LAST UPDATE | 1 Feb 2023
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. The UK and EU have reached an agreement on customs that could signal a step towards a breakthrough in the dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol, it has been reported.
According to The Times, the EU has accepted a plan that would avoid routine checks on goods going into Northern Ireland.
2. Ireland has failed again to publish a long-term climate strategy planning out the country’s approach to the climate crisis, three years after an EU deadline to do so.
The Department of Environment plans to submit a draft strategy to the European Commission in the first quarter of this year, The Journal has learned.
3. The family of Tyre Nichols planned to lay him to rest today, three weeks after he was beaten to death by Memphis police after a traffic stop.
In those three weeks, five police officers have been fired and charged with murder, and their specialised unit was disbanded.
4. Almost €14.1 billion worth of mortgage drawdowns in Ireland in 2022, the highest level since 2008, according to two reports published today by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
A total of 15,888 new mortgages to the value of €4,353 million were drawn down by borrowers during the fourth quarter of 2022.
5. Planting more trees in cities could prove to be an important step towards reducing the number of deaths that occur due to high temperatures in summer months, a new study has found.
Increasing tree cover up to 30% can lower the temperature of urban areas by nearly half a degree Celsius, enough to prevent some heat-related deaths.
Currently, the average tree cover in European cities is 14.9%.
6. Payments firm PayPal has become the latest tech company to make significant job cuts and will cut around 2,000 jobs, or 7% of its global workforce.
In a statement, its CEO Dan Schulman said the move was part of its work towards “right-sizing our cost structure”.
7. The CEO of the Road Safety Authority and a representative from an NCT services contractor are set to address the Oireachtas Transport Committee this morning on the lengthy waiting times facing drivers who are required to have their vehicles inspected.
8. Creators of a ChatGPT bot causing a stir for its ability to mimic human writing have released a tool designed to detect when written works are authored by artificial intelligence.
The announcement came amid intense debate at schools and universities in the United States and around the world over concerns that the software can be used to assist students with assignments and help them cheat during exams.
9. Ukraine will hold a summit with the European Union in Kyiv this week, as it expressed hope the conference would bring the war-battered nation closer to membership in the bloc almost a year after Russia launched its invasion.
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