LAST UPDATE | 1 Mar 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Greece

1. A passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train in northern Greece early this morning, killing multiple people and injuring scores of others.

Fire Service Officials said 32 people were killed and at least 85 were hurt after multiple train cars derailed and at least three caught on fire after the crash near Tempe, some 235 miles north of Athens.

Omagh shooting

2. Four men who were being questioned about the attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Co Tyrone have been released by police.

However, two men are still being questioned over the shooting in Omagh last Wednesday.

Caldwell has been fighting for life in hospital since he was shot in front of his young son in Co Tyrone last Wednesday.

Ghislaine Maxwell

3. Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has lodged an appeal against her sex-trafficking conviction – claiming victims had “faded, distorted and motivated memories”.

The 61-year-old was found guilty by a jury of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June last year.

Angelo Andreucetti 

4. The Sunday Times is to donate €25,000 to HIV Ireland after issuing an apology to the family of Angelo Andreucetti over an article containing false information about him.

In an article printed in the Sunday Times on 8 January, it was incorrectly stated that Andreucetti was addicted to heroin, that he died in a heroin squat in London in the 1980s, destitute and friendless. 

The Sunday Times outlined these inaccuracies in an apology on 15 January. 

Racism at work

5. Incidents of discrimination at work quadrupled last year, according to latest figures from the Irish Network Against Racism.

Preliminary findings from their 2022 report found a record 69 cases were reported, up from 16 in 2021.

These figures, released to Noteworthy, related to discrimination in the workplace by colleagues or employers.

Windsor Framework

6. Rishi Sunak yesterday told Tory MPs to give the DUP the “time and space” to consider his Brexit deal as they were warned it is the best offer they will get.

The British Prime Minister said he was “confident” they would back it as he urged colleagues not to create another “Westminster drama” after his new Windsor agreement for Northern Ireland was broadly welcomed.

But Conservatives were waiting with “bated breath” to see if the DUP will back the deal which is hoped to restore powersharing to Stormont after a year-long absence.

National Slow Down Day

7. Over 600 drivers  were detected speeding over the last 24 hours as part of National Slow Down Day.

From 7am yesterday to 7am this morning, GoSafe checked the speed of 173,811 vehicles.

Some notable examples include a motorist who was travelling at 117km/h in a 50km/h Zone on the N6 in Baile An Phoill, Co Galway.

Wildlife Act

8. Cutting hedges and burning land are forbidden from today as the annual summer ban comes into force.

Cutting, burning or otherwise destroying “vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch” between 1 March and 31 August is prohibited under the Wildlife Act 1976.

The ban is in place each summer to protect biodiversity for animal habitats, particularly to avoid disturbance to the nesting sites of wild bird species.

Fatal road traffic collision

9. A man has died following a collision between a truck and a car in Co Limerick yesterday afternoon. 

The incident happened at around 3.30pm on the N21 at Rathkeale. 

The male driver of the car was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured.