LAST UPDATE | 28 Jun 2022

GOOD MORNING AND happy Saturday.

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

Texas

1. Three people were in custody after 46 bodies were found in a lorry trailer containing suspected migrants on the outskirts of San Antonio.

Ukraine

2. A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in central Ukraine killed at least 18 people in what Group of Seven leaders branded “a war crime” at a meeting in Germany where they looked to step up sanctions on Moscow.

Sentencing

3. Ghislaine Maxwell is facing up to 65 years in prison for luring young girls to massage rooms to be molested by Jeffrey Epstein.

Assault

4. The maximum sentence for assault causing harm will double will from five years to ten years under a new Government initiative dubbed its “zero tolerance” plan to tackle domestic, sexual and gender based violence. 

Autism

5. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism will hold its first public meeting today to discuss autism policy and education with representatives from the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

Rare Condition 

6. The parents of two boys with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) are calling on the government to add the condition to the heel prick test for newborn babies to ensure early diagnosis and treatment.

Location, Location, Location

7. Irish MEPs have raised concerns about the environmental and monetary cost of having the European Parliament based in two different cities, with one calling it a “preposterous waste of money”.

Bessborough

8. Cork City Council has been unable to find the burial place of twin babies who apparently died in Bessborough mother and baby institution in 1959, despite checking the records of 13 local graveyards.

A CCC official checked the records of 13 graveyards within the local authority’s boundary after a councillor intervened on behalf of the twins’ sister, Mary Donovan, The Journal has learned.

Weather

9. Cloudy with rain over the over eastern half of the country this morning, heavy in places. Brighter conditions in the west and southwest with sunny spells and scattered showers.  Highest temperatures of 14 to 19 degrees, in moderate to fresh and gusty south to southwest wind, that will be strong along coasts.

Full forecast here.