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Today in history, May 18, 1565, one of the most symbolically important military encounters between Islam and Europe began: the Ottoman Turks besieged the tiny island of Malta, in what till then was considered the heaviest bombardment any locale had been subjected to. Around the start of the sixteenth century, Muslim pirates from Algiers began to terrorize the Christian Mediterranean. Like their terrestrial counterparts, they too were indoctrinated in and emboldened by Muhammad's promises: "A campaign by sea is like ten campaigns by land," the prophet had said, "and he who loses his bearings at sea is like one who...

Take the Roman Britain coin, known as a radiate, found in Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire. "On the face of it, it looks a grotty old coin, which it is, I guess," said Lewis. But it helps tell the story of Carausius who declared himself emperor of Britain and northern Gaul between AD286-93, breaking away from the Roman empire. He was assassinated by his treasurer Allectus. The newly found coin is just one from an astonishing variety of nearly 4,000 which were struck during Carausius' reign. Other finds include a pure gold arm ring weighing 300g and dating from the eighth century...

Rory McIlroy already had expressed doubts about any future rounds of golf with President Trump, saying in April 2017 that he’d have to “think twice” about it after receiving a considerable amount of heat for his round with the president two months earlier at Trump’s club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Researchers are calling on the Irish Government to change recommendations for vitamin D supplements after a study revealed it is likely to reduce serious coronavirus complications. A new publication from Trinity College Dublin highlights the association between vitamin D levels and mortality from Covid-19. Dr Eamon Laird and Professor Rose Anne Kenny from the university’s School of Medicine carried out the work with the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), in collaboration with Professor Jon Rhodes at the University of Liverpool. The authors analysed all European adult population studies, completed since 1999, which measured vitamin D and compared vitamin D...

Pirates based in West Cork made millions from plundering shipping and they almost destroyed trade between Europe and the Americas — but were beloved by locals as they gave them three times the going price for supplies. The extent of the pirate presence in the region and their huge influence is detailed in a new book written by Dr Connie Kelleher, an underwater archaeologist, based in Killarney, who works for the National Monuments Service. Her book, 'The Alliance of Pirates — Ireland and Atlantic Piracy in the Early 17th Century,' describes how West Cork became a magnet for pirates and...

This account from the London Chronicle, June 5, 1766 refers to the disappearance and alleged murder of the informer John Bridge. We’ve visited this case previously, in the form of Father Nicholas Sheehy, who had also been drawn and quartered a few months previous for the Bridge affair; collectively, these cases are pretext for state reprisal against the Irish Whiteboys movement, which opposed large landholders’ moves to consolidate estates, expel tenants, and let people starve while the land that once fed them was shifted towards commercial agriculture.

Along with my good friend Gemma O’Doherty, I have launched a constitutional challenge to Ireland’s COVID-19 lockdown measures, which the Irish government introduced three weeks ago. O’Doherty and I seek a judicial review of the enabling legislation and regulations, and an injunction or declaration to bring it all to an end. In Ireland, as in many countries, we are rapidly discovering that we have been misled, that the COVID-19 pandemic is not remotely as serious as our leaders, with attendant “experts,” have been enjoining us to accept. Yet politicians and experts have cratered the economies of the world, placed the...

The Garda Commissioner has said that “we are in uncharted waters” in terms of the long-term impact of the new powers given to Gardaí during the COVID-19 crisis. Drew Harris said that Gardaí had “engaged in more than 10,000 checkpoints” across the country last week. Commissioner Harris was speaking during a public meeting with the Policing Authority, which is overseeing the Garda response to COVID-19. The proceedings are being streamed live online due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Mr. Harris said that the low number of coronavirus-related arrests to date — 76 — illustrated how well the public was complying with...

She debated with Queen Elizabeth I, sat at the head of a prosperous pirate empire, and told the English where to go.Rockfleet Castle, which Grace O’Malley used as a base. Photo from Mikeoem, Wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0. If asked to name a pirate from history, many people will mention Blackbeard or Captain William Kidd. If pressed to name a female pirate, they might mention Anne Bonny, who terrorized the Caribbean alongside Captain "Calico" Jack Rackham in the early 18th century. Anne Bonny, however, was far from the only female pirate to terrorize the seas. More than a century before Bonny's...

The possibility that pubs may not reopen until a vaccine for Covid-19 has been found has been described as a “nightmare scenario” by the body that represents Dublin publicans. The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) said many pubs will be put out of business permanently if such a lengthy closure occurs. It was commenting after Heineken Ireland put its staff on a four-day week for two months due to the falloff in demand for its beer products since the lockdown began. […] Minister for Health Simon Harris said at the weekend he could not see how people could return to “packed...

My Tapestry is inbedded in you For you carry each and every strand and complexity of My Kingdom Harmonics ~~~ even in your voice ! So it is as you Declare My Rhema Kingdom WORD(JESUS) I ELOHIM open The storehouses of Heaven and bear forth My Fruit from The Tree of Life That is You in Me(The Father of Lights). You see My children I AM THAT I AM and We are ONE. BEAR FORTH MY KINGDOM IN YOU for you are My Bread of Life to others as My Melchizedek for My New Wine of Victory flows through your...

The oil price situation tonight at of 1045 pm Eastern US time sees the WTI price at 20.49 per barrel.... White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says the guidelines from President Trump on "reopening the economy" will come in the next day or two..... ...California Governor Gavin Newsom said today he would follow the lead of the scientists and public health experts and would not give a specific date for reopening California.... And when the results came in Monday for the Wisconsin Supreme Court contest Republican-Conservative Daniel Kelly was defeated by Democrat-Liberal Jill Karofsky in what's being called an "upset"......

Ship-sinking monster waves revealed by ESA satellites   Rare photo of a rogue wave     21 July 2004  Once dismissed as a nautical myth, freakish ocean waves that rise as tall as ten-storey apartment blocks have been accepted as a leading cause of large ship sinkings. Results from ESA's ERS satellites helped establish the widespread existence of these 'rogue' waves and are now being used to study their origins.  Severe weather has sunk more than 200 supertankers and container ships exceeding 200 metres in length during the last two decades. Rogue waves are believed to be the major...

PARIS (AFP) - European satellites have given confirmation to terrified mariners who describe seeing freak waves as tall as 10-storey buildings, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. "Rogue waves" have been the anecdotal cause behind scores of sinkings of vessels as large as container ships and supertankers over the past two decades. But evidence to support this has been sketchy, and many marine scientists have clung to statistical models that say monstrous deviations from the normal sea state only occur once every thousand years. Testing this promise, ESA tasked two of its Earth-scanning satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2, to monitor the...

Rare photo of a rogue wave Ship-sinking monster waves revealed by ESA satellites 21 July 2004Once dismissed as a nautical myth, freakish ocean waves that rise as tall as ten-storey apartment blocks have been accepted as a leading cause of large ship sinkings. Results from ESA's ERS satellites helped establish the widespread existence of these 'rogue' waves and are now being used to study their origins.   Severe weather has sunk more than 200 supertankers and container ships exceeding 200 metres in length during the last two decades. Rogue waves are believed to be the major cause in many such...

Dating back to the 12th-century and the Norman invasion of Ireland, Portlick Castle, in Athlone, County Westmeath, is on the market for $1,519,660 (€1,400,000), that's about as much as you'd pay for a large semi-detached house in Dublin! Portlick Castle boasts of ten bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. A lakeside property, nestled on 12 acres of land it really is the stuff of dreams. Of course, there's a little nightmarish stuff too! No house as old as this gets through the centuries without picking up a few ghost stories and Portlick has a few. According to the real estate agent, Stan...

Muslim Declares Muhammad’s Supremacy Over Jesus at Catholic Mass Irish Fr. Stephen Farragher invites Muslims to his altar to pray to Allah COUNTY MAYO, Ireland (ChurchMilitant.com) Muslims, invited by a Catholic priest in Ireland to pray alongside him during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, prayed the Adhan — the Islamic call to prayer that categorically proclaims Islam's supremacy over its forebears — Judaism and Christianity.   Father Stephen Farragher, parish priest of St. Patrick's Church in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, invited two Muslims to "pray in solidarity" with him "the final blessing and prayer" at the 10 a.m. Friday Mass to be broadcast on radio, Midwest Radio...

The object was listed in the George Petrie Catalogue compiled by the antiquarian William Wakeman in 1867. With the work of the Inventory Project, the object was identified in the Museum crypt and matched with its Petrie catalogue record... The extent of the Roman influence in Ireland has long been debated. The Classical texts imply that due to Ireland's peripheral location, it was not a desirable destination. However the archaeological record has been helping to shed more light on the actual events of this time. Roman objects discovered in Irish contexts exist but they are relatively uncommon, and subsequently the...

AN AER LINGUS cargo flight from China carrying €28 million worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) for Irish healthcare workers has landed at Dublin Airport. The Airbus A330-302 cargo plane was loaded with PPE including masks, gowns and goggles in Beijing before making the over 8,000 km flight back to Ireland. The shipment from Beijing, worth an estimated €28 million, is made up of 11 million masks, 2.3 million eye protections, 2.4 million gowns, and 9 million gloves. This is the first delivery flight of the HSE’s €208 million order of PPE from China. The first ten cargo flights of...

Liam McNamara, a member of the Burren Shores Beachcombing & More Facebook group, said he found the hat on a beach in Fanore, County Clare, and sought help from social media in tracking down the original owner of the head wear. The hat's custom paint job, in the purple and gold colors of Louisiana State University, and an intact sticker bearing the name of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 25, helped McNamara get into contact with Matthew Bonnette. McNamara said he is mailing the hat back to Bonnette in Louisiana.