LAST UPDATE | 13 Mar

GOOD MORNING.

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

Haiti aid workers

1. In our lead story this morning, News Correspondent Niall O’Connor reports that an aid worker trapped in the Haitian capital of Port au Prince has likened the heavy fighting in the city to the horror film The Purge. 

Matt Knight of GOAL is the country director for Haiti and leads a team of more than 70 aid workers with the Irish charity. 

He is staying in a compound in the city where he hears the nightly gun battles as brutal gangs fight pitched battles with each other. Such is the danger that he is advised to stay inside.

US election

2. US President Joe Biden and rival Donald Trump have each won enough delegates to clinch their party nominations in the 2024 presidential race, networks have projected.

This all but assures a rematch and sets up one of the longest election campaigns in US history.

The results in four statewide elections yesterday were essentially a foregone conclusion as incumbent Biden and former president Trump had already seen off all primary challengers.

Gaza aid

3. A Spanish aid boat is now en route to Gaza, opening a new maritime corridor intended to allow deliveries of desperately needed food to the Palestinian territory.

The Open Arms ship has left the port of Larnaca and is towing 200 tonnes of relief goods roughly 400km across the Mediterranean to Gaza.

US charity World Central Kitchen has said work is “underway” on a jetty to unload the shipment.

Varadkar and Biden

4. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as said the St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House is an opportunity to put forward the Irish people’s perspective on the conflict in Gaza.

However, speaking to reporters in Boston this evening, he said “we’re certainly not going to start with uncomfortable truths”, adding: “I’m not here to tell him off or tick him off.”

Political Editor Christina Finn will be in the US throughout the week for the Taoiseach’s visit. Follow @thejournal_ie and @christinafinn8 for all the latest.

EU elections

5. Varadkar also said it will be “challenging” for Fine Gael to keep its European Parliament seats in the upcoming elections in June.

He said it would be “hard to achieve” the same outcome as the 2019 elections where it soared above Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, securing five seats and 29% of the vote.

Previous polling from January by The Journal and Ireland Thinks suggests that the Taoiseach could be correct in his assessment as figures shows Fine Gael was pulling in 19% of voters at the time.

Status Orange

6. A Status Orange rain warning is set to kick in for Cork and Kerry at midday, with property owners in low lying areas or in places prone to flooding being urged to take precautions. 

Met Éireann has said there will be persistent rain in the counties, heavy at times, accompanied by strong onshore winds, high tides and elevated river levels. 

This may lead to flooding, wave overtopping and difficult travelling conditions, the forecaster said. 

Man detained

7. A man has been arrested by gardaí after a search for a yellow Renault Traffic van concluded in Mayo.

Yesterday, gardaí issued an alert to the public asking them to call 999 if they saw the van, which was last seen in Dublin City centre this morning. 

This was after the same vehicle left a scene where gardaí in Arklow, Co Wicklow had responded to a public order incident. Gardaí investigating the event were concerned for the welfare of a woman in her 30s inside the vehicle. 

Charlie Bird death

8. Tributes have been paid following the death of Charlie Bird, the former RTÉ journalist and charity campaigner.

The news was confirmed by RTÉ yesterday morning. 

President Michael D Higgins led the tributes describing Bird as a “truly remarkable man driven by a deep sense of social justice”.

SWSX

9. Texas Governor Greg Abbot has told the Irish acts who have pulled out of the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in the state not to come back. 

The SXSW festival in Texas has defended its sponsorship by the US army in the wake of music acts pulling out in protest.

All 10 acts from the island of Ireland have now pulled out of the arts festival in Austin, Texas due to the US army being a “super sponsor” of the event.