Anyone traveling along the lower Newtownards Road in east Belfast recently could sense that something ominous was in the air in this staunchly Protestant district of Northern Ireland’s major city. Read more»

David Norris, who would be Europe's first openly gay president, was considered the front-runner until media associated him with pedophilia. Read more»

Diplomatic cables show American officials scoffing at Irish leaders. Read more»

The Irish people like to boast that no American president since Nixon has won re-election without visiting Ireland in the first term. In the footsteps of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, President Barack Obama came not just to find his Irish roots but perhaps to prepare the ground for his return to the White House. Read more»

In two days an 85-year-old, slightly-stooped woman, armed with nothing more than a handbag and a smile, has managed to bring relations between Britain and Ireland to a new level of warmth and friendship. Read more» 2

President Obama's imminent arrival to his ancestral home in Ireland is providing a welcome distraction for a population profoundly depressed by financial woes. Read more»

This week's election for the power-sharing assembly in Northern Ireland shows that the population strongly supports its unique political experiment, which ended decades of conflict. The peaceful vote was notable for its focus on the economy as DUP and Sinn Fein held onto power. Read more»

Global celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day will be muted this year. Governments with poor records in human and civil rights are wary of pro-democracy activists using annual parades to stage protests inspired by the unrest sweeping through the Middle East and North Africa. Read more»

It’s as ridiculous as selling snow to Eskimos. But Ireland, the rain-soaked island in the Atlantic, is importing water. Read more»

For a long time the Irish were confident that at least things here were not as bad as in Iceland, a tiny nation that went bankrupt trying to play the financial markets. But the oft-repeated jibe that the only difference between Iceland and Ireland is one letter and one year is perilously close to coming true. Read more»

For 37 years the little beach beneath the sandstone cliffs at Waterfoot in the Glens of Antrim held a terrible secret. Buried beneath the reddish sand lay the skeleton of a man abducted, murdered and secretly dumped there by the Irish Republican Army. Read more»

After the binge of the "Celtic Tiger" years, Ireland has been jolted awake with the mother of all hangovers, an empty wallet and a horrendous bill. Read more»

Young women from European Union member states like Latvia are being paid to come to Ireland and take part in sham marriages with non-EU nationals. These give the new husbands a back door to permanent EU residency. Read more»

A British Cabinet Minister and a Cardinal were certain that a Roman Catholic priest was responsible for one of the worst IRA atrocities of the Northern Ireland Troubles, but they colluded to allow him to continue his ministry preaching the Gospel. Read more»

A symbolic new freeway unites Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. Read more»