Kidnapped baby located in South Africa, nearly 18 years later

A newborn who was kidnapped from a Cape Town hospital in 1997 has been located by her family. A 50-year-old woman was arrested and appeared in court on charges of kidnapping and fraudulently pretending to be the child’s biological mother, South African police said. The discovery happened by chance, when the girl became friends with her younger biological sister while they attended the same school. The police found that the couple claiming to be the teenager’s parents could not prove she was their biological daughter, and DNA tests were carried out.

Farewell, Leonard Nimo

Leonard Nimoy has died at the age of 83. Without Star Trek, it seems unlikely many people outside the actor’s immediate circle would have been familiar with this extraordinary personality. Born in Boston, the son of Jewish barber from Ukraine, Nimoy had an early life that reads like a variation on The Jazz Singer.

Hundreds of patients who underwent colonoscopies in Wexford recalled

Hundreds of patients who underwent colonoscopies at Wexford General Hospital are being recalled on foot of concerns raised about the quality of the procedures carried out. The HSE said the hospital had reviewed a number of screening and diagnostic colonoscopies undertaken in 2013 and 2014 after the BowelScreen programme raised concerns about the quality of procedures undertaken there on its behalf . It said this process was put in place after two patients who previously had screening colonoscopies carried out in Wexford as part of the programme were identified as having interval cancers. The HSE said medical teams who reviewed patients’ files found that in some cases “it was not sufficiently clear that the very end of the colon (bowel) was examined during the procedure due to the lack of clear photographic evidence”.

Dublin Schoolgirl Wins Eurosong

Dublin Schoolgirl Wins Eurosong

Attack on Pope Francis’s man smacks of ‘Vatileaks’ scandal

L’Espresso alleges that in its first six months, the Secretariat for the Economy, an organisation established by Pope Francis to oversee the restructuring and rationalisation of the Holy See’s economic affairs, has already run up more than half a million euro in expenses. The implication is that while Cardinal Pell, the prefect of the secretariat, has been busy preaching to the Curia about the steep and thorny path to fiscal rectitude, he himself has been treading the primrose path of dalliance.

Ireland v England: Where history can be won or lost

Ireland against England has a resonance, a sense of history and occasion which surpasses all other Irish fixtures. Although a trek through history also shows that England has been Irish rugby’s best friend – and never more so than in 1973. A year before, a 16-12 win at Twickenham had augmented an opening win in Paris by 14-9 to set Ireland up for a tilt at the Grand Slam, with Scotland and Wales to come to Dublin. The French, to their eternal credit, agreed to a friendly at Lansdowne Road that March, and had England not travelled over in 1973, we’ll never know how differently history might have panned out.

VIDEO: Irish granny sees Fifty Shades: The dirty oul geezer should be shot

But did you enjoy it Nanny? Yeah we had a great laugh.

Isn’t it bionic? The making of a robotic arm

Three men who have had “bionic reconstruction” at a Vienna hospital are the first patients to have their hands replaced by prosthetics that they can control with their minds. Aidan Roche, an English postdoctoral scientist, was part of the team behind the project. Medical teams had been unable to repair the nerve damage, he says, so to begin with the men had wanted amputations when they approached Prof Oskar Aszmann, of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function at the Medical University of Vienna, who led the surgery. “For them the limb was an impediment to life that they just wanted to get rid of,” Dr Roche says.

Two Ryanair crew hospitalised over turbulence-induced injuries

Two cabin crew members were hospitalised after they sustained injuries on board a Ryanair flight from Spain to Belgium on Wednesday night. Ryanair flight FR-2829 from Reus in Spain to Brussels Charleroi airport encountered severe turbulence over the Pyrenees while still climbing to its cruising altitude. Two cabin crew members were injured in the incident and the pilot declared an emergency, requesting permission to divert to Bordeaux in France and land. While Ryanair has described their injuries as ‘minor’ it’s understood at least one of the injured crew members was lifted off her feet and struck the ceiling of the Boeing 737-800 jet.

Tánaiste Joan Burton pledges to increase child benefit next year

A series of pre-election pledges including increased child benefit next year have been made by Tánaiste Joan Burton. In her keynote speech to the Labour Party national conference, she also attacked the Opposition parties and Independents saying they were not capable of offering an alternative government. Ms Burton also accused some political opponents of hijacking peaceful protests. The Labour Party has a long history of standing up to bullies,” she said.

Defiant Labour have their steak and eat it at party conference

Pat Magner was getting stuck into the dinner when the protestors started banging on the restaurant window. Other diners at the Labour party conference lowered knife and fork, momentarily arrested by shock. Magner’s carvery was a metaphor for the overriding theme at the Labour party conference in Killarney. Defiance permeated the meeting rooms and conference halls of the INEC where the six hundred plus delegates congregated.

Overtones singer: I was badly bullied at school in Cork

The Cork-born lead singer of UK hitmakers The Overtones has spoken of the traumatic bullying he suffered at school. “I had a tough time of it — I got bullied quite badly.” said Timmy Matley, who attended a school in Cork City. Matley’s salvation came when he auditioned for the Laine Theatre art school in Britain, alma mater to the likes of Victoria Beckham . “The lady who runs it, Betty Laine, said she would offer me a fully-funded place.

Pedestrian killed by truck in Carrick-on-Suir

Gardaí issue appeal for witnesses to fatal incident in Co Tipperary

Margot Robbie Did What to Leonardo DiCaprio to Snag Her Breakout Role in The Wolf of Wall Street?

Big News Network - , the blond bombshell revealed she decided to go with her gut by making a ...

Another Life: Beetle beauty and the beasts

Among the latest was a big beetle of brilliantly violet iridescence photographed by Donal Rice among heather near the summit of Crohane, in Co Kerry. Its colour might suggest Carabus violaceus, the violet ground beetle shown in most books, but it turns out that this is not an Irish native. It is, instead, the delightfully alternative Carabus problematicus, widespread on Ireland’s mountain heaths and moraines. This makes them a widely used indicator of the general insect diversity of land, and good arable farmers leave “beetle banks” to protect their arable crops.

Men who work in menswear shops

Arsenal beat Everton and move up to third

Arsenal recovered from their midweek European nightmare to beat Everton 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium and move back to third in the Barclays Premier League. Olivier Giroud, who missed several chances as the Gunners slumped to a 3-1 home defeat by Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash on Wednesday, netted a fine volley on 39 minutes to put Arsenal ahead on Sunday.