Fine Gael leader, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, is prepared to “let Micheál Martin sweat” and did not seek a mandate to continue talks with Fianna Fáil from his party.

When they woke 75 years ago this morning, the people of Dresden were faced by “the opened gates of hell”.

Government formation after the general election looks set to be thrown into chaos as an exit poll tonight predicted that the three big parties are tied.

European Council president Donald Tusk has said the "punchline" in the Brexit deal drama will be whether British prime minister Boris Johnson "has done what he should" and passes the agreement through the House of Commons.

The new Lord Mayor of Cork said he wants to build connections between various communities and residents of the newly enlarged city.

Connemara’s first Green Party councillor Alastair McKinstry believes the Government should abandon the €600m ring road project for Galway in favour of upgrading public transport.

Sterling recovered from its sell-off in the wake of the British parliament’s Brexit votes, as investors bet the UK government would still avoid exiting the EU without an agreed trade deal in place.

If the Government really thought gender equality was a priority, it could start by looking at the makeup of the cabinet and their party, writes Margaret Hickey.

A novel attack on press freedom and perhaps the imprecise use of adjectives has been made by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party.

The US president is in Poland this week, where his brand of populism is welcome, as it is in Hungary, but we must not allow him to play eastern and western Europe against each other, says Guy Verhofstadt.

There is growing concern that Beijing was steadily eroding the "one country, two systems" principle put in place after it took control of the Asian financial hub.

Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty says Enda Kenny needs to be at the table when the Brexit negotiations begin.

The Deputy Leader of the Green Party has invited Donald Trump to meet with her during his visit to Ireland.

The Executive Board of the Labour Party is meeting this afternoon to discuss its leadership race.

Europe’s most notorious mass murderer, Anders Breivik, complained about his treatment in prison and has won his case against the Norwegian government. Relatives of his victims were not so lucky, writes Asne Seierstad

 How did a kitschy, carnival performer propel himself to the brink of power in the most powerful country in the world? asks Bernard-Henri Lévy

As investigators hunt for leads in Europe’s worst terror attack in a decade, the Paris prosecutor laid out how three teams of assailants managed to kill at least 129 people in and around one of the world’s most heavily policed capitals.

Former tánaiste, foreign affairs minister, and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has confirmed he will not run as a candidate at the next general election, bringing to an end a 26-year-long Dáil career.

Gardaí in Kerry are investigating criminal damage worth thousands of euro to a luxury holiday home in Aghadoe following a Leaving Certificate graduation ceremony at a Killarney secondary school.

European markets held firm today as investors digested the success of anti-austerity party Syriza in Greek elections last night.

Liberty, equality, and fraternity have defined the French people for centuries. These values cannot be diluted in the face of terror, writes Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan

More than a third of Irish workers admit that drunken antics at the staff Christmas party have led to a sexual encounter — which most regretted.

Fitzgerald Park on Cork’s Mardyke is once again open fully to the public in all its floral and artistic glory, flanked by Diarmuid Gavin’s controversial Sky Garden and the restored Fr Mathew Fountain.

The Smithwick Tribunal’s inability to name the mole in Dundalk Garda Station in March 1989 casts a shadow over every member of the force who served there, says Michael Clifford.

Next month’s Budget will be tough even if the much-disputed adjustment is less than the planned €3.1bn, Taoiseach Enda Kenny says.

A former Ulster Unionist Party MP has been convicted of assaulting a motorist in a road rage incident in the North.

Lavish weddings, fancy holidays and lunchtime wine on the public purse were among corrupt perks that have led China’s ruling Communist Party to discipline 2,290 officials so far in a crackdown aimed at addressing public anger.

Mary Regan, Political Correspondent

The final vote count from Pakistan’s national elections has confirmed a big win for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party.

HURRICANE Isaac had an elemental impact on the Republican National Convention last week. The ‘Grand Old Party’ (GOP) was gathered in Tampa, Florida, to select Mitt Romney as presidential candidate.

Officials in Galway have been warned by a leading US politician that there will be ramifications if they proceed with a plan to erect a statue to Che Guevara in the city.

North Korea’s top military official – a key mentor to new leader Kim Jong Un who also served under his late father – has been removed from all posts because of illness, state media has announced.

The Greek extreme-right party spokesman who caused an uproar last week by slapping one female politician on live TV and throwing a glass of water on another has sued the two women as well as the television channel that hosted the news show.

Prosecutors pressed mass killer Anders Breivik for details about the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to on the third day of his trial for the massacre of 77 people.

I wonder if it’s time for a new political party to be formed?

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is facing a crucial confidence vote in parliament today a day after he backed down from his bid to put a new European debt deal to a referendum.

Name: Roderic O’Gorman

THE announcement by Sarah Palin that she will not seek the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in America’s presidential election next year, will provoke relief and disappointment in equal measure.

“WE DON’T do presents” said Maurice Ahern, as he strolled into his brother’s controversial birthday party last night.

Macedonia’s conservative coalition government claimed victory in early general elections, and the opposition conceded defeat.

Detectives investigating the murder of a Catholic policeman in the North arrested a second man today.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has said he will make good on his promise to move a motion of no confidence in the Government unless a date for a General Election is set before the end of January.

A RUSSIAN investigation into the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski blamed the Poles, saying the crew was forced to land in bad weather by an air force commander who had been drinking.

GARDAÍ were last night continuing to investigate an attack on the constituency office of Minister Noel Dempsey in which the building was daubed with a misspelling of word “traitors”.

Hopes have been raised in Burma that democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi could soon be released.

Israel’s prime minister today claimed its commando raid that left nine dead on an aid flotilla heading for Gaza was justified under international law.

At least 37 people were shot dead in Karachi, Pakistan following the assassination of a politician, hospital chiefs said today.

A female garda who was being questioned in relation to the leaking of a letter to a newspaper which led to the resignation of Green Party Junior Minister Trevor Sargent has been released without charge.