LAST UPDATE | 14 Sep 2023

GOOD MORNING.

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

1. Speed limit review

A speed limit of 30 km/h is to be recommended for many roads across Ireland in one of the biggest overhauls of speed limits the country has ever seen.

The speed limit of 30 km/h will apply to all urban centres, residential roads, and anywhere with a lot of pedestrians or cyclists. In practice, this will include many parts of Dublin as well as town and city centres across the country. 

There would be exceptions for national, regional, arterial, and key public transport routes, where it’s recommended the speed limit will be 50 km/h.

2. Interest rates

Eurozone interest rate setters face the toughest call of their long battle against red-hot inflation today, when they decide whether to raise borrowing costs again or finally pause the unprecedented hiking campaign.

The European Central Bank is struggling to navigate competing data that could push them either way – prices continue to rise fast, but the outlook in the single currency area is also deteriorating rapidly.

The central bank for the 20 countries that use the euro has already lifted rates by 4.25 percentage points since July last year to combat runaway consumer prices.

3. Rain incoming

A status yellow rain warning has been issued for the south of the country, while a status orange warning has been issued for Cork.

Met Éireann has said counties affected may include Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wexford, Wicklow, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford.

4. Libya

Search teams combed through streets, wrecked buildings and even searched the sea yesterday looking for bodies in a coastal Libyan city where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed at least 5,100 people.

It was the second major disaster to hit North Africa in recent days, after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake killed nearly 3,000 people in Morocco last Friday.

5. Northern Ireland

A 43-year-old man has been charged in Derry for possession of firearms and explosives in as part of an ongoing terrorism investigation in Derry.

Last week, officers with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) seized weapons and cash during a policing operation in the city as youths threw stones and petrol bombs at police.

Among the weapons seized last Thursday were two Military hand grenades, two handgun, over 50 rounds of ammunition and over a kilogram of plastic explosives.

6. North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to visit North Korea, Pyongyang’s state media said Thursday, as Kim Jong Un wrapped up a rare trip to meet with his ally.

Kim, who seldom leaves his country and has not travelled since before the pandemic, had a “historic meeting and talks” with Putin yesterday, the Korean Central News Agency said.

7. Kinahans

Police officers from Dubai have said they will help An Garda Síochána with the investigation into Kinahan cartel, the Irish Times has reported.

8. Bordeaux

The HSE confirmed to the Irish Examiner that “a small number” of Irish people are being treated in French hospitals for botulism after a woman due to an outbreak linked to a wine bar in Bordeaux.

9. US leadership

Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney has said he will not run for re-election in 2024, creating a wide-open contest in a state that heavily favours Republicans and is expected to attract a crowded field.

Romney, a former presidential candidate who ran against Barack Obamba and governor of Massachusetts, made the announcement in a video statement.

The 76-year-old said the country is ready for new leadership.