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Overview: a surge in Irish passport applications from the UK Nearly a quarter of a million people living in the United Kingdom applied for Irish passports in 2024, the highest number recorded since the UK formally left the European Union. The wave of applications cuts across Britain and Northern Ireland and reflects both practical responses to Brexit and longer-running family ties. Department of Foreign Affairs figures show 242,772 applications in 2024. Just over half (53%) of those applications came from people living…

Summary Former US president Donald Trump has announced plans to sue the BBC for up to $5 billion after the British broadcaster apologised for a misleading edit of his remarks that aired in a documentary about the 6 January 2021 Capitol assault. The dispute has produced high-level resignations at the BBC and a public standoff over whether the edit amounts to defamation. Trump says he will file suit “anywhere between a billion and five billion dollars” and signalled legal papers could follow within days. The BBC…

What happened The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump after editing his 6 January 2021 speech in a Panorama episode in a way the broadcaster says was an "error of judgement." The programme — Trump: A Second Chance? — has been removed from the BBC website and a retraction published on its page. The BBC said excerpts from different parts of the speech were shown together in one sequence and apologised to President Trump for that editing. The Panorama episode will not be rebroadcast "in this form" on any BBC…

Overview: Global emissions climb as 1.5C window narrows The latest Global Carbon Budget warns that carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is poised to reach a fresh peak in 2025, and that the remaining CO2 allowance to keep warming below 1.5C is vanishing fast. Scientists say current levels of emissions make meeting the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious goal effectively out of reach without unprecedented rapid action. Fossil CO2 emissions are projected to be about 1.1% higher in 2025 than in 2024, despite rapid deployment of…

US government reopens after 43-day shutdown as Trump signs funding bill President Donald Trump signed legislation Wednesday to end the 43-day federal government shutdown, roughly two hours after the House of Representatives voted to restore disrupted food assistance, resume pay for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and revive parts of the air traffic control system. The House approved the measure 222 to 209. The bill had already cleared the Senate earlier in the week. Mr Trump signed it in the Oval Office, telling…

Paris remembers, wounds stay open: ten years after the 2015 attacks On a mild November evening, Notre-Dame’s bells pealed across Paris as the city paused to mark a decade since the coordinated attacks that killed 130 people in cafes, restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and near the Stade de France. The rituals of remembrance — flowers placed at makeshift memorials, names inscribed on plaques, officials and relatives standing together — could not erase the rawness that many survivors and families still carry. The events…

‘Bloodstains from space’: El-Fasher exposes the world’s capacity to watch — and not act When United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk told delegates in Geneva that "bloodstains on the ground in El-Fasher have been photographed from space," he was describing more than a grisly image. He was pointing to a painful paradox of modern conflict: the ability of cameras and satellites to record horrors in near real time, and the chronic inability of the international system to do much about them. Türk’s blunt address to the UN…

Thailand Suspends Enhanced Ceasefire With Cambodia After New Blast, Halts Return of POWs Thailand announced on Thursday that it would pause implementation of an enhanced ceasefire agreement with Cambodia and delay the return of 18 Cambodian prisoners of war after a landmine blast injured four Thai soldiers, in a fresh sign that a fragile truce between the neighbours is fraying. Defence Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit told reporters the government in Bangkok would not proceed with elements of the October accord — signed last…

Blast in Old Delhi near Red Fort Kills at Least Eight; Authorities Vow Swift Probe A powerful explosion ripped through a crowded stretch of Old Delhi near the historic Red Fort yesterday, killing at least eight people and wounding scores as flames engulfed several vehicles and sent smoke billowing through narrow market lanes. Authorities, treating the incident under anti‑terrorism laws, said forensic teams and specialist units were combing the scene, but stopped short of confirming whether the blast was an attack.…

Senate ends longest US government shutdown with 60-40 vote, but many questions remain The US Senate on Monday approved a compromise measure to reopen the federal government, ending what lawmakers called the longest shutdown in American history but stopping short of resolving a host of lingering political and practical problems. The 60-40 vote — carried by nearly every Senate Republican and eight Democrats — restored funding for agencies whose budgets expired on Oct. 1 and pushed a final decision on health insurance…