"I and other women in the extended family... began sending her name and photo and the pictures of her killers to media pages and platforms hoping for justice for this child and allow her to at least be buried with dignity." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

If you read my recent report on the Vatican’s relationship with Anthropic — which focused on the U.S. context, which gets a mention in here — this traces some of that same history from the Vatican side, focusing on Tighe. Fascinating stuff.

'Held each year since that first meeting in 2016, the discussions brought together figures such as former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and chief technology officer at Microsoft Kevin Scott with senior Vatican officials, Catholic theologians and philosophers.'

The Irish priest behind the scenes of the Vatican’s work on artificial intelligence The son of an IDA official, Paul Tighe became a go-between between Silicon Valley and the Vatican in dialogues about AI going back a decade www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Can you identify who is meeting Pope Francis in these photos? Grateful for any tips. www.vatican.va/content/fran...

Alan Stivell recalls the time he taught Shane MacGowan to sing in Breton, the Celtic language of France’s northwest Atlantic corner, which is at the heart of the harpist’s lifework reviving the traditional culture and music of Brittany www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...

“I hear very troubling accounts of algorithms that can block access to healthcare, employment and security on the basis of data tainted by prejudice and injustice,” says @pontifex, launching call for ethical oversight of AI in his first major work as pope www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

The heart of Daniel O’Connell is kept in a monument in the Irish College in Rome (the reputed last words of the great Catholic liberator were “My body to Ireland, my heart to Rome, my soul to heaven”. 1/2

Among those who are listed to be studied is Giovanni Gentile, an influential idealist philosopher who went on to become minister of education under Benito Mussolini and to co-author the 1932 work The Doctrine of Fascism with the dictator. www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Incredible story www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

The French revolutionary: egotist spoiler candidate to his critics, skilled man of integrity to his supporters. So who is Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the 74-year-old left-wing firebrand whose announcement of a fourth presidential run this week wrong footed moderate rivals? www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Photo by @nicolehester.bsky.social for The Tennesseean www.tennessean.com/picture-gall...

A serving US soldier bet $32,000 Nicolás Maduro had less than a month left in power. Hours later he won $400,000. He was part of the team who planned and carried out the raid on the Venezuelan leader’s compound, according to a US indictment. www.irishtimes.com/world/2026/0...

For 67 days of war, roughly 20,000 seafarers have been stuck on ships in the Strait of Hormuz in a situation described by the United Nations as without precedent since the second World War. Concern about their welfare is rising www.irishtimes.com/world/2026/0...

This is a great article by @naomiohreally.bsky.social

Credit to my dad for suggesting this topic ❤️ time to break out the Richard Ellmann again www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

JD Vance is the prime example of a deeper trend in the US of highly prominent converts to Catholicism trying to steer the church to a more conservative path, while exerting an important intellectual influence on the Maga movement seeking to reshape the US www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

Very good overview by @naomiohreally.bsky.social on implications for other European elections after the defeat of Orban Orbán’s defeat a blow to nationalist parties in advance of key European votes www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Over the last few days I received quite an overwhelming number of e-mails in relation to this piece: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a.... I'll try to answer them all, albeit gradually. The piece is superficially about Russia. But I think it's fundamentally about understanding one's own identity.

Israel detonated Naqoura village in South Lebanon

“The scale of the nightmare in Gaza and the West Bank is vast. It is her job to somehow absorb and relay it to the rest of the world. That costs her profoundly — more than any American sanctions.”

The 2025 numbers are really striking. www.kielinstitut.de/fileadmin/Da...

🚨 A new joint investigation reveals transcripts and recordings of conversations between Hungary's Péter Szijjártó and several Russian ministers, including Sergey Lavrov, aimed at weakening EU sanctions packages and removing the names of blacklisted oligarchs.

Why does Yvette Cooper deliver this line like an Anglican minister

The US don’t even know who they are speaking to in Iran. They speak to two anonymous voices who don’t identify themselves, and who don’t have decision making authority - everything has to be run past unnamed higher bosses who are also mysterious

I’m on assignment in Paris and will be reporting on France in the build up to next year’s presidential elections. To kick it off, here’s my reporting on the local elections that have fired the starting gun for 2027 www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

For shame

This is amazing, infuriating and dredges up a lot of resentment I had managed to bury. The evidence was overwhelming and so many people refused to see it. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Schade, dass Virginia Giuffre den heutigen Tag nicht mehr erleben konnte. Und dass sie nie erfahren wird, dass ihr Mut und ihre Beständigkeit über viele Jahre hinweg, trotz zahlreicher Anfeindungen, dazu beigetragen haben, etwas ins Rollen zu bringen.

‘Is your French girl in town?’: Epstein files reveal correspondence with David Blaine

The Jeffrey Epstein files reveal the convicted child sex offender was fascinated by magicians, and detail a years-long relationship between Epstein and David Blaine. My story: www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

This is an excellent overview of some of what was in the latest Epstein files. I’ve been thinking all week of a historical comparison to these files - maybe the pentagon papers - but these files are so much more banality of evil, conversations move from finance to children to lols

Some thoughts from trawling the Epstein files. Epstein was a nobody. It’s mysterious where he got his money and billionaire lifestyle. It’s possible he collected compromising material for extortion. A major question is whether he worked with intelligence agencies www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

I worked alongside Steve in the Reuters Rome bureau. This is his story of hard work doesn’t protect you from hard times. stevescherer.substack.com/p/my-journey...

Didn’t believe this was true but have checked and am told it was sent to the Norwegian government yesterday.

It’s from a couple of weeks ago but this is a remarkable story by @naomiohreally.bsky.social on sanctions against the ICC Trump-imposed sanctions are so harsh that ICC judges are being blocked from using Amazon products at home! go.bsky.app/redirect?u=h...

“Prost [an ICC judge] had been added to the United States’ sanctions list, because in 2020 she ruled to authorise an investigation into possible atrocities in Afghanistan, including by US troops.” from @naomiohreally.bsky.social @irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

Incredible story by @naomiohreally.bsky.social on US sanctions and an ICC judge

This statement from Spain (with Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay) points out the kind of statement the EU -could- have made…

uh holy SHIT?

an extraordinary article about extraordinary times

The Irish Times is $5/mo, and I subscribe to it b/c it’s increasingly difficult to get decent news coverage from U.S. sources. Ironically, WSJ News coverage is above average—you just have to scroll past their editorial section.

I feel like this should be a bigger story, given that more than one ICC judge has been subjected to this shadow existence

Why do I have to read an Irish paper for a feature about this?

Incredible story by @naomiohreally.bsky.social on US sanctions and an ICC judge www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

Iconic mural if I’m honest

This will kill innocent children.

A brave survivor speaks on the record. Sami al-Saei, 46, used to be a freelance journalist in the occupied West Bank. He was arrested after working with reporters to arrange interviews with armed groups and was detained without being charged for 16 months. bbc.com/news/article...

In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites. He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...