YouTube videos ‘blacklisted’ before abortion referendum

Google has admitted that it “blacklisted” a significant number of videos on YouTube ahead of last year’s abortion referendum, and interfered with search results. This newspaper was also directly affected by the interference. Voters who searched for certain terms had the results of their searches manually altered by Google, ensuring that videos chosen by the…

Slow down on fast fashion

Vintage clothes offer a solution to our ecological and fashion crisis, writes Madison Duddy   In today’s world, fashion is one the largest polluting industries in the world. With severe ecological damage caused from ink that contaminates local streams to the unrecyclable plastic that ends up in the ocean or a landfill, dealing the fashion…

Ambition’s fall from grace

Frenzy and Betrayal. The Anatomy of a Political Assassination by Alan Shatter (Merrion Press, €19.95) Joe 
Carroll   Alan Shatter has had to wait five years to give his version of his political downfall in May 2014 and the long ordeal of having his name cleared by two commissions of enquiry and finally the Supreme Court.…

Archbishop Sheen’s sainthood cause resumes

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s remains have been transferred from the Archdiocese of New York to Peoria, Illinois, after three years of litigation, clearing the way for the former archbishop’s sainthood cause to go forward. Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria announced that Sheen’s remains had been transferred from St Patrick Cathedral, New York, to the Cathedral…

Bringing Jesus onto the streets

Under persistent heavy rain and a grey overcast sky, the annual Corpus Christi Procession assembled after the 2.00pm Polish Mass, at St Conleth’s Parish Church, Kildare, to make its way down to St Eustace’s Dominican Grounds for Solemn open-air Benediction. Nothing deterred the enthusiastic participation of the congregation. Under an exquisitely embroidered antique canopy provided…

Security of Iraqi Christians still lacking

The security of Christians in Northern Iraq remains “tenuous” and will require close attention in the future, the US State Department’s religious freedom ambassador has told members of Congress. While the situation is “far better in Northern Iraq right now” for Yazidis and Christians, who in 2016 were recognised by the State Department as genocide…