GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
Stormont election
1. Counting has resumed in the Northern Ireland Assembly election with Sinn Féin firmly on course to emerge as the largest Stormont party.
When counting was suspended last night, just 47 of the 90 seats had been filled following a lengthy process, with only four out of 18 constituency counts completed.
Sinn Féin currently has 18 seats, while the DUP have 12, the Alliance Party eight, the Ulster Unionists (UUP) four and the SDLP on three, with one seat going to TUV leader Jim Allister and one to independent unionist Alex Easton.
Ukraine
2. US President Joe Biden announced another package of military assistance for Ukraine, as dozens of civilians were evacuated from Mariupol’s besieged steelworks, the last pocket of resistance against Russian troops in the port city.
The Russian defence ministry said 50 people were evacuated from the site, including 11 children.
It added they were handed over to the UN and Red Cross, which are assisting in the operation, and that the “humanitarian operation” would continue today.
National Maternity Hospital
3. Questions around the ownership of the site of the new National Maternity Hospital have again come to the fore this week as Cabinet looks set to approve the relocation of the crucial healthcare facility in the weeks ahead.
The relocation to a site on the grounds of St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin has proved highly controversial as, until recently, the site was owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity.
We answer some of the questions surrounding the hospital, including what we know about St Vincent’s Holdings CLG, the charity the Sisters transferred their shares to, and whether a compulsory purchase order can be made on the site.
Missile test
4. North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile today, Seoul said, its second missile launch in three days after the United States warned Pyongyang could be preparing for a nuclear test.
Satellite imagery indicates the country may be preparing to resume nuclear testing, and the US State Department on Friday warned a nuke test could come “as early as this month”.
Dismissed
5. A lawsuit filed by former US president Donald Trump seeking to reinstate his banned Twitter account was tossed out Friday by a federal judge in California.
The suit’s argument that Twitter had “censored” Trump in violation of free speech rights was weak, since the First Amendment bars government bodies – not private businesses – from interfering with what citizens say, the judge said in his ruling.
Santina Cawley
6. A woman on trial charged with the murder of a two year old child told gardaí that she fell asleep in her apartment only to be woken by her then partner who accused her of killing his daughter.
Karen Harrington is on trial at a Central Criminal sitting in Cork charged with the murder of Santina Cawley at an apartment in Elderwood Park, in Boreenmanna Road in the city, on July 5th, 2019. At the time she was in a relationship with Michael Cawley, the father of the deceased.
Local elections
7. In the UK, Boris Johnson is facing an angry backlash from local Tories as the party saw key London strongholds fall to Labour while also suffering losses in councils across England.
Keir Starmer hailed a “turning point” as his party strengthened its grip on the capital, taking the totemic Tory authority in Wandsworth, winning Westminster for the first time since its creation in 1964 and clinching victory in Barnet.
Refugees
8. Back in Ireland, The Department of Children has said the State is currently in an emergency response and sometimes moving refugees to other locations is “necessary” to ensure all those fleeing Ukraine can be accommodated.
A number of Ukrainian refugees were given just 15 hours notice that they had to move and take their children out of the schools they were attending.
Ah Keir
9. Keir Starmer is to be investigated by police amid allegations he broke lockdown rules last year following receipt of “significant new information”, Durham Constabulary said.
The Labour leader has come under pressure since footage emerged of him drinking a beer with colleagues in April 2021 in Durham during campaigning for the Hartlepool by-election.
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