LAST UPDATE | 24 Nov 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Redacted Lives

1. The third episode of Redacted Lives, a new six-part documentary series by The Journal about mother and baby homes, is out now.

The series follows the experiences of mothers who ended up in institutions because they became pregnant outside marriage, as well as people born into the system.

Tens of thousands of pregnant women and girls were sent to mother and baby homes in Ireland throughout the 20th century. Their children were usually adopted or sent to industrial schools – often without their mother’s consent.

Social welfare

2. A total of 75,000 applications for emergency social welfare payments have been received by the Department of Social Protection so far this year. 

This is a 63% in awarded applications received for the same period last year. 

Celtic Interconnector

3. Taoiseach Micheál Martin is due to travel to Paris today to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, with discussions on the Celtic Interconnector, the economy and Ukraine expected.

The Celtic Interconnector, which will link Ireland’s electricity grid to France, is due to be completed in 2026.

Speaking ahead of the visit, the Taoiseach said that he was looking forward to meeting with Macron, adding that relationships between Ireland and France have “never been better”.

Russian strikes

4. In international news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that Russian air strikes on Ukraine’s battered power grid were an “obvious crime against humanity”.

Zelenskyy earlier tweeted that the murder of civilians, ruining of civilian infrastructure were “acts of terror”, adding that Ukraine “keeps demanding a resolute response of international community to these crimes”.

Colorado shooting

5. The alleged shooter facing possible hate crime charges in the fatal shooting of five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub has been ordered to be held without bail. 

The suspect was beaten into submission by patrons during Saturday night’s shooting at Club Q and released from hospital on Tuesday.

The motive in the shooting is still under investigation, but authorities said Anderson Lee Aldrich faces possible murder and hate crime charges.

Walmart shooting

6. In America’s second mass shooting in four days, a 31-year-old overnight manager at Walmart shot and killed six people at a store filled with Thanksgiving holiday shoppers before turning the gun on himself.

Four other people remained hospitalised in unknown condition following the Tuesday night rampage in Chesapeake, Virginia, police chief Mark Solesky said.

Air pollution

7. Back in Europe, it has been reported that fine particle air pollution led to 238,000 premature deaths in the European Union in 2020.

Across the 27-nation bloc that year, “exposure to concentrations of fine particulate matter above the 2021 World Health Organization guideline level resulted in 238,000 premature deaths,” the European Environment Agency said in a new report.

Indonesia earthquake

8. In Asia, a six-year-old boy has been pulled from the rubble of a deadly Indonesia earthquake after spending two days trapped under debris without food or water, in a “miracle” rescue.

The dramatic rescue captured on camera yesterday evening revived hopes that survivors could still be pulled alive from the wreckage days after the strong tremor that hit the West Java town of Cianjur on Monday, killing at least 271 people.

Ticketmaster chaos

9. Lastly, a US Senate special committee will hold a hearing to examine the lack of competition in the ticketing industry.

It comes after reports of significant service failures and delays on the Ticketmaster website that left fans unable to purchase tickets for the pop megastar’s Eras Tour last Thursday.

The company eventually cancelled the general sale to buy tickets for the US leg of Swift’s tour, citing “insufficient ticket inventory” to meet “extraordinarily high demands”.