Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has boycotted a meeting in parliament called by the country’s opposition to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO. Ambassadors representing 16 NATO countries attended the extraordinary parliamentary session in a show of support for Sweden’s application to join the military alliance. Sweden applied to join NATO …

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has announced that the interest rate on tax debt frozen since the pandemic has been cut to 0%. The Revenue Commissioners have also indicated that they will take a flexible approach to repayments which will allow for pay back arrangements spanning more than five years. …

Britain’s King Charles has been diagnosed with a form of cancer, Buckingham Palace has announced. The palace confirmed the disease, which is not prostate cancer, was discovered while he was being treated in hospital for an enlarged prostate. King Charles has started a schedule of regular treatments but has been …

Funerals have been held for two of the three victims of last week’s crash in Co Carlow. The funeral service for 21-year-old Daryl Culbert heard about a quiet-spoken young man who loved his family and whose great interest in life was cars. Hundreds packed into St Peter’s Church in Kiltegan …

Emergency departments are experiencing high levels of presentations “due to ongoing high illness rates related to winter viruses”, the Health Service Executive has said. It is asking the public to consider “all care options” before presenting at emergency departments. In a statement, the HSE’s Chief Operations Officer Damien McCallion said: …

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has announced the creation of an independent panel to assess UNRWA, its embattled agency tasked with helping Palestinian refugees. UNRWA is under fire over accusations by Israel that 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. More than a …

Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan were both honoured at the Grammy Awards – with Annie Lennox performing a powerful rendition of Sinéad’s 1990 smash hit Nothing Compares 2 U during the In Memoriam segment. 69-year-old Lennox wore an all-black outfit with a red sacred heart on her sleeve, and she …

Ian Lavender, best known for playing Private Pike in classic BBC comedy Dad’s Army, has died at the age of 77. Lavender was the last surviving cast member of the series following the death of Frank Williams in 2022. He died on Friday morning, his agent confirmed to the PA …

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he wants devolved government in Northern Ireland to last. The Taoiseach was greeted by First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly at Stormont Castle. They had a meeting inside before Mr Varadkar met the rest of the newly-formed Stormont Executive. Ms O’Neill …

Watch: Taoiseach holds media briefing at Stormont Source link