LAST UPDATE | 18 Aug 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our lead story this morning Órla Ryan and Laura Byrne spoke to a women’s rights activist living in Kabul who said that “everyone is living in fear” since the Taliban regained control of the Afghan capital in recent days.
When asked about the promises made by the Taliban in recent days, Mahbouba Seraj told The Journal: “All we can do now is wait. We know what the Taliban are, we know their past, but I do not believe these men are stupid. They don’t want to rule an Afghanistan that is empty, void of its citizens.”
2. The Government has been accused of “apathy” around the implementation of support structures for nursing home residents and staff following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) said that key structural reforms to ensure lessons are learned from the public health crisis have not been advanced.
Nursing home providers say they are “frustrated” as they wait for progress on recommendations issued by an expert panel last year.
3. Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil voters are among the least likely of political party supporters to back a congestion charge in Irish cities.
Polling from The Good Information Project/Ireland Thinks found that only 29% of Sinn Féin voters and 33% of Fianna Fáil voters would support a congestion charge.
In contrast, 83% of Green Party voters said they would be in favour of the measure.
4. A widely shared photo of a plane full of men has been falsely described as a flight coming from Afghanistan.
The photo has been shared on Facebook and Twitter numerous times, with some social media users asking “where are the women and children?”.
Cork City Councillor Ken O’Flynn was among those who shared the image and alleged that the flight was coming from Afghanistan.
The photo is actually of immigrants being returned to Afghanistan from Turkey in 2018.
5. Experts say the devastating wildfires in Greece cast a harsh light on the failure to prepare against and contain the blazes, threatening irreversible damage to the country’s rich biodiversity.
Climate scientists warn extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to man-made global warming, heightening the need to invest in teams, equipment and policy to battle the flames.
6. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned today that people must brace for additional Covid-19 cases from an outbreak that has plunged the previously virus-free country into a snap lockdown.
Ardern confirmed New Zealand was dealing with the highly transmissible Delta variant after after nine more positive tests today.
7. A man in his 20s has been arrested in relation to a crash which happened on the Navan Road in Dublin on Monday evening.
A man in his 20s, as well as a teenage boy, remain in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
Gardaí are investigating if the vehicle was being pursued in the run up to the crash. One line of investigation is whether the crash was part of a local feud.
8. Gardaí are seeking the public’s assistance in tracing a man who is missing from his home in Macroom, Co Cork.
He was last seen in Macroom Town, Co Cork at approximately 5.25pm yesterday evening.
9. A Chicago pharmacist has been arrested for selling dozens of official cards showing proof of Covid-19 vaccination on eBay, the Justice Department said.
The department said Tangtang Zhao sold 125 official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination cards for $10 each.
Zhao worked at an unidentified chain of pharmacies and had access to the cards, which are provided to each person who gets a coronavirus vaccination.
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