LAST UPDATE | 26 Apr 2023

GOOD MORNING. 

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

Irish citizens in Sudan

1. In our main story this morning, Diarmuid Pepper reports that Irish citizens in Sudan are being urged to clarify information they see on social media and to only follow official advice from the Irish Embassy.

The fighting has killed hundreds of people and left some neighbourhoods of greater Khartoum in ruins.

For those who remain in the country, they are being advised to stay where they are if it is safe to do so, to conserve mobile phone power and to register with the Irish Embassy in Kenya if they haven’t already.

Paul Westbury, who is GOAL’s East Africa Security Advisor, warned that people in the country “have to be aware of what’s going on around you because it can change extremely quickly”.

Ceasefire

2. A US-brokered 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan’s warring generals entered its second day but remained fragile after witnesses reported fresh air strikes and paramilitaries claimed to have seized a major oil refinery and power plant.

Although the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces agreed to the truce, “the pause was not fully upheld, with attacks on headquarters, attempts to gain ground, air strikes, and explosions in different areas of the capital”, UN Special Representative Volker Perthes said yesterday. 

Trump rape case

3. A US civil court hearing a lawsuit against Donald Trump has been told that the ex-president raped a former American columnist and then “ridiculed” her with defamatory comments.

E. Jean Carroll, 79, says Trump sexually assaulted her in a changing room at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.

No criminal prosecution can stem from the Carroll case but if Trump loses it will be the first time he has ever been held legally liable for an allegation of sexual assault.

Maternity restrictions 

4. The total withdrawal of partner access in maternity hospitals is “not appropriate”, the HSE has said, and that a “balance” must be found in wards.

Over the last number of weeks, campaigners have criticised how partners continue to be restricted from attending antenatal appointments in some hospitals and are calling for an end to any remaining maternity restrictions.

During the pandemic, maternity hospitals introduced restrictions, such as not allowing partners attend appointments.

While some hospitals have lifted the restrictions, some women havesaid others have not and they continue to have to attend important appointments alone.  

Farmers march overnight

5. Members of farming organisation Macra na Feirme are set to arrive at Government Buildings shortly after midday following an almost 100 kilometre march overnight.

Macra members started the 14-hour ‘Steps for Our Future’ march from Athy, Co Kildare where it was founded in 1944. 

Climate plan

6. A government plan for a long-term climate strategy will finally be submitted to the European Commission this week, three years after it was originally due.

In 2018, EU states were given 13 months to develop a 30-year strategy with their plans to tackle the climate crisis and submit them to the European Commission by 1 January 2020. Years later, Ireland is one of only a handful of countries that has not yet submitted its strategy. 

Irish scientist’s work on lunar project

7. An Irish scientist has spoken of her pride at leading the DCU team that produced samples that were aboard the lunar rover which failed to make it safely to the moon last night.

The Japanese company Ispace attempted to make a historic moon landing with its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander, but just as the lander neared the surface, the company lost contact, leading it to conclude that the mission had failed.

Sean Cox

8. Sean Cox has walked for the first time since the attack which left him with serious brain injuries five years ago. 

His family have described the joy brought upon seeing him able to take to his feet thanks to new exoskeleton therapy.

Ed Sheeran copyright

9. Jurors have been promised “smoking-gun proof” that Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud violates the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On,.

The claim was made in New York by Ben Crump, lawyer for the heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Gaye’s soul classic.