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LAST UPDATE | 18 Jun
GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start the day.
1. Israel’s military said strikes it launched into Iran overnight struck a centrifuge production site and multiple weapon manufacturing facilities in capital Tehran.
Missile exchanges between the two countries continued overnight. Israel said it targeted weapon production facilities with strikes, claiming to hit a facility for manufacturing centrifuges used to enrich uranium for atomic bombs.
More than 50 Israeli jets fired on missile production sites in Iran, the military said this morning. Dozens of Iranian drones and hypersonic missiles targeted sites in Tel Aviv this morning.
2. Three Dublin city parks are in danger of not being maintained as council workers say they are too dangerous to work in, a TD has claimed.
Social Democrats’ justice spokesman Gary Gannon said despite successful garda deployments in the city centre, there has been a knock-on effect as local parks and communities in the area are under-policed.
News correspondent Niall O’Connor reports that garda sources say it is simply an issue with numbers – and that there are not enough available to police the areas mentioned by the TD.
3. Dozens of flights to and from Indonesia’s resort island of Bali have been cancelled after a volcano erupted, shooting an ash tower 10 kilometres into the sky.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,584-metre volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted yesterday, with authorities raising its alert status to the highest level of a four-tiered system.
4. Help given to the Midlands to adapt to the peat-cutting ban was reactive, rather than proactive, a new expert advisory group has said.
The government should take lessons from the Midlands case study and have a better-planned approach in the future when helping other areas that are affected by climate action measures.
That message comes as part of a report about how Ireland can ensure a just transition as it navigates the climate crisis, which says the last government could have done better at helping the Midlands adjust.
5. Low-income households should have access to a targeted €10,000 grant to purchase small and efficient electric vehicles, the climate change advisory council has said.
The advisory council’s recommendation to the government came with a warning that Ireland was falling far short of its emissions targets in the transport sector.
6. An Australian woman should not be judged guilty just because she lied after a meal which allegedly killed three of her lunch guests spiked with deadly mushrooms.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by putting their beef Wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms. Her defence lawyer today sought to explain her behaviour in the days following the lunch.
7. The state has been criticised over the lack of progress made by the HSE to move younger people out of nursing homes by the chief watchdog Ger Deering.
The Ombudsman called for additional government funding to tackle the issue. His latest report says the HSE has insufficient funding to continue to assist hundreds of young people to move out of nursing homes and into more appropriate accommodation.
8. The Mater Hospital has launched Ireland’s first ever in-hospital AI centre.
The hub is developing and in some cases already using AI tools that will do everything from selecting patients for cancer clinical trials, to detecting fractures in scans, and even creating synthetic MRI scans from CT scans.
The work on synthetic MRI scans is aimed at speeding up the diagnosis of spinal injuries that require treatment within an urgent timeframe.
9. Large billboards have been erected by Irish band Kneecap in London ahead of its member’s appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning.
Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s high-profile court date comes just less than a month after the rapper, known as Mo Chara, was charged by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service.
The charge is that Ó hAannaidh “displayed a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation” during a gig in the O2 Forum, Kentish Town last November. He is set to contest the charge.
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