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GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our lead story today, Lauren Boland reports that industry experts say Irish businesses are likely to face knock-on problems due to the disruptions to shipping in the Red Sea.
Delays on important shipping routes, increased prices, and a shortage of shipping containers are expected to create problems for industries in many parts of the world, including Ireland, as the Red Sea becomes a conflict zone.
Fighting raged across Gaza and Israeli units raided the West Bank today after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has faced growing domestic criticism, rejected calls for post-war “Palestinian sovereignty”.
Alongside fierce fighting in southern Gaza and across the besieged territory, strikes in Syria and Iraq raised fears of a wider conflagration.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry reported at least 165 people killed over the previous 24 hours – more than double Friday’s toll.
Gardaí in Wexford are seeking information about a serious single-vehicle road traffic collision that occurred in Castlebridge Village yesterday.
A man in his 30s was seriously injured in a crash after his car hit a wall on the R741 at around 7pm on 20 January.
Drug smugglers in the EU have become so “very creative” that the bloc’s seaports should join forces to combat their ever-changing tactics, Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden has told AFP.
That idea is to be promoted next week when Verlinden, along with the European Commission, meets top representatives from around 20 EU ports, Europol officials, other interior ministers and sea transport executives to launch the European Ports Alliance.
Authorities in central China’s Henan Province were on Sunday looking into the cause of a night-time fire that killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory, AFO reports.
A Status Red weather warning has been issued for Donegal, Galway and Mayo as Storm Isha hits Ireland.
The age of the average first time buyer is now higher than ever at 35 years old and with house prices on a steady incline, many people feel locked out of homeownership.
At the same time, a chronic shortage of housing has pushed rents upwards leaving many renters in a position where they struggle to save enough for a deposit.
Government initiatives aimed at tackling the housing crisis range from schemes targeted at first-time buyers, like Help to Buy (HTB) and the First Home shared equity scheme (FHS), to schemes targeted at renters like Cost Rental and Housing Assistance Payments (HAP).
We asked readers what their experience of these schemes were and received a variety of responses.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has questioned whether Donald Trump is mentally capable of serving a second term after he repeatedly seemed to confuse her with former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Press Association reports.
As she campaigned in Keene, New Hampshire, on Saturday, Haley referenced Trump’s speech the night before, in which he mistakenly asserted she was in charge of Capitol security on January 6 2021, when a mob of the former president’s supporters stormed the building seeking to stop the certification of his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The starting gun has been fired this week on the two referendums, with a Dáil debate including discussions on what a ’durable’ relationship’ is, ‘throuples’, care and women’s place in the home.
There has been mounting anxiety in government circles about the outcome of the proposed constitutional referendums on deleting the reference to a woman’s role in the home and extending the definition of the family.
Christina Finn gives her analysis of the beginnings of the referendums.
He deserves a Nobel peace prize.
@brian boru: but in the land of make believe that will never happen….Trump on the other hand is a prime candidate….
@brian boru: and when he was leaking Clinton’s email Trump though he was his hero.
I shocked that the Trump regime would be after him after all the help he gave them.
Ecuador needs to get nukes now. Their embassy in London needs to be careful about any new hires, particularly in the kitchen. The Murderers are on their case
The worlds best investigative journalist, one of the dwindling few, and of course the tyrannical USA wants to kill him.
@methodical2020: indeed, I’m a regular Richie Allen listener too.
@james o reilly: they are going to plug the leak
@methodical2020: I like Ritchie and I enjoy his show, he interviews people mainstream media would not entertain and is not afraid to ask the right questions however is idolisation of David Icke annoys me, while I agree with what a lot of Icke has to say I feel Ritchie can be a bit of a lap dog.
did Trump really take a WikiLeak in a Russian hotel?
@alphanautica: i thought he took a data dump
@Zx5vZulB: Allegedly this is his fave tune – https://youtu.be/Hy8kmNEo1i8
Doesn’t he know that the US government released a leaker called Chelsea Manning and now he wants Assange arrested for the same thing, left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing if you ask me.
‘Merica
didn’t Assange promise to turn himself in if that happened?
@Dave O Keeffe: He promised to go and answer questions if they wanted. I wonder why they’ve not bothered after all this time?
@Linda: strange, they want to question him, he wants to be questioned, what’s the hold up? Oh yeah, he’s pretty much in prison already and at this point America isn’t directly responsible.
@Dave O Keeffe: Hmm no that doesn’t sound quite right. Probably more likely they know he’s done nothing wrong and they’ve nothing to charge him with. But they’re going to try really, really hard to find something!
@Dave O Keeffe:
Yes, but he didn’t believe it actually would happen…
He also said he had a huge amount of material compromising to Russia and said he was going to release it, but we’re still waiting for that too…
There’d be nothing to leak if they werent doing anything wrong
He’ll obviously be going after Hillary Clinton too?
Assange is a joke at this stage. Couldn’t care less about him.
The CIA calling Wikileaks a hostile intelligence agency is hilarious.
Trump probably more worries about what else he has on him / I’d imagine some hookers in a Russian hotel is way down the list
The hypocrisy of the US is astounding. Basically wants to turn every device in the world into a listening hub for their own benefit. Oh but if someone does it to them..
I think this is what you call a tidy up of loose ends.
Assange is a moron. He’s anti American & he has not leaked anything about Russia as there’s a serious threat to his life if he did. Playing a positive role with these leaks would be desirable but being anti American makes him just part of the consensus. Neither inspire any confidence in him.
@Mjhint: American running dog?
@Mjhint: So you didn’t read to the end of the article? The bit where Assange is reported to have professed overwhelming admiration for both America and the idea of America? And if you did, what – in your opinion – makes him a liar?
Go Trump! Choo-choo!
Very ungreatfulf of Trump to do this…..If it wasn’t for Assange Trump would not be president now….
@John003: yes.. but he has no use for him now
@John003: I agree with both you & Fergal..
I don’t like snake oil salesmen like tRump who only wanted to enrich himself and his ilk further…
Just use a cruise missle – sure what does it matter if a few knobs get in the way they still get their man!
Compromising someones political ambitions one thing but compromising national security is a far more serious matter. Democrats as usual have their priorities in reverse.
Are they stupid as ALL the leaks are coming from within the US?
If they were acting proper and not as a business and as a friend to businesses then there would be no leaks, all the leaks prove is how corrupt the US government are???
have your say