Updated / Sunday, 31 Dec 2023 10:40 Fireworks displayed above the Sydney Opera House ahead of the main New Year’s celebration Jubilant crowds will bid farewell to the hottest year on record today, closing a turbulent 12 months marked by clever chatbots, climate crises and wrenching wars in Gaza and …

Firefighters from Dublin Fire Brigade extinguished a fire at an unoccupied building in Co Dublin overnight. The blaze broke out at the premises on Thorncastle Street in Ringsend shortly before 2am. Six fire engines attended the scene, including a turntable ladder in order to fight the blaze from above. Dublin …

Israelis and Palestinians will end a dark year tonight, with no end in sight to the deadliest military offensive on Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ bloodiest attack on Israel. There has been no respite from Israel’s air raids, artillery fire or ground fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to the …

Firefighters from Dublin Fire Brigade tackled a fire at an unoccupied building in Co Dublin overnight. The blaze broke out at the premises on Thorncastle Street in Ringsend shortly before 2am. Six fire engines attended the scene including a turntable ladder in order to fight the blaze from above. Dublin …

XL bully dogs must be kept on a lead and muzzled in public in the UK under new restrictions, amid fears among animal welfare groups that a looming ban on the breed will overwhelm vets and rescue centres. Breeding, selling or abandoning the dogs has also become illegal as of …

As we say goodbye to 2023 and open the door to 2024, there’s The Late Late NYE Show, the New Year’s Eve Countdown Concert, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve and Hootenanny . . . The Late Late NYE Show, 10.15pm New Year’s Eve, RTÉ One Streaming …

Romania and Bulgaria will be partially integrated into the Schengen area of free movement in March 2024, the European Council has announced. Romania and Bulgaria, both members of the EU bloc since 2007, were rejected at the end of 2022 from the vast Schengen zone, within which more than 400 …

On 1 January 2023, the minimum wage increased by 80 cent. More benefits for workers were to come in the months that followed including breastfeeding breaks and domestic violence leave but the right to request remote work was not finalised, as expected, in 2023. There were landmark employment law rulings …

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made fresh threats of a nuclear attack on South Korea and ordered a military arsenal build-up to prepare for a war that can “break out at any time” on the peninsula, state media reported. Mr Kim lambasted the United States during a lengthy …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retake control of Gaza’s border with Egypt, expanding Israel’s mission to neutralise Hamas in a conflict it says it expects to last for months. “The war is at its height,” Netanyahu told reporters of the fighting since 7 October when the Palestinian militant …