Palestinian state ‘only’ solution to Israeli conflict, says Pope Leo
Pope Leo (left) with Lebanon's prime minister Nawaf Salam at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital Beirut, on November 30th. Photograph: Alessandro Di Meo/Pool/AFP via GettyThe only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, Pope Leo said on Sunday, reaffirming the Vatican’s position. Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed opposition to a Palestinian state after even its biggest ally the US indicated support for Palestinian independence. Pope Leo XIV arrives in the popemobile at the Lebanese presidential palace to meet with president Joseph Aoun in Beirut on Sunday. Photograph: Adri Salido/GettyHours before Leo’s arrival, crowds gathered along the roads from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 20:28 UTC
Delivery rider needed brain surgery after attack by ‘laughing’ youths who filmed assault
Photograph: Alekson LacerdaA Brazilian delivery worker had brain surgery after he was attacked and robbed in Dublin by a large group that included teenagers. They were recording, laughing,” Mr Oliveira said. I felt a lot of pain, all over my body.”He was transferred to the city’s Beaumont Hospital on Tuesday for brain surgery. Mr Oliveira had bought a new bike for €1,300 just a few days before the assault. Wellwishers have donated thousands of euro to a fundraiser for Mr Oliveira.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 19:24 UTC
Herzog Park denaming ‘will be seen as anti-Semitic’, says Taoiseach in criticism of Dublin council plan
Photograph Nick BradshawA proposal to dename Herzog Park in Dublin is “divisive and wrong” and should be withdrawn, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said. The Taoiseach said on Sunday that the proposal to rename Herzog Park “should be withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with”. Current Chief Rabbi of Ireland Yoni Wieder said Herzog Park was “more than a name on a sign. Naming the park in honour of Chaim Herzog was “a recognition not just of one man, but a chapter of shared Irish-Jewish history. Photograph: Pat Langan/The Irish TimesTánaiste Simon Harris said in a social media post: “I completely oppose plans to rename Herzog Park.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 18:43 UTC
AIL Division 1A round-up: Clontarf hold off Terenure revival to secure nervy win
Clontarf moved above Terenure into second place in Division 1A with an entertaining, hard-earned and ultimately nervy 29-24 win in the ‘Jordan Coghlan Derby’ at Castle Avenue on Saturday. Any time you play Terenure and come away with a win it’s a good result. Connacht winger Finn Treacy, playing at outside centre, scored three of ‘Wegians six tries, and inside centre Rob Deacy scored two. Energia All-Ireland League resultsMen’sDivision 1A: Clontarf 29 Terenure College 24; Lansdowne 18 Ballynahinch 10; Old Belvedere 36 UCD 12; St Mary’s College 49 Nenagh Ormond 15; Young Munster 26 Cork Constitution 29. Division 2C: Ballyclare 38 Dolphin 48; Bective Rangers 33 Malahide 7; Bruff 30 Belfast Harlequins 25; Midleton 21 Clonmel 29; Monkstown 40 Thomond 28.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 18:20 UTC
Oscar Wilde’s forgotten friend who nurtured him back from prison life on the French Riviera
Photograph: Bettmann via GettyBut according to Harris’s Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (1916), nothing could coax him into writing a single line. Frank Harris was also a short-story writer and a biographer of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. Photograph: Bettmann via GettyBy the 1880s he resurfaced in London as Frank Harris, editor, critic and social operator, whose brilliance mixed uneasily with volatility. Statue of Oscar Wilde on Dublin’s Merrion Square. A plaque on his final residence identifies him simply as “Frank Harris, Irish journalist and writer and faithful guest of the Côte d’Azur”.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 18:00 UTC
Greek finance minister to meet Simon Harris in Dublin and press case to become next Eurogroup president
Greek Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis, left, with then Irish counterpart and Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe in Brussels on November 12th. The Greek is hoping to succeed Donohoe as Eurogroup president. Photograph: Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty ImagesWhen Kyriakos Pierrakakis meets his ministerial counterpart Simon Harris in Government Buildings on Monday, it will be the Greek finance minister’s first foreign engagement since officially throwing his hat into the ring for the Eurogroup presidency. Indeed, the Tánaiste may have already expressed a preference between the two candidates – both were tipped as possible early contenders – when Pierrakakis became the first EU finance minister he called after becoming Minister for Finance. He also believes the Eurogroup should engage more directly with issues such as digital finance, payments architecture and the evolution of the digital euro.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 17:17 UTC
Ukrainian naval drones hit two Russian tankers in the Black Sea
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) has released footage showing two Russian tankers being struck in the Black Sea. The two oil tankers, identified as the Kairos and Virat, were empty and sailing to Novorossiysk, a major Russian Black Sea oil terminal, the official at the Security Service of Ukraine told Reuters. Naval drones could be seen speeding towards hulking tankers followed by powerful explosions that caused fires on the vessels, video footage shared by the official showed. Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil refineries for months, using long-range aerial drones to strike far behind the front lines of Moscow’s full-scale war against Ukraine. French president Emmanuel Macron will on Monday host Mr Zelenskiy for talks in Paris, with France raising the prospect of imposing new sanctions on Russia to “exhaust its economy”.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 17:13 UTC
At least 500 killed in southeast Asia floods and landslides
Photograph: Fazry Ismail/EPAThe death toll from devastating floods and landslides in southeast Asia reportedly climbed past 500 on Saturday as clean-up and search-and-rescue operations got under way in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. In southern Thailand, water levels reached three metres in Songkhla province and killed at least 145 people in one of the worst floods in a decade. Two people were killed in Malaysia by flooding caused by heavy rain that left stretches of northern Perlis state under water. The annual monsoon season, typically between June and September, often brings heavy rain, triggering landslides and flash floods. A tropical storm has exacerbated conditions, and the tolls in Indonesia and Thailand rank among the highest in floods in those countries in recent years.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 15:20 UTC
Why has Irish Life Health increased its prices four times in a year?
For the fourth time since the beginning of this year, Irish Life Health has announced a price rise, which will kick in on January 1st. There could be two reasons why Irish Life Health would need to go to the well four times in the space of a year. The way Irish Life Health – and to be fair to it, most of its rivals – rolls out its price hikes is absurd. Health insurance companies are clearly reluctant to announce price increases of 10, 12 or 15 per cent once a year. [ Health insurance watchdog plans to increase levy by 10%Opens in new window ]It also seems that health insurers are not overly concerned their prices will climb too high and result in huge numbers of people exiting the market.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 14:19 UTC
A Monaghan farmhouse transformed into a luxury getaway with a pool and hot-tub in the ruins
The original farmhouse was built 110 years ago by a family who had already been in the area since the 1700s. They came up with a plan to incorporate the adjoining farm buildings into the original house to produce a sprawling self-catering farmhouse. The family wanted to provide a rural retreat with the focus on wellness, while preserving the character of the farmhouse. It was a real family effort,” the owners say. “It has been a place of joy for more than a century,” the owners say.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 14:02 UTC
ICC judges wanted Netanyahu arrested. Now they’re being targeted by Trump – The Irish Times
Photograph: European Pressphoto AgencyOver the course of this past year, the US government has imposed two rounds of sanctions against judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court. The intention of these sanctions, and the extraordinary difficulties they cause for the ICC judges, is obvious. They are aimed at sabotaging the work of the court and, in a larger sense, delegitimising the institutions of international law. The sanctions against ICC judges feel like an advance tremor of a future barbarism. [ International Criminal Court comes out fighting in wake of US sanctionsOpens in new window ]Yet the court commands no legions.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 13:34 UTC
‘Gary took no prisoners’: egg-throwing bane of AIB bankers dies – The Irish Times
Disgruntled shareholder Gary Keogh from Blackrock fires the second of two eggs at Bank of Ireland chairman Pat Molloy in 2011. “I feel happier about the whole thing than I have done for months,” Keogh told The Irish Times in May 2009, in the immediate aftermath of the incident. “Afterwards he told me: ‘Turn on the radio.’ That’s how I found out.”After the incident, he told The Irish Times it was “the first” but wouldn’t be the last. Four missing inches of fashionIrish fashion designer Paul Costelloe made a mark among royal watchers. [ Why The Irish Times had to apologise to the architect of the ‘fabulous’ BusárasOpens in new window ]First, they have to find out what it looks like.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 13:32 UTC
How does Irish wine consumption compare to other countries?
The US is also the largest importer of wine by value, buying large amounts of premium wines from France and Italy in particular. These two countries drink significantly more per head than the US, both enjoying just over 50 bottles of wine per person each year. [ How much wine will one vine produce?Opens in new window ]In the Republic, our consumption of wine grew from the 1990s onwards and has now plateaued at around 18 litres of wine each year. This drop is largely down to drink-driving laws and changed attitudes; in the 1930s the French government ran campaigns promoting wine consumption. Now, 38 per cent of French people never drink wine at all.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 13:30 UTC
Google’s surge shows how quickly AI narratives turn
Google is winning the AI race – isn’t it? Recent headlines – “Why Google is winning the AI race”, “5 reasons Google has never looked stronger”, “Google is suddenly beating its magnificent seven peers in the AI race” – suggest as much. Indeed, Alphabet’s market capitalisation recently came within touching distance of $4 trillion (€3.45 trillion), not far behind Nvidia and Apple. The narrative changed abruptly; dismissed as an AI laggard, it was overtaken by Microsoft and then swept aside by Nvidia’s surge. Forecasts about who is ‘winning’ the AI race tend to age poorly.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 13:30 UTC
Is it okay to binge drink occasionally?
Is it okay to binge drink occasionally? Frequent binge drinking is definitely bad for our health, but what harm is there in “letting fly” once a year? However binge drinking is likely to induce some short-term inflammation of the liver. If you binge drink and drive, you are putting your life and that of your passengers, fellow drivers and pedestrians at risk. If you rarely drink alcohol, you are likely to have a lower tolerance to the effects of a binge.
Source:The Irish Times
November 30, 2025 13:30 UTC