One evening during the week, en route to walk the dog, I encountered a knot of sullen youths near the park.

The coronavirus pandemic will pass, and when it does we will reflect of how we reacted to it.

Even with oil prices having slumped, Saudi Aramco said it still intends to give at least $75bn (€67bn) to shareholders this year.

“Isn't that where they got the Koh-i-Noor diamond from?”

Picture the scene; Six Nations 2030, a packed stadium of 50,000 cheering fans, a large green pocket of Irish travelling fans surrounded by maroon shirts. Hold on, Maroon? It’s not that the Welsh shirts had a France shirt mixed up in the wash, it’s Georgia.

The US President has long denigrated the non-partisan work of his intelligence analysts, but he has finally ratcheted that up to the firing of top officials, says Kent Harrington

Kenny will be in charge when the competition gets underway in September.

The country has become a battleground for larger powers competing for its oil and attempting to dominate the Arab world, writes Bernard Haykel

Although the extent of state control makes China well-placed to contain the coronavirus, it will not alter Xi Jinping’s global ambitions, writes Kevin Rudd

It was only last week that Andrew Conway was asked whether, in light of the changes in the Ireland coaching ranks and the different lessons for players to learn, you could teach old dogs new tricks.

ANDREW CONWAY is getting his due and it has been a long time coming.

Supporting Scotland is tough going at the best of times, but the last four-and-a-bit months — since that abrupt wake-up call delivered by Ireland on the opening weekend of the 2019 World Cup — has been particularly fraught.

Israel’s founders advocated a universalism of ‘complete equality’, whereas its current leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, has a narrow agenda, says Mark Leonard.

Sport Ireland chief executive John Treacy says his organisation would have no problems releasing Irish athletes’ samples to the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) if they were ever requested.

Earlier this week President Vladimir Putin announced plans to amend Russia's constitution so he will, when he is obliged to stand down as president in 2024, retain power. Moscow's parliament was informed though not consulted on measures that mean Putin's two decades of autocracy will not end when he resigns.

Andy Farrell believes he will be leading Ireland into a new era with a squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations he believes has got the lot.

Geopolitically, there is much to be concerned about at the moment, suggesting the first year of the 2020s will likely have oversized impact on the following nine, says James Stavridis.

I would like to make a few points about the article “Russia is not Putin but ‘is embodied by its 146 million citizens’” by Lyubov Sobol (Irish Examiner, December 26, 2019).

The Russian president is terrified of free and fair elections as his recent crackdown demonstrates, writes Lyubov Sobol

By adopting narrow grounds for impeaching the president, Pelosi and House members wanted simple charges they could easily explain to constituents, writes Elizabeth Drew

Sport, according to a popular saying, is a form of war by other means.

Nasa’s effort to resume flying American astronauts on American spacecraft — something that hasn’t happened since the Space Shuttle programme ended in 2011 — faces a major test this weekend.

With the rise of China and and an introspective US, the continent faces an uncertain future and a vassal status writes Slawomir Sierakowski.

Connacht coach Andy Friend has told Jack Carty not to panic over his surprise omission from the Irish squad and he’s confident the 27-year old can play his way back on to the international stage.

The US, China, and Russia all resent the EU’s sharing of sovereignty among its states and want to undermine it.

Leading Irish eventers Padraig McCarthy and Cathal Daniels are among the riders heading to Switzerland for this week’s CHI Geneva five-star fixture.

Sport Ireland has called for a complete ban on any Russian involvement in international sporting competition following further revelations about the state’s doping offences.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have met for the first time in a bid to end five years of war.

Russia has been handed a four-year ban from major international sporting events after being found guilty of manipulating laboratory doping data.