Ireland
Irish June retail sales down 1.6 pct m/m
DUBLIN, July 31 - The volume of Ireland's retail sales fell 1.6 percent in June to stand 1.5 percent lower on the year, provisional figures from the Central Statistics Office showed on Wednesday.
Northern Ireland struggles to heal deep fracture
BELFAST - When U.S. President Barack Obama visited Northern Ireland before the G8 summit in June, he hailed its extraordinary progress in the 15 years since a peace agreement to end three decades of what locals call "The Troubles".
Ireland on road to recovery, but many left behind
MULLINGAR, Ireland - Struggling cafe owner Julie Mangan rolls her eyes at talk of packed restaurants and queues for house viewings in Dublin as proof that Ireland's battered economy is finally on the mend.
Euro bailout fund chief warns Ireland not to ease up on austerity plans
DUBLIN, July 26 - Any slippage in Ireland's austerity targets "would not be well received" by those deciding whether to offer Dublin a post-bailout credit line, the head of the euro zone's rescue fund said in an interview with the Irish Times on Friday.
Irish watchdog won't probe U.S. firms over Prism
VIENNA - A watchdog in Ireland, home to the European headquarters of Apple and Facebook, says it will not investigate them for transferring personal data to a U.S. spy agency because they have signed up to EU privacy principles.
Irish watchdog won't probe U.S. firms over Prism
* Says U.S. tech firms in Ireland signed up to EU data rules
Saint-Gobain confident of Verallia North America sale by year end
PARIS - Saint-Gobain still thinks it will close the sale of its Verallia North America glass packaging unit to Ireland's Ardagh Group S.A. by year-end despite U.S. antitrust authorities' opposition, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Kids 'hearing voices' may be at high suicide risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among teens in a new study from Ireland, those who reported hearing voices were at greatly elevated risk of attempting suicide within the year compared to their peers with or without mental disorders who did not experience voices.
Long backlog for godless wedding services in Ireland
- Traditionally Catholic Ireland has allowed an atheist group to perform weddings this year for the first time, and the few people certified to celebrate them are overwhelmed by hundreds of couples seeking their services.
Man Booker fiction prize nominees span the globe
LONDON - Life in London's Jewish community and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, billionaires in China and hard times in Ireland all feature in the novels vying for this year's Man Booker Prize.
Interactive
Explosion in Syrian city of Homs kills 40: monitoring group
BEIRUT - Forty people were killed and at least 120 people were wounded in an explosion at a weapons cache in the central Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, a group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said. | Video
Ethiopia and Eritrea: An elusive peace on the cards?
Ethiopia and Eritrea are still at each others’ throats. The two neighbours fought hammer and tongs in sun-baked trenches during a two-year war over a decade ago, before a peace deal ended their World War I-style conflict in 2000. Furious veRed Sea, UNrbal battles, however, have continued to this day.



