The closure of the post office in Ballynanty, adjacent to the huge estate of Moyross in the north side of Limerick, will impose considerable hardship on elderly people in the area.

GOAL today called on the Irish government to use its influence to prevent the execution of 38 opposition leaders and activists in Ethiopia.

Reading a new apocalyptic book by the former Irish Times neoconservative columnist, Mark Steyn, would be a smart career move for staff at the White House, it appears. President Bush has urged his staff to read Steyn's analysis of the “war on terror”.

Looming behind the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur is Sudan's other, older, bigger war – the 1983-2005 north-south conflict that claimed over two million lives and displaced over four million people. The conflict was resolved, on paper at least, by the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA); that agreement is now in jeopardy.

There is constant debate regarding the green environment and calls for climate change, yet for someone who has four young children I am amazed at the lack of response from our own government and the public in general with regard to packaging.

The circumstances are right for the establishment of an economic strategy which can guarantee prosperity, quality of life and equality of opportunity for all on the island of Ireland, according to SIPTU's National Campaigns' Official, Anne Speed.

Fossil-fuelled vehicles used for freight, personal travel and commuting are extremely wasteful and are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Frequent aero-flights on multi-annual holidays and business meetings add further carbon dioxide to our planetary atmosphere. Rail and broadband Internet are far more efficient for business and would conserve both the environment and our archaeological inheritances.

Alder which is one of our most widely distributed native trees flowers before the leaves come out and has attractive reddish catkins and small ‘cones' that contain seeds. Alder will grow on most soils but prefers wet soils. It thrives in damp areas, beside lakes and rivers where its strong fibrous roots protect the river banks thereby reducing erosion. Given a rich damp soil alder will grow rapidly and is a productive timber tree. A unique feature of alder is its root nodes which can fix nitrogen thus enabling it to survive on infertile soils.

Hamas has won a military victory in Gaza at the cost of exposing its political weakness.

Never out of these pages for long, Google are now gaining attention for more than their ubiquitous search engine. In conjunction with Pacific Gas and Electric PG&E, the company that provides energy for much of Northern California, Google recently unveiled their vision of the future of the electric car. The vehicle would be powered from the electricity grid yet would itself power the grid in return.