GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
Death threats
1. Non-national sex workers were targeted by a recent scam where a person or people pretended to work for a major advertising website and asked them to provide personal information, News Correspondent Órla Ryan reports.
In some cases, the workers did not realise it was a scam and replied to the messages. A number of them were then threatened with physical or sexual violence.
Leaders meeting in North
2. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and leaders of Northern Ireland’s powersharing executive during a visit to Belfast today.
The visit comes as Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill made history on Saturday by becoming the first nationalist First Minister.
The Stormont institutions were restored last week following a deal between Sunak’s government and the DUP to allay unionist concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Taylor Swift at Grammys
3. Taylor Swift has made Grammy history by becoming the first person to win album of the year four times.
The 66th annual ceremony saw female musicians dominate in the major categories at the event, with US singer Billie Eilish taking home song of the year for her Barbie hit What Was I Made For?, and pop star Miley Cyrus landed record of the year for her viral summer sensation Flowers.
Crooksling fire
4. A senior officer of An Garda Síochána has been appointed to investigate a fire in a vacant nursing home where anti-migrant protests had recently taken place.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said she is “appalled” at what she called an attack on the former St Brigid’s Nursing Home at Crooksling, Brittas, south Dublin.
Dublin Fire Brigade were called to the scene of the fire at 7am yesterday. Over 40 firefighters worked through the morning to control the blaze. The scene has now been handed over to gardaí.
GP visit cards
5. The Labour Party has criticised the roll-out of an expansion of GP visit cards after it was revealed that just 3.5% of people deemed eligible as part of the expansion have availed of the scheme to date.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said the number of cards issued as part of the income-based expansion is not at the scale that would have been anticipated.
Holders of GP visit cards do not need to pay to attend the doctor.
Fatal crash
6. A man who was seriously injured after being hit by a car in Cork last week has died from his injuries.
The incident happened at around 6.20pm at Upper Cork Hill in Youghal on Thursday evening.
The pedestrian, a man aged in his 60s, was taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment for serious injuries. Gardaí said he has since passed away at Cork University Hospital.
Arrests over murder
7. Gardaí have arrested two men on suspicion of murder in the investigation into the death of Kieran Quilligan in Cork.
The 47-year-old went missing in September last year.
Remains were discovered in Rostellan in east Cork at the end of January and were confirmed to be a match through examining DNA and dental records.
West Bank
8. Amnesty International has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate killings of Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, where violence has ramped up significantly since the attacks against Israel on 7 October last year.
In a report published by the human rights NGO today, Amnesty detailed four “emblematic cases where Israeli forces used unlawful lethal force”. Three of those incidents occurred in October and another in November.
Chile wildfire
9. At least 112 people have died from central Chile’s blazing wildfires.
President Gabriel Boric has warned the number would rise “significantly” as teams search gutted neighbourhoods.
Responders have continued to battle fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius over the weekend.
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