LAST UPDATE | 30 Jan

GOOD MORNING.

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

Laughing gas

1. A mother whose son ended up with severe medical issues as a result of his use of nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, is now warning parents about the dangers of the drug. 

Weather warnings

2. Rain warnings are on the way again for seven counties today, with Met Éireann warning that further flooding is likely as heavy rain falls on already saturated ground and high river levels persist.

Mastercard

3. US company Mastercard, which employs around 1,500 people in Ireland, has announced it is to cut around 4% of its global full-time workforce in the first financial quarter of this year.

Ukraine

4. Donald Trump has announced that Russia’s Vladimir Putin agreed to a personal request to halt attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, after Moscow’s strikes left millions without heating during an “extreme” cold snap.

Minnesota

5. The suspect accused of spraying Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar with an unknown substance during a town hall meeting earlier this week has been charged with assault.

Corruption trial

6. The trial of a Limerick car dealer accused of giving a detective €20,000 in exchange for information has heard recordings of audio surveillance of the two men speaking about ongoing “secret” and sensitive garda investigations.

Luigi Mangione

7. A man has been charged after allegedly posing as an FBI agent at a US jail to try to free Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the high-profile murder of a health insurance executive.

Inquest

8. A witness has told an inquest she thought at first it was a “prank” when she saw Noah Donohoe riding his bike naked.

Larry Donnelly on Trump

9. The upper midwestern American state of Minnesota, typically a frozen tundra during its harsh winters, has been a powder keg since Renée Nicole Good was shot in the face by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on the streets of Minneapolis on 7 January.