GOOD MORNING. HERE are the top stories as the weekend gets started.

Coronation 

1. The coronation of King Charles (and his wife Queen Camilla) is taking place today, nine months after he ascended the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth.

UK residents will be treated to a bank holiday this Monday to mark the first coronation ceremony in 70 years. The service will begin at 11am and last for two hours, with the key moment coming at midday when the King is crowned.

Cocaine

2. A man has been charged after gardaí seized over €70,000 worth of cocaine in Tallaght yesterday afternoon.

The search took place under warrant at a home on Brookview Avenue at about 2.45pm by Gardaí from the Tallaght Drugs Unit. During the course of the search, gardaí seized suspected cocaine with an estimated value of €71,890, in addition to a sum of cash. 

Dundon

3. Limerick criminal Ger Dundon, a former member of the city’s infamous McCarthy/Dundon gang, has been jailed for 15 years in the UK.

The 38-year-old of Hackney in London, who had formally changed his name to Darren McLean after he moved to the UK, was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment yesterday at Wood Green Crown Court for his role in a blackmail and kidnap plot.

Contactless 

4. Contactless payments on buses are set to be rolled out as part of a pilot scheme before the end of the month.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said that implementing contactless payments on public transport is a “priority” for him.

UK local elections

5. The Labour Party in the UK gained an additional 510 seats in local elections yesterday, while the Conservatives lost 763, in early results given last night.

Labour Leader Keir Starmer celebrated what he described as “fantastic” council results indicating Labour is on course to win the next general election, as Prime Minister and Tory leader Rishi Sunak voiced his “disappointment” at heavy losses.

Sudan

6. The US and Saudi governments confirmed direct talks between the warring Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces would start in Jeddah today, even as fighting showed little signs of abating in the Sudanese capital.

A joint US-Saudi statement welcomed the “start of pre-negotiation talks” and urged sustained global support to quell the fighting.

Hundreds have died in nearly three weeks of fighting between forces aligned with Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the regular army, and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Darkness into Light

7. Thousands of people all across Ireland have taken part in the annual Darkness into Light in aid of charity Pieta House, which works to help people in suicidal distress or affected by suicide. The event involves people walking, running or swimming from night into sunrise.

Sentenced 

8. A Kentucky man with a long criminal record has been sentenced to a record-setting 14 years in prison for attacking police officers with pepper spray as he stormed the US Capitol with his wife.

Peter Schwartz’s prison sentence is the longest so far among hundreds of 6 January, 2021 Capitol riot cases.

Covid

9. The World Health Organisation has said Covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency.

The announcement marks a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least seven million people worldwide.

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