Donald Trump, with his eyes on Greenland and his hands on Venezuela, is not the only dealmaker embracing natural resources. Glencore's origins are in trading and deal making and Rio is much more of a pure-play miner. Glencore's trading operations based in Switzerland have had their regulatory challenges, but Rio might welcome sharper market skills. But in market share terms, it is not a deal that should trouble the scorers. Natural resources encourage a brutish, competitive spirit.

Earlier in the week, Tom had a revealing profile of the woman backed by Donald Trump as Maduro’s successor. Particularly since Donald Trump, property developer turned US president, turned his attention back to what he views as prime real estate." Greenland is not for sale, insists our guest columnist Nina Jul Larsen, a journalist who was born and raised there. Political Editor Pat Leahy looks ahead to the Taoiseach’s visit to the Oval Office for St Patrick’s Day. Today, as Conor Gallagher writes in this profile, Hobbs promotes right-wing conspiracy theories on everything from world banking to climate change and Covid-19.

Caleb Law, of Goldsmiths Lane, Wallingford, pleaded guilty to two offences at Oxford Crown Court on January 8. The 20-year-old is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Jaydon Hennessy at The Broadway, in Didcot, on November 29 last year. Mr Hennessy was walking on Broadway opposite the PureGym, when Law exited a parked silver Audi A1. Law assaulted the man, punching him in the head a number of times before leaving the scene. The court heard that Law committed the offences in breach of a suspended sentence he received in March 2024 for dangerous driving.

A search of her phone revealed hundreds of messages with an accomplice in Pakistan discussing the supply of heroin in the UK. On one occasion, she collected £250,000 for the organised crime group from a criminal in Bradford. Among these hubs are regions such as Bradford and Birmingham with large South Asian communities, where Pakistani crime groups are said to have strong familial links and contacts. It means the organised crime groups don't have to trust other crime groups, it's a lot easier to trust those linked through family, it might be first cousins.' The illicit shipments are the transported to members of organised crime groups in hotspots like Birmingham and Bradford, where Pakistani crime groups have strong familial links.

A South Carolina train derailment set off a hazardous materials response and prompted a shelter-in-place order for people living within a 1.5-mile radius, as reported by Railway Supply. The derailment occurred around 9:50 a.m. near 2450 West 5th North Street—locally designated as US Highway 78—close to the KION North America plant in Summerville. Several rail cars left the tracks, triggering a hazmat response, closing Highway 78 between Jedburg Road and Industrial Road, and leading officials to instruct nearby residents to remain indoors. Authorities later said the chlorobenzene tank car was empty at the time of the derailment and confirmed no chemical leak occurred. News on railway transport, industry, and railway technologies from Railway Supply that you might have missed:

Met Éireann has issued a status yellow wind warning for 11 counties from 2pm today. The warning for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Wexford and Wicklow will expire at 10pm. A status yellow wind warning, which began at midnight, continues for Antrim, Tyrone and Derry continues until midday on Monday, with the same warning for Down expiring at 9pm tonight. A further status yellow rain warning for Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry which began last night, continues until 9pm tonight. Tonight will be windy at first, with strong and gusty south to southwest winds with very strong winds in the northwest.

Elon Musk said that social media platform X will open to the public its new algorithm, including all code for organic and advertising post recommendations, in seven days. "This will be repeated every four weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed," Mr Musk said in an X post.

It’s the most mystical, Celtic, spiritual and rugged region of Ireland — and the towns along the way are just plain cute. ADVERTISINGEvery year, the Irish government holds a Tidy Town contest — and competition is fierce. About a half hour south of Cork, Kinsale is a pint-sized Tidy Town winner, with 5,000 people, 25 pubs, and a super-sized history. Farther north along the coast, colorful little Dingle — my favorite town in all of Ireland — perches on Ireland’s westernmost point. When the next Tidy Town competition rolls around, I’ll be rooting for Kinsale, Kenmare and Dingle.

While the film and television world quakes and shudders, Irish actors and production talent have seemingly never had it so good. Netflix and Paramount Skydance are fighting to acquire Warner Brothers in what feels like a seminal moment for the film industry. Lowe says the snowball effect of Irish success has been “discernible” in the level of interest being shown in Irish acting and production talent. While the high profile earned by many Irish actors now means they can help deliver a project financially, they are “out of reach” to many smaller producers. Should either pick up a gong, the spotlight on Irish acting and production talent will remain firmly fixed.

Companies that have not addressed any bogus self-employment by January 30th will face dramatically escalated action and penalties. [ Revenue collects €734m in more than 291,600 audit and compliance interventionsOpens in new window ]It’s also an area where Revenue scrutiny has intensified in recent years. Back in October 2023, the Supreme Court found in favour of Revenue against a Domino’s Pizza franchisee on the issue. Revenue has, since that ruling, given employers two years’ grace to “regularise bona-fide misclassification of employees ... without penalty or interest”. “Revenue has been very clear that this settlement opportunity is time-limited,” said Michelle Dunne, employment tax director at Grant Thornton Ireland.

Heating and ventilation firm Daikin has unveiled Kyrian Opstaele as its new general manager for Ireland. A leader in HVACR (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration), Daikin has sites in Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Turkey and Italy. It recently launched a new €300m manufacturing facility in Lodz, Poland.

1,018 musicians gathered at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann last summer to form the world’s largest céilí bandRyan Luney completed the most fire-breathing backflips in one minute. Photo: Paul Michael HughesAn impressive 142 world rec­ords were broken by people from across Ireland last year. Guinness World Records has confirmed that Ireland again punched above its weight, with nearly a dozen separate world records broken each month throughout the island in 2025. In September, the 31-year-old broke the existing world record for the longest barefoot trek, but he is not finished yet and is on course to extend his record when he arrives back in Dingle in the coming weeks. Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, said: “Ireland continues to demonstrate a remarkable appetite for record-breaking, not just in terms of volume, but in the sheer breadth of achievements we see year after year.”

Weather warning brought forward for parts of IrelandBy Cillian Sherlock, Press AssociationWeather warnings for parts of the country have been brought forward as a spell of strong winds and rain was forecast. A status yellow warning for wind has been issued for 11 coastal counties for eight hours on Sunday. The warning, which was first issued for between 4pm and midnight, has been brought forward for between 2pm and 10pm. Parts of Northern Ireland also fell into the designated region for warnings that affected large parts of Scotland and the north of England. This was to be immediately followed by another yellow warning for wind until midday on Monday, applying to areas in Antrim, Derry and Tyrone.

An estimated six million Jews died during The Holocaust, which was carried out by Nazi Germany during World War Two between 1939 and 1945. “On live television this afternoon, I used a word that I didn’t fully understand the meaning of, and I certainly wouldn’t use again,” Given said on his personal X account. “We all have areas of ignorance in our knowledge, and I hope to use this as an opportunity to become better educated going forward. Nancy’s sacking came after eight games in charge of the Scottish champions, six of which were lost. Martin O’Neill has since taken charge at Celtic for the second time this season, marking his return on Saturday with a 4-0 Scottish Premiership victory over Dundee United.

Green Bay answered with an eight-play, 43-yard drive, but Brandon McManus' 44-yard field-goal attempt was wide right. Green Bay then drove to the Chicago 23 with 32 seconds left, but Green Bay had to take a 10-second runoff when a lineman went down injured with the team out of timeouts. Green Bay dominated the first half en route to a 21-3 lead at the break. He hit Christian Watson with a 7-yard touchdown pass with 2:06 left in the first quarter to put Green Bay in front 7-3. Chicago drove to the Green Bay 9 on the opening possession of the game before settling for Santos' 27-yard field goal.