LAST UPDATE | 7 Jun 2022

GOOD MORNING. 

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

Ready to fight

1. In our morning lead this morning, Niall O’Connor speaks to Major General Meelis Kiili about neutrality, NATO and his country’s plan to fight Russia.

The former Chief of Staff of the Estonian army has said that neutrality is a “luxury only rich countries can afford” and said his home country is ready to fight the Russian military in the event of an invasion.

Kiili said that geography no longer protects countries from aggression and spoke about neutrality and the importance of a well-developed indigenous defence strategy. 

He also had a stark warning for Russian soldiers massing on his country’s border – “Go home and live”. 

Confidence vote

2. Former Conservative Leader William Hague says Boris Johnson has experienced a “greater level of rejection” than any of his predecessors and should resign as UK Prime Minister.

Tory MPs voted by 211 to 148 in support of Johnson as part of a confidence vote which has left him wounded.

“While Johnson has survived the night, the damage done to his premiership is severe,” Hague wrote in The Times.

Johnson saw 41% of his MPs vote against him, a worse result than Theresa May.

Ukraine body recovery

3. Russia has begun returning the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion.

Dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out mill’s now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where DNA testing is under way to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.

Ceann Comhairle salary

4. Pay restoration after a series of salary cuts has created an anomaly where the post of Ceann Comhairle is now officially at least the second best-paid political role in the state after the President.

The Department of Public Expenditure has confirmed that the salary officially set for the Dáil speaker job is now €227,000, more than €10,000 higher than that of the Taoiseach.

It also exceeds the Tánaiste’s salary by over €27,000 and the wages of a government minister by more than €43,000, department figures show.

Nigerian atrocity

5. The gunmen who killed 50 people at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria opened fire on worshippers both inside and outside the building, in a coordinated attack before escaping the scene.

Although Nigerian security forces have not yet identified who carried out Sunday’s attack on St Francis Church in the town of Owo in relatively peaceful Ondo state, analysts suggested they came from elsewhere in the country, which is plagued by violence from various armed groups, kidnappers and extremists.

Pizza robbery charge

6. A 20 Year-old man and teenage boy have been released on bail over a spate of robberies where pizza deliverymen were held up at knifepoint in Dublin.

Jamie Byrne, of Bawnlea Green, Tallaght, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be identified because he is a minor, appeared at Dublin District Court on Monday.

The court heard that Domino’s Pizza deliverymen were targets; one of them had a knife held to his chest and was attacked in Tallaght.

No fly zone Lavrov 

7. Moscow has furiously condemned the rejection by several European countries of a request for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plane to pass through their airspace, forcing him to cancel a trip to ally Serbia.

“The unthinkable has happened,” Lavrov told an online news conference in Moscow.

“This was a deprivation of a sovereign state of the right to carry out foreign policy.”

Missing Clontarf woman

8. Gardaí are seeking the public’s assistance locating 38-year-old Mary O’Brien who has been missing from her home in Clontarf, Co Dublin, since Saturday.

Mary, from St Lawrence Road in Clontarf, was last seen at the Luas stop in Cheeverstown, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on Saturday afternoon. 

Mary is described as being 5 foot 8 inches in height with a broad build. She has brown, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. 

Fatal road collision

9. A 21-YEAR-old man has died after being hit by an articulated truck while walking on the N1 in Co Louth.

The incident occurred at around 12:30am on the N1 at Carrickarnan, Drumad, Dundalk.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the truck, a man in his 30s, was not injured.

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