We know there has been something of a cloud hanging over the Ballydoyle horses for a while now, with Aidan O’Brien reporting that the bug was “the worst we’ve had.’’

Intrepid and tireless wildlife campaigners, such as David Attenborough and Steve Irwin, have brought the wonders of the natural world, and the many threats it faces, into our homes.

Jacinda Ardern has been sworn in as New Zealand's prime minister - and says she will lead a government that is active, focused, empathetic and strong.

David Attenborough has described the "heartbreaking" moment an albatross feeds its chick plastic instead of fish in a sequence filmed for Blue Planet II.

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The country’s zoologists and wardens have become world leaders in alien species eradication. Can we learn from them? asks Richard Collins

The sight of a dust jacket in blue with a compass and a sea chart, and a sub-title promising ‘Pirates, Castaways and Madness’ raises hopes of an entertaining account of adventures on the high seas.

The brightest moon in almost 69 years will be lighting up the sky this week in a treat for stargazers around the globe.

An Australian man has died after a large shark attacked him while he was kite-surfing in New Caledonia, a French island territory in the South Pacific.

DNA tests could prove that seven pigtails kept in a 19th-century tobacco tin belonged to the infamous mutineers on HMS Bounty, the first physical evidence of the men’s existence.

Their abilities to travel, multiply, and spread disease have always made rats one of mankind’s greatest pests.

Big Hero 6 is absolutely one of the best Disney movies in recent years, so that pretty much means its time to find some mean things to say about it.

Irish network services and software solutions company Aspire Technology has struck a major deal with Digicel at Mobile World Congress to improve the operator’s customer engagement in more than 30 countries.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has said women in countries hit by the Zika virus should have access to birth control methods, dropping laws against abortion in some cases.

David Lyttle from Co Down was the first ever Irish musician to be nominated for a Music of Black Origin Award (MOBO). The awards take place next Wednesday and will be broadcast on ITV2. Lyttle was nominated in the best jazz act on the back of his Faces album, which features collaborations with the likes of Talib Kweli and Duke Special.

Digicel’s move to block ads on customers’ phones across its entire network is part of a wider shift that will become more pronounced in the coming months and force a fundamental change in advertising, according to a leading expert.

Digicel Group, the mobile-services company owned by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, plans to raise as much as $2.3 billion (€2.06bn) from an initial public offering and listing on New York Stock Exchange.

Digicel Group, the mobile-services company owned by Denis O’Brien, is planning to raise $1.5bn-$2bn (€1.78bn) in an initial public offering as soon as this month, people with knowledge of the matter said.

William Finnegan of the New Yorker magazine has won awards for his writing on economics and conflict, and has published books on African politics and war.

IN the late 1930s, the Lancashire mill town of Bolton was the subject of a new kind of research to see how its inhabitants worked and lived.

Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien’s Digicel Group, the mobile-services company operating in the Caribbean and South Pacific regions, plans to sell shares in an initial public offering and to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

Kevin McCloud spends time with a family who have escaped the rat race and are now living in Tonga.

FINLAND: Angry Birds are getting angrier, because some of their real-life counterparts in the South Pacific are facing extinction.

All the news you need this lunchtime: Bailey verdict could be delivered today, FF: Irish Water to delete council tenant data, Shane Long calls for fortress Aviva, earthquake in South Pacific, Donohue: Aer Lingus talks to end in next few weeks

Residents of the southern Vanuatu island of Tanna said they were running out of food and basic supplies after a huge cyclone tore across the South Pacific nation wreaking widespread devastation but not the heavy death toll initially feared.

Vanuatu’s president was rushing back to his country in the wake of what he dubbed a “monster” cyclone whose damage was still unknown beyond the devastation in the south Pacific archipelago’s capital city.

Australian author Colleen McCullough, whose 1977 best-selling novel The Thorn Birds became a smash hit television miniseries, has died at the age of 77.

Former National Security Agency (NSA) systems analyst-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden has said the US agency is collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders through its XKeyscore system.

Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers escaped their besieged outpost in the Golan Heights after a seven-hour gunbattle with Syrian rebels, Philippine officials have said.

If time is of the essence you should know that you can organise practically every part of your getaway right from your smartphone

A powerful earthquake has struck off the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea.

Travelling in to Dublin city centre last Saturday made for an entertaining ride.

’Dead’ Mississippi man kicks to escape body bag

STAR classical vocal group Il Divo will make City of Cork Symphony Orchestra’s midsummer night’s dream come true when they perform together at a fully seated, five-hour event in Musgrave Park, on Saturday, June 21.

Tongan officials said today that 300 to 400 families had their homes severely damaged or destroyed in a powerful storm but they are relieved that the death toll has not risen beyond one.

With fireworks, dancing and late-night revelry, millions around the world welcomed 2014.

Exploding fireworks sprayed from the sails of the Sydney Opera House and the Australian city’s harbour bridge at midnight as the world ushered in a new year.

One year on from her cancer operation, "tiny dancer" Lily Mae Morrison from Dublin says she ready for Santa's arrival.