Broadband plan review finds process was not undermined by Naughten
A report into the National Broadband Plan tender process has found the process was not undermined by meetings former Minister Denis Naughten had with a businessman involved in the final consortium bidding for the contract.
An independent review was ordered after it emerged last month that the then minister had met with David McCourt on a number of occasions.
Mr McCourt is heavily involved in the last remaining consortium bidding for the contract to roll-out broadband across the country.
The revelations prompted Denis Naughten to resign as minister.
Patrick Nevin jailed for five and a half years for sexually assaulting woman he met on Tinder
A convicted rapist and serial sex offender has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman he met on Tinder.
Patrick Nevin, a 37-year-old software engineer from Dun Laoghaire, has also been ordered to stay off online dating apps for two years after his release.
After matching on Tinder in June 2014, Nevin sent a message to the woman asking how she was and almost immediately after receiving her reply, he asked her if she was a good kisser and if she wanted to meet up.
The woman, who had only arrived in Ireland from Brazil a few weeks beforehand to learn English, said she was wearing a long sleeve summer dress when he picked her up in his blue BMW for what she thought would be a coffee date on July 23rd 2014.
Regulatory differences between Northern Ireland and Britain already exist - May
The UK Prime Minister has noted that there are already regulatory differences between Northern Ireland and Britain that do not impact on the union between the two.
Theresa May was speaking in Belfast as she continued her tour to try and drum up support for the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
She said the deal, accepted by her Cabinet and the leaders of the 27 remaining EU states, protects the Good Friday Agreement and prevents any hard border in the North.
“We do already have some regulatory differences between Northern Ireland and Great Britain in certain areas and that hasn’t challenged the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom,” she said.
UN climate report warns nations must triple efforts to combat global warming
The United Nations is warning that countries around the world will have to triple their efforts to cut greenhouse gases to have any chance of preventing a climate change catastrophe.
The latest annual report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that the carbon-reduction commitments already made by many countries will not be enough to prevent global temperatures rising more than the generally agreed target of 2C.
The report warns that annual greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high of 53.5bn tonnes in 2017 – and show no sign of peaking by 2030, let alone 2020.
The authors noted that global emissions could go between 13bn and 15bn tonnes beyond the level needed to prevent global temperatures rising beyond 2C this century.
Orange warnings for six counties as Storm Diana set to bring strong winds on Wednesday
A number of weather warnings have been issued, with Storm Diana set to bring strong winds across the country on Wednesday.
Orange warnings have been issued for six counties in the west and south, with a lower-level status yellow warning for the entire country.
A status orange wind warning for Cork, Kerry and Waterford comes into effect from 6am on Wednesday, valid until noon.
Forecasters say south to southwest winds of 65 to 80 km/h will gust 110 to 130 km/h.
High seas are also expected, with a risk of coastal flooding.
