Irish Times

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have apparently struck up a friendship. In an interview with the Irish Times, McIlroy, the ranked No. 1 in the world, told the newspaper that the golf stars have a fun, light-hearted replationship.  “Tiger gives me stick about being short,” McIlroy said . “He always asks me, 'Seriously, how tall are you?' I'll say, '5-foot-9.' 'Yeah, but without the hair? That's 5-7, right?' He'll ask me, 'What do you do when Caroline [Wozniacki, McIlroy's girlfriend]

The death of an ailing woman who was refused an abortion in an Irish hospital has inflamed longstanding concern about Ireland's tight restrictions on when women can terminate a pregnancy. Praveen Halappanavar told the Irish Times that his wife, Savita, was suffering intense pain and had been told her baby would not survive. Upset but resigned to losing her child, she was denied an abortion despite repeated pleas with their Galway hospital as she suffered shakes and vomiting, Halappanavar told the newspaper.

Douglas Gageby, who transformed the Irish Times from the voice of Ireland's dwindling Protestant minority into the most respected newspaper on the island, has died. He was 85. Gageby, who edited the newspaper from 1963 to 1974 and again from 1977 to 1986, died Thursday in Dublin after a two-year illness, his family and former co-workers said. He was cremated Saturday after a private family funeral.

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have apparently struck up a friendship. In an interview with the Irish Times, McIlroy, the ranked No. 1 in the world, told the newspaper that the golf stars have a fun, light-hearted replationship.  “Tiger gives me stick about being short,” McIlroy said . “He always asks me, 'Seriously, how tall are you?' I'll say, '5-foot-9.' 'Yeah, but without the hair? That's 5-7, right?' He'll ask me, 'What do you do when Caroline [Wozniacki, McIlroy's girlfriend]

Maeve Binchy, who was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed authors in contemporary Irish literature, selling more than 40 million books, died Monday at a Dublin hospital after a brief illness, according to Irish media. She was 72. "We have lost a national treasure," said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. A former teacher and journalist, Binchy didn't publish her first novel, "Light a Penny Candle," until 1982, the year she turned 42. Like many of her books, it was set in an Irish village and follows two girls growing up in the aftermath of World War II. When it became a commercial success, the author compared it to winning the lottery.

Madonna vs. Sinead: Madonna has attacked Irish singer Sinead O'Connor for ripping up a picture of the Pope John Paul II on "Saturday Night Live" earlier this month. "I think there is a better way to present her ideas rather than ripping up an image that means a lot to other people," Madonna said in an interview with the Irish Times. "While I may agree with her theory, I cannot agree with her approach."

The death of an ailing woman who was refused an abortion in an Irish hospital has inflamed longstanding concern about Ireland's tight restrictions on when women can terminate a pregnancy. Praveen Halappanavar told the Irish Times that his wife, Savita, was suffering intense pain and had been told her baby would not survive. Upset but resigned to losing her child, she was denied an abortion despite repeated pleas with their Galway hospital as she suffered shakes and vomiting, Halappanavar told the newspaper.

Ireland's opposition Fianna Fail party was heading for a narrow win over Prime Minister John Bruton's ruling coalition in Friday's parliamentary elections, according to an exit poll in today's Irish Times. But the survey indicated that Fianna Fail and its Progressive Democratic allies may not have enough of the 166 seats in Parliament to form a government on their own, it said.

Ireland last week postponed St. Patrick's Day parades in the cities of Dublin, Cork and Limerick, suspended horse and greyhound races, closed its national parks and the Dublin Zoo and suspended play at more than a dozen golf courses in an effort to dodge the foot-and-mouth disease that has brought a farm crisis in England.

No writer wants to be called “cozy,” right?  Satirical, mordant, horrifying, bold, funny - anything but that word. Yet coziness is what Maeve Binchy delivered in 16 novels and numerous story collections before her death this week at the age of 72 . The author's death at a Dublin hospital was announced Monday in the Irish media. Fans like Nicole Cliffe, at The Hairpin , mourned the death of Binchy, calling her the creator of “funny, sweet, intermittently tragic and extremely enjoyable novels” that reached out to readers around the world and managed to sell more than 40 million copies.

No writer wants to be called “cozy,” right?  Satirical, mordant, horrifying, bold, funny - anything but that word. Yet coziness is what Maeve Binchy delivered in 16 novels and numerous story collections before her death this week at the age of 72 . The author's death at a Dublin hospital was announced Monday in the Irish media. Fans like Nicole Cliffe, at The Hairpin , mourned the death of Binchy, calling her the creator of “funny, sweet, intermittently tragic and extremely enjoyable novels” that reached out to readers around the world and managed to sell more than 40 million copies.

Maeve Binchy, who was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed authors in contemporary Irish literature, selling more than 40 million books, died Monday at a Dublin hospital after a brief illness, according to Irish media. She was 72. "We have lost a national treasure," said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. A former teacher and journalist, Binchy didn't publish her first novel, "Light a Penny Candle," until 1982, the year she turned 42. Like many of her books, it was set in an Irish village and follows two girls growing up in the aftermath of World War II. When it became a commercial success, the author compared it to winning the lottery.

The last time a British monarch set foot in the south of Ireland, the Emerald Isle was still a jewel in his crown and its people were still his subjects. The king was George V, and his visit took place a century ago. On Tuesday, his granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, became the first of his successors to follow in his footsteps, but she came as the head of state of a foreign country, on an official visit to a proudly independent republic. Her historic four-day trip is testament to the new reality of Anglo-Irish relations, a seal on the reconciliation of two nations bound by a complicated and bloody past.

Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday became the first British monarch ever to visit an independent Ireland, a historic trip that shows how far Anglo-Irish relations have come. The queen arrived in Dublin on Tuesday morning, landing at a military airbase named after an Irish nationalist whom the British executed for treason in 1916. Later, in a solemn and highly symbolic ceremony, she laid a wreath in a garden dedicated to those who died in the struggle to free Ireland from the often harsh rule of her ancestors.

Anna Manahan, 84, a leading Irish actress who won a Tony Award in 1998 for her role as the nasty mother Mag in "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" on Broadway, died Sunday in her hometown of Waterford, Ireland, after a long illness, Irish newspapers reported. Thirty years before winning that best actress Tony in Martin McDonagh's play, Manahan had been nominated for her acting in a 1968 Broadway staging of "Lovers" by another Irish playwright, Brian Friel. In recent years she had gained prominence as an advocate for the elderly, criticizing the Irish government's plans to trim health benefits for senior citizens.

Nuala O'Faolain, the Irish journalist and author whose 1996 memoir, "Are You Somebody?," captured international attention for its soul-searching candor, died May 9 in a Dublin hospice of complications from lung cancer, according to news reports from Ireland. She was 68. O'Faolain, a resident of Barrtra in County Clare, Ireland, with homes in Dublin and New York City, recently announced that she had inoperable lung cancer and she had turned down the option of chemotherapy, choosing instead to travel in Europe until she had to be hospitalized.

Anna Manahan, 84, a leading Irish actress who won a Tony Award in 1998 for her role as the nasty mother Mag in "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" on Broadway, died Sunday in her hometown of Waterford, Ireland, after a long illness, Irish newspapers reported. Thirty years before winning that best actress Tony in Martin McDonagh's play, Manahan had been nominated for her acting in a 1968 Broadway staging of "Lovers" by another Irish playwright, Brian Friel. In recent years she had gained prominence as an advocate for the elderly, criticizing the Irish government's plans to trim health benefits for senior citizens.

Mention his name--or, rather, any of the three names he used--and it is like one of those codes used by secret societies. If you get a blank stare, you know you're dealing with one of the uninitiated. But if there is an immediate smile (always a smile), you know you're in the company of a fellow member, another admirer of Brian O'Nolan, or Flann O'Brien, or Myles na Gopaleen. A good case can be made that after James Joyce, Myles (the name Dubliners use) was Ireland's greatest modern writer.

Do yourself a favor: If you're the sort inclined to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this month, skip the badly pulled pint of Guinness, the hordes of amateur drinkers and the warmed-over Republican ballads at some local faux-Irish bar. Instead, go to a bookstore; buy Benjamin Black's new mystery novel, "The Silver Swan." Go directly home. If you live with others, send them away. Pour yourself a quiet drink and settle into your best chair for an authentic dose of Irish angst and wit, wondrous writing and about as undiluted an evening's pleasure as reading can provide.

IN the 19 years since he's been living in the States, Young Dubliners frontman Keith Roberts has missed playing exactly one St. Patrick's Day. Three years ago in Miami, the band was booked for an outdoor gig. "It lashed rain and we didn't get to play," Roberts recalls. On Saturday, the Dubliners will be playing in San Diego. However, Roberts wants the L.A. faithful to know the band has not abandoned them.