In Short

A round up of today's other stories in brief...

A round up of today's other stories in brief...

Guns and explosives seized in raid

Armed detectives last night seized guns and explosive devices in a raid on a house in Dublin city.

Two handguns, three explosive devices and a quantity of ammunition were recovered in the Garda operation targeted at INLA dissident republicans and organised criminals.

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The search, which involved several undercover officers, was carried out on a house at Stanhope Street on the city's north side.

A Garda spokesman said a man was arrested and is being held at the Bridewell Garda station under Section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act. He can be questioned without charge for up to 72 hours.

Ministers to meet senior gardaí

The Cabinet decided yesterday that the Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan, and other senior Ministers should meet senior gardaí in the coming weeks to discuss priorities to be set out shortly for the force, writes Stephen Collins, Political Editor.

A Government spokesman said senior Ministers would meet gardaí to discuss issues like the crime rate, homicide, gang crime and the level of resources available to tackle these problems.

He added that Mr Lenihan would also hear the views of TDs in the Dáil today during a debate on crime. The Government agreed to the day-long debate at the request of Labour Party leader Éamon Gilmore.

Woman died after attack by bull

The Health and Safety Authority has been notified of the death of a 73-year-old woman on a farm in Co Westmeath. It is believed she was attacked by a bull on her farm in Drumraney, between Athlone and Mullingar, yesterday morning.

She was pronounced dead at the scene and was taken to Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar for a postmortem. Gardaí were not releasing her name until relatives had been notified.

Two charged after hotel party fight

Two people were charged with public order offences last night after a brawl at an engagement party in a Dublin hotel.

The party, at the Royal Dublin Hotel on O'Connell Street, got out of hand at around 7.30pm last night.

Up to 15 gardaí responded to reports of fighting in the hotel and on the street after the revellers were ejected from the hotel. Up to five people were taken into custody and two were later charged. They are due in court later this month.

President to visit New Zealand

The Government has given President Mary McAleese permission to visit New Zealand from October 26th to November 4th. Under the terms of Article 12.9 of the Constitution, the President is obliged to get the permission of the Government to leave the state.

Life rafts recalled in safety warning

Irish Water Safety has warned owners of BFA marine life rafts that certain models are being recalled for safety reasons.

BFA marine, which makes Atlantic, Pacific, Baltic, XM/BFA Offshore life rafts, says that some overpressure valve failures have been identified on models in use, which could lead to "major air leakage" when cracked, or even to complete deflation when broken.

"As a preventive measure, BFA marine urges its owners to bring back without delay their life raft to the nearest BFA approved service station, in order to check and potentially replace those overpressure valves," the company says.

Models made between 1997 and April 2007 with serial numbers from 10 001 to 50 180 dating to 2002, and all serial numbers after 2002 with prefix XDC should be returned for checking, the company says.  http://www.bfa-marine.com