The Irish Times, Irish News Online, International, Sports & Business News

Adam Racsko (left) and Gellert Oravcz, both from Hungary and living in Ireland, enjoying the sunny weather on one of the hottest days of the year at Portmarnock strand in north Co Dublin yesterday.

Photograph: Bryan O'Brien.

New court hearing in embryos case opens tomorrow
A case concerning whether frozen embryos constitute the "unborn" under the Constitution, and are therefore entitled to the right to life, will open in the High Court tomorrow, write Carol Coulter , Legal Affairs Correspondent, and Alison Healy .
Rice to visit Lebanon amid UN calls for international peace force
While diplomats at the UN struggled yesterday to agree a response to the spiralling violence in Lebanon, the US announced the dispatch on Friday to the region of secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. But Israel yesterday again bombed targets in Lebanon, killing 31 people, including nine family members in a single strike, bringing the overall death toll to 235. Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem and Stephen Collins , Political Correspondent report.
Bodies of 'Westies' drug gang leaders found in Spain
Two bodies found buried six feet under concrete in an industrial estate in southern Spain last night are believed to be those of missing Dublin drug dealers Shane Coates (31) and Stephen Sugg (27), writes Conor Lally .

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Ireland

Lay majority for fitness to practise body
The fitness to practise committee of the Medical Council, which decides whether doctors against whom complaints are made should be found guilty of professional misconduct, will in future be made up of a majority of lay people, if proposals published yesterday are implemented. p
Waste charges on electricals to fall
Recycling charges for some waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) are to be reduced from the beginning of next month, following a comprehensive review of the waste management charges introduced last year. p
Gardai- focus on strangled woman's final hours
Gardaí investigating the murder of a 19-year-old woman in Cobh in Co Cork are focusing on the last reported movements of the teenager in the hope that they will lead them to catching her killer. p
Workers on bus contract paid €2.80 per hour
A group of South Africans working on a multi-million euro, Government-funded contract to retro-fit seatbelts on Bus Ã¿ireann schoolbuses are currently being paid a basic wage of €2.80 an hour, less than half the minimum wage, The Irish Times has learned. p
Regional disparity in rates of conviction revealed
Defendants appearing before the Circuit Criminal Courts in Dublin are nearly three times more likely to be convicted than those appearing before the courts in the regions, new figures from the Courts Service have revealed. p
Ahern for talks on Blaney move
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has told Fianna FÃ¡il's national executive that he hopes to see the merger of Independent Fianna FÃ¡il in Donegal back into the main party by the end of summer. p
Report into Carthy killing to be published tomorrow
The long-awaited report of the Barr tribunal into the fatal shooting of John Carthy by gardaí in Abbeylara, Co Longford, more than six years ago will be published tomorrow. p
FF councillor denies bribe claim
Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fox has denied an allegation by Frank Dunlop that he took a £2,000 bribe to support a major rezoning in south Dublin. p

Finance

1,200 US Allfirst investors win $1.5m settlement
Some 1,200 US investors who lost money in the Allfirst scandal are to share about $1.5 million (€1.2 million) in a class action suit. p
Manufacturing jobs down 13% since 2000
Employment in manufacturing has slumped 13 per cent since reaching a peak in 2000, according to a Forfás report commissioned by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin. p
More than $1bn wiped off gaming firms' shares
More than $1.1 billion was wiped off the value of British gaming shares yesterday after US authorities arrested the chief executive and five other officials from a UK online gambling site. p

World

59 Shia labourers lured into van killed by Iraqi suicide bomber
IRAQ: A suicide bomber killed 59 people in a crowded Iraqi market yesterday after luring Shia day labourers aboard his mini-van with an offer of casual work. p
Sudan resists pressure for UN mission
SUDAN: Sudan resisted world powers' pressure yesterday to accept a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur to replace an African Union force which has been unable to stem violence that Washington calls genocide. p
Austrian minister pressured to quit over bank scandal
AUSTRIA: Austrian finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser is under pressure to resign after being dragged into a banking scandal that could endanger the conservative government\'s re-election chances in October. p
'Macho' crime writer Mickey Spillane dies
US: Mickey Spillane, the macho mystery writer who wowed millions of readers with the sex and violence of gumshoe Mike Hammer, has died. He was 88. p

Sport

Settled side a big plus for Deane
GAELIC GAMES: One of these days John Allen might surprise us all and shake up the Cork hurling team but, as the saying goes, you don't fix what isn't broken. Allen stays practically true to that for Saturday's All-Ireland hurling quarter-final against Limerick at Semple Stadium, making just one change from team that beat Tipperary in last month's Munster final. Ian O'Riordan reports p
Landis could have left rest with a mountain to climb
CYCLING/Tour de France Stage 15: Floyd Landis may not want the yellow jersey quite yet - he is worried about the strength of his team - but it came his way yesterday, once again by an infinitesimal margin, and if there is any truth in the old saying that the rider in yellow here will wear yellow in Paris, it may be his to keep. p