US ‘outraged’ after air strike hits aid convoy in Syria
The United States is "outraged" by reports that a humanitarian aid convoy was bombed near Aleppo, Syria, on Monday and Washington will reassess future cooperation with Russia, a US state department spokesman said.
“The destination of this convoy was known to the Syrian regime and the Russian federation and yet these aid workers were killed in their attempt to provide relief to the Syrian people,” state department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
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Frances Fitzgerald regrets ‘slow start’ on migrant resettlement
Tánaiste Frances Fitzgeraldhas admitted the Government has had a "slow start" in meeting commitments to resettle migrants escaping the Syrian conflict and said that it "can always do more".
Speaking on the fringes of the first UN summit on refugees and migrants in New York, an initiative co-chaired by Ireland, Ms Fitzgerald said the Government will have resettled 870 migrants by the end of the year. This is well short of a commitment to accept 4,000 people.
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Fine Gael TD accuses Kenny of throwing Nama staff ‘under bus’
Fine Gael TD John Deasy has accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of throwing "good public servants" in Nama "under a bus" in the controversy over the sale of the agency's Northern Ireland loans portfolio, Project Eagle.
Mr Deasy, a Waterford TD, also accused Mr Kenny of making decisions so as to keep the Government together, instead of for the good of the country.
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Ploughing championships’ popularity belies rural decline
When former EU agriculture and rural development commissioner Dr Franz Fischler told an EU conference in Cork that rural areas of the EU were set to suffer major population decline over the next 20 years, he was simply echoing what many have been saying about rural Ireland for years.
While the estimated 300,000 attending the ploughing championships in Co Offaly over the next three days may suggest all is well, many rural communities seem to be caught in a perpetual downward spiral of declining population and loss of services.
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New York bomb suspect detained after shootout
The suspect believed to be responsible for bombings in New York and New Jersey on Saturday was taken into custody on Monday morning after a gunfight with police.
Ahmad Khan Rahami (28) was found in Linden, New Jersey, hours after police released a photograph identifying him as the man caught on surveillance video planting a bomb on Saturday night that injured 29 people in the busy Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan.
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And finally. . . Fintan O’Toole: Between aspiration and reality we build a bridge of bullshit
"Given that we have only 10 years to get to educational nirvana, we have to start straight away. So we'll see the first annual instalment of this huge investment programme on October 11th when Minister for Finance Michael Noonan unveils Budget 2017. Except we won't be able to see it because the skies will have darkened with flying pigs."