On September 29, 1938, Czechoslovakia was sacrificed to Nazi Germany by the UK and France, in their catastrophic hurry to appease Hitler. That lesson is still relevant today, writes Yuriy Filatov

Here is your lunchtime bulletin...

When he spoke in Auckland on Friday, during the fourth day of his State visit to New Zealand, President Michael D Higgins reflected on how our relationship with the Irish language has been defined by what he described as the “authoritative” nature of Irish language teaching in schools.

The EU is caught between Brexit Britain and a disenchanted group of Middle Europeans whose political sentiment is antithetical to the liberal ideals of the EU, says John Lloyd.

Peter Jackson on the son of an Irish emigrant who guided Wales to the World Cup finals and was Matt Busby’s right-hand man at Manchester United.

The family of a holocaust survivor who was murdered 27 years after being liberated from a Nazi concentration camp have made a fresh appeal to bring her killer to justice - nearly half a century after her death.

Sunshine giving you that festival buzz? We've got the ultimate guide to some of the best festivals around!

The liberal establishment in London and around the continent is aghast at how populism is tearing Europe apart, writes Yanis Varoufakis

Your letters, your views...

Hell or High Water 5/5

The innovation and design of the Irish-made McHale Orbital High Speed Round Bale Wrapper was recognised at the Techagro show in Czechoslovakia with a prize, from the Farmár agricultural magazine, for its high output.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the long-serving German foreign minister who was one of the key architects of the country’s 1990 reunification, has died aged 89.

The great thing about the protesting gene is that it takes credit for even the most tenuous apparent victories, writes Terry Prone

Herta Fossett escaped from Czechslovakia in the ’50s and hailing from a line of circus performers, married into one of Ireland’s most famous circus families. She tells Deirdre Reynolds how her husband would have loved to see her awarded the ‘Oscar’ of the circus world.

The first lady of Irish circus has received a lifetime achievement award for giving enjoyment to people young and old.

WATCH OUT, BMW, a new German rival is on the scene: The sputtering, yet lovable Trabant is getting an electric makeover 25 years after the country’s reunification.

Ukraine’s citizens are fighting bravely against a ruthless aggressor and have been betrayed by the West who has abandoned them to their fate, write Petr Kolar and Juraj Mesík.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel led celebrations today marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, calling it an example of the human yearning for freedom.

UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague after last Thursday’s Europa League match in Slovakia was interrupted for half an hour by clashes between supporters.

A former Auschwitz guard who has lived in the US since 1952 is in custody facing possible extradition to Germany after being accused of helping to kill 216,000 Jewish men, women, and children at the Nazi death camp.

A former Auschwitz guard who has lived in America since 1952 is in custody facing possible extradition to Germany after being accused of helping to kill 216,000 Jewish men, women and children at the notorious Nazi death camp.

CRANBERRY, ruby or gold ruby glass will not be ignored. You can set a single piece on a mantle, or crowd it at the back of a glazed cabinet.

Pro-Moscow rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine called for their region to become part of Russia, the day after staging a referendum on self-rule, although Moscow stopped short of endorsing their bid for annexation.

Russia pulled back a battalion from along the Ukrainian border yesterday after sending its prime minister to shower promises on Crimea, pledging quick funds to improve power supplies, water lines and education on its newly annexed peninsula.

Despite the passage of time, there are many parallels between the German Sudetenland and Crimean crises,writes Bobo Lo

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has compared Russian president Vladimir Putin’s recent steps in Ukraine to aggression by Adolf Hitler in 1930s Nazi Germany, a local paper reported.

Because Ukraine doesn’t have full member status in Nato, the US and Europe are not obliged to help, says Julie Pace

It is an indication of how powerful, how unaccountable and secure Russia president Vladimir Putin and his circle of oligarchs feel that they can orchestrate such terrible, anti-democratic violence in Ukraine while their pet project — the incredibly expensive, €37.5bn Olympics at Sochi — offers the world a prime-time insight into modern Russia.

Laszlo Csatary, a former police officer indicted in June by Hungarian authorities for abusing Jews and contributing to their deportation to Nazi death camps during the Second World War, has died. He was 98.

Black Vodka & Other Stories

JOSEF PAVELKA died last week, a celebrity and a ‘nobody’.

Laurent Binet obsessed over the killing of Reinhard Heydrich, says Richard Fitzpatrick

The Bundesliga came back with a bang at the weekend after its month-long hibernation.

A Czech general who fought with the Allies in France, Britain and the Soviet Union during the Second World War II and who later resisted the communist regimes in his own country has died.

Usain Bolt brought the track action at London 2012 to a fittingly brilliant close tonight, anchoring the Jamaican 4x100m relay team to gold in a new world record.

What I do: I am a singer with the Vocal Ensemble Gentlemen Singers from the Czech Republic.

Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich

A leftist party led by one of the few leading politicians in Slovakia to escape voter anger over a major corruption scandal has been propelled back into power in an early parliamentary election, according to final results today.

A new documentary explores negative attitudes towards Roma living in Ireland, writes Jonathan De Burca Butler

ANDY MURRAY appointed former world number one Ivan Lendl as his full-time coach in the hope of winning a grand slam.

Andy Murray believes Ivan Lendl will tell it like it is as the British number one looks to break his grand slam duck.