SOMETIMES it is because churches are places of such beauty or history that silence is the only appropriate response. Sometimes – but not always. Free article

GERRY ADAMS recently referred to the fact that Ulster Unionists have a big problem with equality. The question must therefore be asked, why? Free article

THE YEAR 1915 opened with James Connolly in command of the Irish Citizen Army, editor of the Irish Worker newspaper, and acting General Secretary of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. He replaced General Secretary Jim Larkin who had departed for the United States the previous October. Premium service article

“IT’S a very dangerous development” is how Midlands North West MEP Matt Carthy describes attempts to include a mechanism in a free trade deal between the US and the EU that would allow private companies to sue national governments and force them to change their laws in the favour of big business. Free article

Sinn Féin MLA Chris Hazzard responds to May Blood’s article in An Phoblacht on integrated education Free article

THE BLIND – and indeed ignorant – subservience of the Irish Government and the main opinion-formers to all things European (including the ill-fated euro currency and its strong nexus with the US dollar) risks leaving our country outside the new dynamic focus of global economics as the major developing nations create a challenge to the domination of the dollar in world affairs. Premium service article

ARRESTED when he was just 17, Ibrahim Halawa has been held in prison in Egypt since August 2013 on trumped-up charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Free article

CÉIM THÁBHACHTACH do eacnamaíocht na tíre seo ab ea cuairt an Uachtarán Higgins ar an tSín an mhí seo caite – cuairt a d’fháiltigh rialtas na Síne go fial roimhe is a osclaíonn doirse infheistíocht dúinn ón tSín. Free article

Walter Macken – Time for the Galwayman to be recognised as one of Ireland’s greatest writers, says Robert Allen Premium service article

Anti-TTIP movement comes together in European Parliament, Juncker’s direct interference in Greek politics must end, Failure ‘not an option’ for Turkish/Kurdish peace process, Coherent policies needed to combat illegal wildlife trade and MEP urges Irish Government to stop buying from Israeli military suppliers Free article

FORTY YEARS after the assassination in County Monaghan of John Francis Green, exactly which arm of the British state was behind this cross-Border violation of a neighbouring state’s territory and the execution of an Irish citizen is still shrouded in mystery and secrecy. Premium service article

Book reviews: The Legendary ‘Lugs’ Branigan – Ireland’s Most Famed Garda and The Glorious Madness: Tales of the Irish and the Great War Free article