Long-awaited Government plans to update Ireland’s terrorism laws to include a range of offences, such as travelling abroad to join terrorist groups, are still not near to being published, it has emerged.

Former Irish soldier who lived in Islamic State territory denies she was an IS fighter, writes Cormac O’Keeffe

It was right and proper that Lisa Smith and her daughter be brought back to Ireland as Irish citizens and treated in a humane manner.

Gardaí have a duty to protect jihadist supporter Lisa Smith and her family just like any other citizen, commissioner Drew Harris has said.

Lisa Smith, the former soldier who left Ireland to join IS in Syria and who was married to an IS fighter, is due back in Ireland in the coming days.

French president Emmanuel Macron has said a midair collision between two helicopters killed 13 French soldiers in Mali.

UN human rights experts have expressed fears for the safety of Irish IS supporter Lisa Smith’s infant daughter raising the prospect that she could be abused in custody.

Garda security services are conducting three risk assessments regarding the imminent return of Irish Islamic State supporter Lisa Smith.

Irish Islamic State supporter Lisa Smith and her daughter may not arrive back home until next week as Irish officials in Turkey conduct checks to confirm their identities, particularly that of her two-year-old girl, the Irish Examiner understands.

The brutal ‘reign’ of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS, self-proclaimed caliph, and the world’s most wanted man, has ended, write Ahmed Rasheed and Ahmed Aboulenein.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hands are stained in the blood of civilians, the results of the intentions of a strongman striking against a stateless people — the Kurds.

Russia has said it is working to prevent a conflict between advancing Turkish and Syrian government forces, as Turkey’s president defied growing pressure from Western allies for a ceasefire in northern Syria.

Turkish ground forces have moved across the border to fight against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, hours after Turkish jets and artillery pounded areas in Syria’s northern border

Why the US decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria is so dangerous.

The report, citing Irish security sources, said all five people had sentences for funding terrorist offences abroad, rather than participating in terror plots here.

After years of rising tensions between Turkey and the US over the situation in northern Syria, an unexpected rapprochement has pulled the two countries back from possible conflict.

Understandably, and commendably, US president Mr Trump wants his troops out of Afghanistan and back home before he runs for a second term next year. His Mexican Wall has not been built; North Korea is still a potential nuclear power; he has not succeeded in repatriating jobs; his promise to cut the US trade deficit has been broken — it’s at a record high; federal debt has soared; and the Washington swamp, far from being drained, has been replenished. Ending an 18-year-long war that has been so costly in blood and treasure, 220,000 lives and €875bn, would be a notable tick in the credit column.

A 13-year-old suicide bomber blew himself up at a wedding in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, killing five people and injuring 11 others.

The withdrawal of American troops late last year was premature, with fighting intensifying in Idlib province, say Charles A Kupchan and Sinan Ülgen

Foreign terrorist fighters have travelled from Ireland to North Africa, the EU police agency says.

Foreign terrorist fighters have travelled from Ireland to North Africa, the EU police agency says.

There appear to be few doubts about the involvement of Islamic State (IS) in the Easter attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.

The re-emergence of fugitive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for the first time in five years, is not an occasion for celebration.

Former justice minister Dermot Ahern has said he is surprised that the radicalisation of Irish Islamic State bride Lisa Smith did not ring alarm bells, given that she began the process while serving in the army.

Former justice minister Dermot Ahern has said he is surprised that the radicalisation of Irish Islamic State bride Lisa Smith did not ring alarm bells given that she began the process while serving in the army.

The decision by the Government to make efforts to repatriate the Irish Islamic State bride Lisa Smith is bound to be contentious and one that will not sit comfortably with many of her fellow citizens.

New Zealanders didn’t think they were a target, either. Our gun control is better.

Lisa Smith, an Irish woman who was married to a fighter in Syria, will be allowed home and will be difficult to prosecute, but it is uncertain what returnee policy should be, says Sheelagh Brady.

A leading Muslim cleric says he would not feel safe having Islamic State suspect, Lisa Smith, roaming the streets of Ireland unless she goes through a process to de-radicalise her.

A former female Defence Forces soldier arrested in Syria on suspicion of joining Islamic State (IS) also served in the Air Corps, where she helped work on the government jet.

A file not yet, as far as we know, on Leo Varadkar’s desk is one marked Jihadi Returners, so the question as to what the Government should do with, or to, any who say they want to come home to Ireland is hypothetical.

A specialist Garda unit tasked with assessing intelligence on the financing of terrorism only has two members attached to it, despite external calls on the State to boost its resources and “more actively” pursue prosecutions.

Garda security units are expected to conduct a fresh review into a naturalised Irish citizen who was captured fighting for Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Monitoring suspects and managing returnees to this country is the priority, writes security correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe.

It was George Orwell who warned what he believed to be our decaying civilisation about the consequences of debased language, noting that “if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought”.

Iraq has hanged 13 prisoners convicted on terror charges following a recommendation by the prime minister to speed up executions of those on death row for terror-related offences.

There were 11 arrests for terrorist offences in Ireland last year, three of them jihadist suspects and eight republican-related.

Pope Francis is to meet members of the Naval Service when he visits in August so he can acknowledge their role in saving thousands of migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.

Garda security chiefs are concerned at the return to Ireland of families from war-torn Syria and Iraq and the “challenge” this will pose to policing, welfare and educational services.

There is no reason to view Ireland as a “weak link” in the fight against international terrorism, the head of Interpol has said.

An Irish photographer who captured the human cost of the battle for the city of Mosul in Iraq has spoken of his hope for the country and his time embedded with Iraqi forces during some of the bloodiest fighting against Islamic State (IS).

The Government will today finally agree to implement strict new laws to prevent money laundering and potential terrorist financing after the EU warned Ireland would be brought to court by May 8 if it failed to impose the clampdown.

Irish soldiers could be deployed in war-torn Syria before the end of the year, even though the country has become the centre of a new Cold War-era battle between Russia, the US, Britain, France, and their proxy allies.

A man who admitted providing funding to the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS) is to be sentenced in June.