LAST UPDATE | 11 Apr 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Biden visit to Ireland

1. US President Joe Biden is arriving in Ireland today to start his four-day trip around the island, which will include stops in Belfast, Louth, Dublin and Meath.

Air Force One is due to land this evening to deliver the American president to the first leg of his visit in Belfast, where he will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Rail network

2. Eoghan Dalton reports this morning that transport officials will attempt to bypass the deadlock at Stormont to publish a report proposing reforms to the island’s rail network if the Assembly cannot return.

The All-Island Rail Review, commissioned in June 2021 to improve links between the island’s regions and major cities, requires the approval of governments in both jurisdictions due to its 32-county nature.

Galway collision

3. The school of the two students who died in the single vehicle crash in Co Galway early yesterday morning is to open this week to offer support to their friends and classmates.

Two other pupils of Presentation College Headford are seriously injured at University College Hospital following the crash which happened a short distance outside Headford in north Co Galway at around 5.45am.

Derry attacks

4. The chief of police in Derry has appealed for calm as scenes of violence against PSNI during a dissident parade have been condemned by politicians across Ireland.

A number of missiles were hurled by young people at a PSNI Land Rover monitoring the parade in the Creggan area of the city on Easter Monday.

Weather warnings

5. Today and tomorrow are set to bring strong winds to many parts of the country, with two Status Yellow warnings coming into effect this afternoon and in the early hours of the morning.

A Status Yellow wind warning has been issued from 3pm to 9pm this evening for Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Meath, Wexford, Wicklow and Waterford.

Junior doctors strike

6. The NHS in England is bracing for “the most disruptive industrial action” in its history as junior doctors walk out over pay and working conditions.

The public health service has been hit by waves of strikes in recent months as soaring inflation eats into wages and pandemic backlogs coupled with staff shortages increase workloads.

But the four-day walkout by junior doctors threatens to be the most serious action yet.

Teacher shooting

7. The mother of the six-year-old US elementary school student who shot and seriously wounded his teacher in January has been charged with felony child neglect, a prosecutor in the eastern state of Virginia has announced.

North Korea

8. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to enhance his nuclear arsenal in more “practical and offensive” ways in the face of his rivals’ “frantic” military exercises, state media has said.

Alec Baldwin court case

9. Alec Baldwin will not have to appear in court in person for a preliminary hearing after a US judge granted a motion to waive his appearance.

The Hollywood actor faces two charges of involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.