LAST UPDATE | 10 Feb 2023
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. A review of Ireland’s rail network is set to recommend reopening a number of regional lines, including some that had been earmarked for greenways, Eoghan Dalton writes in today’s lead story.
If implemented it would see long-dormant lines in the west and southeast brought back into use while there are also plans to improve frequency and links between Ireland’s cities.
The All Island Strategic Rail Review was jointly commissioned by governments north and south in 2021.
The Journal understands the review, which is in draft form at present, will propose reviving a disused rail line in Co Wexford potentially linking towns along the east coast of the country, connecting Dublin, Rosslare and Waterford.
2. Rescuers are scouring debris nearly 100 hours after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, killing at least 21,000 people in one of the region’s worst disasters for a century.
The first UN aid deliveries arrived on Thursday in Syrian rebel-held zones, but chances of finding survivors have dimmed since the passing of the three-day mark that experts consider a critical period to save lives.
3. GOAL, the Irish-based international humanitarian organisation, said 26 of its staff members lost their lives in the violent earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday.
Teams are still working around the clock to find a number of staff still unaccounted for while also supporting the overall search and rescue mission, a spokesperson said.
“Never in the organisation’s history, has GOAL experienced the loss of colleagues on such a scale,” they added.
4. A man is due in court in Australia after an Irishman was shot dead yesterday.
The victim has been named locally as Damian Conlon. He was aged in his 30s and originally from Co Sligo.
5. Hailed as a European hero on his arrival in Brussels, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged EU leaders to accelerate the promised delivery of modern long-range weapons.
The Ukrainian leader warned that he could not return empty-handed from what was only his second foreign trip since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion just under a year ago.
With a renewed Russian offensive piling pressure on Kyiv’s forces in the east, the former actor turned war leader urged his allies to turn what he said were their “positive signals” into “concrete” words.
6. A man has been charged in relation to an incident of drone activity at Dublin Airport last month, and is due to appear before the criminal courts this morning.
The drone activity occurred on Tuesday 24 January. The man was arrested by Gardaí contrary to the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. It is illegal to fly drones within 5km of the airport.
7. Former US vice president Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing investigations into efforts by former president Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a person with direct knowledge of the event.
The subpoena to Pence as part of the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith was served in recent days, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Thursday to discuss a sensitive issue.
8. Tributes have poured in following the death of Burt Bacharach, composer of classic pop songs including I Say A Little Prayer and Walk On By. He was 94.
He was known for romantic and melancholic ballads crossing the border between jazz and pop, and regularly topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
His publicist confirmed to the PA news agency that he died surrounded by relatives at home yesterday, and said his family requested privacy at this time.
9. And finally, the weather.
It will be cloudy this morning and misty in places with some patches of rain or drizzle, according to Met Éireann.
It will become largely dry today with occasional sunny spells developing. Highest temperatures will range from 10 to 12 degrees in west to southwest winds.
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