The US Congress gave Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern a rousing farewell on Wednesday as he hailed ties between Ireland and the US just days before he plans to step down as leader.
In one of his final acts on the world stage, Ahern also looked back on the peace he helped craft in Northern Ireland.
??fter decades of conflict, I am so proud to be the first Irish leader to inform the United States Congress that Ireland is at peace,??he said.
Speaking at a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives, Ahern said that Ireland and the US have a relationship forged by generations of Irish immigrants.
??o be an Irishman among Americans is to be at home,??he said.
Ahern entered the packed chamber of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday to ceremony and a standing ovation.
The leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, invited Ahern two months ago in recognition of his peacemaking efforts and tenure as one of Europe?? longest-serving leaders.
Ahern is widely credited with helping to achieve the Good Friday peace accord of 1998 for the neighboring British territory of Northern Ireland and for overseeing the longest economic expansion in Ireland?? history.
The Irish economy, heavily dependent on the involvement of more than 600 US companies, is facing a challenging period of slowing growth and rising unemployment.
After highlighting the contribution of the many waves of Irish immigrants to the US, Ahern made a plea for a deal that would allow Irish citizens who live in the US illegally to obtain US residency.
Ahern has been criticized in the past for not championing the cause of the undocumented Irish workers.
??e hope you??l be able to find a solution to their plight,??he said.
Ahern arrived in Washington on Tuesday. The jet-lagged Irish delegation was woken up shortly after 4am on Wednesday morning by a fire alarm at their hotel that forced the building?? evacuation for about an hour. Ahern?? office has released a statement saying a generator on the roof of the hotel overheated and burned out. The US Secret Service took Bertie Ahern to an undisclosed ??ecure location??until everyone was allowed to return to their rooms.
Ahern is traveling with his daughter Cecelia Ahern, 26, who is one of Ireland?? most popular novelists.
The prime minister is stepping down on Tuesday as a judicial investigation proceeds into secret payments he received from businessmen in the 1990s. He is being replaced the following day by Irish Finance Minister Brian Cowen.
Before making his shock resignation announcement this month, Ahern had faced mounting criticism for his shaky, unconvincing testimony to a decade-old corruption tribunal established by his own government.
Ahern initially claimed that he received cash payments from friends in 1993 and 1994 to help him cope with a 1987 marital separation. But subsequent investigations have indicated that Ahern also received undisclosed payments in British pounds and US dollars, which Ahern denies, and took party funds for his personal benefit.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS