LAST UPDATE | 29 Dec 2022
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our lead story this morning, Rónán Duffy reports that Tony Blair told John Bruton in Downing Street 25 years ago that people feared “losing control” to the European Union.
Blair also told his Irish counterpart that he was “amazed” by the Irish economy and hoped it would help pro-EU sentiment in the UK.
The admissions are contained in the minutes of a meeting held between the pair on 8 May 1997 that have been released as part of the State Papers.
2. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the housing crisis is holding Ireland back as a country.
Varadkar said a “can-do” Covid-style response needs to be adopted to solve the emergency situation, similar to the response taken to the pandemic.
The Fine Gael leader, who became Taoiseach for a second time earlier this month, said the Government needs to turn the corner on housing as it is causing inter-generational division.
3. Thousands more flights were cancelled across the United States yesterday, with no end in sight to days of travel misery as the country digs out from a deadly superstorm.
Officials in Erie county in western New York – the area of the country hardest hit by the massive winter storm – lifted their death toll to 37, taking the national total to at least 59.
Around-the-clock work to restore electricity continued in the county’s main city of Buffalo, with the number of outages down to 128 residents, Mayor Byron Brown told CNN later in the day.
4. Several regions of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, were facing a Russian missile attack early today, the latest in a series targeting national infrastructure.
Air raid sirens rang out across the country. In Kyiv, the regional administration said that air defence systems have been activated to fend off the continuing missile attack.
5. A man is in a critical condition in hospital following a serious assault in Co Cork yesterday evening.
The assault is understood to have happened at around 5.45pm at Glenwood Estate in Carrigaline, Cork.
6. In the US, a Republican congressman-elect who admitted making up significant parts of his CV is under criminal investigation, US media has reported, citing prosecutors in New York.
George Santos’s victory in the Empire State helped his party secure a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Congress’s lower chamber.
7. The United States will require negative Covid tests from all air travelers from China, saying Beijing is not sharing enough information about the surge in coronavirus cases there.
From 5 January, “all air passengers two years and older originating from China will be required to get a test no more than two days before their departure from China, Hong Kong and Macau, and show a negative test result to the airlines upon departure,” a federal health official said.
8. The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the 95-year-old’s condition, the Vatican has said.
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis, who asked the faithful earlier today to pray for Benedict, went to visit his predecessor in the monastery on Vatican grounds where the retired pontiff has lived since retiring in February 2013.
9. The actor and comedian John Bird has died at the age of 86, his representatives have confirmed.
The star was well-known for his many TV appearances, including those opposite his long time collaborator John Fortune, and for the series Bremner, Bird and Fortune, which also featured Rory Bremner.
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