Wasted energy costs us €100m

THE Government could save up to €100m by stopping energy waste at public buildings, it is claimed.

Environmental group Dublin Friends of the Earth claim the money could be saved "in a couple of years" with more efficient use of light and heating in State buildings such as schools, hospitals and health centres.

Details of the plan were contained in a report launched by environmentalist Duncan Stewart in Dublin yesterday.

Asteroid flew close to Earth

A NEWLY discovered small asteroid has harmlessly zipped close to Earth.

The 16ft space rock, discovered on Monday, passed by early yesterday at a distance of 8,950 miles from the Earth's surface.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which tracks such flybys, said the asteroid was the sixth closest asteroid approach.

On Monday, another asteroid, measuring 69ft across, flew by at a distance of 32,000 miles.

Man dies in fall from 150ft crane

A MAN dangled from a 150ft crane before falling to his death at a college in Texas after a 14-hour stand-off.

The man spent a sweltering afternoon on the crane at the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, USA. He warned officers he would shoot anyone who came near.

The man pulled himself out of the cab and briefly dangled from the crane -- holding on with just his hands -- before dropping to his death.

Officers later identified him as Lee Dell Thomas Jr (44) and said he might have been involved in a robbery.

Mine bodies to be left buried

THE families of 29 men killed 18 months in an explosion ripped at a New Zealand coal mine say they are abandoning efforts to get the remains returned.

Families have lobbied both the government and owners of the Pike River mine to mount an operation to recover the bodies.

However, an assessment by new mine owners Solid Energy indicates the old mine shaft remains dangerously full of methane, and the families don't want to risk any more lives.