GOOD MORNING.

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

Creche closures

1. A Galway creche closed its doors yesterday after 17 years, with the owner describing government contracts as “death by a thousand cuts” for small, independent services such as hers.

Threats

2. The Department of Integration has launched an investigation after letters were issued to a number of families warning that food and housing may be “reduced or withdrawn” in Dundrum House in Co Tipperary.

It said it was concerned by the wording of the warning as it “falls short of the standard” for communicating with residents and added that it needed to “verify” the letters.

Oasis

3. Fans of the British rock band Oasis scrambled to get tickets for the reunion concerts this morning, but they faced multiple tech issues as the Ticketmaster website continued to crash.

Twitter ban

4. A block on Elon Musk’s X social network in Brazil started to take effect today after a Supreme Court judge ordered its suspension.

Weather

5. A pleasant weekend is in store as the forecast reinforces there may still be some summer left – especially in the west of the country.

Portugal crash

6. At least four crew members died and one was missing after a firefighting helicopter crashed in the Douro River in northern Portugal on Friday.

The pilot survived the accident that prompted the government to decree a day of national mourning for today.

Deepfakes

7. More than a fifth of people who unknowingly watched deepfake videos of Irish politicians being interviewed as part of a study told researchers that they “remembered” the interviews actually taking place.

However, the study by researchers at University College Cork also found that participants were almost as likely to form a false memory of a fake story that was presented in a text format as one which was shown to them as a deepfake video. 

Matthew Perry overdose

8. The doctor who has agreed to plead guilty in connection with the overdose death of “Friends” actor Matthew Perry was ordered today by a judge not to practice medicine.

Mpox

9. The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) believes the ongoing mpox outbreaks in Africa might be stopped in the next six months and said today that the agency’s first shipment of vaccines should arrive in Congo within days.