LAST UPDATE | 14 Aug 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Fire Safety works

1. Owners of apartments in Swords have been warned that they may face legal action if they do not begin to pay part of €15,000 needed for fire safety works.

The Broadmeadows apartment complex is one of thousands of boom-era developments with fire safety defects.

Last year, The Journal reported that owners of apartments in the complex were told that they would have to pay €5,000 for the fire safety remedial works each year for three years, with the total amounting to €15,000. 

Hawaii wildfires

2. The death toll in Hawaii from the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century has ticked towards 100, fuelling criticism that government inaction contributed to the heavy loss of life.

Officials say 93 people are known to have died, but warned the figure was likely to rise as recovery crews with cadaver dogs work their way through hundreds of homes and burned-out vehicles in Lahaina.

Niger

3. Niger’s military regime vowed late last night to prosecute ousted president Mohamed Bazoum for “high treason” and slammed West African leaders for imposing sanctions on the country.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions on Niger in response to the coup and has not ruled out using force against the army officers who toppled the democratically elected Bazoum on 26 July.

Odesa

4. Ukraine downed three waves of Russian missiles and drones targeting Odesa, its army said early this morning, the latest in a string of attacks in the southern region on the Black Sea coast.

Air defence forces repelled all the attacks, but falling debris damaged a student dormitory and a supermarket in Odesa’s city centre, leaving three workers wounded, the army said.

North Korea

5. Kim Jong Un has ordered a drastic increase in production of missiles and other weapons, state media said, days before South Korea and the US begin annual military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.

Kim’s push to produce more weapons also comes as US officials believe Russia’s defence minister recently talked with North Korea about selling more weapons to Russia for its war with Ukraine.

Endangered birds

6. An endangered bird has returned to a Co Down bog thanks to conservation efforts.

For the first time in several years, two breeding pairs of lapwings have been spotted at Lecale Fens special area of conservation, just outside Downpatrick.

The breakthrough comes after efforts by Ulster Wildlife working with local farmer John Crea.

New Zealand

7. The country removed the last of its remaining Covid-19 restrictions today, marking the end of a government response to the pandemic that was watched closely around the world.

Reflecting on the government’s response to the virus over more than three years, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said that during the height of the pandemic he had longed for the day he could end all restrictions, but now it felt anticlimactic.

Hong Kong

8. Seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates had part of their convictions quashed today over their roles in one of the biggest pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the city’s Democratic Party, and five former pro-democracy lawmakers, including barrister Margaret Ng, had been found guilty of organising and participating an unauthorised assembly.

Cork road collision

9. A boy is in critical condition after a road traffic collision in Carrigaline, Co Cork over the weekend.

Gardaí said the boy was seriously injured when he was hit by a car at the Ballinrea roundabout on Saturday morning.

He was transferred from the scene to Cork University Hospital and has since been transferred to Temple Street children’s hospital where he remains in a critical condition.