LAST UPDATE | 19 Dec 2023
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
Israel is facing increased pressure from global calls for a ceasefire in Gaza as the UN Security Council are set to meet later this morning to vote on that very decision.
This is while the US continues to arm its ally, the UK and its Foreign Minister David Cameron have moved to meet with the French and Italian leaders to push for a “sustainable ceasefire” in the conflict, his office said.
In our morning lead today, our reporter Lauren Boland provides a six year timeline of arson attacks on properties in use, planned for use, or rumoured-to-be planned for use to accommodate asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees.
This comes as an escalating pattern emerges by anti-migrant groups who’ve have attacked premises linked to asylum seekers.
A man in his 30s has died after a two-vehicle collision in Co Donegal. The collision happened yesterday evening at around 7pm on the N14 in Manorcunningham in Co Donegal.
The N14 at Carrickballydooey, Manorcunningham is currently closed pending a technical examination of the scene by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators. Local traffic diversions are in place.
A volcano in Iceland is erupting this morning – with geysers of molten lava shooting into the pitch-black night sky after weeks of seismic activity had the region southwest of the capital on high alert.
The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, just north of the fishing town Grindavik, began Monday at around 10.17 pm after an earthquake swarm, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, referring to a series of small shakes.
Talks are continuing later this morning in efforts by the United Kingdom’s government to restore the powersharing agreement in Stormont and restore the Executive as a whole.
This comes only one day after a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) source revealed the party will not agree to a deal any time before Christmas, with a spokesperson saying the party is “condition-led, not calendar-led”.
The Irish Central Bank has said that GDP will likely decline overall this year, but that the Irish economy is forecast to grow.
The regulator’s latest quarterly report says that modified domestic demand – which better captures the current state of the national economy – is predicted to increase by 1.5% in 2023, 2.5% in 2024 and 1.9% in 2025.
It also says that inflation has fallen significantly this year and that it is expected to return to 2.1% in 2025.
Close to 120 people have been killed during an overnight earthquake in a cold and mountainous region in north-western China, the country’s state media reported.
Search and rescue operations were underway in Gansu and neighbouring Qinghai provinces today.
Last night, the UN Security Council postponed a vote on a resolution seeking a new ceasefire in Gaza.
The United Arab Emirates, which had introduced the latest text, requested that the vote set for 5pm (10pm GMT) yesterday be postponed until later this morning.
Ireland’s housing supply is expected to increase next year but a continued rise in construction costs mean that affordability issues could remain.
The findings are part of the latest housing monitor for Quarter 3 of this year, published today by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
The report noted that increased housing output this year helped to ease housing inflation amid a “significant” increase in housing completions this year.
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