GOOD MORNING.

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

Belfast train tickets

1. A Stormont MLA has slammed the ticketing system for Republic-bound passengers in Belfast’s new train station Grand Central, calling it “partitionist” and “nuts”.

Ukraine

2. At least eight people were wounded in a drone and missile attack on Kyiv overnight, city authorities said, just as Russia and Ukraine were in the middle of a major prisoner swap.

Gambling

3. Licensing Ireland’s lucrative gambling industry under strict regulations will not begin until the middle of 2026, over a year after the appointment of a new regulatory body.

Dee Wall

4. An anti-lockdown protester has launched a legal challenge against a Circuit Court judge over a €200 fine she received for breaking Covid-19 health restrictions in 2021. 

Syria sanctions

5. Syria has welcomed the formal lifting of US sanctions as a “positive step” that will help its post-war recovery.

Fleeced

6. Sudanese people living in Ireland are finding themselves exploited and losing “thousands of euros” when trying to get visas to visit family members in Egypt who have been displaced by their home nation’s civil war.

Kneecap

7. A member of Irish rap trio Kneecap said the terror charge he faces is an attempt to “silence us” as the group appeared on stage for a gig they claimed was nearly “pulled”. 

Stabbing attack 

8. A German woman was arrested after seventeen people were reportedly injured in a knife attack at the central train station in Hamburg in Germany this evening.

Awards 

9. Brendan Gleeson and Jonny Sexton both received awards from the Lord Mayor of Dublin yesterday evening.