LAST UPDATE | 28 Oct 2022
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. Voters in Northern Ireland face the prospect of returning to the polls in December, a little over seven months after the last Assembly election.
Politicians had until midnight to get an executive in place, Diarmuid Pepper writes in today’s lead story.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris had repeatedly said that he will call for an assembly election to be held within 12 weeks if that deadline was missed.
The parties were recalled to the assembly yesterday, just hours before the deadline, but there was no progress on electing a Speaker, or first and deputy first ministers.
2. Average private rents in Ireland have increased by 84% over the last decade while income inequality is at a record low, according to figures by the Economic and Social Research Institute.
The ESRI’s second annual Poverty, Income Inequality and Living Standards in Ireland report, published today, shows that average private rents in the State rose from €589 to €1,084 per month between 2012 and 2021 in real terms.
Rising rents have in turn led to a huge decline in the affordability of housing for young and low-income private renters.
3. Elon Musk is now in charge of Twitter and has ousted its top three executives.
Sources would not say if all the paperwork for the deal, originally valued at $44 billion (€44.1 billion), had been signed or if it had been closed.
However they said the South Africa-born entrepreneur was in charge of the firm and had dismissed chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and general counsel Vijaya Gadde.
4. Two people have died after a road traffic collision involving two cars and a lorry in Co Monaghan.
The fatal collision occurred at around 6.15pm yesterday on the N2 at Mullaghanee, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.
The occupants of one of the cars involved, a man and woman in their 60s, were pronounced dead at the scene.
5. Gardaí have been granted an extension by the High Court to continue to preserve the site of the Creeslough explosion.
Ten people died in the explosion in Creeslough on Friday, 7 October. The extension will allow gardaí to preserve the scene until 27 November.
A garda spokesperson said: “The purpose for the preservation of the scene is to preserve, search for and collect evidence to facilitate the ongoing investigation.”
6. Over 700 GPs and 450 pharmacies are still waiting for contracts to allow them to partake in the government’s free contraception scheme, which was rolled out last month.
Since the scheme was launched, 2,108 GPs and 1,458 pharmacies have completed contracts with the HSE.
Some 2,831 GPs and 1,908 pharmacists applied for contracts to provide free contraception for women aged 17 to 25, meaning 723 GPs are still waiting for their contracts to be processed, as well as 450 pharmacies.
7. A Chinese “police station” in Dublin city has been ordered to close, Government officials have confirmed.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said no request had been made in advance to open the station in Capel Street.
Human rights body Safeguard Defenders this week released a report which suggested dozens of security outposts aimed at forcing Chinese dissidents back home have been set up across the world.
8. North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea’s military said, the latest in a blitz of launches that Washington and Seoul have warned could culminate in Kim Jong Un conducting another nuclear test.
The launch comes as South Korea and the US conclude 12 days of amphibious naval joint military drills, and just ahead of the Monday start of major combined air drills that will involve more than 200 US and South Korean fighter jets.
9. And finally, the weather.
Met Éireann says there will be very heavy rain this morning becoming confined to the north, before clearing through the morning. It will also be very windy for a while in the northeast.
Sunny spells will develop with scattered showers in the west and southwest, extending elsewhere during the afternoon. Some of these will be heavy or thunderous. Highest temperatures will range from 13 to 16 degrees Celsius.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say