If you stand near any busy junction during rush hour in Beijing and shut your eyes, it will sound like a much quieter street somewhere in Europe or the United States with the sound of the tyres turning on tarmac often the only alert that a car is approaching. Half of all cars sold in […]
Continue ReadingMore than 300,000 acres have been burned so far this summer in France, in the worst damage experienced by the country since the second World War. Spain, Portugal, the UK and Greece have also suffered badly, with tens of thousands of people displaced and emergency services continuing to struggle with the speed and intensity of […]
Continue ReadingThe “only alternative” that opponents of the plan to end the so-called triple lock on Irish troop deployments offer is to “do nothing and stand by as Russia and others continue to destroy international peacekeeping”, Micheál Martin has said. Opponents of the Government’s plans to end a United Nations Security Council veto on foreign deployment […]
Continue ReadingSpain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has called for an urgent meeting of EU interior ministers after what he called some member states’ “selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction” to this week’s mass border crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in North Africa. It comes after he confirmed “virtually all” the irregular migrants had been returned, […]
Continue ReadingSir, – This newspaper’s report on the Taoiseach’s meeting with German chancellor Friedrich Merz noted they would discuss “strengthening Europe’s competitiveness”, including the Irish presidency’s work to “simplify rules” (“Taoiseach to host German chancellor for talks in Dublin”, July 28th). ’Simplification’ has become one of the most misleading phrases in European politics. Rather than describing […]
Continue ReadingHigh summer at Farmleigh, with a pleasant breeze and the mercury rising lazily to a comfortable resting spot in the mid-to-low 20s. It probably felt like a welcome respite for the visiting European entourage – German chancellor Friedrich Merz flew in from Berlin, where it’s predicted to hit the mid-30s by Thursday. The Irish summer […]
Continue ReadingThe evacuation of nearly 4,000 people from tourist sites on France’s Atlantic coast is under way as the return of winds and extreme heat jeopardised firefighters’ battles to contain wildfires raging to the west of Bordeaux. The precautionary evacuation order, which covers campsites, holiday villages and other tourist accommodation around the resort of Lacanau, exacerbated […]
Continue ReadingHundreds of Irish writers are set to share millions of euro following a €1.31 billion settlement of a copyright infringement case by artificial intelligence giant Anthropic. The Irish Writers Union said the settlement, which is the first case against tech companies over the training of their large language models, will result in hundreds of authors […]
Continue ReadingA confidential Government report has detailed that Aughinish Alumina has increasingly “struggled” to sell material produced in the Co Limerick plant to European countries, due to concerns about the company’s Russian ownership. Exports of alumina from Aughinish to Russia “have significantly increased since 2020 and at a more pronounced level since 2022”, the unpublished Department […]
Continue ReadingMore than 90,000 people have fled huge wildfires in Spain and France as Madrid declared a national emergency and French authorities ordered the total evacuation, by land and sea, of one of the country’s best-known holiday spots. Authorities in southwest France ordered the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast to be evacuated “village by […]
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