LAST UPDATE | 3 Nov 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

Sale of military uniforms

1. In today’s lead story, Niall O’Connor reports that military police how a US website obtained purportedly legitimate Defence Forces uniforms despite it being a criminal offence in Ireland to sell the items.

Sources said that there are concerns over uniforms falling into the hands of Dissident Republicans and dangerous individuals so that they can pose as State security services.

The Journal found the military uniforms, with an apparent three-star private rank marking on at least one of the items, on the website of a company in the US.

Manchester bombing

2. A new report examining the emergency response to the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing is due to be published today.

The report by Manchester Arena Inquiry chairman John Saunders will consider whether any inadequacies contributed to individual deaths and focus on the experience on the night of each of those who died.

22 people were killed and hundreds were injured in a suicide attack at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017.

Climate crisis

3. Temperatures in Europe have risen by more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organisation.

The report found that Europe is the fastest-warming continent, with temperatures warming significantly since 1991 at an average of 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade.

In the last two years, floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and wildfires have hit many countries in Europe hard.

Iran and women’s rights

4. US Vice President Kamala Harris said the US intends to push for the removal of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women, an intergovernmental body dedicated to women’s rights and gender equality.

Harris said that Iran has “demonstrated through its denial of women’s rights and brutal crackdown on its own people that it is unfit to serve on this Commission”.

“Iran’s very presence discredits the integrity of its membership and the work to advance its mandate,” she said.

Post-mortem

5. State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers has completed a post-mortem on the body of a man who was found deceased in unexplained circumstances this week.

The man, who was 25 years old, was discovered after his death on the grounds of a hotel in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan that provides accommodation for people seeking asylum.

Gardaí said the results of the post-mortem are not being released for operational purposes.

Russia

6. The United Nations Security Council has rejected an attempt by Russia to establish a commission to investigate unfounded claims of the use of biological weapons by the US.

Only China supported Russia in the vote, with the US, Britain and France opposing the Russian resolution and the 10 other council nations, of which Ireland is one, abstaining.

Russia’s allegation of secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine, made soon after its invasion of its smaller neighbour, has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon.

Mansion House crib

7. Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has called for “common sense” to prevail in the row over whether Dublin city’s live animal crib should take place this Christmas.

“I think for a young child to get that experience, to see those live animals in the centre of the city, was something that many families enjoy and I would say I hope that common sense prevails here and a solution is found,” the minister said.

Dublin City Council is in a spat after Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy, citing animal welfare concerns, moved to replace the crib with a different event to mark Christmas outside the Mansion House, such as a choir, games or a Santa postbox.

Planning permission

8. The government is set to establish a new division of the High Court specifically for dealing with planning and environmental law.

Cabinet signed off on the development yesterday with a view to speed up processing planning and environmental legal matters.

The plan will also involve legislative changes to judicial reviews on planning cases.

Housing

9. Dublin City Councillors have blocked the use of a site near St Anne’s Park in Rahney, Dublin for housing.

Councillors voted yesterday to zone the 16.5 acre site on lands to the east of St Paul’s College at Sybil Hill as Z9 open space, giving it the same status as the rest of the park and preventing the development of homes.

Under Dublin City Council’s definition, the objective of Z9 zoning is to “preserve, provide and improve recreational amenity and open space and green networks”.