More news reports in brief.
Envoys present credentials to President
The ambassadors of Uruguay, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia presented their letters of credence to President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday.
They are Ricardo Javier Varela Fernandez of Uruguay, Dr RM Marty Natalegawa of Indonesia and Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Batt O'Keeffe, Minister of State for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, was also at the ceremony.
Cannabis worth €7m seized
French custom officers yesterday showed part of the 3.85 tonnes of cannabis found on Monday in a Northern Ireland-registered truck at the French-Belgian border in Saint Aybert. Sniffer dogs discovered the drugs worth €7 million concealed in a refrigerated truck driving from Spain to England via the Netherlands.
Achill man dies in industrial accident
A man originally from Achill Island, Co Mayo, has died in an industrial accident in the North. John McNeela (55), Dromore, Co Tyrone, died at a lumber yard near Enniskillen on Wednesday evening in an accident involving a forklift truck at Ballycassidy, near Enniskillen. His body was taken to the Erne hospital where a postmortem was carried out yesterday.
Meanwhile, the woman killed in a collision in Co Cavan on Wednesday was named yesterday as Susan McManus, Doon Beg, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.
Winter bug closes hospital wards
Two wards at Galway's University College Hospital have been closed due to an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug, writes Eithne Donnellan.
The hospital has urged the public to co-operate with it in preventing the spread of the infection by only visiting the hospital if it is essential. Elective surgery is due to be cancelled again today due to the outbreak of the bug and overcrowding in the hospital's accident and emergency department.
Meanwhile, a Limerick city all-Irish secondary school was forced to close after an outbreak of the vomiting bug yesterday. More than 300 students from Laurel Hill Coláiste were sent home at lunchtime and the school is to remain closed until Monday.
Gardaí investigate sex assault claim
Gardaí in Wicklow are investigating reports of a sexual assault on a teenage boy last Saturday evening in Newtownmountkennedy.
The youth was allegedly attacked when he went to the assistance of a man who was reportedly lying on the ground near a bus stop.
Garda are asking for witnesses in the area of the Garden Village on the Newtown Road at about 8pm to come forward.