The Irish agriculture minister, Dara Calleary, has resigned after he flouted coronavirus lockdown rules by sitting down to a golf dinner attended by more than 80 people.
The Irish Examiner reported that Mr Calleary attended an Oireachtas Golf Society event at a County Galway hotel on Wednesday.
However, public health advice prohibits indoor gatherings of more than six people to slow the spread of the virus.
Ireland's EU Commissioner Phil Hogan was also a guest at the dinner, local media reported.
Less than a day before the event, the Irish government said it would reverse some of its lockdown easing measures to deal with a surge of Covid-19 cases.
The agriculture minister apologised on Twitter for attending the dinner on Thursday.
"In light of the updated public health guidance this week I should not have attended the event," he said.
"I wish to apologise unreservedly to the public, from whom we are asking quite a lot at this difficult time. I also offer this apology and my sincere regret to my government colleagues."
Other local media reported Mr Calleary had apologised to the Taoiseach, and contacted the leaders of Fine Gael and the Green Party.
On Wednesday, Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the republic was “at the tipping point” after weekly cases surged from 61 a few weeks ago to 533 last week.
As well as restricting social gatherings indoors, crowds attending outdoor events, including sports, have since been reduced from 200 to 15.
Those aged over 70 are again being asked to shelter in their homes as much as possible and workers are encouraged to work remotely.
There are more than 27,600 known cases of Covid-19 in Ireland and the country has seen over 1,700 deaths.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Film: In Syria
Dir: Philippe Van Leeuw
Starring: Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bo Abboud, Mohsen Abbas and Juliette Navis
Verdict: Four stars
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Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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10.
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South Korea
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
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Scores
Day 2
New Zealand 153 & 56-1
Pakistan 227
New Zealand trail by 18 runs with nine wickets remaining
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
