LAST UPDATE | 22 Nov 2023
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. The Israeli cabinet has approved a ceasefire deal with the Hamas militant group that would bring a temporary halt to a devastating war that has stretched on for over six weeks.
Hamas will release dozens of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Under the deal, Hamas is to free 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip over a four-day period, the Israeli government said.
2. In our main story this morning, David MacRedmond reports on concerns over the conditions for international protection applicants staying in tents at Direct Provision centres, especially with mid-winter approaching.
The Irish Refugee Council, the Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland and Doras have insisted the tents are an inadequate form of accommodation that don’t meet people’s basic needs, while a resident in one such centre who spoke to The Journal described conditions as inhumane.
3. The founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has admitted he failed to take steps to prevent money laundering as the company agreed to pay more than $4 billion (€3.7 billion) after an investigation by the US government.
Chief executive Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering programme in a federal court in Seattle. Binance is a Cayman Islands limited liability company.
4. Sam Altman will return as CEO of OpenAI just less than a week since he was sacked.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, OpenAI also announced a new initial board of former Salesforce chief executive Bret Taylor, the former US treasury secretary Larry Summers and Quora chief executive Adam D’Angelo.
Altman also posted, saying “I love OpenAI, and everything I’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together.”
5. The government will this morning table a countermotion to People Before Profit’s motion on Israel, which calls for sanctions on Israel and for Shannon Airport to be closed to the US military.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the government is countering the motion because it omits reference to Hamas and the human rights abuses committed against Israeli citizens.
The party’s lengthy motion makes reference to multiple reports from human rights organisations – including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch – which have stated that Israel is guilty of multiple breaches of international law and crimes against humanity in their treatment of Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank.
6. North Korea has claimed it has successfully put a military spy satellite in orbit after two previous failures, as the United States led its allies in condemning the launch as a “brazen violation” of UN sanctions.
A rocket carrying the satellite blasted off last night from North Pyongan province and “accurately put the reconnaissance satellite ‘Malligyong-1′ on its orbit”, state-run news agency KCNA reported.
7. The sisters and family of Denise Morgan, the Louth woman killed by her ex-boyfriend in a murder-suicide in New York last month, have spoken out on the “warning signs” of abusive relationships.
Speaking with RTÉ’s Prime Time last night, Denise’s family recounted how she was subjected to a relentless cycle of abuse by her former partner Joed Taveras.
The 39 year old, from Tullyallen in County Louth, was shot dead by Taveras at her home in Queens, New York one month ago today.
8. From inside the West Bank, Hannah McCarthy meets with Palestinians who say settlers are making life unbearable for their communities. She reports the real stories from inside the conflict-stricken territory.
9. The UK Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is set to announce a range of tax cuts and push for business growth in his autumn statement this afternoon.
The statement comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that his government could “begin the next phase and turn our attention to cutting tax” following news that inflation in Britain fell to 4.6% in October from 6.7% in September.
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