PlayStation held a State of Play conference last night to show off their latest games, and fans were not left disappointed.
The State of Play took the place of the traditional E3 conference, and in the presentation Sony gave fans bang for their buck, with some exciting titles for their upcoming PlayStation VR 2 officially announced, as well as some blockbuster titles.
‘Street Fighter 6’ and ‘Final Fantasy XVI’ were given a first look at the show, as well as some exciting ‘Resident Evil’ news.
The beloved ‘Resident Evil 4’ will receive the full HD treatment that its predecessors received and last year’s brilliant ‘Resident Evil Village’ will be playable on Sony’s new PlayStation VR 2 headset.
‘Resident Evil 4’ has more ports than an island at this stage, but this is a HD remake in the vein of the ‘Resident Evil 2 and 3’ that rebuilds the game from the ground up.
Considering how ‘Resident Evil 4’ more or less invented the third-person shooter as we know, we are interested to see if Capcom decides to innovate further or merely celebrate their hit by giving it a fresh coat of paint.
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Cork navigated their way past a sticky yet limited Louth side at a wet Páirc Uí Chaoimh to reach the final twelve teams in the All-Ireland championship.
Brian Hurley and Steven Sherlock especially will get the plaudits, but Colm O’Callaghan’s goal in additional time proved vital as they finally shook off Mickey Harte’s side in the finish.
Louth’s modus operandi on the day was to keep things tight as possible on the scoreboard and squeeze out an underdog victory.
That meant men behind the ball and some dogged defending and as soon as the ball was thrown-in Louth didn’t disguise their intentions.
Cork duo Sherlock and Hurley still found a way to open up an early three point lead.
Louth’s game plan remained in tact and received a timely boost when Liam Jackson countered to the net to wipe out Cork’s advantage with 17 minutes played.
Cork responded through Sherlock landing three of the next four scores, Sam Mulroy opened his account in reply.
The Wee County needed the lead but Sherlock’s place kicking was exemplary.
Both sides of the large field, off the ground or out of his hand the St. Finbarrs man punished Louth and rewarded Cork for patient attacks.
The second half was still all to play for and weighed down with intrigue thanks to Louth’s Dan Corcoran coming from corner back to leave one point between the sides, 0-07 to 1-03 at the turn.
Mulroy and Sherlock traded a pair of free’s a piece but it was beginning to unravel for Louth slightly in terms of loose possession.
Mattie Taylor was excelling and was a constant outlet to get the hosts up the field and championship debutant Chris Kelly in the Cork goal broke Louth spirits with a wonderful double save to deny John Clutterbuck and replacement Ciarán Keenan from close range.
Leesiders captain, Hurley sensed the kill and duly applied the pressure with a classy point before finishing off a move to the net engineered by the brilliant Seán Powter.
That left five between the sides but Louth went all in and quickly scored three in a row, both Jackson brothers, Liam and Tom, either side of a Ciarán Downey effort.
Then the powerful O’Callaghan, Cork’s only other scorer in the shot shy contest, barrelled his way through for what would prove to be the clinching goal as Louth substitute Conor Grimes would goal instantly in reply.
There would be no ambush for Louth as Sherlock applied the finish with a free to bring the stodgy affair to a close.
Cork: Chris Kelly; Kevin O’Donovan, Maurice Shanley, Seán Powter; John Cooper, Rory Maguire, Mattie Taylor; Colm O’Callaghan (1-00), Ian Maguire; John O’Rourke, Eoghan McSweeney, Dan Dineen; Steven Sherlock (0-08, 0-06fs, 0-0145′), Brian Hurley (1-04, 0-01m), Cathail O’Mahony.
Subs: Brian Hayes for O’Mahony (ht), Damien Gore for O’Rourke (51), Tadhg Corkery for Powter (69), Cian Kiely for Dineen (70), Paul Walsh for McSweeney (74).
Louth: James Califf; Dan Corcoran (0-01), Bevan Duffy, Donal McKenny; Conall McKeever, Niall Sharkey, Liam Jackson (1-01); Conor Early, John Clutterbuck; Craig Lennon, Sam Mulroy (0-04, 0-04fs), Ryan Burns; Daire McConnon, Ciarán Downey (0-01), Daire Nally.
Subs: Ciarán Keenan for Burns (44), Tommy Durnin for Early (45), Leonard Grey for McKeever (62), Conor Grimes (1-00) for Nally (65), Tom Jackson 0-1 for Lennon (66).
Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford).
Leinster 76
Glasgow Warriors 14
FOR ALL OF of 14 minutes, Glasgow threatened to make this United Rugby Championship quarter-final interesting.
After a strong start the visitors led Leinster 7-0, Zander Fagerson crossing for a try which was just reward for their early dominance. They couldn’t, could they?
It quickly became apparent that there was to be no upset on the cards as Leinster stormed to a 76-14 win which sets up a semi-final clash against the Bulls at the RDS next Friday night.
However in those opening stages, it very much felt like the morning after the night before for a Leinster side who this day last week, came agonisingly close to capturing a fifth European title.
Glasgow played all the rugby and enjoyed all the territory, camped inside the Leinster 22 in scenes reminiscent of those closing 10 minutes in Marseille.
Just four minutes were on the clock when Fagerson burrowed under Andrew Porter to put Glasgow ahead, an interesting twist at the start of a game that always threatened to be a tricky proposition for Leinster, a crowd just north of 9,000 a disappointing turnout for a knock-out fixture.
The concession of a penalty at the first scrum of the day added to the early sense of unease as Leinster struggled to settle into the contest.
Then just like that, the game flipped. During a congested passage of play on the left wing, Glasgow lock Richie Gray sent an elbow crashing into the face of Jamison Gibson-Park. The crowd wanted red, but referee Andrea Piardi opted for yellow.
Leinster would hit Glasgow for three tries while Gray watched on from the sideline.
Dan Sheehan was first over the line for the hosts, powering over from a strong driving maul on with the first passage of play following Gray’s exit.
Glasgow’s Jamie Bhatti, Leinster’s Caelan Doris and Leinster’s Tadhg Furlong.
Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
And if that first score was all about power, the second was about speed. Jordan Larmour – a man perhaps lucky to miss out in Marseille last weekend – picked the ball up in his own half and sensed opportunity from a situation few others on the pitch would have fancied.
With one quick flash of those electric feet he was past three Glasgow defenders and deep in the Warriors half. The move almost broke down as Larmour attempted to play in Gibson-Park, but the wing was able to regather the loose ball and ensure his hard work didn’t go to waste.
In all aspects of the play, Leinster were now totally dominant as their scrum began to get the upper hand and passes started to stick.
Just a few short minutes later, 21-year-old lock Joe McCarthy was in for their third, finishing from close range and getting the rub of the green with a knock-on call, the ball knocked out of his hand by a Glasgow hand before moving forward. Ross Byrne added his third conversion of the day and Leinster were 21-7 up with 25 minutes played, one foot firmly in next weekend’s semi-finals.
Gray then returned to the action to restore Glasgow to their full complement but the damage had been done, and Leinster continued to toy with a laboured looking Warriors.
Larmour did brilliantly to rip the ball from Gregor Brown as the Glasgow flanker thought he was over for their second try of the afternoon before the hosts added their fourth, Sheehan powering over from a bulldozing Leinster maul. Byrne’s conversion struck the post as Leinster went in at the break 26-7 up.
Glasgow’s Jamie Bhatti, Leinster’s Caelan Doris and Leinster’s Tadhg Furlong.
Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO
Glasgow need a response, but the second half proved to be desperately one-sided for a what should have been a competitive playoff game.
It took just two minutes for Caelan Doris to run-in Leinster’s fifth try, the number eight beating the last defender with ease after some good work by the Leinster pack to create the space.
Byrne added the conversion before Leinster saw Tadhg Furlong make an early exit after receiving some treatment on the pitch.
His replacement, Michael Ala’alatoa had a try to his name with three minutes, the tighthead stretching over after another strong series of carries.
Larmour must have felt a little left out between all the close-contact rugby because the winger then exploded into life again to set-up a quick-fire double.
First he broke free and linked-up nicely with Gibson-Park to send the scrum-half clean through – following good work from Frawley – before bursting down the same right wing to feed Garry Ringrose, Byrne converting Gibson-Park’s score before finding the post again following Ringrose’s.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen then emptied his bench as Glasgow finally landed another punch, Kiran McDonald producing a strong carry before finding fellow replacement George Horne, with Thompson converting.
Leinster’s Rory O’Loughlin is tackled by Glasgow’s Jack Dempsey.
Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO
It was a brief spark of life from Glasgow as Leinster went up the other end and sent Larmour over, the most dangerous player on the pitch finding himself in acres of space and crossing untroubled, Byrne’s conversion sailing wildly wide as Leinster took a 57-14 lead into the closing 15 minutes.
The tries kept coming, Frawley intercepting a loose Ollie Smith pass to run in under the posts, handing Harry Byrne the simplest of tasks for his first conversion of the day.
Within a minute Luke McGrath was under the posts for try number 11 following a lovely dummy from Harry Byrne, who added the conversion as a woefully one-sided contest became farcical. With 10 minutes still to play, the scoreboard now read 71-14 in Leinster’s favour, a bad look for a playoff game at this stage of the season.
With the game long beyond doubt, Leinster’s workrate remained exceptional, Frawley chasing down Jack Dempsey as the Glasgow backrow broke clear from the halfway line.
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When it’s not your day, it’s not your day. In the far corner, the lively Jimmy O’Brien skipped inside to add a 12th try for Leinster.
Leo Cullen wanted a response, and he got it in some style. Europe may have slipped past Leinster again this season, but the charge for a fifth straight league title remains fully on course.
Leinster scorers:
Try – Sheehan (2), Larmour (2), McCarty, Sheehan, Ala’alatoa, Gibson-Park, Ringrose, Frawley, McGrath O’Brien.
Penalties – R Byrne [7/9], H Byrne [2/3]
Conversions – R Byrne [7/9], H Byrne [2/3]
Glasgow scorers:
Try – Fagerson
Conversion – Thompson [1/1]
LEINSTER: Jimmy O’Brien; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose (Robbie Henshaw, 59), Ciarán Frawley, Rory O’Loughlin; Ross Byrne (Harry Byrne 67), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath, 59); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy, 59), Dan Sheehan (Seán Cronin, 59), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Ala’alatoa, 44); Joe McCarthy, James Ryan (captain) (Ross Molony, 59); Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier (Jack Conan, 60), Caelan Doris.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: Ollie Smith; Josh McKay, Sione Tuipulotu, Sam Johnson, Rufus McLean; Ross Thompson (Domingo Miotti, 69), Ali Price (George Horne, 51); Jamie Bhatti (Oli Kebble, 51), George Turner (Fraser Brown 41), Zander Fagerson (Simon Berghan, 51); Rob Harley (Lewis Bean 55), Richie Gray; Ryan Wilson (captain) (Kiran McDonald 55), Gregor Brown, Jack Dempsey.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
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Sam Fender apologises for ‘disrespectful’ and ‘ignorant’ Johnny Depp Instagram post – Independent.ie
Sam Fender has apologised after sharing a photo of himself with Johnny Depp in a Newcastle pub and describing the actor as a “hero”.
he musician was pictured alongside Depp and musician Jeff Beck, who has welcomed Depp on stage during a number of recent UK gigs.
Fender shared the photo on his Instagram stories page alongside the caption: “some serious heroes”. He later appeared to delete the image.
The photograph was shared on the night that the verdict was delivered on Depp’s high-profile legal battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard.
In a new Instagram post, Fender addressed his photograph with the Pirates of the Caribbean star, describing the message as “naive and disrespectful”.
“I want to apologise,” he wrote. “I was invited to briefly meet a musical legend and an actor who has been in almost every film I’ve watched growing up.
“I went – we chatted music and without thinking I took a photo and posted it as it was pretty surreal.”
He said the word “heroes” was used in reference to Depp and Beck’s careers, but conceded that the context of the trial made it “severely misinformed”.
Fender continued: “I now realise that it was a poor choice of words and timing, but that’s irrelevant. It was naive and disrespectful to those who relate to any of the issues highlighted in the trial and the broader issues it poses. I didn’t think it through and I should have.
“I can’t really say anything other than that it was ill-judged and I was ignorant with regards to the trials as a whole, and thoughtless on what my post could imply. I realise this entirely and for that I am deeply sorry. Sam.”
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Depp sued Heard for $50m over a Washington Post op-ed titled: “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
The article does not mention Depp by name, yet his lawyers said it falsely implies he physically and sexually abused Heard while they were together.
Heard countersued for $100m, accusing Depp of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”.
On Wednesday, the jury shared their verdicts, finding that Heard had defamed Depp on all three counts.
The jury awarded him $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages. Heard was awarded $2m in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages.
THE REST OF the bank holiday weekend will be almost as sunny as today has been, Met Éireann have projected.
This evening will start to cool down with clouds cropping up in the south and east with scattered rain over parts of Munster and the southern half of Leinster tonight.
Ulster and Connacht are in luck again tomorrow, with temperatures of 13 to 18 degrees expected and no hints of rain.
Munster and Leinster however, will again be cloudy and see some scattered showers.
Monday is forecast to be a mostly dry day with sunny spells, a small amount of scattered showers and highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees.
Monday night will be mainly dry with rare light showers and some mist and fog. Lowest temperatures will be between 7 and 11 degrees.
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Tuesday and Wednesday are set to be rainy and warm with some occasional sunny moments.
Travel agent TUI has apologised to a number of holidaymakers after their flight from Greece to Dublin was forced to land in Germany.
he original flight was due to arrive in Dublin Airport on Friday but “due to operational issues” the flight had to land in Munich to refuel.
One Irish woman shared a video on TikTok and said passengers had to wait on the plane for four hours when it landed and were then “abandoned” at the airport.
A spokesperson for TUI said the aircraft then had to “divert elsewhere” due to poor weather conditions.
“We’d like to apologise to customers on flight TOM1517 from Corfu to Dublin on Friday 3 June for the delay and disruption to their flight,” the spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, due to operational issues the flight departed late from Corfu and required a short fuel-stop in Munich, poor weather in the area then required the aircraft to divert elsewhere.
“Our teams have been working tirelessly to support affected customers, through direct communications and providing overnight accommodation and transfers where needed, as well as meals and refreshments. Customers are due to fly home later today.
“We’re sorry for the impact of this long delay and would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding at this time.”
Armenia 1
Republic of Ireland 0
THE NATIONS LEAGUE remains an endless well of Irish misery.
It’s now 11 games without a win across the competition, in which Ireland have totalled only two goals. 55 countries have played in the tournament and only San Marino’s goalscoring record is worse than Ireland.
Tonight, however, was World Cup qualfiying redux: the wretched home loss to Luxembourg merely daubed with colour and drenched in noise and heat in Yerevan. Ireland toiled all night, struggling to break down deep-lying opponents and were then beaten by an audacious long-range goal plucked from the ether.
Last year it was Gerson Rodrigues; this time it was 21-year-old Eduard Spertsyan. His strike from outside the box in the the second half condemned Ireland to an opening-day defeat that smithereens Kenny’s ambition to top the group.
The heat offers only some mitigation against a lifeless Ireland performance: the pitiless sun was smothered by cloud as kick-off approached, and Ireland have themselves to blame for their curious torpor.
It was best encapsulated at kick-off: Ireland started the game with half of their players taking a knee, and the other half forgetting. Fair to say it set the tone. Six of the Irish team hadn’t played a game in at least a month and the ring-rust was evident early on, with a succession of errant passes and clumsy touches from players capable of much better.
It might all have cost Ireland a heavy price under a stricter referee, when a terrible square pass by Nathan Collins sent Duffy lunging into a tackle on Tigran Barseghyan. The referee flashed a yellow card as Armenia howled for red.
This was Collins’ competitive debut and he made an uncomfortable start. An audacious roulette on the edge of his own box ended with the ball squirting to danger-man Barseghyan, whose first-time shot was tipped sharply around the post by Caoimhín Kelleher, also making his competitive debut in place of the injured Gavin Bazunu. A moment later it was John Egan who was caught dawdling, allowing a pass through to Eduard Spertsyan, whose shot was blocked by a splayed Duffy.
A regal interception on the halfway line later in the half proved Collins wasn’t consumed by his early jitters.
That spasm of uncertainty aside, the rest of the first-half took a very predictable pattern, as Ireland tried to jab an opening through a deep-lying defence. And, predictably, it wasn’t too pretty. Armenia shifted from their usual approach to a back five, crouched and asked Ireland to break them down. The premium on space largely blunted Ireland’s plan to send Chiedozie Ogbene and Callum Robinson scampering in behind.
Jeff Hendrick looked most likely to unpick the lock. In a move that looked more than a little rehearsed, he slid a ball through for Ogbene who squared the ball back for Robinson: the resulting shot was acrobatically hooked away from goal by Hovhannes Hambartsumyan. Roles were reversed in the closing stages of the first-half: this time it was Robinson whom Hendrick found, and Ogbene’s subsequent shot was screwed harmlessly wide.
For all of Ireland’s jabbing, the knockout punch looked most likely to be delivered via a set-piece: Ogbene should have put Ireland ahead on the stroke of half-time, planting a header over the crossbar having been found completely unmarked on Josh Cullen’s free-kick.
Ireland made a false start to the first half but hardly started the second half at all: the linesman’s flag thwarted a stadium’s ecstasy when Barseghyan brilliantly curled a shot into Kelleher’s top corner. Right wing-back Hambartsumyan was offside in the build-up, the late flag a VAR-mandated cruelty.
Ireland didn’t react like a side that had felt a bullet whizzing by their shoulder. Instead, they continued their desperate toil. Only once did Ogbene find room behind the Armenian defence, but he was brilliantly dispossessed in the box by captain Varazdat Haroyan. His next move was an emblem of Armenia’s growing confidence, a pass rolled between Robinson’s legs that brought the stadium to its feet. Kenny swapped Obafemi for Parrott and then McClean and Knight for Stevens and a jaded Robinson, but it prefaced disaster.
Kenny had praised Obafemi’s back-to-goal work ahead of this but he desperately struggled, easily dispossessed to allow Armenia counter, which ended in Spertsyan curling a superb long-range shot in off Kelleher’s right-hand post.
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Spetsyan celebrates the winning goal.
Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Ireland have developed a baffling habit of conceding beautiful long-range goals: first against Luxembourg, then against Azerbaijan and now in Yerevan. They cannot keep appearing as aberrations.
Kenny threw on Will Keane and Alan Browne with Coleman hooked, but he didn’t change the system with Ogbene shifted to right wing-back, the role he plays with his club. Kenny has addressed Rotherham’s use of Ogbene with an air of bafflement but here it at least afforded him some space, and his two late crosses were as close as Ireland came to forcing a goal: the first triggered a panicky pinball which was eventually cleared, the second was just too far ahead of McClean at the back post.
Duffy ended the game at centre-forward as Ireland laid siege, but they didn’t come close to scoring: Armenia weren’t exactly hanging on.
A wretched start.
Armenia: David Yurchenko; Hovhannes Hambartsumyan; Varazdat Haroyan (captain), Hrayr Mkoyan, Arman Hovhannisyan (Stypoa Mkrtchyan, 61′); Kamo Hovhannisyan, Artak Grigoryan, Eduard Spertsyan, Tigran Barseghyan; Khoren Bayramyan, Vahan Bichakhchyan (Sargis Adamuyan, 55′)
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher; Nathan Collins, Shane Duffy, John Egan; Seamus Coleman (captain) (Will Keane, 80′); Josh Cullen (Alan Browne, 80′), Jeff Hendrick; Enda Stevens (James McClean, 72′); Chiedozie Ogbene, Troy Parrott (Michael Obafemi, 65′); Callum Robinson (Jason Knight, 72′)
Referee: Radu Petrescu
Kyiv said on Saturday it was pushing back Russian troops in Severodonetsk as intense fighting raged around the industrial city, the focus of a Russian offensive to take the eastern Donbas region.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, said Russian forces had suffered severe defeats and were blowing up bridges across the Siverskyi Donets river to prevent Ukraine bringing in military reinforcements and delivering aid to civilians in Severodonetsk.
“Right now, our soldiers have pushed them back, they [the Russians] are suffering huge casualties,” Mr Gaidai said in a live TV broadcast on Saturday.
“The Russian army, as we understand, is throwing all its efforts, all its reserves in that [Severodonetsk] direction,” he said. “Russians are blowing up bridges, so we could not bring in reinforcements to our boys in Severodonetsk.”
The governor said Ukrainian forces had recaptured about one-fifth of the territory they had lost in the city.
Both sides have suffered punishing losses in street-by-street battles for the Soviet-era factory city, where roads have been riddled with craters and destroyed vehicles.
If Severodonetsk falls, neighbouring Lysychansk would be the last city that Russia needs to capture to have full control of Luhansk province, which along with Donetsk province makes up the Donbas.
The area has become the focus of Russia’s invasion as president Vladimir Putin seeks to rebuild momentum after a failed attempt to take the capital Kyiv.
Ukraine’s military said on Saturday Russia had used artillery to conduct “assault operations” in Severodonetsk, but Russian forces retreated and Ukrainian troops are holding positions inside the city.
Reuters reached Severodonetsk on Thursday and was able to verify that Ukrainians still held part of the city.
Russian soldiers also attempted to advance towards Lysychansk, across the Siverskyi Donets river from Severodonetsk, but were stopped, Ukraine’s military general staff said.
Britain’s defence ministry said on Saturday that Russian air activity remains high over Donbas, with Russian aircraft carrying out strikes using both guided and unguided munitions.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday its forces shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane carrying weapons and munitions near the Black Sea port of Odesa.
Tens of thousands have died, millions have been uprooted from their homes and the global economy disrupted in a war that marked its 100th day on Friday.
French president Emmanuel Macron, who has sought to maintain a dialogue with Mr Putin throughout the war, said on Saturday it is vital that Russia is not humiliated so that when the fighting stops a diplomatic solution can be found.
Mr Macron’s stance has been repeatedly criticised by some eastern and Baltic partners in Europe.
Ukraine said on Saturday there was no point in negotiating with Russia until Moscow’s forces are pushed back as far as possible towards Ukraine’s borders.
Ukrainian officials are counting on the advanced missile systems recently pledged by the United States and Britain to swing the war in their favour, and Ukrainian troops have already begun training on them.
Moscow has said the western weapons will pour “fuel on the fire,” but will not change the course of what it calls a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of dangerous nationalists.
The war has had a devastating impact on the global economy, especially for poor food-importing countries.
Ukraine is one of the world’s leading sources of grain and cooking oil, but those supplies were largely cut off by Russia’s closure of its Black Sea ports, with more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos.
Kyiv and its allies blame Moscow for blockading the ports.
Mr Putin denied on Friday that Moscow was preventing Ukrainian ports from exporting grain, blaming rising global food prices on the West.
Moscow says sanctions are also hitting its own grain and fertiliser exports, aggravating the shortages.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has this week tried to broker what he calls a “package deal” to resume both Ukrainian food exports and Russian food and fertiliser exports. — Reuters
Prince George and Princess Charlotte have made a surprise visit to Wales as part of the Jubilee celebrations.
The royal youngsters joined their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to meet entertainers staging a show in honour of the Queen at Cardiff Castle.
The Cambridges were set to learn about the lighting, sound, and visual effects for the show, watch rehearsals and meet the hosts, Aled Jones and Shan Cothi.
Stars arrive for Jubilee concert; Charles to speak about Queen – live updates
Missing was four-year-old Prince Louis, who stole the show as he pulled faces and covered his ears when he appeared on Buckingham Palace’s balcony after the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Thursday.
The visit came ahead of the star-studded Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace where Prince Charles and Prince William will address the crowds.
The Queen is unable to attend the event herself after it was announced she would miss Derby Day at Epsom Downs racecourse on Saturday.
The 96-year-old is a huge horse-racing fan but skipped the 243rd running of the Derby because of “episodic mobility problems” which also forced her to miss Friday’s thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
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Princess Anne smiles and waves at Epsom
She watched the racing event on television at Windsor Castle.
Star-studded concert
The concert, which will be attended by 22,000 people and televised live, will feature Alicia Keys, Nile Rodgers, Andrea Bocelli, Duran Duran, Hans Zimmer, Ella Eyre, Craig David, Mabel, Elbow, George Ezra and the UK’s recent Eurovision star Sam Ryder.
It will see the return of rock band Queen, whose guitarist Brian May performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the previous Party at the Palace in 2002. They will be accompanied by singer Adam Lambert.
There will be appearances by Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, US Open winner Emma Raducanu, David Beckham, Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds, Dame Julie Andrews and members of the Royal Ballet.
Set on three stages in front of the palace, the show is due to go on for two-and-a-half hours and will be closed by a performance by soul legend Diana Ross.
The evening will also highlight global themes that have emerged or evolved during the Queen’s reign including British and Commonwealth contributions in the fields of fashion, sport, the environment and pop music.
What else is happening?
Meanwhile, the Earl and Countess of Wessex have visited Northern Ireland to celebrate the Jubilee,
They first visited Belfast, where the Royal couple joined members of the public at a 1950s-themed celebration on Royal Avenue in the city, before meeting groups of performers.
They also listened to people sharing their memories of the monarch, joined in with craft activities and tried a local delicacy called the Belfast Bap.
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Earl and Countess of Wessex visit NI
The royal couple then headed to Bangor to join members of the public at a vintage funfair, where the Countess took part in a dance demonstration and the Earl tried his hand at pulling a pint of Guinness.
On Sunday, around 10,000 people are due to parade through the streets around Buckingham Palace for the Platinum Jubilee Pageant,
Hundreds of millions around the world are expected to watch the extravaganza on TV, and tens of thousands in person, as it winds its way around a 3km route.
Procession highlights are set to include a six-metre tall version of the Queen’s wedding cake, a bus-sized dragon, puppet corgis, and an aerial artist suspended under a helium balloon.
After a thrilling opening day at Epsom, we’re back for Derby Day – and our top team of tipsters are back with their best bets for Saturday’s action.
Matt Chapman, Ruby Walsh, Mick Fitzgerald, Jason Weaver and Rory Delargy have been studying the form, crunching the numbers and generally waffling away for the ITV tellybox races on one of the biggest days in the Flat racing calendar.
Woof!
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The action gets underway at 2pm with the Cazoo Handicap as we hurtle towards the feature race, the Cazoo Epsom Derby at 4:30pm where racing immortality awaits and some burning questions will finally get answered.
Will Desert Crown roll back the years and give Sir Michael Stoute his first Epsom Derby winner since Workforce in 2010? Is Aidan O’Brien on track to record his ninth Derby winner from his three declared runners? Will anyone talk to Matt Chapman after the race?
For this and some top tips for Epsom Derby Day just scroll down to our pundits’ selections below and get the party started.
Matt Chapman
MR BIG STUFF has Tyler Heard aboard who takes off a useful 5lb. My hope ran pretty well at Newbury last time and off a racing weight of 8st he should have each-way claims at the very least despite a nasty draw.
Ruby Walsh
MR BIG STUFF didn’t get the clearest of runs at Newbury on his last start and that has prevented him taking a hike in the handicap. He can take advantage now.
Mick Fitzgerald
I was taken with his performance at Sandown with cheek pieces on, if they continue to work I think War Horse is the value in this.
Jason Weaver
Approachability is well entered up at the Royal meeting but to stand any chance of taking up that engagement, he needs to win with authority.
Rory Delargy
Connections have won this before with Droichead and Le Don de Vie, and their Swilcan Bridge can score from out of the handicap at a track he handles well.
Matt Chapman
BASHKIROVA should be better suited by the trip and the ground conditions than when beaten by Mrs Fitzherbert last time. I expect her to be too good.
Ruby Walsh
POTAPOVA is the most likely winner of the Cheveley Park-owned runners, to me. She flew home at Kempton on her last start and just failed to catch Roman Mist in an eye-catching run.
Mick Fitzgerald
There was no disgrace in Technique getting chinned at Nottingham as it was a decent contest and should come forward from that run.
Jason Weaver
There is no reason why Mrs Fitzherbert should be a bigger price than Bashkirova who she beat at Goodwood last time and has every chance of improving again.
Rory Delargy
Statement missed the break when favourite for this last year, and she has joined a shrewd new yard. Best fresh, she can spring a shock if getting off on terms.
Matt Chapman
Modern News is the one to beat but I’ll risk MEGALLAN who was rubbish at Chester last time. The former Dante runner-up has some class and has run well at this track before.
Ruby Walsh
I’m going to go against Modern News with MUTASAABEQ. I thought he came home really well at Sandown last time.
Mick Fitzgerald
Modern News can complete the hat-trick to have us all wondering how he ever got beaten in the Lincoln Handicap at the start of the season.
Jason Weaver
Megallan ran no race whatsoever last time at Chester but even Paddy has a bad day at the office now and again and so we will give him & Frankie Dettori another chance.
Rory Delargy
Modern News will be hard to beat, and you can boost your returns by including the underrated Finest Sound in a forecast.
Matt Chapman
The chances are LIVE IN THE DREAM is a little too high in the handicap after brilliant wins at Sandown and Chester. He’s up 7lb for that last success but Sean Kirrane takes off 3lb which helps.
Ruby Walsh
I’m going to go for two here as it’s a 20-runner sprint handicap. STONE OF DESTINY was unlucky last year as he got caught in traffic from 3f before he came flying home but the draw hasn’t been kind. KING OF STARS had a nice comeback run at Haydock and is drawn in 20. He’s very fast and will blitz down the track under the stand rail.
Mick Fitzgerald
Mokaatil who won this race last year. He is a little higher in the weights but conditional jockey Harry Davies takes 5lb off and won on him in April over course and distance.
Jason Weaver
King of Stars was given a perfect prep run seven days ago at Haydock showing blistering speed before getting tired late on. This has obviously been the target for his excellent handler Michael Appleby.
Rory Delargy
A low draw is usually the way to go in the 5f Epsom ‘Dash’ with those drawn 1 or 2, winning four times in the last decade. Justanotherbottle is taken to blaze his way up the centre of the track.
Matt Chapman
My two against the field in the Epsom Derby are STONE AGE and WESTOVER (each-way) at differing prices. The ground is perfect for the former and he should stay the trip strongly. He could slip the field if getting to the front early. Westover at a much bigger price is capable of hitting the frame.
Ruby Walsh
This is a guesser’s race. I was half thinking of coming down on the side of Changingoftheguard but I’ll go with STONE AGE as he went to the line well at Leopardstown. I’m a Derby fan and would gladly watch this for the spectacle alone.
Mick Fitzgerald
The Epsom Derby is the ultimate test of the racehorse and Stone Age with his experience gets the nod from me to give Ballydoyle another Derby winner.
Jason Weaver
WALK OF STARS could be peaking at the right time and is one of three runners for Charlie Appleby. He handled the track perfectly on his racecourse gallop a week ago, so there are plenty of positives about him at an each-way price in the 2022 Epsom Derby
Rory Delargy
Changingoftheguard has the speed to lead these, and the stamina to stay there, so he looks the best each-way shout in an intriguing Derby.
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Read More on the Epsom Derby
- When is the Epsom Derby? Date, start time, runners & betting
- Epsom Derby favourites: Paddy Power’s leading contenders for June Classic
- How long does it take horses to complete the Epsom Derby? How fast are the runners?
- How do they choose Epsom Derby stall numbers? Is there a bias?
The latest racing odds are on PaddyPower.com now
The Paddy Power Guide To Safer Gambling – Everything You Need To Know
Updated / Saturday, 4 Jun 2022 15:31
A man in his 20s has been arrested following the seizure of cocaine with an estimated street value of €4.69m.
During the course of a garda operation in Dublin yesterday, 67kg of the drug was seized after a vehicle was stopped in the Leopardstown area.
A man was arrested and is currently being held at Dundrum Garda Station.
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll said: “The successful outcome to an operation undertaken by the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau, involving the seizure of cocaine with a street sale value close to €5 million, reflects the Garda Síochána’s determination to dismantle organised crime groups that trade in drugs.”
Gardaí said investigations are ongoing.
Error
Mariah Carey is being sued for €18.6 million (£16 million) for copyright infringement over her hit song All I Want For Christmas Is You.
The singer and her co-writer Walter Afansieff are named in the lawsuit, which is being brought by songwriter Andy Stone.
The song was released by Carey in 1994 as part of her album Merry Christmas and has gone on to be recognised as one of the most well-known festive hits.
In legal documents filed at the US District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, Mr Stone claims that he co-wrote the song in 1989 and has never given permission for it to be used.
[ Mariah Carey: ‘I’m f**king high-maintenance because I deserve to be’ ]
The documents, obtained by the PA news agency, state that Carey and her collaborators “knowingly, wilfully, and intentionally engaged in a campaign” to infringe Stone’s copyright for the song.
They added the defendants had also committed “acts of unjust enrichment by the unauthorised appropriation of plaintiff’s work and the goodwill associated therewith”.
Stone is seeking damages of €18.6 million (£16 million).
Merry Christmas was released by Columbia Records on November 1st 1994 and became the best-selling US Christmas album of all time, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide.
Members of the Royal Family have wished the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ daughter Lilibet a happy birthday as she turns one year’s old.
Royals including the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took to Twitter on Saturday to mark the youngster’s first birthday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were reunited with their family in public for the first time in two years on Friday at the Jubilee thanksgiving service.
The pair flew in from America with children Archie and Lilibet ahead of the four-day Platinum Jubilee celebrations and were expected to introduce daughter Lilibet to her namesake, the Queen.
Nation prepares for concert – as Queen receives well wishes from unlikely source – live Jubilee updates
Lilibet was first used as a nickname for the Queen when the then-Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly.
Her grandfather, King George V, would affectionately call her “Lilibet” imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth.
The nickname stuck and she became Lilibet to her family from then on.
One-year-old Lilibet, known as Lili, has the middle name Diana, which was chosen in memory of her late grandmother.
It comes as Platinum Jubilee festivities continue on Saturday, with Sir Elton John and Duran Duran to perform at Party At The Palace on day three.
A 44-year-old woman has died and two children were rescued after her car entered the River Lee in Cork city on Friday night.
Gardai are hoping to speak to the children to try and find out the sequence of events that led to the car ending up in the river.
Specialist Garda interviewers, trained to speak with children involved in traumatic events, hope to speak to the boys, aged 12 and 10, over the weekend if they are up to talking about the tragedy.
“We are hoping to speak to the two boys whenever they are up to talking to us to try and find out how the car ended up in the river because even though people saw it go into the river, we are still not sure how exactly it happened – it’s a terrible tragedy for the family,” said one Garda source.
The incident happened just before 9pm when the woman’s car went into the river on Kennedy Quay on the southside of the Lee, downstream from the confluence of the north and south channels of the river and below the Idle Hour pub, near the former Odlum’s Building.
It is understood that the children were in the car with her when the car ended up in the water, but it appears they managed to get out of the vehicle, and they were rescued from the river by witnesses who entered the water and pulled them to safety on the quayside.
Meanwhile other members of the public had raised the alarm and gardaí and Cork City Fire Brigade units from nearby Anglesea Street arrived on the scene just as the two boys were being brought out of the water and they were quickly taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment.
“The two boys were obviously in an awful state of shock, but they were lucky that people had seen the car go in and got them out of the water quickly, so they weren’t in the water long enough for hypothermia to set in as water temperatures are still very cold,” said one source.
The boys were medically examined by doctors at Cork University Hospital and treated for shock before they were discharged into the care of a family member, and they were last night being comforted by relatives at their family home.
Meanwhile a major rescue operation was launched, coordinated by the Irish Coast Guard Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Valentia and the Irish Coastguard Sikorksi helicopter, Rescue 117 was dispatched from Waterford to assist in the operation.
Fire service personnel were joined by Naval Service divers from Haulbowline who began a search of the area where the car was seen entering the river, which was at high tide at the time, resulting in the car plunging into over 12 metres of water, which made search visibility quite poor.
The search continued after darkness fell with the aid of lighting and at around 12.30am, divers recovered the body of the woman from the submerged car and her remains were taken to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem is expected to take place over the weekend.
The car was lifted from the river by a crane, and it is expected that it will be examined by a garda PSV inspector to see whether it was in a roadworthy condition prior to it entering the river or if it was mechanically defective in any way which may have contributed to the tragedy.
Gardaí have appealed to all those who witnessed the incident to contact them at Anglesea Street Garda station on 021-452200 while they have also begun harvesting CCTV footage from the general docks area in the hope it may clarify what exactly happened.
Gardaí were also checking CCTV footage from elsewhere around Cork city in the hope of tracing the car’s movements in the time leading up to the tragedy and they were trying to confirm reports the woman had earlier taken the children for a meal at a local McDonald’s.
Gardaí were not releasing the name of the dead woman until all next of kin had been notified but it is understood that she was from the greater Douglas/Rochestown area on the southside of Cork city where she lived with her husband and children.
A Garda spokesman said investigators will prepare a file, incorporating both the postmortem results and the PSV Inspector’s report as well as statements from witnesses and family members of the dead woman for an inquest at Cork City Coroner’s Court which is likely to be held later in the year.
Gardai last night launched an investigation after two bikers died in a freak accident on Ireland’s busiest motorway.
The Irish Mirror has learned the pals collided with each other as they rode their motorbikes along the M50 yesterday afternoon – before being hit by a passing truck as they lay on the ground.
“It was a freak accident,” a source said.
The Mirror has also established that both men were English holidaymakers who were touring around Ireland.
READ MORE: Two confirmed dead as gardai release full details and slam some for online behaviour
It’s understood one victim was in his 60s, while the other was in his 50s. Gardai were liaising with British police last night to break the news to the men’s families. But sources stressed that neither the victims nor the lorry driver involved in the smash were suspected of any wrongdoing.
“It was just a horrible accident,” one source added. “The two men on the motorbikes were on holiday from England. It looks like they were riding along and they bumped into each other.
“It was an accident and there is no suggestion that they were speeding.
“But when two motorcyclists even tip off each other at 100kph, the results are devastating. They fell off their bikes onto the carriageway and were hit by a truck. The driver could do nothing to avoid them. It is a terrible tragedy.” Both men died instantly in the crash, which happened on the northbound carriageway of the M50 that orbits Dublin between junction nine for the N7 and junction seven for the M4.
The crash happened at around 2pm, but the carriageway was closed until 9pm last night as gardai began their investigation onto the tragedy.
Officers also appealed for people not to share gruesome footage of the aftermath of the crash online.
The force tweeted: “An Garda Siochana is aware of graphic images of today’s fatal road traffic collision which are being shared across social media and messaging apps. An Garda Siochana appeals to everybody, DO NOT SHARE this material, it is disrespectful to the deceased, their family and friends!!”
The aftermath of the crash led to massive tailbacks on the M50, one of the main routes to Dublin Airport for passengers from the south and west, as traffic ground to a halt while emergency services rushed to the scene.
After failing to pass the Artemis 1 wet rehearsal, the largest rocket ever built will be returning next week to the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida. The 111-meter rocket had to refuel, practice the countdown, and empty the tanks during the tests. NASA had to suspend the tests due to failures in propellant filling.
On March 18, the Orion capsule and launcher were moved to platform 39B at Cape Canaveral. This was to conduct final tests before the launch of US’s first lunar mission. Artemisa 1 will mark the beginning of the Space Launch System (SLS), which consists of a rocket, two thrusters, and an Orion capsule that can hold four astronauts. The unmanned flight, which was delayed many times, was finally scheduled for mid-June.
April 1 was the first day of the wet dress rehearsal. The rehearsal was expected to last for 48 hours before the capsule and rocket would return to the assembly facility for pre-liftoff tune up. Technicians failed to fill the SLS three times and discovered two problems in the system. One was a malfunctioning valve on the mobile platform, and the other was a hydrogen leak in the line connecting it to the rocket. The agency said late Monday that the ship would be transferred to the assembly building next week for repairs due to the current situation.
“The lunar megarocket continues its performance. We have yet to see any real problems with the valve. The rocket is a great achievement. However, we still have some work to do,” NASA deputy administrator Tom Whitmeyer said at a news conference. After the launcher is fine-tuned, a wet rehearsal will take place. The final touches will then be put in before take-off. They recognize that Artemis 1 will not be launched by mid-June, and that it may be challenging. However, they believe that if there aren’t any more failures, it might launch in July.
The Orion capsule will be empty during the first mission. It will orbit the satellite, and reach a distance of approximately 100 km. Artemis 2, an already-manned flight, will be conducted in May 2024. It will include four astronauts who will orbit the Moon. NASA forecasts that the first woman to walk on Earth’s satellite in 2025 will be the first. Experts have acknowledged this and placed the new moon landings for the second half this decade.
Paul Martin, NASA’s inspector General, recently revealed that the estimated cost of each mission within the Artemis program could be 4,100 million dollars. This is more than twice what was originally estimated.
Saturday’s best bets ranked in order of confidence by our top tipsters
Eyecatcher
Walk Of Stars (4.30 Epsom)
Has looked quirky but the forecast rain will be to his advantage and can cause a Derby upset.
Mark Brown
Our analysts from Raceform find eyecatchers at all meetings in the UK and Ireland, every day. Essential subscribers can read their expert view on every race
Ace tipster
Mr Strutter (4.41 Musselburgh)
Has dropped to a competitive mark and shaped like he is on his way back to form when a strong-finishing second over course and distance last time. He has escaped a rise and can go one better.
Graeme Rodway
Newmarket nap
Desert Crown (4.30 Epsom)
Fancied to give Sir Michael Stoute a sixth Derby triumph after some sparkling work on the watered gallop.
David Milnes
Speed figures
Hilts (3.06 Doncaster)
Progressive since upped in trip, two recent narrow successes have epitomised his tough as teak attitude and that attribute will stand him in good stead in his hat-trick quest.
Dave Edwards
Handicappers’ nap
Solent Gateway (5.15 Epsom)
Won the opening three-year-old handicap on Derby day last year, and looked unfortunate not to make a winning return to Epsom when a late closing third over today’s course and distance in April. Can race off the same mark and retains the potential to rate higher.
Paul Curtis
If you rate the ratings, you can have our handicappers’ view on every race as part of our Members’ Club Essential package
Dark horse
The Gadget Man (3.06 Doncaster)
Shaped with promise in a couple of novice races last year. Improvement can be expected stepping up in trip on handicap debut for his in form trainer.
Jake Aldrich
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Parents and guardians in Cork are urged to watch out for signs and symptoms of hepatitis in children due to an outbreak of a mysterious strain that is killing children.
Earlier in May, an Irish child died of an acute form of hepatitis while a second child with the same illness received a liver transplant according to HSE.
Health officials in Indonesia have now confirmed the deaths of three children from the disease, raising the global death toll to at least four.
As of today, almost 230 cases of the unexplained liver inflammation have been detected in children across 20 countries, including Ireland, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The HSE has confirmed less than five cases of “hepatitis of unknown cause” in children in Ireland over the past two months, as they also investigate a “small number of possible cases.”
Ireland’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) issued an update on Thursday saying: “Over the past eight weeks, a small number (less than five) of children with hepatitis of unknown cause have been identified in Ireland and a small number of possible cases are being investigated.”
“This is more than would usually be expected over this period of time.”
According to HPSC, the children affected do not have any links to the other children involved.
“To this date, no single virus has been identified in the cases. Investigations are currently ongoing to identify the cause of these illnesses.”
“The common viruses that cause hepatitis (hepatitis viruses A, B, C, and E) have not been detected in any of the cases. Other possible causes of the hepatitis, including adenovirus infection, are currently being investigated.”
“GPs and paediatric consultants are aware of the recent increase in cases of hepatitis amongst children and will be alert to identify any further cases that may develop.”
Signs and symptoms to look out for
The HSE has urged parents and guardians to be aware of symptoms of the mystery illness in children, which can include:
- muscle and joint pain
- a high temperature
- feeling and being sick
- feeling unusually tired all the time
- a general sense of feeling unwell
- loss of appetite
- tummy pain
- dark urine
- pale, grey-coloured poo
- itchy skin
- yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice)
The HPSC issued the following advice where parents should go to their GP of their child develops symptoms of hepatitis. The GP will then assess the child and refer on for further assessment as indicated.
“If your child is unwell with respiratory or diarrheal or hepatitis symptoms keep your child at home and do not send to crèche/preschool/school until they are better.
“Good respiratory and hand hygiene, including supervising hand washing in young children, can help to prevent adenovirus and other infections that can cause hepatitis.”
The number of Irish cases of monkeypox virus has increased to six, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
It says the new cases are not unexpected given the presence of monkeypox cases in the UK and many European countries. Public health doctors are following up close contacts of each case while they were infectious, the HPSC said on Friday.
Unlike other health agencies in other countries, the HPSC is not providing any further detail about the cases. It says this is to maintain patient confidentiality.
“Public health risk assessments have been undertaken, and those who were in contact with the cases are being advised on what to do in the event that they become ill,” it added.
More than 500 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported in Europe, North America and other countries worldwide over recent weeks. The vast majority do not have a travel link to a country where monkeypox is endemic. Many countries have reported that the cases are predominantly, but not exclusively, in men who self-identify as gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men (gbMSM), the HPSC said.
Anyone, regardless of their sexuality, can get monkeypox, it added. “The reason we are currently hearing more reports of cases of monkeypox in gbMSM communities may be because of positive health-seeking behaviour in this community and increased awareness since this outbreak was alerted to the public and to healthcare workers across the world.”
Monkeypox rashes can resemble some sexually-transmitted diseases, including herpes and syphilis, which may explain why many of the initial cases were picked up at sexual health clinics, the HPSC said.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte have made a surprise visit to Wales as part of the Jubilee celebrations.
The royal youngsters joined their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to meet entertainers staging a show in honour of the Queen at Cardiff Castle.
The Cambridges were set to learn about the lighting, sound, and visual effects for the show, watch rehearsals and meet the hosts, Aled Jones and Shan Cothi.
Trafalgar Square to reopen after evacuation; Royals tour UK – Jubilee live updates
Missing was four-year-old Prince Louis, who stole the show as he pulled faces and covered his ears when he appeared on Buckingham Palace’s balcony after the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Thursday.
It comes ahead of the star-studded Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace where Prince Charles and Prince William are expected to address the crowds.
The Queen is unlikely to attend the event herself after it was announced she will be missing Derby Day at Epsom Downs racecourse on Saturday.
The 96-year-old is a huge horse-racing fan but will skip the 243rd running of the Derby because of “episodic mobility problems” which also forced her to miss Friday’s thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
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Princess Anne smiles and waves at Epsom
She is likely to watch the racing event on television at Windsor Castle while the Princess Royal has arrived at the track in her place.
The track intends to honour the monarch with 40 jockeys who have ridden for the owner-breeder donning the royal silks to form a guard of honour, while a number of her former racehorses will parade.
Star-studded concert
The concert, which will be attended by 22,000 people and televised live, will feature Alicia Keys, Nile Rodgers, Andrea Bocelli, Duran Duran, Hans Zimmer, Ella Eyre, Craig David, Mabel, Elbow, George Ezra and the UK’s recent Eurovision star Sam Ryder.
It will see the return of rock band Queen, whose guitarist Brian May performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the previous Party at the Palace in 2002. They will be accompanied by singer Adam Lambert.
There will be appearances by Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, US Open winner Emma Raducanu, David Beckham, Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds, Dame Julie Andrews and members of the Royal Ballet.
Set on three stages in front of the palace, the show is due to go on for two and a half hours and will be closed by a performance by soul legend Diana Ross.
The evening will also highlight global themes that have emerged or evolved during the Queen’s reign including British and Commonwealth contributions in the fields of fashion, sport, the environment and pop music.
What else is happening?
Meanwhile, the Earl and Countess of Wessex have visited Northern Ireland to celebrate the Jubilee,
They first visited Belfast, where the Royal couple joined members of the public at a 1950s-themed celebration on Royal Avenue in the city, before meeting groups of performers.
They also listened to people sharing their memories of the monarch, joined in with craft activities and tried a local delicacy called the Belfast Bap.
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Earl and Countess of Wessex visit NI
The royal couple then headed to Bangor to join members of the public at a vintage funfair, where the Countess took part in a dance demonstration and the Earl tried his hand at pulling a pint of Guinness.
On Sunday, around 10,000 people are due to parade through the streets around Buckingham Palace for the Platinum Jubilee Pageant,
Hundreds of millions around the world are expected to watch the extravaganza on TV, and tens of thousands in person, as it winds its way around a 3km route.
Procession highlights are set to include a six-metre tall version of the Queen’s wedding cake, a bus-sized dragon, puppet corgis, and an aerial artist suspended under a helium balloon.
WhatsApp for iOS will soon add another layer of protection when a user tries to login into an account for the first time. After people started being tricked into giving their verification code to criminals last year, WhatsApp is finally planning a way to stop this from happening.
According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is developing a double verification code to improve users’ privacy and security. The publication explains that when you try to register your phone number on a different smartphone, you’ll be required an additional verification code apart from the first verification code sent by SMS.
WhatsApp will display the following message:
The number XXX is already being used for WhatsApp on another phone.
To help make sure that your account is in your control, you must confirm another verification code. For extra security, you must wait for the timer to finish before you can send the code. When you receive the code, enter it here.
WABetaInfo says that when the first attempt to log into a WhatsApp account is successful, another 6-digit code will be needed to complete the process. With that, another message will be sent to the owner of the phone number, so they’ll know that an attempt to log into their account just happened.
Since this is a feature under development, it’s not clear when or whether it will see the light of the day. That said, it’s very interesting to see a third layer of protection on WhatsApp. In case you don’t know, as of now, apart from the 6-digit code you have to add when trying to log into a new phone, you can also enable a 6-digit pin to prevent unwanted access.
With this new feature, users will have another layer of protection to avoid having their account stolen.
What do you think about this upcoming feature, would you use it? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Related:
- WhatsApp for iOS improving Reactions feature in new update
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Updated 1 hour ago
UKRAINE SAID ITS its forces were managing to push back against Russian troops in fierce fighting in Severodonetsk despite Russia “throwing all its power” into capturing the strategic eastern city.
Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in an interview posted on his official social media that the invading forces had captured most of the city “but now our military have moved them”.
“The Russian army, as we understand, is throwing all its power, all its reserves in this direction,” said Gaiday, who on yesterday claimed that Ukrainian troops had won back a fifth of the city.
Severodonetsk is the largest city still in Ukrainian hands in the Lugansk region, where Russian forces have been making gradual advances in recent weeks.
Thousands of people have been killed, millions sent fleeing and towns turned into rubble since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine 101 days ago.
The advance of Russian forces has been slowed by stiff Ukrainian resistance, repelling them from around the capital Kyiv and forcing Moscow to focus on capturing the east.
The press service of Ukraine’s presidential office on Saturday said Russian attacks killed four civilians in the Lugansk region as a whole.
The situation in Lysychansk – Severodonetsk’s twin city, which sits just across a river – looked increasingly dire.
About 60% of infrastructure and housing had been destroyed, while internet, mobile networks and gas services had been knocked out, said its mayor Oleksandr Zaika.
In the city of Sloviansk, about 80 kilometres from Severodonetsk, the mayor has urged residents to evacuate in the face of intense bombardment, with water and electricity cut off.
Ukraine also reported two victims from a missile strike on the port of Odessa in the southwest, without specifying if they were dead or injured.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had struck a “deployment point for foreign mercenaries” in the village of Dachne in the Odessa region.
Source: Press Association Images
It also claimed a missile strike in the northeastern Sumy region in a place where it said Ukrainian soldiers were receiving training from foreign instructors on using howitzers.
‘Shame and hatred’
Russian troops now occupy a fifth of Ukraine’s territory and Moscow has imposed a blockade on its Black Sea ports.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was defiant yesterday.
“Victory will be ours,” he said in a video speech marking the 100th day of the war.
Later, in his nightly address, he dismissed the Russian army as being reduced to “war crimes, shame and hatred” after failing military objectives.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “certain results have been achieved”, pointing to the “liberation” of some areas from what he called the “pro-Nazi armed forces of Ukraine”.
The West has sent ever-more potent weapons to Ukraine and piled on ever more stringent sanctions against Moscow, with the European Union on Friday formally adopting a ban on most Russian oil imports.
Putin’s alleged girlfriend, former gymnast Alina Kabaeva, was also added to an assets freeze and visa-ban blacklist.
Food crisis
The war has sparked fears of a global food crisis – Ukraine and Russia are among the top wheat exporters in the world.
The United Nations said it was leading intense negotiations with Russia to allow Ukraine’s grain harvest to leave the country.
Putin in a televised interview Friday said there was “no problem” to export grain from Ukraine, via Kyiv- or Moscow-controlled ports or even through central Europe.
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The UN has warned that African countries, which imported more than half of their wheat consumption from Ukraine and Russia, face an “unprecedented” crisis.
Food prices in Africa have already exceeded those in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and the 2008 food riots.
Yesterday, Putin met the head of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, at his Black Sea residence in Sochi.
After the meeting, Sall said he was “very reassured”, adding that Putin was “committed and aware that the crisis and sanctions create serious problems for weak economies”.
French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said Putin had made a “historic” error in starting the war.
But he said the Russian leader should not be “humiliated”, and to leave room for diplomacy.
Media driver killed
A driver transporting two Reuters journalists in eastern Ukraine was killed and the two reporters were lightly wounded, a spokesman for the international news agency said.
A French volunteer fighter in Ukraine was also killed in combat, the French foreign ministry said.
In areas around the capital Kyiv, which Russian troops retreated from at the end of March, some residents remain in desperate need of assistance.
At an aid distribution point in Horenka, northwest of Kyiv, yesterday a tearful Hanna Viniychuk, 67, said she had joined the long queue in search of some basic necessities after losing her home to Russian bombardment.
“I’m grateful for this help,” she said.
Arkadiy Maznychenko, 75, said: “A lot of houses were burnt, damaged, so people have nothing at all. Everything is shattered, destroyed.”
The mutation pattern does not conclusively prove sustained human-to-human transmission
The mutation pattern does not conclusively prove sustained human-to-human transmission
As of June 1, 2022 over 550 lab-confirmed monkeypox cases have been reported from 30 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said at a press briefing. These countries are predominantly in Europe and North America, which are not endemic for monkeypox virus. With 190 cases as on May 30, the outbreak in the U.K. is the largest so far, with Spain (132 cases) and Portugal (132 cases) being the other countries with a large number of monkeypox cases.
The WHO once again stressed that the large number of cases detected in more than two dozen countries within a short time interval suggests that there “may have been undetected transmission for some time”. The cases have predominantly been reported among men who have sex with men presenting with symptoms at sexual health clinics.
The two rave parties in Belgium and Portugal have turned out to be super-spreader events. In a statement released on May 31, 2022 the European Union underlined the link between these parties and cases. It said, “Multiple countries have reported cases which appear to be linked to events taking place in Spain (Madrid and the Canary Islands) and Belgium (Antwerp).”
However, cases have been reported in people with no epidemiological link to the rave parties, travel history to countries in Africa or even contact with other people with infection, the statement noted.
Highly speculative
Though the first case that was detected on May 7, 2022 in the U.K. was in a person who had just returned from Nigeria, samples of at least two people, one in Canada and another in Portugal, that were collected prior to the return of the U.K. person had tested positive for monkeypox virus.
The notion that virus may have been imported from Nigeria is “highly speculative”, Christian Happi from Nigeria’s African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases told Science.
Epidemiologist Ifedayo Adetifa, head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control also told Science that “there’s too much emphasis for whatever reasons in Western capitals and news media about trying to hold somebody responsible for a particular outbreak. We don’t think those narratives are helpful”.
So far in 2022, seven African countries have reported 1,392 suspected and 44 confirmed monkeypox cases to the WHO, which are slightly fewer than half of cases reported last year.
47 mutations
Meanwhile, Dr. Andrew Rambaut from the University of Edinburgh found 47 mutations in the virus genome based on an analysis of the sequences from the current outbreak outside Africa and comparing it with the earlier genomes from samples from patients in 2017-19 in Singapore, Israel, Nigeria and the U.K.
“Forty-seven substitutions in the space of three-four years is an unexpectedly large number. As MPXV [monkeypox virus] is considered a zoonotic virus with limited human-to-human transmission, this long branch may be evidence of adaptation to humans allowing for the sustained transmission that is now observed,” he said in virological.org.
But Dr. Vinod Scaria, a senior scientist at Delhi’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), says the mutation rate of monkeypox virus has not been well established.
“The number (about two per year) comes from the limited data from other poxviruses which have been studied,” he explains. “The inaccuracies also stem from the fact that monkeypox virus is primarily a zoonotic disease and genomes have not previously come from sustained human-human transmission in the past.”
About the 47 mutations that appear in the genomes now being sequenced, he says, “While the number of mutations look significantly large from what is expected, this could mean many things — the mutation rate estimates for monkeypox could be different for different hosts (animals vs humans), and many intermediate paths of evolution and their representatives have not been sequenced to accurately ascertain the evolutionary path of these specific isolates.”
Sustained transmission?
According to Dr. Rambaut, many of the mutations arise due to the action of a particular enzyme that is present in the host to prevent the virus from multiplying. Based on the mutation pattern seen in the genome of the virus isolated from people since 2017 is “indicative of replication in humans”, says Dr. Rambaut. And the “inheritance of the specific changes that occurred between 2017 and 2018, and then in the viruses from 2022 means that there has been sustained human-to-human transmission since at least 2017”.
However, Dr. Scaria is not convinced that the presence of the mutation pattern is indicative of sustained human-to-human transmission.
He says, “The evidence suggests many of the mutations match the profile of a unique set of enzymes. Whether this was in the primary host, an unknown intermediate host or in humans is still unknown and something difficult to conclusively prove with the data at hand, as we do not have genomes which span the period between the last major outbreak to present.”
While the presence of 47 mutations does indicate that the monkeypox virus mutates at a much higher rate than the previously believed rate of two-three mutations per year, the mutations do not necessarily suggest that the monkeypox virus has become more transmissible, says Dr. Scaria.
“The mutations we see do not change the amino acids in protein. All adaptations to evolutionary pressure typically happen due to changes in the amino acid, which we don’t see here. This suggests that the mutations we see are relics of the enzyme action and not necessarily an evolutionary process or adaptations of the virus,” Dr. Scaria explains.
“Also, unlike the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which relies on a particular receptor to gain entry into cells, the monkeypox viruses don’t rely on receptors for cell entry. So a few mutations are unlikely to significantly increase infectivity,” he added.
But the presence of 47 mutations in the virus does point to sustained transmission in the last four-five years.
“But we do not know for sure if the virus collected these mutations in humans or in animals. We do not have genomes of the virus sequenced at intermediate time periods between 2017 and 2022, and so cannot say for sure if the sustained transmission has been in humans,” he says.
Higher rate
But the large collection of mutations does clearly suggest that the earlier notion of a mutation rate of two-three per year for monkeypox virus is a gross underestimation. The monkeypox virus indeed mutates at a higher rate than what was earlier assumed.
The 47 mutations seen in the genome sequence does indicate that the virus could have collected these mutations in a short period of time.
“This change in mutation pattern likely marks the jump from the original host to humans or an intermediate host where a host enzyme (maybe APOBEC3) might mutate the genome. The rate of change increased 10-20 fold and is now around one change per month,” Dr. Richard Neher from the University of Basel tweeted. “We don’t know what these mutations do. The great majority of them are likely inconsequential or deleterious to the virus and we have no evidence of viral adaptation. But they will help us tell apart different clusters of the outbreak of monkeypox and understand how the virus spreads.”
A man in his 20s has been arrested after Gardai seized €4.69m worth of cocaine during a stop and search of a car in Leopardstown, Co Dublin.
ardaí from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau stopped the vehicle and seized 67 kilograms of the drug yesterday in an operation targeting serious organised criminal activity
A total of 67 kilogrammes of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €4,690,000, was seized.
A man, aged in his 20s, has been arrested and is currently detained under Section 2 of The Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996, at Dundrum Garda Station.
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll said of the seizure: “The successful outcome to an operation undertaken by the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau, involving the seizure of cocaine with a street sale value close to €5 million, reflects the Garda Síochána’s determination to dismantle organised crime groups that trade in drugs”.
More to follow…
I’ve probably tested more wireless earphones than any other product category in the past year, with the best in terms of their combination of audio prowess and ANC being Sony’s WF1000xm4 (which are currently reduced at Harvey Norman to €259).
But a decent alternative in the higher end of the market are the latest kit from premium audio hardware company Klipsch.
I recently rated its T5 II Sport earbuds best for fitness alongside Powerbeats Pro. You can read that review here.
Its flagship true wireless earphones Klipsch T5 II ANC boast a number of stand-out features, such as a clever partnership with Dirac HD Sound which improves your listening experience. They are currently reduced at HiFi Hut to €229.
Design and build
From the minute you open the box, T5 II ANC shout premium.
You get a braided USB-C cable, super-stylish gunmetal charging case (which looks like a Zippo lighter), six colour-coded pairs of ear tips and well-crafted, stem-free buds adorned by the Klipsch logo.
I’d advise everyone to try out all of the oval-shaped ear tips to get the most secure and snug fit.
This applies to all earphones and it’s worth the time and effort as the impact on ANC and audio can be huge.
I can wear T5 II ANC for hours without feeling any discomfort.
Plus points include the tactile and easy to find buttons for in-ear controls and a companion Klipsch Connect app that includes a customisable EQ.
The gorgeous case is one of my favourite features. The lid flips open easily with a flick, just like a Zippo lighter. It shuts with a satisfying magnetic snap.
A rubber mat on the bottom prevents it from scratching surfaces or sliding across them. Months of use later and the case still looks great, thanks to its effective protective coating.
Noise cancellation and audio
The excellent passive noise isolation (once you get the perfect fitting ear tips) and the supreme active noise cancellation are up there with the best of any wireless earphones.
A handy slider in the app allows you to adjust the level of noise cancelling.
Sound quality is as superb as you’d expect, with over-emphasised bass, clearly defined mids and extra bright tops all given plenty of space.
Dirac HD Sound refines the frequency response to make it more suitable to multiple genres.
Voice calls during testing threw up no issues at all and background noise is eliminated nicely.
Battery life
Battery life is seven hours from the buds and 28 hours including the case.
White LEDs on the case indicate battery life. Recharging is with the USB-C port on the rear. There is support for wireless charging, which is always handy to have (although not essential).
Other features
Bluetooth 5.0 pairs easily and connections are stable.
The buds have an IPX4 rating for water resistance. (The X, incidentally, means they have not been tested for dust resistance.)
The only drawback is there is no support for higher quality audio codecs such as apt X HD, LDAC or LHDC. But given how good the buds sound, that’s not a deal-breaker.
Verdict
Anyone looking for audiophile style music listening experience is going to choose wired earphones or headphones every time.
We buy wireless cans for convenience and when they cost this much you expect a complete package.
From my experience over the last number of months, I would rate Klipsch T5 II ANC as delivering value for money and the best charging case you can buy.
However, I would rate Sony WF1000XM4 as a more complete and well-rounded package.
Pricing and availability
Klipsch T5 II ANC cost €229 from hifihut.ie.
Irish women are being forced to travel abroad and fill their luggage with months-long supplies of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs due to nationwide shortages of the medication.
There has been a severe shortage of HRT medicines in Ireland and the UK in recent months, and women are flying to the Canary Islands and mainland Spain to stock up as if the drugs were ‘cheap booze and cigarettes’.
Those unable to access their preferred HRT medication, which offsets the often debilitating symptoms of menopause, have been left dealing with depression, night sweats and migraines.
In a bid to avoid the often devastating side effects of sudden withdrawal from HRT medicines, women are trawling pharmacies across the country to track down the drugs, with some visiting over 20 pharmacies during their search.
Others have driven to the North, only to find the same shortages there.
Health watchdogs say the shortage, particularly affecting HRT medication in the form of patches, is due to ‘significantly increased demand’, with full supply not expected to be restored until next month.
Loretta Dignam, founder and chief executive of The Menopause Clinic, said there have been intermittent supply difficulties over the past two-and-a-half years but she has never seen a shortage on this scale, and she called for a task force to be set up to remove the red tape surrounding access to HRT.
Sallyanne Brady, founder of The Irish Menopause, said: ‘Some women are not able to function without it. They might not be able to go to work, they might be thrown into a deep depression, they mightn’t sleep because they’re having night sweats.’
Mother-of-two Tara Cloney went in search of HRT while on holidays in Lanzarote, and has also asked family members to stock up while they’re in Europe.
The 35-year-old, in Drogheda, Co. Louth, has been using HRT patches since last November, when she had her ovaries removed because she has the BRCA gene mutation, which increases her risk of getting ovarian cancer.
‘It was the first thing I did when I landed,’ she said of her trip. ‘I had people in Spain looking for them. It’s like smuggling home cheap booze and cigarettes.’
However, Ms Cloney said the worry of running out of medication is always looming over her.
‘Every single woman is going to go through this… This wouldn’t happen with Viagra.’
Róisín Kennedy, from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, said she is forced to ration her supply of HRT, and is terrified about how her body will react if she cannot get access to the medicine.
‘I was told two months ago by the pharmacist, “I’ve nothing to give you until July”. Imagine the panic of that. There was no way I was going back to the dark days. If I had to beg or steal it, I was going to get it.
‘I had a friend going to Spain and I gave her money and I said get this and this, and she did. Women are going to Spain on a Friday and coming back on a Sunday with their handbags full,’ she said.
She now has a one-month supply of 100ml patches left and is cutting them in half to try to make them last two months. Ms Kennedy went into menopause at the age of 37 after a hysterectomy.
Due to a breast cancer diagnosis two years previously, she faced extreme difficulty in finding a GP to prescribe her with HRT, leaving her feeling severely depressed for over a year. With this decrease in her dose, she is already seeing some of her symptoms return.
‘I have severe menopausal headaches. They’re crippling. My joints are all swollen – today, I can’t make a fist. My mood has dipped really badly. I don’t want to go back into the dark days of deep depression.’
Ms Dignam of the Menopause Clinic explained that the latest shortage started last November, when supplies of Evorel Conti dried up.
This resulted in women turning to alternative forms of HRT, which then led to more widespread supply shortages.
She explained that it is difficult for women to switch from their preferred form of HRT, as their bodies can have a negative reaction.
‘In theory, it’s an easy switch but women absorb oestrogen differently. A patch works well for some but the gel doesn’t work, and vice versa.’
Ms Dignam said women are also swapping their supplies among themselves.
The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) told the Mail that there are challenges with supply, especially with transdermal patches, and that this is due to a surge in demand.
‘The suppliers have confirmed that they have increased the planned supply of HRT patches to Ireland during 2022 in response to this increased demand,’ the authority told the Mail.
‘The HPRA has advised the companies that we are open to providing accelerated regulatory approval to supply a product originally intended for other markets if available.’
Updated / Saturday, 4 Jun 2022 13:20
Caoimhin Kelleher has been handed the number one jersey as Ireland start their UEFA Nations League campaign against Armenia in Yerevan.
It is the first competitive international start for the young Liverpool goalkeeper, while Kelleher played in the last international against Lithuania in March.
Regular number one Gavin Bazunu travelled with the squad for the first of four games in ten days, but the former Shamrock Rovers keeper was carrying a back injury.
With three more games in quick succession, the manager appears to have opted for the Liverpool man to allow Bazunu more time to get ready should he be needed against Ukraine on Wednesday.
Nathan Collins also gets a competitive start for his country as the Burnley man will play in the heart of the defence alongside Shane Duffy and John Egan.
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 4, 2022
Seamus Coleman has moved out of the three into the right wing-back role, while Enda Stevens returns on the left in place of James McClean.
Josh Cullen and Jeff Hendrick will anchor the midfield, allowing Kenny to select an attack-minded formation with Chiedozie Ogbene, Callum Robinson and Troy Parrott set to play in the forward line.
Bazunu has been named among the subs, while Michael Obafemi and CJ Hamilton could feature at some stage as they start on the bench.
Festy Obosele, Scott Hogan, Ryan Manning and Darragh Lenihan miss out on the 23-man matchday squad.
Armenia boss Joaquin Caparros made only four changes to the side which lost 9-0 in Norway last time, out as defenders Hovhannes Hambartzumyan, Hrayr Mkoyan, and midfielders Kamo Hovhannisyan and Artak Grigoryan were drafted in.
Armenia: David Yurchenko; Arman Hovhannisyan, Hovhannes Hambartsumyan, Hrayr Mkoyan, Varazdat Haroyan (capt), Artak Grigoryan, Eduard Spertsyan, Tigran Barseghyan, Kamo Hovhannisyan; Khoren Bayramyan, Vahan Bichakhchyan
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhin Kelleher; Nathan Collins, Shane Duffy, John Egan; Seamus Coleman, Enda Stevens, Josh Cullen, Jeff Hendrick; Chiedozie Ogbene, Callum Robinson, Troy Parrott
Referee: Radu Petrescu (ROU)
Updated / Saturday, 4 Jun 2022 12:51
Singer Shakira and footballer Gerard Piqué have announced their split after 11 years together.
The Colombian music star, 45, and Barcelona player, 35, have two children together.
In a statement, Shakira said: “We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the well-being of our children, who are our highest priority, we request respect for (our) privacy. Thank you for your understanding.”
Shakira and Piqué became a couple in 2011, having met while filming the video for her World Cup song Waka Waka in 2010.