LAST UPDATE | 22 Sep 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

United Nations

1. In this morning’s lead story, Political Correspondent Christina Finn brings us all the latest from New York on the United Nations General Assembly.

From the Taoiseach’s missed flight to Simon Coveney’s role on the Security Council, here’s what’s happened so far and what we can expect today.

Farming politics

2. Fine Gael is still the most popular political party among Irish farmers, according to a new poll.

In the Ifac poll commissioned by the Irish Farmers Journal, 37% of farmers surveyed said they would give their first-preference vote in a general election to Fine Gael.

Support for Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin landed at 23% and 13% respectively. 

Trump

3. A US court has allowed the country’s Justice Department to resume using classified records that were seized from former president Donald Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago as part of its ongoing criminal investigation.

It clears the way for investigators to continue examining the documents and removed an obstacle that could have delayed the investigation by weeks or months.

Trump had maintained that he declassified the sensitive records but the court said he had presented no evidence of that. 

Childcare

4. ”The requirement to have highly qualified staff working at very low child-to-staff ratios means that service or room closures could be imminent if the recruitment and retention challenge isn’t overcome,” says Regina Bushell of the Seas Suas childcare group, writing for The Journal’s Voices section.

Bushell says that recent changes in the childcare industry are welcome but that Budget 2023 must not forget the sector.

Dáil

5. Independent TD Violet-Anne Wynne received a cross-party round of applause yesterday evening when she brought her baby into the Dáil.

It’s believed to be the first time a politician brought their baby into the chamber.

Ceann Comhairle Séan Ó Fearghaíl said “we’re seeing a bit of history being made tonight” and joked that “Baby Collins is the first actual baby to join us here in the house”. 

Cherry Orchard

6. The two gardaí in the car that was rammed into on Monday evening are off duty due to their injuries.

The Garda Representative Organisation (GRA) confirmed that the gardaí involved in the incident are off duty following a medical assessment.

“In the aftermath of this appalling incident, both Gardaí told the GRA that they were still trying to process the traumatic events, with one officer stating: ‘I’m alive, that’s the main thing. It was so daunting to see a mob baying for our car to be rammed’,” the organisation said in a statement. 

Russia

7. Google searches for flights leaving Russia spiked in the lead-up and aftermath of  Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement yesterday of a partial mobilisation of reserves and anyone with previous military experience.

Despite the country’s foreign minister saying the move will only involve around 300,000 people, direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul, which allows visa-free entry to Russians, were sold out today on Aviasales, Russia’s most popular website for booking flights.

And there was a dramatic spike in Google searches for the flight-booking site before and after Putin’s speech. 

Iran

8. Amnesty International has reported the deaths of eight people Iran in growing protests over the death of a young woman arrested by morality police for not wearing a headscarf.

Six men, one woman and a child have died, with four of them shot by security forces at close range with metal pellets.

22-year-old Mahsa Amini had been held for allegedly wearing a hijab headscarf in an “improper” way.

Cambodia

9. A tribunal in Cambodia has rejected an appeal from the Khmer Rouge against a genocide conviction for its last-surviving leader.

The UN-backed court issued it ruling on an appeal by Khieu Samphan, who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2018.

Samphan was the head of state in Cambodia’s 1975-79 Khmer Rouge government and was sentenced to life in prison.