LAST UPDATE | 6 Mar

GOOD MORNING.

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

European Commission 

1. Most sitting Fine Gael MEP have enthusiastically endorsed Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second-term as European Commission President.

Today, the European People’s Party (EPP group), of which von der Leyen is a member, will meet in Bucharest, Romania for a two-day congress.

Super Tuesday

2. US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump have swept the state primaries on Super Tuesday, all but cementing a November rematch.

Biden and Trump each won California, Texas, Alabama, Colorado, Maine, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Minnesota and Massachusetts.

Biden also won the Democratic primaries in Utah, Vermont and Iowa.

Gaza ceasefire

3. US President Joe Biden has called on Hamas to accept a Gaza ceasefire deal by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, while Hamas warned talks for a truce and hostage release cannot go on “indefinitely”.

As famine threatens Gazans, US and Jordanian planes again airdropped food aid into the besieged territory of more than two million people in a joint operation with Egypt and France.

US Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed “deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza”, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported children dying of starvation in two northern Gaza hospitals.

Menopause

4. A group of medical experts writing in a new series of articles for The Lancet journal have called for a reappraisal of how societies view menopause and the treatments prescribed for it. 

The experts argue that menopause should not be treated as a health problem to be solved by hormone replacement, saying that this approach deflects attention away from “the need for substantial societal shifts” in how menopause is viewed and treated around the world.

Primary school

5. The consultation process has begun on the first major revamp of the primary school curriculum in 25 years.

The new curriculum, which will be in schools by 2025 at the earliest, aims to respond to a modern Ireland, informed by the latest research on how children learn.

There will also be an increased emphasis on some existing parts of the curriculum, such as physical education, SPHE and sustainability.

March referendums 

6. Tánaiste Micheál Martin and conservative barrister Maria Steen clashed on the wording of the upcoming referendums during a debate on RTÉ’s Prime Time this evening.

Housing targets

7. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that increasing the housing targets to 50,000 per year is not achievable this year or next. 

However, speaking in the Dáil today, Varadkar said the government believes such a target is achievable in the longer term. 

According to ESRI research examining the National Development Plan, the government’s housing targets are too low to meet population growth.

Junior doctors

8. Junior doctors in Northern Northern Ireland have begun a 24-hour walkout for the first time in a dispute over pay. 

The strike action was called after 97.6% of junior doctors balloted by British Medical Association (BMA) Northern Ireland voted in favour of industrial action. 

The BMA has said junior doctors pay has been reduced by over 30% in the past 16 years. 

Peru resignation

9. Peru’s Prime Minister Alberto Otárola has resigned over allegations he attempted to use his influence to help a woman gain lucrative government contracts, BBC News reports. 

It reports that the scandal escalated last week when a Peruvian TV broadcaster aired audio clips of what it said were conversations between the two.