Dublin - Irish writer, academic and politician Conor Cruise O'Brien has died at the age of 91, national broadcaster RTE reported Friday.

Born in 1917 in Dublin in an Ireland that was still part of the British Empire to a journalist father and teacher mother, O'Brien's early career was as a civil servant in the foreign ministry.

He became a special representative for the United Nations to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the early 1960s and wrote To Katanga and Back in 1962 about Katanga province's secession from the newly independent DR Congo.

Dublin - A Dublin-based think tank issued its gloomiest outlook yet for the Irish economy Friday, forecasting a drop in economic activity of 4.6 per cent in 2009 and a jump in unemployment to almost 10 per cent.

"The Irish economy is in the midst of a contraction that is large by both historic and international comparisons," the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said in a statement.

Ireland's gross national product, which does not include net investment from abroad, is expected to fall by 2.6 per cent this year before slumping by 4.6 per cent next year.

Investment in Ireland would drop by 19.3 per cent in 2009, the ESRI forecast, while consumption would drop 3.6 per cent.

Dublin  - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen launched a programme for the recovery of Ireland's economy on Thursday, with a 500-million-euro (730 million dollars) venture capital fund to boost enterprise, during a press conference at Dublin Castle.

The plan, called Building Ireland's Smart Economy, is to re- orientate the national economy toward what Cowen called the knowledge economy, as well as wind and wave energy.

Dublin/London - An Irish government minister was among several hostages held by

Dublin  - In a move aimed at restoring confidence in the banking system and encouraging lending, Ireland's government on Sunday announced a 10-billion-euro (13.4-billion-dollar) rescue plan for the country's banks amid the deepening global financial crisis.

The government said it would use money from the 18.7-billion-euro state pension fund to invest and also wants existing shareholders and private investors to support a recapitalization.

Dublin, Ireland  - The world's first biodegradable computer, the iameco, has been manufactured in Dublin from bio-degradable wood panels made from waste products in the lumber and pulp industry.

During a visit to the company by Ireland's Minister for Science and Innovation, Dr Jimmy Devins, the inventors of iameco, MicroPro Computers Ltd, said they could implant the seeds of native-tree species into the wood panels.

The minister's visit coincided with the announcement of details of a new Enterprise Ireland Green Technology Support for businesses.