Brexit talks continuing amid hopes for a deal

The UK Prime Minister last week told the Taoiseach that he was confident he would be able to get a Brexit deal through the House of Commons.

Speaking this afternoon, Leo Varadkar warned that there is still a “significant” gap between the UK and the EU as negotiations continue.

He said it remains unclear whether a deal can be finalised this week.

It comes as the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned that a deal must be agreed by tonight if it is to be approved at the Summit of EU leaders this week.

Father stabbed to death in Dublin named

A father-of-two who was stabbed to death in South County Dublin overnight has been named locally as Derek Reddin.

The 31-year-old was stabbed a number of times on Loughlinstown Drive just after midnight.

IT is believed it happened during a fight with a group of other men.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Varadkar to raise citizenship ruling with Johnson

The Taoiseach has said he will raise the Emma DeSouza case with the British Prime Minister this week.

The Derry woman has pledged to appeal an immigration tribunal ruling which found that people born in the North are automatically British, until they move to renounce their citizenship.

The UK Home Office had appealed a previous ruling that found that Ms DeSouza is an Irish national and had only ever been Irish.

Yesterday the Upper Tribunal overturned that decision – meaning that, under UK law, people born in the North must renounce British citizenship if they don’t want it.

UEFA charges Bulgaria’s football union over racism

UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against the Bulgarian Football Union after home supporters aimed racist abuse at England players during a Euro 2020 qualifier yesterday.

The association has been charged over their fans “racist behaviour,” for supporters “throwing objects” and for “disruption of the national anthem.”

The English FA has also been charged with disruption of a national anthem, as well as providing an insufficient number of travelling stewards.

The match in Sofia had to be halted twice after England players were subjected to monkey chants and Nazi salutes by some home fans.

One in three young children malnourished

A new report has found that at least one in three children under five - or 200 million - is either undernourished or overweight around the world.

UNICEF says an "alarmingly high" number of children are suffering the consequences of poor diets and a food system that is failing them.

'The State of the World's Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition' also found that almost two in three children between six months and two years of age are not fed food that supports their rapidly growing bodies and brains.

"This puts them at risk of poor brain development, weak learning, low immunity, increased infections and, in many cases, death", UNICEF adds.