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

Asif Ali Zardari (left) and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, widower and son of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, at a news conference in Sindh yesterday.

Photograph: Zahid Hussein/Reuters

Outpatients waiting up to eight years to see consultants
Patients can be waiting up to eight years to see a consultant in a hospital outpatient clinic, new figures show. The figures obtained by The Irish Times show some 48 patients who were waiting to be seen in the outpatient department of Mayo General Hospital earlier this year had been on the waiting list since 1999.
Democracy is the best revenge, says Bhutto's son
Pakistan's most fabled political dynasty turned a new chapter yesterday as Benazir Bhutto's teenage son was chosen to take over his mother's political party following her assassination last week.
Six oil firms seek licences to drill despite higher tax
Six oil companies have sought exploration licences to drill for oil and gas off the west coast under the Government's new licensing round, even though taxes on discoveries have been substantially increased.

In Focus

Head2Head
Do we need more detailed food labelling?
Business poll
Will Hibernian pay a price for offshoring some of its customer service operations?
Education
Full education coverage

World

Riots after Kibaki declared election winner
Kenya: Kenya was plunged into crisis yesterday after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of a presidential election, amid allegations of fraud and vote rigging. p
Republican rivals gear up to sway Iowa
United States : The contrast between contenders Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee could not be stronger, writes Denis Staunton in Newton, Iowa. p
Leading Chinese rights activist arrested
China: Hu Jia, an Aids campaigner and one of the most prominent faces of dissent in China, has been arrested in Beijing in what human rights groups fear may be the start of a crackdown on human rights activists ahead of the Olympics in August. p

Ireland

Man (19) arrested after fatal stabbing in Drogheda
Gardaí in Drogheda will this morning resume a search of wasteland as they try to locate the knife used to fatally stab a local man. p
Minister looks at SSIA-type pension scheme
An SSIA-type pension scheme is likely to form part of a series of recommendations aimed at increasing pension coverage. p
Major exhibition of Turner works to open in Dublin
Late one evening in 1840, a young man sat down, eager to confide in his diary. That day he had finally met the great artist he had defended, quite famously, from a critical onslaught. p
Cross-Border geopark considered
Efforts are under way to have a part of the Border region traditionally associated with the Troubles put on the international map by Unesco because of its outstanding and untapped natural environment. p
State shelves plan to buy historic Galway house linked with Yeats and Betjeman
A State plan to buy an 18th century south Galway house associated with WB Yeats and Sir John Betjeman appears to have been dropped in spite of commitments given by three Government ministers. p
New regulations on staff in nursing homes
All nursing homes will be obliged to ensure staff are properly trained and vetted by gardaí under new standards for residential care due to be published next month. p
Anti-pylons group plans to step up campaign
Campaigners opposed to a new power line corridor through the northeast have vowed to step up their opposition in the New Year. p
Road deaths down 9% to 336 this year
Road safety campaigners are taking some satisfaction in a significant drop in road death numbers during 2007. Up until yesterday evening, 336 people had been killed on the roads this year, a drop of almost 9 per cent on 2006. p
FG and Labour to query Ahern's tax affairs
Fine Gael and Labour will be demanding a statement from the Taoiseach about his tax affairs when the Dáil resumes at the end of January, following recent media reports about his dealings with the Revenue Commissioners. p

Finance

Berkshire ordered to hand over documents
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate and its General Re insurance unit have been ordered by a US judge to comply with subpoenas from its former chief executive, whose fraud trial begins next month. p
Royal Liver begins drive to buy up independent brokers
Royal Liver Assurance has embarked on a drive to buy up independent Irish pension brokers in an attempt to widen the reach of Citadel Financial Advice, its wholly-owned life and pensions broker network in Ireland. p
Countries abandon dollar reserves in favour of strengthening euro
The euro has fast gained ground against the dollar in international official foreign exchange reserves in recent months, according to official statistics highlighting the nine-year-old currency's growing global importance. p

Innovation

Land of Ideas
In terms of ideas, Germany is EU leader with the highest number of inventions registered with the European Patents Office, writes Derek Scally in Berlin p

Sport

Liverpool lose sight of goal
SOCCER/Manchester City 0 Liverpool 0 : One day to go before the transfer window swings open and it is easy to understand why Sven-Goran Eriksson and Rafael Benitez are eager to get down to business. Manchester City and Liverpool would like to believe it will be a productive 2008 but the only logical conclusion from a prosaic scoreless draw here was that there is an awful lot of work to be done first - and that both managers may need to pull a couple of rabbits out of the hat in the mid-season sale. p
Williams confirmed as Ulster coach
Matt Williams will be installed as Ulster's new head coach early in January after agreeing a two-and-a-half-year deal to succeed Mark McCall. The Ulster players were informed of Williams's appointment yesterday after the former New South Wales, Leinster and Scotland coach accepted Ulster's offer over the Christmas after returning home to Sydney following his interview for the vacancy last Thursday week in Belfast. p
Patriots rewrite the books
AMERICAN FOOTBALL/The Patriots' game: A record season: The New England Patriots earned a place in NFL history by completing a perfect, 16-0, regular season with a 38-35 victory at the New York Giants on Saturday. p

Features

QUOTES OF 2007
Who said what in 2007? The funniest, wittiest, most memorable comments made to Irish Times writers Michael Dwyer, Michael Dervan, Michael Seaver, Aidan Dunne, Ray Comiskey, Jim Carroll, Peter Crawley, Donald Clarke, Siobhán Long, Tony Clayton-Lea p