Garda probe continues following death of woman on ferry
A man continues to be questioned by gardai following the death of a woman on board a passenger ferry.
The incident occurred on a 2pm Stena Nordica sailing from Fishguard in Wales to Rosslare Europort, and the ferry docked in Co Wexford.
Emergency services were alerted to the incident shortly after 5pm and boarded the ship upon its arrival.
A woman was pronounced dead at the scene, which was then preserved for an examination.
A garda spokesperson said: 'A man was arrested in connection with the investigation and is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda Station in the eastern region.'
A number of Stena Nordica services were cancelled to assist with the garda investigation. The next expected departure will be at 7.30pm from Rosslare.
A Stena Line spokesperson said: 'As this is a live police matter, we cannot provide any further detail on the incident at this time.'
Rosslare Europort said all other services are operating as normal.
Wexford councillor Ger Carthy said locals reacted with 'shock and sadness' at the news.
'I think the reaction here locally was one of shock and indeed sadness at what transpired on board the Stena Nordica en route to Rosslare Port here and the tragic events that unfolded,' he said.
'What transpired here last night and the response that was given by the gardai and the state agencies was second to none. There was a large presence here of specialist units and indeed the national ambulance and a large number of vehicles at the scene.'
Gardai said investigations into the incident are ongoing.
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Newsweek
9 hours ago
- Newsweek
New '1984' Foreword Includes Warning About 'Problematic' Characters
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The 75th anniversary edition of George Orwell's novel 1984, which coined the term "thoughtcrime" to describe the act of having thoughts that question the ruling party's ideology, has become an ironic lightning rod in debates over alleged trigger warnings and the role of historical context in classic literature. The introduction to the new edition, endorsed by Orwell's estate and written by the American author Dolen Perkins-Valdezm, is at the center of the storm, drawing fire from conservative commentators as well as public intellectuals, and prompting a wide spectrum of reaction from academics who study Orwell's work. Perkins-Valdez opens the introduction with a self-reflective exercise: imagining what it would be like to read 1984 for the first time today. She writes that "a sliver of connection can be difficult for someone like me to find in a novel that does not speak much to race and ethnicity," noting the complete absence of Black characters. She also describes her pause at the protagonist Winston Smith's "despicable" misogyny, but ultimately chooses to continue reading, writing: "I know the difference between a flawed character and a flawed story." "I'm enjoying the novel on its own terms, not as a classic but as a good story; that is, until Winston reveals himself to be a problematic character," she writes. "For example, we learn of him: 'He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones.' Whoa, wait a minute, Orwell." That framing was enough to provoke sharp critique from novelist and essayist Walter Kirn on the podcast America This Week, co-hosted with journalist Matt Taibbi. Kirn characterized the foreword as a kind of ideological overreach. "Thank you for your trigger warning for 1984," he said. "It is the most 1984ish thing I've ever f***ing read." In which you will learn that the current leading paperback version of 1984, its official Orwell-estate-approved 75th anniversary edition, includes a 1984-ish trigger-warning introduction calling the novel's hero "problematic" because of his "misogyny." I am not making this up. — Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) June 2, 2025 Later in the episode, which debuted on June 1, Kirn blasted what he saw as an imposed "permission structure" by publishers and academic elites. "It's a sort of Ministry of Truthism," he said, referring to the Ministry of Truth that features prominently in the dystopian novel. "They're giving you a little guidebook to say, 'Here's how you're supposed to feel when you read this.'" Conservative commentator such as Ed Morrissey described the foreword as part of "an attempt to rob [Orwell's work] of meaning by denigrating it as 'problematic.'" Morrissey argued that trigger warnings on literary classics serve to "distract readers at the start from its purpose with red herrings over issues of taste." But not all responses aligned with that view. Academic Rebuttal Peter Brian Rose-Barry, a philosophy professor at Saginaw Valley State University and author of George Orwell: The Ethics of Equality, disputed the entire premise. "There just isn't [a trigger warning]," he told Newsweek in an email after examining the edition. "She never accuses Orwell of thoughtcrime. She never calls for censorship or cancelling Orwell." In Rose-Barry's view, the foreword is neither invasive nor ideological, but reflective. "Perkins-Valdez suggests in her introduction that 'love and artistic beauty can act as healing forces in a totalitarian state,'" he noted. "Now, I find that deeply suspect... but I'd use this introduction to generate a discussion in my class." Taibbi and Kirn, by contrast, took issue with that exact line during the podcast. "Love heals? In 1984?" Taibbi asked. "The whole thing ends with Winston broken, saying he loves Big Brother," the symbol of the totalitarian state at the heart of the book. Kirn laughed and added, "It's the kind of revisionist uplift you get from a book club discussion after someone just watched The Handmaid's Tale." Photographs of Eric Blair, whose pen name was George Orwell, from his Metropolitan Police file, c.1940. Photographs of Eric Blair, whose pen name was George Orwell, from his Metropolitan Police file, c.1940. The National Archives UK Perkins-Valdez, a Black writer, Harvard graduate and professor of literature at American University, also noted the novel's lack of racial representation: "That sliver of connection can be difficult for someone like me to find in a novel that does not speak much to race and ethnicity at all." Kirn responded to that sentiment on the show by pointing out that Orwell was writing about midcentury Britain: "When Orwell wrote the book, Black people made up maybe one percent of the population. It's like expecting white characters in every Nigerian novel." Richard Keeble, former chair of the Orwell Society, argued that critiques of Orwell's treatment of race and gender have long been part of academic discourse. "Questioning Orwell's representation of Blacks in 1984 can usefully lead us to consider the evolution of his ideas on race generally," he told Newsweek. "Yet Orwell struggled throughout his life, and not with complete success, to exorcise what Edward Said called 'Orientalism.'" Keeble added, "Trigger warnings and interpretative forewords... join the rich firmament of Orwellian scholarship—being themselves open to critique and analysis." Cultural Overreach The 75th anniversary edition of George Orwell's 1984 has become a lightning rod in debates over alleged wokeness, censorship and the role of historical context in reading classic literature. The 75th anniversary edition of George Orwell's 1984 has become a lightning rod in debates over alleged wokeness, censorship and the role of historical context in reading classic literature. Newsweek / Penguin Random House While critics like Kirn view Perkins-Valdez's new foreword as a symptom of virtue signaling run amok, others see it as part of a long-standing literary dialogue. Laura Beers, a historian at American University and author of Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century, acknowledged that such reactions reflect deeper political divides. But she defended the legitimacy of approaching Orwell through modern ethical and social lenses. "What makes 1984 such a great novel is that it was written to transcend a specific historical context," she told Newsweek. "Although it has frequently been appropriated by the right as a critique of 'socialism,' it was never meant to be solely a critique of Stalin's Russia." Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Courtesy American University "Rather," she added, "it was a commentary on how absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the risk to all societies, including democracies like Britain and the United States, of the unchecked concentration of power." Beers also addressed the role of interpretive material in shaping the reading experience. "Obviously, yes, in that 'interpretive forewords' give a reader an initial context in which to situate the texts that they are reading," she said. "That said, such forewords are more often a reflection on the attitudes and biases of their own time." While the foreword has prompted the familiar battle lines playing out across the Trump-era culture wars, Beers sees the conversation itself as in keeping with Orwell's legacy. "By attempting to place Orwell's work in conversation with changing values and historical understandings in the decades since he was writing," she said, "scholars like Perkins-Valdez are exercising the very freedom to express uncomfortable and difficult opinions that Orwell explicitly championed."
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man extradited from Dubai charged with murder
A man who was extradited to the Republic of Ireland from the United Arab Emirates has been charged with murder and other charges relating to directing the activities of a criminal organisation. Sean McGovern, 39, appeared before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin amid high security on Friday. Appearing before three judges, Mr McGovern was charged with five offences, Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported. He was charged with the murder of Noel Kirwan, who was shot in Dublin in December 2016 as part of the feud between the Hutch and Kinahan criminal gangs. He was further charged that between 20 October and 22 December 2016 he had directed activity that led to the murder of Mr Kirwan. And a charge relating to the participation in a criminal organisation contrary to section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act. He was also charged with two other offences, of directing the activities of a criminal organisation in relation to monitoring the activity of James Gately, and another charge of facilitating a conspiracy to murder Mr Gately. A lawyer for Mr McGovern said he had spoken to his client about the schedule of charges and told the court that they were reserving their position in relation to the lawfulness of the arrest and the jurisdiction of the court. Mr McGovern was arrested in the United Arab Emirates last October after an Interpol red notice was issued. Shortly after his arrest, the Republic of Ireland finalised an agreement on an extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates. Mr McGovern was handed over to gardaí (Irish police) in Dubai on Wednesday. He was transported back to Ireland in an Irish military plane on Thursday and formally arrested by police investigating the activities of the Kinahan crime gang when the aircraft landed at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel. He was remanded in custody and is to appear in court next week.
New York Times
28-05-2025
- New York Times
24 Books Coming in June
The First Gentleman For their third thriller together, Clinton and Patterson dream up a political nightmare: The president's husband is on trial for murder as she is up for re-election. Two journalists dig into the first gentleman's past, which includes an N.F.L. stint. 'We're admittedly pretty tough on our fictional presidents,' Clinton has said of himself and his writing partner — putting it mildly. Flashlight One night, a man and his 10-year-old daughter take a walk on a beach; the next day, the girl is found nearly dead, and her father has disappeared. Choi's latest novel tells the sweeping story of this fractured family: Serk, the father, an ethnic Korean man born in Japan who emigrates to the United States in the 1960s; his former wife, Anne, an American dealing with the fallout of mistakes in her youth; and their daughter, Louisa, whose childhood is defined by crisis and pain. Atmosphere The best-selling author of 'Daisy Jones and the Six' and 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' turns to the skies for her latest novel. Joan is selected as one of the first women to join NASA's astronaut corps and quickly proves to be a formidable, even-keeled member of her cohort. The book opens in 1984 with a mission gone awry, and leapfrogs from there between the crisis and Joan's pre-NASA life, training and eventual love story with a colleague. The Listeners Stiefvater, a popular young adult fantasy author, makes her adult debut with this supernatural twist on a real but seldom discussed part of American history. Set during World War II, 'The Listeners' follows June, the manager of the luxurious Avallon Hotel in West Virginia, who is forced by the government to comfortably house captured Axis diplomats. It's an ethically fraught assignment on its own, but the presence of these contemptible guests also threatens the magical springs that run underneath the hotel. The Catch Daley-Ward, a poet and memoirist, turns to fiction with this psychological thriller about twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who were separated as children after their mother's death. Thirty years later, they are reunited — each spiraling in her own way. But when Clara sees a woman who seems to be their mother, but who hasn't aged a day since she vanished, it upends everything the sisters thought they knew. The Dry Season Reeling from the end of a 'ravaging vortex' of a relationship, Febos — a self-described serial monogamist who gave up alcohol and drugs at 23 — decides to give up sex and dating at 35, if only for three months. 'To my great surprise,' she writes, those months become 'the happiest of my life,' and turn into a year. This ode to female celibacy interweaves personal memoir with literary and historical research, incorporating the influence of Sappho, Virginia Woolf, Octavia E. Butler and others. Mother Emanuel When a white supremacist murdered nine congregants during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015, he struck at the heart of an institution central not only to Black life in the city but also to the history of the South. Sack's sweeping account, a decade in the making, situates the massacre within a larger story about the rise of the African Methodist Episcopal Church during the 19th century, its role as a champion of Black resistance and civil rights, and the often brutal efforts by white authorities to restrict its members' freedom. Buckley William F. Buckley Jr. — American conservatism's most eloquent pundit, the founder of National Review magazine, host of 'Firing Line,' columnist, novelist and champion debater — left an outsize imprint on the political right before it was overtaken by MAGA. Tanenhaus's immersive authorized biography recounts a singular life rich with incident (and a few scandals), from Buckley's affluent Catholic childhood to his apotheosis as a political kingmaker who grasped better than almost anyone else how to adapt politics to the media age. What Is Queer Food? In this ambitious work of social history, Birdsall unspools the story of how queer culture has informed what we eat. From the restaurant world to the AIDS crisis, the recipes of Alice B. Toklas and the preferences of Truman Capote, Birdsall presents a soup-to-nuts-to-brunch-to-all-night-diner portrait of the inextricable link between queerness and food that's as much cultural criticism as delicious celebration. The Gunfighters In this chronicle of the way real-life cowboys and their high-noon duels captured American attention in the late 1800s, Burrough takes readers on a wild tour of the West, complete with roaming buffalo, lawless lawmen and gunfights galore. His focus is Texas, a crucible of violent mythmaking and transformative change, where Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and more loped their way into legend. Charlottesville Shocked by the violence unleashed by the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. — her hometown — in 2017, Baker returned to the city to try to understand the factors that led to that weekend and, eventually, to the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Encompassing activists, clergy, students and politicians, as well as neo-Nazis and white supremacists, her account draws on her knowledge of local and Southern history to create a deeply researched, and deeply felt, portrait of contemporary America. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil Schwab, best known for books like 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue' and 'Vicious,' returns with a time-sweeping, character-juggling, lesbian vampire mystery. Jumping between 1532 Spain, 1827 London and 2019 Boston, the novel follows three women, all woefully constricted by societal conventions. Each is given the power to change her fate — transformations that come with new appetites and huge risks. Great Black Hope Less than a gram of cocaine in his pocket launches Smith, the protagonist of Franklin's debut novel, into an ordeal involving the criminal justice system, intense personal reflection and the many complexities of being a queer, Stanford-educated Black man facing both high expectations and low opinions from his own friends and family. So Far Gone The latest novel by the best-selling author of 'Beautiful Ruins' is a family caper set in rural northeastern Washington State, where a retired environmental journalist has lived for years in utter seclusion — no phone, no running water, only a single dirt road connecting him to the outside world. That is, until one spring day when his grandchildren, ages 9 and 13, arrive on his doorstep to tell him that their mother, his daughter, has gone missing. King of Ashes Cosby's latest thriller is a high-octane story of a family imploding. Roman Carruthers is a successful wealth manager in Atlanta who is suddenly called home to Virginia after a car crash leaves his father in a coma. Roman soon discovers that his father isn't the only one struggling: His brother is being hounded by gangsters to whom he owes a tremendous debt, his sister is worn down taking care of the family business, and, it turns out, the car crash that injured their father might not have been an accident after all. Murderland This work of speculative true crime by a Pulitzer Prize winner returns Fraser to the Pacific Northwest where she grew up, a region once known for both its toxic industry — including a mammoth copper smelter in Tacoma, Wa. — and its serial killers. Fraser provocatively connects the two, tracing suggestive links between the poisoned air, water and soil, and the violence perpetrated by men like Ted Bundy, Charles Manson and Gary Ridgway. The Sisters The three Mikkola girls have always been different; the daughters of an eccentric Tunisian mother and an absent Swedish father, they never quite seemed to fit with the people around them. As the sisters crisscross the world from Stockholm to Tunis to New York, their lives are recounted by their childhood friend Jonas, who is also Swedish Tunisian — and who closely resembles the author. Fox Oates's new novel — we've given up trying to count them — centers on Francis Fox, a predatory middle-school teacher who charms parents and colleagues but grooms and abuses his female students. When Francis disappears and human remains are found near his car, a detective must piece together the story of his sordid past. Bug Hollow It's the mid-1970s in the California suburbs when the teenage baseball star Ellis Samuelson goes missing, and then dies in a freak accident only weeks after he's returned. Huneven's sprawling family epic follows the ripple effects of this event across generations of the Samuelson clan — from Ellis's alcoholic mother and adulterous but well-meaning father to his younger sisters, his pregnant girlfriend and their daughter. Sounds Like Love In Poston's latest paranormal romance, Joni, a songwriter whose inspiration has run dry, returns to her North Carolina hometown hoping to get her musical groove back. As she navigates strained friendships and family drama, she starts hearing a faint melody in her head, along with a man's voice — which turns out to belong to Sasha, a musician who is just as flummoxed by their psychic connection as she is. Hoping it will cut off their access to each other's most intimate thoughts, the pair agree to work together to turn the melody into a song. The Möbius Book Start from the front cover of Lacey's latest and you're reading a novella about two women chatting about a third friend over drinks — while a puddle of blood pools nearby. Flip it over and you're reading a memoir in which Lacey takes stock of a relationship gone south. Is there a connection? Leave it to the gnarly author of 'Biography of X' to put you to work. Claire McCardell The designer Claire McCardell is often credited as the inventor of American sportswear — practical separates, flats, wrap dresses, pocketed skirts and zippers women could do up themselves. In the hands of Dickinson, this is more than just the biography of a fashion revolutionary: It is a story of the fight for women's identity and, incidentally, the birth of an American industry. The Compound In a house in the middle of a desert, 19 men and women — all young, single and attractive — flirt and compete for 'rewards' that range from the necessary (wood to build a front door, sunscreen, food) to the luxurious (makeup, clothing, diamond earrings). They are contestants on a reality show whose ominously enforced rules prohibit sharing any detail of their personal lives — and dictate that anyone who sleeps alone, e.g. without a member of the opposite sex, will be expelled. Rawle's eerie debut is an 'Animal Farm' for our age of relentless materialism. 'Make It Ours' When Virgil Abloh was named head of men's wear for Louis Vuitton in 2018, he became the first Black designer to serve as artistic director in the brand's history. In 'Make It Ours' — a biography both of the designer's short, impactful life and of the changing face of luxury — Givhan shows how Abloh's unusual path reflected not just a sea change for one house, but an industry figuring out its place in the modern world.
