LAST UPDATE | 27 Oct 2023

GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.

Energy ratings

1. The European Parliament’s ambitious plan to retrofit all buildings across the continent up to a minimum standard could cost up to €1 trillion, The Journal has learned.

The parliament’s energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) is working towards upgrading, on a gradual scale, the energy ratings of every building in the European Union to combat the energy use of older buildings. 

Influencer ads

2. Influencers in Ireland have been instructed from today to use the hashtag #Ad if their social media posts contain branded gifts or feature their own products.

The new rules have been devised by the Consumer Protection Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, which published new guidance for Irish influencers regarding the clear labelling of ads on social media.

Maine manhunt

3. A major manhunt has entered its second day for a man accused of gunning down 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in the US state of Maine, as President Joe Biden mourned “yet another senseless and tragic mass shooting”.

Dozens of law enforcement agents surrounded the family home of 40-year-old suspect Robert Card, but by mid-evening agents left the property in Bowdoin, near Lewiston, to hunt for him elsewhere.

Syria strikes

4. The US military has launched airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s revolutionary guard corps, the Pentagon has said.

It comes in retaliation for a slew of drone and missile attacks against US bases and personnel in the region that began early last week.

Raids in Gaza

5. Israeli ground forces backed by fighter jets and drones carried out a night-time targeted raid in central Gaza Strip, the army has said, as it prepares for a land invasion.

The comes as EU leaders have demanded “humanitarian corridors and pauses” in Israel’s war against Hamas, urging aid access for civilians trapped in besieged Gaza.

Trump fine

6. A judge has reaffirmed Donald Trump’s $10,000 fine for an out-of-court comment during the ex-president’s business fraud civil trial in New York.

Ashling Murphy 

7. An interpreter who translated Jozef Puska’s alleged admission to the murder of Ashling Murphy said the accused man was emotional, spoke with a “trembling” voice and appeared in “very low spirits… even desperate” after the confession.

Abuse videos

8. An American woman who claims that recordings of her being sexually abused appeared on video sharing sites associated with PornHub wants to bring a damages action before the Irish Courts.

The woman, who lives in the United States, claims that that she was drugged and raped by a man when she was a minor.

She claims that her abuser recorded what happened and posted the images online.

Nigel Farage

9. NatWest Group’s decision to shut down Nigel Farage’s Coutts account showed “serious failings” in its treatment of the politician, an independent probe has found.

Law firm Travers Smith, which was reviewing the banking giant in the wake of debanking saga which culminated in the resignation of chief executive Alison Rose, found failures in how it treated confidential information.

But the decision to shut down Farage’s bank account was lawful, and predominately commercial, it reported.