Syrian military aircraft have bombed the north-western town of Jisr al-Shughour today, a day after insurgents seized control of it as part of a broader offensive that has left government forces in the area reeling.

Islamic State fighters backed by tanks and artillery have pushed into an embattled Syrian town on the border with Turkey, sparking heavy street battles with the town’s Kurdish defenders.

Rebel Labour TD Colm Keaveney has been removed from a number of Oireachtas committees by the Government.

A new report has found that policing in Ireland would benefit from taking on lessons learnt by local Garda initiatives.

United Nations monitors were shot at while trying to get to the scene of the latest Syrian massacre, secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said today.

United Nations observers have been blocked by Syrian troops from the site of a new mass killing, the head of the monitoring team said today.

President Bashar Assad’s forces killed at least 50 civilians, including 13 children, in central Syria, activists said.

EUROPEAN athletes and officials demanded clearer guidelines yesterday on how free they will be to express opinions on human rights, Tibet and other issues at the Beijing Olympics.

The British government was today accused of a “negligent” and “deliberate failure” to co-operate with the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.