Many believe money would be better spent elsewhere but even non-believers should be able to appreciate the value of a place of solace in a bewildering world, writes Stephen L Carter

A man arrested over fires at three black churches in Louisiana is the son of a sheriff's deputy.

Last week in this paper, Paul Rouse analysed the GAA’s ticket price increase with his customary skill. Offering a wider context to those price increases was his trump card, because it deployed one of the GAA’s strongest core beliefs against itself: that it is a game, or games, of the people, writes Michael Moynihan.

Sandra Bullock plays a mother fighting for survival in the thriller Bird Box. She explains why we need to change the way mothers are shown in cinema.

By referring to Saudi Arabia as an innocent party, the US president has made clear that he is prioritising the nation’s economy, not its morality, says Zeke Miller.

Quiet Lights Festival: Griffith College, Cork

With Paul Ryan retiring as House speaker, the race is on to assuage Trump and secure his support. One key powerbroker is targeting the Mueller probe, writes Bette Browne.

Evidence of multiple illegal adoptions — with at least one child sold to the US from the Tuam mother and baby home — was uncovered by the HSE as early as 2012.

Behold, Stormy Daniels is risen! From behind an unsigned — therefore legally invalid — non-disclosure agreement, the porn star walks amongst men, making the orangest one squirm and quake in his handmade shoes.

A teacher who spoke out about teacher pay at a school board meeting in the US was handcuffed by a law officer as she screamed on the floor while the officer tried to gain control of her in a brief struggle.

A brutal winter storm has dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain up the south-east seaboard of the United States, delivering snowy conditions some cities had not seen in decades.

Mary J Blige is feeling the cold. It is a sunny autumn day in London but the air conditioning in her hotel room is turned up high, writes Laura Harding. 

Hurricane Nate is now expected to be a Category 2 hurricane when it makes landfall on the US central Gulf Coast in the coming hours.

At least 22 people have died in Central America as Tropical Storm Nate dumped heavy rain across the region.

US President Donald Trump highlighted Puerto Rico's relatively low death toll compared with "a real catastrophe like Katrina" as he saw for himself the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria.

Donald Trump came face to face with hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico today after denouncing critics of the federal relief effort as "politically motivated ingrates" who need to step up their own response to the crisis.

Ripples in space-time generated by the cataclysmic collision of two black holes nearly two billion years ago have been captured by super-sensitive detectors in the US and Italy.

A copy of an Adolf Hitler speech has been found at the home of a 23-year-old white suspect accused of killing two black men and firing on a family, in a string of attacks that police say may have been racially motivated.

The killings of two black men in the US state of Louisiana last week were probably racially motivated, police said, and a 23-year-old white man is in custody.

President Donald Trump is heading to Florida to survey the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

Energy companies led US stocks to modest gains on Wednesday as the market recouped some of its hefty losses from the day before.

Two more people have been confirmed dead in Texas in the wake of Storm Harvey, bringing the number of known fatalities to 44, eight days after it made landfall as a hurricane.

US President Donald Trump has arrived in Houston on his second trip to storm-ravaged Texas in the past week.

The US Navy have rescued 14 people at an elementary school in Texas after floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey threatened to immerse their shelter.

Rescuers are continuing to search waterlogged neighbourhoods in Houston, Texas, as officials turn their attention to finding temporary housing for those in shelters in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Rescuers have begun a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of Houston homes looking for anyone - alive or dead - who might have been left behind in Harvey's floodwaters.

US stocks climbed on Wednesday as investors cheered a report of stronger economic growth. Technology companies, retailers and travel providers all made solid gains.

What we need in the wake of last week’s floods is for awareness of the climate challenge to be inherent in every Government decision, writes Victoria White.

The flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey are beginning to drop across much of the Houston area, emergency officials said.

The National Hurricane Centre says Harvey is back on land after coming ashore early today just west of Cameron, Louisiana.

A curfew has been imposed in Houston where more than 13,000 people have been rescued after a catastrophic storm that is now the heaviest tropical downpour in US history.

US president Donald Trump dug in defiantly in his response to racial violence in Virginia, echoing the position of white nationalists by intensifying his opposition to the removal of monuments to the pro-slavery Civil War Confederacy.

Priests who fail to tell police about suspected child sexual abuse should face criminal charges, even if they learn of abuse during a confidential religious confession, Australia's most powerful investigative authority has recommended.

A blind disability rights campaigner has endorsed an east Cork heritage attraction as “the most recommendable museum for visually impaired people” he ever visited.

US politician Steve Scalise has been readmitted to the intensive care unit in the hospital where he is being treated for a gunshot wound he suffered on a baseball field.

Imprisoned former American football star OJ Simpson has a July 20 parole hearing that could have him released from a Nevada prison on October 1, a state parole official said.

Republican congressman Steve Scalise is "in some trouble" after being shot at a baseball field but "he's going to be okay, we hope", Donald Trump said.

At least 14 people have been killed in severe storms rolling across the US.

Latest: At least 10 people have been killed in severe storms rolling across the US.

Here's your morning bulletin.

Google Play Music today launched its debut original podcast on the music streaming service, as revealed by Google in a trailer for the new offering.

At least three tornadoes have touched down in southern Louisiana, ripping houses from their foundations, downing electricity lines and leaving 10,000 homes without power.

At least 20 people have died after violent storms and tornadoes tore through south-eastern US states.