Shane Logan and David Humphreys are overseeing a radical overhaul of Ulster rugby and its future ambitions — the physical manifestation of which is a €40m refit of Ravenhill, writes Rod Nawn.

Dublin teenager John Carroll is used to standing out from the crowd. At 6’8”, he may well be the tallest 18-year-old in the country, not that he spends much time here.

Olympic medals, European medals, Commonwealth medals. Paddy Barnes has them all. Only a podium place at the world championships still eludes the Belfast boxer and he is determined that is about to change.

A new football academy named after George Best has been opened on the 50th anniversary of the late star’s debut for Manchester United.

You might want to reconsider putting that low-fat spread on your toast — research indicates that foods marketed as ‘healthier’ could make you put on more weight as they typically lead to larger portion size.

“I couldn’t leave that one go,” admitted senior boy’s winner Sean Tobin of his last chance at glory in Saturday’s Aviva All-Ireland Schools’ and Universities’ Cross Country Championships at University of Ulster, Jordanstown.

Four-time world cross country silver medallist Catherina McKiernan has urged the future distance running stars “to enjoy” the Aviva Irish Schools’ Cross Country Championships that take place tomorrow in the University of Ulster, Jordanstown if they are to succeed.

'The Hobbit' star Ian McKellen is to receive an honorary degree from the University of Ulster.

They can claim the best golfer on the planet and now have a potential Olympian in the making.

The body of a man has been recovered from a river at the University of Ulster in Coleraine.

Police in Scotland have confirmed that the body found off the coast there is that of a missing Co. Antrim woman.

THE intriguing tale of Ireland’s last witch trial has been re-investigated ahead of the 300th anniversary of a case that saw eight Co Antrim women found guilty of possessing a teenage girl.

AILIS McSWEENEY (Leevale AC) stormed to a new personal best performance with a sensational 7.32 sec victory in the women’s 60m — just two hundredths of a second off the national record — at the Woodies DIY Irish Indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena yesterday.

MAYO’S Conor Mortimer is contemplating undergoing knee surgery which could rule him out for the majority — if not all of — the 2011 season.

A car bomb exploded today in the North, police have said.

Former US president Bill Clinton is to give a special address to students at University College Dublin tonight.

FORMER US president Bill Clinton has outlined an imaginative economic strategy to lift the North from its economic woes.

Former US president Bill Clinton today outlined an imaginative economic strategy to lift the North from its current economic woes.

Former US President Bill Clinton arrived in Derry this afternoon and held meetings with First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at the University of Ulster’s Magee College.

A student in the North has died from suspected meningitis.

World experts in midwifery, obstetrics and information technology will be at the University of Ulster this week for the First Global Research Conference on the science.

In the sprawling Northern Ireland constituency of Strangford tales of expenses and affairs have livened up a traditionally predictable contest.

ULSTER and Leinster are confident their weekend Heineken Cup games will go ahead as scheduled at Ravenhill and the RDS.

A third man was arrested today by police probing the murder of a man outside a nightclub in the North.

JAMES CONWAY will learn later this week if he will be part of the Derry senior football panel for the All-Ireland qualifiers, after his controversial eight-week suspension was lifted at an appeals meeting.

Almost half of students in the North believe women who flirt only have themselves to blame if they are later raped, new research indicated today.

SECTARIAN thugs who attacked a group of Dublin children at an international soccer tournament in the north also threatened to kneecap officials, it was revealed.

Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and SDLP leader Mark Durkan will jointly host a business breakfast today amid ongoing speculation about a possible merger between their two parties.

Richard Collins on an amphibian that may provide the solution to diabetes.

The SDLP were tonight warned any formal relationship with Fianna Fáil would damage relations with other parties in the Republic of Ireland.

The youth wing of Fianna Fáil is to have its own society at a Northern Ireland university.

Dermot Ahern has said he believes it will take decades to eradicate sectarianism in the North.

The DUP and Sinn Féin grasped the opportunity of a lifetime when they agreed to enter a power-sharing government, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said today.

The North is the most bigoted place in the western world, according to research conducted at the University of Ulster.

Former US presidential candidate John Kerry has been forced to pull plans to visit the North this weekend.

Former US Presidential candidate John Kerry is to become the latest senior American politician to deliver at lecture at one of the North’s universities.

The British government must identify why the UK regions are being left trailing in the wake of London and the south-east when it comes to starting new businesses, it was said today.

Broadcaster Fergal Keane laid bare his battle with the bottle today at an international conference on addiction.

A NEW claim that men are more intelligent than women is poised to reignite controversy about the difference between the sexes.

Ireland celebrated in style at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey tonight as Ailis McSweeney and Derval O'Rourke, both products of Cork's Leevale club, grabbed podium finishes.

Academics across the globe have been given funding to try to find out what makes children laugh, it was revealed today.

THE anticipated breakthrough in the peace process, involving the disbandment of the IRA, could happen within weeks, the Northern Ireland secretary said yesterday.

The war in Iraq is dissuading the international community from intervening in the growing crisis in Darfur, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said today.

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has described the Irish peace process as a source of inspiration for the rest of the world.