LAST UPDATE | 4 Dec 2023

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s everything you need to know as you start your day.

Gaza

1. Israel has expanded its offensive against Hamas militants in besieged Gaza, as international concern deepened over the mounting civilian death toll.

The return to open warfare after a truce between Israel and Hamas broke down has had ripple effects around a region on the cusp of a wider conflagration.

Since the expiry of the truce on Friday, fighting in Gaza has resumed between Hamas and advancing Israeli troops, as have militants’ rocket launches toward Israel and Israel’s air strikes on the Palestinian territory.

Indonesia

2. The bodies of 11 climbers were recovered today after the Mount Marapi volcano in Indonesia erupted, officials said.

Mount Marapi in Agam district in West Sumatra province spewed thick columns of ash as high as 9,800 feet into the sky in a sudden eruption yesterday and hot ash clouds spread several miles.

About 75 climbers started their way up the nearly 2,900-metre (9,480-foot) mountain on Saturday and became stranded.

Migrant Nurses Ireland

3. Migrant Nurses Ireland has said it is “extremely concerned” that stakeholders appear to have failed to take “appropriate and timely action” in response to allegations that 29 Indian nurses experienced “humiliating and derogatory” behaviour while undertaking training in Cork University Hospital (CUH). 

Nursing regulator the NMBI has said it’s been told by the hospital that it is addressing the issue and has recruited a senior manager with responsibility for the welfare of the nurses.

The Journal reported at the start of October that a complaint about discrimination and racism from an Indian nurse was being looked into by an investigator contracted by CUH – over a year after an initial grievance was lodged. 

Flu Vaccine

4. Free flu vaccines have been extended to include children aged between 13 and 17.

The change takes effect from today and means all children aged 2 to 17 are now eligible for the flu vaccine as part of the 2023/2024 seasonal flu vaccination programme.

All children in this cohort are offered the nasal spray flu vaccine, a quick and pain-free method that sees the child being administered the vaccine as a spray up their nose.

Icy conditions

5. Several routes through and around the Sally Gap in Co Wicklow have been deemed impassable by the council due to icy conditions this morning.

Motorists are advised by Wicklow County Council to avoid the Sally Gap area, particularly the R759 and R115 regional routes, and to proceed with caution on all roads.

Met Éireann today has forecasted a cold, frosty morning with some ice across the country as county councils elsewhere deal with keeping roads safe to drive on.

Hospital at Home

6. Patients will be able to receive hospital treatments from their own home as the HSE will introduce Acute Virtual Wards in Limerick University Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin early next year.

Those receiving care under a Virtual Ward will remain under the care of their doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals from their home and ward rounds can include a home visit, or video call.  

Stormont

7. Stormont’s rules should be urgently reformed so that a speaker can be elected by a two-thirds majority of MLAs, a has recommended.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has also proposed that the same threshold should be used to elect first and deputy first ministers.

The DUP has been blocking powersharing at Stormont for more than a year and a half in protest at the internal UK trade barriers created by Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol.

IMF

8. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar staunchly denied speculation that Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe is eyeing up the managing director role in the UN’s International Monetary Fund (IMF).

US business publication Bloomberg reported on Friday evening that the Dublin Central TD is considering a move to the IMF, the United Nations financial agency, quoting sources with knowledge about the move.

Donohoe was in New York on Friday and posted on social media about sitting down with the outlet to discuss growth in the European economy.

‘Rizz’

9. After more than 30,000 votes, ‘rizz’ has been named Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year.

The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression that has attracted a lot of interest over the past 12 months.

The list was narrowed down by a public vote, and Oxford lexicographers then choose a winner that “reflects the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of that particular year”.