LAST UPDATE | 31 Mar 2023

GOOD MORNING AND happy Friday.

Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.

Trump indicted

1. A New York grand jury has voted to indict former US president Donald Trump over hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 election.

Trump is expected to be arrested next week, with prosecutors not yet indicating whether or not they will seek prison time for the former US president.

It is the first time a sitting or former US president will have been charged with a crime.

Rail review

2. In an exclusive interview with The Journal, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has suggested that it would be a waste to leave existing rail lines idle and that more lines across the country need to be revived.

The Green Party leader said that there were rail lines that could be reopened easily and at little cost to the State, particularly an existing track between Rosslare and Waterford.

“It doesn’t even have to be expensive, like reopening the Rosslare to Waterford rail line because it’s been maintained so it’s pretty much there. It’s more a strategic decision,” Ryan said.

US skiing case

3. US actress Gwyneth Paltrow has been cleared of all fault in a US lawsuit over a 2016 skiing collision, brought by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson.

Following a high-profile two-week trial in Utah, jurors returned a verdict in favour of the Oscar-winning actress after just over two hours.

Sanderson had sued Paltrow over the collision at the Deer Valley ski resort in Utah over seven years ago, which left him with several broken ribs and severe head injuries.

Greece train crash

4. A Greek rail inspector was detained this morning in connection with last month’s train disaster that killed 57 people, a court official said.

The employee, a station manager supervisor identified as Dimitris Nikolaou, was charged with the crime of “disruption of traffic safety” causing the death of many people, the official said.

PBP to protest Biden

5. People Before Profit intends to protest the “double standards” in American foreign policy as US President Joe Biden visits Ireland next month. 

The US president intends to visit Ireland between 11 and 15 April, as part of a programme to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

A spokesperson said the party is “planning major meetings in cities around the country to expose US foreign policy, which is not so much about being leader of the free world and more about promoting the interests of American multinationals and the US military machine”.

NATO membership ratified

6. Turkey has become the final Nato nation to ratify Finland’s membership of the defence alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Lawmakers unanimously backed the Nordic country’s accession today two weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly blessed the bid.

“This evening, we are keeping the promises we made to Finland,” ruling party lawmaker Akif Cagatay Kilic said moments before the vote.

Temple collapse

7. The death toll after a floor collapsed at a Hindu temple in India had risen to 35, with rescue operations underway to find one person still missing, local officials have said.

Dozens of worshippers celebrating a major religious holiday yesterday plunged into the stepwell – a stair-lined communal water source – after the floor covering it collapsed in the central city of Indore.

“Thirty-five people are dead. One person is still missing. Rescue operations are on,” Indore district magistrate Ilayaraja T said.

Drugs seized

8. Three people have been arrested after gardaí seized over €600,000 worth of cannabis herb in Co Dublin yesterday.

The seizure took place in Balbriggan at around 2pm yesterday afternoon, with two vehicles being intercepted by Gardaí.

Ulster Bank

9. Ulster Bank will today end all in-branch transaction services, as the bank prepares to leave the Irish market next month

Following today, Ulster Bank customers will be unable to lodge cash or cheques either at counters or with automated machines within branches.