Medicinal cannabis campaigner, Vera Twomey, who secured a licence for the medication for her ill daughter Ava has cautiously welcomed the signing in to law of the access programme.

Whatever the shape of the next European Parliament and whatever the final outcome of Brexit, it is vital to Irish interests that we maintain and foster good relations with as many of our friends and neighbours as possible, in particular smaller nations that, by virtue of their limited scale, tend to have similar problems to us.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said An Garda Síochána will “absolutely” help Europol, the EU police agency, in setting up a specialist unit to target the finances of European crime bosses.

Denis Harrington (42), formerly of Ballyspillane, Killlarney, Co Kerry is wanted in the Netherlands for seven alleged offences of fraud or attempted fraud between 2014 and 2015 whereby “several, mainly senior, people were approached by a group of Irish Travellers".

Russian officials say a purported chemical attack in Syria was a fabrication staged by British intelligence agencies to pave the way for allied strikes.

In its search for a new post-Brexit friendly EU neighbour, Ireland could do worse than look to the Netherlands, with both having much in common in a changing EU, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

A former general who died after taking what he said was poison at a UN war crimes court has been cremated, according to Croatia's state television.

A former Bosnian Croat general died in a Dutch hospital today shortly after drinking a liquid in a courtroom where judges had just confirmed his 20-year sentence for war crimes.

Crusading mum Vera Twomey hopes to bring her daughter, Ava, home from the Hague within days after the health minister granted a licence for medicinal cannabis.

The growing drug trade on the dark net is very difficult to disrupt and national police need to set up specialist investigation teams, according to an EU report.

IF the misogyny, the bigotry, the homophobia, the racism, the bullying, the hatred, the dangerous ignorance, the xenophobic nationalism and irrational hostility that make up far too much of today’s online commentary were expressed in the columns of this or any other newspaper lawyers would demand and get the kind of damages that would put the survival of any traditional media platform in jeopardy.

Gardaí say the Kinahan crime cartel is “running out of people to do their work” after an international operation resulted in 13 arrests in Ireland and the Netherlands and the seizure of an estimated €10m worth of drugs.

As Jeroen Dijsselbloem’s turbulent reign over eurozone’s finance ministers’ meetings comes to an end, horse-trading for his succession between the bloc’s countries and political groups is about to heat up.

Ireland were celebrating on the double at the 19th European Senior Racquetball Championships in the Hague today.

Former minister Phil Hogan has refused to apologise for his criticism of Irish Water opponents and has said he is very proud of what the utility has achieved.

Here's your morning news bulletin.

Russia has been told it must choose between aligning itself with the US and like-minded countries or embracing Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran and militant group Hezbollah.

Europol has warned that the so-called ’Islamic State’ group could launch fresh attacks in Europe in the near future with police forces across the continent investigating more than 50 terrorism cases.

The International Criminal Court embodied the hope of bringing warlords and demagogues to

China has said it is closing off part of the South China Sea for military exercises this week.

 

Royal Dutch Shell, which is on the brink of completing the oil industry’s largest deal in a decade, said fourth-quarter profit fell 44%, after the rout in crude prices deepened.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Former UCC President Gerry Wrixon welcomes the Cork Local Government Review

Dutch police conducted mass arrests, detaining about 200 people for ignoring a ban on public assembly in a neighbourhood hit by late-night rioting after the death of a man in police custody.

UN investigators said Israel and Palestinian militant groups abused international humanitarian law during the 2014 Gaza conflict, and this may be tantamount to war crimes.

The kidnapping, brutal murder and burial of Jean McConville for 31 years in an unmarked grave by the provisional IRA is a "war crime" that should be investigated in the Hague.

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill.

More than 100 arrests have been carried out by gardaí as part of an "unprecedented" operation across Europe aimed at organised crime networks.

Ireland’s plan to save up to €375m in interest repayments to the IMF is getting an encouraging response from EU institutions, but the deal has not been secured yet, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has warned.

Children of IRA murder victim Jean McConville have vowed to continue fighting for justice as they gathered to mark what would have been her 80th birthday.

Nearly 28 years ago, the Chernobyl disaster struck Ukraine. With the prospect of a Russian invasion looming, all sides should beware of atomic warfare, says Bennett Ramberg

US President Barack Obama and Western allies moved to indefinitely cut Moscow out of a major international coalition today, including cancelling an economic summit Russian President Vladimir Putin was to host this summer.

Every few decades, almost unfathomable savagery breaks out in some part of the world and reminds us all of the darkness that lurks, and will probably lurk forever, at the heart of humanity.

THE year 2013 saw the Japanese economy turn the corner on two decades of stagnation.

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has rejected a request from the United States for the tiny impoverished Balkan nation to host the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.

Israeli warplanes attacked a shipment of Russian missiles inside a Syrian government stronghold, officials said yesterday.

Syria has completed destruction of critical equipment for producing chemical weapons and filling munitions with poison gas, an official at the global chemical weapons watchdog said today.

Roads to Berlin

Inmates in North Korea’s prison camps have suffered starvation, torture and other “unspeakable atrocities”, UN human rights investigators said in their first report on violations in the reclusive state.

I refer to your article on adoption, Minister’s adoption remarks ‘worrying’ (Sept 5). I am the parent of a foreign-adopted child. Since Ireland introduced new adoption laws in 2010, foreign adoptions have more or less ceased.

Remarks by Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald that the Adoption Act is “restrictive” and may be re-examined to allow Irish couples to adopt more easily from a wider range of countries, have been labelled as “worrying”.