The approach lets Nike take greater control over how its products are sold, helping ensure that knockoff shoes aren’t offered by third parties on the e-commerce marketplace, a source said.

Shoes are popular products for counterfeiters, and Nike’s global brand is an especially alluring target. That has put pressure on the athletic-apparel giant to police online sales more aggressively.

Lindsay Drucker Mann, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, had said Nike may be close to forging a closer relationship with Amazon. Currently, Nike is available on Amazon’s Zappos site, but not directly through the parent company.

It is unclear how much more Nike merchandise might ultimately flow through Amazon, but the prospect of a special relationship between the two companies sent US shoe-retailer stocks tumbling.

Foot Locker plunged as much as 11 per cent, while Finish Line fell 5.9 per cent. Dick’s Sporting Goods dropped more than 9 per cent. European sellers Sports Direct and JD Sports Fashion declined as well.

Nike gained as much as 1.8 per cent to $52.49 on Wednesday, bringing its year-to-date gain to more than 3 per cent. Amazon gained as much as 0.6 per cent to $998.70.

The Amazon partnership is part of Nike’s push to boost sales directly to consumers to revive slowing growth that has weighed on its stock. Just last week, Nike announced a structural overhaul, including cutting 1,400 jobs.

Bloomberg

The mosque was where the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Islamic caliphate.

Agencies

Speaking in advance of a Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) conference in Dublin on Wednesday on retrofitting homes for energy efficiency, Minister Denis Naughten said he had absolutely no hesitation in encouraging people to avail of “deep retrofit materials” in Ireland.

“It does meet the highest possible standard; that wasn’t the case in the UK,” he said.

External cladding insulation was believed to be a contributory factor in the devastating fire in London earlier this month, involving the Grenfell tower block, in which at least 79 people lost their lives.

Mr Naughten said all of the materials used for deep retrofitting, both internally and externally, is approved to National Standard Authority of Ireland (NSAI) standards, “the highest possible international standards”, and contractors were also registered with the NSAI.

“I have absolutely no concerns whatsoever with regard to the materials that are being used or the quality of the work that is being carried out through the deep retrofit schemes,” he said.

His remarks were echoed by the chief executive of the SEAI, who said there is a quite rigorous inspection scheme.

“As a result of that we strike people off the register, I wouldn’t say frequently, but as it comes up, we are very comfortable doing that,” he said.

He said people should use registered contractors as the register guaranteed contractors had a tax clearance certificate and insurance and were part of an inspections regime.

“All of the contractors will have their workmanship looked at to make sure the standards are where they need to be,” he said.

He also said, while it was possible there were cowboys in the industry, and “different measures or methods could be used or imported”, he was not aware of it.

The conference on deep retrofitting, the complete overhaul of the energy efficiency of a home, featured national and international experts. They discussed the potential within the construction sector and challenges and opportunities facing the Government and other bodies in delivering energy efficient homes and sustainable communities.

As many as 1 million homes, built in the last century, are considered to be significantly energy inefficient, according to the SEAI, resulting in higher energy bills and, in some cases, poorer health and wellbeing for homeowners.

Grants are available to householders toward the cost of insulation and efficiency measures and a new pilot scheme, being run by SEAI, will offer grants to community groups, local authorities and energy agencies for deep retrofitting projects, covering up to half of the costs.

Opening the conference, Mr Naughten also announced that grants of 90 per cent would be available in the case of voluntary homes and homes in energy poverty.

But recovering from a crushing championship loss has to be almost instantaneous now, and this in an environment where many counties still fetishise the date of their first championship game from the previous autumn.

Anthony Daly, writing in the Irish Examiner last week, said that in 2012 when he was in charge of the Dubs, they were focused so completely on their upcoming meeting with Kilkenny on June 23rd of that year, that many of the players had their pin numbers or house alarms changed to 2-3-0-6 from much earlier on in the spring (I presume Conal Keaney and the lads have since changed them, or they may not have appreciated the public airing of that particular tale).

Waterford, it appeared, had done something similar this year. The moment relegation was avoided in the league, the preparations for June 18th began. And nothing was going to interrupt them, not even a league semi-final or final – hence the curious decision to field an extremely weakened team for that league quarter-final against Galway in Pearse Stadium in April.

Just linguistics

It’s not exactly revolutionary to suggest that being right for the championship was more important to Derek McGrath than winning a game against Division 1B opposition in the league. But it was all predicated on a performance to match, on the day that really mattered.

Maybe it’s just linguistics, but if you listen to inter-county manager interviews as the leagues wind down, the date of their first championship game will always get a mention. The focus is not on delivering your best over the course of the summer – it’s about getting over the first hurdle and worrying about the rest afterwards.

Kieran Kingston’s Cork team are an excellent example of what happens when the first day goes better than you could ever have hoped. Within a couple of weeks, they’ve gone from Tipperary cannon-fodder to genuine contenders, and have built up the sort of momentum that might even carry them all the way. All on the back of delivering on the “21st of May”, as they no doubt had been characterising the start of their championship season since Christmas.

It’s a pretty narrow focus for a group of men to carry around, and that can certainly help . . . but only if you go and win the game. Lose, and you’re very quickly scrambling around for alternative messaging.

In reality the next game for last weekend’s biggest losers, Waterford and Donegal, are the really big games. Both of those teams would consider themselves All-Ireland contenders, and both of them are still in the hunt. But they have no further room for error.

Pear-shaped

And how do managers go about shifting focus away from the only game they’ve been talking about for six months within 48 hours of that game going horribly pear-shaped, as happened at the weekend?

Planting the seed beforehand, that losing is a distinct possibility and isn’t necessarily fatal, runs the risk of taking the maniacal edge off your team’s performance. It’s a kind of double-speak that players are happy to accommodate – the twin truths that losing this game is non-negotiable, and that there’s another way into the All-Ireland series if and when the defeat comes, is a circle that GAA players don’t seem to have too much difficulty in squaring.

For Waterford and Donegal, and Meath too, the disappointment of losing at a stage where they would have aimed to push on is exacerbated by the anger of under-performance. Turning that anger into positive energy is the big challenge now for managers.

And after six months of laser-focus on one team and one date, they may only now have two weeks to acclimatise to new opponents and new challenges in the qualifiers (or five days, in the case of the Waterford hurlers, who will find out on Monday morning who their opponents on Saturday week will be).

Getting the disappointment of a provincial championship loss out of their system might not seem all that easy, but since 1998 in hurling, and 2001 in football, making sure that cognitive dissonance, of recovering quickly from a loss that they were told not to countenance, kicks in is a key part of a championship summer for pretty much everyone now.

Ms Handel comfortably won the seat vacated by health and human services secretary Tom Price in the sixth congressional district of Georgia, beating Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff.

As expected, Republicans also won a special election in the fifth congressional district of South Carolina held to fill the seat vacated by budget director Mick Mulvaney.

The Georgia victory was an important win for the Republican party, following Mr Ossoff’s better-than-expected performance in the first-round election last month, but has left Democrats frustrated after a record-breaking funding drive failed to generate a win.

President Donald Trump lauded Ms Handel’s victory on Twitter as the results were announced shortly before midnight. “Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!” In a later tweet, he urged Democrats to “get together” with Republicans on healthcare, tax cuts and security. “Obstruction doesn’t work!” he said.

Replacing Obamacare

The Republican victory – the fourth special election won by the party this year – has generated renewed momentum for the party’s long-awaited plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, with Senate Republicans due to unveil their own proposal for the American Health Care Act on Thursday. A series of votes may be held next week in Congress before representatives break for the July 4th recess.

Senate Republicans have been meeting behind closed doors to try and seek agreement on repealing sections of the Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform which became known as Obamacare. The House of Representatives voted and passed their proposal last month.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has said this week that the Senate plan would be “different” than the House plan, which has been criticised by Democrats as providing tax cuts for the rich and cutting essential medical programmes.

Democrats have also criticised Republicans for devising their plan behind closed doors and without congressional scrutiny.

A study by the Congressional Budget Office has claimed that 23 million Americans may lose their healthcare under the House plan.

Russian interference

As President Trump headed to Iowa on Wednesday for a “Make America Great Again” rally, questions about Russian interference in the US election continued to be raised on Capitol Hill.

Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, former homeland security chief Jeh Johnson defended the decision of the Obama administration not to release details of alleged meddling by Russia in the US election until after the November election. “We have to carefully consider whether declassifying the information compromises sources and methods,” Mr Johnson said. “There was an ongoing election. Many would criticise us for perhaps taking sides in the election. So that had to be carefully considered.”

Separately, a senior Department of Homeland Security official, Jeanette Manfra, told the Senate on Wednesday that Russian hackers targeted 21 US states during last year’s election.

However she said that there was no evidence to suggest actual vote ballots were altered by the interference. 

While there is “stress-testing” of an alternative plan for private firms to fill the gaps left by the closures, people are falling through the cracks, Professor Harry Kennedy agreed in exchanges with Mr Justice Peter Kelly.

Asked was the stress-testing at the expense of those needing services, he agreed. “It’s hard to say any person is happy with it.”

All 94 beds in the CMH are full, it has a waiting list of 24 people and cannot take a psychiatrically ill man whose case was before the court, Dr Kennedy, who is Clinical Director of the CMH, said.

The man’s behaviour, including inflicting a head injury on his mother requiring stitches after hitting her with a chair, and writing her name in blood on a wall, was “challenging and violent” but not sufficiently serious to meet the criteria for admission to the CMH, he told the judge. Had his mother’s skull been fractured, that would meet the criteria.

Ireland has two forensic beds per 100,000 of population when most other Northern European countries have ten so the CMH is “extremely selective” to ensure the right people are in the right place. Describing the system as a “Cinderella” one “is no misnomer”, he added.

The CMH is intended for people who, based on strong evidence, represent a “significant danger” and he did not consider this man met those criteria.

It was not uncommon for people to fall through cracks in mental care and find themselves in prison often for minor things, he said. A solution can be found with time and impetus, usually involving a long term care place appropriate to needs.

While the various parts of the HSE are not always well co-ordinated in finding solutions, things are improving, he added.

Dr Kennedy was giving evidence in a hearing of an urgent application by the HSE for orders permitting detention of the man in a psychiatric unit. The man is currently in prison and the orders were sought in the event he receives a non-custodial sentence from the District Court when he appears before it on Thursday for a criminal offence.

Maria Dillon, solicitor for the HSE, said various voluntary organisations and hospitals who previously dealt with the man were refusing to take him because of his challenging and violent behaviour. While it had been recommended he be placed in an acute unit of a particular psychiatric hospital, its director was opposed to taking him for similar reasons but would abide by any court order.

Having heard all the evidence, the judge said he was confronted with a “Hobson’s choice”.

While mental hospitals have been closed down, the necessary services are not being provided to look after people who would have been detained there, he said.

As there was no place available in the CMH and no other alternative and he could not “in conscience let the man walk loose”, he would direct his placement in the acute unit.

That did not affect the District Court’s jurisdiction over what orders it considered appropriate to make in this case, he stressed. Irrespective of whether a custodial order is made, an appropriate plan must be put in place for the man’s long term care.

The man previously received a substantial settlement of proceedings brought after he suffered an acquired brain injury in a road traffic accident some years ago. As a result, he exhibited very strange, violent, and sexualised behaviour and his mother was afraid of him, the judge noted.

Because the man was made a ward of court, with his settlement paid into court, there are monies available to go towards his care, the judge said. The court was told he was running up debts by informing drug dealers he had monies coming under the settlement but no funds would be paid out to discharge any drug debts, he stressed.

Casamigos, which the actor founded with Cindy Crawford’s husband Rande Gerber and flamboyant real estate developer Mike Meldman as a side project, instantly enjoyed the backing of America’s rich and famous, helping propel the brand to sales of 120,000 cases in 2016, mainly in the US.

The deal underscores the revival of tequila and mescal as trendy spirits, which is seeing companies in the sector command lofty prices. Earlier this month, France’s Pernod Ricard agreed to take a majority stake in Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal.

Diageo will pay $700 million (€627m) for Casamigos, which loosely translates as “house of friends” and is largely controlled by its three founders, when the deal closes. An additional $300 million (€269m) is payable depending on the performance of Casamigos over 10 years.

Tequila has until recently represented a gap in the drinks cabinet of Diageo, which sells nine labels of American and Scotch whisky but just two brands of the Mexican spirit. Casamigos will sit alongside the company’s Don Julio tequila brand, which has registered double-digit growth in the year to June 2016.

Diageo plans to keep Mr Clooney and his partners on board, and hopes to use its international reach to speed up Casamigos’ growth.

Sales of super-premium tequila brands grew nearly 600 per cent in the US between 2003 and 2015, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, far outpacing other spirits.

Mexico’s top tequilas have led the growth, with volumes of ultra-premium tequila rising 35 per cent in 2016 compared with 2015 to make up a third of tequila’s $7 billion global sales, according to the IWSR, the London-based authority on the drinks trade.

– The Financial Times Limited 2017

The Titan Themis, one of only a handful of such instruments around the world, was unveiled at a ceremony on Wednesday. The university said it will allow researchers to “see individual atoms and identify their chemical nature on the scale of a ten-billionth of a millimetre”, in “real-world conditions”.

It will be of benefit to scientists working on drug discovery and design processes in the pharmaceutical industry, and in the development of medical devices. It will also facilitate advanced research for the electronics, nuclear and aviation industries.

The “double-corrected, monochromated” transmission electron microscope is valued at €6 million. A further €3 million worth of specialist equipment has been added to the machine, including ultrafast detectors, as well as holders, that allow for the behaviour of materials to be studied in real time across a range of environments.

For 70 years scientists have been observing materials in a vacuum, “not in the conditions these materials are used on a day-to-day basis”, Dr Andrew Stewart of the Bernal Institute said. “The holders allow us to introduce specific triggers into samples, allowing us to see how these materials, at an atomic level, interact with the world – for example, how they react when exposed to different gases, liquids, heating, biasing or cryocooling.”

The microscope is also equipped with a detector that allows scientists to capture atoms’ reactions at 1,600 frames a second. “Up until now we have only been able to detect 10 frames per second, so effectively this new camera will allow us to record the processes at a submillisecond timescale and capture that information as it unfolds. It is the difference between seeing time-stamped stills of a process and seeing a movie of what is happening at an atomic level.”

The university’s president, Prof Des Fitzgerald, said the acquisition of the Titan Themis “marks the biggest single investment in a piece of instrumentation by the University of Limerick”. These new facilities would create a generation of postgraduate students with world-class skills in electron microscopy and strengthen UL’s international academic profile by attracting overseas students and programmes, he added.

The equipment is funded by UL in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland, whose director general, Prof Mark Ferguson, said they were delighted to support Irish researchers by providing world-class facilities and equipment. “These investments are vital for attracting investment and talent to Ireland and ensuring we remain at the forefront of scientific research and development.”

Liam Williams, Elliot Daly and Alun Wyn Jones – who played in Tuesday’s win over the Chiefs – have all been promoted to the starting line-up, despite missing out on the win over the Maori last Saturday. Hence, compared to the starting XV against the Maori, Leigh Halfpenny drops to the bench, George North misses out altogether and almost as surprisingly, Maro Itoje has to be content with a place amongst the replacements.

As expected, Peter O’Mahony captains the side, and is joined in the back-row by Sean O’Brien. Their combined form has contributed to tour captain Sam Warburton also being named on the bench for the first test. As expected, Toby Faletau is at eight, Conor Murray is partnered by the fit again Owen Farrell, with Johnny Sexton on the bench, and Ben Te’o will make only his second test start at inside centre – his previous start having been at outside centre against Italy, and Anthony Watson is on the right wing. As with the back-row, in keeping with the team that played against both the Crusaders and the Maori, the front-row will be Mako Vunipola, Jamie George (making his full Test debut) and Tadhg Furlong. Jones will be partnered by George Kruis.

With Stuart Hogg ruled out, Warren Gatland and co have gambled on the counter-attacking and game-breaking abilities of Williams at fullback rather than the almost error free Leigh Halfpenny, who has also kicked 12 from 12 on tour. In his stead, Farrell’s return gives the Lions a proven test goal-kicker. Daly’s selection ahead of North is also an example of form having been preferred to proven form at test level – not least with the Lions – and he also gives the team a left-footed kicking option. Both Halfpenny and North started all three tests in Australia four years ago. The starting team comprises seven English players and four each from Ireland and Wales.

On the bench, Jack McGrath, Ken Owens and Kyle Sinckler are the frontrow replacements and, along well with Itoje, Warburton, Sexton and Halfpenny, are joined by Rhys Webb.

Overall, it’s hard to dispute Gatland’s claim when he said: “We have picked a side based on form with a lot of players putting their hands up, especially from the Crusaders and Maori All Blacks games, and it was a lively selection meeting. The win against the Chiefs was also extremely important for the squad and some players played themselves into the side.”

“We have continuously been strong at set piece and have been good defensively in the last two or three outings. But to beat the All Blacks you have to be courageous and play some rugby – you have to score tries and I think we have picked a team capable of doing that.”

The pack is retained from the Crusaders victory, including the back row of O’Mahony, O’Brien and Taulupe Faletau, and Gatland added: “It’s a reward for how the back row has gone. There is a nice balance there while Peter captained the side against the Maori All Blacks and has done a good job.”

There are seven Test Lions in the starting XV with three more on the bench in a match day squad combining experience and form.

Williams and Daly are rewarded for their performances the Chiefs on Tuesday and Gatland added: “Elliot has been very accurate in the way he has played and we saw some excellent attacking play from Liam on Tuesday night. We are excited about the 15 that take the field but also the very strong and experienced bench players who will have an impact.”

BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS (v New Zealand in Auckland – Saturday, 8.35am live on Sky Sports and our liveblog): Liam Williams, Anthony Watson, Jonathan Davies, Ben Te’o, Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, Conor Murray; Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Tadhg Furlong, Alun Wyn Jones, George Kruis, Peter O’Mahony (c), Sean O’Brien, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Jack McGrath, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Sam Warburton, Rhys Webb, Jonathan Sexton, Leigh Halfpenny

All passengers were safe, the airport said in a brief statement on its Facebook page.

The officer who was stabbed is Lieut Jeff Neville of the Bishop International Airport department of public safety, Michigan state police spokeswoman Lori Dougovito said by telephone.

Mr Neville underwent surgery after the attack and is stable, Ms Dougovito said.

Asked if the stabbing was under investigation as possible terrorism, a government official, who asked not be named, said: “Yes.”

The officer was stabbed inside the airport’s main terminal, Michigan state police spokesman David Kaiser said in a telephone interview from the airport.

“We are aware of reports that the attacker made statements immediately prior to or while attacking the officer, but it is too early to determine the nature of these alleged statements or whether or not this was an act of terrorism,” the FBI’s Detroit field office said in a statement.

‘Person of interest’

Police have taken a “person of interest” into custody, Flint mayor Karen Weaver said in a statement.

Officials have increased security at Flint City Hall, including additional police officers, in “an abundance of caution” following the incident, the statement said.

Bishop International Airport is a small regional airport with two runways that has, on average, 16 commercial flights arriving or departing each day, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking service.

The airport warned of potential cancellations and delays after the incident.

Reuters

Ken Tyrell, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, was appointed receiver over five units at the Diamond Building by the Gulland Property Finance fund, which acquired loans made to Kevin and Aidan Mahon by the former Anglo Irish Bank.

The loans were taken over by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) and later sold to Gulland and stood at €2.6 million as of November last year.

Four of the five units have already been taken over by the receiver but a dispute remained in relation to the fifth, which is occupied by Aidan Mahon and used as a gym, the court heard.

In opposing the receiver’s injunction application, Kevin Mahon argued, among other things, that the fifth unit in the property was excluded when the loan facilities were renegotiated in 2005.

It was claimed by Kevin Mahon that a deed of mortgage on the loan was subject to certain charges completed by IBRC in 2008 in favour of the Central Bank. Those charges had crystallised around December 2010 when IBRC was put into special liquidation by the then government, it was argued.

Mr Justice Donald Binchy said Gulland was entitled to deal with the loans and related securities unless and until such time as the Central Bank intervened to act upon the security over charges on the loans.

He was satisfied to grant the reliefs sought by the receiver but stressed Mr Tyrell “remains inhibited” from marketing for sale all of the units as one lot so long as the defendants remain in possession of the property.

As talks continue on two fronts – at Stormont, and between the DUP and the British Conservatives in London to shore up a Theresa May-led British government – the SDLP leader suggested that the DUP and Sinn Féin were anxious to get a deal to reinstate Stormont.

“It is clear from these negotiations that both the DUP and Sinn Féin are eager to get back into government but just haven’t yet worked out how and what timing will best suit them,” said Mr Eastwood.

“Everyone is wise to their game at this stage – there can either be a deal now or a deal in the autumn,” he added during a break in the continuing talks at Stormont on Wednesday afternoon.

His comments reflected a cautious but growing sense of optimism at Stormont that a breakthrough is possible by Thursday week’s (June 29th) deadline.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney again joined in the negotiations on Wednesday and is due back at Stormont on Friday.

Mr Eastwood however warned that the terms of the prospective DUP-Tory confidence-and-supply arrangement must be known before an agreement can be reached.

Potential deal

Some more detail of that potential deal emerged on Wednesday with talks sources telling the BBC in London the DUP was seeking a package worth at least £2 billion.

The sources said the DUP, among a range of matters, was seeking £1 billion for health, £1 billion for infrastructure, a reduction in corporation tax to the 12.5 per cent rate applicable in the Republic and the abolition of air passenger duty.

The DUP and Tory negotiating teams up to Wednesday evening had failed to reach agreement that would ensure Theresa May returning as prime minister.

There was some speculation that a deal could be reached by Thursday. Sources on Wednesday evening, however, said the talks were continuing and possibly could run into the weekend or later.

The first critical period for reaching a deal will be next week when votes are due to take place on the Queen’s Speech, the programme for government for the year ahead in the UK, that was delivered by Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday.

The Conservatives may need the support of the 10 DUP MPs by that stage to ensure that those votes are carried.

Earlier on Wednesday, the British first secretary of state Damian Green said that, while it was “possible” the two parties would not be able to reach agreement, the talks were “progressing well” and were being conducted in a “constructive spirit”.

Similar views

“We are both unionist parties at our heart, we are both very concerned with combatting terrorism, we both have similar views about delivering a good Brexit for this country and obviously we are very concerned with the Irish Border issue,” he told BBC Radio 4.

“All talks of this kind take a long time,” added Mr Green.

SDLP leader Mr Eastwood said the DUP-Tory talks were undermining the Stormont negotiations. “We need a resolution to that uncertainty so that we can get on with the job of getting the deal done here,” he said.

“The chaotic talks between the DUP and the Tories are holding the politics of the North to ransom. If there is an economic package coming from London then it needs to be targeted to those areas and those people in the North who have been left behind,” he added. “The DUP needs to understand that it is not their money. It belongs to all the people of Northern Ireland. It must be targeted where objective need exists, not the parochial political desires of one party.”

Pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the data protection Bill 2017 continued at the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality on Wednesday.

The proposed legislation must be in place by May of next year to give effect to the new EU general data protection regulation and an associated directive on sharing data for law enforcement purposes.

Barrister Dr Denis Kelleher told the committee that under the regulation, if government departments had, for example, a system that failed to process requests from customers for their personal information, it could be facing millions in claims.

It would be easy for the number of claims in such circumstances to reach a thousand, which would add up to €15 million, he said.

‘Significant issue’

He said it was a “significant issue” and it was difficult to say how it would go.

In the past, claims for failing to secure CCTV, for example, had been settled for in the region of €10,000.

“There are differing views on what claims would settle for at this present time but it’s likely they would be significant,” Dr Kelleher said.

Dr Kelleher, the author of a number of key texts on data protection law in Ireland, said the “very real penalty” faced by public authorities under the new EU regulation was “illegality”.

There was a “very real issue” that public bodies who failed to process personal data in accordance with data protection law would “effectively be processing that data illegally”.

They would then face not being able to perform their statutory functions and those people whose data had been processed illegally may be able to bring claims for damages which was a “very real penalty on them”.

Dr Kelleher said the “real deterrent” against the public body was the possibility of damages claims.

Identification services

Dr Kelleher also raised an issue about the role of the State in providing identification services.

Under the new EU regulation, companies such as social media firms will have to identify the identity of those using their services so that they may distinguish between adults and children.

Dr Kelleher said companies such as social media providers would have to be able to identify children and they were subject to “onerous fines” and potentially very significant claims for damages if they processed the data of children where they were not supposed to do so.

The two choices were that the identification would be done by the firms themselves and by the market.

“Personally I would prefer if the market wasn’t providing the solution – I would prefer that the State would provide the solution,” Dr Kelleher said. This would give people rights such as judicial review and the ability to see who was processing data, he added. But the State was not in a position to provide such services at present.

Seamus Carroll of the Department of Justice told the committee last week that the Government would take a decision in the coming weeks on the “digital age of consent” that will apply for the use of internet services.

The EU regulation requires parental consent for the provision of information society services to a child under 17. But member states may provide by law for a lower age as long as it is no lower than 13 years. The Government held a public consultation on the issue.

Statements from the victims to gardaí were read into the record at the trial of father and son, Patrick (52), and Philip Roche, (24), who are accused of aggravated burglary.

The two accused, with the same address, at Kilcronan Close, Clondalkin, Dublin, deny aggravated burglary at the home of William, Nora, and Christina Creed, at Ballyluddy, Pallasgreen, Co Limerick, on May 31st, 2012.

Willie Creed (79), told gardaí: “One of them rushed at me and knocked me to the ground. He was stabbing me on the head with a screwdriver. There was blood running down along my face.”

The court heard the three pensioners were beaten, tied up, and threatened their “throats would be cut” if they didn’t hand over cash.

The Creeds told gardaí the raiders were armed with a butcher’s knife, a screwdriver, sticks, and iron bars. “They asked for money and they said they knew we had three pensions and a lot of land,” Willie Creed told gardaí. “They told us they would cut our throats. One of them said he’d cut off my hands.”

Chrissie Creed (77), told gardaí she was “saying prayers” in her bedroom when she heard her sister Nora “screaming”. She said when she came out of her bedroom she saw “two men standing over (Nora), and Willie had blood on his head”.

She said she tried to phone her brother Tommy for help, but one of the raiders grabbed the phone and threw it to the ground. “He laid into me, hitting me. He threw me across the room. I thought they were going to kill us,” she told gardaí.

Nora Creed (72), said she opened the front door of the house and saw two men standing in front of her dressed in black. She told gardaí she was “punched backwards” onto a nearby window. The court heard the Creeds had saved up €5,000 in €50 bills to pay for work they planned to have carried out on the farm, but this had been stolen in the burglary.

Patrick and Philip Roche have also denied a charge of aggravated burglary, at Sunville House, Pallasgreen, on April 16th, 2012.

During this incident, Ann and Gerry Garvey and their four children were held at gun point at their home by a three-man armed and masked gang. A third accused, Alan Freeman, (37), of Pearse Park, Tipperary Town, who is on trial for the Sunville burglary, has denied the charge. The trial continues at Limerick Circuit Court.

Mr Carney, (53), was the principal of St Louis Senior Primary School in Rathmines, Dublin 6. He was involved in a collision with a car at a junction on Butterfield Park in Rathfarnham, cycling from his home to work at 8.10am on Tuesday. He was taken to Tallaght Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Jake Byrne, chairperson of the school’s board of management, said Mr Carney’s death was “a terrible tragedy” for his friends and family, and the whole school community.

“We are all deeply saddened by his sudden and untimely death. Pádraic was a wonderful leader in the school. His infectious enthusiasm for the job of teaching children and his warm and charming personality made him most popular with pupils, parents, staff and all who came to know him in his job,” Mr Byrne said. Mr Carney was very popular with the students in the Rathmines school.

On Wednesday, psychologists from the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) were brought in to the school to provide support to pupils and teachers as they learned of the news of Mr Carney’s death.

The co-educational school issued a statement on Wednesday which said: “We are all deeply saddened by his sudden and untimely death. The entire school community of St Louis Senior Primary School, Rathmines sends its deepest condolences to Pádraic’s family and friends.” The statement added that teachers and psychologists had “spoke to all the children . . . and allowed them to share and process their grief”.

The students in the school in Williams Park are aged between eight and 12.

The board of management said offers of support have been pouring in from the wider community and local parents, and the management would “like to express its appreciation” for the support from the community.

The driver of the vehicle involved in the collision was not believed to have been injured.

Gardaí have made an appeal for anyone who witnessed the incident to contact Rathfarnham Garda station.

Malak Thawley, a teacher, was rushed to the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin following a seven week scan that revealed an ectopic pregnancy.

Doctors at Holles Street found a live pregnancy in the right fallopian tube and together with Mrs Thawley and her husband Alan Thawley agreed the best course of action was surgery, due to the danger of rupture.

Ms Thawley, from Dallas, USA died due to a tear in the abdominal aorta during the course of surgery for an ectopic pregnancy on May 8th, 2016.

An inquest into her death on Wednesday at Dublin Coroner’s Court heard of a number of issues that arose as doctors tried to save the woman’s life. Vascular clamps were not available at Holles Street and were sent there from the Blackrock Clinic with a garda escort. Staff members, the inquest heard, also crossed the road to get bags of ice from a pub during an emergency effort to save Mrs Thawley’s life.

Theatre nurse Auri Travisora met Mrs Thawley and her husband when they arrived at the hospital ahead of the procedure scheduled for 4pm. “I welcomed the couple, we ran through the checklist together. I asked her if she was in pain and she said ‘no.’ She said she was from Dallas and this was her first pregnancy.”

She added: “The couple embraced and then her husband left the theatre with a midwife”.

Mrs Thawley lay down and the nurse covered her with blankets and connected a cardiac monitor. “She was very anxious, she held my hand tightly and asked me to pray for her,” Ms Travisora said.

Dr David Crosby was working as a second year specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at Holles Street and was on a 12 hour shift from 8am to 8pm on that date. He met and discussed the surgery with the couple and they agreed that a laparoscopic surgery for the removal of a right-sided ectopic pregnancy was the best option.

Prior to May 8th, he had performed 92 laparoscopic procedures as primary operator, five of which were performed independently.

“This was the first maternal death I have been involved in,” Dr Crosby said.

The operation began at 4.38pm.

Answering questions about the procedure, Dr Crosby said that making the initial incision, he was conscious of the bowel, blood vessels and the abdominal aorta. He used a veress (spring-loaded) needle to make an incision through the abdominal wall and then inserted a surgical instrument known as a primary trocar. The trocar is 11m in diameter and activates a camera once it has passed through the abdominal wall, the inquest heard.

“The trocar contains the port with the laparoscope to visualise the abdominal cavity,” Dr Crosby said.

His vision through the camera was obscured however and he removed it, wiped it with a swab and reinserted it. It was still obscured. On the third try using a blunt instrument the doctor was able to see 200mls of blood in the abdominal cavity.

“I thought at this stage it was a ruptured ectopic pregnancy,” Dr Crosby said.

“I asked the scrub nurse to telephone Dr Declan Keane (consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist on call) and ask him to attend theatre immediately for a laparotomy for suspected ruptured ectopic pregnancy or a vascular injury,” Dr Crosby said.

The abdominal aorta injury was identified at 5.35pm with the arrival of Dr Mary Barry, a consultant vascular surgeon from St Vincent’s Hospital. The inquest heard that vascular clamps were not available at Holles Street and were sent there from the Blackrock Clinic with a garda escort.

Nurse Jenny Saltori prepared instruments for the laparotomy, a process she said took two minutes. However, under questioning, she said there were other tasks for her to do and she had more to do because there was not enough staff present.

Asked if this slowed the process, Ms Saltori replied ‘Yes.’

The inquest continues.

Bobby McDonagh, the Irish Ambassador to Italy, said those Brexiteers who had put “country first” were effectively saying they wanted to be “masters of our own little world”.

Speaking to a conference in Rome hosted by the University of Notre Dame, Mr McDonagh said every country wants to “take control” of its own affairs – the mantra used by the Leave campaign in the Brexit debate.

However, the Ambassador, who retires in July, said EU countries believe the best way to take control is to pool sovereignty in those areas such as trade where a collective response is required.

“The European Union remains the most effective cross-border mechanism the world has seen,” he said, adding that it was an “imperfect and extraordinary” organisation and, by definition, complex.

That complexity is one of the reasons why populists “can’t stand the European Union. The European Union is and will always be complex because the simple ways of the past consistently and tragically failed.”

Defending the EU, he suggested, was “one of the great moral imperatives of our day ... if this European Union were to disappear under the onslaught of scepticism or, equally dangerously, burdened by the unrealistic expectations of well-meaning perfectionists, there will be no European Union in its place”.

He contrasted Ireland, which, he said, had embraced the free movement of people whereas those who argued for Brexit believed it was something to be feared.

Foreign-born residents

Mr McDonagh pointed out that the Republic of Ireland had a higher percentage of foreign-born residents than the United Kingdom. According to Eurostat, 16.9 per cent of the population of the Republic was foreign-born as of last year; the equivalent figure for the UK was 13.3 per cent.

Far from being regarded with suspicion, Mr McDonagh said the “new Irish” were being embraced in Ireland because “they build up our economy, enrich our culture, strengthen our sports teams, fill our churches and our mosques, diversify our tastes and make us proud to be Europeans”.

Mr McDonagh, who will be 63 next week, will be retiring as a diplomat when he leaves his post as Ambassador to Italy at the end of July. Prior to taking up that post, he was ambassador to Britain between 2009 and 2013.

He referenced Nigel Farage’s comments that June 23rd last year was Britain’s “independence day” and said the notion that only Britain cared about its independence was “plain silly”.

“It reaches the level of unprecedented historical amnesia that any British person might believe that Ireland needs to be reminded of the importance of independence.”

A good thing

In a wide-ranging speech, Mr McDonagh said Ireland and Britain see EU membership in fundamentally different ways as reflected in the fact that 86 per cent of Irish people regard EU membership as a good thing.

“Ireland’s continued commitment to Europe is, in my view, an important further step in the assertion of Ireland’s psychological independence,” he said.

“As a small island dominated for so long, both before and after independence, our accession to the EU provided us, to a greater extent than before, with a wider international stage.”

The reasons why British people decided to leave the European Union are the same reasons why Irish people want to stay, he suggested.

Brexiteers, he maintained, treat independence as a “delicate flame to be hidden away in a sacred temple”; whereas the Irish regarded their independence as “something which defines our very place in, and interaction with, the wider world”.

“Ireland, in common with Italy, our EU partners, view sovereignty in the 21st century as something to be shared, appropriately and effectively.”

That equates to about €300 million of shares, based in the mid-point of a range between €4.30 and €4.50 at which the shares are expected to price on Thursday evening ahead of the bank’s flotation on the main stock markets in Dublin and London. It would value the bank at just under €12 billion.

The new price range, issued on Wednesday evening by investment banks working on the deal, marks the second narrowing of the spread in as many days. The original range was set last week at between €3.90 and €4.90 per share, which would have valued the bank at up to €13.3 billion.

Investment bankers working on the deal said that they have secured orders throughout the latest price range to cover all the shares being sold.

The State, which seized AIB in 2010 to prevent the bank from collapsing under the weight of spiralling bad loans, initially plans to sell a 25 per cent stake in the IPO. The investment banks have an option to acquire a further 3.8 per cent of the bank and place the stock on the market.

Final orders

While it had been reported soon after the Government announced plans last month to proceed with IPO that retail investors may apply for up to €900 million of shares, sources said that the final orders level from this category was about €400 million. An allocation of €300 million means small investors will receive, on average, 75 per cent of the shares for which they applied.

One source close to the process said that the final figure reflected the fact that would-be investors had to commit a minimum €10,000 to participate in the transaction.

While the order book for small investors closed on Wednesday, larger investors have until noon on Thursday to submit their offers.

Institutional investors, including pension funds and asset managers, can set the maximum price within the range that they would be willing to buy AIB stock. However, smaller investors had to commit to buying shares at the final price of the IPO that will be set by the Government and its advisers.

The 9-4 winner rallied in typically gutsy style to beat Decorated Knight and Ulysses on the hottest June day at Ascot for forty years.

And it prompted the sort of reaction from some racing’s coolest professional which indicates Highland Reel has secured a singularly sentimental spot in the affections of the Coolmore bloodstock empire.

“He has such a marvellous attitude, been everywhere and keeps coming back. He’s so brave and I’d say that’s a career best,” smiled an effusive Ryan Moore. O’Brien chipped in: “An incredible horse. He has pace, courage, tactical speed, just a brilliant horse.”

That Churchill’s dramatic eclipse in the St James’s Palace Stakes coincided with a Godolphin hat-trick on day one meant the pressure was on the Ballydoyle team. However top-flight victories in three continents had already confirmed Highland Reel is always one to have on your side in a scrap.

With the Godolphin favourite Jack Hobbs fading to last, the Irish star earned 5-4 quotes to go back to Ascot next month and successfully defend his King George title.

Earlier O’Brien had had to settle for the runner up spot when his 66-1 outsider Spirit Of Valor found only the 2-1 French favourite Le Brivido too good in the Jersey Stakes and he was second again in the concluding Sandringham Handicap as the gambled-on Rain Goddess was nabbed by Con Te Partiro.

The 20-1 winner scored for American trainer Wes Ward who’d earlier been foiled in the Queen Mary as Heartache beat the odds-on Happy Like A Fool.

Last year O’Brien emerged from the first two days with a single winner and still wound up with a record-equalling Royal Ascot tally of seven.

With Order Of St George in the Gold Cup, and two outstanding Group One Friday favourites in Winter and Caravaggio, the potential for another resounding finale to the most exclusive week of the racing year is obvious.

Highland Reel however will be hard to dislodge from the trainer’s affections, not least for having become O’Brien’s 300th top-flight winner over jumps and on the flat.

“He has been racing at the top level for the last few years and he’s just amazing,” O’Brien said. “We always thought the world because he’s always been a natural, brilliant athlete.”

The French were also on the mark as the 5-2 favourite Qemah won the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes to win at Royal Ascot for a second year in a row.

The 2016 Coronation Stakes winner will go next for the Prix Rotschchild at Deauville and trainer Jean Claude Rouget also has another crack at Leopardstown’s Matron Stakes in September for Qemah.

Derby winning jockey Martin Dwyer served up a tactical master-class from the front as the 25-1 Zhui Feng made virtually all to land the Royal Hunt Cup.

Leon Fay gave evidence to the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday in the trial of 33-year-old Seán Ducque, who is charged with murdering a man in Dublin city in 2014.

Mr Ducque, of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kieran Farrelly (33) on October 26th, 2014 at Killarney Court in the north inner city.

However, as his trial got under way on Wednesday, his barrister Hugh O’Keeffe SC stood up to say that “the accused Seán Ducque admits that on 26th October 2014, he fired two shots from a shotgun, later found on Mabbot Lane, which killed Kieran Farrelly”.

Mr Fay testified on Wednesday that he was living across the street from Killarney Court at the time. He recalled being in his bedroom around 11.30 that night.

“I heard what I thought was a firework, and shortly afterwards another,” he said, describing them as two bangs. “Then I heard some women shouting. They were distressed, shouting, ‘Seán, don’t’. There were two females.”

He said he also heard a male voice say something like, “I’ll meet you around the back”, before seeing the two women running together. He and his brother went down to see if someone had been shot. “I looked over and saw a body lying down on the ground so then I climbed over the railing to see if I could help,” he recalled. “The man who had been shot was talking to me. He just said, ‘help me’ and that was it.”

State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy carried out a postmortem on Mr Farrelly. She testified he had been the victim of a fatal shooting, sustaining two shotgun injuries – one to the eye and one to the chest.

“Either would have proved fatal,” she said.

Dominic McGinn SC earlier opened the case on behalf of the State, explaining that the prosecution case was that Mr Farrelly was murdered. He said a Garda search of the area had turned up a discharged shotgun cartridge and that the accused was located shortly after 6am in nearby Mabbot Lane. A sawn-off, double-barreled shotgun was found in a wheelie bin on the lane, along with another discharged cartridge.

The barrister said that analysis of the gun found that Mr Farrelly’s trunk wound compared with a test shot from two to three metres away, and that the eye wound compared with a shot from a distance of a metre or less.

“Mr Ducque has accepted that it was he who fired the shots,” said Mr McGinn. “Nevertheless the prosecution have to prove he’s guilty of murder.”

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury of six men and six women. It is expected to last two weeks.

“A quarter of the government has fallen,” crowed Laurent Wauquiez, the hardliner vice-president of the conservative Les Républicains party.

One of the departing ministers was Macron’s right-hand man during the presidential campaign, Richard Ferrand. The three others, all from François Bayrou’s centrist Democratic Movement (MoDem), occupied the key posts of defence, justice and European affairs.

The Élysée had presented Wednesday’s cabinet reshuffle as a routine “minor adjustment” after Sunday’s legislative election, which gave Macron an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

Then Ferrand, the minister for territorial reform who was secretary general of Macron’s En Marche! movement, resigned on Monday.

Though he has not been formally placed under investigation, Ferrand is suspected of a conflict of interest in awarding a lucrative rental contract to his partner in 2011. He was head of a mutual health fund in Brittany at the time.

On Tuesday, the defence minister, Sylvie Goulard, announced she would not be a minister in the new government either. Goulard is one of five members of the European Parliament from the centrist MoDem party suspected of redeploying her EU-funded parliamentary assistant to MoDem headquarters in Paris. She said she wanted “to be able to freely demonstrate [her] good faith.”

Fake jobs

Once Goulard resigned, the positions of Bayrou, the minister for justice, and Mariel de Sarnez, Bayrou’s closest associate of several decades and the minister for European affairs, became untenable. They are suspected of devising a fake jobs system.

On June 9th, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into MoDem’s alleged misuse of EU funds.

Bayrou had bolstered Macron’s presidential chances by striking an alliance with him in February, in the midst of the tempest over the conservative candidate François Fillon’s hiring of his wife and children as parliamentary assistants.

Bayrou demanded that Macron make a new law on probity in political life a priority if he was elected. As justice minister since May 17th, Bayrou drafted and presented the law which will ban the hiring of relatives as parliamentary assistants.

Bayrou and de Sarnez resigned on Wednesday morning. “It was unimaginable that the justice minister who professes to be exemplary and defends a draft law on the moralisation of public life could continue as if nothing had happened, when he is the object of an investigation by his own ministry,” the Socialist group leader in the National Assembly, Olivier Faure, told Le Monde.

The Élysée has so far observed a deafening silence on the crisis, leaving it to Bayrou to explain himself at a press conference.

Bayrou denied that his party financed itself through fake jobs. “I have no doubt that I was the real target of these denunciations, whose goal was to destroy the credibility of the minister who was carrying the law. There are forces and powers for whom the moralisation of public life would be an obstacle to their influence and their lobbies.”

Bayrou said he did not want “to expose the president and the majority that I support to a campaign of lies”.

Recycling ministers

Ferrand is to head Macron’s République En Marche party in the National Assembly. De Sarnez will lead the much smaller MoDem group. “How can behaviour not tolerated in a minister be acceptable in a president of a parliamentary group?” Le Monde’s editorial asked. “Turning the National Assembly into a recycling plant for ministers in trouble is simply shocking.”

The departure of Bayrou seems to suit everyone. Conservatives never forgave him for supporting François Hollande in 2012. With an absolute majority for his own party, Macron no longer needed the capricious older politician to carry out his reforms.

Macron has achieved his goal of splitting the conservatives. Thierry Solère, the leader of the self-described “constructive” wing of Les Républicains on Wednesday announced the creation of a 38-strong parliamentary group.  

France has passed a dozen laws intended to end political corruption since 1988, almost always in the wake of a major scandal. As Bayrou drew up his law, critics denounced the “tyranny of transparency” that has seized France since the Fillon scandal.

Bayrou on Wednesday found himself promoting an umpteenth ethics law while at the same time proclaiming, “We cannot live in a society of perpetual and universal denunciation.”  

The scandal that has engulfed MoDem is virtually the same as the one that plagued the extreme right-wing Front National during the presidential campaign.

Some excused Fillon and the Front National on the grounds that their hiring of relatives and use of EU taxpayers’ money for the party was common practice. The lesson of Macron’s first crisis may be that it is impossible to renew French politics with old politicians.

John Cunningham (38), who had been living illegally in the US since 1999, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at his home in Boston and is awaiting deportation.

ICE said that the Glencolmcille native was arrested for “immigration violations” for overstaying by 15 years the 90-day limit under the terms of the visa waiver programme.

Mr Cunningham, an electrical contractor living in the Brighton area of Boston, was the subject of a complaint to police by Christopher Waltham over the alleged theft of $1,300 (€1,448) in May 2014.

Mr Waltham, who lived in the Boston neighbourhood of Roslindale, alleged to police that he gave Mr Cunningham, of Atkins Street, Brighton, a cheque for that amount to carry out electrical work at his home.

According to a copy of the police report filed in the Boston courts, Mr Waltham claimed that he was unable to contact the Donegal man after paying him and that the work was never carried out.

The clerk’s office in the West Roxbury division of Boston Municipal Court said that Mr Cunningham failed to appear at a court hearing in August 2014 and, as a result, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The Boston court said that, according to its records, that arrest warrant remains outstanding.

ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer said that the warrant against Mr Cunningham made his case a more significant matter for US immigration officers in targeting the Irish man.

“He had an outstanding felony warrant and he was a significant over-stay by a margin of 15 years; that is more significant for us,” said Mr Neudauer.

“His status has been known for some time and they [ICE OFFICIALS]are going through a list.”

Mr Cunningham’s Boston-based attorney Chris Lavery said his client did not want to comment on his case. He is being held in a Suffolk County jail in Boston pending his deportation back to Ireland.

Court records show that the Donegal native was also sued in a small claims court in Boston this year by another customer who claimed they had paid him money and that he did not complete the work as promised.

Aza Chirkova obtained a judgment for $1,500 against Mr Cunningham who traded as JC Electrical Services, on April 18th 2017 after she paid him a deposit to carry out electrical work in November 2016.

She alleged that the work was never carried out and he never repaid her deposit. She issued legal proceedings against him in March.

Court records show that Mr Cunningham was still in default on the payment of the judgment amount by June 13th, just three days before his arrest.

Mr Lavery said that he would put queries from The Irish Times about the two customers complaints to Mr Cunningham when he visits him next at the South Bay House of Correction on Friday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has said that since Donald Trump became US president on January 20th it had provided consular assistance to seven individuals arrested over immigration issues in the US.

The department has said that there has been no increase in the number of illegal Irish being arrested under the Trump administration compared with the same period under president Barack Obama.

The Irish consulate in Boston is providing assistance to Mr Cunningham, who was chairman of the local GAA club in Boston and a prominent member of the Irish-American community in the city.

Under the Obama administration, US immigration agents prioritised for deportation illegal immigrants who threatened public safety or who had committed serious felony offences. Under Mr Trump, the definition of “criminal” has been expanded giving individual immigration officers greater autonomy to take actions.

Film-makers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had been shooting the as-yet-untitled Star Wars spin-off in London but have now left the project.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said a new director would be announced soon.

Lord and Miller said in a statement on the Star Wars website: “Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project.

“We normally aren’t fans of the phrase ‘creative differences’, but for once this cliche is true.

“We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew.”

Ms Kennedy said: “Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented film-makers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but it’s become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we’ve decided to part ways.

“A new director will be announced soon.”

The film stars Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo, the role made famous by Harrison Ford in the original Star Wars films. It also features Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.

The film, penned by Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon Kasdan, is expected to explore Solo’s adventures before the events of the first film.

The supporting cast includes Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton.

The Han Solo film remains scheduled for a May 2018 release.

PA

Cristiano Ronaldo’s 74th senior international goal was enough to hand Portugal Confederations Cup victory over hosts Russia.

The 32-year-old Real Madrid star’s early header secured a 1-0 win at Moscow’s Spartak Stadium and left Fernando Santos’ men a point clear of the Russians at the top of Group A.

Only goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who was winning his 100th cap, denied Portugal victory by a greater margin as he made vital saves from Ronaldo and Andre Silva either side of half-time.

Russia were poor before half-time and although they improved after it, they were repeatedly hit on the break as they committed men to the search for an equaliser.

Ronaldo, making his 141st appearance for his country, needed just eight minutes to make his mark, although the opening goal was far from all his own work.

With the Russians attempting to sit in and deny Portugal space in the middle of the field, Raphael Guerreiro was given just that wide on the left to deliver an inviting cross to the far post, where the Real Madrid striker made the most of defender Fedor Kudriashov’s misjudgement to head home.

Ronaldo proved the main threat throughout the first half as the hosts offered little going forward, and he tested Akinfeev with a 25th-minute free-kick before forcing the keeper to block with his legs seven minutes later.

Russia might have been level as the half-time whistle approached, but striker Fedor Smolov could not adjust his feet in time to steer Aleksandr Golovin’s cross on target.

Skipper Akinfeev kept his side in it when he clawed away Silva’s 50th-minute header from close range, and he was in the right place at the right time to repel Cedric Soares long-range effort nine minutes later.

The Russians, who beat New Zealand 2-0 in their opening fixture, belatedly launched their push and might have been level just after the hour when Alexander Samedov’s teasing cross was only fractionally too high for Smolov in the middle.

But Ronaldo passed up a glorious opportunity to extend his side’s lead just past the hour when he headed wide from Andre Gomes’ cross as Portugal broke at pace.

However, it was Russia who finished strongly with substitute Aleksandr Bukharov appealing in vain for a last-gasp penalty after going down in the box before defender Georgy Dzhikya heading inches over Rui Patricio’s crossbar deep into injury-time.

In August 2012, 11-month-old Eoghan Dunne was referred to the hospital with a fever. Over a 12-hour period there was a progressive deterioration in his condition.

He developed sepsis, suffered cardiorespiratory arrest and multi-organ failure resulting in severe brain damage and he will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.

The case was first reported in an RTÉ investigation in 2015. RTÉ said the apology was included in a report arising from a review of Eoghan’s care which was shared with his family in recent weeks.

Eoghan’s injuries were the subject of an internal hospital review but his parents were totally unaware of that review until five months after its completion when in February 2015 it arrived at their home by registered post.

The Dunne family subsequently fought for a full and independent investigation of their case.

More than three years after the Saolta hospital group, which includes Portiuncula, agreed to an external review, the Dunne family has been provided with the findings.

RTÉ reported that it identified a number of significant failings, including a failure to recognise sepsis and a failure to escalate Eoghan’s care to a more senior decision maker.

It makes 14 recommendations, all of which the hospital group says have either been implemented or are in the process of implementation.

In a statement, the Saolta University Health Care Group said its chief clinical director had commissioned an external “systems analysis” review in October 2015 of the care provided to Eoghan Dunne in August 2012.

It confirmed it had provided the Dunne family with a copy of this review in May this year.

“The Saolta Group has apologised unreservedly and fully to the Dunne family for the failures in the care delivered to Eoghan.

“The general manager of Portiuncula University Hospital has also previously apologised to the family for the manner in which the internal hospital review of Eoghan’s care was carried out and then notified to them and stated that this should not have occurred,” the statement said.

“The systems analysis report provided last month to the Dunne family makes fourteen recommendations, all of which are either now fully implemented or are in the process of being implemented.

“Portiuncula University Hospital and the Saolta University Health Care Group again apologise unreservedly to Eoghan and the Dunne family for the failures in the care provided to him in August 2012.”