An Amtrak train struck a piece of construction equipment just south of Philadelphia, and partially derailed in a incident that claimed two lives and injured at least 35.

NEW Health Minister Leo Varadkar intends to focus most of his attention on one patient that has suffered a nasty fall recently — Fine Gael’s poll rating.

Has Leo made his lunge? Mr Varadkar, our thrusting, Thatcherite Transport Minister, appears to have fired the first shot in the War of the Blueshirt Succession.

The transport minister has told a men-only lunch at an Irish society event in the United States that courage is needed to make the future equal for all including gay and straight and male and female.

Tributes poured in for the music promoter and businessman Tom Pigott yesterday, who died just after performing a song with Mary Black on board a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

ALLOWING gays and lesbians to serve openly in the US military is a step toward equality, advocates say, but a fight for other social changes such as gay marriage still lies ahead.

A SIPTU bank account at the centre of a number of investigations was used to fund six trips to New York by a Department of Finance official who had a key role in industrial relations issues.

Mandy Moore has tied the knot with her fiancé, musician Ryan Adams.

MANY people may have thought a family’s quest for a €160 million fortune was dead and buried following a DNA test.

He has played everything from a Wall Street vulture to the president, but these days Michael Douglas is focusing on his favourite role – father and husband.

Irish Walker Cup player Gareth Shaw helped his East Tennessee State University men’s golf team to a tie for 10th place in a stacked field at the Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Florida.

Lindsay Lohan is responsible for breaking up a British heiress' marriage - after the actress slept with her husband in rehab, according to reports.

An ice storm wiped away the traditional green stripe painted on Fifth Avenue, New York, but it could not keep away thousands of St Patrick’s Day celebrants from the city’s parade today.

THE Government last night issued a lengthy memo to defend the annual exodus of ministers to far-flung destinations for St Patrick’s Day.

A CORK family’s efforts to prove their right to a multi-million dollar inheritance will be featured in a TV series next week.

Police arrested two people they believe robbed a woman’s home and burned her dog to death in her oven, authorities in Savannah, Georgia, said today.

DES SMYTH was in the air again yesterday, heading to Texas for the next stop on a Champions Tour campaign he is quickly making his own.

A US beauty queen who shot and killed her boyfriend was acquitted of murder today after saying she acted in self-defence.

THE Taoiseach yesterday defended his single greatest sartorial crime — the decision to wear those yellow trousers at the G8 summit.

President George W Bush said he ordered US officials to follow the law while interrogating suspected terrorists, but he side-stepped an opportunity to denounce the use of torture.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush today called for greater Nato involvement in Iraq.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today having private talks at the G8 summit with US President George Bush.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair touched down in Georgia tonight for the G8 summit of world leaders, confident that United Nations agreement on a new resolution on Iraq was only hours away.

Sean O’Riordan on a man who has every incentive to keep Georgia on his mind.

Two Dutch crewmen are presumed dead after their yacht, missing since last November, was discovered off the south west coast.

A convertible car struck several spectators at a St Patrick’s Day parade in Savannah, Georgia, today after accelerating through an intersection along the parade route.

HOLLYWOOD star Ben Affleck yesterday denied meeting a woman who is accusing him of making threats against her.

Actress Nicole Kidman and rocker Lenny Kravitz have done little to scotch rumours of a romance, with fresh reports today that they were kissing and holding hands at a New York party.

The engagement ring may have come off, but Jennifer Lopez has not yet abandoned all hope of marrying Hollywood heart-throb Ben Affleck, a friend of the pop star revealed today.

A grey sky and spitting rain has greeted the replica famine ship Jeanie Johnston at a dock on Charleston Harbour, South Carolina.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have reportedly finally found their love nest.

AN Irishman is hoping to claim a €149m fortune by exhuming the body of an American woman who died without an heir apparent.

DERMOT O’REGAN has done a lot of digging in the last 19 years in his efforts to claim a family inheritance. But on May 6 a court decision may pave the way for a trip to the US where the fortune awaits.

A mother-of-five who was driving to pawn a television for $60 to pay her electric bill found $120,000 in the street.