The British and Irish prime ministers traveled on Friday to Northern Ireland to unveil a breakthrough agreement that saves the province's peacemaking coalition of Catholics and Protestants.

Thank you, Thierry Henry. If nothing else, your cheating against Ireland has shown that ordinary folks — those who are passionate about soccer and those who are not — remain, by and large, decent.

Football's world ruling body FIFA on Friday officially turned down a request from the Irish football authorities to stage a replay of their controversial World Cup playoff defeat to France.

Military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and emergency workers in inflatable boats rescued scores more as floods on Friday swamped northern England's picturesque Lake District. One police officer was missing and feared dead after a bridge was swept away.

Football players just can't be trusted to be honest and Thierry Henry proved that by choosing to play volleyball against Ireland, blatantly handling the ball for the goal that sent France to the World Cup.

Angry Ireland called on FIFA on Thursday to allow its World Cup playoff with France to be replayed, as a dispute over Thierry Henry's blatant handball threatened to become a diplomatic row.

A "saddened" Giovanni Trapattoni hit out at match officials but refused to blame Thierry Henry for the handball which helped France controversially dump the Republic of Ireland out of World Cup qualifying in Paris on Wednesday.

Ireland voted overwhelmingly to ratify the EU's Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum, overturning a previous No vote and taking a key step towards ending the expanding bloc's deadlock, leaders said on Saturday.

Ireland voted strongly in favour of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, overturning a previous, shock No vote and taking a key step towards ending the 27-nation bloc's deadlock, ministers said on Saturday.

Counting takes place Saturday in Ireland's second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty, with the country tipped to have voted Yes, averting an institutional crisis across the continent.

Ireland was voting on Friday on the EU's Lisbon Treaty in a crunch second referendum which Europe's leaders hope will overturn last year's No vote and avoid plunging the bloc into chaos.

Irish citizens are set to vote in a new European Union referendum in October after their government secured guarantees on Friday that a new EU reform treaty will not limit Ireland's sovereignty.

Riding on opener Kamran Akmal's sparkling half century, Pakistan romped into the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup after thrashing Ireland by 39 runs in their must-win last Super eight match in London on Monday.

Sri Lanka survived a scare before putting one foot in the semifinal of the Twenty20 World Cup following their narrow nine-run win over minnows Ireland in their Super Eight match at Lord's here today.

Aaron Redmond made a memorable return to international cricket with a blistering 30-ball 63 as New Zealand spanked minnows Ireland by 83 runs in their first Super Eight match of the Twenty20 World Cup here today.

Zaheer Khan wreaked havoc while Rohit Sharma continued his purple patch as a ruthless India decimated Ireland by eight wickets in a rain-marred Group A tie of the Twenty20 World Cup in Trent Bridge on Wednesday night.

A berth in the Super Eight Stage already in their pocket, defending champions India will look to sort out their bowling woes when they take on fellow qualifiers Ireland in the final Group A league match in the World Twenty20 Championships in Trent Bridge on Wednesday.

O'Brien brothers -- Niall and Kevin's scintillating knocks fashioned Ireland's six-wicket victory over Bangladesh and propelled them to the Super Eight stage of the ICC Twenty20 Championship, in Trent Bridge on Monday.

European leaders are anxiously awaiting a Czech Senate vote on the Lisbon Treaty this week, amid French and Germans warnings that EU enlargement can't continue unless the reforms are ratified.

Ireland beat the Netherlands by six wickets in Pretoria on Wednesday to clinch a second consecutive appearance at the World Cup.

When Irish Republican Army dissidents gunned down their first British security forces in more than a decade, they hoped to provoke a steely security crackdown and tit-for-tat attacks that would drag Belfast back into the bad old days.

Thousands of people joined peace vigils in Northern Ireland on Wednesday to protest the killings of a policeman and two soldiers, which threaten to re-ignite sectarian conflict after a decade of calm

The second deadly attack on Northern Ireland security forces in 48 hours prompted warnings on Tuesday that the province was "staring into the abyss" of a return to violence, after over a decade of calm.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed on Monday that peace in Northern Ireland was "unshakeable" despite the first killings of soldiers in 12 years, pledging to find the "callous murderers."

An Irish newspaper says it received a statement from an IRA dissident group claiming responsibility for Sunday's gun attack at a British army base that killed two soldiers and wounded four other people.