LAST UPDATE | 14 Apr 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

Craig Breen

1. Irish rally driver Craig Breen has died aged 33 following an accident in Croatia yesterday.

Breen’s team Hyundai Motorsport confirmed news of the tragedy, which occurred during the pre-event test ahead of Rally Croatia later this month.

Citizens’ Assembly

2. A leading drug addiction expert has criticised the makeup of an advisory group for the Citizens’ Assembly on drugs, expressing a concern that the Assembly may be “steered in a specific direction” due to how the panel was formed, including the presence of an anti-cannabis campaigner among its membership. 

The intervention comes hours before the Assembly gets underway tomorrow, with former HSE chief executive Paul Reid set to chair the gathering. 

Biden in Mayo

3. Joe Biden will conclude his visit to Ireland by making a public address in the town where some of his ancestors hail from.

Biden will travel to the west of Ireland, where he will give a speech at a cathedral in Ballina, Co Mayo this evening.

North Korean missile

4. North Korea has said it flight-tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time yesterday.

It could signal a possible breakthrough in its efforts to acquire a more powerful, harder-to-detect weapon. 

Florida abortion restriction

5. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning most abortions after six weeks, hours after the White House called the measure “extreme and dangerous.”

“We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said in a statement. 

Nuclear plant

6. The UN’s nuclear chief has warned that “we are living on borrowed time” following two recent landmine explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly expressed fears over the safety of the plant, which is Europe’s largest atomic power station. 

French pension controversy

7. France’s top constitutional court is to rule today on whether to approve President Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular pensions overhaul after months of protests.

The 45-year-old centrist leader is facing a major domestic crisis over his flagship pensions reform, whose headline measure is to raise the legal retirement age to 64 from 62.

Military leak

8. US authorities have arrested a suspect in the case of leaked classified documents, which has honed in on a young National Guard member as the possible source of the security breach.

The FBI made a “probable cause” arrest of a man identified by authorities as a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, ABC News has reported.

Cork road death

9. Gardaí are appealing for witnesses after a man in his 70s died after being struck by a van in Co Cork early this morning.

It happened on Main Street in Union Hall, a small village 10 kilometres from Skibbereen, at around 8.30am.