The first babies of the New Year have been born.

A man in his early 20s has been stabbed in Dublin.

A whole host of price increases have kicked in with the New Year.

A foreigner travelling through the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis was seized by Palestinian gunmen today.

Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren will monitor the fitness of striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu ahead of the Newcastle match tomorrow.

Matt Jansen appears set to leave Blackburn after finding his first-team opportunities limited at Ewood Park.

Children with food allergies can grow up feeling abnormal or be afraid of eating, research has found.

A new scheme which gives young people the chance to serve with the UN in developing countries will benefit Ireland’s expanding aid programme, Minster of State Conor Lenihan said today.

Dual Champion Hurdle winner Hardy Eustace has emerged in supreme shape after his successful pipe-opener in the Happy New Year Hurdle at Punchestown.

Charlton will have midfielder Danny Murphy back from suspension for tomorrow’s trip to Everton.

Chelsea will be without suspended England midfielder Joe Cole for the trip to his former club West Ham on Monday.

West Ham could have defenders Danny Gabbidon and Tomas Repka back from injury for the visit of Chelsea.

Tony Christie’s (Is This The Way To) Amarillo was the biggest selling single of 2005 in Britain, according to end-of-year figures.

Armed Palestinians bombed the United Nations club in Gaza City early today, throwing two explosive devices.

Wales head coach Mike Ruddock today urged the Ospreys management to strongly consider appealing against Gavin Henson’s 10-week suspension.

El-Hadji Diouf should return from suspension to give Bolton added firepower for their Barclays Premiership clash with Liverpool at the Reebok Stadium.

Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta returns to the Everton squad for tomorrow’s Barclays Premiership clash with Charlton after serving his one-match ban.

West Brom could have Junichi Inamoto fit for the derby at home to Aston Villa after he missed the 1-0 defeat at Liverpool with a thigh injury.

Liverpool have a slight doubt over striker Djibril Cisse’s fitness for the trip to face Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.

Sunderland midfielder Christian Bassila is likely to be missing for the Barclays Premiership to Fulham tomorrow after damaging a hamstring in training.

Aston Villa manager David O’Leary was breathing a sigh of relief after picking up no new injuries in the goalless draw against Arsenal on Saturday.

The Premier League are to investigate why undersoil heating systems at Bolton and Blackburn failed to cope with the freezing Christmas weather, forcing both clubs to postpone matches.

A Cypriot man kidnapped in Iraq four months ago has been released after payment of a $200,000 (€168,898) ransom, relatives said today.

Here are the names from the world of music which industry experts predict will be on everyone’s lips in 2006.

Leading Smurfit Champion Hurdle candidate Harchibald has suffered a setback which could keep him off the track for the remainder of the season.

Denman turned a Grade One contest into a procession as he destroyed his rivals in the stanjamesuk.com Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Police hunting a dangerous paedophile who snatched a six-year-old girl issued a description today of the man they want to talk to and details of where he may have taken her.

Palestinian gunmen kidnapped an Italian in the Gaza Strip today.

Telecoms group NTL is understood to be planning to increase its takeover offer for Virgin Mobile.

Blackburn midfielder Tugay is again available for tomorrow’s Ewood Park clash with Portsmouth after serving a one-match suspension.

Wigan left-back Leighton Baines could miss his first Barclays Premiership match of the season at Birmingham tomorrow.

Fulham hope to have Papa Bouba Diop back from injury for their home clash with rock-bottom Sunderland tomorrow.

Shamed sprinter Ben Johnson has claimed 40% of sportsmen are using performance-enhancing drugs.

England and Newcastle striker Michael Owen is set to have an operation on the broken bone in his right foot, according to Sky Sports News.

Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom halted sales to Ukraine today in a price dispute.

Palestinian gunmen kidnapped an Italian peace activist in the Gaza Strip today but released him several hours later.

Carlos Sainz kept up his perfect start to the Dakar Rally with a second stage win in Portugal.

Interest rates are expected to rise to about 3% by the end of 2006, but economic forecasters have said that it will be a good year for the economy.

Newcastle will be without Michael Owen for tomorrow’s clash with Middlesbrough after the England striker broke a bone in his foot during the defeat by Tottenham.

A new landscape of opportunity for peace in Ireland has been created by the IRA’s decision to renounce violence, President Mary McAleese said today.

Lebanon’s former prime minister, the late Rafic Hariri, was named today as the 2005 Tipperary International Peace Award winner.

Police in the North have arrested two men following a serious assault in Ballymena.

Police in the North are investigating an assault on a woman in north Belfast in the early hours of New Year’s Eve.

Hearts 2 Celtic 0

Austria assumed the presidency of the European Union today with a pledge to make the 25-nation bloc “more tangible to our citizens”.

Ruby Walsh escaped serious injury after taking a crashing fall from Sporazene in the Steel Plate And Sections Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will undergo a previously announced heart procedure on Thursday to close a small hole that apparently led to his recent stroke.

Gardaí in Co Kildare are searching a 63-year-old man missing since last Thursday.

Walls of flames 100ft high swept through parched eucalyptus forests and destroyed at least three homes as several fires raged out of control north of Sydney today.

Northern California residents were braced for a second storm to hit the region tonight, a day after the first sent rivers flooding into cities and mud sliding into homes and on highways.

Hearts 2 Celtic 3

Northern jump racing’s top trio of Howard Johnson, Graham Wylie and Graham Lee kicked off the New Year in great style with a three-timer at Catterick thanks to wins with Zeitgeist, Turnstile and Motive.

Syria’s ruling Baath Party has dismissed former Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam and demanded that he be tried for high treason, the official news agency SANA reported today.

Fine Gael is claiming that the Government is not fulfilling promises it made in its Road Safety Strategy.

A man who was convicted of gun-running for the LVF in 1995 has been killed in what police are describing as a "frenzied attack" in Glasgow.

The Listener maintained his unbeaten record over fences with a brave victory in the Unicoin Homes “Dipper” Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.

Sheffield Wednesday have wasted no time in bolstering their squad for the new year after completing the double signing of Rotherham striker Deon Burton and Derby’s Marcus Tudgay.

The heaviest rain and snow of the winter so far lashed Pakistan’s earthquake-hit areas today, grounding helicopters flying relief supplies and deepening the misery of survivors who huddled around camp fires to keep warm as temperatures plummeted.

Gardaí in County Meath are investigating an incident at a house near Trim during which a man was stabbed.

There was a fourth victory in a row for Dun Doire today in the featured Dunboyne Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse.

One of five Turkish children being tested for bird flu has died and another is in a critical condition, the chief physician at the hospital where they were being treated said today.

EDUCATION Minister Mary Hanafin wondered recently why more young men do not apply for primary teaching? She added that her department had spent two years (and God knows how much money) on a strategy committee to answer the question.

CIVIL servants working in the constituency offices of ministers cost the Exchequer €2.5 million each year, according to the latest official figures.

WELCOME to the centenary of the great ‘Frisco quake and, here, the impending Ice Age II. Happy new year.

SAM ALLARDYCE is desperate for Bolton to beat Liverpool today to ensure all the hard work of the past 12 months does not disintegrate amid the temporary break-up of his squad.

A FORMER teenage dotcom millionaire is embarking on a new internet project with the launch of a network of gay websites.

A NEW York law firm is preparing a multi-million dollar lawsuit on behalf of the family of Limerick woman Kay Cregan, who died after undergoing plastic surgery carried out by Dr Michael Sachs at his Manhattan clinic.

EVERTON assistant boss Alan Irvine has revealed how the club’s players have found themselves in a mental trough after failing to build on last season’s fourth-placed finish.

KYMANDJEN, a more than useful handicapper, landed the valuable Wilf Dooly Chase at Tramore yesterday to continue the good run of Paul Nolan and John Cullen.

FIANNA FÁIL’S election strategies are causing growing tension among senior ministers.

ANOTHER great building in Cork city is being demolished - this time the Capitol cinema complex.

THIS may well prove a turning point in Connacht’s fortunes.

David Conn, marketing director of Mentalogy Games, talks to David Clerkin.

AS FAR as dieting fads go, it doesn’t sound a bad one - simply eat sandwiches every three hours.

MAKE your New Year's resolution now and sign up for the Meningitis Research Foundation's Slimathon 2006.

A NEW year dawned in revolt-torn Nepal yesterday amid growing fears of fresh violence as the Maoist rebels’ unilateral truce neared its end.

LEINSTER’S performance against Munster silenced many doubters.

Hearts 2 Celtic 3

LEBANON’S former prime minister, the late Rafik Hariri, was yesterday named the 2005 Tipperary International Peace Award winner.

FOREIGN students who complete third-level degrees in Ireland will no longer have to leave the country upon graduation, Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin has said.

SCOTT CAMERON never imagined his modest memorial to US troops in Iraq would transform a quiet street into the latest front of the nation’s tense debate about the war in Iraq.

A CAMPAIGN to tackle climate change has received cross-party support from dozens of TDs.

LAST week’s postponed fixtures at both Bolton and Blackburn because of the failure of under-soil heating systems will be investigated by the Premier League.

Man Utd 4 Bolton 1

PETER MANLEY was on his best behaviour last night as he demolished Wayne Jones 6-0 to reach the final of the Ladbrokes.com World Championship in Purfleet.

The wit, wisdom and downright weird of the sporting world in 2005.

Leinster 35 Munster 23

IT’S a curious thing. If someone rises through the ranks of the Garda Siochána to become commissioner, they’re not expected, when their term ends, to go back to being a rank-and-file garda.

A SIMPLE but significant ceremony yesterday marked the 94th day of the release of the Rossport Five, jailed last year for their opposition to Shell’s development of the Corrib gas fields.

ONE of Northern Ireland’s richest businessman was been awarded a knighthood.

IT’S been a long time coming, but finally there’s €300,000 worth of New Year cheer for the people of Tallow in west Waterford.

NEWCASTLE have been accused by David Pleat of relying too heavily on Alan Shearer.

LITTLE Molly Hogan does not know it yet but she has already made a little bit of history by being named the first baby of 2006.

TELECOMS group NTL is understood to be planning to increase its takeover offer for Virgin Mobile.

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel said she opposed banning Iran from the soccer World Cup because of controversial remarks by Iran’s president, saying it would be wrong to punish the players for his words.

LAST month an RTÉ Prime Time programme on the motor trade highlighted a serious problem with the whole approach to rip-off Ireland. There is a serious flaw in the thinking on what constitutes anti-competitive activity.

THE newspapers are awash with stories of people abusing alcohol and the numbers presenting at hospitals as a result of alcohol-related incidents, etc.