Juries are to return to next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, it has been announced, following criticism of tactical voting by former eastern bloc countries.

At least 25 people were killed when a cargo plane crashed in Congo’s capital seconds after take-off.

A cargo plane crashed into a market in Congo’s capital Kinshasa today.

Russian plans to outlaw middle-men in the adoption process could make it easier, and less expensive, for childless Irish couples to adopt from that country.

The proportion of Irish people who die from lung diseases like cancer, TB, pneumonia, asthma and cystic fibrosis is more than twice the European average, according to a new study published today.

IRAN is secretly trying to obtain technology and expertise needed to build a nuclear weapon, according to a leaked intelligence report that threatens to deepen a rift with the West over its nuclear programme.

OPPOSITION leaders called for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s election victory to be declared invalid, while Western-led observers said the vote that gave him 91% support was flawed.

An international agreement between Ireland and the Ukraine has been proposed by officials in the former Soviet State in a bid to crack down on organised crime, it emerged tonight.

Making his first trip abroad since a bloody crackdown on protesters, Uzbek President Islam Karimov has left on a visit to China, which has provided a rare note of support for the authoritarian Central Asian leader.

HIGHER medical standards proposed by the EU could treble the cost of a single IVF treatment to €10,000, pushing many couple’s chances of having a baby beyond their means, a medical expert warned yesterday.

IRELAND has taken on the role of head boy to the new member states — being there to welcome them when they join the EU on May 1, identifying with them, offering support and encouragement and holding itself up as an example of what membership can do.

The Irish Alliance for Europe has stated that the Nice Treaty is only about one issue - EU enlargement.

An Italian fertility doctor has told a TV talk show that three cloned babies are already in the womb, two in former Soviet states and one in an Islamic country.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today embarking on a new round of shuttle diplomacy to cement support for the coalition against terrorism as MPs returned to Westminster to debate the crisis.