Monday 26 October 2026
DailyBotThe morning paper
Morning edition
17 stories
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defeats far-right senator Flavio Bolsonaro to win a fourth non-consecutive term, hailing an unprecedented comeback as a 'defeat for denialism' while Bolsonaro refuses to accept the result.
Live coverage as world leaders congratulate Lula on his historic fourth-term victory and Bolsonaro declines to concede defeat.
Interactive results from Brazil's second-round runoff, where Lula overturned a shock first-round defeat to beat Bolsonaro.
First Edition newsletter: what Lula's victory means for Brazilian democracy, the environment and international relations.
Live blog: Serbia wakes to a new reality after a student-led movement ousts Aleksandar Vucic, with hopes of a reset in relations with the EU and other partners.
Hundreds of thousands celebrate on the same Belgrade streets once synonymous with police beatings, hailing the student-led victory as 'a symbol for Europe'.
Vucic's 12-year rule appears ended by record turnout in an election provoked by student-led protests, as the Serbian leader concedes defeat.
China's fifth plenum opens against a backdrop of years of purges that have analysts asking whether Xi's crackdown targets corruption or disloyalty.
Survey finds nearly a quarter of European airline pilots fly while too fatigued to work, reporting pressure to extend hours and fear of penalties for declaring themselves unfit.
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy says trilateral peace talks with Russia will restart in November, but Ukraine will not discuss limits to its armed forces or enforced neutrality.
US attorney general Todd Blanche defends the DoJ's pre-emptive lawsuit to block certification of Alaska Senate results, calling CNN 'crazy' for raising a January 6 parallel.
Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola delays campaign stops after she and her family sustained minor injuries when a driver struck their car en route to an event.
Trump campaigns in Michigan for Senate hopeful Mike Rogers, reprising praise of the Ohio senator's 'rear end' and remarking that rapper Nicki Minaj was 'hard to miss'.
Barack Obama tells a rapturous Michigan crowd of thousands that Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will 'finish the job we started'.
Opponents say Macron's bill making protesters liable for damage would be bad for the rule of law and play into far-right hands.
UK politics live: Andy Burnham says he would like to rejoin the EU but 'the British public are the bosses', arguing debate about the relationship can bring people together.
An Australian court tells a convicted murderer there is no human right to Vegemite, upholding Victorian prisons' ban on the spread he claimed denied him the right to 'enjoy his culture'.
23 stories
Profile of Brazil's electoral phenomenon: how the leftist veteran staged an unprecedented comeback to defeat far-right senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
NTA chief tells the Minister bus and rail fares will be reviewed annually, meaning passengers facing 15% hikes in January could see further increases in future.
Official papers reveal a budget deal to reverse the 20% public transport fare cuts by June, with the Department of Public Expenditure warning the timeline would not be met.
Dublin City Council was outbid in the sale of a Sandymount Martello tower, which went for above its 1.5 million euro guide price in a deal an official called 'excessive'.
Plans lodged for 70 houses and apartments on a Dublin 4 site beside Muckross all-girls school, on land the Dominican order sold for over 8 million euro in 2021.
Orange Order veteran Noel Liggett says Drumcree was a 'moment of clarity' for the unionist community and that 'Catholics seem to see the Orangeman as the bogeyman'.
Life on Inis Mor has two sides: locals host waves of tourists for half the year, then navigate long periods of solitude when the season ends.
Halloween travel feature: eight eerie Irish locations to chill the bones, for a walk on the witchy side.
Insurance giant Allianz threatens to sue pro-Palestine campaigners who emailed more than 100 schools asking them to cut ties, accusing them of 'grave allegations'.
Analysis: Israel's election is existential for the Jewish state and Palestinians, with Netanyahu's hold on power in the balance and neither bloc forecast a majority.
Cost-of-living comparison of Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick asks which Irish cities are cheapest and dearest, with a result that may surprise.
Status-yellow weather warnings remain in place today for parts of the country, with about 5,000 properties still without power on Sunday evening after Storm Boelo.
Opinion: what makes someone a murderer? An Irish-born philosopher believed she had the answer.
The EU's big ask for new English translators focuses on finding people from Ireland, an uphill battle given how few Irish secondary students study two foreign languages.
Musician Jerry Fish on losing pretty much everything, and why it was one of the best things to happen to him.
A parent asks why their son with a first-class honours degree has no job offers, as AI appears to hit graduate demand; advice sought for highly educated jobseekers.
Opinion: Sinead O'Shea's Irish documentary on obscure American communist activist Fergie Chambers illuminates much, in an age when 'truthfulness is sort of out of fashion'.
Analysis: an across-the-board pay rise will do little to fill key public sector posts in areas like the Naval Service, special care and IT.
Photo story: on board the RV Tom Crean as scientists recover Ireland's M5 weather buoy and carry out marine research.
Irish in LA: Micheal Sheehy says Irish people are really good at calling out nonsense in US corporate life, 'and there is a ton of it'.
A sixth year of trick-or-treating: what Halloween reveals about neighbours connecting, even if only once a year.
Work column: what a most embarrassing job interview taught, and why job hunters should not have to disclose pay history or guess the salary on offer.
In the News podcast: inside the court as Russell Brand stands trial.
13 stories
Lower Ormeau Road residents apply for an Apprentice Boys protest involving 1,500 people; the Apprentice Boys have applied to walk through the nationalist district next month.
The SAS soldier first on the scene of the 1981 loyalist shooting of Bernadette McAliskey says he believes the 'republican cause was just'; he detained three loyalists after the attack.
Odour inspectors were sent to investigate a 'stench' from a Belfast compost facility 60 times; locals question enforcement but DAERA says the plant is compliant with odour rules.
The number of 'absolutely brutal' 12-hour waits in Northern Ireland emergency departments hit 13,000 in one month; experts warn long waits are linked to higher mortality.
Noel Doran: unionism remains its own worst enemy, with self-inflicted blows and Jim Allister's onslaughts doing more damage than nationalism's best efforts in quite some time.
The Irish News view: it is time for Carla Lockhart to make her party allegiance clear, as the Upper Bann MP demands the DUP remove Emma Little-Pengelly from the deputy first minister post.
Focal Point: the very Irish history of Halloween, with the first of Samhain often considered Athbhliain na nGael.
Guide to Derry Halloween 2026: dates, parade, fireworks and family events for the 40th anniversary of Europe's top Halloween carnival, plus parking and travel.
Tom Kelly: gummy bears and bitter rows in the not-so-happy world of the DUP; there is no public appetite for a Drumcree crisis and the sooner the fear-mongers get the message the better.
A Daisy Hill Hospital rally hears calls to save maternity services, amid concerns about expectant mothers travelling to Craigavon and further afield to give birth.
Emergency services, including the Air Ambulance charity, attend a serious three-vehicle crash in Co Tyrone.
John Manley: unionism is condemned to continually shoot itself in the foot; will the Drumcree upheaval lead to the long-anticipated realignment of unionism?
Storm Boelo leaves thousands of Northern Ireland homes without power and causes traffic disruption as severe gales and heavy showers batter the region.
32 stories
The DUP is refusing to collapse Stormont despite Carla Lockhart's call during the Portadown rally, as speculation mounts the MP could quit over the growing Drumcree split.
The PSNI confirms speed-limit leniency guidance applies in Northern Ireland, while warning motorists not to treat the rule as permission to break the limit.
A letter to Gaddafi: how Boston priest Fr Raymond Helmich tried to get the Libyan dictator to take back guns he had supplied to the IRA, a secret decommissioning effort revealed in an uncovered letter.
Phoebe Bridgers is announced as the first headliner for All Points East 2027.
Plus500 upgrades its annual outlook after a jump in new customers.
Airtel Money sees sales jump by a quarter after gaining millions more customers.
Sharon Osbourne says she will 'never get over' husband Ozzy's death.
Strabane's Town of Culture bid is dividing the community as opposition to a 'UK stamp' leads to protest, with an independent councillor warning it could 'tear Strabane apart'.
'I paid 3,000 pounds to be told I had breast cancer': a young Belfast business owner explains why she sought a second opinion at a private clinic.
Comment: the DUP must change its game plan while it still can, before events decide its future; political momentum can change very quickly.
A nurse who falsified diabetes patients' blood sugar results is struck off, with the review panel saying the dishonest medic has shown no evidence of remorse.
'You're capable of more than you think': a Derry-based doctor and mother of four crowned national champion in the women's category of the Dublin Marathon hopes to inspire others to reset their limitations.
Podcast: dark questions over Jeffrey Donaldson's curious African shadow career, including paid work for Cameroon's defence ministry a week after he collapsed Stormont in 2022 and arms selling in Egypt alongside a British general.
A new pro-Union think tank aims to argue the case for the Union to voters currently sitting on the fence over the constitutional issue.
A millionaire developer was 'floored by a businessman' in the toilets of a plush Belfast venue, a fracas dubbed the 'battle of BT9' and linked to a 20-year-old feud over a 1 million pound property deal.
Opinion: rhinos, Provos and loyalist terror bosses; Northern Ireland has become the land of the absurd where words have lost their meaning, as deeply abnormal behaviour is not only accepted but encouraged.
Five sisters, a survivor and their search for justice after an IRA murder: Brendan Devine relives the moment he believes sealed his fate and that of his best friend Robert McCartney.
UTV favourite Joe Mahon on retirement, grandchildren and the future as Mahon's Way draws to a close after three decades exploring Ulster's people, places and past.
This Working Life: teacher and union chief Fergal McGuckin on going from youth work to education, diversity in schools and maintaining connections with past pupils.
Sinn Fein MP Sorcha Mallaghan writes to the Speaker calling for a full House of Commons probe into Jeffrey Donaldson after the latest 'sickening' revelations about his work on children's rights bodies.
Invest NI is told regional balance should be measured by real jobs, as the agency is challenged over hiding the number of employees a global company has at its Derry office.
'We are heading somewhere ugly': a unionist MLA warns over increased threats directed towards Northern Ireland politicians.
Inside story: the DUP in disarray over Carla Lockhart's quit threat and loyalist support for the MP at the huge Portadown rally, and the blazing row at the DUP officers' meeting after the Upper Bann MP resigned from the group.
Comment: Lockhart's exit from the DUP would be a huge body blow to the party, and doesn't Gavin Robinson know it; her clash with the leader over Drumcree threatens a major split.
'This lady is not for turning - Michelle O'Neill must go': Carla Lockhart defiant as she addresses the huge Portadown rally, with live coverage of the Drumcree dispute.
News analysis: Stormont descends into chaos as Michelle O'Neill walks out and Emma Little-Pengelly is left unable to continue, exposing divisions now impossible to conceal.
A prisoner still in jail 23 years after receiving a three-year sentence says it is 'mental torture'; Northern Ireland's longest-serving inmate Eddie Coll pleads for release at a parole hearing this month.
A Co Antrim crash victim is named locally as a man is charged over the fatal accident and due in court.
'Act your age': a judge scolds a neighbour from hell dragged by police kicking and screaming from an attic hiding place; the engineer is on a last chance to avoid prison after breaching a restraining order.
'I'm a bit of a sponge for trivia': a Co Down student, the only local among four quiz buffs, is up for University Challenge as part of Queen's team against Bristol.
James McClean: 'It's more than likely I'd have joined the IRA if born at the height of the Troubles'; the footballer opens up about the impact of growing up in strife-torn Derry in the early 1990s.
'Some of his ideas are mad, but I just let him get on with it': an abseiling 82-year-old retired engineer has no plans to slow down, fixing broken electrical items for free at Downpatrick's Repair Cafe.