分类： society

A fatal traffic incident has claimed the life of a woman in her 70s following a head-on collision between two passenger vehicles in the Republic of Ireland, local law enforcement confirmed Thursday.

The crash unfolded shortly after 10:00 a.m. local time on the N2 trunk road near Broomfield, a village in County Monaghan located just kilometers from the administrative border with Northern Ireland. In addition to the fatality, two other people — the drivers of the two involved vehicles, a woman in her 30s and a man in his 50s — were rushed from the crash site for emergency care. Both are being treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital for injuries that are classified as serious but not believed to be life-threatening.

In the wake of the incident, the affected stretch of the N2 has remained fully closed to all through traffic as officers from An Garda Síochána, the Republic of Ireland’s national police service, conduct a forensic examination of the collision scene to establish the exact cause of the crash. Investigators have issued a public appeal for any road users or passersby who were in the area at the time of the incident, and who may have witnessed the collision or captured dashcam footage of the moments leading up to it, to contact local police to assist with the ongoing inquiry.

A public firestorm has erupted in Ireland over a short social media advertisement created by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) for its national consent education campaign, prompting top government officials to condemn the spot as inappropriate and demand its removal. The 30-second ad, part of DRCC’s long-running “We-Consent” initiative, opens with two grandparents greeting their grandchildren after a long separation: the pair warmly embrace their grandson, who responds with visible joy. When the grandparents turn to hug their granddaughter, however, her body language shifts and she displays clear discomfort, pulling back from the interaction. The ad closes with the text overlay: “not everyone wants a hug. Even from the people who love them.”

The spot quickly went viral after being posted, drawing sharp criticism from across the political spectrum and earning international media attention from outlets including the New York Post. Ireland’s Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, whose government department provides funding for the We-Consent campaign, was among the first to publicly rebuke the DRCC over the creative choice. O’Callaghan, a member of the Fianna Fáil party, confirmed that the video was pulled from DRCC’s social media channels after his office engaged directly with the anti-violence organization.

“While it is vital to ensure that people understand the concept of consent when it comes to sexual relationships, this video did not advance that aim and in many ways was counterproductive,” O’Callaghan said in a public statement. “It was both inappropriate and demeaning to grandparents and has been removed by DRCC following my officials’ engagement with them. The video does not represent the views of the Government.”

Fine Gael Senator Gareth Scahill went further, calling the ad a waste of public funds and a gratuitous insult to Ireland’s older population. “What’s concerning here is public money has been used to fund an ad which at best has been ill-thought out, and at worst is offensive and potentially damaging to our older population,” Scahill said. He argued that the ad’s framing undermined the important work that rape crisis organizations do to support survivors of sexual violence, joking sarcastically: “What’s next? Will we need to sign consent forms at arrival halls in Dublin, Shannon, Knock and Cork airports this Christmas before we can greet family members?”

In its own statement to Irish national broadcaster RTÉ, the DRCC defended the core goal of the ad while agreeing to take it down for internal review. The organization noted that We-Consent is a long-standing prevention project designed to build public understanding of consent across all types of relationships in Ireland, and the three ads created for the latest phase of the campaign were rooted in the principle that teaching boundary respect needs to start in childhood.

“We created three videos premised on the idea that boundaries should be respected from an early age and to respect others’ boundaries too,” the DRCC statement read. “We are going to remove the videos from our social media channels while we reflect on whether they are having the positive effect we want them to have.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice clarified that while the department provides funding for the We-Consent program, the controversial ad was produced at low cost by DRCC using volunteers and was never an official government advertising campaign. The DRCC’s We-Consent initiative also counts funding and support from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and CUAN, the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency. All three organizations have been approached for additional comment on the controversy.

Irish national police, known as Gardaí, have launched a full criminal investigation following the grim discovery of two bodies at a residential address in the coastal town of Bray, County Dublin. The victims, identified locally as a 40-something woman named Bridgid ‘Biddy’ O’Brien and a man in his 30s called James McGinn who were understood to be a couple, were found at the home on Cois Cairn, off Old Connaught Avenue, a little after 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

In the immediate aftermath of the discovery, responding officers established a secure cordon around the property and erected a large blue forensic tent to preserve evidence at the scene. Gardaí confirmed in an official statement that post-mortem examinations, scheduled to be conducted by the state pathologist across Wednesday and Thursday, will be critical to shaping the next steps of the probe.

A senior investigating officer has been assigned to head the case from a dedicated incident room based at Dún Laoghaire Garda Station, with specialist investigative support provided by the national Serious Crime Unit. Specially trained family liaison officers have already been deployed to support the deceased’s next of kin as they process the tragedy.

Local elected representative Malachaí Duddy, who serves as Cathaoirleach (Chair) of Bray Municipal District, spoke of the profound shock that has rippled through the tight-knit local community in the wake of the deaths. Speaking to BBC News NI, he described the event as an unthinkable tragedy that has left the area reeling. “It’s a very sad day and it’s a tragedy,” he said, “I extend my condolences to the family.”

Duddy added that Bray has long been known for its strong, supportive community spirit, and expressed confidence that local residents would come together to support one another through this difficult period. He also issued a public appeal, urging anyone with information that could assist Gardaí’s investigation to contact officers immediately to help move the case forward.

A high-profile investigation into the death of a 66-year-old British tourist on the popular Greek island of Zakynthos has taken a new turn, with investigators confirming a suspect has been re-arrested on suspicion of murder following the emergence of fresh evidence.

The opening of the UK inquest into the death of Jacqueline Causton, a resident of Bawtry, South Yorkshire, heard that Causton was discovered unresponsive inside her private holiday villa on Zakynthos – also widely known as Zante – on 14 May this year. Emergency responders rushed her to a local medical facility on the island for urgent treatment, but medical teams were unable to revive her and she was formally pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Her remains were later transported back to the United Kingdom to allow for domestic examination and family arrangements.

Detective Constable Mike Tilley, representing South Yorkshire Police, told Doncaster Coroner’s Court that an initial arrest of a suspect was carried out on 12 June on suspicion of murder. The individual was released on bail following that first detention, but law enforcement officers took the rare step of re-arresting the suspect over the past weekend after investigators uncovered new evidence linked to the case. Following the court hearing, South Yorkshire Police confirmed the suspect is a 69-year-old man who was taken into custody in Worcestershire, England.

Tilley told the court the investigation remains significantly complex, with key investigative material collected by Greek law enforcement still stored in Greece, and a number of potential witnesses holding foreign nationality. He added that additional forensic pathological analysis of Causton’s remains is expected to be required before the case can progress, and senior legal bodies have not yet reached a decision on whether Greek or UK authorities will take lead responsibility for the full investigation. As of the inquest opening, no details about the exact cause of Causton’s death have been released to the public.

Coroner Louise Slater, who presided over the opening hearing, extended formal condolences to Causton’s family and friends ahead of the next scheduled hearing, which will convene in February 2027 to provide an update on the investigation’s progress.

Beyond the investigation, Causton’s legacy as a dedicated community supporter and charity advocate has been highlighted by local organizations. In June, Doncaster Mind, a UK-based mental health charity, paid tribute to Causton, describing her as a deeply cherished supporter of the organization’s work. The charity shared that Causton and her late husband became beloved community figures by turning their personal Bawtry home into a festive Christmas attraction open to the local public each year. Their annual tradition brought joy to countless local residents, the charity said, noting that the couple’s kindness, generosity and commitment to community building left a lasting impact on the area. “We will always be grateful for everything they did to help us continue our work,” a Doncaster Mind spokesperson added.

When thunder and lightning cracked open the sky over Marseille in the days after France’s worst bout of modern civil unrest, the storm illuminated a scene of chaos: hundreds of storefronts stood with cracked glass panes and hastily boarded entryways, left scarred when peaceful student protests dissolved into widespread looting and violence Saturday.

As France’s second-largest city bore the brunt of the national chaos, the scale of damage has shaken local leaders, law enforcement and residents alike. Local business associations confirm more than 500 commercial locations were damaged, the vast majority also targeted for looting across central neighborhoods and outlying shopping districts. For frontline police officers, the weekend was nothing short of catastrophic: 118 Marseille officers were hurt in the unrest, accounting for more than 10% of all injuries sustained by police nationwide during the riots. As of early this week, 101 people have been taken into custody in the port city, 25% of whom are minors.

By Monday, a drastic emergency intervention had cleared protesters from Marseille’s streets: an 8-hour ban on all demonstrations and public gatherings was enacted to block a third straight day of disorder. The measure appeared to deliver temporary calm; the largest group to gather in the city center that day was a cluster of weather-worn tourists walking the waterfront quayside. In a further move to head off renewed unrest, local officials are set to implement an overnight curfew for minors in targeted parts of the city starting Tuesday.

Marseille, long France’s most ethnically diverse urban hub, has been a landing point for generations of new arrivals to the country, and the unrest has split opinions across its diverse population even as it has left a shared trail of damage. For 18-year-old student Maryame, who moved to the southern city just a few weeks ago from a nearby rural area, Saturday’s violence was her first frightening experience of both big-city life and political protest.

She joined the original student march, which first launched in September to demand improvements to dilapidated school infrastructure before expanding to address broader grievances including France’s ongoing cost of living crisis. The early solidarity of the march felt “beautiful,” she told reporters, but the situation shifted dramatically when looters broke away to attack nearby shops. Still, she remains conflicted about the unrest, echoing a thread of thought that runs through many French debates over civil protest.

“It is a very complicated question if violence is legitimate,” Maryame said. “But the thing is, France, our history is really based on revolution, and sometimes we really have to make a really big impact. Sometimes it goes too far.”

For rank-and-file police, the speed and severity of the collapse of order was unprecedented. “It was a war,” said Arnaud Blaise, a representative for the UN1TE police union. “An unheard-of level of violence. Unprecedented.”

Looting stretched across the entire city: from La Canebière, Marseille’s bustling central boulevard equivalent to Paris’s Champs-Élysées, and Rue Paradis, to the popular Centre Bourse shopping mall, and out to the Grand Littoral and Le Merlan malls in the city’s northern districts. Blaise said officers eventually exhausted their non-lethal riot supplies, forcing tactical retreats as disorder spread.
Blaise blamed the chaos on a combination of far-left Black Bloc agitators who he said provoked the unrest, and young people from deprived northern neighborhoods who seized the opportunity to loot. “The Black Blocs provoked, and the youngsters took advantage to start looting,” Blaise explained. “That created chaos, with police officers running right, running left, and in effect, we got overwhelmed.”

When questioned about widespread accusations that police used heavy-handed tactics against peaceful student demonstrators while failing to intervene to stop looting, Blaise rejected the claim. He noted far more officers than protesters were injured in the clashes, adding: “Four thousand tear gas grenades were fired and then we ran out of ammunition. So at a certain point, you have no choice but to retreat.”

On Monday evening, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez traveled to Marseille to meet with local leaders, after President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls for Nuñez’s resignation in the wake of the riots. During his visit, he stopped at Marseille City Hall, which was briefly occupied by protesters Saturday, for talks with Socialist Mayor Benoît Payan.

Payan has openly demanded answers from the national government over how the chaos was allowed to unfold, calling the entire response to the unrest a “fiasco” from start to finish. He criticized understaffed, poorly deployed police forces and called for a complete overhaul of crowd control tactics. “If there isn’t a radical change of approach on this issue – if, by chance, the only target remains high school students – then we will see looting scenes again,” Payan warned. “I don’t know what’s left to loot in Marseille, but for the little that remains, it will be looted.”

While emergency measures have brought a fragile, temporary calm to Marseille, more national demonstrations are already scheduled for the coming weekend. For long-time Marseille residents like 79-year-old grandmother Chantal Bellanger, the unrest reflects deep, unaddressed failures across French society that have left young people disillusioned.

Standing near a shattered tram stop in a damaged neighborhood, Bellanger said she had been worried about growing unrest for a long time. “We can clearly see that France has lost its grip on many things,” she said. “Public services, hospitals, education is in a horrible state, the peripheral neighbourhoods are dilapidated, they are abandoned.”

Bellanger, who once worked in the impoverished northern suburbs where much of the unrest originated, said she fears anger and despair are pushing an entire generation of young people into criminal activity that will exclude them from society for life. “It tugs at your heartstrings,” she said. “To see children whose actions are going to place them completely outside of society. It’s painful to watch.”