Iran has admitted its military unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board.
The country is blaming 'human error' for Wednesday's crash.
The downing of the plane came hours after Tehran launched missiles at military bases in Iraq, following the US killing of Iran's top general.
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Politicians in the North will gather for a meeting of the new Stormont Assembly this afternoon - after a deadlock of more than three years.
It's after Sinn Féin, the DUP and the SDLP backed a deal to resume power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
The Alliance Party has also tweeted that they are prepared to back the deal.
This afternoon a meeting will be held in Stormont, where a speaker and Executive ministers are likely to be appointed.
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An investigation is underway after a woman was held captive in her Portmarmock home in Dublin.
It happened at a house in the Strand Road area on Thursday when five masked men burst in.
They locked the woman who was inside the home into a room as they searched through the house.
After they left, she remained locked in the room until a relative later found her.
The woman was not injured in the incident.
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Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to a crash in County Clare that left one woman dead.
She was driving a car which collided with a truck on the N68 Kilrush to Ennis road at around 4pm yesterday.
The woman in her 70s was pronounced dead at the scene - a post mortem will be carried out at University Hospital Limerick.
The driver of the truck wasn't injured.
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Met Éireann is advising of a "period of very unsettled weather" next week.
Forecasters have issued a weather advisory for the country, saying that further warnings for strong winds and rain are likely to be issued in the coming days.
Two status yellow weather warnings - a rainfall warning for Connacht and Donegal, and a wind warning for Donegal, Galway Mayo and Kerry - remain in place until later today.