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A satellite image of the Moskva at port in Crimea on 7 April 2022.

Russian Black Sea flagship sinks after Kyiv claims missile hit

The guided missile cruiser Moskva had been leading Russia’s naval effort against Ukraine in the seven-week conflict.

RUSSIA’S BLACK SEA flagship sank after it was engulfed in an inferno that Ukraine said broke out in a missile strike – as the Kremlin complained that Kyiv was targeting its citizens in sorties across the border.

The guided missile cruiser Moskva had been leading Russia’s naval effort against its neighbour in the seven-week conflict, in which civilian killings have sparked accusations of genocide.

“While being towed… towards the destined port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded,” the Russian state news agency TASS quoted the ministry as saying.

“Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank.”

Russian state media had not mentioned a rocket attack when quoting the ministry earlier as saying the Moskva was “seriously damaged” by the explosion and ensuing fire, forcing an evacuation.

But Odessa military spokesman Sergey Bratchuk said the ship was damaged by “Neptune domestic cruise missiles”, in an account largely echoed by the regional governor.

russia-ukraine-war The Russian missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet is seen anchored in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol. AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

A Pentagon spokesperson today said that the sinking of the warship was a “big blow” to Russia’s naval strength in the Black Sea.

“This is a big blow to the Black Sea fleet, this is… a key part of their efforts to execute some sort of naval dominance in the Black Sea,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN.

“This is going to have an effect on their capabilities.”

Kirby said the United States could not confirm the exact cause of the ship’s demise.

“We’re also not in any position to refute the Ukrainian side of this,” he added. “It’s certainly plausible and possible that they did in fact hit this with a Neptune missile or maybe more.”

Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s east and south, civilian evacuations had been set to resume Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, after a day-long pause that Kyiv blamed on Russian shelling.

More than 4.7 million Ukrainians have fled their country in the 50 days since Russia invaded, the United Nations said.

The flagship fire came after the United States unveiled an $800-million military aid package that includes heavy equipment specifically tailored to help Ukraine repel the Russians in the east, from howitzers to armoured personnel carriers and helicopters.

Following its pullout from northern Ukraine earlier this month after failing to take the capital, Russia is refocusing on the east, with Kyiv warning of bloody new clashes to come in the Donbas region.

‘No electricity, no water’

Seizing Donbas, where Russian-backed separatists control the Donetsk and Lugansk areas, would allow Moscow to create a southern corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula.

But rain that has been battering the region for days could favor Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian forces, a senior Pentagon official said today.

“The fact that the ground is softer will make it harder for them to do anything off of paved highways,” said the official, who spoke under condition of anonymity.

Moscow’s Black Sea fleet has been blockading the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian officials say they are in full control.

In what appeared to be its first official accusation of abuses targeting Russians, the Kremlin said at least six air strikes had hit residential buildings in the border region of Bryansk, wounding seven people including a toddler.

“Using two military helicopters carrying heavy weaponry, Ukrainian armed forces illegally entered Russian air space,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that could not be immediately verified.

Russia sparked fears of a return to conflict around Kyiv on Wednesday when it threatened to attack the capital’s strike command centres in retaliation for any strikes on Russian soil.

But in eastern Ukraine, civilians say they have “no rest” from bombardment, including in Severodonetsk, the last easterly city still held by Ukrainian forces.

Now little more than a ghost town, the settlement just kilometres from the front line has already buried 400 civilians, according to Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday.

“There’s no electricity, no water,” Maria, who lives with her husband and mother-in-law, told AFP amid a din of shelling that she said never stops.

“But I prefer to stay here, at home. If we leave, where will we go?”

‘Nobody remembers us’

Tamara Yakovenko, 61, and her 83-year-old mother had decided to run the risk of fleeing Severodonetsk, where “every 10 or 15 minutes there are bombings”.

“We used to receive humanitarian aid, but now nobody remembers us. Some people try to cook outside on a fire… And boom, boom… everyone has to run back to the basement,” Yakovenko said.

“All night until morning, there is no rest.”

Beyond the humanitarian crisis, the war’s economic consequences — primarily surging food and fuel prices — were “hitting hardest the world’s most vulnerable people,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned in Washington.

The United Nations announced the release of $100 million to fight hunger in Yemen and six African countries at risk of famine due to the war disrupting food supply chains.

“Hundreds of thousands of children are going to sleep hungry every night while their parents are worried sick about how to feed them,” said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths.

“A war halfway around the world makes their prospects even worse. This allocation will save lives.”

Investigators have descended on areas around Kyiv previously occupied by Russian forces, looking into reports of war crimes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed as “fakes”.

The atrocities – some of which were witnessed by AFP – have led Biden to accuse Putin of genocide, a term key European partners including France and Germany have hesitated to use.

The French government, which has allocated 100 million euros for humanitarian support to victims of the conflict, said its embassy would return “very soon” to Kyiv from the western city of Lviv, where it had been relocated after the invasion.

© AFP 2022

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:38 PM

    Tickets to gain entrance to nightclubs this is turning into a right farce. It’s getting beyond ridiculous now.

    325
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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:44 PM

    @Franny Ando: No it’s the minimum that should be required given the increase in case numbers. That places are opening at all is a bonus. You need to accept the old ways are gone for now.

    206
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    Mute JusticeForJoe
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:44 PM

    @Franny Ando: I know, right?! And who ever heard of being asked to show ID to get in to a nightclub?! It’s madness I tell ya!

    117
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    Mute Will Roche
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:47 PM

    @Franny Ando: I wonder if nightclubs who are opening tonight knew about this? If not tonight is going to be a mess.

    27
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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:51 PM

    @Will Roche: They just announced it won’t come into effect till Monday.

    20
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    Mute Tom Bombdadil
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:53 PM

    @Franny Ando: there won’t be a single ticket given out. That’s a fact

    18
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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:53 PM

    @JusticeForJoe: There’s a bloody big difference asking for I.D and being made by tickets. A covid cert and photo I.d is ample proof. Dont try to be smart because you generally fail abysmally.

    62
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    Mute Life in no motion
    Favourite Life in no motion
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:54 PM

    @Franny Ando: stop your moaning

    57
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    Mute Franny Ando
    Favourite Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:55 PM

    @lelookcoco: A covid cert with photo I.d is more then enough for gaining entry. Tickets are of no benefit whatsoever.

    44
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    Mute Mac Muinteoir
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:55 PM

    @Franny Ando: reminds me of when they announced the new 5 levels of lockdown, and then when they were asked which level we were in, they said “3 and a half”.

    59
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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:56 PM

    @Franny Ando: buy

    5
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    Mute Kevin
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:58 PM

    @Franny Ando:

    I suspect the nightclubs & bars will be closed again within 6 weeks if the current hospitalisation rate continues. The government know this as do NPHET but they had to give a (temporary) concession given how badly affected this industry has been over the past 17 months.

    41
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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:01 PM

    @Franny Ando: It’s to facilitate contact tracing. Do you only read the news items that allow you a good moan?

    42
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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:01 PM

    @Mac Muinteoir: I lost count of the many variations of lockdown:):)

    16
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    Mute Paul Mcnevin
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:02 PM
    14
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    Mute Melissa OHara
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:04 PM

    @Franny Ando: they say the tickets are for contract tracing but sure how are they going to know who is a close contact in a nightclub?! Also everyone has to be vaccinated anyway and when you are vaxed and a close contact it makes f all difference because you just go about you life as normal.

    47
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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:18 PM

    @Life in no motion: Oct 22nd was when most restrictions were to be removed. A plan should have been in place well before 7pm on the 21st. A plan for reopening and a secondary plan if they had concerns about numbers. But that would require actual competent ministers something most have known for a long time are in extremely short supply. All the plans put in place by these venues after 22 months all gone skew ways.

    34
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    Mute Hugo Bugo
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:21 PM

    @lelookcoco: no we don’t have to accept anything of the sort, not all of us roll over so easily

    35
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    Mute Hugo Bugo
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:22 PM

    @lelookcoco: contact tracing, lol, so you’re still trying to contain it, good luck with that

    21
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    Mute Cian
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:26 PM

    @lelookcoco: surely your a troll there actually can’t be people with this view point is there? How unworkable the ticket system is. how are small Family run nightclubs going to set up this online ticketing service? Without having to pay an external company.

    28
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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 10:34 PM

    @Cian: No Cian. I’m not a troll. I’ve been commenting here for 7+ years. Family run nightclubs? Where do you live, the Aran Islands?

    14
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    Mute Robert Clifford
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 1:09 AM

    @lelookcoco: People like you should be put in the stocks.

    4
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    Mute SmallbutMighty
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 9:11 AM

    @Cian: event brite is free and you can set up an account in about 2 minutes. I sincerely hope that if someone can run a nuteclub they can manage the Internet.

    5
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    Mute SmallbutMighty
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 9:14 AM

    @Hugo Bugo: thought you had given up on the Journal after your dramatic that’s it I’m leaving last week. Didn’t last long before you’re back moaning.

    6
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    Mute Maria Clery-Breen
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 9:47 AM

    @Kevin: thinking the same thing ,,,they should not have opened them .

    4
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    Mute JusticeForJoe
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 9:15 PM

    @SmallbutMighty: Ahahahaha he didn’t say that, did he? Raging I missed that. No need to announce your departure, Hugo, it’s not an airport.

    1
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    Mute Jacqui Curtis-owens
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:25 PM

    Watch this space….bye bye Christmas

    105
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    Mute Stuart Birney
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:32 PM

    @Jacqui Curtis-owens: We heard you the first time!

    5
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    Mute Hugh
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:35 PM

    These cl0wns are in charge of an €86 billion budget. Let that sink in

    96
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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 8:40 PM

    @Hugh: I’m more worried about the 200 billion defecit

    26
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    Mute Aranthos Faroth
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 10:00 PM

    @Hugh: jaysus sure if you’re so confident why haven’t you gone into politics? Or you just like judging but not actually doing anything?

    17
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    Mute Ian O Hara
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:02 PM

    Dancing maskless, boom covid controlled…….

    44
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    Mute JMcB
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:53 PM

    Hand sanitisers on every table is not a bad thing IMO

    40
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    Mute Mark
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:55 PM

    @JMcB: until fellas started drinking it hahahah they’ll be blind as bats

    75
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    Mute Stuart Birney
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:29 PM

    @Mark: Bat’s aren’t blind Mark but nice try!

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    Mute FrustratedASDMum
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 9:56 PM

    @JMcB: Jesus, never thought of that. You just know there are going to be knob heads in pubs and clubs this weekend who will drink some ‘for a laugh’ and end up wasting time & resources in A&Es around the country after poisoning themselves.

    6
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    Mute Robert Clifford
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 1:34 AM

    @Stuart Birney: I’d say you’re a real hoot at parties.

    5
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    Mute Rochelle
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 8:03 PM

    I mean I get why there’s so much red tape but the amount of protocol and fuss would really put me off going out at all.

    25
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    Mute Seymour business
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:57 PM

    This all makes sense to me, at least the effort to protect all vital services are being put to priority. Unlike the sh!t show across the water. Well done all.

    29
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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 12:14 PM

    @Seymour business: ha ha maybe ya should change your name to ‘see less business’ —- what ever happened to the 100m we spent on the HSE covid tracing app ? This was suppose to be the 21st century solution to contact tracing – using mobile tech like they did in south korea to retrace movements yada yada -anyone remember all that -of course not – Ireland is tieing itself up in a farcical red tape bubble being created by bureaucrats – it’s almost as if they. are setting it up to fail – heres a list of things we need you to do in order to ‘be incompliance’ and then in another month – ah we have to shut them down they are not abl to operate in compliance – i get it people who dont care much for clubbing etc on here pontificating – but for the vast majority of younger people pub club owners and operators – this just makes a laughing stock of the ‘vaccine bonus’ conversations that Govt and Health officials touted 6 months ago – people need to start demanding representatives get theor sh*t together and get this mess sorted – it is beyond farcical they had over a year to PLAN for club reopenings – could the administrators not have used all them ‘working from home on full pay’ meetings on zoom to work all this out in advance – 630pm on day of opening – seriously????

    4
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    Mute Maria Clery-Breen
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:53 PM

    I know of someone going out tomorrow not vaxed ..how they are going to get in anywhere .,.

    14
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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:56 PM

    @Maria Clery-Breen: A negative test result.

    36
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    Mute Mo
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 6:59 PM

    @Maria Clery-Breen: You should definitely report them, awful behaviour altogether /s

    25
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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:02 PM

    @Maria Clery-Breen: Hopefully they won’t

    21
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    Mute Sarah Lou
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:07 PM

    @Maria Clery-Breen: correction… you know someone who intends to go out tomorrow night….cant wait to check in Sunday and see where let them in!

    25
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    Mute Maria Clery-Breen
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 9:14 PM

    @Mo: I’m not in Ireland

    5
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    Mute Robert Clifford
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    Oct 23rd 2021, 1:37 AM

    @lelookcoco: Pull up a chair everyone. lelookcoco is saying daft stuff again.

    7
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    Mute John Keane
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 8:35 PM

    Im just interested to know what your solution is! Please share it. Do you want a freedom day? Look where that got them. People will die in more numbers again, there is no back to normal solution there wont be for a long time if ever. Unless we just all take our chances and may the strong survive. Maybe thats what darwin meant.

    13
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    Mute John Keane
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 8:55 PM

    @John Keane: that was meant for Franny Ando at the top.

    4
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    Mute finbarr walsh
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:37 PM

    Do I need to show covid cert if staying in a hotel ?

    7
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    Mute Giovanni cans
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 7:50 PM

    @finbarr walsh: no drive on eat and drink all you like there covid doesn’t affect hotels

    44
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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Oct 22nd 2021, 8:15 PM

    @finbarr walsh: No.

    10
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