The year began with a startling blast from the past – with news that gardaí were reopening the Kerry Babies case, after 34 years of virtual silence. It came as a shock to the nation, with a sharp reminder of the dark events that unfolded following the reporting on RTÉ on April 14, 1984, that […]
To welcome a baby into the world is one thing, but having two members of the same family born on Christmas Day is nothing short of miraculous. In a bizarre coincidence, Justyna Zeilonka’s new baby boy Leon now shares his birthday with his dad Robert, who was also born on Christmas Day. The couple’s new […]
More than 10,000 households are to pay property tax for the first time on the back of reforms to be announced in the New Year. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has signalled that anyone who bought a home in 2013 will have to start paying the Local Property Tax from 2020. It has long been expected that […]
Emergency services were called to a house on London Road in Maidstone, Kent, at 1.18pm and confirmed at the scene that the teenager had died. A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held in police custody. He is believed to have been known to the woman. Police are continuing their […]
LONDON (AFP) – Britain is forbidding puppies and kittens from being sold by pet shops in a bid to crack down on animal exploitation and abuse. The government said it will roll out the legislation next year after holding public consultations that showed 95 per cent support for the ban. “This will mean that anyone […]
More families attended the annual Christmas dinner for the homeless than ever before, with more than 3,000 dinners going out to those in need. Some 450 people were catered for at the RDS with 2,700 dinner packages also being delivered around Dublin. Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin lamented the number of children in attendance at […]
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a relative outsider when he was chosen to succeed Benedict XVI in 2013. Pope Francis, as he became, is the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to lead the Roman Catholic Church. His election as the 266th pope surprised analysts who may have been expecting a younger man than […]
BUDAPEST — When the Hungarian government coerced the Central European University, a leading college in Budapest, into shutting some of its operations in December, it did not do so by threat of physical force. Viktor Orban, the far-right prime minister of Hungary, never jailed a C.E.U. professor or ordered the university to close by government […]
New drone owners are being warned about the dangers of flying the devices as soon as they unwrap them this Christmas after the chaos at Gatwick Airport. Police and aviation authorities urged users to read up on strict rules about the remote-controlled gadgets before taking them for their first spin. Those caught flouting height and […]
Pope Francis led the world’s Roman Catholics into Christmas on Monday, urging people in the developed world to seek a simpler, less materialistic life and condemning the yawning gap between the rich and the poor. Francis, 82, marking the sixth Christmas of his papacy, led a solemn service for nearly 10,000 people in St. Peter’s […]