LAST UPDATE | 9 Nov 2022

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. Cavan

A woman in her 80s has been seriously injured in a road traffic collision in Co Cavan.

The incident occurred shortly after 7pm yesterday evening on the R165 at Bailieboro in Co Cavan.

It involved a pedestrian, a woman in her 80s, and a car.

2. Facebook

The government will be there to help people in the tech sector who are facing redundancy.

That’s the message from Tánaiste Leo Varadkar as Meta, the parent company which owns Facebook and Instagram, is reported to begin laying off staff this morning.

The news outlet reports that Zuckerberg “appeared downcast” in the virtual meeting with executives and that the cuts are expected to “total many thousands”. 

3. Climate

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney is set to meet with representatives of countries acutely vulnerable to the climate crisis in Egypt today at COP27.

The international climate conference is entering its fourth day in Sharm El-Sheikh and the pressure is growing on countries to successfully negotiate new climate commitments.

Today is the first of 11 themed days at COP27, with a focus on finance.

4. Stormont

The UK Government will announce whether a January deadline for holding an election in Northern Ireland is to be extended.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris will make a statement to the House of Commons amid pressure to push back the deadline to give more time for a deal on post-Brexit trade to be struck.

A failure to form a Stormont ministerial executive following May’s election has placed a legal responsibility on the UK Government to hold a poll by 19 January.

5. Homelessness

The government is to pilot the use of social housing as shared accommodation for young people as part of a new strategy to tackle youth homelessness.

A new National Youth Homeless Strategy – the first of its kind in 20 years – will be launched today by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien. 

The latest homelessness report shows that 17% of people accessing emergency accommodation were aged between 18-24. 

6. Safe Access Zones

Gardaí will engage with individuals before any enforcement is taken under plans for safe access zones around clinics that provide abortion services. 

However, Gardaí will tell an Oireachtas committee today that from a policing perspective, it has a number of concerns around the new legislation.

The new law will designate a protest exclusion zone of 100 metres around all healthcare facilities, including those that provide abortion services.

7. US Midterms

Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman has defeated Donald Trump-endorsed reality TV star Dr Mehmet Oz in a Pennsylvania senate race. 

NBC has called the race for Fetterman, bringing to a close one of the most closely fought and high-profile battles of the US midterm campaign.

Fetterman will replace Pat Toomey, a Republican who opted against seeking reelection, meaning his victory represents a significant gain for Democrats in a Senate that was evenly split at the beginning of the night.

8. Musk

Tesla chief Elon Musk sold nearly $4 billion worth of shares in the electric car company, SEC filings showed yesterday, more than a week after he closed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Musk has been pushing for ways to pay for the massive deal, for which he took on billions of dollars in debt and earlier sold $15.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla.

On Tuesday, documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated that he had disposed of more than another 19 million shares, worth in excess of $3.9 billion.

9. Gavin Williamson

A former UK cabinet minister resigned from Rishi Sunak’s Government after bullying allegations were made against him over a series of text messages he sent to a colleague.

Williamson said he had decided to step down from his position while he faces a series of inquiries into his conduct. 

In a series of expletive-laden texts exposed over the weekend, Williamson accused former chief whip Wendy Morton of seeking to “punish” MPs out of favour with then-premier Liz Truss by excluding them from Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, warning: “There is a price for everything.”