By Sarah Gill
28th Mar 2024
28th Mar 2024
Your speedy summary of today's must-read stories.
Israeli strikes on Rafah raises new fears
Israel bombed at least four homes in Rafah yesterday, raising new fear among the more than a million Palestinians sheltering in the last refuge on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip that a long-threatened ground assault could be coming. One of the airstrikes killed 11 people from a single family, health officials said. Mussa Dhaheer, looking on from below as neighbours helped an emergency worker lower a victim in a black body bag from an upper storey, said he had awakened to the blast, kissed his terrified daughter, and rushed outside to find the destruction. His father, 75, and mother, 62, were among the dead.
Mother and daughters killed in Mayo crash
A mother and her children who died in a road accident in Co Mayo on Tuesday had been returning home from visiting family in Donegal. Una Carlin Bowden (47) and daughters Ciara (14) and Saoirse (10) died instantly when their vehicle collided with a fuel lorry on the N17 outside Claremorris, Co Mayo. The family had lived in Gortachalla, Moycullen, Co Galway, for several years and the girls attended school locally. Ciara was a first-year student in the Salerno Secondary School in Galway city. Saoirse was in third class in Scoil Naomh Bride, Tullykyne National School in Moycullen.
Four people arrested in connection with Galway fire
Four people have been arrested by gardaí investigating a a suspected arson attack on a hotel earmarked for asylum seekers in Co Galway. The blaze started at around 11.35pm on 16 December at the Ross Lake Hotel in Rosscahill, requiring the fire services to attend the scene and bring the fire under control. There were no people inside the building at the time of the incident. Four people have been arrested this morning as part of the Garda investigation into the fire.
Two bodies recovered following Baltimore bridge collapse
The bodies of two men have been recovered from the water after a bridge collapsed in Baltimore when a freight ship crashed into it. The bodies were recovered from the Patapsco River a day after the massive container ship lost power and its ability to manoeuvre before crashing into a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, knocking most of it into the water below. Maryland State Police Colonel Roland Butler said a red pickup truck containing the bodies of the two men was found in about 7.62m of water near the mid-section of the fallen bridge.
Increase in prosecutions and prison terms for asylum seekers
There has been a sharp increase in prosecutions of asylum applicants in recent months for not having passports or travel ID as they enter the State. Figures obtained by The Journal show that 34 prosecutions have been taken as part of operations by the Garda National Immigration Bureau in the first two months of this year. At least 18 people have received jail sentences in the courts in the same time period. Several of these have been for two-month periods. This contrasts with the jailing of two people under the Act throughout the entirety of last year.
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