LAST UPDATE | 18 Apr 2024

GOOD MORNING.

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

Canvassing

1. Irish diplomats and officials including military representatives have been heavily canvassing across Europe as the campaign gathers pace to get an Irish military officer appointed to lead the European Union military committee. 

Verdict

2, The jury’s verdict in the Stardust inquests will be announced at 2pm today. 

Security Council

3, The Security Council vote on the Palestinians’ bid to become a full member state of the United Nations is expected to occur today or Friday, diplomats said, as discussions continued.

Several diplomatic sources had told AFP earlier that the vote would take place on Thursday, but the situation has since changed with some member states asking for a Friday vote.

Taxis

4. Taxi licence numbers have fallen in 23 out of 26 counties in the Republic of Ireland, new figures show, which some say highlights stark regional disparities in access to essential transport.

Climate change

5. The deadly heatwave that hit Africa’s Sahel region in early April would not have occurred without “human-induced” climate change, according to a study by the World Weather Attribution.

Limerick assault

6. A Brazilian man was hospitalised after being injured in what is thought to be a racially-motivated attack.

Ukraine

7. Rescuers are removing mountains of rubble from the site of a lethal Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s historic city of Chernihiv, where at least 18 people were killed in an attack that has prompted fresh pleas for allies to boost Kyiv’s overstretched air defence systems.

Self defence

8. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country reserved the right to protect itself after Iran’s unprecedented attack, and that it alone would decide how to do so, AFP reports.

Aftermath

9. A Sydney shopping centre has reopened to the public for the first time since a mass stabbing in which six people died.