It is an unlikely friendship that ties the fates of war correspondent Kenji Goto and troubled loner Haruna Yukawa, the two Japanese hostages for which Islamic State militants demanded a $200m ransom this week.

Same-sex marriage is banned in the Dominican Republic, but a man and his partner have exchanged vows in the first ceremony of its kind performed at the British embassy in the conservative Caribbean country.

A complaint of imbalance about a same-sex marriage discussion presented on RTÉ radio by comedian Brendan O’Carroll has been rejected by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

A Thai surrogate mother is desperately trying to raise money to save the life of a six-month-old baby abandoned by his Australian parents after they found out he had Down syndrome.

An emaciated man whose boat washed up on a remote Pacific atoll this week claims he survived 16 months adrift, floating more than 12,500km from Mexico, a researcher said.

A change to Turkish foreign visa rules means Irish people travelling there will no longer be able to purchase a visa on arrival.

Unmanned US aircraft fired four missiles at a house in north-west Pakistan today, killing 16 suspected militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Valentia Island has strong merit for consideration as a World Heritage Site, according to Al Gillespie from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange last night applied for political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after failing in his bid to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex crime allegations.

A TAIWANESE woman allegedly sold into slavery as a child has returned from the US to the island for a family reunion.

THE Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is in contact with a number of Irish couples caught up in an alleged adoption scam in Mexico.

A multiple murder inquiry is underway this morning after three adults and three young children were all stabbed to death in Jersey.

BURMA’S democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not accept conditions on her freedom if the military government releases her this week when her latest period of detention is due to end, her lawyer said.

An appeal court in Thailand ruled today to extradite suspected Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to the United States, effectively ending a nearly 25-year chase for the man dubbed The Merchant of Death.

Five sailors including an Irish journalist detained after their yacht apparently strayed into Iranian waters have been released, the British Foreign Office confirmed today.

The United Nations’ torture investigator blamed Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe for banning him from entering the country today.

IN his letter (January 23) Martin Stern accuses me of having incorrectly asserted that Hamas was not responsible for breaking the recent ceasefire that resulted in the bloody Israeli assault on Gaza.

Thailand's prime minister Samak Sundaravej said today he had no plans to ask Britain for the extradition of fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra or to revoke his diplomatic passport.

Around 2,000 protesters rallied outside Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, demanding that it revoke the diplomatic passport of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and extradite him from Britain.

A convoy of British and US diplomats was attacked at gunpoint in Zimbabwe today, the US embassy said.

Four members of a French family, including two children, were killed by gunmen during a robbery in eastern Mauritania.

Pakistan said today it will capture Osama bin Laden if he is found in the country, despite the government’s recent peace deal with Islamic militants in a remote, violence-battered region on the Afghan border.

One person was wounded when at least 10 rockets detonated in central Baghdad, near an area that houses the headquarters of the US-led coalition.

At least 10 rockets detonated in central Baghdad tonight, near an area that houses the headquarters of the US-led coalition.

Jordan has expelled five Iraqi diplomats after Washington asked more than 60 countries to shut down Iraqi diplomatic missions.

Ann Cahill looks at how the Czechs look to Ireland

THE press officer of the Israeli Embassy in Dublin has been fired following her public condemnation of an Israeli air attack on Gaza City in a letter to the Irish Examiner.

The FBI is still investigating the true identity of the airline passenger accused of trying to ignite explosives in his shoes, as British officials said he was born in the UK.

The identity of the passenger accused of trying to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes during a transatlantic flight remained unclear today.