Liberal Dutch leader Rob Jetten is tipped to become the next prime minister in the Netherlands after voters rejected a short-lived experiment with a government led by the far right. He will need the support of three or more other centrist parties to form a coalition with a parliamentary majority. Geert Wilders' Freedom party is neck and neck with liberal rivals for first place in the election, but lacks coalition options. While Mr Wilders’ Freedom party has lost significantly, it remains a strong force in the Dutch parliament, Ms Kuiper added. He will still have a major influence over decision-making in the years to come.”Deniz Horzum, a consultant who worked as spokesperson for Mr Jetten, said his former boss should not be underestimated.

A number of status yellow wind and rain warnings will be in place for several counties on Thursday. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill / The Irish TimesA number of status yellow wind and rain warnings will be in place for several counties on Thursday. A status yellow rain warning will be in effect for Cork and Kerry from 11am to 8pm. A status yellow rain warning for Galway and Mayo will be in effect from midday until 8pm. A status yellow wind warning for Cork, Kerry, Waterford and Wexford will be in place from 11am until 11pm.

Inflation as measured by the HICP had fallen to almost zero at the end of last year on the back of falling energy prices. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA WireInflation in the Irish economy remained elevated at 2.7 per cent in October with increases in energy and food prices the main drivers, putting a renewed strain on households. The latest flash estimate for the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) put the annualised rate of price growth at 2.7 per cent, unchanged from the previous month. A breakdown of the components indicate energy prices here grew by 2 per cent in October and were up by 2.7 per cent on a 12-month basis. Inflation as measured by the HICP had fallen to almost zero at the end of last year on the back of falling energy prices.

Collison’s solutionsSir, – Thanks to John Collison for his contribution and analysis as to why we are stuck in a quagmire of delays (“Ireland is going backwards. Sir, – John McManus was perhaps kind in characterising John Collison’s proposed solutions as “a little” naive (“John Collison seems to have missed a fundamental truth about Irish politics”, Opinion, October 29th). Taiwan, like Ireland and every other country, will be affected by climate change. All nations should be able to come together to work to avoid a worse-case scenario on the issue of climate change. With so much disinformation and misinformation around climate change on social media, we badly need newspapers that are truly “informed and responsible”.

“The legend is that Morrigan, the goddess of war and winter, came out of these bog pools and then all hell broke loose. “Some of the traditions and practices we remember today at Halloween, they’re a folk memory,” explains Bradley. “I see what’s happening in Derry with Halloween as actually a Celtic revival, coming from the ground roots in Derry. Bog bodies in Denmark famously “inspired Seamus Heaney and his poetry, and then they found one in Bellaghy”, says Bradley. Photograph: Joe DunneAt an old churchyard near Lifford, Co Donegal, Bradley identifies the “toxic” yew tree and explains how it influenced the Harry Potter books.

But this one was the type we prefer not to see: a cull of thousands of jobs at tech giant Amazon. The scale of Amazon’s job losses is notable only because the company has grown into such a behemoth in recent years. More AI would mean fewer corporate staff at Amazon, with generative AI and high-tech agents picking up the slack. Artificial intelligence, although yet to make good on all its promises, has given companies a way to cut costs without sacrificing their business. Going back to Jassy’s original communication, the corporate cull at Amazon has begun.

Joe Duffy, who retired this year, was RTÉ’s highest earner in 2024, when he made €351,000. Photograph: Andres PovedaThe new list of top 10 earners in RTÉ is split between presenters and executives, following the introduction of salary caps at the national broadcaster. Joe Duffy was RTÉ’s highest-paid presenter in 2024, earning €351,000, according to figures from RTÉ’s 2024 Annual Report. In 2023, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst announced that no one at the broadcaster would earn more than his salary of €250,000. The top 10 highest-paid presenters for 2024 are as follows:Joe Duffy: €351,000 (2024); €351,000 (2023) Claire Byrne: €280,000 (2024); €280,000 (2023) Patrick Kielty: €257,657 (2024) Miriam O’Callaghan: €246,708 (2024); €263,500 (2023) Brendan O’Connor: €244,099 (2024); €245,004 (2023) Ray D’Arcy: €220,409 (2024); €250,000 (2023) Mary Wilson: €209,545 (2024); €199,194 (2023) Dáithí Ó Sé: €196,885 (2024) George Lee: €195,939 (2024); €185,674 (2023) Darragh Maloney: €194,902 (2024); €186,650 (2023)Ray D’Arcy, one of the broadcaster’s highest paid individuals in recent years, left RTÉ earlier this month after his contract was not renewed.

But now Geralt faces his greatest challenge yet: the exit of lead actor Henry Cavill. Cavill stepped down as Geralt in October 2022, weeks after cameras had stopped rolling on The Witcher series three. To Hissrich, at least, the answer is obvious: the new Witcher is a keeper. “It was sad [but] for me, my friendship with Henry ... he’s not dead. If you know Henry, he’s got a very dry sense of humour.

The Manna hub had been carrying out deliveries for a number of independent food providers in the Dublin 15 area. Photograph: Nick BradshawDrone delivery company Manna has been refused permission to retain a drone delivery hub in west Dublin. The decision to apply for retention planning permission was out of an “abundance of caution”, the original application to the council said. The decision does not impact the company’s existing drone hub near the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, for which the company was already granted permission. It has also applied for planning permission for a delivery hub in Tallaght, and another in Dundrum, both of which are subject to requests for further information by planning authorities.

Delays in Microsoft’s Outlook email system and problems accessing Microsoft 365 online services were reported. There were uncomfortable, albeit brief, echoes of last July’s Microsoft outage caused by a faulty security software update that caused widespread chaos for days afterwards. But the damage that the incident has inflicted on people’s confidence in cloud services will be harder to repair. It does not help that the latest cloud service outage is the second in as many weeks. Cloud computing is largely dominated by three big companies: Microsoft, Amazon and Google, with other major players that include IBM, Oracle and Alibaba.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to keep interest rates at 2 per cent this week, as the weak dollar and trade diversion from China continue to dampen inflation risks. Despite the still uncertain fallout from US tariffs, a kind of equilibrium has settled on the euro zone economy with inflation and interest rates both steady at 2 per cent. Hence, it sees interest rates rising again, but not until 2027. ECB chief Christine Lagarde said officials must ensure food inflation eases. Speaking in Florence, where the ECB holds its policy meeting this month, Lagarde said food inflation was “still up and it’s more up than” headline inflation.

Roast beef at The Queens in Dalkey. Photograph: Nick BradshawThe Queens in Dalkey. The peach and coconut panna cotta (€9) is one of the most bizarre finales to a meal I’ve had in years. The Verdict: Roast beef like upholstery, dessert like science fiction. Food provenance: Robinson Meat; fish from Bunagee Pier, Culdaff and Greencastle, Donegal.

The alert comes as the fund, which is backed by about 8,000 Irish investors, faced an uptick in redemption requests in the third quarter of this year. They set up its flagship Greenman Open fund in 2014. “This decision was taken in light of confirmation received from Greenman Investments, the fund manager of the Greenman Fund, of a delay in the payment of redemptions,” said a spokesman for the insurance group. Mr Wilkinson said he believed it was also down to the interests of Greenman Open and Aviva “no longer being aligned”. He said delayed payments due on redemption requests at the end of 2024 and the first quarter of this year would be made around November 28th.

MacBook Pro M5: given its cost, most people would likely expect an Apple charger in the boxApple MacBook Pro M5      Price : €1849 Website : https://www.apple.com/ie/ Opens in new window Where To Buy : AppleThe desktop computer is an increasingly rare office fixture these days. That is especially true when you look at Apple’s MacBook Pro. I’ve been using the new M5 MacBook Pro for more than a week, replacing my regular work laptop for most tasks. It comes in two colours – space black and silver – the MacBook Pro is all serious business, so there are no bold colours here. VerdictThe MacBook Pro M5 is a powerful all-rounder.

New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon, left, alongside Dawn Meats chief executive Niall Browne and EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic at the inaugural EU-New Zealand Business Summit in Auckland last weekDawn Meats chief executive Niall Browne’s victory lap in New Zealand last week ended with him as poster boy at the inaugural EU-New Zealand Business Summit in Auckland. In the New Zealand meat industry, however, there has been much head-scratching at Dawn’s pursuit of the country’s biggest lamb processor, and third-largest overall. And then there were the touted benefits to customers of beef and lamb year-round, augmented by out-of-season supply from Alliance. Unsurprisingly, New Zealand beef exporters aren’t welcoming more competition in the local livestock market at a time when margins are already thin. “The only way to get a material beef business is to rip the heart out of the procurement market,” one predicted.