GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our main story this morning, Diarmuid Pepper reports on how parents should approach the thorny question of their children’s use of smartphones.
It comes as Education Minister Norma Foley this week launched a new plan to encourage parents to avoid buying smartphones for children in primary school.
One psychologist specialising in how people interact with technology has told The Journal that screen-time harms children’s well-being – but, crucially, there are protective steps that parents can take.
2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected growing international calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel’s battle to crush Hamas militants will continue with “full force”.
His comments come as heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas trapped thousands of people in Gaza’s hospitals, with medics and aid workers warning patients will die in the crippled facilities unless there is a pause in the conflict.
Inside the Al-Shifa hospital, Médecins Sans Frontières surgeon Mohammed Obeid said there was no water, power, food, or internet for about 600 post-operative patients, 37-40 babies and 17 people in intensive care.
3. There are mixed views in Sinn Féin about whether it will be palatable for the party to go into government with Fianna Fáil, reports The Journal‘s political editor Christina Finn.
Attendees The Journal spoke to at yesterday’s Sinn Féin Ard Fheis at the Technological University of Shannon Campus in Athlone outlined the differing views about whether its members would sign-off on going into a possible future coalition with Fianna Fáil.
While some said it would involve significant compromises being made on party policy, others seemed more open to the idea if it meant that Sinn Féin would finally take a seat in government.
4. In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing intensifying calls to sack Suella Braverman for stoking tensions ahead of Armistice Day protests, with Labour leader Keir Starmer accusing the British Home Secretary of spawning “hatred and distrust”.
Pressure mounted on Braverman amid scenes of far-right violence towards officers yesterday, after she branded pro-Palestinian demonstrators “hate marchers” and accused the police of bias for letting the rally go ahead.
5. An Icelandic town home to some 4,000 people near the capital Reykjavik could be heavily damaged by a volcano expected to erupt within hours or days, experts have said.
The town of Grindavik on the southwestern coast was evacuated in the early hours of yesterday morning after magma shifting under the Earth’s crust caused hundreds of earthquakes in what was believed to be a precursor to an eruption.
6. Donald Trump is pushing for his US federal election interference trial in Washington to be televised, joining media outlets that say the American public should be able to watch the historic case unfold.
Federal court rules prohibit broadcasting proceedings, but the Associated Press and other news organisations say the unprecedented case of a former president standing trial on accusations that he tried to subvert the will of voters warrants making an exception.
7. Three men have been charged after a violent row spilled onto a busy road in central Dublin where a man was beaten, held down and repeatedly kicked in the head “in the middle of traffic”.
Dublin District Court heard they were charged with causing harm to a named male who suffered, “a broken eye-socket, extensive bruising and a gash to his head.” The incident ended when a woman lay across the victim as “a human shield”.
8. Revenue officers seized cannabis worth an estimated €660,000 at Dublin Airport.
The bags of cannabis were found after officers stopped a passenger, a man in his 20s, who had arrived on a flight from New York in the United States. A search of the man’s baggage revealed 33 kilos of the drug.
9. Pope Francis has dismissed US bishop Joseph Strickland, a prominent conservative who has repeatedly criticised his papacy, following concerns over his leadership and governance.
The Vatican did not explain the move, a rare sacking in the Catholic Church where troublesome senior clerics are normally encouraged – or told – to resign.
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