If there is one piece of mine I would like you to read it is this.
My interview with Mohammed Halalo, an IT contractor for the European Commission whose mother, siblings, nieces, and nephews were killed in their home in Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza:
This is like a lesson in how to facilitate older people while honouring who they are.
What a class act by
@ladygaga
with legend Liza Minnelli.
The conferred whispers of "I gotcha" "I know" picked up by the mikes make it especially touching.
A 17-year-old rape victim was NOT euthanised in the Netherlands.
@euronews
@Independent
@DailyMailUK
@dailybeast
are all wrong
It took me about 10 mins to check with the reporter who wrote the original Dutch story.
Noa Pothoven asked for euthanasia and was refused (cont.)
Why is a Native American lacrosse team tweeting as Gaeilge?
Ireland has pulled out of the International World Games to give their space to the Iroquois Nationals, who represent the people who invented the game, and to whom it is sacred
A journalist has been killed covering riots in Derry. Her name was Lyra McKee. She was 29. She recently signed a two-book deal with Faber, who called her a "rising star of investigative journalism". This is her last tweet, sent from the scene of the unrest.
There is deep concern among EU institutions and capitals that by appearing to sanction Israel's expected invasion of Gaza, von der Leyen has squandered the EU's credibility - including on Ukraine.
She had no mandate to visit Israel from the member states.
Sussex police fined 19-year-old Shana Grice £90 for ‘wasting police time’ as she tried five times in six months to report her stalker.
He killed her that summer.
The World Health Organisation has described what it found in Al Shifa hospital, after it led a dangerous mission to reach it.
Among the patients still unable to evacuate are "32 babies in extremely critical condition"
I don't think history will forget this
Hearing a British official confidently say that Britain doesn't need to recognise the European Convention on Human Rights because Britain doesn't violate human rights.
Iraq, Kenya, and Northern Ireland might want a word just to start with...
The Navajo Nation has more confirmed cases per capita of COVID-19 than 48 US states! Navajo has depleted all of her limited resources to battle. Funding to fight is now grassroots fundraising - help if you can: Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund
According to exit poll:
- Overall vote was 68 Yes 32 No
- a 77% Yes vote in Dublin
- 66% Yes vote in Munster
- 59% Yes vote in Connacht
- Majority in all age groups under 65
- Ages 18-24 voted 87% for Repeal
If borne out this is sensationally historic.
#repealthe8th
A year ago I began wondering: what happens in Syrian media when Mick Wallace and Clare Daly speak in support of viewpoints held by the Assad regime?
I set up an alert for their names when used in Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
Follow me down the rabbit hole:
Exclusive: the United Nations has banned its staff from using the words "war" or "invasion" to refer to the situation in Ukraine, the Irish Times has learned
If you ever worry about whether you can trust a story or not, a good way to check is to look up whether
@Reuters
is reporting it or not. I trained to be a journalist with
@Reuters
, this is what they do.
Irish President Michael D Higgins has critised Ursula von der Leyen, calling her actions "thoughtless and even reckless"
"I don’t know where the legitimation for it was, and I don’t know where the authority for it is, and I don’t think it is helpful."
I would like an explanatory podcast about the SNP affair. I would particularly like to understand why a prominent woman politician seems to be the primary subject of inquiry over the offenses of a man
Israeli forces have destroyed Irish aid donated to Palestinian families in repeat demolitions of a village in the West Bank.
My story here:
📷
@NRC_Norway
and
@btselem
Joint call for all flights to, from, and over Belarus to be suspended and for sanctions on the Lukashenko regime from the chairs of the Parliament foreign affairs committees of Ireland, UK, US, Poland, Germany, Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania
A powerful video.
At the heart of Italy's Coronavirus outbreak, Giovanni Locatelli compares the obituaries page of local daily newspaper
@webEcodiBergamo
on February 9 and March 13.
Major remaining holes in sanctions:
- EU gas purchases piping money directly to the Russian state.
- UK naming 15 sanctioned individuals vs the EU's 680, and giving a bizarre weeks-long lead in time that allows assets to be liquidated and moved in front of our eyes.
A decision to move to palliative care and not to force feed at the request of the patient is not euthanasia.
Dutch media did not report Noa Pothoven's death as a case of euthanasia. This idea only appeared in English language pickups of Dutch reporting.
Leo Varadkar is set to take over as Taoiseach in December, so if Rishi Sunak becomes PM the photo of their first meeting will be quite something, marking a moment in which both Britain and Ireland are led by people of Indian heritage.
EU staff have expressed their outrage towards unqualified support of Israel in a letter to President Ursula von der Leyen.
They accuse the European Commission of giving "a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip":
The EU has reached a deal.
A ban on Russian oil got over the line - by exempting oil that comes through pipelines, allowing dependent states (Hungary really) to continue importing.
Shipped Russian oil, accounting for 2/3 of EU imports, is to be banned.
Regarding UK claim that 'comms mix up' stopped it joining EU scheme to procure ventilators:
UK was invited to join health ministers meetings on March 6 & 10 that initiated procurement. It declined
Telegraph reported worries that collaborating on health could interfere with Brexit
The Netherlands' dramatic rise in Covid-19 cases:
June 26: restrictions dropped
July 1: 806 cases
July 2: 941
July 3: 1,215
July 4: 1,519
July 6: 2,209
July 7: 3,646
July 8: 5,431
July 9: 6,926
July 10: 10,345
Tomorrow's infections will be the highest ever if this rate continues.
I had immediate questions reading the Dutch articles about whether this was a case of euthanasia or not. It would have been an enormous deal in the Netherlands if a 17-year-old really had euthanasia. It's really easy to check. Like I say, took me about 10 minutes. Infuriating.
The day before this, Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated that "an entire nation out there that is responsible" and that it's not true that Palestinian civilians were "not aware, not involved".
This quote was just read as plausible evidence of incitement to genocide by the ICJ.
We are friends of Israel.
When friends are under attack, we stand by them.
Israel has the right and duty to respond to Hamas’ act of war.
We call for the immediate release of all hostages taken by Hamas.
@Isaac_Herzog
@EP_President
Sally Rooney says it would be "an honour" to have her new novel translated into Hebrew.
"If I can find a way to sell these rights that is compliant with the BDS movement’s institutional boycott guidelines, I will be very pleased and proud to do so."
Ireland typically runs a hospital bed occupancy level of 95%, and over 100% in the winter, with people lying in corridors. Our health system would be the quickest to be overrun in the EU, according to ECDC. That's relavant to policy decisions now.
For international viewers, this is the dark side of the bunting and the nationalism.
These men are gleefully singing a song about a teacher who was tragically murdered on her honeymoon, because her dad is a prominent figure in Irish sport. That's how deep their hatred is.
'Iarnród Enda' follows Enda Kenny as he searches for pointers to the future along the long-abandoned railway routes of Ireland. Episode one brings us from Waterford to Dungarvan. The six-part series starts tonight at 8.30pm
@RTEOne
.
#IarnrodEnda
Kind of reeling from going on a UK radio station this morning that was clearly not interested in informing listeners with facts at all, but instead trying to use me to present its slant that the crap old EU is not helping Ukraine.
Croatia becomes the 20th country to join the euro today.
These are the Croatian Euro coins that are now coming into circulation and being given as change in Croatian shops as the country says goodbye to the Kuna
Irish MEP Clare Daly has denounced the EU's sanctions on Russia in the European Parliament, saying the response "makes me sick", and decrying attempts to replace Russian gas with "filthy fracked US gas"
She arrived in Israel as it ordered the displacement of 1 mln people in Gaza, to the vocal horror of the UN, and said not one word about it.
Instead, she shook hands with Benjamin Netanyahu for the cameras.
This does not reflect the EU position.
My piece:
Beware of misinfo about Irish ppl gloating over Queen Elizabeth's death. Americans seem to enjoy this idea & exaggerate it. It is not true for example that Irish dancers performed in celebration outside Buckingham Palace. This was an innocent post from Jan reposted out of context
I spoke to Paul Bolwerk, a reporter who has been covering the story for
@DeGelderlander
since 2018. Noa Pothoven had been severely ill with anorexia and other conditions for some time. Without telling her parents, she sought and was refused euthanasia
Wow - this is the list of surnames that staff at British holiday park company Pontins were told to exclude from bookings.
"We do not want these guests on our parks" the blacklist on the company's intranet read.
Scoop by
@ChrisGreenNews
and
@cahalmilmo
Extraordinary times.
Italy's draft emergency Coronavirus law to ban entry and exit to whole of Lombardy region - capital Milan- Venice, Padua, Parma & 8 others.
Weddings and funerals banned. Cinemas, gyms, pubs, museums all closed.
Anyone violating law can be arrested and fined.
This week I heard the most terrible words ever said to me, in a call to Gaza: perhaps it is better for us all to die together, the whole family, so we won't have to suffer anymore.
What is the point of civilisation, of any human endeavour, if we can't prevent suffering like this.
Infuriatingly, it's too late: this misinformation has already spread all over the world from Australia to the United States to India. Her name,
#noapothoven
is even trending in Italy.
The family had tried many kinds of psychiatric treatment and Noa Pothoven was repeatedly hospitalised; she made a series of attempts to kill herself in recent months. In desperation the family sought electro shocktherapy, which was refused due to her young age.
After electroshock therapy was refused, Pothoven insisted she wanted no further treatment and a hospital bed was set up at home in the care of her parents. At the start of June she began refusing all fluids and food, and her parents and doctors agreed not to force feed her.
Memorial in central Dublin for Savita Halappanavar, whose death after she was denied an abortion in 2012 galvanised the Repeal movement.
Surrounded by flowers and candles today. People nearby were shaking and overwhelmed to hear of exit poll predicting a Yes victory
#repealthe8th
How has this happened?
@newscomauHQ
and
@laubchad
have questions to answer, as authors of early English-language articles that made a leap to conclude euthanasia from the report that Pothoven once asked for it, and an Instagram post in which she wrote that she was going to die
It's so strange to hear people in Britain are still repeating that EU law forces private ownership of railways when it's the UK that is the ONLY European country WITHOUT a state-owned passenger rail service company
'So you did realise you were jeopardising potentially holiday pay, data protection rights, collective consultation, protection for pregnant, part-time and fixed-term workers? I could go on. I did a minute ago. You can play the tape.'
@mrjamesob
challenges Mick Lynch on Brexit.
Bernadette Devlin explains British "democracy" to William Buckley in 1972:
"When we break the law, we go to jail. When the government breaks the law, the government changes the law."
Changing inconvenient laws to circumvent illegality has long been a British government tactic.
How is international media reporting Ireland's dramatic Covid-19 surge that has taken it from one of the lightest-affected in Europe to a global hotspot in a matter of weeks?
Always interesting to see an international perspective.
A press review:
UN staff were instructed not to use "war" or "invasion" and to use "conflict" or "military offensive" instead, according to an internal email seen by the Irish Times.
It comes as the Kremlin cracks down on the use of the same words within Russia
This leaves Northern Ireland a complete outlier, with no same-sex marriage and a near-total abortion ban. Women prosecuted for procuring abortion pills in 2017 and 2016. Women with fatal foetal abnormality diagnoses travelling to Britain. It's unsustainable.
They made the new green white & orange version of their logo their avi ☺️
The Iroquois Nationals were initially excluded "on the grounds that they were not a sovereign nation, without an Olympic Committee".
When this was overturned - if a place could be found - Ireland pulled out
A sign that the uproar has been heard in the Berlaymont and she is now trying to turn things around.
But everyone is saying immense damage has already been done.
I spoke with
@UN
SG
@antonioguterres
following my visit & contacts with regional leaders.
The EU will be tripling its humanitarian aid for vulnerable civilians in Gaza and the wider region.
We will redouble efforts to ensure this support reaches those who need it.
Some people in Ireland are convinced the country is the most corrupt awful or lawless state in the world, oblivious to how tame Ireland's problems are relative to even other rich countries. It's a fascinating combo of cynicism and naivety.
UK's Boris Johnson tried to set up calls with France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel on Brexit on Monday ahead of talks with Ursula von der Leyen.
The EU chiefs made a joint decision to refuse, to ensure the EU speaks with one voice, according to senior EU official.
The makers of Jameson and Powers whiskey are converting production to make alcohol gel for the Irish health service.
"Production will commence immediately with end product being delivered to the HSE’s supply centre thereafter for distribution to hospitals"
A story I’ve been working on for a while is out.
How tenants in the property empire of Luxembourg landlord Marc Godart are surveilled in their kitchens with CCTV that records audio and video - and mercilessly evicted if they complain
165 people have so far tested positive for Covid-19 in the Netherlands after a single disco that had 650 guests.
All had had to show proof of a negative test or vaccination to get in (though there are reportedly multiple loopholes, such as sharing screenshots).
165 mensen besmet na avond in Nederlandse discotheek. Iedereen toonde een QR-code als bewijs van een negatieve test of van vaccinatie. Toch even goed nadenken.
This 'technological' plan for the border means:
- GPS tracking of all "goods" vehicles
- number plate scans
- checks on 'suspicious' vehicles
- gathering "wide array" of data "including social media"
i.e. it's mass surveillance of Irish citizens by the UK
@_chrisjones_
Thank you for that information. We apologize but upon reviewing your location you're in Northern Ireland. Rugby Autumn Nations Cup coverage is exclusively available to Prime members based in the UK. We don't have the rights to other territories. ^RS