The Irish Press - News from Dublin, Kilkenny, Waterford, Drogheda, Galyway, Ireland and the world

The sport of athletics is moving towards gender parity at its highest executive level but needs to ensure women stay in the sport beyond 18, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe says.

Western seizures of super-yachts owned by Russian oligarchs have made headlines as Vladimir Putin's inner circle is targeted over the invasion of Ukraine, but experts warn identifying and blocking further cash and assets will prove difficult.

About 900 Russians took chartered flights home from a Cuban resort town on Sunday as airspace bans imposed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine complicated travel for tourists around the world.

Russia did not attend a hearing Monday at the UN's top court where Ukraine asked for an immediate halt to Moscow's invasion.

Bali on Monday scrapped quarantine for vaccinated tourists from more than 20 countries and reintroduced visas on arrival as the Indonesian holiday island pushes ahead with re-opening after two years of Covid curbs.

The head of Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic Church on Monday urged the United Nations to investigate the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279 people, calling the massacre a "political plot".

Revellers in fancy costumes lit up the freezing streets of Basel in the early hours of Monday as Switzerland's biggest carnival returned for the first time since 2019.

World stock markets tumbled, metals prices struck record highs and oil neared an all-time peak on widespread financial fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sri Lanka's most sacred elephant passed away aged 68 on Monday, prompting an outpouring of grief and a presidential order for the huge cadaver to be stuffed and preserved for posterity.

Ukraine dismissed Moscow's offer to set up humanitarian corridors from several bombarded cities on Monday after it emerged some routes would lead refugees into Russia or Belarus.

A hat-trick of gold medals propelled Canada from sixth to third in the Beijing Winter Paralympics medals table on Monday, as hosts China extended their streak of success.

Cricket superstar Shane Warne died of natural causes, Thai police said Monday, as his family lamented a "tragedy we will never come to terms with".

As he lined up for his gold-medal winning race at his debut Winter Paralympics in Beijing, Canadian snowboarder Tyler Turner pretended he was going for a skydive.

China on Monday reported its highest number of coronavirus cases in two years as clusters emerged in more than a dozen cities, posing a fresh challenge to Beijing's zero-Covid policy.

The parent company of Japanese casualwear giant Uniqlo on Monday defended a decision to keep Russian stores open even as rivals Zara and H&M suspend operations in the country following its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia announced humanitarian corridors would open in several Ukrainian cities on Monday, after terrified civilians came under fire in two previous attempts and with Moscow's forces pummeling cities across the country.

The former chief executive of India's National Stock Exchange has been arrested, officials said Monday, in a bizarre corporate misgovernance scandal featuring a supposed Himalayan yogi.

New Zealand cruised to a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh in a rain-affected match Monday to put their Women's Cricket World Cup campaign back on track.

Chinese exports in January and February rose a combined 16.3 percent on surging global demand and a spike in trade with Russia in the run-up to the war in Ukraine, according to customs data released on Monday.

Statues wrapped in foam and fireproof material can be seen all around the historic city of Lviv, where the race is on to protect cultural treasures against possible Russian bombardment.

Russian forces pummelled Ukrainian cities from the air, land and sea on Monday, with warnings they were preparing for an assault on the capital Kyiv, as terrified civilians remained trapped in besieged Mariupol.

For the last eight years Mathilde and her family have called Hong Kong home, but as the coronavirus tears through the city they are joining an exodus of foreign workers looking for an escape route.

Ukraine will square off with Russia at the UN's top court on Monday, with Kyiv asking judges in The Hague to order Moscow to immediately halt its invasion.

Several Western countries, including the UK and the United States, have called on Interpol to suspend Russia from the international law enforcement organisation, according to British Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Russian forces pummelled Ukrainian cities from the air, land and sea on Monday, with warnings they were preparing for an assault on the capital Kyiv, as terrified civilians failed for a second day to escape besieged Mariupol.

From a wealthy businessman who wants to unify the Korean peninsula to a heavily indebted ex-autoworker offering socialism to the masses, South Koreans have a plethora of choices in Wednesday's presidential election.

Equity markets plunged Monday, while oil prices soared to a near 14-year high and safe-haven gold broke $2,000 as investors grew increasingly fearful about the impact of the Ukraine war on the global economy.

Nadia was just 16 when she was married off to a violent husband old enough to be her father -- an ordeal thousands of Moroccan girls face every year due to a legal loophole.

Canada's Leylah Fernandez saved five match points before retaining her WTA Monterrey crown in controversial fashion with victory over Colombia's Camila Osorio on Sunday.

After years of controversy and criticism from gynaecologists, Germany is planning to scrap a Nazi-era law that limits information on abortion, while access to the procedure in the country remains beset by obstacles.

Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Lost Daughter," a drama about the challenges and taboos surrounding motherhood, was named the year's best indie film at the Spirit Awards on Sunday.

When Spanish doctor Marta Vigara was 17 weeks pregnant, her waters broke and she quickly realised the prognosis for her pregnancy was "very bad".