Willy Vlautin of Richmond Fontaine talks with Gerry Quinn about the band’s breakup and closing gigs

The first of the big European Stadium in Warsaw hosts the Europa League final – with the winners earning a place in next season’s Champions League for the first time.

Embattled entertainer Bill Cosby has broken his silence over a series of rape and sex assault claims going back decades.

Police officers are being told to lighten up — with smiles-

When I hear somebody saying politics and sport should never mix I often wonder what planet they are dialling in from.

The Free

President Barack Obama declared that the occupant of the White House must “work for everyone, not just for some”, jabbing back at Republican rival Mitt Romney’s jarring statement that as a candidate, he does not worry about the 47% of the country that pays no income taxes.

A US man has been arrested on suspicion of shooting and injuring a golfer after an errant ball broke a window at his home.

Mitt Romney would respect an Israeli decision to make a unilateral military strike against Iran aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear capability, a top foreign policy adviser said today.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney issued a sweeping indictment yesterday of President Barack Obama’s conduct of foreign policy, including a charge that the White House sought political gain by leaking classified details of the military raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Apple uses subsidiaries in Ireland, the Netherlands and other low-tax nations in a strategy that enables the technology giant to cut its global tax bill by billions every year, a report says.

WE ARE used to seeing stills from old movies, classic celluloid moments captured forever — Marilyn Monroe in a white halter-neck dress standing on a vent, James Dean frowning, Elizabeth Taylor kneeling in a bikini, Charlton Heston in a chariot.

FIONNUALA BRITTON beat a quality field to notch up another victory in Saturday’s IAAF Grand Challenge Cross Country International over a rain-sodden course in Greenmount, Antrim.

More than 20 homes have been destroyed by a fast-moving brush fire near Reno, Nevada, that has forced about 10,000 people to evacuate their neighbourhoods.

The death toll from an air race crash in Reno, Nevada, rose to nine as investigators said the 1940s plane appeared to lose a piece of its tail before slamming into a crowded tarmac.

A vintage Second World War-era fighter plane has plunged into the grandstands during a popular annual US air show, killing at least three people and injuring more than 50 spectators.

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has begun rallying supporters for his 2012 presidential campaign, recognising that some of the soaring promise of 2008 has been grounded by tough political realities.

A US cat broke the Guinness world record for the world’s longest domestic cat.

A 27-YEAR-OLD man accused of stalking Ivanka Trump has been arrested in Reno, Nevada, police in the US said.

THE alleged kidnapper in the Jaycee Lee Dugard case drugged and raped a 14-year-old girl in 1972 and there was a “good chance” there were other victims, police have said.

The man accused of abducting and sexually abusing Jaycee Lee Dugard testified during a previous kidnapping and rape case that he prowled through residential neighbourhoods as a peeping tom and had strong rape desires.

Paint A Vulgar Picture - Fiction Inspired by The Smiths, edited by Peter Wild, Serpent’s Tail; £8.99

The US presidential campaign turned even nastier with John McCain and Barack Obama blaming each other for the deepening US financial crisis and failure to agree the $700bn (€487bn) bailout plan.

US Democrat Barack Obama quickly took off the gloves and was again battering John McCain as little different from President George Bush as the race for the White House intensified.

Annika Sorenstam brings down the curtain on her major career at Sunningdale this week with a question for Michelle Wie – why on earth are you still playing against the men?

A millionaire who murdered his wife and shot the judge who heard their bitter divorce case agreed a plea bargain today rather than face trial.

Broadening his defence of the war in Iraq, US President George Bush today said withdrawing US forces would allow the Middle East to be taken over by extremist forces and put the security of the United States in jeopardy.

An enormous forest fire started by tool sparks has destroyed dozens of homes and cabins on the scenic Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage, Alaska.

A Catholic diocese in the US has agreed to pay at least $48m (€37m) to people molested by priests, a federal mediator announced.

A family court judge was shot and wounded as he stood near a third-floor courthouse window in Reno, Nevada.

American Idol star Kelly Clarkson has been forced to scrap another three dates on her American tour after failing to recover from a bout of bronchitis.

A 50-year-old man who was rushed to hospital after he castrated himself told police he learned of the procedure on the internet and did so to lower his libido.

Areas of the Sierra Nevada have been hit with the heaviest snowfall in almost 90 years, with steep drifts stranding a passenger train, knocking out the Reno airport and shutting down major highways across the mountains.

WHETHER as loan guarantees for a shop in Ohio or a grant for a Florida power plant, the Bush administration is showering hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money on toss-up states in the presidential election.

Lionel Richie's daughter Nicole's choice of intimate body piercing left her highly embarrassed recently, when she had to show her breasts to airport security.

A 14-year-old US girl who was missing for more than three weeks has been found travelling through California with a convicted murderer.

AMERICA paused yesterday to remember the unforgettable — with the tolling of bells, recitations of the names of the dead, and above all, with silence. “Today, we remember each life,” said President Bush.

Record-setting temperatures were today scorching California and the West sparking fears of power failures and more wildfires.

A judge has ordered a new trial for a man who spent 20 years on death row for a murder he denies committing