LAST UPDATE | 17 Apr 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch

1. Gerard Hutch and two co-accused will learn today the verdict in the Special Criminal Court trial for the murder of David Byrne in a Dublin hotel. 

In-patient fees

2. Patients in public hospitals will no longer have to pay fees for overnight stays from today, following plans to abolish the charges.

Patients previously could be charged €80 per day for in-patient care, with a cap of a maximum of 10 days over 12 consecutive months costing €800.

Good Friday Agreement 

3. Former US president Bill Clinton will join other political leaders from Northern Ireland’s peace process era at a major conference commemorating the Good Friday Agreement.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and ex-British prime minister Tony Blair  will also participate in the three-day event at Queen’s University in Belfast 25 years on from the landmark accord.

Ransomware attack

4. RTÉ is reporting this morning that four organisations that deal with victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse have had their data stolen following a ransomware attack on a company in Northern Ireland.

Sudan

5. Explosions have rocked the Sudanese capital Khartoum as fighting between the regular army and paramilitaries raged for a third day with the death toll rising to nearly 100.

The violence erupted on Saturday after weeks of power struggles between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

US shootings

6. US President Joe Biden has offered his condolences to the families of those killed in shootings that took place this weekend, in the latest episode of deadly gun violence to grip the country.

At least four people were killed and 28 more were injured in a shooting last night at a teen birthday party in Alabama.

Two people were also shot dead in Louisville, Kentucky, after someone opened fire on a crowd in Chickasaw Park yesterday evening, injuring four others.

SpaceX

7. SpaceX is counting down to its test flight today of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars and beyond.

The giant rocket is scheduled to blast off from Starbase, the SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, at 8am Central Time (1pm Irish time).

Strep A

8. The parents of a 10-year-old girl who died following a Strep A infection have said they want her story to save other children.

Vivienne Murphy from Mill Street in Cork, died on 1 March 2019, two weeks after she had complained about a sore throat.

Weather 

9. The weekend’s warm weather is set to continue over the next few days after temperatures surpassed 20 degrees yesterday in parts of the country.