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

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

Audrey's been sorting out Cork people for ages...

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 US feared the Russians could be plotting an undercover Cold War spy base in a disused Cork dockyard, newly declassified government documents suggest.

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

Joe Schmidt chose his words carefully but he was clearly fuming about the fact that Ireland were playing rugby today while others got to take the weekend off.

This isn’t the team that Joe Schmidt envisaged naming against Samoa.

Robbie Henshaw will belatedly begin his 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign against Samoa on Saturday after Ireland named a team close to full strength in their bid to qualify for the quarter-finals.

While it is 16 years since Simon Easterby went toe to toe with Samoa, Ireland’s forwards coach knows the threats they will bring this Saturday are familiar weapons in the armoury of the Pacific Islanders.

Andy Farrell would have happily sacrificed a heavier deficit in the points difference column in exchange for a victory over Japan but if Ireland can return to form this Saturday it will have meant the lessons of that shock defeat have been learned.

Ireland managed to end up on the wrong side of the penalty count in both the win over Scotland (7-6) and loss to Japan (9-6). That is atypical for a team that takes great stock in its accuracy and discipline.

Audrey's been sorting out Cork people for ages.

Brian O’Driscoll fears Ireland will struggle to regain World Cup momentum after defeat by Japan and an error-strewn win over Russia.

Former Irish Rugby head coach Eddie O’Sullivan delivered a scathing appraisal of Ireland’s performance in today’s Pool A clash with Russia, saying the match was “like watching paint dry”.

The rain came and it was good. Gone was the suffocating humidity that had tortured every pore inside the enclosed Kobe Misaki Stadium for the first two World Cup games here.

For all the travails of last weekend’s calamitous defeat by Japan, Joe Schmidt’s belief in his players and their potential to deliver the best World Cup return in Ireland’s rugby history remains steadfast.

Connacht full-back Tiernan O’Halloran said they were shocked how unfit Russia were when they played them in Moscow in their final World Cup warm-up match.

There is no talk of winning or losing in the Irish or the Russian camps this week. Nobody doubts which way the result will fall when they meet in Kobe tomorrow. This game will be about so much more than the numbers beside each nation’s name at the final whistle.

Irish Examiner rugby writers Brendan O'Brien and Simon Lewis pick the bones out of Ireland's World Cup meeting with Japan. And we hear from CJ Stander on Ireland's options and stadium humidity.

In Joe we trust.

Ireland won’t make any knee-jerk decisions following their shock World Cup defeat to Japan as the camp looks to quickly get their Pool A campaign back on track following the mother of all rugby upsets.

Sport Ireland CEO John Treacy has called on Russia to be banned from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo if they are found to have manipulated data released to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

If an average Six Nations fixture takes place on the day of the apocalypse, a Rugby World Cup is a declaration of war.

The Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War 2 crashed into targets, but the modern use of suicide-bombing began when a boy of 13 sacrificed himself during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, says Frank MacGabhann.

Croke Park isn’t supposed to be a bundle of fun when three-quarters of the place lies out of bounds and the crowd can be corralled into a few sections of the Lower Hogan Stand.

Despite talk of missions to Mars and a renewed interest in returning to the moon, nothing can match the awesome feat of that first lunar landing 50 years ago today, writes Dan Buckley.

They have continued to bomb, kill, and maim, even as they have met with the Afghan government to discuss an end to violence, says Shashi Tharoor.

Leafing through a tome for 3.5 hours a week can add almost two years to your life, researchers have found. Margaret Jennings talks to people aged over 50 about their reading habits Reading by the book to expand your lifespan.

*Spoiler alert*

When Russia’s fourth-term dictator President Vladimir Putin poured his particularly chilling scorn on the idea of liberalism last week his demeanour, his stone-cold certainty suggested he is not a man to tolerate opposition.

Most Poles do not find revelations of wrongdoing by the populists all that shocking — because of propaganda and a strong economy, writes Slawomir Sierakowski

Brexit has put massive strain on Irish-UK relations but could a tiny islet be the rock on which they perish? Caroline O'Doherty looks at the background to the Rockall dispute.

Izz Alkarajeh emerged from direct provision to open one of Cork’s most exciting new restaurants – Izz Cafe. Joe McNamee on our new migrant chefs, their respective cuisines and the impact on our native dishes

Propaganda played a central role in the last cold war. Americans were shown in a warm family setting, watching TV , enjoying a Coke.

A court in Montenegro has sentenced 13 people, including two Russians, to up to 15 years in prison after they were convicted of plotting to overthrow the country's government and prevent it from joining Nato.

The May 24 referendum to remove the waiting period for divorce from the Constitution and allow the Oireachtas to legislate will not result in ‘quickie divorces’, argues Josepha Madigan.

US attorney general William Barr’s conclusion that President Donald Trump did not obstruct justice, revealed publicly on Sunday in a letter to lawmakers, reflects inherent difficulties in proving such an obstruction case, legal experts said.

Wrapping up the 22-month investigation, Mr Mueller's report found no evidence that US President Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Russian officials to influence the 2016 election.

Keira Knightley tells Gemma Humphreys about her latest role in a little-known tale of post-war civilian life in Germany.

The Aftermath sees Keira Knightley star as Rachael Morgan, the wife of a British colonel living in 1946 post-war Germany.

Delegates at last week’s Oxford Farming Conference said they would vote 60% in favour of remaining in the EU, if there was a second Brexit referendum. However, the Theresa May exit deal would be favoured by 30%, while 10% would opt for “leave with no deal”.

George H.W. Bush was the last person elected president of the United States with any prior foreign policy experience.