JP O’Malley talked to author Peter Conradi about the authoritarianism behind the growing tension between a former superpower and its neighbours in the Baltic and the EU.

Literature doesn’t get much stranger — nor more fun — than this. 

Ireland 0 Norway 0: Ireland’s U21s completed 2015 with a stalemate against a powerful Norway side at the Waterford RSC last night.

Bernard-Henri Lévy finds extreme danger in a ‘fifth column’ of Western supporters who slavishly endorse every move by the Russian president.

Lithuania 0 England 3: England made it a perfect 10 with a beating in the Baltic, but their record-breaking achievement was marred by fighting between the visiting fans and their Lithuanian counterparts.

Join the Oireachtas and see the world… new figures show that the spend by TDs and senators on overseas travel last year increased from €218,799 to €230,313.

Our brains are designed to panic when the love that sustains us is suddenly removed, says JP O’ Malley.

Passenger figures at Shannon are up 15% for the first six months of the year according to the latest figures for the airport.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed up to a trade and economic pact with the European Union, saying it may be the “most important day” for his country since it became independent from the Soviet Union.

It is estimated that by 2050, seven out of 10 people will live in cities. Planners recognise something clever is required, writes Richard Fitzpatrick.

Cork Airport is not attractive enough as a commercial proposition for Ryanair to operate more routes from it, according to the airline.

The travel plans of tens of thousands of holidaymakers have been thrown into chaos after Aer Lingus cabin crew served notice of a 24-hour strike to take place in just over two weeks’ time.

Ireland has a higher homicide rate than most of our European neighbours, according to a UN report.

Ukraine’s government says it is drawing up plans to withdraw its troops from Crimea, where Russia is steadily taking formal control as its armed forces seize military installations across the peninsula.

KREMLINOLOGY was the well-respected skill of divining what was happening inside the secretive world of Moscow rule during the cold war.

The Government’s decision to reopen the Irish embassy in the Vatican was hugely influenced by the work of Pope Francis and his commitment to ending world poverty, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said yesterday.

Lithuanian prosecutors have appealed the acquittal of an Irishman charged with plotting to smuggle arms to the Real IRA.

A section of the roof at Cork University Hospital was damaged and there were electricity outages and spot flooding around the south of the country as winds of up to 140km/h battered the country.

Police in the Ukrainian capital Kiev broke up a large anti-government demonstration in the city centre before dawn today, swinging truncheons and injuring many.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to walk away from a deal that would have aligned his former Soviet republic more closely with the European Union sparked both anger and applause on the streets of Kiev.

Around 10,000 demonstrators in the Ukrainian capital have demanded the signing of an association agreement with the European Union – even though their country’s president has shelved plans for it.

Thousands of protesters poured into Kiev’s Independence Square last night, the centre of Ukraine’s pro-West Orange Revolution, to demand that the government reverse course and sign a landmark agreement with the European Union.

An Irishman jailed in Lithuania after being convicted of trying to buy weapons for the Real IRA has been freed by an appeal court.

The Irishman cleared by a court in Lithuania of trying to buy weapons for the organisation which bombed Omagh may seek compensation, it was revealed.

An Irish man jailed in Lithuania after being convicted of trying to buy weapons for the Real IRA has been freed by an appeal court.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi put his weight behind a EU banking union in a trip to Berlin yesterday, two days after Germany led an attack on a proposal to centralise control of failing lenders.

European Union officials have agreed that the August 21 chemical attack outside Damascus appears to have been the work of Syria’s regime, but that any potential military attack against it should wait for the UN inspectors’ report.

An Irishman appealing his imprisonment in Lithuania for attempting to smuggle arms to the Real IRA has said he has been framed by British Intelligence.

WE’VE just said goodbye to our summer batch of 12-Week Certificate Course students and I’ve just been paid perhaps the best compliment I’ve got when one chap told me: “I’ve learned so much and had so much fun I feel I owe you money!”

St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Zalgiris 2 (Zalgiris won 4-3 on aggregate)

St. Patrick’s Athletic came up way short of their own expectations as they bowed tamely out of the Europa League tonight.

It’s said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The family stood silently as the plain van with blackened windows drew up.

Lithuania’s EU presidency will be impacted by issues it is concerned with, writes Ann Cahill.

St. Patrick’s Athletic 2 Zalgiris 2

Sublimely taken goals from Conan Byrne and Ger O’Brien provided St Patrick’s Athletic with another thrilling away day in Europe tonight.

Christy Fagan hopes the Europa League can bring out the best in him once again as St Patrick’s Athletic begin another continental adventure in Vilnius tonight against Zalgiris (7.10pm Irish time).

Cork Airport has been dealt a blow with news that Hungarian airline Wizz Air will discontinue its services from there in the coming weeks.

Hearts have told their supporters that that club is not in danger – despite administrators moving into Vladimir Romanov’s Lithuanian bank.

There are now three airlines offering direct flights from Irish cities to Vilnius. So what’s worth seeing in the Lithuanian capital?