Sport, Education to bring Ireland and Colombia closer - Higgins
President Michael D Higgins has said Ireland and Colombia will have closer ties through new sport and educational agreements.
He was greeted by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos during a state ceremony.
President Higgins has invited President Santos to visit Ireland.
President Santos won the Nobel Peace prize for the agreement with FARC guerillas.
Trial of Ibrahim Halawa delayed for 19th time
Somaia Halawa, a sister of Ibrahim Halawa, has confirmed that his trial has been postponed again.
The trial was due to start in Egypt today but was postponed for the 19th time and is now due for hearing on 22 March. Mr Halawa, who is from Firhouse in Dublin, was arrested at a protest in Cairo in 2013.
Ms Halawa said it was postponed today because four of the 492 defendants were absent.
She said it was "ridiculous" because with so many defendants arraigned together, it is unlikely that every single one will be able to attend on any given date.
'Donegal Tuesday' attracts crowds to Galway pub
Hundreds of people queued outside a pub in Galway this morning for an unofficial student event.
The so-called Donegal Tuesday gathering came about after the two third-level institutions in the city banned annual Rag Week events.
The crowd is largely made up of students from NUI Galway and GMIT.
The pub in Eyre Square has hired security personnel to oversee the queue. Those waiting are being allowed into the pub's courtyard in small groups.
Many of those in the queue are wearing Donegal GAA jerseys. A similar event, dubbed Mayo Monday, failed to attract significant numbers yesterday.
Protest over planned salmon farm
An oral hearing into plans for a controversial salmon farm in Bantry Bay is taking place in Cork.
Norwegian company Marine Harvest Ireland was granted an aquaculture/foreshore licence in September 2015 to farm Atlantic salmon in a 106 acre area off Shot Head in Bantry Bay.
The company hopes to invest €3.5m and create up eight jobs.
But the decision of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to grant the licence in what it says are suitable waters has prompted more than a dozen appeals from residents, anglers' associations, environmental groups and Inland Fisheries Ireland.
The hearing by the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board is due to run for two days and hear 20 submissions.
Body found in search for tourist missing in Australian outback
Australian police have found the body of a woman they believe to be a German tourist who had gone missing in the remote northern outback.
The body of an elderly man, believed to be her husband, was recovered in the same area a day earlier.
"The cause of death has yet to be established and a file is being prepared for the coroner," a spokesman for the Northern Territory police said.
A ground and air search was launched yesterday after a ranger found a car thought to belong to a German couple, aged in their 70s, at Trephina Gorge Nature Park, 1,500km from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, according to media reports. Temperatures at the park over the weekend soared to as high as 40C.
Germany and Israel postpone meeting
A meeting between the governments of Germany and Israel that was scheduled to take place in May has been cancelled amid rising frustration in Berlin with settlement activity in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
A German spokesman said the governments had agreed to "postpone" the annual meeting of leaders and ministers until next year, blaming the delay on the busy schedule of meetings surrounding Germany's presidency of the G20.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the session has been called off, citing "schedule constraints on the German side".
But German officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested the real reason for the cancellation was the feeling that the two governments were too far apart on the issue of Middle East peace to make such a meeting worthwhile.
Trump golf course to open in Dubai
US President Donald Trump's sons are set to open a Trump branded golf course in Dubai on Saturday, the first launch for the business empire since Mr Trump took office in January.
"Join us as we celebrate the grand opening of the iconic golfing destination Trump International Golf Club Dubai," read the invitation from DAMAC Properties, a major regional luxury property developer.
The invitation card, embossed in gold and sealed in a golf course print envelope, specified the dress code as either business attire or national dress.
Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are to attend.
