As the Obamas and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth can all testify, Irish people are still considered to be among the friendliest in the world.

About 150,000 anti-government demonstrators have again taken to the streets in several Brazilian cities and engaged police in some isolated but intense conflicts.

Penny-pinching by a band known for its on-stage pyrotechnic displays may have cost more than 230 people their lives at a nightclub in southern Brazil, the policeman leading the investigation into the deadly blaze said.

The repercussions of a nightclub fire that killed more than 230 people in southern Brazil widened yesterday.

The death toll from a nightclub fire in Brazil has been raised to 234 people.

A fast-moving fire roared through a crowded, windowless nightclub in southern Brazil, filling the air in seconds with flames and a thick, toxic smoke that killed more than 230 panicked partygoers, many of whom were caught in a stampede to escape.

A blaze tore through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early yesterday, killing 232 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits.

A blaze tore through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early today, killing 232 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits.

A deadly fire swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early today, killing at least 245 people attending a university party and leaving at least 200 injured, police and firefighters said.

A fire swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early today, killing at least 245 people and leaving at least 200 injured, police and firefighters said.

Marine biologists and veterinarians said the bodies of more than 500 penguins have been washed up on beaches in southern Brazil over the past week.

GLOBAL corn and soybean stocks remain low, leaving both commodities vulnerable to the threat posed by the La Nina weather phenomenon to production in Argentina and southern Brazil, US Department of Agriculture chief economist Joseph Glauber said yesterday.

Nearly 20,000 people have been driven from their homes after heavy rain caused flooding in southern Brazil.

Nearly 20,000 people have been driven from their homes after heavy rain caused flooding in southern Brazil, officials said today.

A MOTORIST sped through a pack of more than 100 cycling activists in southern Brazil, sending bikes and screaming riders flying through the air and landing on the asphalt in a scene captured on amateur video and posted online.

SEVERE floods triggered by torrential downpours have killed at least six people in southern Brazil and driven thousands from their homes.

A 17-YEAR-OLD boy was arrested after he shot arrows with mobile phones attached over the walls of a prison in southern Brazil to waiting inmates.

A BRAZILIAN bricklayer reportedly killed in a car crash shocked his mourning family by showing up alive at his funeral.

AN English academic has criticised the Garda Ombudsman after its investigation into the alleged mistreatment of his partner by members of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) three years ago found no wrong-doing.

A commuter bus rear-ended a fuel truck in southern Brazil, killing nine people and injuring 17, authorities said today.

Hungry flood survivors looted supermarkets and emergency crews tried to get aid to nearly 80,000 people driven from their homes as rain-spawned mudslides and overflowing rivers killed at least 97 people and isolated cities in southern Brazil.

Rescue workers found dozens of bodies as they dug desperately through the wreckage of homes engulfed by mudslides in southern Brazil, boosting the death toll from rain-spawned hillside collapses and floods to 84.

Rescue crews scoured densely forested mountains in southern Brazil today for signs of a Roman Catholic priest who vanished over the Atlantic Ocean with a cluster of helium balloons.

Seven teenagers were beaten to death and five others were injured in a rebellion at a juvenile detention centre in southern Brazil, police and witnesses said today.

A spiraling storm lashed the coast of southern Brazil, killing two people, injuring at least 35 others and damaging thousands of homes, civil defence officials said today.

By Bill George