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LAST UPDATE | 27 Oct 2021
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
Vaccines and pregnancy
1. Health authorities are being criticised by maternity campaigners, politicians and healthcare professionals for failing to effectively communicate with pregnant women about the Covid-19 vaccine.
The health service says it is advising women at any stage of pregnancy to get vaccinated but vaccination rates have remained “lower than expected”, at between 25-40%.
Dublin Port
2. Brexit has been cited as the main reason for a drop-off in the volume of cargo moving through Dublin Port through the first nine months of the year.
Although the number of containers and trailers travelling through the port was down just 0.5% in the period, overall cargo volumes — measured in gross tonnes — fell by 3.3% in the nine months to the end of September compared with the same period last year.
Belgium
3. The Belgian government has reimposed some pandemic restrictions that it only relaxed a few weeks ago and expanded a nationwide use of the Covid-19 pass.
It follows infections and hospital admissions shooting upwards.
Daily infections in the nation of 11 million increased 75% to reach 5,299 cases over the past last week.
Pfizer vaccine approval for children
4. Staying overseas, the US has moved a step closer to expanding Covid-19 vaccinations for millions more children as government advisers endorsed the Pfizer vaccine for kids aged between five and 11.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted unanimously, with one abstention, that the vaccine’s benefits in preventing Covid-19 in that age group outweigh any potential risks.
Dublin stabbing
5. Back at home, gardaí have started an investigation after two men were stabbed in two separate, but related incidents, in Dublin city centre.
Bolsonaro could face charges
6. A Brazilian senate commission has approved a damning report that recommends criminal charges be brought against President Jair Bolsonaro, including crimes against humanity, for his Covid policies.
New Covid rules in the UK
7. Staying with Covid-19 developments, everyone except for UK MPs will have to wear face coverings while on the parliamentary estate due to rising Covid-19 cases, the House of Commons has ordered.
The measure will apply to staff, contractors and visitors but the Commons authorities said it could not compel MPs to wear masks as they are not deemed to be Parliament employees.
Assange appeal
8. The US government will today appeal against a British judge’s decision to block the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face trial for publishing military secrets.
At a two-day hearing, Washington will ask the High Court to overturn District Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s January ruling that Assange is a serious suicide threat if extradited across the Atlantic.
Weather
9. It’s not going to be nice out there. In fact, it’s going to be a washout in many parts of the country.
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Can we please stop propagating the lies of the English media? Brexit did the damage, not the protocol.
@James Pelow: Very well said. They’re actually using it as a distraction. And it’s drawing us into something that has nothing to do with us. Brexit is the problem. End of story.
You can’t hold a poll asking people if they think the Protocol is good for Northern Ireland without clarifying what the alternative is.
That’s like asking a child if they think the settlement that their parents agreed to after divorce is good.
Let’s be clear… article 16 does not end the protocol. It can suspend a part of it for a short period of time. When the UK says it will trigger A16, call it out for what they want to do….they want to scrap it and force a border on the island of Ireland or a border between Ireland and EU. That’s their plan and I believe it’s been the plan all along. This mess has been made by the UK and the protocol is a plaster. The GB companies that send those goods that will never end up back in the EU (including ROI) need to be better catered for. The issue is that there is no trust between the UK and EU as, so far, the UK hasn’t implemented main parts of the protocol so all at risk goods must be considered guilty until proven innocent.
Ok theJournal…. Time to correct your headlines… “Is Brexit bad or good for firms in Northern Ireland?”
The protocol is a workaround to the main issue, Brexit..
While I’ve no doubt it has caused some legitimate disruption for businesses heavily linked to GB, how did the study take into account costs (for consultancy etc) that would’ve been incurred without the procotol because they also trade with the EU?
Or how did it take into account all the paperwork NI businesses save because they can trade with the Republic and the rest of the EU freely?
All these analyses seem to assume that trade with Ireland was either insignificant, or its continuity was a a given (neither of these are true) and that any disruption with GB is a cost without any quantifiable benefit (again not true).
It’s not the protocol that’s not working. It’s brexit that’s not working.
How dare the EU break away from the United Kingdom. They’ve made things very difficult for everyone, especially the Brits!
By leaving the CU and SM and going for a Sharia Brexit GB turned itself into a legal and regulatory Kaliningrad. Their call-their choice…If they hadn’t CHOSEN that there would be no protocol. They want a hard border in IRL or IRL out the the EU-they will get neither but what they will get is humiliation.
It is improving trade between north and south.
have your say