Free Republic

Ireland has “no plans” to suspend funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the Tánaiste has said, after other nations have announced they are suspending funding. It comes after Israel’s foreign minister said the country will seek to stop UNRWA from operating in Gaza after the war after it accused several of its staff of involvement in Hamas’s 7 October attack. Australia, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands and Canada have decided to suspend financing of UNRWA, while Britain and the US will temporarily pause future funding. In a post on X, Micheál Martin said he has “full confidence” in Commissioner-General...

The Irish taoiseach huddled with at least one high-profile Democrat before learning he had tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday while visiting Washington, D.C., for traditional St. Patrick's Day celebrations, according to multiple reports. Micheal Martin, Ireland's prime minister, or taoiseach, and head of government, tested positive through a precautionary PCR test after leaving an Ireland Funds gala Wednesday night, the Irish Times reported. Irish Ambassador Dan Mulhall informed guests of the news after Martin had left. A photograph from the event shows Martin seated next to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, both unmasked and apparently in the middle of a...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Using apocalyptic images, three presidents and seven foreign ministers warned Thursday that a warmer world is also a more violent one. At a ministerial meeting of the Security Council, the officials urged the U.N.’s most powerful body to do more to address the security implications of climate change and make global warming a key part of all U.N. peacekeeping operations. The leaders and ministers pushing for more U.N. action said warming is making the world less safe, pointing to Africa’s conflict-plagued Sahel region and Syria and Iraq as examples.. Micheal Martin, Ireland’s president, who chaired the...

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott signing an executive order today shutting down bars in Texas and limiting restaurant capacity...... A federal judge ruling to block restrictions on religious gatherings in New York...... The White House coronavirus task force held it first briefing in weeks today..... Facebook moving to label "potentially harmful posts" following a massive boycott campaign by big business giants..... A gunfight in Mexico City this morning during an assassination attempt on the city's security chief..... "I will never forget how we Pakistanis were embarrassed when the Americans came into Abbottabad and killed Osama Bin Laden, martyred him" Those...

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald today blasted “arrogant” political rivals for denying her party a place in the next Irish Government. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has ruled out entering a coalition with the left-leaning party because of historic links to the IRA. Ms. McDonald told a party meeting in Belfast: “The political establishment of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are circling the wagons in defense of a status quo that will not deliver the change citizens voted for last weekend. Because they don’t want change. That is why they said they wouldn’t talk to us. And it now...