Watching footie matches with your mates can be a real lifesaverTwo football fans revealed how watching football with pals, and not alone, made a huge difference to them - a new study revealed the benefits it could have on peopleView 5 Images Football fans have been encouraged to watch matches with their mates (Image: Passionworks Productions)Footy fans are being urged to watch games with mates - as seeing clashes together can be the perfect opportunity to open up and share worries. As a result, supporters are encouraging each other to reach out and talk things through with the people in their lives. Having the match on at the same time really helps and is a distraction while you talk things through. Antonio said: "I always prefer watching football with my close friends as I feel more confident when I'm with them. From watching football over the years I've learnt that everyone's got something in common.

Northern Ireland had “significant and persistent regional disparities” in Gross Value Added (GVA) – which measures wages, rent, taxes and profits, minus the cost of inputs, it said. In 1998, Belfast had a GVA that was 42 per cent higher than the Northern Ireland average, but this was now 80 per cent, the study said. Contemporary economic policy attempts focuses on a “people in places” approach, which combines regeneration and infrastructure investment with training for workers and grants for businesses. UUEPC director Gareth Hetherington said the figures reflected weak business and consumer confidence combined with geopolitical uncertainty, to which Northern Ireland was not immune. However, the report highlighted how Northern Ireland was becoming a more service-dominated economy, with manufacturing falling back.

Photograph: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ieMinister for Enterprise Peter Burke said US tactics on Greenland were effectively “tearing apart” the EU-US trade deal agreed in July. He claimed Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats were “coercive” and had cast a “shadow” over transatlantic trade, adding yet more “uncertainty” for firms. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Burke urged the US to recommit to the EU-US trade deal agreed in Scotland last summer, which applied a 15 per cent tariff to most EU exports to the US. Mr Burke was in Davos to bang the drum for investment in Ireland. On Wednesday, the IDA will host its annual dinner at the Davos forum, a big set-piece event for the agency to highlight Ireland’s investment credentials.

Conlan is explaining the decision to perform a complete makeover of the links, which will also include a name change to the Brittas Bay Club. The European Club was Pádraig Harrington’s go-to links in preparation for his successful Claret Jug wins in 2007 and 2008. Work is scheduled to be complete at Brittas Bay Club in spring of 2027. At Brittas Bay, the changes are aimed at making an already great links greater. I feel its presence every time.”Cognisant of the great product they have acquired, the Conlans have created a new logo for the Brittas Bay Club.

When asked how far he would be willing to go to acquire Greenland, Donald Trump said: ‘You’ll find out.’ Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAUS president Donald Trump has been accused by French president Emmanuel Macron of trying to “subordinate” Europe in his pursuit of Greenland. European allies are planning to lobby Mr Trump on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty ImagesIn a speech in Davos, Mr Macron said: “We cannot accept a world where the law of strongest holds sway”. A screenshot of the text from the French leader was published in full by Mr Trump on social media. A summit of EU leaders on Thursday evening might not take any immediate decisions, Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said.

At the annual Gen Z quiz conducted over the Christmas dinner table I discovered a lot of new words. Delulu was one of the words on the quiz that tripped some people up. This is when a young man or young woman is going out with someone more conventionally attractive than the other person. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but if you talk to the youngs these days every other word is lowkey. One of the adults doing the quiz wrote as their actual answer “lowkey means lowkey”.

Fears of offshore selling of US assets – the so-called “Sell America” trade that emerged after last year’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcements in April – gripped markets as Wall Street tumbled over 2 per cent overnight and the US dollar suffered its biggest fall in over a month. The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 per cent. The 40-year Japanese government bond yields fell 11 basis points to 4.1 per cent, having surged 26 basis points a day earlier. The benchmark 10-year yield slipped two basis points to 4.2767 per cent, after jumping seven basis points overnight to a five-month high of 4.313 per cent amid a souring in sentiment on US assets. In the currency markets, the US dollar held steady at 98.57 against its major peers, having dropped 0.5 per cent overnight – the biggest daily fall since early December.

Connacht star Mack Hansen being transported off the pitch after aggravating his foot injury against the Bulls in October - a setback which flared up playing for Ireland a month later and has now ruled him out for the entire season. Photo: SportsfileIreland and Connacht star Mack Hansen is set to miss the remainder of the season due to the foot injury that troubled him throughout last year. Hansen underwent surgery in December after he suffered a recurrence of the foot issue that he picked up on last summer’s Lions tour. It flared up again while playing for Connacht against the Bulls in October before it did so again a month later during Ireland’s defeat to South Africa.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has agreed to speed up the medicines approval process. Photograph: Sam Boal/CollinsMinister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has agreed to reform the medicines approval process to make new drugs available more quickly to Irish patients. “This marked the first time a Minister for Health confirmed a policy commitment to achieving the timelines in the 2013 legislation and is now the basis for this new agreement,” Ipha said. The State spends about €3.3 billion a year on medicines, accounting for just over 13 per cent of overall health spending. The two sides said they would work to complete the final wording of the four-year agreement on medicine pricing and supply over the next months.

When he found out that French president Emmanuel Macron was not joining his Board of Peace overseeing Gaza, Trump retorted impetuously. It is notable that other European leaders have also hardened their stance in recent days, to express solidarity with Denmark and Greenland. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pitched an “unflinching” response in her speech in Davos. Because the political nightmare for the Coalition will be if Trump follows through on his threat to seize Greenland. The big draw there today will be the arrival of Donald Trump in the afternoon.

Half of the Irish adult population does not know that six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, the survey found. Eight-eight per cent believe it should be taught in schools. The levels of ignorance were worrying but the support for Holocaust education was encouraging, the president of the Claims Conference, Gideon Taylor, said of the Irish survey results. Although Holocaust education was relevant to making people aware of anti-Semitism, it does not defeat the problem, which has been around “for a thousand years” he said. But Holocaust education is important in and of itself, he said; it teaches people “how humans can act” and helps create a humane society.

All three Midlands hospitals experiencing increasing numbers seeking admissionThe three Midlands hospitals are all experiencing increasing numbers of people requiring admission. The HSE's Midlands Integrated Healthcare Area (IHA) today said Regional Hospital Mullingar, Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore and Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise had all opened additional beds to cope with this extra demand on capacity and resources at this time. Where possible, HSE IHA Midlands management are asking patients with non-emergency conditions to seek assistance from other parts of the health service such as their local Pharmacist, GP, GP out of hours service, or a local injury unit. Any patient who needs emergency hospital care will be seen and HSE IHA Midlands would urge such patients not to delay attending the ED. HSE IHA Midlands said it apologised for any inconvenience caused and thanked the public for their support and understanding.

Paschal Donohoe rushed to tell Revenue and NTMA of his departure as he stood downThe departure of the former finance minister took the Coalition by surprisePaschal Donohoe. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/ReutersCónal Thomas Today at 06:30Paschal Donohoe rushed to tell the heads of top financial agencies in the State that he was leaving his role as finance minister for a top job at the World Bank as news broke of his imminent departure.

Eoin McGee answers: ‘I’m living in London but I want to come home to Ireland in the next five years. What do I need to do to be in a position to buy a home?’

Sleepers no more: €45m vision set to reimagine Ireland’s most polarising links courseFather-and-son Raymond and Nicky Conlan face a hugh challenge in turning The Brittas Bay Club, formerly The European Club, into a must-play global golf destination for players of every abilityNicky and Raymond ConlanBrian Keogh Today at 06:30There were always two kinds of people when it came to assessing The European Club, or what has now been re-baptised The Brittas Bay Club following its acquisition by the Conlan family last summer.