The decision to toss our head of state into the boiling political pot of the Middle East might or might not have been a piece in its campaign to win a 12-month seat on the United Nations Security Council. Look, here’s our man at the UN shaking hands with Iran’s Hassan Rouhani, and there he is enjoying a bilateral chat with Lebanon’s president!

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has defended the sending of a naval vessel to New York next week as part of Ireland's bid to land a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

A €10 million package to increase allowances for members of the Defence Forces does not go far enough to stem the exodus of soldiers leaving the army, according to Fianna Fáil.

Last Sunday morning, I boarded an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to New York’s JFK airport.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said ensuring there is no border with Northern Ireland is more important than trade considerations.

Here's your morning news bulletin...

Ireland’s bid to gain a seat on the United Nations Security Council got off to a rocking start as more than 190 ambassadors were guests of Ireland at U2’s sold-out show at Madison Square Garden in New York last night.

Yulia Skripal has said her strength is "growing daily" after the nerve agent attack which left her and her father in intensive care.

The Trump administration has escalated pressure on North Korea by slapping sanctions on scores of companies and ships accused of illicit trading with the pariah nation.

The United States Treasury Department has issued sanctions against two officials it describes as "key leaders of North Korea's unlawful weapons programs".

US ambassador Nikki Haley said that North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that some observers believe could reach Washington and the entire east coast of the United States "brings us closer" to a war.

North Korea could be re-added to the list of state sponsors of terrorism as part of US President Donald Trump's strategy to counter the North's growing nuclear threat.

US president Donald Trump blamed the Obama administration for lifting sanctions just as Iran's government was facing "total collapse".

Donald Trump was speaking in his own words when he vowed to retaliate against North Korean aggression with "fire and fury", the White House has said.

Donald Trump has threatened North Korea with "fire and fury like the world has never seen" after suggestions the reclusive communist state has cleared a final hurdle to being able to strike the United States with a nuclear missile.

A German man believed to have provided logistical support to the Hamburg-based September 11 hijackers has died, according to a newly released audio message from the leader of al-Qaida.

Latest: Fighting continued through the night as the extremists fought heavily-armed soldiers.

Iran’s foreign minister has refused to confirm that the country conducted a missile test, saying its missile programme is not part of a 2015 nuclear deal between his country and world powers.

A senior leader of a Jewish settlement council has called US secretary of state John Kerry "a stain on American foreign policy" and "ignorant of the issues".

Russia and Iran will be guilty of war crimes if they do not put pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop escalating violence in the country, says France's foreign minister.

A North Korean ballistic missile fired from a submarine flew about 310 miles in the longest flight by that type of weapon, Seoul said - a range that can place much of South Korea within its striking distance.

North Korea has launched an estimated one million propaganda leaflets by balloon into the South amid increased tension between the rivals following the Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test, Seoul said.

Vladimir Putin has warned that the Russian military will “immediately destroy” any targets threatening its forces in Syria.

With enough nuclear weapons in existence to destroy humanity several times over, Hans Blix believes there is still an urgent need for agreements to limit their proliferation 

A nuclear deal should be the means for the international community to engage Iran in addressing the difficult issues in the volatile region, writes Carl Bildt.

Syrian government troops carried out hundreds of indiscriminate aerial attacks in the past year, most with barrel bombs, in defiance of a United Nations Security Council demand to stop, a US rights group said, calling for a UN arms embargo.

From the prime minister to ordinary people, Japanese were shocked at a video purportedly showing one of two Japanese hostages of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group had been killed.

While the failures of the UN are often criticised, its many successes show that it should be improved through reforms not discarded, says Kofi Annan

Recent days have seen a significant increase in the global response to the Ebola crisis: China and Cuba are sending doctors, the World Bank approved a $105-million grant, and the United States pledged 3,000 troops and training for hundreds of health care workers.

Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers escaped their besieged outpost in the Golan Heights after a seven-hour gun battle with Syrian rebels, Philippine officials have said.

Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers escaped their besieged outpost in the Golan Heights after a seven-hour gunbattle with Syrian rebels, Philippine officials have said.

Pressure is mounting on Russia after it was accused of sending tanks, artillery and troops into Ukraine and Western powers said Moscow “outright lied” about its role and dangerously escalated the conflict.

The United Nations Security Council, and the five permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia, China), need to be seen to take decisive action in relation to ISIS activities in Iraq.

The United Nations Security Council yesterday called for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza as the Palestinian death toll passed 500.

Former Irish President Mary Robinson says Israel is using "disproportionate" force in Gaza.

An urgent United Nations Security Council vote could take place as early as tonight on a resolution demanding international access to the Ukraine plane crash site.

Ukraine has accused Russia of helping separatist rebels destroy evidence at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in rebel-held territory – a charge the rebels deny.

Ukraine has accused Russia of helping separatist rebels to destroy evidence after a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down with 298 people on board.