6+ min ago (487+ words) There are "no plans" to drop the Occupied Territories Bill but the legislation is "not straightforward" and "we have to get this right", Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has said. A report in the Irish Mail on Sunday had suggested that the legislation, aimed at banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements, is to be abandoned in light of the ceasefire in Gaza. In recent weeks, the Opposition has put pressure on the Government to progress the Bill and also ensure that trade in services is banned, as was proposed in the original Occupied Territories legislation put forward by Independent Senator Frances Black in 2018. There has been doubt raised recently that the Government's legislation will include a trade ban on services, with Taoiseach Martin telling the D'il he had been told it was "not implementable". Meanwhile, the Government has faced…...

12+ min ago (478+ words) Courts, "contrary to an extraordinarily popular delusion these days, do not tend to quash things on the basis of "mere technicalities, a High Court judge has said. Mr Justice Richard Humphreys, who manages the court's planning and environment list, was delivering a judgment overturning Dublin City Council's planning approval for a 221-bed student accommodation development on lands at Church Lane, Santry, Dublin 9, after the council conceded the case. The developer, Aideen Whelan, a notice party, said she could not take on defending the case after the concession and the judge's indication that issues concerning public participation under EU law arose that would require clarification by the Court of Justice of the EU. While noting Ms Whelan's concern about losing a potential purchaser for the site, the judge said this was a "self-induced problem due to her having twice breached planning…...

2+ hour, 9+ min ago (593+ words) A Brazilian delivery worker had brain surgery after he was attacked and robbed in Dublin by a large group that included teenagers. Andr" Oliveira (26) was cycling on Royal Canal Way, Phibsboro, when he was assaulted and hit in the head with a piece of wood. "I was attacked by a group. There were about 10 people, some children, some older than me. They surged from nowhere, hitting me. They attacked me with a piece of wood, hitting my head on the right side," he said. Mr Oliveira fell off his bicycle "then they hit me again on my head with the wood". He said was also punched in the face, before the group stole his bike and phone. Some members of the group filmed the incident, which happened at around 6.30pm on November 24. "I was desperate. They were recording, laughing," Mr Oliveira…...

2+ hour, 9+ min ago (472+ words) The death toll mounted to more than 600 from floods and landslides caused by torrential rains across three countries in Southeast Asia, officials said on Sunday. Relief efforts for tens of thousands of displaced people are continuing over the weekend in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The three countries faced large-scale devastation after a rare tropical storm formed in the Malacca Strait fuelling heavy rains and wind gusts for a week. There were 435 dead in Indonesia, 170 in Thailand, and three deaths reported in Malaysia. Rescue and relief officials in the southeast Asian countries were still trying to get access to many flood-hit areas on Sunday even as flood waters receded and tens of thousands of people were evacuated across the three countries. More than four million people have been affected " nearly three million in southern Thailand and 1.1 million in western Indonesia, according…...

4+ hour, 1+ min ago (216+ words) Yellow weather warnings for rain have been issued for three counties in Ireland on Sunday, with persistent and heavy rainfall expected. Kerry, Cork and Waterford are covered by the warnings, which highlight localised flooding and difficult travel conditions as potential impacts. The alerts are valid from 2pm on Sunday until 9am on Monday morning. Status yellow marine warnings are also in place for most of the coast due to gale force winds, with a small craft warning in place for the whole island. Outside the affected counties, a wet night is in store for most, with widespread rain turning heavy at times, according to Met "ireann. It will be mild for a period before colder conditions develop behind the rain as it clears towards morning. Lows of 5 to 10 degrees with fresh winds are expected. Monday morning marks the first day of meteorological…...

9+ hour, 38+ min ago (1165+ words) A proposal to dename Herzog Park in Dublin to be voted on by councillors in the capital on Monday is "divisive and wrong" and should be withdrawn, Taoiseach Miche'l Martin has said. His remarks come amid an expectation that Dublin city councillors will approve a change that would see the name of a former president of Israel removed from the public park in Rathgar. Herzog Park was named in 1995 in honour of Belfast-born Chaim Herzog, Israel's president from 1983 to 1993, who spent his early childhood in Dublin when his father was chief rabbi of Ireland. The Taoiseach said on Sunday that proposal to rename Herzog Park "should be withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with." Mr Martin added: "The proposal would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish communities over many decades, including actual participation…...

10+ hour, 2+ min ago (1732+ words) It seems unlikely that the endless hordes roaming Bourbon Street year round, all day and all night, have that sensation " or maybe that's precisely how they feel. But regardless, the good times determinedly roll in what has been a touchstone year for New Orleans. [I heard the pops and I just ran': New Orleans in shock after vehicle attackOpens in new window] 2025 revolved around the sombre August commemorations of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The year began with the senseless, shocking truck-drive attack on a crowd in the French Quarter on New Year's Day. Now, it ends with confirmation of news that New Orleanians had been anticipating for months: Ice agents will move into the city in a concerted sweep of immigration enforcement. And there are other obstacles. Just this week, the city's new mayor, Helena Moreno, announced plans for…...

10+ hour, 56+ min ago (521+ words) Pope Leo XIV landed in Lebanon on Sunday, on the second leg of his first foreign trip as head of the Catholic Church. Dabke dancers performed energetically in the pouring rain as the pontiff arrived at Lebanon's presidential palace in his Popemobile. Doves were broadcast on a big screen in front of him, before his official motto for this leg of the trip appeared on the screen, reading: "blessed are the peacemakers," taken from the Gospel of Matthew. Civilians had also come out to welcome him along the route there, including residents of Beirut's southern suburbs " heavily hit with air strikes last year " with Hizbullah's Imam Mahdi Scouts also assembling to perform. The trip will see Leo meet Lebanese political leaders and Catholic patriarchs; lead an outdoor mass by the Mediterranean Sea; pray at the tomb of St Charbel Makhlouf…...

11+ hour, 2+ min ago (579+ words) A woman in Dublin who alleged her ex-partner threatened to "burn alive" their young son has been granted a protection order after a court heard he is "capable of anything". The woman, who attended the emergency domestic violence court in Dolphin House on Friday, told judge Gerard Furlong she and her family have received "nothing but abusive threats" from her ex-partner in recent weeks. The threats had intensified since an alleged incident last month, in which she said he "smashed" the window of her sibling's home with glass falling "in on top" of her brother's child, who was sleeping in a pram under the window. "We're in fear for our lives," she said. "He's under the influence of drugs and is capable of anything." She said on Thursday this week her former partner sent threatening messages, with one saying she…...

11+ hour, 2+ min ago (1017+ words) Some people just capture the spirit of the age. Gary Keogh, the AIB shareholder who pelted the bank's higher-ups with eggs in 2009 as all about him lost their heads, was one of them. He died last week. "I feel happier about the whole thing than I have done for months," Keogh told The Irish Times in May 2009, in the immediate aftermath of the incident. He had lost "18,000 on his investment in AIB during the course of the crash and, at the age of 65, decided to make his displeasure known. He showed up to the emergency general meeting of the stressed bank and, amid very heated exchanges, targeted the then chief executive Eugene Sheehy and chairman Dermot Gleeson. Sheehy emerged clean, but Gleeson's suit "sustained a direct eggy hit", according to contemporary reporting. The bank was outlining a "3.5 billion government bailout…...