A legal dispute which has "serious implications" for preparations by the Pacific Island nation of Tonga for this year's Rugby World Cup has come before the High Court.

World Rugby’s efforts this week to clarify its position on the proposed Nations Championship are unlikely to have offered much comfort to those for whom the PRO14 is their staple oval-ball fare.

World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont has called a meeting to discuss the future of the international game amidst controversy over plans for a World League.

Four years on and the decision by the International Cricket Council to cut the number of teams for their blue-chip World Cup from 14 to 10 still manages to induce a volume of bile that shows no sign of abating.

The IRFU has reiterated its commitment to player welfare in the wake of reports that World Rugby is on the verge of introducing a World League format that has prompted a wave of protest from player reps.

Eddie Jones insists England have the resources to cover for the loss of Maro Itoje as a cloud hangs over the Saracens lock’s participation in the rest of the Guinness Six Nations.

When you put in the type of performance David Pocock delivered against Ireland last weekend, it becomes a little difficult to comprehend the Australian back-rower believed taking his one-year sabbatical from the game was something of a career risk.

Fiji is entering a "frightening new era" of extreme weather, the leader of the Pacific island nation said after flooding from a cyclone killed at least four people.

If last Saturday proved a pretty humbling experience for South African rugby, it wasn’t a great week for the game’s governing body, World Rugby, either.

An emergency alert was mistakenly broadcast to Guam residents amid fears of missile strikes against the Pacific island by North Korea.

World Rugby has voted to increase the required residency period to be eligible for international rugby from three to five years.

Des O’Driscoll picks the best of the box this week

Russian president Vladimir Putin assured citizens that he was trying to relieve the hardships inflicted on them by the slowing economy and the financial knock-on effects of Russia’s stand-off with the West.

The World Health Organisation says excessive weight, obesity, ageing, and population growth drove a nearly fourfold increase in worldwide cases of diabetes over the last quarter- century, affecting 422m people in 2014.

Fiji is counting the cost of a cyclone that has devastated the Pacific island nation and which has been described as the strongest storm ever to hit the southern hemisphere.

A major riot has broken out at a remote detention centre for asylum seekers in the Indian Ocean.

A lawyer for a pregnant Somalia refugee rape victim said he wanted to seek a court order keeping her in Australia before the government suddenly flew her to Nauru without providing the abortion she had requested.

England: Corn-on-the-cob-consuming contestants have failed to break the sweetcorn-eating world record despite their “valiant efforts” in the UK championships.

Negotiators have reached a watered-down deal at UN talks in Peru that sets the stage for a global climate pact in Paris next year.

Negotiators have reached a watered-down deal at UN talks in Peru that sets the stage for a global climate pact in Paris next year.

Check out our spoiler-free guide to what to watch on TV tonight.

Jack Bauer is back in 24, while Billy Connolly says goodbye. And there’s also the Eurovision semi-final.

Mick McCarthy has once again defended his sacking of Roy Keane in 2002 — insisting to this day ‘it was the right thing’ as Ireland manager.

Alex Ferguson has revealed he warned Roy Keane life would be “horrendous” for his family if he didn’t patch up his differences with Mick McCarthy in Saipan 13 years ago.

The weeks book reviews in brief

He has a new name and is out of prison, but a convicted fraudster who cheated British taxpayers out of £76m is back and doing business in Ireland, says Investigative Correspondent Conor Ryan

Almost 200 nations extended a weakened UN plan for combating global warming until 2020 on Saturday with a modest set of measures that would do nothing to halt rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Samoa’s victory over Wales last night has actually benefited Ireland, temporarily at least, in terms of the IRB world rankings.

Health data released yesterday provided the clearest evidence to date of the spread of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease from developed nations to poorer regions such as Africa, as lifestyles and diets there change.

Irish schoolchildren are among the most physically active in the world, with teenage girls topping the list of the globe’s best exercisers.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has picked up nine more delegates, winning unanimous backing at the Republican convention on the US territory of Guam.

An Italian groom left waiting at the alter by his runaway bride is now suing her for €500,000.

More than one in 10 people around the world are obese – double the number in 1980, research has shown.

MORE than one in 10 people (11.8%) around the world are obese — double the number in 1980, research has shown.

A magnitude 6.8 quake has struck off the Pacific Ocean island of Vanuatu.

Hundreds of US Marines landed on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima today to prepare for the 65th anniversary of one of the Second World War’s bloodiest battles.