The plane crashed in a field at Lisselan, southwest of Waterford airport. Investigators with the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) completed an “initial examination” at the site of the plane crash on Thursday night. Four AAIU inspectors were immediately deployed to the crash site when the alarm was raised at lunchtime on Thursday. The Vulcanair P68C plane crashed at about 12.50pm while approaching Waterford Airport. It turned towards Waterford Airport in an attempt to make an emergency landing.

The bear remained on the loose and police and conservation officers were on the scene. File photograph: William Campbell/New York TimesEleven people were injured, two of them critically, when a grizzly bear attacked a group of schoolchildren and teachers on a walking trail in British Columbia, Canada. The Nuxalk Nation said the “aggressive bear” remained on the loose and police and conservation officers were on the scene. “We are devastated for the individuals and families impacted by the bear incident,” Nuxalk Nation chief Samuel Schooner said in a statement. Grizzlies, which have coexisted with the Nuxalk Nation for generations, have a deep cultural significance for many of the First Nations along the Pacific coast.

Donald Trump’s latest plan for ending the war in Ukraine would see territory ceded to Russia, Russia readmitted to the G8 and Ukraine banned from joining Nato, according to drafts of the proposal seen by media organisations. TerritoryUkraine would give up the Donbas region to Russia, according to the draft seen by a number of outlets, which corresponds to Moscow’s previous demands. Ukrainian soldiers fire a Dana self-propelled artillery gun at a Russian target in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, 2023. The southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – which Russia falsely claims to have annexed – will be “frozen along the line of contact,” it said. That fits with previous Russian demands that have been made public and goes against Ukraine’s previous demands.

Among the breaches is the manner in which the State regulates heavy water users who take directly from rivers and lakes for agricultural, industrial or commercial uses. Photograph: Alan BetsonThe Republic has been found in breach of multiple water quality and management regulations in a ruling that also raises questions about the way water charges are structured. The ruling from the European Court of Justice found 14 breaches of the EU’s Water Framework Directive. Among the breaches is the manner in which the Republic regulates heavy water users who take water directly from rivers and lakes for agricultural, industrial or commercial uses. The Sustainable Water Network (Swan), an alliance of 25 environmental organisations, said the ruling was a “national embarrassment”.

Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty ImagesIt is no surprise that the G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend will be dominated by the one person who is not there. When he announced the total boycott, Mr Ramaphosa replied with a curt: “Their loss”. At the end of each summit, the outgoing president hands over to the incoming G20 president. In the absence of Mr Trump, Mr Ramaphosa has vowed to make the presentation to an empty chair. The stance has mirrored Mr Trump’s undisguised disdain for multilateralism and international co-operation.

My parents, bless them, just accepted they had a “weird kid” on their hands and bought me the second-hand Emily Post guides I requested. You wouldn’t catch me out wearing a tiara to a state dinner without making sure the band matched my hair colour. Etiquette guru and columnist Emily Post. Photograph: Getty Images/ BettmannWhen the Australian ambassador to Ireland did actually come over for dinner recently, he sat himself at the table in our tiny kitchen and ate the dinner my boyfriend cooked off mismatched Ikea plates. Emily Post would approve.

The Eurovision Song Contest is changing its rules around promotion and voting after a number of broadcasters raised concerns about Israel’s result at this year’s competition. Israeli singer Yuval Raphael received the largest number of votes from the public in the contest in May, ultimately finishing as runner-up after the jury votes were taken into account. The maximum number of votes that can be made per payment method has now been reduced from 20 to 10 in plans outlined by director of the song contest, Martin Green. The Eurovision Song Contest belongs to all of us, and it must remain a place where music takes centre stage.”He added: “Governments do not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, artists do. Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated against Israel’s inclusion near a free concert in the centre of Basel when the 2025 competition took place.

Tánaiste Simon Harris: Ireland needs a Minister for Finance capable of long-horizon macro-design, led by someone who can reshape the fundamentals of how the Irish economy works. This is the moment in which Ireland needs a Minister for Finance capable of long-horizon macro-design, led by someone who can reshape the fundamentals of how the Irish economy works. His most recent role, foreign affairs, is strategically important, but it does not require technical economic expertise. These are structural, technical undertakings that cannot be solved through PR or outsourced to consultancies. [ Who are the new Ministers and what are their qualifications?Opens in new window ]Ireland deserves, and urgently needs, a Minister for Finance whose skill set matches the future we are walking into.

The G20 summit of the world's most powerful nations is taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Government has been invited by South Africa as a guest of the Johannesburg summit, the first time Ireland has participated. The US president has repeated discredited allegations that white South Africans are being persecuted and murdered in their hundreds as the reason. “The South African government would deny the assertions that have been made,“ he said. ”We again work constructively with the South African government on a range of issues.

ECB head Christine Lagarde delivers a speech during the opening of the 35th Frankfurt European Banking Congress in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on November 21, 2025. In a scathing speech, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) warned that Europe’s “old growth model” had become outdated, as its dependence on exports had become a “vulnerability”. Making the keynote address at the European Banking Congress in Frankfurt, Lagarde pointed to a two-year-old ECB forecast that predicted that euro area exports would grow by about 8 per cent by mid-2025. Ms Lagarde urged European Union (EU) policymakers to respond by strengthening the domestic economy, which she said was already showing “latent strengths”. Europe’s economic weaknesses “do not trigger dramatic crises” but “erode growth quietly, as each new shock nudges us on to a slightly lower trajectory”, Lagarde said.

The former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, arriving for a sentencing hearing at the the Old Bailey, Britain's Central Criminal Court, in London on Friday. Photograph: Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been jailed for 10½ years after he made pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament for cash. Nathan Gill (52) of Anglesey, north Wales, pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery on dates between December 6th, 2018, and July 18th, 2019. He said: “A traitor was at the very top of Reform UK, aiding and abetting a foreign adversary. We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received.” - PA

The increase in conservatism isn’t just political, it’s cultural. Both promote this conservative traditional ‘trad-wife’ idea. She is a very big voice in Ireland for social conservatism. There is also an economic factor that ties into this.With the rising cause of inflation comes an increase in conservatism. In saying all that, the rise and trends towards conservatism is not just going backwards or simply just refusing modernity, it’s because people are searching for a way to find roots in an all together rootless world.

Her choice of words was important because that is the precise formulation that would allow Japan to deploy its military forces against China. Beijing is demanding that the prime minister should withdraw the remarks and it rejects Tokyo’s insistence that they did not represent a change in policy. China's foreign ministry and its embassy in Japan advised Chinese citizens against future travel to Japan following recent remarks by the Japanese prime minister concerning Taiwan. A commentary in People’s Daily said Takaichi had poisoned relations between Japan and China. “As a country that once launched a war of aggression and committed heinous crimes in Taiwan, Japan should draw serious lessons from history and handle Taiwan-related issues with greater prudence.

Ireland won all 10 throws last weekend, a couple scruffily, but also pilfered four on the Wallaby throws and forced Joe Schmidt’s side to cough up another couple with crooked or overthrown deliveries. The Irish ascendancy did more to destabilise Australia’s launch plays than any other single element in the Test match. It’s a responsibility that he’s carried easily through 2025, leading the Irish lineout in winning possession out of touch 46 times in nine matches, including steals. The Springboks have caused Ireland lineout problems in the three most recent meetings. In the World Cup pool match, which Farrell’s side won, Ireland lost six throws, while in the 1-1 drawn series in South Africa, the Irish lineout was firing at just under 80 per cent.

You only get a glimpse of the athlete’s progress if they decide to dip their toes into the mud at a cross-country race. That will be the case for many Irish athletes lining up on Sunday at the Templemore Sports Complex in Derry for the National Cross-Country Championships. Sunday’s event again serves as a trial event for next month’s European Cross-Country Championships in the Algarve. The junior women’s race will have an added level of interest if recent national marathon champion Ava Crean lines up in the 4,500m event. You need this quality of athlete to lift the medal chances for Irish women’s teams even at the European Cross-Country level.