The number of women in the Irish cabinet has fallen from four to three, dealing a further blow to the country’s reputation on gender equality in politics. “There are now as many men named James in the cabinet as there are women,” the Social Democrat MP Jennifer Whitmore said, after the 15-member cabinet was announced…
An activist singled out by Keir Starmer as an environmental “zealot” who must be stopped from making “vexatious” legal claims that thwart growth, has accused the prime minister of trying to lock people out of the planning process. Andrew Boswell, a 68-year-old former Green councillor, insisted his two-year legal fight over the expansion of the…
António Guterres has voiced alarm over the M23 rebel group’s advance towards eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s largest city in a renewed insurgency that has displaced more than 178,000 people in the past two weeks. In a statement though his spokesperson, the United Nations secretary general said M23’s advance had had a devastating toll…
More than 715,000 homes are without power in Ireland as Storm Éowyn continues to batter the island of Ireland, with record speed gusts of 113mph recorded in Galway. The Electricity Supply Board said the extent of the power cut was “unprecedented” and would get worse. “We anticipate significant further outages as Storm Éowyn continues to…
Flights have been delayed, roads closed and ferry services cancelled as 100mph (160km/h) winds pose a danger to life in parts of the UK on Friday morning. Rail services were suspended, with rare red weather warnings issued for Scotland and Northern Ireland, after the Met Office said Storm Éowyn was likely to damage buildings, uproot…
Two teens are lucky to be alive after a targeted shooting during a street fight that embroiled dozens of youths, police say. A 17-year-old boy is fighting for his life in hospital while a 15-year-old has been hospitalised with serious injuries after both were found with gun shot wounds on Vere Street in Collingwood, inner…
Vandals severed the heads off the statues of former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Paul Keating, and damaged 18 others, on Thursday. A total of 20 busts on Prime Ministers Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens in Victoria were attacked between 2am and 5am. The avenue features a collection of busts of Australia’s first 29…
Gavin Newsom has signed a $2.5bn relief package to help areas of Los Angeles recover from the devastating fires that have been burning for nearly two weeks. The funds were announced during a press conference on Thursday in Pasadena, just outside of Altadena, the town hit hardest by the Eaton fire, which ignited on 7…
A French man who has been on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for alleged drug offences is expected to return home in weeks after an Indonesian minister said an agreement would be signed on Friday to allow his transfer. Serge Atlaoui is expected to return to France on 5 or 6 February, the senior…
Italy’s interior minister said on Thursday a Libyan man detained under an international war crimes arrest warrant and then unexpectedly released had been swiftly repatriated because of his “social dangerousness“. Osama Najim, also known as Almasri, was detained on Sunday in Turin under an arrest warrant issued by The Hague-based international criminal court (ICC). Najim,…
