More strong results from Irish sailors at home and abroad this week point to 2018 becoming one of the best seasons in years.

It will be dry and sunny again today but temperatures will start dropping slightly after reaching a high of 32ºC on Thursday.

The public has been warned to brace for an “exceptional” snow event from tomorrow afternoon that will ravage the country for a number of days and bring with it 110km gale force winds and thunderstorms.

The ‘Beast from the East’ Siberian snow storm set to grip Ireland from tonight could cause as much havoc as the historic 1982 freeze that brought the country to a standstill.

Kya deLongchamps takes a look at two iconic collectable potteries from Cornwall

Spain’s Jon Rahm produced one of the greatest final-round performances in the history of the Irish Open to take another giant step towards the pantheon of golfing greats.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) scrambled jets from two of its airbases to "monitor" two Russian bomber planes that had flown close to British and Irish airspace.

German airmen who crashed in Ireland during the Second World War and survived were interned here, becoming objects of great curiosity among local people who encountered them, as Ryle Dwyer discovers.     

Last Sunday in a little French fishing village called Les Sables D’Olonne a race began which many people say is the most difficult sporting challenge left in the world today, writes Stewart Hosford.

Your letters, your views...

New Zealand has no native land mammals, apart from a few bats. 

They give the impression of having it all — the world’s most charismatic player, match-winners all over the pitch, and an Irish skills coach better versed than anyone else in the art of conquering Europe.

Exports of poultry meat from the Netherlands has been banned for at least three days as the variation of avian flu found in chickens was confirmed as one that can infect humans.

Ireland is recalculating its claim to potentially oil and gas-rich Atlantic waters — right down to the very last centimetre.

There are five species of tern here, while Rockabill Island represent 80% of the roseate tern’s European numbers. It’s a conservation success story, says Dan MacCarthy

ARECENT newspaper headline announced: “As great white shark Lydia closes in on UK, Brits brace for bloody mayhem on holiday beaches.” The “man-eater” with “razor-sharp teeth” will soon arrive here, we were told. She was “on course for Ireland”.

DID three months of fierce winter storms affect our wildlife? Millions of trees were felled and swathes of farmland inundated.

Fourteen dead cows that washed up on the beaches of Denmark and Sweden were probably dumped overboard by the crew of a Lebanese ship after it encountered bad weather, Danish police said.

I refer to the interesting article by Richard Fitzpatrick (Lifestyle, Dec 27) commemorating the 70th anniversary of the MV Kerlogue rescue of 168 Germans in the Bay of Biscay in 1943 in the aftermath of one of many naval battles fought during WW II.

In 1943, the MV Kerlogue, carrying a cargo of oranges, defied the barbarity of war and risked being attacked to rescue 168 German survivors of a naval battle in Bay of Biscay, says Richard Fitzpatrick.

Jonathan Sexton has got an early taste of the idiosyncrasies of Racing Metro president Jacky Lorenzetti with the Paris club moving their first home match of the season 500km away to the seaside — because most of their supporters will be on holiday.

The waters around Ireland and Britain are among the most dangerous in terms of shipping accidents, says conservation group, WWF.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of sinking of Irish Oak. Historian Ryle Dwyer looks at the bad luck and controversy associated with that ill-fated ship

Neutral Shores: Ireland and the Battle of the Atlantic

Got an appetite for a holiday?Ahead of the Irish Examiner Food Festival, Pól Ó Conghaile has the perfect menu — a selection of 10 great gourmet breaks at home and overseas

IT is said “God made the world but the Dutch made Holland”.

Temperatures are finally set to soar this weekend.

A REPORT into the sinking of the sail training vessel, Asgard II, off the coast of France two years ago has concluded that it was probably struck by an underwater object.

A FEW decades ago, whale sightings were rare events.

IN An Enemy of the People, a village doctor discovers that the waters of the health spa are contaminated.

A VIOLENT storm with fierce rain and hurricane- force winds battered France, Spain and Portugal yesterday, leaving at least 45 people dead.

A ransom demand has been made for a freighter which disappeared more than two weeks ago, Finnish investigators said today.

The missing cargo ship which reportedly sailed through the English Channel after it had been boarded by pirates, will only have enough fuel to last a few more days at sea, a maritime expert said today.

RUSSIAN navy vessels were patrolling the Atlantic yesterday in search of a Maltese-flagged ship that has been missing for more than two weeks since sailing through the English Channel.

The Asgard II will not be raised from the seabed off France because the operation will not be cost-effective, the Defence Minister confirmed today.

WHY is the process of raising Asgard II from the bed of the Bay of Biscay so painfully slow?

The Government considered sinking the historic Asgard yacht at sea after buying it as an icon of the State’s foundation, official files reveal.

THE Asgard II might not sail again but another historic training yacht is getting a new lease of life that will see her back on the ocean waves next year.

The waters around these islands are warming and that is having an impact on some seabird populations. Richard Collins looks at the long-term consequences.