LAST UPDATE | 10 Oct 2023
GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news that you need to know to start your day.
1. Around 1,500 bodies of Hamas militants have been found in Israel around the Gaza Strip, the army said this morning, as it pummelled the Palestinian enclave with air strikes.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which dragged off about 150 people in its surprise weekend assault on Israel, threatened to execute the hostages if Israeli air strikes continue “targeting” Gaza residents without warning.
Israel is reeling under a deadly attack by Hamas militants who stormed the border fence under a barrage of rocket fire on Saturday morning and killed more than 900 people inside Israel.
2. Finance Minister Michael McGrath will be in the hot seat today, taking to his feet in the Dail at 1pm to announce Budget 2024.
The total package is about €6.4 billion, including taxation measures worth €1.1 billion.
The Journal‘s Political Editor Christina Finn takes you through what we know so far.
3. Two men were arrested last night at a rally in support of Palestine “for alleged public order offences”.
Gardaí said the group, which had gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Ballsbridge, had dispersed by 11pm.
4. Humanity is “staring down the barrel” of potentially losing up to half of its future medicines because so many plant species are facing extinction, scientists have warned.
Nearly half of all those that flower are threatened, amounting to over 100,000, while it is believed that around 77% of all those as yet undescribed by science are at risk.
In some cases they are going extinct between the time of first discovery and when they are catalogued, which takes around 16 years on average.
5. PSNI officers and Gardaí have made a renewed appeal for witnesses to an attempted murder that happened in the border town of Crossmaglen last month.
The shooting took place on the 4 September shortly after 6.10am.
The victims – a man in his 3os – was shot in his arm and neck while sitting in his car, waiting on a lift to work.
Despite having severe injuries, and later being admitted to hospital in a critical condition, the man managed to drive a short distance after the shooting to get help.
6. A “discrepancy” of approximately 84,000 homes between different state bodies’ estimates of the size of the private rental sector will be investigated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The CSO hopes to shed light on how there is such a gap between its data and that of figures held by the Residential Tenancies Tribunal (RTB) on the number of households renting from a private landlord.
The Oireachtas Housing Committee is due to discuss the issue this afternoon, with the CSO, the RTB and an expert on the sector to outline their findings to date as politicians aim to achieve a “full picture” of the private rental market.
7. The garda safety operation for Government buildings on budget day today will see 200 personnel deployed and a few roads closed for a limited period of time.
A garda cordon will be in effect around the Dáil Eireann and other Government buildings, and ID may be required for civilians to access it/ pass through the area.
This policing plan for budget day comes after 13 people were arrested during protests that became aggressive and hostile on the first day of the Dáil being back in session after the summer break.
8. A motorcyclist died last night following a collision with a car in Co Westmeath.
The incident occurred on the N55 at Lissoy at around 5.50pm. The motorcyclist, a man in his late 50s, was fatally injured in the collision.
This is the second death of a motorcyclist in just two days.
9. Residents of Myanmar’s flood-hit Bago city salvaged food and belongings from their waterlogged homes today after record rainfall triggered floods that authorities said have displaced 14,000 people.
The rainy season typically brings months of heavy downpours to the Southeast Asian country, but scientists say man-made climate change is making weather patterns more intense.
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