LAST UPDATE | 6 Sep 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our main story this morning, The Journal spoke to members of the entertainment industry as it prepared for restrictions to ease on live music from today.
Last Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced that from today organised indoor events and mass gatherings will be permitted with up to 60% capacity for people who are vaccinated or who have recovered from Covid in the last six months.
Outdoor events can proceed with up to 75% capacity for vaccinated or recovered attendees and outdoor events with audiences that have mixed immunity status can go ahead with up to 50% capacity.
The announcement has given a pandemic-weary sector a boost, Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland (MEAI) spokesperson Matt McGranaghan said.
2. More than 200 health journals worldwide are publishing an editorial calling on leaders to take emergency action on climate change and protect health.
The BMJ said it is the first time so many journals have come together to make the same statement, reflecting the severity of the situation.
The editorial, which is being published ahead of the UN General Assembly and the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow this November, says: “Ahead of these pivotal meetings, we – the editors of health journals worldwide – call for urgent action to keep average global temperature increases below 1.5C, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health.”
3. The Taliban said they have captured the last pocket of resistance in Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley, even as opposition fighters vowed to keep up their struggle against the hardline Islamists.
Following their lightning-fast victory over Afghanistan’s army last month – and celebrations when the last US troops flew out after 20 years of war – the Taliban turned to crush the forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley.
However, the National Resistance Front (NRF) said its fighters were still present in “strategic positions” across the valley, and that they were continuing the struggle.
4. All plastic packaging waste, including soft plastics, can be now placed in household recycling bins.
From today, all permitted waste collection companies are now accepting soft plastic packaging waste that is placed clean, dry and loose into the recycling bin along with rigid plastic.
Soft plastics include plastic wrap on products, plastic labels, plastic packaging pillows, bubble wrap, wrappers, crisp packets, and plastic carrier bags.
5. Around 40% of people say Ireland’s annual contribution of €20 million to the European Space Agency should decrease, according to a new opinion poll.
The Journal’s Good Information Project has been discussing Ireland and the EU’s role in space exploration, so teamed up with Ireland Thinks to explore this issue with a representative panel of the public.
Ireland Thinks asked the public what direction they think Ireland’s annual contribution to the ESA should go in. Our current contribution stands at around €20 million per year.
Around 37% of those surveyed believe the contribution should stay the same, while 40% of people said the amount should be reduced. Just 11% of the public think the contribution should be increased, and 13% were uncertain.
6. Social Justice Ireland is calling for social welfare rates to be increased by €10 per week in the forthcoming budget.
The think tank is urging the government to commit to benchmarking social welfare rates to 27.5% of average earnings over a two-year period.
The hike would see the maximum personal rate rise from €203 to €213 in this year’s budget and then to €222 per week the following year.
7. Tributes have been paid to Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding (39) who died yesterday.
She was diagnosed with advanced-stage breast cancer in August 2020 and went public with her diagnosis to raise awareness of the disease.
On Instagram, her mother Marie wrote: “It is with deep heartbreak that today I’m sharing the news that my beautiful daughter Sarah has sadly passed away.
Band members Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle said they were “absolutely devastated” by the news.
8. Ireland’s Covid-19 testing programme will be “busy” in schools this month, a health official said.
Niamh O’Beirne, the HSE national lead for testing and tracing, said yesterday that the HSE “certainly expects schools to be busy from a testing perspective for the month of September”.
She said that the HSE was already referring schoolchildren for testing and tracking close contacts in schools since they re-opened.
9. Most of New Zealand will move out of lockdown on Tuesday, the government has announced.
However, the largest city of Auckland will remain in the strictest type of lockdown until at least next week.
About three million New Zealanders will no longer be under stay-at-home orders as of Tuesday overnight, and schools will reopen on Thursday for the first time in three weeks, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say