LAST UPDATE | 15 Mar 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Kyiv attacks

1. In the latest from Ukraine, a strike on a housing block in Kyiv killed at least two people this morning. 

At least three large blasts were heard in the centre of the capital this morning, and an AFP journalist saw a column of smoke rising.

This comes as talks between Ukraine and Russia are set to resume today. 

Poland/Ukraine border report

2. An NGO working on the Polish/Ukrainian border has said her organisation has put in place measures to prevent people trafficking. 

Kamneev Rai from Chicago is part of the United Sikhs team working at Medyka border crossing in Poland, where upwards of 20,000 people fleeing the war cross every day. United Sikhs was set up by a group of Sikhs in 1999 in New York, and is a UN-affiliated NGO. 

The vast majority of those crossing the border into Poland are women and children, and Rai said that her team have put in place a plan to deal with potential trafficking. 

The Journal’s Niall O’Connor has been reporting from the Poland/Ukraine border. Read his previous stories here.  

Anti-war protest

3. In Russia, a dissenting employee yesterday entered a studio during Russia’s most-watched evening news broadcast, holding up a poster saying “No War” and condemning Moscow’s military action in Ukraine.

The incident was a highly unusual breach of security at the tightly-controlled state broadcaster Channel One.

St Patrick’s Day

4. St Patrick’s Day will strike a different tone this year as the Taoiseach heads Stateside to meet with US President Joe Biden. 

Usually, the traditional trip over the pond is full of green festivities, shamrocks, and chats about the ‘old country’. 

Despite there being pent up enthusiasm to spread the ‘green’ message this year due the Taoiseach being unable to travel to Washington DC last year because of the pandemic, Micheál Martin has considered the political landscape and the crisis in Ukraine and decided to evolve the “tone and theme” of St Patrick’s Day celebrations this week. 

The Journal’s political correspondent Christina Finn is reporting from Washington DC.  

Sinn Féin in the US

5. Sinn Féin is on a charm offensive in the US this week, seeking to garner support on issues relating to Northern Ireland, Brexit as well as Irish Unity.

The party’s leader Mary Lou McDonald told a crowd at Fordham University in New York yesterday that the outbreak of conflict in Europe reminds us that peace, self-determination and sovereignty are precious and can never be taken for granted.

China lockdown

6. Nearly 30 million people are under lockdown across China, as surging virus cases prompted the return of mass tests and hazmat-suited health officials to city streets on a scale not seen since the start of the pandemic.

China reported 5,280 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, more than double the previous day’s tally, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads across a country that has tethered tightly to a “zero-Covid” strategy.

Ship aground in the US

7. A massive container ship, owned by the same company whose vessel last year blocked the Suez Canal, has run aground near the US port of Baltimore, US officials have said.

The Ever Forward, a 1,096-foot vessel ran aground in the Chesapeake Bay shortly after leaving a Baltimore port on Sunday night, said the executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, William Doyle, in a statement.

Fatal crash

8. A motorcyclist in his late 30s has died in a road traffic collision in Co Clare. 

The incident occurred at around 4.05pm yesterday on the M18 in Shannon. 

It’s understood the motorcycle collided with a car travelling in the same direction. 

West Bank

9. And lastly, Israeli troops have killed two Palestinians in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, the latest in a flurry of deadly clashes in the territory.