Patients no longer have to wait for life-saving blood transfusions until they get to a hospital.

Ireland’s wild honey bees are defying the odds, and experts want to know why.

The Royal Horticultural Society’s annual flagship event, the Chelsea Flower Show kicked off on Tuesday morning. Widely regarded as the top flower and garden show in the world a medal at this festival which runs this week at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea can send a career to that of a superstar in the Horticultural world.

Travel giant TUI said its first-half losses deepened due to airline overcapacity for Spain and the grounding of its 15 Boeing 737 Max planes, two issues that could plague the Anglo-German tour operator over the rest of the year.

The first sporting challenge was to get into the wetsuit. This was made more difficult by the fact the small parking area was full of people talking and laughing and walking around.

Shares and bonds in Thomas Cook have rallied since a media report said the British travel company was approached by several parties about a possible takeover of its tour-operating unit or the entire business.

France will propose a new “growth contract” with its eurozone partners to encourage northern European countries to invest more and for southern countries to undertake further reforms, its finance minister said.

EU funding of nearly €1 million has gone into a research project in Italy which has resulted in a new double-wheel rake that reduces dust contamination of forage.

Holiday and airline group Thomas Cook’s shares climbed up to 45% on hopes that it would not need to issue new equity, although its bond prices extended their losses to record lows, amid deepening worries about the UK travel group’s debt.

Ornamental grasses can bring great winter colour and interest to the garden, writes Peter Dowdall.

Swapping homes can be an affordable way of holidaying in your dream location, writes Carol O’Callaghan.

Irish heather honey makers could make a sweeter return on their produce as a result of research showing that it has the same health benefits as one of the most expensive types.

It is a pity that Pope Francis' radical message is drowned out by repeating ad nauseam the mantra, “clerical sex abuse”, suggests Victoria White

It’s a long hard summer for pig farmers.

The owner of the Clayton and Maldron hotel chains has said it is hopeful of becoming the operator of a new 211-bedroom hotel due to be built on the site of the former Jury’s Hotel in Ballsbridge in Dublin.

Cork, Waterford, and Dublin will be among the worst-hit cities when Europe endures more heatwaves, deepening drought, and frequent river floods later this century, if global temperatures continue to rise.

The Taoiseach says one of his biggest regrets is not studying abroad.

Hard investment is needed to equip Ireland for the future, writes Tom Healy.

Geoff Power visits the North Yorkshire landscape that inspired the Bronte sisters and Bram Stoker, and visits the medieval town of York, a haven for anyone with a sweet tooth. 

British authorities are to begin testing eggs for any traces of a banned insecticide which has caused a food scare in the Netherlands.

A relentless heatwave dubbed "Lucifer" which gripped parts of Europe this week has sent temperatures soaring to record highs, causing at least two deaths and prompting authorities to issue severe weather warnings.

Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz has urged his Italian counterpart not to allow migrants arriving by boat to Italy's islands to travel on to the mainland, declaring that "being saved in the Mediterranean cannot be connected with a ticket to Central Europe".

A rising number of attacks against government sites and industrial control systems shows the need for ever-greater vigilance by national authorities, writes Peter Apps

Irish ports will have their busiest ever cruise ship season in 2017 with over 300 vessels scheduled to visit ports and harbours around the country, writes John Daly.

Around 400 people have marched in Minsk to mark the anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, and protest against the construction of a nuclear plant in Belarus.

Heavy snowfall and below-freezing temperatures have continued to sweep the European continent, causing more than a dozen deaths, grounding planes and crippling ferries in Italy and Turkey.

Ireland has become one of the “main beneficiaries” of terrorist attacks across Europe because tourists see it as a safe place to visit, a major tourism group has claimed.

Enterprise Ireland has launched an initiative aimed at broadening Irish companies’ range of export markets ahead of Britain’s formal exit from the EU.

On an overcast Kilkenny afternoon about this time last year a seemingly bog standard two-year old maiden race was run at Gowran Park. Of the sixteen starters, most were unexposed types and although they represented many of our high profile training operations it didn’t quite feel like one of those golden maidens that hid unrevealed secrets for a sparkling future. Looks can sometimes deceive.

Fat purple buddleia burgeoning on the hedges and waste ground, and no butterflies. I found a dead beauty on the floor of a shower unit in a room we rarely use; it was a small tortoiseshell in the vivid colours of a Persian carpet fresh from the loom.

Marketers will have to catch ‘em quick if they want to capitalise on the Pokémon Go craze.

 

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.

I HAVE always admired the delicate carvings of a butter stamp and remember my grandmother showing me one when I was very young. 

Ireland has received just one family and blamed ‘low take up’ on refugees who had not wished to complete the first step of applying for asylum, writes Victoria White.

NUI Galway and the Native Irish Honey Bee Society are working to breed a bee strain tolerant to the Varroa Destructor parasite.

One of the world's most wanted people-smugglers has been arrested.

Ireland will, today, sign up to an international pact to foster cross-border co-operation in the development of an offshore renewable energy sector in northern Europe.