Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Aoibhinn McGinnity feature in Trial of the Century, on TV3 at 9.15pm tonight.

BRITAIN: Ducks have been ditching bread for a cleaner diet after the public was asked to ban the breadcrumbs.

A batch of pesto can be used in a variety of ways.  The most typical use is to stir a large spoonful through a bowl of freshly made pasta.

Islamic State militants have destroyed a nearly 2,000-year-old arch in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syrian activists said.

Islamic State fighters tightened their grip on the historic city of Palmyra in Syria, days after capturing a provincial capital in neighbouring Iraq, hinting at the momentum of the group, which a monitor says holds half of Syrian territory.

WHAT a surprise the Indian city of Lucknow was.

Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and author of The Golden Notebook, has died aged 94.

It was apt that Killarney National Park should look its most blooming yesterday for an occasion to celebrate the life of someone whose family’s generosity led to its creation.

Sherkin Island plays host to an innovative performance featuring a wind harp, writes Tina O’Sullivan

THE horse chestnut is one of the largest flowering trees growing in the temperate zone, often exceeding 30 metres in height with a huge, domed crown.

THE nights have been cold around here.

British actress Gemma Arterton stole the spotlight from Hollywood stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsley at the world premiere of 'Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time'.

A 4,000-year-old clay tablet, probably smuggled illegally from Iraq, was saved from being sold on eBay for a few hundred dollars by an alert scientist.

Iran today issued a bank note with a nuclear symbol in a move seen as an assertion of the national will in the face of international sanctions over its insistence on enriching uranium.

SADDAM Hussein urged Iraqis yesterday to reject the sectarian violence ripping his country apart and to “not take revenge” on US invaders, his chief lawyer said after the ousted leader was sentenced to death.

LIKE many in this arid region, Abdurahman and his family are near-destitute people who possess vast riches.

The US military in Iraq has detained five Americans for suspected insurgent activity, Pentagon officials said. The five have not been chargd or had access to a lawyer, and face an uncertain legal future.

Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim in an unusual manner on Thursday - by dressing up as a nun and the Pope.

WRITING is hard work, Doris Lessing told the 500 people who gathered to hear her read on Saturday. “And keeping writing is even harder.”

THE wisdom of Ramaswamy Sudarshan is little-known outside the cerebral circles of the policy divisions of the United Nations Development Programme.

WHEN you ask people if they like spinach, you rarely get a wishy-washy answer: it’s usually either a spontaneous, “I adore spinach”, or an equally passionate, “Yuk, I loathe spinach”, followed by graphic and harrowing tales of being forced to eat it, as a child, by a well-meaning mother, or nanny.