• Weekend Travel

  Motorists are warned of gridlock on the main routes out of Dublin this weekend. The rush is expected to begin at about lunchtime today, with the worst delays expected in mid-afternoon and early evening. p
  

• Road deaths

  So far this year 232 people have died on the roads. This includes 38 killed in July and nine over the last seven days. p
  

• 317,000 air passengers expected at weekend

  Summer is certainly in the air this bank-holiday weekend with more than 317,000 expected to pass through Aer Rianta's airports at Dublin, Cork and Shannon. p
  

• Holiday Arrangements

  The Irish Times will be published on Monday. The Classified Advertisement Department will be open tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and on Monday from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m., telephone 671 7191. p
  

• Five media groups to divide Supreme Court costs award

  The Supreme Court yesterday awarded costs to The Irish Times and other media organisations arising out of their successful challenge to restrictions on reports of a major trial in Cork. The trial concerned the seizure of cocaine valued at £47 million in Cork harbour. p
  

• £70,000 sale of Felloni home approved

  A court-appointed receiver was given the go-ahead yesterday to accept an offer of £70,500 for the home of drug dealer Regina Felloni at Mellowes Road, Finglas, Dublin. p
  

• Donegal man jailed for killing two in car crash

  A Donegal man has been sentenced to 21/2 years imprisonment on two counts of dangerous driving causing death. p
  

• Baileys and Bovale win costs of action against Flood tribunal discovery order

  Developer Michael Bailey, his wife and his company Bovale Developments Ltd were yesterday awarded the costs of their successful legal challenge to orders for discovery made against them by the Flood Tribunal. p
  

• CAB granted order to seize £55,000

  A high Court judge ruled yesterday that the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 applies not only to offences committed in this State, but also to crime perpetrated outside the jurisdiction. p
  

• Ward denies handling blood-filled syringe in prison siege.

  Paul Ward, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, threatened to hang a prison officer during the 1997 Mountjoy Prison siege unless he was given chocolate, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told. p
  

• Court quashes decision to erect `spike'

  A sculptor and poet has secured a High Court order quashing a decision of Dublin Corporation to erect the millennium "spike" in O'Connell Street. p
  

• Life terms for rape, sex assault

  A Cork man who raped his former girlfriend on the Old Head of Kinsale has been given two concurrent life sentences by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court. p
  

• Man held after drugs seizure

  Gardai in Dublin yesterday arrested a man in his 20s who is believed to be part of a gang supplying ecstasy, heroin and cocaine to the city's club scene, writes Jim Cusack, Security Correspondent. p
  

• Prostitution of children reported

  Gardai in Athlone have begun an investigation into possible child prostitution in the Co Westmeath town. It is reported in this week's Athlone edition of the Roscommon Champion that two sisters, one aged 12, have become involved in prostitution. Insp Padraig Rattigan confirmed that initial inquiries had begun. p
  

• Man charged with murder

  A Co Mayo man appeared at Dublin District Court yesterday charged with the murder of a man in a flat in Phibsboro, Dublin, last April. Mr Anthony McIntyre (45), of Ballycragh, was charged with the murder of Mr Thomas Waters on Easter Sunday. p
  

• Cigarettes worth £750,000 seized

  Four million cigarettes worth about £750,000 including tax have been seized by Customs officers at Dublin Port after a surveillance operation. The tobacco was concealed in a consignment of floor boards which had arrived from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, via Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It is believed the cigarettes were destined for the British market. p
  

• Aircraft lands in cornfield

  Two men escaped injury when the light aircraft in which they were travelling made an emergency landing in Co Kilkenny yesterday. The plane turned over after landing in a cornfield at Dunningstown, three miles from Kilkenny city, shortly before midday. The flight originated in Co Longford and the men were heading for Waterford when the plane got into difficulties. p
  

• Man jailed for life loses appeal

  A man jailed for life for murder in Dublin three years ago lost an attempt to have his conviction overturned yesterday. The Court of Criminal Appeal refused Stephen Boyle's application for leave to appeal against his conviction. Boyle (31), of Ormeau Road, Belfast, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Central Criminal Court in 1997 for the murder of Gerard Hagan (31), Norfolk Road, Belfast, in Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin. p
  

• Asylum-seeker gets 30 months for fraud

  A Nigerian asylum-seeker who handled over £329,000 worth of forged cheques has been jailed for 30 months by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The court heard that Adebayo Ogunkoya Demuren changed the names of cheque recipients and used false birth certificates to defraud Canada Life Bank. Demuren (26), of Leland Avenue, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to three counts of handling stolen cheques in 1998. p
  

• Haughey costs hearing deferred

  The Supreme Court yesterday deferred, until the autumn, a hearing to decide liability for costs of the action last year by Mr Charles Haughey and members of his family against the Moriarty tribunal. p
  

• Lenihan cheque lodged `inadvertently'

  A cheque for £20,000 given to former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey for the medical expenses of the late Brian Lenihan in 1989 was "inadvertently" lodged to an account of Celtic Helicopters, the firm run by his son Ciaran, Mr Haughey said yesterday. Mr Haughey said the money was withdrawn on the same day it was lodged and some days later lodged in the Fianna Fail party leader's account, where contributions to the Lenihan fund were being held. p
  

• Hospital sells land to fund expansion

  A private hospital which was at the centre of a six-year legal battle with the VHI has announced a major development plan two years after final settlement in the case. p
  

• VHI 22% dearer after rise BUPA

  The Voluntary Health Insurance group is expected to be given the go-ahead today by the Government to increase fees by 9 per cent from September. p
  

• Unilateral 7% charge increase angers students

  An increase of 7 per cent for examination and administration costs at third-level colleges has angered students, who claimed there was no consultation. p
  

• Man who killed donkey free for appeal

  A Co Dublin man jailed for two years for killing a donkey by driving an iron bar through its eye and skull was freed on his own bail of £200 by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday. p
  

• Pay rise for teachers as they reach productivity agreement

  The State's 45,000 teachers are to receive pay increases ranging from £450 to £840 a year, backdated to July 1st. The increase includes the 2 per cent local bargaining clause of Partnership 2000. This makes teachers the first major group in the public service to conclude a deal with the Government on a productivity-related pay rise under the national agreement. p
  

• Portrait gives a rare view of young Swift

  Whatever of his talents as a satirist and political pamphleteer, Jonathan Swift was not known as a master of the detective story. Yet with the unveiling of a new Swift portrait on loan to the National Library yesterday afternoon, the final chapter of a tale of hide-and-seek has drawn to a close. p
  

• Conservationists seek costs after defeat

  A limited company formed by conservationists which lost a legal challenge to a hotel and office development in central Dublin has said it is entitled to the costs of the action because of the major issues of public interest involved. p
  

• Prisoner's sentence doubled for part in Mountjoy siege

  A three-year sentence imposed earlier this year on one of the prisoners involved in the 1997 Mountjoy Prison siege was doubled to six years by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday. p
  

• Hats off at the Galway races best-dressed fashion stakes

  Hats may be out of fashion this season but they were the favourite accessory at Galway races yesterday. A handful of women covered their heads for protection against the intensive sunshine. However, the majority of them were competitors for the prize of Most Creative Hat being offered by cosmetics company Estee Lauder. Note the emphasis on creativity here. No award was being made for most attractive, comfortable or practical hat. There were, it is true, a few straw cloches and floral-trimmed trilbys about but they were immediately classifiable as outside chances with little hope of winning. p
  

• IBEC calls for more funding for adult education

  The employers' organisation, IBEC, has strongly criticised the existing adult education system and called for a major investment programme in what it described as the Cinderella of the Irish education sector. p
  

• Barnes to be Abbey's new artistic director

  The artistic director-designate of Dublin's Abbey Theatre is Ben Barnes. He will take up office next year, when the current director Patrick Mason steps down. The appointment was agreed at a meeting of the National Theatre board on Tuesday. "I'm now 43 and I'm ready," said Mr Barnes yesterday. "This is the right time for me. I have energy and yet I have experience." p
  

• Railway union officials urge drivers to accept deal

  Train-drivers have been offered pay increases of almost £3,000 a year and a drastic reduction in working hours. The proposals, aimed at ending 21/2 years of protracted negotiations, emerged from 16 hours of intensive negotiations at the Labour Relations Commission yesterday. p
  

• Jacob told of new safety audit at Sellafield

  The British government has officially informed the State of a new safety audit to be undertaken at the Sellafield nuclear plant in September. p
  

• Number of cattle slaughtered increases by 10%

  There has been a huge increase in the number of animals being slaughtered at export meat plants, according to the Irish Food Board. p
  

• 9,000th farmer joins the early retirement scheme

  More than 9,000 Irish farmers have taken advantage of the EU early retirement scheme which allows them to leave full-time farming at the age of 55. The scheme was introduced in the State in 1994 as part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy by the then Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Ray MacSharry. p
  

• London policemen are acquitted of manslaughter of Irishman

  There were cheers of delight in the public gallery of London's Old Bailey yesterday as three Metropolitan Police officers were found not guilty of manslaughter. The charges arose from the death in custody five years ago of Richard O'Brien (37), originally from Tralee, Co Kerry. p
  

• RTE goes round the world to catch the dawn of year 2000

  RTE has announced details of its autumn/winter schedules, which include a series of programmes celebrating the millennium. The station will celebrate New Year's Eve with 15 hours of programming, including live coverage of the millennium from around the world and from many locations around the country. p
  

• Inquest told hypothermia caused death

  A Dublin man died of exposure in the doorway of a shop a short distance from his home, an inquest heard yesterday. p
  

• Chemistry award for Irish scientist

  Prof Malcolm Smyth, the dean of the faculty of science and paramedical studies at DCU, was presented last night with the Society of Chemistry's Gold Medal award. He is the first scientist based in the Republic to receive the Gold Medal. Prof Smyth is distinguished for research in areas varying from diabetes to the use of illegal growth promoters. He received the award from Prof James Miller at a ceremony marking the end of the 12th annual Society for Analytical Chemistry International Conference at DCU. p
  

• Gilligan appeal date due today

  Counsel for Mr John Gilligan is expected to announce today a date for his appeal to the House of Lords against his extradition to Ireland to face 18 charges including one for the murder of Veronica Guerin. p
  

• Parnell summer school of scandal

  The Parnell Summer School will discuss scandals and inquiries into the planning system, the "two regions" approach to EU aid and devolution in the North when it opens next weekend. p
  

• New minister due in Belfast next week

  The former junior minister at the British Home Office, Mr George Howarth, is expected to arrive in Belfast on Monday to take up his new posting in the Northern Ireland Office. p
  

• No SF promise to participate in agreement review

  Sinn Fein has declined to say if the party will participate in the review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement, restating instead its fear that Ulster Unionists will use the review to delay the process. p
  

• No bail for alleged gun-runners

  Bail applications by three Irish persons accused of conspiracy to send guns to Ireland for the IRA were turned down by the judge in a federal court here. p
  

• New loyalist group formed in Portadown

  A newly-formed loyalist civil rights group has announced its intention to resume street protests in Portadown, Co Armagh, this weekend. p
  

• Illegal funds raised by smuggling fuel - report

  Cross-border fuel-smuggling is becoming a means of funding paramilitary activities, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of the Westminster parliament has concluded. Its report is one of three publications released by the committee in Belfast yesterday. p
  

• House hit by pipebomb

  About 100 people, many of them elderly, were evacuated from their homes in Larne, Co Antrim, yesterday morning after a pipe-bomb was thrown at a house. The attack, on a house in Bryan Street, happened shortly after midnight. The device did not explode. An RUC spokesman said the attack is not believed to have been sectarian. p
  

• Orangeman opens Drumcree debate

  A leading member of the Orange Order has written an open letter to a Northern Ireland newspaper in an attempt to resolve the impasse over Drumcree. Mr David McNarry has passed a "genuine request" for clarification addressed to the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition to the Belfast Telegraph. p
  

• Seven injured in road accident

  Seven people were injured in a road accident in Co Down yesterday Two vehicles, one of them a minibus, collided on the Drumaness Road shortly after 7.30 am. Some of the injured suffered spinal injuries. p
  

• New dispute over Chinook crash

  The British Ministry of Defence has denied new allegations of a cover-up over the 1994 Mull of Kintyre helicopter crash in Scotland in which 25 of the North's top intelligence experts died. There has been continuing controversy about the reliability of the computerised control systems of the ill-fated RAF Chinook helicopter which ploughed into the Mull of Kintyre, killing all on board. p
  

• Students from Denver meet relatives of victims of the Omagh bombing

  Students from Littleton, the suburb of Denver, Colorado, where 12 students and a teacher were massacred last April, yesterday met relatives of victims of last August's Omagh bomb blast. p
  

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