This evening, as some delegates at the Madrid climate conference stroll along Puerta del Sol, someone somewhere will be crouched over a keyboard assuring the world that climate collapse is a swizz.

It’s a month ago today since the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were found in a refrigerator lorry in Essex. In recent days, 16 people were found, alive thankfully, in a trailer on a ferry bound for Rosslare.

The International Transport Workers Federation said the settlement it reached with the Government in April was aimed at addressing, what it described as, severe labour trafficking and human rights abuses caused by the Atypical Work Permit scheme.

An Environmental NGO has brought a High Court challenge over a refusal by the Legal Aid Board to consider its application for legal aid in its action against the government plan known as 'Project Ireland 2040'.

Fair Trial Europe has applied to join High Court extradition proceedings involving Artur Celmer, who is wanted to face trial in his native Poland on drug trafficking charges.

The Charities Regulator is investigating Glen, the Gay and Lesbian Network, as the NGO puts “new financial procedures” in place.

A young American woman who spoke on television about working in Cork as a prostitute was put on trial yesterday for having a cannabis growhouse at her city apartment.

Equality, not nationalism, was at the heart of the struggle, says Ben Philips

Ireland has pledged to increase its humanitarian support for the victims of the Syrian crisis by almost €3m.

Aid agencies and rights groups have accused the Government of shutting them out of efforts to tackle the refugee crisis.

Hersh Tahir is speaking about the women who have been abducted and abused by IS but who have managed to escape.

A women’s co-operative in Malawi shows that people can learn to help themselves with great results, writes Isabel Conway.

GOAL has dispatched an emergency response team to Nepal to support relief efforts following the worst earthquake to hit the country in 80 years.

An Irish non-governmental organisation (NGO) is working to develop an Ebola vaccine.

Labour’s Seán Sherlock, Minister for Development, Trade Promotion, and North-South Co-operation, Corkman Mike Foott and Aubrey Belford look at the impact of the tsunami disaster of 2004 which devastated parts of Asia.

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill.

Amnesty International says it has uncovered "gruesome" evidence of ethnic cleansing in northern Iraq by Islamic State (IS) militants.

Global food giant Kellogg’s will set targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its worldwide supply chain, it announced yesterday, responding to consumer pressure to be accountable for its contribution to climate change.

Syria’s army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah seized full control of the rebel bastion Yabrud yesterday, dealing the opposition a heavy symbolic and strategic blow in the Qalamoun region along the Lebanese border.

The EU is under fire for being too pro-business, with a study showing advisory groups are heavy with representatives of corporations.

Rooney Mara has signed up to star in 'Trash'.

The cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal, survived mass extinction during the last ice age 10,000 years ago.

A dazzling performance by Michael D

IT’S AN EMERGENCY!

Hundreds of Pakistani villagers have attended the funerals of the aid workers and teachers gunned down by militants in the country’s north-west.

Blasphemous friends and thespians

Ireland is providing €5m in funding for emergency relief in the Sahel region of West Africa.

THE fishing industry says it is fighting for its life at the annual division of fish stocks in Brussels, as environment groups warn that some of the fishermen’s demands are putting the future of whole species in doubt.

KOFI ANNAN: the name sounds familiar.

TV personalities, businesspeople and politicians are gathered in Cork today in a bid to highlight the work being done in Haiti by Irish charity Haven.

A NEW teaching tool to help primary school children across the country understand the social inequalities that exist between Ireland and Haiti, has been launched in Cork.

DESPITE a week of protests, the Department of Justice has stated it is committed to moving over 100 asylum seekers at the Mosney accommodation centre, Co Meath, to Dublin.

THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday cooled speculation that the kidnappers who abducted an Irish aid worker and her Ugandan colleague at gunpoint last Friday may be seeking a ransom.

THE damaging nature of large-scale mining operations in Ghana in recent years has attracted international attention, including concerns of human rights advocates, environmentalists and even United Nations health specialists.

Damien Enright on why we need to reinforce a vital law.

THE European Commission and the international community must allocate further food resources to help the people of Ethiopia. It is accepted by the government there that 4.6 million people are at acute risk due to food shortages.

Campaigners for Nuclear Disarmament say they are deeply worried about the Irish Government's attitude to a 2010 international nuclear weapons conference.

Aid agency Concern aims to boost fundraising by up to €7m in 2008 with a tax-back campaign.

The achievements of the women’s movement across Ireland was being celebrated this weekend with a host of events to mark International Women’s Day.

Three of Ireland’s largest humanitarian organisations were today awarded €500,000 each to respond quickly to global emergencies.

A new crack team of humanitarian experts will be ready to be deployed to a disaster zone by the Autumn, the Government said today.

FOLLOWING a special meeting of the Violence Against Women (VAW) non-governmental sector, we strongly rejected the recently announced COSC: the Irish Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (Irish Examiner, May 17).

The Government and aid agencies called on the public today to give more generously to appeals for the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon.