Whether it is criticism of contract negotiations, applying a little more pressure to get an agreeable deal done or, in this instance, piling more problems on Slot, Salah’s words are calculated to achieve what he wants. This has echoes of Roy Keane’s infamous MUTV interview that led to Manchester United sacking their captain 20 years ago. Team-mates were thrown under too by Salah’s entitled insistence that he has earned the position Slot has taken from him. Another post-Sunderland line from the Liverpool captain leaps out after Salah’s interview. But given Salah’s age and marked decline in form this season, that is less of a dilemma for Liverpool.

Mary Holt (60) and Tadhg Farrell (4) who were killed in a house fire in Edenderry, Co Offaly. The victims have been named by Gardaí as Mary Holt (60) and Tadhg Farrell (4). Arson was the main line of inquiry almost immediately the emergency services were alerted to the fire in Edenderry on Saturday night. Garda headquarters has now confirmed the house came under attack and that a double murder inquiry has begun. “This was a reckless, callous and murderous attack on a family home.”Murder inquiry launched by Gardaí investigating Offaly fire.

Walshe had come to Lublin in the form of her life, recently setting six Irish records (in the 200m butterfly, 200m medley and 400m medley) at the World Aquatics World Cup in Indiana in the US in October. In winning the 200m butterfly gold here, she produced another Irish record of 2:03.24. It’s my first gold medal on the international stage, to see my parents in the stand, it’s super special. Walshe had also stormed through to win silver in the 200m medley, her 2:04.78 just .03 off her Irish record. Dutch star Marrit Steenbergen won another gold medal there in a European record of 2:01.83.

The French woman aged in her 60s was resident in Ireland before travelling to Iceland last June, where the alleged murders were committed. She was released from custody in September but was served with a travel ban meaning she cannot leave the country. The new time limit for preventing the woman leaving Iceland has been set for January 30th, 2026. The travel ban was initially extended by a further three months, until the end of February, but this ruling was reduced by the national court this week. As suspects cannot be held in custody for longer than 12 weeks in Iceland, the woman was then served with a travel ban and must report to a police station several times a week.

Donald Trump before receiving the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize from the Fifa president Gianni Infantino, or 'Johnny' as Trump called him. Donald Trump, you’d imagine, would rate his inaugurations as the greatest events ever witnessed by humanity, ousting the moon landing from top of the list. Fifa, Rio insisted, were doing their level best to make the tournament accessible for non-millionaire tax-avoiding Dubai residents. But the high point of the whole shebang was, need it be said, Donald being awarded the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize. The occasion ended with The Village People, and the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize recipient YMCAing like a lad directing traffic.

UCD had lost a week previously by 36-12 in Old Belvedere and after their summer exodus again fielded a team with no player older than 23. Even so, Lansdowne stayed in contention through tries by Bobby Sheehan, Jack Matthews, Greg McGrath and Harry Van Eaden before James Kenny’s score put them 38-36 ahead inside the last ten minutes. “I’m very proud of the fight shown by the boys after a week when we showed a great reaction to what had been a poor performance,” said head coach Emmet MacMahon. “It was a wild game but we managed to score different types of tries, which is always very pleasing.”In many respects, Young Munster were due a significant win after so many near misses. “We definitely deserved to win and it was our most complete performance of the season,” said a relieved and happy Munsters head coach Ger Slattery.

Donald Trump’s foreign policy doctrine for the United States prioritises relations with North and South America – the Western Hemisphere. This is clearly seen in Trump’s appointment of Pete Hegseth as his secretary of war, formerly defence. These moves willfully cut across international law to bolster US interests. The 21 attacks on small boats in the Caribbean since September, in which at least 50 people have died, are acts of international war without the legally necessary approval of Congress. Gunboat diplomacy on this scale, with this ethos, resurrects memories and charges of Yankee imperialism in Latin America.

Shore was an aide to Gary Hart in the Senate and in his presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988. Shore was also Bob Kerrey’s chief of staff in the Senate and helped with his losing presidential run in 1992. In 1984, when a brutal famine in Ethiopia was killing hundreds of thousands, he founded Share Our Strength, a hunger relief organisation, with his sister, Debbie Shore. He realised he’d rather help hungry children than politicians hungry for the White House. Hunger, Shore added, “is a solvable problem, relative to so many other things we care about.

This is the provocative premise of Yfel, a new comedy from Pan Pan, the Irish theatre company run by Gavin Quinn and Emma Coen. At the Yfel School of Performing Arts, the aspiring actors are ready to make a deal with the devil: there is nothing they won’t sacrifice. “I started working with Pan Pan when I was 16, in a youth-theatre project,” she says. One of them is Mazzy Ronaldson, who is making her Pan Pan debut in Yfel – and happens to be Faith’s partner of five years. Yfel, staged by Pan Pan, opens at Project Arts Centre, Dublin, on Saturday, December 6th, and runs until Saturday, December 13th

The protests were part of a campaign by taxi drivers to get the Government to ban fixed fares introduced by Uber. In choosing how to progress their grievance, the Taxi Drivers Ireland group opted against industrial action or a strike which would have primarily impacted their customers. If the planned protests had proceeded, it would have been interesting to see how they were policed. There is a lack of unanimity among taxi drivers on the fixed fares. Knowing this, the Taxi Drivers Ireland group is asking the Government to close this option.

Photograph: Ariel Schalit/Pool/AFP via Getty ImagesIsraeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he will ‍meet Donald Trump later this month, saying a second phase of ‍the US president’s Gaza plan was close. Negotiations on the next ‌stages ​of Trump’s ‍plan to end the two-year war in the Palestinian enclave have been continuing. “I will be having very important ‍conversations at the end of the month on how to ensure the second phase will be achieved,” Mr Netanyahu said. He also said the first phase of Mr Trump’s plan was almost complete. Violence has subsided but not stopped since the ‌Gaza truce took effect ‌on October 10th.

The infant boy, was taken to the Children’s University Hospital where he remains in critical condition. Photograph: Alan BetsonAn infant boy is in critical condition following a two-car collision near Dundalk in Co Louth. The collision took place on Saturday night, December 6th at around 8.20pm on the R132 at Dowdallshill, Dundalk. The passenger, the infant boy, was taken to the Children’s University Hospital where he remains in critical condition. [ Mourners remember ‘most perfect’ Chloe Hipson, killed with friends in Co Louth car crashOpens in new window ]

But if I try to point to what it is I love so much about Christmas, it gets murky. Hochschild also gave us the “second shift”: the unpaid domestic and care work women take on after paid employment. Modern festivities operate on the assumption that women have endless hours to pipe royal icing onto structurally sound gingerbread like a yuletide tradwife. Call it the festive load, or the third shift: the disproportionate tasks needed to produce “the magic”. Cowan might as well have been writing about the festive season: every supposed shortcut simply widens the gap between “good enough” and “properly done”.

Don O'Neill cooks, and his husband Pascal Guillermie does the tablescaping for their dinner parties in Co Kerry. At-home dinner parties are back in fashion, but gone are the days of ceremonial white table linen and stuffy seating plans. Al HigginsAl Higgins hosts regular dinner parties with his wife Amy in their house in Stoneybatter in Dublin. I spent about €230 on produce for a recent dinner party, and there’s the time involved travelling around buying everything.”But the 39-year-old enjoys the whole ritual. “In wintertime, boeuf bourguignon is my go-to dinner party dish,” says Kerry-based Don O’Neill, who with his husband Pascal loves to entertain.

Photograph: Getty ImagesUp to 1,000 hospital beds will be needed for people requiring admission for the flu as part of a surge in cases expected in the coming weeks, doctors have warned. The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said the equivalent of two large hospitals will soon be occupied by patients with flu across the State. Dr Gilligan said the surge in patients needing hospital admission has again highlighted the shortage of beds in the health system. “Crowding of acute hospitals both in their emergency departments and on their wards leads to challenges in reducing the spread of infection. It said 418 flu cases were reported in hospitals the week ending November 29th, compared to 213 the week before.