Six dead after train accident in Denmark
Six people have been killed in a train accident on a bridge in Denmark.
Police said 16 others were injured in the incident on the Great Belt Bridge, which links the two main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen.
The accident involving a passenger train a freight train travelling in the opposite directions happened at around 8am local time this morning.
It is believed the passenger train was hit by cargo or tarpaulin from the other train.
2018 was worst year on record for hospital overcrowding, INMO says
More than 108,000 patients went without a hospital bed in 2018, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The INMO figures show it was the worst year on record - a 9% increase on 2017, and nearly double the figure in 2006 when the INMO began recording figures.
The highest trolley figures were reached in the first three months of last year.
University Hospital in Limerick was the worst affected by overcrowding, with 11,437 people waiting for a bed during the year.
Ross says plans for minimum passing distance when overtaking cyclists 'unenforceable'
The Minister for Transport has said plans for a minimum passing distance for cars overtaking cyclists were unenforceable.
The Attorney General has warned Minister Shane Ross that the plan to force drivers to leave a specific amount of space when overtaking cyclists would face consistent legal challenge.
The proposals would have made it an offence to pass closer than 1m to a cyclist on a road with a speed limit under 50kph. The passing distance was to rise to 1.5m on roads with higher limits.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Minister Shane Ross said it would have been too difficult to prove passing distances in court.
New laws to protect victims of domestic violence come into effect
New laws to protect victims of domestic violence come into effect from today.
The Domestic Violence Act 2018, which includes the creation of the new offence of coercive control, has been welcomed by campaigners as a “really important step forward.”
That refers to psychological abuse in an intimate relationship that causes "fear of violence, or serious alarm or distress that has a substantial adverse impact on a person’s day-to-day activities".
Other protections introduced include an "extensive" list of factors that courts must consider when dealing with applications for domestic violence orders, and emergency barring orders for victims when there's an "immediate risk" of significant harm.
Ultima Thule: NASA releases detailed images of most distant object ever explored
NASA has released a detailed image of the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft.
It comes after the space agency’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past the 31km-long space rock in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Currently lying a billion miles beyond Pluto, the Ultima Thule is officially the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft.
The new images, released this afternoon, reveal the object as a “contact binary” made up of two distinct spheres.
