GOOD MORNING.

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

Morocco

1. A powerful earthquake has killed over 600 people in Morocco, after striking late last night, injuring many more. 

The earthquake hit near Marrakesh. People ran out into the streets, and screams of terror were heard, as one Frenchman living there said it was a “catastrophe”. 

Thunderstorms

2. Isolated thunderstorms are forecasted for today, as we are headed for a cloudier day overall though temperatures will remain high. 

Met Éireann is forecasting scattered showers over the course of the morning and afternoon, with some heavy rainfall in places. 

Legal aid 

3. A District Court judge has called for the introduction of mandatory legal aid for all domestic violence cases in the country. 

Judge John Campbell was speaking at a conference to examine legal and practice issues in the Domestic Violence and Child Protection sector at Trinity College Dublin. 

Inside a Lisbon drug consumption room

4. On Rua da Quinta do Loureiro, The Journal met psychologist Roberta Reis and the team of nurses, psychologists and social workers who run the city’s Drug Consumption Room (DCR). 

In Ireland, this type of facility has become known as a “supervised injection centre” – and the subject of much debate.

We wanted to find out what Portugal’s health-centred approach to drugs means in reality. 

Micheál Martin in Israel 

5. The Tánaiste visited the region in his capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs, positioning himself as an intermediary by speaking to Israeli and Palestinian officials with a view to reviving support for the two-state solution, especially at European Union level.

 He spent three days urging the need for talks, preaching about the art of dialogue, and acknowledging the surgical effort that it would take to make hope and history rhyme in a way that would draw Israel and Palestine out of the trenches and to the negotiating table.

Patrick Kielty

6. Patrick Kielty has said he would love to have former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy on as a guest this season. 

Kielty said that the RTÉ payments scandal was an ‘unwanted noise’ this summer, as he prepared to take up the role of host for the new, shorter, revamped Late Late. 

Occupied Ukraine

7. The United Russia political party’s headquarters in the occupied Ukrainian city of Polohy was destroyed in an attack yesterday, the Kyiv Independent reports.

The report said that local residents in the area saw Russian “burned out” from the building. 

Biden takes centre stage at G20

8. With major world leaders Xi and Putin absent from the G20 summit, US President Joe Biden is urging the world’s largest economies to rally behind Ukraine, and is also stating America’s intentions to continue investment in the developing world. 

The summit, which is being hosted by India in New Delhi, has already seen historic moments, including the African Union becoming a permanent G20 member. 

Irish couple killed in Rome road crash

9. Locals have been signing a book of condolence in a Co Wexford church in memory of a couple who died while on holiday in Italy.

Paul and Mary Reilly, who are from Kilmore and aged in their late 50s/early 60s, were on holiday in Rome when they died in a road crash.