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Russia will resume pumping gas to third countries via Ukraine from Tuesday morning, following the completion of a monitoring deal, the EU says.

The Czech presidency of the EU made the announcement following the signing of a deal by Russia, Ukraine and the EU.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Europe have been left without gas since Russia turned off the taps over a contractual dispute with Ukraine.

Despite the deal, it may be some time before supplies return to normal.

Analysts say that in theory, supplies could return to normal within 24 hours but a more likely time frame is 36 to 48 hours.

Under the gas transit deal, international pipeline monitors will verify the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine.

See map of affected area

Deadline for conditions

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse says that the agreement may be greeted with scepticism in some of the hardest-hit countries, after the same deal fell through last week.

Moscow says it expects all its conditions to be met by Tuesday morning.

Central to those conditions is the presence of EU and Russian monitors at pumping stations on Ukraine's eastern and western borders.

While a number of EU teams are already in position, others are not, and Russian monitors have still to deploy to stations in western Ukraine, our correspondent says.

Moscow turned off the taps last week after it accused Kiev of stealing gas meant for other European customers.

Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, told a news conference in Brussels on Monday: "If there are no obstacles... gas supplies will be restarted at 8 o'clock [0700 GMT].

"[We] will all hope it will happen tomorrow."

Earlier, Ukraine had dropped provisos it wanted to add to the agreement.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had emphasised that Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine would flow only when monitors were in place and a transit deal had been signed by all parties.

Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day, saying it would pump only enough for customers further down the pipeline.

But then Moscow accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas intended for third countries and it restricted supplies even further.

Ukraine denied the claim, but the flow of Russian gas ceased completely on 7 January, leaving many European countries with major shortages.

The EU called the supply cut "completely unacceptable", and entered into shuttle diplomacy between Kiev and Moscow.

A deal was struck at the end of last week, but fell through when Moscow alleged that Ukraine was trying to deny its debt to Russia for gas supplies.

-BBC News

[OMEN]

A Co Tipperary man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of a woman in a Limerick hotel just over a year ago.

33-year-old Sylvia Roche Kelly from Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, was found dead in the Clarion Hotel in Limerick city on 8 December 2007.

The victim had been celebrating her 33rd birthday the night before.
Today 24-year-old Jerry McGrath of Ballywalter, Knockavilla, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty to her murder.

The Central Criminal Court heard evidence that the victim, who had recently separated from her husband, met McGrath at a Limerick nightclub and went back to his hotel room.

The court heard that Ms Roche Kelly was violently assaulted and her body left in the bathtub of the hotel room.

McGrath, who had a previous conviction, was arrested by gardaí after returning from abroad.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Ms Roche Kelly's parents, Esther and John Bourke, described how their lives had changed forever, how they missed their daughter and were finding it hard to cope.

A statement from the victim's husband, Lorcan Roche Kelly, told how the lives of Sylvia's two young children had been shattered by her death.

Lorcan said Shane, Sylvia's son and his stepson, suffered from an autistic disorder and that the only constant he had in his life was his mother.

He said that their young daughter, Aisling, suffered from huge anxiety and lived in a world of nightmares and suspicion.

Mr Roche Kelly said he had lost the woman that he loved and had left his job to care for the two children.

Sentencing McGrath, Mr Justice Barry White said he had taken the life of an innocent woman, which had a devastating effect on the victim's parents, children and spouse.

In a letter read to the court by his barrister, McGrath apologised for his actions and said he would never forgive himself.

RTE

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[OMEN]

A priest was tied up and threatened with knives during an armed robbery in Co Armagh tonight.

The PSNI say the victim, in his 50s, was watching television at the Drumcree parish parochial house on the Moy Road, Portadown, when he was confronted by two intruders whose faces were covered by scarves.

He was forced to hand over money from the office, told to lie down and tied up at around 5.20pm this evening.
He was later locked in an upstairs room while the men escaped with a substantial sum of cash from Christmas charitable donations and parish wages.

The priest later freed himself and raised the alarm.

He was shaken but unhurt.

His attackers were aged between 18 and 20.

Detectives are appealing for anybody with information to contact them.

RTE

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[OMEN]

Five anti-war protesters have been arrested outside the offices of the US defence firm Raytheon at the science and technology park in Derry.

The protest by the Derry Anti-War Coalition began at the Springtown plant around 2.30pm.

The five being held are being questioned in connection with a range of offences.
Nine women also chained themselves together on the top floor of the building, in protest at the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

They were later allowed to leave by police, and the protest has now ended.

RTE

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[OMEN]

Tens of thousands of euro worth of drugs have been seized by gardaí after three searches.

At around 2.30pm yesterday afternoon gardaí from the Tipperary Divisional Drugs unit stopped a van on the road between Portlaoise and Thurles.

After carrying out a search on the vehicle 5kg of cannabis herb and a further 5kg of cannabis resin were found.
The drugs have an estimated street value of more than €90,000.

A man was arrested at the scene and is being held in Thurles Garda station.

Two further house searches in Borrisoleigh yielded finds of drugs and cash.

In the first house gardaí found cannabis resin with an estimated value of €17,500.

In the second search, which concluded at 10pm last night, heroin with a street value of €4,000 and a quantity of cash were found.

A man was arrested and is being held at Templemore Garda Station.

Both men can be held for up to seven days.

RTE