Flanagan participates in ceremony to commemorate Somme dead
Charlie Flanagan has become the first Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs to participate in the Battle of the Somme Commemoration outside Belfast City Hall.
Other dignitaries present at the ceremony included the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers.
Earlier, Sinn Féin Mayor of Belfast Arder Carson laid a laurel wreath at the Cenotaph.
Almost 20,000 British soldiers died on 1 July 1916, the opening day of the battle that continued for five months.
The casualties included Irishmen from both sides of the border fighting in British army regiments.
Indonesian president promises review as death toll passes 140
The Indonesian president has promised to review the country's ageing air fleet as the death toll from a crash involving a military transport plane passed 140.
The C-130B Hercules aircraft, which went into service half a century ago, ploughed into a residential area of the city of Medan yesterday, throwing a renewed spotlight on Indonesia's woeful air safety record.
"There must be an evaluation of the age of planes and defence systems," President Joko Widodo tweeted late on Tuesday,as earth movers worked through the night to recover the dead from rubble of twisted metal and smashed buildings.
Olson reappointed to Garda Síochána Inspectorate
The Government has reappointed Robert Olson as Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, a post he has held since 2012.
Mark Toland has also been reappointed to the inspectorate. Both men will serve for a further two years.
The term of office of the third member of the inspectorate, Debra Kirby, expires in September.
31 killed by rebel fire in Yemen
Rebel fire on a residential district of Yemen's second largest city, Aden, killed at least 31 civilians and wounded a further 100, medical sources say.
Houthi Shia rebels and their allies pounded the city's loyalist-held Al-Mansura district with rockets, a spokesman for forces loyal to president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said.
The rocket fire began before dawn when the streets were busy ahead of the daytime fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.
A fresh salvo of rockets later in the morning hit mourners burying some of the dead from the earlier fire, the spokesman and witnesses said.
Iran's nuclear programme deadline extended
The deadline for an international agreement on Iran's nuclear programme has been extended until next Tuesday.
If an agreement can be reached, it would mark the end of a 20-month process to assure the world Iran cannot produce nuclear weapons and provide the Iranian people with a path of out of years of international isolation.
US President Barack Obama said there would be no deal if all pathways to an Iranian nuclear weapon were not cut off.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed Yukiya Amano, the UN's nuclear chief, will meet Iranian president Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Thursday.
