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Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald says she will demand a referendum on Irish unity in her first phone call with Sir Keir Starmer if she wins Ireland's general election.In the second of our leader interviews, she told Sky News she would also be able to strike the right balance in dealings with US President-elect Donald Trump because women "naturally multi-task". Ms McDonald, who describes Friday's poll as "an historic opportunity" to elect Ireland's first female prime minister (taoiseach), expects a vote on Irish reunification to take place by 2030. Image: Ms McDonald with Ace Gilbert, two, and his mother Chloe Gilbert in Dublin She said: "I think that the process of reunification has to be at the heart of government."Obvio...

Warning: This article contains references to suicideOn Friday this week, MPs will debate if England and Wales should legalise assisted dying. The proposed legislation restricts it to adults with six months or less to live.Canada introduced assisted dying in 2016 for adults with a terminal illness. In 2021, it was extended to people with no terminal illness and the disabled.On 17 March 2027, anyone with a serious mental health problem will also be eligible. Campaigners in Canada argue that the programme, known as MAID [medical assistance in dying], has gone too far.Orlando Da Silva has struggled with crippling depression since he was a nine-year-old boy. The high-flying Ontario lawyer is 56 years old now and has tried to take his own life a number of times. ...

A far-right and little-known NATO critic has won the first round of Romania's presidential election after polls predicted he would win less than 10% of the vote.Calin Georgescu, an independent candidate, won with a 22.95% share, seeing off the incumbent prime minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), who had been the clear favourite to win the first round. Mr Georgescu, 62, will face off against reformist Elena Lasconi of the centre-right Save Romania Union in a run-off on 8 December. She won 19.17% of the vote.It is the first time in Romania's 35-year post-communist history that the leftist PSD has not had a candidate in the second round of a presidential race. Image: Elena Lasconi, the Save Romania Union party candidate f...

More than 30 pilot whales that washed up on a beachfront in New Zealand have been safely returned to the ocean by hundreds of people who lifted them on sheets.The whales stranded themselves on Ruakaka Beach near the city of Whangarei in New Zealand's north on Sunday, before conservation workers and members of the public helped return them to the water. Four of the pilot whales died, New Zealand's conservation agency said.A Maori cultural ceremony for the three adult whales and one calf that died took place on Monday, while a rescue team continued to monitor the water for more of the marine mammals. Image: Rescuers rope off an area around a dead pilot whale. Pic: AP Image: Res...

More than a dozen people are missing after a tourist boat sank in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, officials have said.The boat, Sea Story, was carrying 45 people, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 14 crew.Authorities are searching for 17 people who are still missing, the governor of the Red Sea region said on Monday, adding that 28 people had been rescued.The vessel was part of a diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam.Officials said a distress call was received at 5.30am local time on Monday.The boat had departed from Porto Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday and was scheduled to reach its destination of Hurghada Marina on 29 November.Some survivors had been rescued using a helicopter, officials said.It was not immediately clear what caused the fo...