TUI Group, Europe’s largest tour operator, yesterday said it was on track to meet its profit target this year as more European holidaymakers head further west and Britons remain eager to go abroad despite the fall in sterling after the Brexit vote.

A submarine from the Egyptian oil ministry is heading to the site of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804. It will join the search for the cockpit voice-and-flight data recorders, or black boxes, the country’s president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, said.

Guy Verhofstadt says the agreement between the European Union and Turkey to deal with the refugee crisis has reduced the flow of refugees, but at what price?

Turkish police have arrested five people suspected of direct links to the suicide bombing that killed 10 Germans in Istanbul's main tourist area.

Authorities have recovered the bodies of at least 36 migrants who drowned off Turkey after their boats overturned in rough waters as they tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos, said authorities.

Russia has called on Washington to restart direct military-to-military co-operation to avert “unintended incidents” near Syria, at a time when US officials say Moscow is building up forces to protect president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Irish-managed exploration investment firm T5 Oil and Gas is believed to be still talking to UK explorer Gulf Keystone regarding a potential reverse takeover of the company.

Ryanair has put longer-haul route ambitions to the likes of Russia on hold and will focus on closer destinations like Germany to fuel short-term growth.

In 1914, Cunard was unusual in having two large steamers constructed with a loan from the British taxpayer, and in being paid an annual subsidy, against their potential use as auxiliary cruisers, writes Dr Steve Cobb

Ryanair is likely to raise a further €750m-€850m in low-cost debt financing this summer, in a bid to further bolster its already strong balance sheet.

Ryanair is to use its next big Boeing order to compete with the likes of Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways on routes from Ireland and Britain to the Gulf States and northern Africa.

TAX evaders take holidays too, and they might want to consider Northern Cyprus for their next vacation.

MORE than 650 Palestinians and 31 Israelis have died, so far, as a result of ‘Operation Protective Edge.’ For two weeks, each day’s news has brought fresh horrors: yesterday, 12-year-old Palestinian, Rabee Qasim, was killed by an Israeli shell as he led a donkey and cart through a Bedouin village.

Top diplomats have agreed to take immediate steps toward calming tensions in Ukraine, Russia’s foreign minister says.

A powerful winter storm sweeping the eastern Mediterranean this week is causing mayhem across the region and inflicting extra misery on Syrians convulsed in civil war and refugees who have fled the fighting.

President Barack Obama and French president Francois Hollande have said they are committed to a political solution in Syria even as they prepare for potential military strikes.

The French parliament will debate today whether the nation should launch strikes against Syria, though France’s president says he will wait for a decision from the US Congress on possible military action against Bashar Assad’s regime.

The United States and Israel says they are unaware of any ballistic missile launch in the eastern Mediterranean.

President Barack Obama is hoping his opponent in the 2008 presidential election will help sell the idea of US military intervention in Syria to the nation.

...In addition to resolving the child abuse, corruption and banking scandals, will you shed infallibility and extend an olive branch to Christians in the east to unite the Church once more? asks AN Wilson

Retired US General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait in 1991, has died. He was 78.

Ireland is one of the world's most inactive nations; a new global study reveals we're the seventh worst country for lack of exercise among 36 nations.

THE case for repatriation of an Egyptian mummy from its current resting place in Cork city has lost one of its most vocal supporters after he stood down as head of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities.

Warships will escort Turkish Gaza-bound aid ships in the future, Turkey’s prime minister said.

Turkey is preparing to challenge Israel’s blockade on Gaza at the International Court of Justice, turning up the tension between the once close allies.

Protesters on a boat bound for the Gaza Strip were escorted back to shore today as Greece announced it was banning vessels heading to Gaza from leaving Greek ports.

ISRAELI foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said participants in an aid flotilla planning to challenge an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip were seeking “confrontation and blood”.

Muammar Gaddafi's regime has defiantly closed Libya's airspace to all traffic while the West makes plans to enforce a no-fly zone and prevent his forces from attacking rebels.

TRAILFINDERS have again linked with Etihad Airways to feature late deals to Malaysia, but interested clients need to be fast — bookings have to be made by tomorrow.

NEW light has been throw on the archaeological importance of the north Kerry area following last year’s discovery of a brooch in a turf fire.

IVOR always gets there in the end – even if it is by the scenic route.

A TENTH of deaths in Europe and one in 25 worldwide can be attributed to drinking alcohol.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice flexed America’s muscles in the Middle East, forcefully warning Iran the US would not ignore threats and would take any action necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf.

Iran test-fired nine long and medium-range missiles today during war games that officials said were in response to US and Israeli threats, state television reported.

Iran’s president said today that he does not see the possibility of a war with the United States or Israel, dismissing military threats by the two countries as a “funny joke".