It is now 40 years since the Judgement of Paris when a blind tasting of Napa Valley cabernets and chardonnays scored higher than many famous names from Bordeaux and Burgundy.

The first of the Irish funerals for the victims of last week’s balcony collapse in Berkeley, California, take place in Dublin today.

The families of the Irish students killed in a balcony collapse in the US have said the response of their friends to the tragedy is a testament to the bonds between them.

A large earthquake rolled through California’s northern Bay Area yesterday, damaging some buildings, knocking out power to thousands and sending residents running out of their homes in the darkness.

It could be you. . .but this time around it’s 44 other lucky Lottery winners who have jetted off to San Francisco for a six-day luxury break.

Dozens of gay couples waited excitedly outside of San Francisco’s City Hall as clerks resumed issuing same-sex marriage licences, one day after a federal appeals court cleared the way for the state of California to immediately lift a 4 1/2 year freeze.

A man who says he was molested by an Irish priest in 1984 when he was nine, is suing California’s Diocese of Santa Rosa.

Fernando Alonso finally tested with McLaren today to overshadow young team-mate Lewis Hamilton again topping the timesheets.

The grandson of motor-racing legend Mario Andretti is to join Honda at their test in Jerez this week.

The former suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey killing left jail after a US judge dismissed child pornography charges against him.

John Mark Karr, who was briefly a suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey killing, has arrived in California to face child pornography charges, US authorities said.

A 9,300-acre wildfire burned out of control in central California’s wine country today, as another blaze in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada destroyed 11 homes.

Six years after they identified Sudden Oak Death syndrome, scientists are still struggling to understand the disease that’s killing thousands of trees in California.