LAST UPDATE | 4 Apr
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. Concerns have been raised about a possible link between psychosis and vape products containing synthetic cannabis, with some experts calling for HHC to be made illegal.
Irish researchers recently published a paper detailing two case studies of apparent HHC-induced psychosis.
In both cases, which occurred in Galway and Cork, the men in question had been using HHC vapes prior to their episodes. Both men experienced hallucinations and had to be hospitalised.
2. A judge in New York has rejected a bid by Donald Trump to delay his 15 April hush money criminal trial until the Supreme Court rules on the presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases.
Lawyers for the presumptive Republican nominee had asked to adjourn the New York trial indefinitely until Trump’s immunity claim in his Washington DC election interference case is resolved.
3. US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are set to speak today in their first phone call since an Israeli strike on a humanitarian convoy killed seven aid workers in Gaza.
The call comes after Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the deadly strike.
4. French Police last night removed dozens of migrants, including families with young children, from the forecourt of Paris City Hall as the capital prepares to mark 100 days to the start of the Olympic Games.
Police arrived at dawn to remove about 50 people who were bundled up under blankets or covered with plastic sheets to shield against the rain while sleeping in the plaza.
The migrants packed belongings and boarded a bus to temporary local government housing in the town of Besançon in eastern France.
5. Basketball Ireland yesterday abandoned their controversial plan to replay the final 0.3 seconds of last month’s National League quarter-final after the Portlaoise Panthers said they would not agree to a proposal “completely against the spirit of basketball”.
Controversy arose after the Limerick Sport Eagles beat Portlaoise 80-78 in the Division 1 clash thanks to two late free throws, with Portlaoise subsequently appealing on the grounds that the final foul had in fact occurred 1.6 seconds after the buzzer.
Basketball Ireland last night ordered that the remaining 0.3 seconds of the game should be replayed, before Portlaoise publicly rebuffed the plan on Wednesday, leading to its collapse.
6. Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews last night accused the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen of being “silent” on the genocide accusations facing Israel in a top UN court.
At an event in Brussels, academics argued that the EU had not used every economic and diplomatic option available to them to reduce the number of Palestinian deaths and casualties.
Speaking after the event, Andrews said: “The EU Commission and Ursula von der Leyen are staying silent on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, despite supporting Ukraine in its proceedings before the same court in 2022.”
7. A 27-year-old woman died of blood clots just days after she was discharged from a hospital with symptoms of panic attacks, the Coroner’s court found.
Katie Doyle was a recruitment executive from Kelly Park, Lusk, Co Dublin, and died at Beaumont Hospital on 4 January 2021 from clots on blood vessels in her lungs.
An inquest at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on yesterday heard that she had attended the hospital’s emergency department four days earlier on New Year’s Eve with complaints of heart palpitations and a shortness of breath but had been discharged on the same date after a doctor believed her symptoms were caused by a panic attack.
8. The young girl who was critically injured during an attack on Parnell Square last November is “doing well” and has begun the rehabilitation phase of her recovery.
In an update posted today on the verified GoFundMe donation page set up to support the young girl, her family said their “little warrior is doing well”.
The girl, aged 5, and two other children along with their carer were hospitalised following a multiple stabbing at Coláiste Mhuire, Parnell Square.
9. Simon Harris is gaining support from outside of the coalition in Government after meeting with Independent TDs who have said they will give him their backing as Taoiseach next week.
Independent TDs Denis Naughten and Michael Lowry both confirmed yesterday evening that they will be voting for Harris next week after meeting with him earlier during the day.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say