GOOD MORNING.

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

WhatsApp

1. It might have taken a while but the €225 million fine handed down to WhatsApp Ireland during the week is the second-largest penalty ever doled out for breaches of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

WhatsApp has disputed the findings of the Data Protection Commission and the size of the fine, which it may yet manage to reduce on appeal.

But Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon’s final 250-plus page decision, dated 20 August but published this week, could be significant for the application of GDPR across the bloc and its interaction with powerful ‘Big Tech’ companies across the European Union, Ian Curran writes in today’s lead story.

Covid-19

2. The Covid-19 pandemic is not over, despite some positive developments, World Health Organization (WHO) director Mike Ryan has warned.

Ryan said that people “deserve” to hope and feel that the worst part of the pandemic is behind us, due to the success of vaccine programmes, but warned that there are still a million cases of Covid-19 in Europe each week.

“The pandemic has stabilised at a really high, worrying level but the good news is that the incidence rate, the number of cases, is becoming decoupled from hospitalisations,” he said.

Mu

3. Earlier this week, the WHO announced that it is monitoring a new coronavirus variant called ‘Mu’.

Known as B.1.621, the variant was first identified in Colombia and initial evidence shows it has some similar traits to the Alpha variant, first identified in the UK last year, and the Beta variant, first seen in South Africa.

The WHO has classified the strain as a “variant of interest”, which was once the same designation given to the now-dominant Delta variant.

So just how concerned should we be about Mu?

Latest case numbers

4. Public health officials have confirmed 1,703 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

As of 8am yesterday, 363 patients with the coronavirus were in hospital, including 52 in intensive care units, the Department of Health said.

Deaths are being announced weekly due to the HSE data breach in May – as of Wednesday, 5,112 people had died with Covid-19 in Ireland.

UN Security Council

5. Ireland hopes to use its soft power and ‘agenda-less’ international position as an honest broker to try to influence peace and security issues globally as it takes up the presidency of the UN Security Council this month, it is understood.

Amid increasingly fractured votes and discussions at the Security Council in recent years, it’s hoped that Ireland’s lack of baggage on the international stage could help make progress on a number of important global concerns, Gráinne Ní Aodha writes.

Brexit

6. The UK’s Brexit minister David Frost has said Britain will not sweep away the Northern Ireland Protocol, as he warned that conflict over the deal risks creating “cold mistrust” with the European Union.

The negotiator of the post-Brexit agreement has renewed calls for Brussels to accept a “substantial and significant change” to the deal that he negotiated.

Northern Ireland is effectively kept in the EU’s single market for goods by the protocol, which prevents a hard border with Ireland but has created trade barriers with Britain.

COP26

7. Number 10 is seeking to cut Nicola Sturgeon out of the COP26 summit to prevent her using it as “an advert for an independence campaign”, according to leaked messages.

Advisers at No 10 and the Cabinet Office have been seeking to side-line the role of Scotland’s First Minister in the global gathering, the UK’s Independent newspaper has reported.

According to meeting notes and WhatsApp messages seen by the newspaper, strategists have been trying to work out how to prevent the summit from becoming an “advert” for Scottish independence.

Katie Taylor

8. Katie Taylor dominated Jennifer Han from pillar to post to defend undisputed crown in Leeds last night.

Taylor earned a shutout victory on the judges’ scorecards, improving her professional record to 19-0 (6KOs).

Weather

9. And finally, the weather. It will be mainly dry this morning, but with some patches of mist and drizzle, Met Éireann says.

This afternoon, rain will spread across Connacht and Ulster and will continue this evening. Much of Leinster and Munster will stay mainly dry. Highest temperatures will range from 17 to 21 degrees Celsius.