LAST UPDATE | 12 Aug 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know about as you start your day.
1. In our main story this morning, Michelle Hennessy answers readers’ questions about the latest stage of the Covid vaccine roll-out as the HSE’s registration portal has opened for parents and guardians to register children aged between 12 and 15.
Many of the questions related to potential side effects, some wanted to know about clinical trials, while others wanted to find out whether other countries are taking a similar approach.
2. A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency, Met Éireann and the Marine Institute has found that Ireland’s climate indicators are all going in the wrong direction.
The Status of Ireland’s Climate study – which is the first comprehensive official assessment in eight years – said global climate change is having a clear effect on our environment here, including on our land, waters and atmosphere.
3. English language students who handed over cash to a specialist student travel agency at the centre of a Garda fraud probe say they fear losing their legal status in Ireland following the alleged scam.
Garreth MacNamee has spoken to some of the affected students – many of whom now have strong links with communities here and who say they face being left living in Ireland illegally if something is not done.
4. Across the globe, Australia’s capital Canberra was ordered into a seven-day coronavirus lockdown today, after a single Covid-19 case was detected in the city that has largely avoided virus restrictions.
About 400,000 people in the nation’s political hub will be under stay-at-home orders, joining millions more already under lockdown in Australia’s southeast.
5. A new report has found there was a 20% deterioration in just three months in the availability of affordable rental properties across the country, and a 27% deterioration in six months.
The quarterly Locked Out report from the Simon Communities of Ireland, published today, found there were 2,208 properties available to rent at any price within the 16 areas examined over the three dates surveyed.
This is down 20% from the 2,757 properties available in March.
6. Cork City Council has defended its ‘robot trees’ as it launches its Clean Air Strategy. Five high-tech ‘Citytrees’ that can help to clean the air will be launched today in Cork as part of the city-wide strategy.
The 4m tall wooden units contain a moss that can filter pollutants and they will be installed at St Patrick’s Street and on Grand Parade in the city centre.
7. In the United States, the largest single wildfire in California’s recorded history has continued to grow after destroying nearly 550 homes. Meanwhile, authorities in Montana ordered evacuations as a wind-driven blaze roared toward several remote communities.
The dangerous fires are among some 100 large blazes burning today across 15 states, mostly in the West, where historic drought conditions have left lands parched and ripe for ignition.
8. A helicopter carrying tourists on a volcano sightseeing trip in Russia’s far east crashed into a lake today, leaving eight people feared dead and two others in serious condition.
The Mi-8 helicopter carrying 16 people came down in a nature reserve on the mountainous Kamchatka peninsula. Forty rescuers and divers were dispatched to the scene.
9. Finally this morning, NASA has developed a better understanding of the asteroid Bennu’s probable flight path for the next 200 years, and the bad news is there is a slightly greater chance of the space rock hitting Earth than previously thought.
But don’t be alarmed: Scientists have reported the odds are still quite low that Bennu will reach us in the next century.
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