GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. The day began this morning with a story focusing on Ireland’s foreign policy view on Palestine and Israel as the Dáil becomes the first EU country to declare the building of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories as de facto annexation.
A Dáil motion, tabled by Sinn Fein, was passed yesterday evening after it received cross-party support.
It condemns the “recent and ongoing forced displacement of Palestinian communities in the occupied Palestinian territory”, and described the annexation of Palestinian territory as a violation of international law.
2. The crisis in home buying is next on the agenda as we deal with the news of Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien set to bring a memo to Cabinet on Friday on the establishment of Commission on Housing.
It’s expected the Commission on Housing will be formally established in September 2021, with the memo this week relating to the appointment of a chairperson.
The setting up of a commission is contained in the Programme for Government, with the commission set to be tasked with examining issues such as tenure, standards, sustainability and quality-of-life in the provision of housing in Ireland.
Spiders
3. For those of a nervous disposition towards spiders will be concerned to hear that bites from noble false widows can be so severe that it requires hospital treatment, an NUI Galway study has revealed.
The threat posed by the noble false widow spider has been debated among spider and healthcare specialists for many years.
The new study, published in the international medical journal Clinical Toxicology, confirms that some bite victims experience symptoms very similar to the true black widow spiders and some severe cases require hospital admission.
4. Many of us will have grown up with the work of Eric Carle and no doubt will be saddened to hear of his death this morning.
Carle, author of well-known children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has died aged 91, his family said.
In an announcement issued by Penguin Young Leaders, the family said the beloved children’s author and illustrator died on Sunday at his summer studio in Northampton, Massachusetts.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, published in 1969, was welcomed by parents and delighted kids with its story of the metamorphosis of a green and red caterpillar with a touch of blue and brown to a proudly multi-coloured butterfly.
5. As Netflix recently began showing the Jack Black film School of Rock many of us will have spotted the rebellious drummer Freddy Jones.
It was announced overnight that the actor, Kevin Clark, who starred in the role was tragically killed in a bicycle accident.
The Chicago Police Department said the 32-year-old was struck by a car while riding his bicycle along a Chicago street.
6. The people of Melbourne are back in lockdown as Australia’s second-biggest city of Melbourne has recorded a spike in Covid-19 cases.
Officials blamed a sluggish vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine failures for another virus outbreak.
Stay-at-home orders will apply to Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state from midnight for seven days, acting state Premier James Merlino told residents, as the cluster doubled to 26 cases.
“In the last day, we’ve seen more evidence we’re dealing with a highly infectious strain of the virus, a variant of concern, which is running faster than we have ever recorded,” Merlino said.
7. Millions are expected to tune in later today as the cast of the much-loved ’90s sitcom Friends have reunited for a special episode which is available to watch from today.
Details have been kept under wraps, but fans can expect a table read of a classic episode, a recreation of the famous quiz at Monica and Rachel’s apartment – and lots of hugs, tears and reminiscing.
The episode will be available on Sky and streaming service NOW. It will air on demand from 8am and on Sky One at 8pm this evening.
8. The ban on live music in pubs, restaurants and hotels is hitting the news this morning also.
The Arts and Culture Minister Catherine Martin has defended new rules which ban live music in pubs, restaurants and hotels for several more months, while musicians have said the guidelines are ‘frustrating’ and called for a more nuanced approach.
Outdoor dining is permitted from 7 June, pending final approval by the government on Friday.
Government sources have indicated that the Fáilte Ireland guidelines could be modified later in the summer.
9. In our Morning Memo Business newsletter we ask the question: is there a green solution to cryptocurrency? Elon Musk says there is anyway, but it’s easy to be sceptical about the notion.
After all, there’s a lot of money to be made in box ticking exercises around ‘environmental and social governance’ (ESG) investing these days.
A bit of that seems to be going on at the moment in the debate over the enormous amounts of energy required to keep the blockchain operational.
Sign up to receive the Morning Memo newsletter with all the day’s business news to your inbox here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say