LAST UPDATE | 24 Aug 2021
GOOD MORNING ALL.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. As countries race to evacuate their citizens from Afghanistan, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair an emergency meeting of G7 nations to coordinate a response to the crisis.
It is expected that the leaders will discuss whether the US should extend its presence in the country past the deadline of 31 August, to allow for evacuations to be completed. The Taliban has warned that such an extension would “provoke a reaction”.
2. Ireland is also involved in an evacuation effort: members of Ireland’s elite Army Ranger Wing are being sent to Kabul, where they will assist in the evacuation of the last remaining Irish citizens there.
A group of soldiers, along with at least two high-ranking officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, are travelling with the French military to Kabul.
It is expected that the members of the Defence Forces will be on the ground by Thursday.
3. The restoration of Dublin’s Iveagh Market to a working market is expected to cost around €23 million and is not likely to be completed for at least four years.
The market, built in 1902 by Lord Iveagh, Edward Cecil Guinness, has been derelict for more than 20 years and is the subject of an ongoing legal dispute. Paul Smithwick, who represents Lord Iveagh, told TheJournal.ie that the cost of restoring the structure to a working market is likely to be around €23 million.
4. An NUI Galway study among Irish teenagers aged 15 to 17 has found 93% of females and 79% of males agree that consent is always required for sexual activity.
A total of 18% of males were neutral as to whether consent is always required, 3% disagreed that it is always required, while 6% of females were neutral and 1% disagreed.
5. A 15-year-old Palestinian has been killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank when clashes erupted after Israeli forces stormed a refugee camp near Nablus in search of a suspect.
Earlier, Israel launched airstrikes against Gaza after incendiary balloons launched from the strip started fires in the country’s south.
6. A fundraiser to repatriate a Kurdish family of three who died in a crash in Co Galway last week has raised over €30,000 only hours after being set up.
Karzan Sabah, his wife Shahen Qasm and their eight-month-old daughter Lina died in a three-vehicle collision on the M6 near Ballinasloe last Thursday evening.
7. Climate change made the deadly floods that devastated parts of Germany and Belgium last month up to nine times more likely, according to an international study published today.
At least 190 people lost their lives in severe floods that pummelled western Germany in mid-July, and at least 38 people perished after extreme rainfall in Belgium’s southern Wallonia region. Due to scientific advancements, experts can link man-made climate changes to extreme weather events.
8. Search crews are working through shattered homes and tangled debris looking for about a dozen people still missing after record-breaking rain sent floodwater surging through mid-Tennessee, killing at least 22 people.
9. The Irish Independent is reporting that Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar are to snub, for a second time, an invitation from Culture Minister Catherine Martin to a meeting with events industry representatives, after 40,000 people attended the All-Ireland hurling final on Sunday.
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