Three fin whales, each bigger than the Courtmacsherry whale-watch boat, were spotted off the Old Head of Kinsale last week.

Kya deLongchamps celebrates 30 years of romance on ice at the world’s original ice hotel in Swedish Lapland.

The scientists discovered it by accident: An enzyme that eats plastic. Imagine discovering something that incredible by accident? I’ve never discovered anything by accident. At least not by myself.

The wreckage of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which was sunk by the Japanese in a crucial Second World War sea battle, has been discovered by an expedition funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Ireland 28 Argentina 19: Another Guinness Series in the books, a handful of new Ireland caps and three satisfying if not perfect victories for Joe Schmidt to ponder before he gets his players back to build for the 2018 Six Nations.

Donald Trump has said North Korea is "a threat to the civilised world" and vowed that the US "will not stand" for Pyongyang menacing America or its allies.

Nissan's executive vice president has expressed his remorse for widespread illegal inspections at the Japanese car giant.

Nissan's executive vice president has expressed his remorse for widespread illegal inspections at the Japanese car giant.

Three days’ rest and recuperation now and then it’s the French, writes Brendan O'Brien.

Three days’ rest and recuperation now and then it’s the French.

This may have been Ireland’s biggest win over the USA in 13 years and the fourth largest in history, but coach Joe Schmidt knows it is difficult to assess the impact of so many young players against a side operating at a notch or two below them.

Truth is really stranger than fiction in the life of Dr Aidan MacCarthy and Bob Jackson’s account, while scrupulous on detail, doesn’t get bogged down with it, writes Eoghan O’Sullivan.

Author Bob Jackson tells Eoghan O’Sullivan how he was blown away by the amazing survival story of West Cork doctor Aidan MacCarthy in the Second World War

Spacewalking astronauts have installed a new door for visitors at the International Space Station, the crucial first step in welcoming commercial crew capsules as soon as next year.

Pay for the top managers at Dublin-based aircraft leasing firm SMBC Aviation Capital has more than doubled to $28.8m (€25.5m) this year.

Security officials were searching for clues and criminal masterminds who might have set in motion the bloody hostage crisis that left 28 dead, including six attackers and 20 of the hostages, in the diplomatic zone of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Latest: It has now been confirmed that 20 hostages have been killed during a siege in a cafe in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

All in all, it’s been the best opening week we could have asked for. Certainly, as Rugby World Cups go. 

It’s easy to muster compassion for people fleeing wars, but Europe also needs an influx of workers to counteract its falling birth rates, says Ian Buruma 

Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, which killed 70,000. Geoffrey Roberts looks at how and why we ushered in the age of the megaton bomb.

Niki MacCarthy’s quest to discover why her father returned from war with a Japanese sword uncovered a story so incredible, it’s been made into a film, writes John Meagher.

During the War of Independence, Tom Barry knew a Major Percival, based in Bandon.

As the Impac shortlist is announced, Alan O’Riordan rounds up the candidates for the €100,000 prize, the most lucrative in literature

MISAO OKWAW, the world’s oldest woman was 117 yesterday. The Japanese lady confirms the findings of a 2011 analysis published in The Lancet which attributed Japanese longevity to a number of factors, including diet, social equality and public health measures.

“What has my child done wrong?...There’s no more time.”

Japan’s deputy foreign minister has expressed hope that his fellow countryman and a Jordanian pilot held by Islamic militants will return home “with a smile on their faces” as criticisms mounted over the government’s handling of the crisis.

The deadline for paying ransom for two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State group (IS) was fast approaching early today with no signs of a breakthrough.

It’s a needle-in-a-haystack documentary — with a twist — about a Corkman who survived the Nagasaki nuclear blast and ended up with a Samurai sword given to him by a Japanese officer.

Normal service was resumed as feuding Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished one-two come the culmination of practice on Friday for the Italian Grand Prix.

After the execution of James Foley, the old framework in which reporters are generally tolerated may be coming to an end, writes Jack Shafer.

Who gets the most holidays worldwide? With 34 days leave, it’s time to move to Germany or Spain, says Conor Power.

Japan is to lift some of its sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s decision to create a committee to investigate the fate of at least a dozen Japanese who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

Steve McQueen charts the harrowing true story of a free man sold into slavery in Oscar-tipped drama ‘12 Years A Slave’; a 40-something slacker (Vince Vaughn) discovers he has fathered 533 children in ‘Delivery Man’ and Colin Firth plays an emotionally damaged husband in ‘The Railway Man’.

Last Sunday, St Martin’s Eve, was also the 238th birthday of the US Marine Corps, a naval infantry whose ranks have included many Irish.

A family’s quest to solve a Second World War mystery of why a Japanese officer presented a samurai word to an Irish doctor after a nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki could be solved in the next few days.

US soldier Bradley Manning, charged with passing US government secrets to WikiLeaks, is about to learn his fate.

IN 2009, US president Barack Obama pledged to seek a world without nuclear weapons.

ON Feb 18, five sperm whales were seen feeding off the northwest coast of Scotland.