The US monitors everyone, apart from Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, so this exception for a militarily ambition nation is a ‘dereliction of duty’, writes Aram Roston

Oil prices rebounded slightly from big falls in recent sessions, but Brent crude remained near seven-month lows around $60 a barrel due to escalating trade tensions between China and the US.

The price of Brent crude jumped 2% to over $63.20 a barrel and any further escalation could send prices higher.

Floodwaters have swamped streets in New Orleans' French Quarter and prompted a tornado warning in the area amid concerns that even worse weather is on the way to Louisiana and other states along the Gulf of Mexico.

Whether four oil tankers in the Gulf were attacked by Iran or whether the incident was orchestrated by the US, both should desist for the sake of peace, says John Andrews.

Former UEFA president Michel Platini has been detained for questioning by French police over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

After years of turmoil for Fifa, Gianni Infantino is this week getting a fresh four-year presidential term to lead world football in relative calm.

Tommy Barker on local property values.

Police in Yemen have detained at least 5,000 migrants over the last 10 days who were attempting to cross to Saudi Arabia.

This week’s story about a British man who was arrested in the UAE after wearing a Qatari football shirt might give some people ideas, writes Tommy Martin.

European shares fell, with building and construction stocks and airline shares such as CRH, Kingspan, and Ryanair among the sufferers, as tensions between the US and Russia rose over Syria.

QF9 was the call sign used by the Australian airline Qantas earlier this week for the first non-stop flight between Perth and London.

It’s quite a state of affairs when Real Madrid wield the sword of righteous justice in any particular contest. This is, after all, the club of General Franco’s favour, shady training ground construction deals, and gaudy Galactico excess, writes Tommy Martin.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have long lured foreign workers with the promise of a tax-free lifestyle, plan to impose a 5% tax next year on most goods and services to boost revenue after oil prices collapsed three years ago.

French president Emmanuel Macron is using instability in the Middle East to cast himself in the role of honest broker and position France as Europe’s top player, says Maysam Behravesh.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has revoked his resignation following a consensus deal reached with rival political parties, marking an end to one of the most bizarre interludes in Lebanese politics.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cautioned countries in the Middle East against using Lebanon as "a venue for proxy conflicts".

BAE Systems will eliminate almost 2,000 jobs as it struggles to secure new orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon warplane and slims down its naval ships and cyber-security businesses.

The Qatari authorities are still not doing enough to protect migrant workers from the country's extreme heat and humidity, even those working on World Cup stadiums, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Last week, the US Department of Transport gave approval to low cost airline Norwegian Air Shuttle to operate freely between the UK and the US, writes Joe Gill.

Oil prices rose yesterday as strong global refining margins and the reopening of US Gulf Coast refineries provided a more bullish outlook after sharp drops due to Hurricane Harvey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to never evacuate Jewish settlements from occupied land has drawn outrage from Palestinians.

Hurricane Harvey, the fiercest cyclone to hit the US in more than a decade, has slammed into Texas, lashing a wide swathe of the Gulf Coast with strong winds and torrential rain.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said a US navy aircraft carrier fired a warning shot in an "unprofessional" confrontation with Iranian vessels, the official IRNA news agency has reported.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Qatar and the four other Arab countries opposing it to negotiate an end to the crisis dividing them as he wrapped up a two-day Gulf tour.

Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup looks set to become mired in fresh controversy after the leaking of a secret FIFA report into the 2010 bidding contests.

Qatar Airways’ plan to launch its first Irish route will go ahead on schedule and will be unaffected by four of Qatar’s Arab neighbours cutting diplomatic ties with the country.

Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, has posted its first decline in annual profit for five years as the low oil price weighed on Persian Gulf economies and terrorist attacks discouraged people from traveling.

Etihad accelerated its strategic reset by naming an interim chief executive to take the reins from James Hogan, the architect of the carrier’s costly bets on ailing Alitalia and Air Berlin.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has apologised to the Saudi government after an activist tried to carry out a citizen's arrest of one of the Gulf state's generals.

Twins whose bodies were found at the White Cliffs of Dover in England on New Year's Day had rucksacks containing the ashes of their dead parents, an inquest heard.

The uncertainty of administrational transition is greater in the Trump era and while it is not time to hit the bunker just yet, it wouldn’t hurt to have one nearby, writes Carl Bildt

The Bank of England governor Mark Carney gave an illuminating speech in Liverpool last week.

Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan has pledged to underline the country's commitment to the European Union during a visit to the Middle East.

Climate negotiators have started work on implementing the Paris Agreement on global warming amid uncertainty over how the US election will impact the landmark deal as temperatures and greenhouse gases soar to new heights.

The value of exports from Enterprise Ireland-supported firms has almost doubled in the past decade having broken through the €20bn mark for the first time last year.

Irish exporters are being urged to keep diversifying their business regardless of the outcome of the EU referendum.

Dubai, the emirate that teetered on the brink of default during the global recession, is bucking the economic slowdown afflicting most of its oil-rich Gulf neighbours, according to the IMF.

WE CAN relax at last and know that spring is really here because Ellen Kent Opera arrives in Cork today with two spectacular performances at Cork Opera House — Die Fledermaus tonight, and Carmen tomorrow.

Ireland’s trade surplus could be even bigger this year than the record surplus recorded in 2015, despite a number of headwinds affecting Irish exporters.