GOOD MORNING.

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

Shade

1. In our lead story this morning, reporter Céimin Burke looks at advice for how to stay safe and cool in the hot weather.

High temperatures can bring health risks – some of the tips to avoid them are:

• keep curtains closed during the day to keep indoor spaces cooler
• drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated and avoid too much alcohol
• and try to keep out of the sun between 11am to 3pm, when the sun’s UV rays are strongest.

Forest fires

2. In continental Europe, where temperatures have surged even higher this week, forest fires are devastating areas of France, Portugal, Spain and Greece. 

In the French coastal town of Arcachon, two forest fires have devoured more than 10,000 hectares of land since Tuesday, for instance.

While warm weather is not unusual for July, climate change is unsettling weather patterns and driving more frequent and more intense extreme weather events like heatwaves that can be harmful to people, animals, and the environment.

Russian invasion

3. The EU is due to consider further sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine.

Foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia and more individuals could be placed a blacklist. 

“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures.

Geopolitics

4. Speaking of Ukraine – author Sam O’Brien opines for The Journal today that the war in Ukraine may be “whipping back the curtain” on the “backstage grime” of societies.

“It’s been a year where the news cycle has forced us to reflect yet again on what’s going on behind the political and societal scenes across Europe and beyond,” O’Brien writes. 

“How much do we know, and what should we know more about?” he asks.

Shared island

5. Taoiseach Micheál Martin will say today that too little has been done to build understanding and co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Republic since the Good Friday Agreement.

At a commemoration event for former Taoiseach Seán Lemass, Martin will say that the only route to Irish unity is “through everyone taking personal responsibility for challenging themselves and being open to change”.

Powersharing

6. Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill is set to brief senior US politicians on the need to restore powersharing at Stormont.

On a visit to Washington DC, O’Neill will engage in a series of meetings with members of Congress and Irish American leaders.

“I will tell politicians, diplomats and business leaders that the majority of people voted for change and there is a strong commitment from a majority of newly elected MLAs and Assembly parties to work together and make politics work so we can deliver for the whole community,” she said. 

FactCheck

7. Former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis claimed recently that the Jewish community in Northern Ireland “can’t technically practise their religion” as a result of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

We have rated this claim as misleading.

While the protocol has made it more difficult to access kosher goods in the North, it is possible to do so, either from Britain or the Republic of Ireland. 

Airlifted

8. A man in his 60s was airlifted to hospital yesterday after he was injured during the ŠKODA Ring of Clare Cycle.

The cycle event, which saw 2,500 cyclists department from the Clarecastle GAA grounds, was between Lisdeen to Carrigaholt in West Clare at the time of the collision.

It’s understood that two cyclists clipped each other and that one “fell heavily” from his bicycle. 

North Macedonia

9. North Macedonia’s parliament has approved a French proposal that opens the way for negotiations to join the European Union, overcoming a block from Bulgaria.

Despite protests outside the parliament, it passed a vote on accepting the proposal, which will require North Macedonia to change its constitution to recognise a Bulgarian minority and protect minority rights.