended until at least 7am tomorrow as the cost to the travel industry of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud crisis grew.

The airline crisis deepened today when the UK flight ban was extended to at least 1am tomorrow.

LEADING Irish firm SSE Renewables has won a series of lucrative tidal energy contracts in north-east Scotland as part of a multi-billion euro project in a location described as “the Saudi Arabia of marine power”.

British MPs are to study the handling of the case of the Lockerbie bomber as part of a wider probe into relations between Westminster and Holyrood, it was announced today.

The drummer from indie band Keane will today meet a death row prisoner in the US, jailed in what campaigners believe to be a miscarriage of justice.

An innovative tidal power turbine in the North has been damaged, its owner said today.

Supermarket giant Tesco has taken a step closer to complete retail conquest of the country after buying stores on several remote Scottish isles.

The body of a British backpacker murdered in New Zealand is expected to be flown back to the UK at the end of the week, her family said.

CENTURIES after its predecessors terrified the citizens of this island, a Viking longship will once again arrive in Dublin.

A SERIES of vigils in support of the kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston were held yesterday amid unconfirmed claims he had been killed.

Two men were killed and another seriously injured today after being hit by a wave on an oil tanker.

Big Brother star Cameron Stout did not live up to his name today after shedding almost two stone during a weight-loss study.

Wannabe celebrities are hoping for 15 minutes of fame today, as hit reality show Big Brother stages for the first time open auditions in an attempt to find its next set of housemates.

The body of a man reported missing during a dive on a shipwreck off Orkney earlier today has been found.

Big Brother winner Cameron Stout returned to his native Orkney today for the first time since he shot to fame on the hit reality television show.

Big Brother winner Cameron Stout was preparing for a hero’s welcome today as he returned to his native Orkney for the first time since he shot to fame.