GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. This morning Gráinne Ní Aodha examines the impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“Since the EU published proposals to alter the current Protocol last week, UK junior minister David Frost and European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič have been discussing the proposals in the hope of coming to an agreement.
If they don’t there is a threat that the UK will trigger Article 16, a nuclear option that will cut all post-Brexit trade ties agreed between the UK and EU, and restart a whole new process of trade negotiations from the start, as well as inflaming political tensions.
The EU and the Irish government have accepted that there are elements of the Protocol that aren’t working, but insist that there are businesses and citizens who benefit from it, and that changes, such as the ones published last week, can be made to improve it.
The UK government has taken the position that the Protocol needs to be scrapped in favour of other arrangements, and have reportedly submitted unpublished proposals to the European Commission.”
2. Media coverage of climate change has evolved in recent decades – with more stories usually seen during times of reports, conferences and extreme weather events.
The Good Information Project looks at how the wide-ranging and never-ending topic broke into the sphere of the general public in the late ’80s. Since then, it has gone through ebbs and flows of coverage from the media.
“Since the late 1980s, media coverage of climate has fluctuated. It usually increases in volume during extreme weather events, before UN annual climate summits and at the release of reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the most recent of which came out in August.
COP26 is taking place in Glasgow from 31 October and, as with previous COPs, there will be heightened interest in the climate crisis.
The 2009 COP summit in Copenhagen also garnered a huge amount of media attention.
Between then and 2019 – aside from coverage around the 2015 COP in Paris – uS journalist Mark Hertsgaard said there has been relative “media silence” on climate change.”
3. Jennifer Aniston has marked the death of Friends co-star James Michael Tyler by saying the show “would not have been the same” without him.
The 59-year-old died at his home in Los Angeles on Sunday after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, his representatives said.
The star was beloved by millions of fans for his portrayal of Gunther, the quirky manager of coffee shop Central Perk who possessed a head of bleached hair and an unrequited love for Aniston’s Rachel.
4. Military forces in Sudan have detained a number of senior government figures, officials said, as leading politicians called on people to take to the streets to counter an apparent military coup.
Sudan’s information ministry said the internet had been cut off and military forces had closed bridges, while the country’s state news channel played patriotic traditional music and scenes of the Nile river.
The Umma Party, the country’s largest political party, described the arrests as an attempted coup, and called on people to take to the streets in resistance.
5. Public health officials yesterday confirmed 1,725 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
As of 8am on Sunday morning, there were 473 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of which 97 are in ICU.
On Saturday, there were 2,427 new cases of Covid-19, 449 people with the virus in hospital and 93 in ICU.
6. Bars and pubs hosting music performances will not need to introduce a ticketing system under the new industry requirements for nightlife.
People in those venues must remain seated if live music is being performed but there will be no requirement to introducing ticketing, unlike new rules for night clubs and music venues.
In a statement, the Department of Culture said that “traditional bars and pubs that are not operating as night clubs or live music venues can operate as per the hospitality guidelines which are published on the Fáilte Ireland website”.
7. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is concerned that the Covid-19 infection rate among healthcare workers is moving in the “wrong direction”.
The union has renewed its call for booster vaccines against the virus to be rolled out to frontline staff.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the “level of infection rate of healthcare workers is going in the wrong direction” and that it is “especially concerning given the time of year”.
8. South Korea’s president has said he will keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests.
While launching a spate of newly developed weapons in recent weeks, North Korea has also slammed Washington and Seoul over what it calls hostility toward the North.
Its actions indicate North Korea wants its rivals to ease economic sanctions against it and accept it as a legitimate nuclear state, experts say.
In his final policy speech at parliament, President Moon Jae-in said he will “make efforts to the end to help a new order for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula be established through dialogue and diplomacy.”
9. The singer has tested positive for Covid-19 less than a week before the release of his forthcoming fifth album.
The chart-topping singer, aged 30, said that he still intends to give his planned interviews and performances from his home.
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