Americans gazed in wonder through telescopes, cameras and protective glasses as the moon blotted out the midday sun in the first full-blown solar eclipse to sweep the US from coast to coast in nearly a century.

A letter written almost 150 years ago in an Irish hotel by a descendant of the great princes of Carbery has been presented to the hotel by his American family.

Historians are celebrating the donation to Ireland of a vast “lost archive” of hugely significant material linked to one of the great 13th century Gaelic families of Ireland.

Thousands of gun advocates gathered at state capitals across the US to protest against stricter limits on firearms.