http://www.ireland.com/front The Irish Times' Top Stories en-ie Copyright , ireland.com. The Irish Times 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 daily 2 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/ http://www.ireland.com/feeds/rss/rss_logo.gif Search for articles on ireland.com QUERY00 http://www.ireland.com/cgi-bin/dialogserver http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2008/0509/1210286669313.html THE US and France yesterday called for international aid to be delivered to cyclone victims without the permission of the Burmese military government if the regime continues to block the arrival of foreign aid workers and material assistance. TopStories 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2008/0509/1210286669306.html A RECORD €1m fine has been handed down by the Circuit Court to a waste contractor who engaged in illegal dumping over a four-year period in west Wicklow. TopStories 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2008/0509/1210286669301.html GLOBAL DRINKS giant Diageo is expected to announce a major scaledown in its brewing activities at the iconic St James's Gate plant in Dublin, which has been making Guinness since 1759. TopStories 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210276384214.html DEPUTY FIRST Minister Martin McGuinness proclaimed what may prove to be the end of the Northern Ireland troubles when he told an investment conference in Belfast yesterday: “The old days are gone, the old days will never return.” News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210276384144.html IN POSSIBLY the biggest operation of its kind in the history of the State, more than 250 gardaí searched 150 premises in the midwest yesterday as part of an investigation into Limerick criminal gangs. The offices of a number of accountants and solicitors were also visited. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210247408669.html FORMER TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has won his High Court challenge to the handling by the Mahon tribunal of aspects of its inquiries into lodgements to Mr Ahern’s accounts when he was minister for finance in 1993 and 1994. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210276383994.html THE EXPECTED row within Aosdána, arising from the controversial documentary about poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh, was defused yesterday when the annual general assembly agreed to a motion endorsing the Arts Council’s child welfare protection policy. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210276379945.html A HIGH Court judge has described the circumstances of a multimillion land deal in Co Offaly, in which €7 million lent by a bank has gone missing, as the “most dishonest transaction” he has ever encountered as a serving judge. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210276384003.html A SIGNIFICANT stained-glass work by the renowned Irish artist Harry Clarke is to return to his native Dublin after it was acquired by the National Museum of Ireland yesterday. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210284926607.html THE DATA Protection Commissioner has warned of an increasing erosion of civil liberties through the introduction of security measures that infringe on the right to privacy of citizens. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210276383985.html THE TENTS and tepees used by motorway protesters on the lower slopes of the Hill of Tara were dismantled yesterday morning by the Office of Public Works. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0509/1210276384012.html CAMPAIGNERS opposing Dublin Port Company’s 21-hectare expansion into Dublin Bay have described a company proposal to give up its lands on Bull Island, if it gets planning permission for expansion, as desperate and “bizarre”. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0509/1210276383821.html THE ANNUAL rate of inflation fell to 4.3 per cent in April from 5.0 per cent in March, according to the Consumer Price Index published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0509/1210276383804.html THE FALL in house building has hit profits at building materials and DIY group, Grafton, the company warned yesterday. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0509/1210276383784.html LOSS-MAKING regional newspaper publisher River Media is trying to raise €10 million through the sale of a 20 per cent stake in the business. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0509/1210276379268.html THE EUROPEAN Central Bank kept benchmark interest rates unchanged at 4 per cent yesterday, as expected, as policymakers weigh the risk of high inflation against concerns about euro zone economic growth. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2008/0509/1210286024755.html MIDDLE EAST: Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert admitted last night that he accepted campaign donations from an American businessman but denied that they were bribes and said he would only resign if he were indicted. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2008/0509/1210286024735.html US: BARACK OBAMA has said he is not taking the Democratic presidential nomination for granted despite mounting pressure on Hillary Clinton to withdraw. Mrs Clinton repeated yesterday that she intends to stay in the race at least until every state has voted on June 3rd but some of her own supporters are now publicly urging her to consider her position. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2008/0509/1210286669418.html AUSTRIA: AUSTRIAN MAN Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered her seven children, has said he is "no monster" but that he is addicted to incest. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2008/0509/1210286669407.html BELARUS: BELARUS, DESCRIBED by the United States as the "last dictatorship in Europe", has offered a slender olive branch to Washington in a rumbling row over spying, sanctions and human rights. News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2008/0509/1210284926768.html KIDNEY’S TEAM News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2008/0509/1210284926729.html KEVIN KEEGAN will not resign as Newcastle United's manager and is unlikely to be sacked when he meets Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise in London at 11am this morning. "I've got three years on my contract and I am looking forward to the next three years - at least - here," said a quietly defiant Keegan yesterday. "I am going to London to talk to Mike Ashley tomorrow; that's a good thing, I look forward to it." News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2008/0509/1210284926795.html RUGBY IRELAND’S NEW MANAGER MEETS THE PRESS News Digest 2008-05-09T21:38:15+00:00