The party will be whittled down to 28 before departure for Santa Fe, via Amsterdam and Buenos Aires. Ireland face England, Australia and Italy in their pool: a tough task.

Detectives are investigating complaints photographs of tragic footballer Emiliano Sala's lifeless body have been posted on the internet, it has been reported.

The search for the missing plane taking Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala to his new team in Wales was called off for the night last night with authorities not expecting to find any survivors in the English Channel.

Well Christmas is well and truly over for another year.

Hurricane Harvey has deluged America's fourth-largest city with devastating floods, with rising water forcing thousands on to rooftops and overwhelming rescuers receiving constant calls for help.

Hyundai has unveiled its latest compact SUV, the Kona, joining the Tucson and Santa Fe in the company’s range of SUVs. The Kona is designed to take on the likes of Nissan’s Juke and is scheduled to arrive in late October.

The top six brands are responsible for 77% of sales in light commercial vehicles, a sector which saw a 11% fall in the year to date in registrations, writes Brian Byrne

Kya deLongchamps tires of sophisticated mid-century faking, and throws her sombrero at a rich ethnic interiors fiesta with some playful results.

There was a time not so long ago when Hyundai’s marketing thrust here in Ireland was based on the premise that the Korean marque was ‘Ireland’s fastest growing car brand’ and a very neat little tag line it was, adding weight and substance to otherwise bland advertising.

When the NRA noted last October that traffic levels on Ireland’s roads had returned to pre-recession levels, that was no surprise to anyone who regularly uses those roads.

A dark new chapter in the Earth’s geological history began when the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945, an international team of scientists has proposed.

As the USA’s “war on drugs” was fought in Mexico and Colombia, the drug lords were forced to move further and further south until they found a home, and some believe, a willing sponsor, in South America’s second largest country says Almudena Calatrava

MANY US cities have a much better economic outlook than struggling Detroit, but the Motor City’s bankruptcy filing should still set off alarm bells elsewhere as the cost of paying retirement benefits swells.

Catherine Fulvio, Ballyknocken Cookery School

Forrest Fenn, a real-life Indiana Jones, has spent his life digging for artifacts and treasure all around the world. Somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe, the 82-year-old has buried a small antique chest. Inside is €1m of his treasure — and he wants you to find it. Are you up for an adventure? Tony Dokoupil joins the hunt

Gene Hackman had given clothes, money and lifts to a homeless man whom he slapped this week after the man became aggressive towards the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, according to a police report detailing the incident in New Mexico.

New Mexico inmate on his way out of jail was quickly thrown back in after allegedly stealing another inmate’s cash and then treating himself to a hearty lunch.

A New Mexico hotel worker claims he was fired for complimenting Jennifer Aniston.

Southampton this morning completed the signing of Gillingham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga on a four-year deal.

Stephen Slevin from New Mexico was arrested in August 2005 for drink driving then thrown in jail and completely forgotten about for two years.

TRACING the footsteps of a living legend is dicey business. ‘He was born here’, ‘he grew up there’, ‘he first kicked a ball over there’... all claims made by Rosarinos about their most famous son, Lionel Messi.

ACCORDING to FIFA and the Ballon d’Or voters, the coach of last year was Pep Guardiola.

A DECORATED New Mexico police officer has been sacked after security cameras caught him having sex with a woman on the bonnet of a car.

Actor Val Kilmer owes nearly €374,000 in federal taxes, and an order has been placed on the Batman Forever actor’s property, including a New Mexico ranch he is trying to sell.

AN Argentinian man has been charged with raping his daughter multiple times over three decades and fathering 10 children with her, in a case likened to that of Josef Fritzl in Austria.

Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart have tied the knot – in a wedding presided over by a US state governor.

IRELAND coach Allen Clark has named his U20 squad for this year’s IRB Junior World Championship in the Santa Fé region of Argentina in June.

THE Garda watchdog is investigating the case of two plain-clothes gardaí who were involved in an accident on the M50 motorway but who left an ambulance before they were breathalysed.

COMING up to Christmas lots of newly published cookbooks arrived on my desk. There were so many that I simply couldn’t manage to mull over each one.

Supermodel Kate Moss was left red-faced over the holidays when she reportedly misplaced a ring - three hours after her rocker boyfriend Jamie Hince gave it to her.

SUNWORLD HOLIDAYS are boasting unrivalled value on winter holiday prices to Lanzarote from Cork this winter.

Shirley MacLaine is flattered to have been honoured at the Santa Fe Film Festival on Saturday - because the prize means more to her than her Academy Award.

Yesterday we described how Irish Examiner rugby analyst Donal Lenihan travelled to South America for the meeting of a lifetime with Nando Parrado, a defiant survivor of the Uruguayan rugby team which crashed in the Andes 35 years ago this week.

IF versatility was one of the buzzwords used by coaches this week in the context of picking a 30-man squad for the World Cup, then Gavin Duffy’s ability to play at 10, centre, wing or full back marks him out as shoo-in for next month’s tournament in France.

BARRY MURPHY is recovering from an operation to his troubled ankle where a “boney growth” was discovered in Ireland camp two weeks ago.

GIRVAN DEMPSEY says Ireland’s uninspiring record in Paris won’t trouble the World Cup squad who face France in the Stade de France (September 21) and Argentina nine days later in the Parc des Princes.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan believes he has learnt a lot about his side ahead of the World Cup despite rounding off their two-Test tour against Argentina with a 16-0 defeat in Buenos Aires on yesterday.

Argentina 16 Ireland 0

A PREVIEW copy of the RTÉ’s “Reaching for Glory: Inside Irish rugby 07” was passed amongst the press core in Santa Fe last week, but one player who probably wouldn’t have appreciated a viewing was Geordan Murphy.

Argentina inside centre Hernan Senillosa expects tomorrow’s clash with Ireland to be another tight contest.

NIALL O’DONOVAN is expecting the Argentinean pack to up the ante in tomorrow’s second test in the Estadio Jose Amalfitani, Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires.

ARGENTINA coach Marcelo Loffreda has been forced to ring the changes for tomorrow’s second Test with Ireland.

Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda has been forced into a string of changes for Saturday’s second Test with Ireland.

WHEN the Ireland team was announced in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, text messages came flooding into Barry Murphy’s mobile.