By Sarah Gill
20th Jan 2023
20th Jan 2023
Your speedy summary of today's must-read stories.
Argos
Argos is set to close all 34 stores and operations in the Republic of Ireland at the end of June this year with the loss of 580 jobs. In a statement, the company said, “Argos concluded the investment required to develop and modernise the Irish part of its business was not viable and that the money would be better invested in other parts of its business.”
Jacinda Ardern resigns as New Zealand Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern — who became New Zealand’s Prime Minister in 2017 — announced her resignation yesterday, with her final day in office being on 7 February. “I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple,” she said. “The only interesting angle that you will find, is that after going on for six years of some big challenges, I am human.”
Social housing
Civil servants at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) have said that the revised social housing target of 8,000 homes in 2022 will be missed. They now estimate that only 6,500 social homes were completed in 2022, which is 2,500 less than the initial target and 1,500 less than the revised target.
Trump sanctioned nearly $1 million
Former President Donald Trump and his attorneys have been sanctioned for nearly $1 million for a lawsuit brought against Hillary Clinton, ex-top Justice Department officials, and several others alleging they conspired against him in the 2016 campaign.
Free the nipple
The advisory board at Meta — Facebook and Instagram’s parent company — are calling for an overhaul to the company’s rules banning bare-chested images of women, but not men. This follows Facebook’s censorship of two posts from an account run by an American couple who are transgender and non-binary. The posts showed the couple posing topless, but with their nipples covered, with captions describing trans healthcare and raising money for top surgery, and were flagged by users, reviewed and removed by an AI system. The board recommended that Meta “define clear, objective, rights-respecting criteria” when it comes to moderating nudity “so that all people are treated in a manner consistent with international human rights standards”.
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