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GOOD MORNING. HERE’S everything you need to know as the weekend gets underway.
1. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has declared a state of an emergency over what his government called an “extremely serious military aggression” by the United States on the capital Caracas.
Multiple explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard around the city, an AFP journalist reported.
American news broadcaster CBS News reported that the US military had launched the strikes, according to their sources.
2. A fresh appeal has been made for information in the case of a woman who disappeared without a trace from Waterford more than three decades ago.
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the disappearance of 22-year-old Imelda Keenan.
Imelda, originally from Mountmellick, Co Laois, is recorded as having been last seen in Waterford city on Monday, 3 January, 1994.
3. A man has been arrested by gardaí investigating a serious assault that took place in Roscommon at 1am on New Year’s Day. A man aged in his 30s was brought to Beaumont Hospital to be treated for his injuries after the assault.
Gardaí said earlier that the injured man was in critical condition.
4. Four of the five people who were injured in an arson attack on a home in Finglas, Dublin on Wednesday have been discharged from hospital.
Gardaí are continuing to investigate the attack on a house in Creston Avenue.
It’s believed the attack was a case of mistaken identity, as it emerged that the attackers targeted the wrong property.
5. US president Donald Trump has said that the United States was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilise the region.
Protesters and security forces clashed in several Iranian cities on Thursday, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated.
6. Temperatures will drop to as low as -4 in the coming nights as Status Yellow weather warnings take effect for the entire country, with possible snow in some counties.
Similar warnings have been issued by the UK Met Office for Northern Ireland, where drivers have been advised to exercise “extreme caution” when on the road after freezing conditions over recent nights.
7. The number of people in emergency accommodation in Ireland reached a record level yet again in November of last year.
Figures show that at the end of that month there were 16,996 people living in emergency accommodation, including 5,321 children under 18 and 11,675 adults.
That’s up from a total of 16,676 people in October 2025, including 5,274 children and 11,492 adults.
8. The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has expressed concern about the high rate of dangerously defective cars on Irish roads with official figures showing almost 133,000 vehicles submitted for an NCT last year were classified as “fail dangerous”.
The figures indicate that a record level of approximately 1 in every 13 vehicles tested during 2025 was assessed as being unroadworthy to a dangerous level by NCT inspectors.
9. Several estate agents have been warne by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after property listings which stretched the definition of a bedroom were found to be potentially misleading.
Seven complaints against property listings have been upheld by the ASA since the start of 2024.
The complaints all relate to the number of bedrooms in the property that is for sale, with the listings described by the advertising watchdog as “having the potential to mislead customers”.
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