Rouble sinks as Sonia scoops gold twice more

Saturday/Sunday

President Yeltsin abruptly dismissed the entire Russian government for the second time in five months as the Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Kiriyenko, paid the price for economic and financial crisis. The main victim of the previous shake-up in March, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, was restored as interim prime minister.

Following the INLA's weekend announcement of a ceasefire, Government and opposition politicians called on the Continuity IRA to follow suit.

Sonia O'Sullivan won the 5,000 metres title at the European athletics championships in Budapest to go with her gold in the 10,000 metres. The wins are declared the final stage in rehabilitation following her collapse at the Atlanta Olympics.

The GAA said it had no choice but to order a replay of the All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Clare and Offaly, after the match was mistakenly ended two minutes early by the referee.

Monday

The bodies of a French couple were found with gunshot wounds in their cottage near Clogheen in south Tipperary. Gardai visited the house after Louis and Chantal Bergeron had not been seen by neighbours for some time.

The points required for entry to third-level degree courses have risen slightly, with notable increases for engineering, electronics and some maths and science courses reflected in this year's first-round offers of college places.

Labelling arrangements for genetically modified foods are totally inadequate, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said following his publication of a policy paper on genetic engineering which requires improved transparency and risk assessment.

The GAA announced a trust fund among all its clubs, counties and provinces to alleviate suffering among the Omagh bomb victims. About £250,000, the proceeds from the hurling semifinal replay, is to help establish the fund.

Tuesday

It was confirmed that the Dail and the House of Commons are to be recalled on the same day next week to enact new measures to curb the activities of paramilitaries. On a visit to Omagh the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, described those responsible for the bombing as "outcasts from society."

As much as 10 per cent of the world's trees face extinction because of felling, fires and poor management, research commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature has found.

Some 300 to 400 craft accompanied the 70 Tall Ships as they left the Liffey and Dublin Bay. Many thousands of people lined the shore to watch their departure after a five-day visit and festival worth more than £30 million to the capital.

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, who reviewed the Parade of Sail in Dublin Bay from the LE Aisling, announced the restoration of the Asgard, the yacht which was used by Erskine Childers to bring guns to the Irish Volunteers in 1914.

Wednesday

There was speculation that the dissident republican group responsible for the Omagh bombing atrocity, calling itself the `Real IRA', was about to announce a total ceasefire. It coincided with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, meeting at Ashford Castle in Co Mayo.

They called for a permanent ceasefire by all paramilitary groups in the wake of the bombing. Their meeting concentrated on a strategy to try to ensure political progress after the Northern Ireland Assembly meets on September 14th.

The new Rose of Tralee, Luzveminda O'Sullivan, a biochemistry student at Trinity College Dublin, was crowned and paraded through the streets of the Co Kerry town. She is from Co Mayo but was the Galway Rose, and had entered the competition in memory of her late mother, who was from the Philippines.

Responding to criticism of television coverage RTE's director-general, Mr Joe Mulholland, said the Rose of Tralee still secures the highest viewer ratings, a pattern which he expected to continue. Nielsen ratings confirmed the first night of the contest clocked up 880,000 viewers.

Comedians Ed Byrne from Dublin and Tommy Tiernan from Navan were selected among the five nominees for the coveted Perrier prize for comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Thursday

Substantial job losses are feared among the 3,500 employees of Fruit of the Loom leisure wear plants in Donegal and Derry. It coincides with a company review and examination of the possibility of relocating its T-shirt operations to its sister plant in Morocco.

Checks for salmonella on farms, in poultry units and egg-packing plants are not taking place due to staff shortages and lack of resources in the Department of Agriculture, the union IMPACT claimed at a food safety seminar.

Its spokesman, Mr Kevin Callinan, accused senior management of treating the issue as marginal to the Department's core activities despite 11 major outbreaks caused by the bacterium in Ireland this summer.

The President, Mrs McAleese, left for her first state visit to Australia, and will be away when President Clinton visits Ireland next week.