LÉ Niamh rescues 243 migrants off Tripoli
LÉ Niamh has rescued 243 migrants from a wooden barge 80 kilometres north-west of Tripoli, Libya.
The Irish naval vessel began the rescue operation at around 8.30am this morning. It took around three hours for the 183 men, 33 women and 27 children to be transferred on board.
LÉ Niamh left Ireland on 10 July and has a crew of 57 including two Army medics.
Parents of 43 missing Mexican students demand new search
Parents and relatives of 43 Mexican students missing for 10 months and presumed dead marched yesterday to demand the government resume the search for the young men.
Authorities have said corrupt local police abducted the students in September last year and handed them over to a drug gang, which slaughtered them, but families are angry at the handling of the case and refuse to believe their children are dead.
Dozens of officers and gang suspects in Iguala, southern Mexico, have been detained, along with the mayor.
Only one of the students - who came from a teacher training college - has been identified among charred remains found in a landfill and parents of the missing have rejected the government's conclusions.
Filan to run in election for Renua Ireland
Finbarr Filan, a Sligo businessman and brother of Westlife singer Shane Filan, is to contest the general election for Renua Ireland in the Sligo Leitrim constituency.
The brothers were jointly involved in a property development company, Shafin Developments, which went into receivership in 2012.
Shane Filan subsequently filed for bankruptcy in the UK and is now back living in Sligo and working on his solo music career.
Finbarr Filan took over a Centra store in Sligo in 2010, which now employs 22 people. He is currently Chairman of the Sligo Business Improvement District.
This is his first venture into politics.
South Korean police block anti-North leaflet launch
South Korean police have blocked activists from launching anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the heavily fortified border, after fresh North Korean warnings about dire consequences if such events went ahead.
Dozens of activists had planned to launch helium-filled balloons carrying about 30,000 leaflets criticising the North's ruling Kim family.
But hundreds of police blocked the launch site near the border, forcing organisers to cancel the operation.
"They kept saying it was dangerous... we didn't buy the argument but didn't want to physically clash with them," main organiser Choi Woo-Won told AFP.
Mr Choi said the activists would try again later in the week at an undisclosed location.
Gunfight kills at least 20 at Afghan wedding: officials
At least 20 people were killed when a gunfight broke out at a wedding party in northern Afghanistan, officials have said.
"Clashes erupted Sunday night between armed men at a wedding ceremony in Deh Salah district of Baghlan province.
"As a result 20 people were killed and 10 others were wounded," provincial police spokesman Jawed Basharat told AFP.
Strong quake strikes remote Alaskan islands
A strong 6.9-magnitude earthquake rattled remote islands in the US state of Alaska yesterday, seismologists said, but there was no tsunami warning.
The underwater quake hit off the Fox Islands, by the Aleutian Trench, more than 1,500km west of Anchorage, the US Geological Survey said.
The quake had a depth of 11km and struck at 5.49pm (5.49am Irish time), USGS said.
App to help scouts stay in touch
300 Irish scouts are travelling from Dublin Airport to join 35,000 others from around the globe at the 2015 World Scout Jamboree in Yamaguchi in Japan.
The scouts - aged from 14 to 17 - will be gone from home for 12 days.
But they will be able to stay in touch with an Irish-developed app, Tiqbiz, which will allow their families and friends complete access to the scouts' activities.
Tiqbiz will allow specially designated scouting media officers from each troop to post alerts, send photos, videos and daily reports which will be received instantly by parents and scouts back home.
Shark survivor back in action
Three-time world champion Mick Fanning has returned to the water after surviving a shark attack off the coast of South Africa on 19 July.
Mr Fanning was seen surfing small waves at Snapper Rocks on Australia's Gold Coast this morning.
The 34-year-old Australian paddled out early on Saturday for the first time since the attack near his Tweed Heads home in northern New South Wales state and posted a photo of himself on Instagram looking out at the sea.
Fanning returned home last week visibly shaken after the shark attack, which was captured on live television when he was paddling out in the final of the World Surf League's J-Bay Open.
