LAST UPDATE | 14 Aug 2025

GOOD MORNING.

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

Seal Harm

1. Visitors to a popular Co Kerry island are disturbing Ireland’s largest grey seal colony by flying drones and picking up pups for selfies.

Passports

2. A high number of applicants from the US have applied for an Irish passport this year, with the latest figures for this year showing 26,111 applications have been submitted. 

Ukraine talks

3. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London today Thursday, his office said, ahead of the key US-Russia summit in Alaska. 

Weather

4. It’ll be another warm day today, with temperatures reaching up to 25 degrees in parts, but Met Éireann says scattered showers, some heavy, are expected in many areas. 

Aid blocked

5. New Israeli legislation regulating foreign aid groups has been increasingly used to deny their requests to bring supplies into Gaza, according to a joint letter signed by more than 100 groups published Thursday.

Al Fayed allegations

6. Metropolitan Police have said 146 people have come forward to report a crime as part of their investigation into former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed.

Fatal crash

7. Ronan Keating has called for stronger penalties for those convicted of fatal road traffic offences.

Volcano climbing

8. A Dublin woman is on a mission to reach the summit of the highest volcano in each of the planet’s seven continents.

Baby Shark

9. South Korea’s top court has ruled that the globally popular South Korean children’s song “Baby Shark” was not plagiarised, rejecting a copyright claim filed by a US-based composer.