Your top stories on Monday: Iranian president dies in crash; rise in number of children growing up in poverty

Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi killed in helicopter crash – state TV

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister are among those found dead at the site of a helicopter crash after a search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, Iranian state media has reported.

The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war during which Mr Raisi (63), under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month.

Ebrahim Raisi profile: A hardliner with an aggressive foreign policy

News

Public patients left waiting for vital cancer drugs: Public patients are facing “huge delays” in accessing potentially life-saving cancer drugs that have been available to all private patients since last year, resulting in poorer chances of survival, oncologists have said.
One in five children in Ireland live in households unable to buy them shoes: There was an increase of more than 30,000 in the number of children experiencing deprivation in the past year, a new report by the Children’s Rights Alliance has found.
Teenager hospitalised after stabbing in Dublin city centre: A teenager has been taken to hospital after an incident in Dublin city centre left him injured.
Dublin portal resumes with restricted hours and measures to curb antisocial behaviour: The portal between Dublin and New York City has reopened but the transatlantic link between the two cities will only be active for set hours during the day in order to restrict the level of antisocial behaviour the installation attracts.
Employers seek pause in plan to reduce cars in Dublin city centre: A dramatic overhaul of how traffic is managed in Dublin set to begin later this summer should be paused to allow for an urgent examination of how the proposals will interact with other plans to rejuvenate the city centre, employers group Ibec has said.
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Music

Bruce Springsteen and Jake Clemons performing at Croke Park. Photograph: Tom Honan

Bruce Springsteen in Croke Park review: blockbuster performance closes Irish tour on an emotion-filled evening: Bruce Springsteen and Croke Park prove a match forged in stadium rock heaven as America’s blue-collar bard closes out his Irish tour with a blockbuster performance, writes Ed Power.

World

The truth hurts for Donald Trump, especially when Bill Maher dishes it out: At 68, Bill Maher is still a thicket of thorns in Trump’s side, writes Maureen Dowd. He led the pack in 2015, taking the threat of Trump seriously. He led again in 2020, warning that Trump would not accept the results if he lost. And he predicts the same this time if Trump loses again – two grooms showing up at the altar on January 20th (which happens to be Maher’s birthday).

Consumer

I’ve begged Virgin Media to restore my old service. I can’t record RTÉ and my phone won’t work: “On March 27th last, I elected to contact Virgin Media to review the monthly amount we were paying to cover TV and broadband,” Bernadette’s mail begins. “I had noted we were ‘out of contract’ and thought it was an appropriate time to review our household budget expenditure on services.”

Opinion

Joe Humphries: Are we making ourselves anxious, or is the world making us that way?
Una Mullally: Ireland is ignoring the rise of racist violence

Business

Rent increases likely to accelerate as supply of new homes dries up, says property report: Rent increases are likely to accelerate as the supply of new homes that aided a recent easing dries up, hitting workers on average wages, according to a report by property website Daft.ie.

Sports

Xander Schauffele holds off Bryson DeChambeau to win US PGA Championship: Xander Schauffele didn’t buckle, not this time; not when it mattered most to him, writes Philip Reid. And the 30-year-old Californian – who remained calm and collected until overcome by emotion on the 18th green when reality struck home with a closing birdie – finally earned a breakthrough major in wire-to-wire fashion in the 106th US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.