Paraic O'Brien , Correspondent

The death toll of the wild fire in Paradise in northern California has risen to 23, making it one of the deadliest fires in the state’s history. Two people have also died in a separate fire to the south near Los Angeles. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated and thousands of homes destroyed…

Sajid Javid has promised £17 millon as part of an early intervention youth fund to help tackle knife crime problem.

The Police called it “callous”, the Prime Minister said it was “utterly unacceptable” and the Chairman of the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry described it as “shocking and distressing”.

The Prime Minister has joined a chorus of condemnation, after a group set fire to a cardboard effigy of Grenfell Tower. Footage of the incident was circulated on social media and the Justice4Grenfell campaign called for those who set fire to the model to be prosecuted.

For them, he was so much more than a money man. Leicester City fans have continued to file into the King Power Stadium to sign a book of condolences following the death of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha  in a helicopter crash on Saturday. 

Hostility towards Roma people is so ingrained in Czech political life, the country’s president recently called them “work shy”, and in this weekend’s Czech municipal elections some politicians are openly stirring up virulent anti-Roma sentiment.

Earlier in the year a Slovakian journalist and his girlfriend were shot dead at their home. He had been investigating possible links between government officials and the Italian Mafia for news website Aktuality, and the authorities suspect they were murdered in a contract killing. Massive public protests over their deaths led to the collapse of…

One of the writers of Sesame Street has claimed he based two of them, the flatmates Bert and Ernie, on himself and his boyfriend.

There was evidence in Strasbourg today that Brexit isn’t the EU’s only problem. A defiant Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, turned up in person at the European Parliament to defend his government from accusations it is undermining democracy.

The fate of Idlib, Syria’s last rebel-held area, is in the balance after the leaders of Iran and Russia backed an offensive to recapture it.

India’s top court has handed down a landmark victory for gay rights in the world’s largest democracy. A law dating back to British colonial rule – which made gay sex a criminal offence punishable by up to ten years in prison – has been struck down.

Irish survivors of Catholic abuse who held a private meeting with the Pope yesterday have said he appeared to have no knowledge of the notorious Magdalene Laundries, where women who had children outside marriage were locked up and their babies taken from them.

Pope Francis may have a global reputation for humility and integrity. Even so, he has his work cut out in an Ireland that has stepped over the shadow of deference. Irish society has changed fundamentally and abuse scandals have shredded the church’s moral authority. Pope Francis did address that in today’s visit – speaking of…

The last time a Pope visited Ireland, it was John Paul II in 1979. Almost half the population turned out to see him. Back then around nine out of ten Irish Catholics would attend weekly mass. Contraception, divorce and abortion were illegal. It will be a very different Ireland Pope Francis will visit this time. While there…

At the Detroit church where she first played the piano, at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and at her childhood home in Memphis, fans have gathered to remember Aretha Franklin, laying flowers and tributes in her honour. In Detroit, where the singer spent most of her life, she had become their favourite daughter. Few people,…