A failing dam has sparked emergency evacuations of two towns in north-west Puerto Rico as the US territory struggled with flooding, an island-wide blackout and other dangers in Hurricane Maria's wake.

Hillary Clinton stands on the cusp of having enough delegates to claim the Democratic presidential nomination, having overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in a pair of weekend elections in the Caribbean.

Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy as Donald Trump, the billionaire real estate mogul who lent his name to the property, makes a bid for the White House.

Ireland’s London 2012 bronze medallists Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes secured quota places for the Rio 2016 Olympics after recording dramatic wins in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) in Venezuela on Saturday.

Polish motorcycle rider Michal Hernik has been found dead on the third stage of the Dakar Rally, organisers have announced.

INTERNATIONAL TEST:

IRELAND’S economy seems to be slowly starting to rise out of the mire in recent months but spare a thought for Argentina’s winemakers who have been suffering massive instability in recent years.

A Uruguayan man who was rescued after spending four months apparently lost in the Andes was on the run from child sex allegations, it has emerged.

The mother of Hector 'Macho' Camacho says the shot former world champion boxer will be taken off life support today, after three more of his sons arrive in Puerto Rico to be with him.

Former world boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho was critically ill in hospital today after being shot in his native Puerto Rico.

Former world boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho is in hospital after being shot in the face as he sat in a car near the capital of Puerto Rico.

A slim majority of Puerto Ricans sought to change their ties with the United States and become the 51st US state in a non-binding referendum that would require final approval from Congress.

Forty-nine bodies with their heads, hands and feet hacked off were found dumped on a northern Mexico highway in what appeared to be the latest carnage in the escalating war between Mexico’s two dominant drug cartels.

Dozens of bodies, at least some of them mutilated, were found today dumped on a motorway near the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, officials said.

Several Filipinos have been nailed to wooden crosses to re-enact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a Good Friday rite that has been rejected by the Catholic church, but that draws thousands of tourists.

Hurricane Earl battered tiny islands across the north-eastern Caribbean with heavy rain and roof-ripping winds as it rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm and threatening the US.

A still-growing hurricane lashed a large area of the Caribbean today, wrecking homes and sending tourists rushing for shelter.

A south Texas couple put an aborted seven-month-old foetus in a gift box under a Christmas tree after they were unable to flush the remains down a toilet, authorities alleged yesterday.

An American soldier who had told his family he did not want to return to Iraq apparently killed himself in a Puerto Rican motel days before he was to join his unit and head back to the war zone, police in the US territory said today.

The National Hurricane Centre in the US today said the newest tropical depression is forecast to become a tropical storm as it drifts south-east in the Atlantic.

The investigation into sabotage at the Miss Puerto Rico Universe beauty pageant has found in favour of winner Ingrid Marie Rivera.

IRELAND’S ski chalet specialist, Highlife Ski & Snowboard, has just launched its winter brochure which heavily features the French Alps, giving guests a choice of chalets in Morzine, Méribel or the world-famous Val d’Isere.

Actor Johnny Depp is bringing Hunter S. Thompson's autobiographical novel 'The Rum Diary' to the silver screen - seven years after he was announced as the leading man.

Waterford’s Seamus Power got the spring collegiate season off to a flying start on Tuesday with a tied second-place finish at the PING Arizona Intercollegiate tournament in Tucson.

THE world’s oldest person, Emiliano Mercado del Toro, died yesterday at his home on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, a relative said. He was 115.

TIGER WOODS and his new wife were briefly held aboard their private yacht on Thursday by US Coast Guard officers and turned away from San Juan's port because they failed to notify authorities of their arrival ahead of time, an official said.

MANY flights were cancelled yesterday as a volcano on Montserrat plunged surrounding islands in the Caribbean into a gritty haze.

AN Argentine woman has given birth to twin girls fused at the head and sharing a heart and other vital organs. The woman also delivered a healthy ba

IRELAND’S Olympic 5,000m silver medallist, Sonia O’Sullivan, goes head to head with Paula Radcliffe for today’s inaugural Great Manchester Run.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL is to undertake a viability study about playing competitive games in Ireland.

A US Air Force cargo plane crashed on a Puerto Rican mountaintop with at least 10 military personnel on board, and the island’s top emergency official said all were feared dead.

A volcanic eruption on the Caribbean island of Montserrat spewed clouds of ash as far away as Puerto Rico, causing airlines to cancel flights to and from the US territory.

Ousted Philippines President Joseph Estrada faces the death penalty after arraigned today for economic plunder.

An explosion at a political rally in the home town of jailed former Philippines President Joseph Estrada has left 12 people injured, one seriously.