Cork beat Tipperary in Munster Championship opener at Semple Stadium, but celebrations turned sour for one young fan who was accidentally struck

It was a day of jubilation for Cork hurlers – but proceedings concluded on a rather unfortunate note for one young Rebel follower in Thurles.

Ben O’Connor’s side mounted an impressive comeback, rattling off eight consecutive points in the second period to overcome reigning All-Ireland champions Tipperary in their Munster Championship curtain-raiser at Semple Stadium.

Having suffered defeat to Tipperary in last year’s All-Ireland final, victory tasted particularly satisfying for Cork and their supporters. The hosts managed just a solitary point from open play in the second half, which didn’t arrive until the 65th minute.

The final whistle triggered scenes of celebration, with predominantly young Cork supporters flooding onto the pitch to acclaim their heroes.

Yet matters took an unexpected turn for one enthusiastic youngster who rushed forward hoping to meet Darragh Fitzgibbon, only to inadvertently take a hurley to the face, reports the Irish Mirror.

The three-time All-Star was locked in an embrace with a team-mate and remained completely oblivious to the young supporter positioned on the opposite side of the duo.

The youngster crumpled to the turf clutching his face, going unnoticed by the celebrating Cork players.

What followed demonstrated genuine class from Tipperary stalwart Noel McGrath, who spotted the injured child. He approached immediately to assess the boy’s condition and made certain he received appropriate attention from ground stewards.

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MacInnes, who graduated from a Western Australian acting academy in 2021, plays one of the two lead characters in The Deb, a musical comedy set in the Australian outback, having starred in a theatre production of the play in 2022. The movie was released in Australia this month.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan moved ahead Monday with preparations for a new round of talks between the United States and Iran days before a tenuous ceasefire is set to expire, even as renewed conflict around the Strait of Hormuz raised questions about whether the meeting would take place.

Over the weekend, the U.S. attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel that it said had tried to evade its blockade of Iranian ports. Iran’s joint military command vowed to respond, and its Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi told his Pakistani counterpart that American threats to Iranian ships and ports were “clear signs” of Washington’s disingenuousness ahead of the planned talks, Iran state media reported.

With tensions flaring and the ceasefire due to expire midweek, Pakistan has intensified diplomatic contacts with both Washington and Tehran over the past 24 hours with the goal of resuming the talks on Tuesday as planned, according to two Pakistani officials involved in the preparations. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said American negotiators would head to the Pakistani capital on Monday, but it was not immediately clear whether those plans would now change.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran on Monday that there were no plans yet to attend the talks with the U.S. But at the same time, he did not rule it out.

“We have no plans for the next round of negotiations and no decision has been made in this regard,” Baghaei said.

Iran on Saturday said it had received new proposals from the United States but suggested a wide gap remained between the sides. It was unclear whether either side had shifted stances on issues that derailed the last round of negotiations, including Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran throttled traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the open seas, shortly after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war. The U.S. has also instituted a blockade of Iranian ports.

Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade normally passes through the strait, along with critical supplies of fertilizer for the world’s farmers, natural gas and humanitarian supplies for places in dire need like Afghanistan and Sudan.

Iran says more than 3,000 have been killed in country so far

Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to a new toll released Monday in official Iranian media by Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization. He did not break down casualties among civilians and security forces, instead just saying that 2,875 were male and 496 were female. Masjedi said 383 of the dead were children 18 years old and under.

More than 2,290 people have also been killed in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.

Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz has also sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to one of the worst global energy crises in decades.

Oil prices recovered slightly following Iran’s announcement that the strait was being reopened a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon took hold on Friday.

But then Trump said the U.S. blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S. and on Sunday the military seized the Iranian cargo ship, the first interception since the blockade began last week.

Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a ceasefire violation, the state broadcaster said, and vowed to again enforce restrictions imposed early in the war. Already on Saturday, Iran fired at ships trying to transit.

Oil prices were up again in early trading on Monday, with Brent crude, the international standard, at about $95 a barrel — up more than 30% from the day the war started.

Iran early Monday warned it could keep up the global economic pain as ships remained unable to transit the strait, with hundreds of vessels waiting at each end for clearance.

Security of the strait is not free and “the choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone,” Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president of Iran, said in a social media post calling for a lasting end to military and economic pressure on Tehran.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Rising from Bangkok.

Deputy High Court judge Sarah Clarke KC said in a judgment on Monday: “I find that neither Ms Parry nor Ms Gourlay deliberately concealed any of their disputed items from the claimant and even if I am wrong about that, Mr Winehouse could have discovered what disputed items the defendants had with reasonable diligence.”

BRUSSELS (AP) — More than 60 nations are sending representatives to Brussels to discuss with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa stability, security and long-term peace in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as global attention largely remains focused in the Middle East on the ongoing crises in Iran and Lebanon.

Ongoing attacks in the West Bank and continued devastation in Gaza dims the prospect for a two-state solution, said Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot ahead of the meeting Monday. He is co-hosting the meeting with the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.

“We observe without naivety that the two-state solution is being made more difficult by the day,” Prévot said. “But Belgium and many European and Arab partners continue to believe that this remains the only realistic path to a lasting peace, for Israelis, for Palestinians and for the stability of the entire region.”

The 27-nation European Union is the largest single donor to the Palestinian Authority, with its 90-year-old president Mahmoud Abbas ruling from Ramallah for two decades. And while the EU has avoided directly joining the Board of Peace created by United States President Donald Trump, preferring the multilateralism of the United Nations and global legal norms, the bloc is eager to not be sidelined in diplomacy in a volatile region just across the Mediterranean.

Outrage in Europe over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza drove many EU leaders to condemn Israel’s war conduct and to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. With the recent ouster of long-serving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Netanyahu, there might now be enough political support within the bloc for stronger actions like targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers or even the suspension of some ties to Israel.

Palestinians in the West Bank say that Israel has used the cover of the Iran war to tighten its grip over the territory, as settler attacks surge and the military imposes additional wartime restrictions on movement, citing security.

Gaza requires “one state, one government, one law and one goal,” Mustafa said on Monday in Brussels.

“Our common objective of achieving one security structure under the legitimate authority should guide the effective coordination between the International Stabilization Force, the Palestinian Authority, security institutions and other international actors. Security must not be fragmented,” he said.

He also called for “the gradual and responsible collection of arms from all armed groups and also the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.”

Sparked by the Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, oil is no longer flowing out of the Middle East as it did earlier this year, which is having a major impact on the aviation industry

Holidaymakers face soaring flight prices and more expensive package breaks even if they’ve already booked because of the looming shortage of jet fuel.

Sparked by the Iran War and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, oil is no longer flowing out of the Middle East as it did earlier this year. Supplies of jet fuel built up by European countries have been severely depleted.

In general, some European countries hold several months’ worth of jet fuel inventory at a time, according to an IEA report released last week. “Every passing day that the Strait of Hormuz remains shut, Europe is edging closer to supply shortages,” said Amaar Khan, head of European jet fuel pricing at Argus Media. “The Strait accounts for around 40% of Europe’s jet fuel imports, but no jet fuel has passed the Strait since the war broke out.”

There are four main ways that the jet fuel shortage could impact British holidaymakers: rising flight prices, extra fees, cancelled flights and package break surcharges. We’ve explained each one below.

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Rising flight prices

Jet fuel — a refined kerosene-based oil product — is airlines’ biggest cost, making up about 30% of overall expenses, according to the International Air Transport Association. And jet fuel prices have roughly doubled since the war began. Shortages could start next.

Already, a number of airlines have started bumping up the cost of tickets.

Just last week, it emerged that Virgin Atlantic had increased some flight costs with an extra £50 fuel surcharge on economy-class tickets, while premium economy fares are climbing by £180 and business class by £360.

Air France and KLM fares are also going up. They are likely to cost an additional €50, bringing the fuel surcharge to €100 (£86.98) on top of the standard fare. Meanwhile, flights to the United States, Canada and Mexico could increase by €70 (£60.89), and an economy round trip could cost an extra €10 (£8.70).

If you’ve already got your flights booked, you don’t need to worry. You are not going to be asked retrospectively to pay extra on your air fare. Once you have paid, the airline will not come after you for any more cash – unless the government hikes aviation fees, which they don’t appear poised to do.

Extra fees

Many passengers will have booked their flights months in advance, before the US and Israel attacked Iran and fuel prices started rising. Because airlines can’t bump up fares that’re already booked but for which they’re now making less money, they have started looking for other ways to make a bit of extra cash.

American Airlines has said it would hike checked baggage fees by $10 (£7.40) each for the first and second checked bags and by $150 (£111) for the third checked bag on domestic and short-haul international flights. Southwest Airlines has said it will hike checked baggage fees by $10 for the first and second bags, raising costs to $45 (£33) for the first bag and $55 (£40) for the second.

As passengers often add extra luggage just before they fly, these rises could impact passengers who booked flights before the invasion.

No major European airlines have made similar changes.

Cancelled flights

Last week, International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol said Europe has “maybe six weeks” of remaining jet fuel supplies and said the global economy faces its “largest energy crisis.”

Many major airlines have already cancelled flights because of the fuel price rises and falling demand, and more are likely to do so.

Swedish flag carrier SAS has said it would cancel 1,000 flights in April because of high oil and jet fuel prices, after cancelling a “couple hundred” flights in March. United Airlines said that five per cent of flights would be cancelled in the second and third quarters of 2026, while Dutch airline KLM has cancelled 160 flights for the coming month.

Other airlines, such as BA, have suspended whole routes to parts of the Middle East due to the conflict, while Virgin Atlantic announced earlier this month that it would be permanently scrapping its London flight to Riyadh from April.

Under UK law, if your flight is cancelled more than 14 days before it is due to depart, you are not entitled to compensation. However, your airline does have to offer you a full refund or help you find an alternative flight.

In the latter case, it’s up to you whether to fly as soon as possible after the cancelled flight, or at a later date that suits you. Although most airlines will book you onto another of their flights to the same destination, if an alternative airline is flying there significantly sooner or other suitable modes of transport are available, then you may have the right to be booked onto that alternative transport instead. You can discuss this with your airline.

Given that airfares may be significantly higher than when you booked, opting for an alternative flight rather than taking a refund may work out in your favour.

Extra package break costs

A largely overlooked clause in package holiday terms and conditions could result in the price of a package holiday increasing by hundreds of pounds – even after you’ve already made your booking and payment.

An article by Which? drew attention to the obscure clause found within Package Travel Regulations. It reveals that UK holiday companies can impose an additional charge of up to 8% on a package holiday price, without being required to provide a free cancellation option, under three specific circumstances.

These circumstances include: a destination introducing additional taxes or other charges, a significant shift in currency exchange rates, or a rise in the price of fuel or power. Given the ongoing Middle East conflict, fuel costs have been rising noticeably, which means there’s potential for package holiday operators to invoke this rule for Brits who’ve already booked their holidays should these expenses continue climbing.

In the novel When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift, the Chernobyl disaster and its legacy is extrapolated to a near future where natural habitats are depleted and precarious.

This work of eco-fiction deftly explores issues of possible paths to a future where animals return to a nature depleted area. In the real world, a parallel version of this story has been unfolding as nature is thriving around former nuclear power plants.

This is especially evident at the former Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, where the absence of human activity has enabled wildlife to flourish despite continuing radiation, 40 years after the nuclear disaster there.

A 2,600km² exclusion zone was established following the world’s worst civilian nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, which released a radioactive cloud across Europe and led to the evacuation of around 115,000 people from the surrounding area. Almost immediately, radiation poisoning killed 31 plant workers and firefighters.

It is 40 years since the Chernobyl disaster that led to the creation of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Since 1986, it has turned into a thriving, unintentional wildlife sanctuary and a vast rewilding “laboratory”. The CEZ prohibits people living there, commercial activities, natural resource extraction and public access. Now the area is home to flourishing populations of large mammals.

Populations of wolves, foxes, Eurasian lynx, elk and wild boar have significantly increased here. Species such as brown bears and European bison, meanwhile, have returned. This is rewilding in its most extreme form, given the inability of humans to intervene and it has resulted in several unexpected effects in the CEZ.

Studies indicate that the lack of human hunting, agriculture and development has a more positive impact on animal numbers than radiation has a negative one.

Large mammal populations in the Belarusian sector of the zone are comparable to or higher than those in uncontaminated nature reserves. There is no doubt that initial radiation caused major damage to flora and fauna, most notably in the “red forest”, a 10km² area near the nuclear power plant.

This area earned its name after pine trees died and turned red-brown due to high radiation absorption. Yet long-term studies show that biodiversity has increased in the absence of humans.

Return of rare species

A range of endangered species have returned to the exclusion zone. This includes Przewalski’s horses, reintroduced in 1998 as a conservation experiment. They are now thriving, and the population has grown to over 150 animals within a distinct area of the Ukrainian part of the zone.

Both Eurasian lynx and European bison, which had disappeared from the area, have returned and established their populations. Several different bird species have returned, such as black storks, white storks and white-tailed eagles.

Most significant, is the return of the globally endangered greater spotted eagle, which depends on wetland habitats to hunt and is very sensitive to human disturbance. It had vanished from the area at the time of the nuclear accident.

In 2019, four pairs were recorded at the study site, and at least 13 pairs were documented nesting in the Belarusian part of the zone. Today, this region is the only place in the world where the population of this rare species is growing.

Frogs change colour

There is also scientific evidence that some species appear to be adapting to the radioactive environment. For example, tree frogs in the zone are darker, as higher melatonin levels seem to protect against radiation damage.

There also appears to be resilience evolving in wolves as research on Eurasian wolves indicates potential adaptations to survive chronic radiation and reduce cancer risks.

Such adaptation is not limited to animals. A black fungus was first discovered in 1991 using remotely piloted robots growing inside reactor 4 of the former power plant. It appears to use melanin, which can protect against ultra-violet light, to convert gamma radiation into energy to grow faster than normal.

In addition, some plants in the nearby zone are demonstrating DNA repair as a response to the high levels of radiation. Such adaptation means the vegetation has evolved to survive, with some plants showing enhanced ability to manage heavy metals and radiation.

It is now one of Europe’s largest nature reserves, providing an important site for ecological research, particularly for how ecosystems recover when undisturbed.

The zone has undoubtedly been shaped by radiation but also, crucially, by abandonment and time. As a consequence, the usual ecological rules no longer apply and this has meant Chernobyl now has some remarkable wildlife. For example, the hundreds of pet dogs abandoned in the aftermath of the disaster have become feral dogs that have evolved to be genetically distinct from populations elsewhere in Ukraine.

Despite the evidence supporting rewilding here, it is apparent that not all outcomes of the disaster have been beneficial for flora and fauna. There is evolutionary pressure with some species showing reduced reproductive success and high mutation rates, resulting in some health issues for animals.

But it is not only at Chernobyl where these nuclear zones are encouraging animals to return. Around other damaged nuclear reactors, such as Fukushima, mammals, including bears, raccoons and wild boars have now returned in high numbers transforming exclusion zones into unexpected sanctuaries. At some operating nuclear plants, local wildlife has been encouraged through habitat creation and protection of large, undisturbed exclusion areas.

Clearly, the situation is complicated, and it should not take a nuclear accident to stop humans pushing other species towards existential risk, let alone the continuing environmental degradation occurring around the globe. There are lessons to be learned from such catastrophes, and no neat conclusions, even 40 years after the disaster.

Wildlife has largely returned to the area around Chernobyl due to the absence of people, although not predictably or evenly. It does illustrate, however, how ecosystems can respond and still flourish when the usual rules do not apply.

Big news for the Channel Islands: a new direct flight to its most underrated gem has just taken off from the UK’s biggest airport.

On Sunday, British Airways launched a daily, year-round service between London Heathrow and Guernsey, a pocket-sized paradise of charming villages, rolling hills and idyllic, windswept beaches.

And there was a special touch. The captain and four members of the cabin crew have roots in Guernsey, or close family ties to the island.

Flights start from £96 return, including taxes, and will operate daily from Heathrow Terminal 5.

It comes six years after the last direct route from Heathrow was cancelled.

In 2019, Guernsey’s States launched a daily service between Guernsey and Heathrow, the first such link in over 20 years.

The route was subsidised by the States of Guernsey with £825,000 in funding before it ceased in March 2020, coinciding with Flybe’s collapse.

Addressing the new service, Neil Chernoff, BA’s chief planning and strategy officer, said the route would strengthen ‘connectivity between the Channel Islands and London, and opening access to further destinations across Europe, North America and beyond’.

The route is expected to significantly boost the island’s tourism industry.

And for anyone nervous about the uncertainty of international travel, it makes Guernsey an interesting option for a holiday close to home.

What a trip to Guernsey looks like

Just a breezy 45-minute flight from London, Guernsey is the kind of place that feels from a different age.

Much like England in the 1950s, doors are left unlocked, traffic is minimal (or outright banned) and everyone knows everyone, for better or worse.

You’ll even get pound notes in your change.

And you’re almost guaranteed good weather. This southerly speck sees more hours of sunshine than the rest of the British Isles.

It is closer to mainland Europe than Britain, and ties to France run deep.

One of the five inhabited islands that make up the Channel Islands archipelago, Guernsey has a dark but fascinating history.

During WWII, it was occupied by Nazi forces in what became known as a ‘model occupation’ — a sobering chapter that lives on in the underground bunkers and fortifications dotted along the coast.

The memory lingers. On May 9, Liberation Day is celebrated, marking the end of Nazi occupation.

Today, the pace of life is pleasingly slow, the mass tourism that boomed in the 1980s a distant memory, killed off by cheap packages to Spain.

The woman in her 80s paid for a year’s cover for her Suzuki Splash car with Swinton Insurance and believed she was complying with the law.

But at a court hearing where she was not present and not represented by a lawyer, she was convicted of keeping a car without insurance because she had accidentally written an F instead of an S when including her car registration number on her insurance application.

That meant the insurance was technically invalid for her car.

The pensioner realised the error after she received a letter from the DVLA saying she was being criminally prosecuted for keeping a vehicle without insurance.

The octogenarian wrote to magistrates setting out the mistake, while her niece also penned a letter explaining that the family was now stepping in to help as they “did not know it had got to the stage where she can’t cope”.

Despite the letters, the pensioner was still convicted of a crime in the Single Justice Procedure, a controversial fast-track court process where magistrates hand out convictions and punishments in private hearings.

After the Press Association highlighted the case to the DVLA, the agency said it will now contact the woman to check her insurance paperwork and will seek to have the conviction overturned if the registration typo was indeed to blame.

The pensioner faced prosecution after it was said her car was uninsured on February 6 2026.

Replying to the Single Justice Procedure notice, she wrote: “I understood my car was fully insured with Swinton Insurance, from April 1 2025 to March 31 2026.

“I did not notice the registration printed wrongly.

“Had an F instead of an S.”

Her niece also sent in a letter, explaining: “All the paperwork for insurance has been found to be one letter incorrect.

“No-one had picked up on this.

“I am now helping her with her paperwork as we (the family) did not know it had got to the stage where she can’t cope.

“She has tried to complete the form as best as possible.”

The Single Justice Procedure was invented in 2015 as a cheaper way of handling low-level criminal cases, allowing a magistrate sitting alone in private to take decisions instead of three magistrates deliberating together in open court.

Cases are decided based on written evidence alone, and there is no prosecutor present to see the mitigation and other correspondence sent in by the defendant.

The design of the fast-track process means prosecutors are unable to review new evidence that has come to light, or take a decision to withdraw a case that is no longer in the public interest.

Teesside Magistrates’ Court (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

In the pensioner’s case, David Pollard, a magistrate sitting at Teesside Magistrates’ Court, opted to accept the written guilty plea and impose a conviction, rather than asking the DVLA to do further checks on the public interest in the prosecution.

He sentenced her to a three-month conditional discharge instead of a fine, but also ordered her to pay a £26 victim surcharge.

The Labour Government conducted a consultation on possible changes to the Single Justice Procedure system between March and May last year, after a string of media revelations about harsh convictions and injustices involving elderly and vulnerable people.

No plan for change has emerged since the end of the consultation nearly a year ago.

However the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr revealed at her annual press conference in March that Lord Justice Green, the Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales, is leading a “nuts and bolts audit” of the Single Justice Procedure.

A working group, comprising of judges, magistrates, and justice officials, “will soon conclude” the audit, the Judicial Office said, with recommendations set to go to the Interim Magistrates Executive Board.