Rwanda
Members of the Defence Forces on O’Connell Street as part of the Commemorations to mark the 90th Anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Photograph: Alan Betson
Defence Forces under siege: 600 staff paint a grim picture

Members of the Defence Forces have described an organisation that is now in crisis, coping with poor pay, declining training standards and ever more p(...)

In Ireland, we dodge ladders, black cats and magpies, but other cultures have their own seemingly senseless superstitions. Photograph: Getty Images
It’s Friday the 13th: strange superstitions from around the world

Consider yourself superstitious? Do you dodge ladders, black cats and magpies? If so, here are 13 more superstitions for you to take note of as you tr(...)

Manzi Joseph in Tramore, Co Waterford. Photograph: Patrick Browne
‘Reaching Ireland was like a dream. It's protected and I'm safe’

When Manzi Joseph arrived in Ireland he was legally adult. However, at 18 years of age, he missed his family and struggled to settle into life in a di(...)

Carla del Ponte, who has resigned from the UN commission investigating war crimes and violence against civilians in Syria. Photograph: Martial Trezzini/Keystone/ AP
UN prosecutor resigns over inaction on Syria’s war crimes

UN secretary-general António Guterres continues to support the work of the UN commission investigating war crimes and violence against civilians in Sy(...)

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, centre, at an election rally at Uhuru Park in Nairobi on Friday. The International Criminal Court had to drop charges of crimes against humanity against Kenyatta in 2015 due to lack of evidence. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP
Shadow of violence hangs over Kenya’s presidential election

Kenya goes to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new president at the end of a bitter campaign during which its fraught relationship with the Internation(...)

A helicopter takes off during a Defence Forces open day in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. File photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Sixty Defence Force members quit every month, Seanad hears

An average of 60 personnel are leaving the Defence Forces every month, Independent Senator Gerard Craughwell has said. Speaking in the Seanad on Tue(...)

Fr Jack Finucane at the opening of an exhibition of Ethiopian photographs in 1995. Photograph: David Sleator
The Spiritan priest who became leader of Concern Worldwide

Among the metaphorical badges of honour pinned to Jack Finucane’s breast by those who knew him and served with him, was the virtue of wisdom, said to (...)

The remains of Concern co-founder Fr Jack Finucane are carried out by Joe Sweeney and Jack Finnucane jnr and others at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Kimmage Manor, Dublin. Photograph: Gareth Chaney Collins
Fr Jack Finucane funeral Mass held at Kimmage Manor

The late Fr Jack Finucane helped save and improve the lives of millions of people, said Concern chief executive Dominic MacSorley. “He brought order t(...)

A mother weighs her malnourished child in south Sudan. Photograph: Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images
Trump gives two fingers to the poor on front line of climate change

Expect to see far more of that polar bear marooned on a shrinking ice floe. With Donald Trump’s disgraceful decision to withdraw the United States fro(...)

A cargo train leaves the container terminal for its inaugural journey to Nairobi, at the port of the coastal town of Mombasa. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images
Kenya inaugurates Chinese-built railway linking port to capital

Kenya inaugurated a $3.2 billion railway funded by China linking the capital Nairobi to the port of Mombasa on Wednesday, the country’s biggest infras(...)