LAST UPDATE | 2 Oct 2023

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

Undersea cables

1. In our main story this morning, Niall O’Connor reports that Nokia representatives are to travel to Ireland to meet Government, Defence Forces and Garda officials in the coming weeks to discuss what they’re describing as a revolutionary system to protect vulnerable subsea cables.

The Journal spoke to experts from Nokia at a NATO-organised event in Portugal recently who said they had found a new way to monitor for signs of possible attacks on cables off the Irish coast. 

Ashling Murphy

2. The trial of the man accused of murdering 23-year-old schoolteacher Ashling Murphy last year is set to begin today in the Central Criminal Court.

Jozef Puska is charged with murder at Cappincur, Tullamore, Co Offaly, on 12 January 2022.

Ashling Murphy was jogging beside the Grand Canal outside Tullamore when she was fatally assaulted in January of last year.

MV Matthew

3. A third man is to appear in court after being charged in relation with the seizure of almost €160 million of cocaine on a bulk cargo ship off the coast of Ireland.

A total of 2,253kg of cocaine was found on the MV Matthew after members of the Army Ranger Wing captured the vessel off the Co Cork coast by abseiling from a helicopter last week.

Trump fraud case

4. A civil fraud trial against Donald Trump and two of his sons begins in New York today.

In today’s case, Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his sons Eric and Don Jr committed fraud by inflating the value of the real estate and financial assets of the Trump Organization for years.

Trump said last night he planned to be present for the start of the trial this morning.

Northern Ireland lanes

5. A green/red lane system for the movement of goods and “not for EU” labels are among key measures of the Windsor Framework which have come into effect for Northern Ireland.

Goods coming into the region which are travelling to the Republic of Ireland or elsewhere in the EU will use the conceptual “red lane”, which includes customs declarations and some checks.

Goods to be sold in Northern Ireland will use a notional “green lane” with minimal paperwork and no checks.

Bus Éireann Limerick

6. Bus Éireann services are not operating in Limerick this morning due to “ongoing unofficial industrial action”, according to the company. 

The strike action began yesterday and there were reports of people having to take taxis in order to get to work on time.

Bus Éireann said it is “continuing to make every effort to resolve this situation and would like to apologise to affected customers”.

Spanish nightclub

7. At least 13 people have been killed in a fire in a Spanish nightclub.

Rescuers said they were first alerted at around 6am local time yesterday that a fire had broken out in the two-storey nightclub.

Mexico church deaths

8. At least 10 people, including three children, have been killed and 60 more injured after the roof of a church came crashing down on a baptism in northeastern Mexico yesterday.

The disaster struck the coastal town of Ciudad Madero, in Tamaulipas state, with a Red Cross rescuer telling local media that 80 people had been in attendance at the Santa Cruz parish when the roof caved in.

Rugby World Cup

9. And finally in sport, defending champions South Africa beat a hard-hitting Tonga 49-18 in Marseille yesterday to bag a crucial bonus-point victory that leaves them atop Pool B and with one foot in the World Cup quarter-finals.