Michael Murphy enjoys a grand Russian adventure filled with opulence, culture and history

Galway middleweight Gabriel Dossen insists he’s still not the finished product despite eliminating a defending champion at the National Elite Championships at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

“A few million years,” is how long it would take to see the same combination of images in his work 77 Million Paintings, Brian Eno once said. The couches provided in the large upper gallery at the RHA, where the work has been installed, are comfortable enough for a durational experience, though perhaps not that durational.

At school, there was nothing quite like fight day, writes Tommy Martin.

It may be meaningless to many, but the unloved third-place play-off match can produce significant ramifications.

And then there was one. Well, two actually, but the World Cup third-place play-off is definitely one of those nominally competitive fixtures which presents a fairly robust challenge to my old friend Declan Lynch’s wise maxim that there’s never a good reason not to watch a football match.

Chris Hatherall looks ahead to today’s World Cup action as eight teams go into Day 13 looking to finish the group stage on a high.

After the painful 3-0 defeat by Croatia on Thursday night, the Argentina inquest has been long and loud.

Why is it always about him?

Neymar needs at least five matches to return to top form after a long injury layoff, but Brazil have not asked their talismanic forward to gamble on his fitness just to be improve their chances at the World Cup, coach Tite said yesterday.

Brazil, already anxious and nervous after drawing their opening game against Switzerland, were given an almighty scare yesterday when Neymar limped off the training field with an ankle injury.

Egypt boss Hector Cuper has kept Russia guessing over whether or not he will be able to unleash “one of the best players in the world” on them in St Petersburg tonight.

Germany weren’t just shocked by Mexico on Sunday, they were just pipped by Galway too. And Roscommon.

England’s players have been warned about the “truly devastating consequences” of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) given its prevalence in the area around their World Cup base.

Ashley Young admits he cannot predict how he would react to racist abuse at this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

The owners of Rocinante, a 17m long ketch, asking price €50,000, are a rum crew, with a story behind them, writes Damien Enright.

Russia has accused Britain of deliberate concealing evidence in the escalating war of words over the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Nikolas Cruz, the suspect in the fatal shooting of 17 people at a Florida school.

Protesters gathered across Russia to support opposition leader Alexei Navalny's call to boycott the March presidential election, and Mr Navalny himself was arrested while walking to the Moscow demonstration.

A probe has been launched into a cyber attack against a Lithuanian TV station.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of setting off an explosion at a supermarket in St Petersburg earlier this week, Russia’s main domestic security agency said.

An explosion at a supermarket in Russia's second largest city was a terrorist attack, President Vladimir Putin has said.

Hundreds of supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have endorsed him for the presidency and prepared to file his nomination with election officials, putting pressure on the Kremlin to allow him to run.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called his US counterpart Donald Trump to thank him for a CIA tip-off that helped thwart a series of bombings in St Petersburg.

It looks like the end of the line for the man who helped establish the Russian president’s regime almost two decades ago, writes Nina L. Khrushcheva.            

Why are there not more female conductors? Alice Farnham is looking to tackle this issue through a new programme at the NCH, writes Cathy Desmond

Stephen Kenny hasn’t had too many disappointments in his time as Dundalk manager but perhaps top of the list is last year’s FAI Cup final defeat to Cork City.

Spike Island’s former inmates may not remember the island facility in a celebratory way but Irish tourism interests will surely celebrate the fact that the island was named, in St Petersburg on Saturday night, as Europe’s leading tourist attraction at the prestigious World Travel Awards 2017.

With 1,300 years of history, Ireland’s ‘Alcatraz’ has been named Europe’s No 1 tourist attraction, writes Sean O’Riordan

Paper and packaging giant Smurfit Kappa Group has extended its presence in Russia with the acquisition of a Moscow-based corrugated packaging company for an undisclosed sum.

Ksenia Parkhatskaya’s new show was developed with her Cork-born husband, writes Ellie O’Byrne.

Russia's intelligence agency said it has foiled a terror plot led by militants fighting for the Islamic State group in Syria.

WHEN Peter the Great decided, in the early 1700s, that Russia needed access to the Baltic Sea, he built a port city on the river Neva, on the Gulf of Finland. 

Opec moved yesterday to cap Nigerian oil output and called on several members to boost compliance with production cuts to help clear excessive global stocks and support flagging prices.

The country’s diplomatic and consular services would struggle to cope if Irish citizens were caught up in two or more terrorist attacks abroad at the same time.

Lars Stindl struck the only goal as Germany beat Chile 1-0 to win the Confederations Cup in St Petersburg last night.

Lars Stindl struck the only goal as Germany beat Chile 1-0 to win the Confederations Cup in St Petersburg.

Germany eased into the Confederations Cup final following a comfortable 4-1 victory over Mexico in Sochi.

PORTUGAL 0 - CHILE 0 (Chile win 3-0 on penalties AET): Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was the hero of the hour as Chile reached the Confederations Cup final by beating Portugal on penalties last night.

Portugal coasted to a 4-0 win over New Zealand in St Petersburg and secured their place in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup.

Mark Milligan's second-half penalty meant Australia and Cameroon had to settle for a 1-1 draw in the Confederations Cup in St Petersburg.

Referees will have the power to abandon games in the face of discrimination from the stands under a new three-step procedure unveiled by FIFA ahead of the start of the Confederations Cup in Russia.

Four alleged members of Islamic State who were preparing attacks in Moscow have been arrested, Russian security agents said.

Fáilte Ireland has warned that the current shortage of hotel accommodation in Dublin is posing a double risk to the growth of tourism in the capital.