LAST UPDATE | 10 Aug 2021

GOOD MORNING.

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

Rents rise

1. In our main story this morning, Ian Curran dissects the latest rental report from the property site Daft.ie.

The report finds that average national rents climbed by 5.6% in the year to the end of June due to “an unprecedented scarcity of rental homes”. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred on the sharpest year-on-year rise in residential rents across the country since 2019, as the number of units available collapsed to its lowest level on record.

Climate crisis

2. On the international front, yesterday’s UN climate change report is driving reactions from governments across the world today.

The report found that climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying. Yet despite this, China and Australia issued muted responses today.

China signalled it would implement no new policies while Australia’s conservative prime minister rejected calls to adopt more ambitious emissions targets, insisting the country was doing enough to tackle climate change.

Prince Andrew

3. One of Jeffrey Epstein’s long-time accusers is taking legal action against Queen Elizabeth’s son, Prince Andrew, claiming he sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years old.

Lawyers for Virginia Giuffre filed the lawsuit against the Duke of York in Manhattan federal court.

“I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me,” Virginia Giuffre said in a statement.

Kellie Harrington’s homecoming

4. Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington will travel through her local community on an open-top bus upon her return from Tokyo today.

Harrington will make her way home atop a double-decker, which is scheduled to bring her down Portland Row, the North Inner City street on which she grew up.

Dublin City Council (DCC) has also greenlit the lighting of the five lamps landmark to acknowledge Harrington’s achievement.

Afghanistan

5. The Taliban have taken control of six Afghan provincial capitals following a blitz across the north that has seen tens of thousands of people flee their homes for the relative safety of Kabul and other centres.

The insurgents now have their eyes on Mazar-i-Sharif, the biggest city in the north, whose fall would signal the total collapse of government control in a region that has traditionally been anti-Taliban.

Dungannon child death

6. A man and a woman have been charged over the death of a two-year-old girl in Northern Ireland.

The child, named locally as Ali Jayden Maguire, died in hospital on Friday after sustaining head injuries at a house in Dungannon, Co Tyrone.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said in a statement a 32-year-old man has been charged with murder and perverting the course of justice, while a 24-year-old woman has been charged with causing or allowing the death of a child and perverting the course of justice.

Iveagh Market

7. Calls for actions to be taken to prevent further deterioration at Dublin’s Iveagh Market have been made following new images that reveal the scale of its disrepair.

The market was developed by Lord Iveagh, Edward Cecil Guinness in 1902 to accommodate Dublin’s many street traders. It has been derelict for more than 20 years and is the subject of an ongoing legal dispute.

Members of the public were allowed to view the Francis Street market from outside on Sunday and those who caught a glimpse said they were shocked at the condition it is in.

Hong Kong

8. The leader of Hong Kong voiced support for legislation allowing retaliatory sanctions after the US and other Western governments punished city officials over the ongoing crackdown on democracy activists.

Carrie Lam said the anti-foreign sanctions law should be adopted in Hong Kong via local legislation, rather than imposed by Beijing, and said she had told the Chinese government about her views.

China’s broad anti-sanctions law was imposed in June.

London

9. London’s Tower Bridge has reopened to traffic, after a “technical failure” left the 19th-century landmark’s arms pointing skyward for almost twelve hours.

The two sections of the bridge had been stuck since mid-afternoon yesterday, when they opened for a tall wooden ship.

It was the second time in a year that the bridge, one of the most recognisable features of London’s skyline, became stuck.