LAST UPDATE | 27 Dec 2022
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. At least 49 people have died across the United States – 28 in New York state alone – amid blizzard conditions.
People in Buffalo are looking for cars buried in snow drifts and searching for more victims after one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit the western part of the US state.
Another 9in of snow could fall in some areas of western New York through until today, the US National Weather Service said.
2. The Taoiseach has said that there are no immediate plans for him to visit Defence Forces troops abroad in Lebanon.
Leo Varadkar said that due to his busy schedule over the coming months, there are no plans in train to visit forces stationed abroad on UN peacekeeping missions, but that he hoped to fit in a visit “sometime next year”.
“I haven’t got any plans at the moment to travel to Mali, Lebanon or Syria, but I might be able to do that perhaps sometime next year.” Varadkar said.
“It is something I certainly hope to fit in if I can.”
3. Soft plastic statistics are not collected separately to other plastics so it is difficult to measure how much is recycled or where it goes, a Noteworthy investigation has found.
Waste processors in Ireland are beginning to examine how to turn soft plastics into a resource, but most is exported for recycling abroad
To have a ‘more straightforward’ system, householders are encouraged to put all recycling waste in one bin, but some industry experts are sceptical that this allows soft plastics to be processed effectively,
4. Three people been killed and four children hurt in a road crash in Co Tyrone.
A fourth adult was taken to hospital with what are understood to be non-life-threatening injuries following the collision in Dungannon Road, close to Cookstown, this afternoon.
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) said it got a call just before 3.30pm about a two-vehicle collision.
5. Gardaí in Kilkenny are investigating a string of incidents that occurred in the Paulstown area including a collision involving a stolen tractor, the assault of a man in his 50s after a car was taken, and, separately, a man being found unconscious with serious head injuries.
The incidents all took place on Christmas Day. Two men, both in their 30s, have been arrested in relation to these incidents and are currently being detained at Thomastown and Kilkenny Garda Stations.
6. A French pensioner suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris has been charged with murder and remanded into custody.
The shooting at a Kurdish cultural centre and a nearby hairdressing salon on Friday sparked panic in the city’s bustling 10th district, home to numerous shops and restaurants and a large Kurdish population.
Protests have broken out in France in recent days after a 69-year-old white French man opened fire at the Kurdish cultural centre in Paris.
The suspect has confessed to a “pathological” hatred for foreigners.
7. The Chief Medical Officer has urged the public to wear masks on public transport and in crowded places to help reduce the spread of Covid-19 and other viruses such as RSV and the flu.
Prof Breda Smyth said: “Covid-19 is still with us and we are not wearing our masks, with other respiratory viruses circulating, it is strongly advised that you wear a mask on public transport and also consider wearing one in crowded and confined places.”
“Your mask should fit well and cover your nose, don’t touch it or pull it down over your chin,” she added.
8. A 26-year-old woman killed in a pub shooting on Christmas Eve in Liverpool has been named as Elle Edwards.
The victim was at the Lighthouse in Wallasey Village on Merseyside with her sister and friends when she was shot in the head.
She died in hospital and Merseyside Police have said she is not believed to have been the gunman’s target.
9. Serbia has its security troops on the border with Kosovo on “the full state of combat readiness”, ignoring Nato’s calls for calm between the two wartime Balkan foes.
Serbia’s Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said he “ordered the full combat readiness” of police and other security units and that they be placed under the command of the army chief of staff according to “their operational plan”.
He said in a statement that he acted on the orders of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic so that “all measures be taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo”.
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