LAST UPDATE | 30 Nov 2023
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s everything you need to know as you start your day.
1. A truce between Israel and Hamas has been extended both sides have announced, with mediator Qatar reporting it would continue for one day under the same conditions.
Minutes before the halt in fighting was due to expire at 5am (Irish Time), Israel’s military said the “operational pause” would be extended.
International pressure has mounted for the ceasefire to continue as long as possible after nearly eight weeks of conflict in the region.
Party leaders and representatives in the Irish government have all called for the ceasefire to be extended over the last number of days, including the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and leader of the opposition.
2. Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, a relentlessly ambitious US diplomat whose unapologetic promotion of raw American power helped shape the post-World War II world, has died aged 100.
Kissinger, arguably the most identifiable secretary of state in modern times, died at his home in Connecticut, announced Kissinger Associates, through which the late diplomat grew wealthy helping businesses for decades after his government career.
It said that Kissinger’s family would hold a private funeral, with a memorial service to take place later in New York, where Kissinger grew up after his Jewish family fled Nazi Germany.
3. Average rents in new tenancies increased nationally by 11.6%, the highest annual increase since the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) series began in 2007.
The RTB today launched its Rent Index Report for Q2 of this year, covering April to June 2023. New rents increased by 11.6% between Q2 of 2022 and Q2 of this year.
The year-on-year rate of change in new tenancies in Dublin was 10%, but 11.7% outside of Dublin. However, average rents in new tenancies in Dublin are considerably higher than the national average.
4. Our reporter, Lauren Boland, reports from COP28 in Dubai explains the complicated quest of setting up a fund to help countries that have been hit by devastating effects of climate change made its way onto the agenda of a UN climate conference for the first time in 2022 after 27 years of meetings.
What does the concept of loss and damage mean? How have countries suffered because of the climate crisis – and why has a seemingly simple idea taken so long to be put on the table?
5. Two men were hospitalised last night after being seriously injured in a stabbing at a funeral in Cabra. Gardaí said they are investigating an alleged assault that occurred in the Dublin 7 area at approximately 8pm.
A garda spokesperson told The Journal that two males are “currently receiving medical attention at the Mater Hospital with serious injuries” following the incident.
6. Legislation to allow for the wearing of body-worn cameras by gardaí has been passed and will now go to President Michael D Higgins to be signed into law.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the legislation will also to give gardaí greater access to CCTV.
She said it puts An Garda Síochána on a “clear path” to begin rolling out body-cameras for frontline officers from next year, with gardaí in Dublin city centre having access to bodycams from next spring.
7. Sinn Féin said yesterday that a photo of a man drinking on Parnell Square, posted to social media by the party leader and subsequently held up in the Dáil, was to show that after last week’s stabbing incident, “this behaviour continues”.
A spokesperson for the party said that neither Mary Lou McDonald nor Louise O’Reilly TD claimed that the photo was taken at the school’s entrance, as some people had claimed.
The man, whose face is not visible in the photo, appears to be drinking from a can. He is apparently sitting on a step at a location beside the school, but not on the school steps.
Sinn Féin said that the photo and the comments from party members sought to highlight that “people do not feel safe in their communities”.
8. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates today to attend COP28, the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The 2023 Summit, held in Expo City and beginning today, is one of the most important in years as counties will take stock on what progress has been made to meet the targets agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
During the two weeks, negotiations on how to cut emissions, produce more renewable energy, and use climate finance to limit the impact of climate change on people and the environment will take place.
9. Two people have died and eight have been injured in a shooting in Jerusalem this morning, first responders said.
Police said two suspects “implicated in the shootings were neutralised on the spot” after the attack near a bus stop on the western side of Jerusalem, where there are no checkpoints guarding entrance to the city.
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