BLINK AND there’s 4.4 more of us on this overcrowded planet. That’s every second; 267 every minute; 16,006 every hour. A staggering 140 million a year, bringing us some time in 2010 to more than 7 billion. And, by 2050 the world’s population could be some 9.5 billion, according to new projections from the US-based Population Reference Bureau (PRB).

Air travel to the Aran Islands is 40 years old, and has transformed the lives of the communities it serves

When an Arklow homeowner barricaded himself in his house this week, it illustrated the severity of the country’s repossession situation, writes CONOR POPE

ATHLETICS:IN THE final desperate moments of a championship 400 metres final there is no room for error. Only total and crushing precision. David Gillick always knew that. But he got a shattering reminder of it last night when out-leaned, narrowly, painfully, frantically, for the European Championship medal he so honestly craved.

AER LINGUS yesterday confirmed it will transfer its operations to the new Terminal 2 (T2) at Dublin airport, after the Aviation Regulator reiterated its decision not to impose differential pricing between the airport’s two terminals.

With little “excitement” on offer in the Irish Army, young Irishmen are queuing up to join British regiments. Next month, hundreds of them will go to war in Afghanistan. London Editor MARK HENNESSEYmeets the Irish soldiers who have enlisted in the British army

NCH Kevin Barry Room

The Vatican’s directive confirming its policy of excommunication for those involved in the ordination of women has been greeted with defiance by dissidents in the US and dismay by Irish campaigners