He has made bold decisions, but that’s not the same as being a good leader, as his motives have been to consolidate his own power in the US, says Scott Cowen.

The world must have the technical solutions to guarantee the credibility of countries’ promises if denuclearisation is to succeed, write Piet de Klerk and Robert Floyd.

Scratch beneath the political permafrost and the frozen vials of Russian urine, set aside a far-from-thawed Cold War, and a Winter Olympics is threatening to break out in Pyeongchang.

“JAW-JAW is always better than war-war” — a reflection on the nature of conflict attributed to both Harold McMillan and Winston Churchill.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has risked provoking the anger of US president Donald Trump after insisting he does not have the capabilities shown by previous US leaders to help resolve the Northern Ireland political stand-off.

For the small and very open Irish economy, 2017 set a positive backdrop and one that was reflected in a strong Irish growth performance, writes Jim Power

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has installed 1,000 red paper cranes outside the Norwegian Parliament before formally receiving the award.

There are increasing fears that the US be will be led — deliberately or accidentally — into a nuclear war, writes Elizabeth Drew

The meek are promised that they shall inherit the earth. That distracting, deferred consolation, though of ever more questionable value, may transpire. 

THE dispute between the country’s rail unions and Irish Rail shows no sign whatsoever of being moved towards a settlement: the unions — four of them — have started their one-day strike programmes, and warned that they are thinking about action that will close the network during the Christmas and new year holidays. And there’s talk of walk-outs hitting bus services early in the new year.

Reacting to the news, the National Bus and Rail Union has said it is "appalled" that the Transport Minister would consider going to North Korea, saying he "refuses to work towards sorting a major rail dispute".

A Government Minister wants to lead a peace mission to North Korea.

IN disavowing the hard-won 2015 Iran nuclear deal, US president Donald Trump has just made the world more dangerous for this and future generations, angering both friends and foes in the process.

The Korean Peninsula may be the most dangerous place in the world with the threat swapping between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un ratcheting up tensions in the region. Brian Keane is chairperson of Seoul Gaels GAA club which lies 35 miles from the border with North Korea. He tells Colm O’Connor about life — and gaelic games — in the Far East in these tense times

A nuclear strike would be devastating but Pyongyang’s leaders know that to fire such a weapon at the US or its allies would constitute certain national suicide, writes John Mecklin

Blackberry season is one of the few times of year when it’s clear that you can’t banish nature from the city, even though we try, writes Clodagh Finn.

A Chinese invasion of North Korea or at least a forced regime change is not as unlikely as most people might think and could help ‘Make China Great Again’, writes Bill Emmott.

A former lord mayor of Cork has launched a scathing attack on some outspoken opponents of the city boundary extension, accusing them of damaging the region’s reputation and likening some to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

IT’S almost 54 years since the world has had to consider the consequences of a nuclear confrontation in any real way. 

Catch up on this morning's headlines.

The US had claimed North Korea was showing restraint. With the weekend events, what reaction can the nuclear weapons provocateur expect? Christopher R Hill reports

From Pukguksong to ‘Gangnam Style’, what do you tell your kids when the possibility of a third world war has never loomed larger, asks Catherine Shanhan.

It’s deemed to be one of the safest places in the world if a nuclear war breaks out.

Earlier this week, Britain’s new £3bn (€3.3bn) aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth arrived in Portsmouth amid much fanfare and red-white-and-blue jingoism. The carrier is to be based there for 50 years.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have been ramping up the rhetoric in recent weeks. The crisis must reach a peaceful conclusion — and China will play a key role, writes Yoon Young-kwan.          

“We Come On The Ship They Call The Mayflower

IT would, perhaps, be too optimistic to suppose that President Donald Trump has ever perused the famous treatise on war written by the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu.

While US action is needed over the death of Otto Warmbier in North Korea, the goal must be to ensure no other student meets his fate, writes Dan DePetris.

The creed that freedom and the rule of law are inextricable has formed the backbone of democratic theory at least since the time of Cicero, writes Vittorio Bufacchi.

President Donald Trump has warned he will be ready to take action when North Korea successfully develops missiles after its latest test failed again.

IN a world looking as if might be sliding backwards toward the division and horrors of the last century rather than embracing the bright tomorrow the hopeful among us believed was secure, history’s lessons assume a new relevance.

JUST like the drunk no-one wants to drive home from the party, water charges long ago joined abortion as a subject no political party wants to be cornered on.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

After everything 2016 has thrown at us, do you really want to know what 2017 might have in store for us?

A group of elderly women travel to Amsterdam to try marijuana in A Granny’s Guide To The Modern World on Wednesday at 11pm on Channel 4.

Christopher R Hill says we may balk at the hyper-nationalism of North Korea’s regime, but nationalism is on the rise globally — just look at Donald Trump’s White House campaign

It is gratifying that our foreign minister Charlie Flanagan has condemned North Korea for launching a satellite-carrying rocket into space.