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GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. Twelve people have been injured after a shooting incident in Toronto, Canada overnight, police have said.
The incident happened at a pub in the city centre shortly after 10.30pm (5.30am Irish time) last night. Police have confirmed that there have been no fatalities.
2. Pope Francis is resting in hospital after another peaceful night, the Vatican has said.
The Argentine pontiff has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since 14 February with pneumonia in both lungs. In the last number of days his condition has begun to stabilise.
3. Ireland’s biggest private landlord is looking to introduce a €200 monthly charge for new tenants at one of its Dublin properties.
Ires Reit has signalled that it will attach an additional €200 ‘common area’ fee to the bills of people looking to live in its building known as The School Yard, located on the North Circular Road in Drumcondra.
4. Hundreds of people working for Concern Worldwide are to lose their jobs amid cuts in aid funding.
The redundancies, announced by the Irish humanitarian organisation today, include around 20% of staff at its head office in Dublin, as well as over 400 other workers abroad.
5. Reporting from Brussels, News Editor Daragh Brophy takes a look at how quickly can the EU implement and move on its ambitious new defence plan, announced this week.
What happens next? Does this really represent a ‘turning of a page’ on defence? Or was it just an expensive photo-op, and a chance to issue strong statements?
6. Russian strikes killed at least 12 people overnight in eastern Ukraine, emergency service officials said this morning.
The intensified strikes and fighting along the front line come just days before truce negotiations are set to begin in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian negotiators, after American military aid was halted for the war-torn country.
7. THE STATE IS to present a medal to the family of Private William Kedian, an Irish soldier killed by shelling from an Israeli post in Lebanon while on peacekeeping duty at UNP 6-42 in 1999.
The award follows a lengthy campaign by his family and his former comrades to have him honoured. A total of 48 Irish soldiers have been killed on peacekeeping deployments to Lebanon as part of UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping force.
8. High financial costs and uneven geographical coverage present barriers to expecting parents in Ireland who want to access non-invasive prenatal testing for chromosomal differences, a new study has found.
A national screening programme for chromosomal conditions should be considered to ensure equitable access to testing and boost the availability of reliable information, researchers from University College Cork concluded.
9. Today is International Women’s Day. Kildare-based solicitor Susan Webster has written in today’s Voices section about how work expectations have changed and developed for women, and how it is important to encourage one another.
She details how she felt “silenced” by female colleagues after telling them of her first pregnancy, but now feels that society can instead choose to support and value all women and their contributions to society.
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