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Late starters to bear brunt of health insurance reforms
People who take out health insurance later in life will have to pay substantially higher premiums under reforms for the sector published yesterday by Minister for Health Mary Harney, write Paul Cullen and Arthur Beesley .
Arrests for drug dealing up 40% on 1998
The number of people caught drug dealing has risen by 40 per cent since 1998 while the number of people falling victim to crime has doubled, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office, writes Conor Lally , Crime Correspondent.
Mater to investigate case of man wrongly declared dead
A man who was declared dead by staff at the Mater hospital in Dublin earlier this month was subsequently found to be alive when mortuary personnel came to collect his body from his hospital bed, Eithne Donnellan , Health Correspondent.

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Ciara Dunne's family rejects suicide pact idea
The family of Ciara Dunne has rejected suggestions that she was involved in a suicide pact with her husband Adrian. The couple, along with their two young daughters, were found dead at their home in Monageer, Co Wexford, on Monday. p
More buses and routes for counties near Dublin
Bus Éireann yesterday unveiled plans for a major "city-style" expansion of its network in the greater Dublin area, with buses running as frequently as one every 12 or 15 minutes from provincial towns. p
Man 'possessed' when he axed friend to death
A man accused of murdering a Clare taxi driver said he felt "possessed" when he killed him, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday. p
Corrib gas hearing warned on bias
The "demonisation and vilification" of the people of Erris, along with the continued large presence of gardaí, militated against the Environmental Protection Agency's oral hearing forming an objective decision, the hearing was told yesterday. p
New system to alert parents to truancy
Phone calls, text messages or e-mails will be delivered to parents within minutes if their child is absent from school, in a radical new system introduced in a Co Meath school yesterday. p
Carlow is first Irish town to be'Wi-Fi' hotspot
Carlow yesterday declared itself "Ireland's first Wi-Fi town" as it launched a new wireless broadband internet service. p
Kerry TDs made representations for prisoner release
Three of the six Kerry TDs made representations to Minister for Justice Michael McDowell on behalf of prisoners, according to correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act. p
Drinking water standards very good, says Taoiseach
Irish drinking water standards are very good, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has insisted. As Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny told the Dáil that "people in Galway now speak of having had a morning cryptosporidium shower", Mr Ahern pointed out that water standards "now stand at 97.6 per cent compliance with EU requirements". p

Front Page

Late starters to bear brunt of health insurance reforms
People who take out health insurance later in life will have to pay substantially higher premiums under reforms for the sector published yesterday by Minister for Health Mary Harney, write Paul Cullen and Arthur Beesley .

World

Giuliani predicts a new 9/11 if Democrat is elected
US: Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani has warned that the US could suffer a second terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 if a Democrat becomes president in 2008. Mr Giuliani, the frontrunner in opinion polls for the Republican presidential nomination, said that only a Republican president could guarantee the US would remain on the offensive against terrorism. p
Bayrou to form new party of the centre
FRANCE: François Bayrou, the centrist candidate who received 18.5 per cent of the vote in the first round of the French presidential election, yesterday severely criticised the character of the right-wing candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the economic programme of the socialist, Ségolène Royal. p
Widow's poignant farewell as Yeltsin is laid to rest in Moscow
The poignant final goodbye from the widow of Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, overshadowed the international elder statesmen who came together yesterday for her husband's funeral in Moscow. p
Spector jurors told he is sinister and deadly
US: More than four years after an actor and part-time waitress was found dead of gunshot wounds in the lobby of Phil Spector's palatial home, the legendary 1960s record producer was yesterday described as "sinister and deadly" on the first day of his trial in Los Angeles. p

Finance

Big profit rise for AIB Polish bank
AIB's Polish subsidiary Bank Zachodni WBK has reported a 53.2 per cent rise in pretax profits to 366.4 million zloty (€97.12 million) in the first three months of 2007. p
Spanish property market jitters shake Irish investors
The risk of "a more abrupt slowdown" will occupy the minds of investors in both the Spanish and Irish property markets, it was claimed yesterday, as the steep drops in the value of Spanish real estate companies on Tuesday continued to have knock-on effects on the Irish Stock Exchange. p
Barclays rivals increase their offer for ABN Amro
The consortium of banks fighting to buy ABN Amro was last night due to hold talks with the Dutch bank after signalling it would pay €39 a share, or €72.2 billion ($98.5 billion) for the lender, trumping an agreed deal with Barclays of the UK. p

Sport

Engaging pocket dynamo who never forgot his roots
Alan Ball, who has died aged 61 of a heart attack, was the kid in 1966. Barely 21, red haired, as cheeky as he looked, squeaky of voice, huge of heart, fuelled on desire, he ran those little legs into the ground. All his team-mates said he was man of the match, despite Geoff Hurst's hat-trick. p
Cole carves out Chelsea edge
SOCCER/Chelsea 1 Liverpool 0: It was a match to make grudges respectable. While Chelsea are out to avenge the loss to Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final two years ago, they were measured throughout a victory that makes them favourites to take their place in Athens on May 23rd. The Stamford Bridge side played cunningly on the break in a first half that might have settled the entire tie. p