Megan Specia

By BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Flutes and drums echoed along Sandy Row, a Protestant enclave in west Belfast, and Union Jack bunting flapped overhead in the uncommonly hot summer air.

A weeklong celebration of Irish music and culture is bringing an expected 800,000 people to Northern Ireland’s capital. It’s a sign of how far the city has come decades after a bloody sectarian conflict.

Cambridge, England — When Cambridge University interviewed Jason Arday for one of the most prestigious sociology positions in the world, he was an early career scholar and underqualified, by the school's own standards.

Questions about Jason Arday’s career were as much about the prestigious university as they were about him.

Jason Arday’s story seemed too good to be true and Cambridge ignored repeated warning signs about his past

Alumina processed at a refinery in County Limerick may be feeding Russia’s war in Ukraine, an investigation suggested. There is little agreement on what to do about it.

Europe’s largest alumina refinery has come under scrutiny after an investigation reported that a large quantity of its products were possibly sold to a company that supplies Russian weapons manufacturers.

AUGHINISH, Ireland — The industrial plant rises over a flat stretch of the Shannon estuary in County Limerick, Ireland, a harsh silhouette against an otherwise picturesque landscape.

As the U.S. president heads to his Doonbeg hotel for the Irish Open, locals expressed both appreciation for the resort’s economic benefits and opposition to his politics.

DOONBEG, Ireland -- Festive bunting was strung between shops along the tiny main street in Doonbeg, a village on the west coast of Ireland.