Ireland

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Obama Names Steelers Owner Ambassador to Ireland

(Newser) - President Barack Obama has tapped Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, to be US ambassador to Ireland. Rooney, 76, is a lifelong Republican who endorsed Obama during Pennsylvania's contentious Democratic primary and campaigned for him ahead of the general election. A good year continues for Rooney, whose team...

Nervous N. Ireland Cancels St. Paddy's Parade

Festivities called off in town where policeman was killed

(Newser) - A St. Patrick’s Day parade set for today in Northern Ireland was canceled amid growing tensions, reports the Times of London. Loyalist leaders have been nervous about reprisals in Lurgan, where a police officer was shot dead by an Irish republican paramilitary last week. Graffiti in a loyalist area...

Hard Times Again Push Irish Youth Abroad

Flatlining economy makes US, Britain, Canada attractive

(Newser) - After two decades of boom, Ireland’s economy has faltered and Irish youth are once again looking to distant shores for opportunity, the Los Angeles Times reports. Experts predict up to a 7% contraction this year for an economy that posted double-digit gains not too long ago, and, like their...

Irish Home of Prez's Ancestor Has O'Bama Fever

(Newser) - Moneygall, Ireland, has two pubs, 298 people, and happens to be the birthplace of Barack Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather, the Los Angeles Times reports. The fact is not lost on the quaint hamlet, where one pub flies an American flag and the plumbing supply company uses the president’s face in...

Frantic Cops Hunt IRA Bomb
 Frantic Cops Hunt IRA Bomb 
Mar 12, 2009 9:22 AM CDT

Frantic Cops Hunt IRA Bomb

Police from both sides of border team to find 300-lb. device

(Newser) - Security forces from both sides of the Irish border are scrambling to find a 300-pound bomb that the Real IRA may have smuggled from the Republic into Northern Ireland. A telephone call alerted authorities that the device was intended for an army barracks. Belfast was also on alert after a...

Irish Angry at U2's Tax Evasion

Group criticized as hypocritical in light of history of activism

(Newser) - U2 is under fire for possible tax evasion as the Irish government pushes for a bigger slice of the band’s earnings, the Christian Science Monitor reports. U2 moved its publishing company to Amsterdam in 2006 after a tax bill limited artists’ tax-free earnings to $315,000. With Irish deficits...

120K Protest 'Economic Treason' in Dublin

(Newser) - As many as 120,000 marched through Dublin today, enraged over a government plan to repair the economy by freezing worker pay and taxing pensions, the Irish Times reports. Calling the strategy "economic treason" in a speech to the crowd, union leader David Begg blamed "a business...

Crisis Pounds Ireland— and Its Beer

Deteriorating economy drives away foreign investors

(Newser) - If there's a sure sign that Ireland's vaunted Celtic Tiger economy has been reduced to a mewling kitten, it's Guinness' sudden cold feet on its planned $1 billion "superbrewery," reports the Wall Street Journal. Once the black-gold proof of Ireland's boom, the premium beer brand has been hit...

Novel Tactics Target Piracy
Novel Tactics Target Piracy
Feb 5, 2009 11:42 AM CST

Novel Tactics Target Piracy

Tax would give Isle of Man citizens unlimited downloads; Ireland will cut off miscreants

(Newser) - Two European islands are taking opposite approaches to music piracy, the results of which could influence internet policy worldwide. The Isle of Man, between England and Ireland, will charge a $1.45 weekly tax on behalf of record labels to let citizens download music without penalty. Meanwhile, Ireland’s main...

Waterford Enters Bankruptcy
 Waterford  Enters Bankruptcy 
Jan 5, 2009 11:00 AM CST

Waterford Enters Bankruptcy

Struggling icon of British Isles couldn't find a buyer

(Newser) - After failing to find a buyer, five years of losses have driven Waterford Wedgwood into receivership, Bloomberg reports. Deloitte Ireland has been named receiver for the iconic  crystal- and china-maker that built Times Square’s New Year’s Eve ball. If no new financing emerges, 1,900 Irish and British...

Ireland Buys 75% of Troubled Lender in Banks Bailout

Anglo Irish goes into taxpayers' hands after scandal

(Newser) - Ireland became the latest nation to partially nationalize struggling banks last night, buying 75% of the deeply troubled Anglo Irish Bank and bailing out others, reports the Financial Times. The bank, whose shares had already dropped 95% from bad mortgage debts, suffered a further blow last week when its CEO ...

Irish Minister Held at Gunpoint in Hotel Heist

Pol among hostages taken, released in $26K resort robbery

(Newser) - A minister in the Irish government was among those taken hostage this morning during a robbery at a resort hotel outside Dublin. Three attackers approached Dick Roche, the European affairs minister, from behind as he was leaving the hotel's pool and shoved a sawed-off shotgun into his back. Roche was...

Ireland Recalls Tainted Pork, Warns 25 Countries

Contaminated meat may have been exported to 25 countries

(Newser) - Ireland has issued a massive pork recall after sending contaminated meat to about two dozen countries, Reuters reports. France, the Netherlands, and Belgium have all complained of dioxin-contaminated products, and Britain has told people to lay off pork for now. However, a British government body said it did "not...

Sorry, Bono: Economy Shelves U2 Tower

Tallest building in Ireland would house band's studio

(Newser) - Not even Bono is immune to the gloomy economy. Plans for a record-breaking Dublin skyscraper partly financed by the band U2 are on hold thanks to the global crisis, AFP reports. The U2 Tower, designed by architect Norman Foster, would be the tallest in Ireland and house a studio for...

Europe Scrambles to Save Banks

Governments rescue troubled institutions, pledge to back deposits

(Newser) - Barely a day after rejecting the need for a massive unified rescue plan, European leaders are wading into two substantial bailouts and vowing to save banks, Bloomberg reports. France’s BNP Paribas will take over Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg, while Germany’s government and banks bail out Hypo Real...

Oops! Palin Didn't Visit Iraq After All

And her 'trip' to Ireland was a refueling stop

(Newser) - Contrary to earlier claims by campaign aides, Sarah Palin has never visited Iraq, a spokesman has conceded. The Alaska governor visited state troops in Kuwait and Germany and also stopped in Ireland last year. But she did not cross the Kuwait border into Iraq as previously claimed—and Ireland was...

Guinness Sales Flat in ... Ireland?

As international sales flourish, production will be cut back at home

(Newser) - Ireland still drinks a lot of beer—only the Czechs down more—and continues to chug a lot of Guinness. But in a cultural shift in the newly vibrant nation, sales of the national drink have steadily declined in recent years, as harried white-collar workers skip the pub on the...

France Takes EU Reins With Call for Change

Sarkozy concerned by Ireland's rejection of central treaty

(Newser) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday that “profound” changes are needed in Europe's strategy for growth as his nation takes over the helm of the EU, reports AFP. “There have been errors in the way that Europe has been built,” Sarkozy noted in the wake of Ireland’...

Hand of US Neocons Seen Behind Irish 'No'

Some suggest meddling in referendum that has Europe in disarray

(Newser) - Pro-Europeans are claiming that American neoconservatives helped bankroll an effort to convince Irish voters to reject a key treaty, Der Spiegel reports. "Europe has powerful enemies on the other side of the Atlantic, gifted with considerable financial means," a French minister said after Ireland's thumbs-down roiled the continent....

As Celtic Tiger Slows, Ireland Again Empties

With Eastern Europe booming, newcomers pack bags en masse

(Newser) - The massive Irish economic engine of the '90s brought decades of emigration to a screeching halt and hordes of EU immigrants flooding through open borders to lay claim to plentiful jobs. But as the Celtic Tiger begins to look like a kitty, the Wall Street Journal reports, many of those...

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