Burke calls for task force on homelessness
Dublin City Councillor Christy Burke has called on Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly to create a task force to tackle homelessness.
The comments from the former Lord Mayor of Dublin follow the events on Monday night which saw a family with three children, all under the age of five, sleeping on a bench in Dublin city.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said there are usually around 100 people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin every night.
Mr Burke said proper homes are needed not B&Bs and hotels.
Fisherman injured on vessel off Dublin coast
A fisherman has been airlifted to hospital after he was injured on a vessel off the coast of Dublin this evening.
The man was working on the Irish vessel, John B, when he was knocked unconscious.
The Coast Guard helicopter received a call at around 6.40pm and attended to the vessel.
The fisherman was brought to an ambulance waiting on shore and transferred to Beamount Hospital. His injuries are not thought to be serious.
Former boxing champion Magee wins appeal
Former world boxing champion Eamonn Magee has won his appeal against being found guilty of beating up a woman in a north Belfast flat.
The 44-year-old ex-fighter had been facing a four-month jail sentence for assaulting Louise Mullan in July last year.
But his conviction was overturned today after she failed to turn up for a re-arranged appeal hearing.
EPA says chemical use to reduce lead is 'temporary'
The Environmental Protection Agency has said the introduction of the chemical orthophosphate to reduce the amount of lead in pipes is only a temporary measure and does not supersede the replacement of pipes.
EPA Senior Inspector Darragh Page said there is no other way to deal with lead other than the replacement of pipes.
He said it is not 100% effective but it has been shown to reduce the levels of lead in pipes.
A pilot project by Irish Water to add the chemical to the water supply is due to start in Co Limerick shortly.
Ruhama against Amnesty prostitution stance
A group which supports women affected by prostitution has said it is saddened by Amnesty International's decision to campaign for the full decriminalisation of all aspects of prostitution where it takes place voluntarily.
Ruhama spokesperson Sarah Benson said the best way to tackle trafficking and the exploitation of women in prostitution was to decriminalise the person selling and to criminalise the sex buyer.
She said full decriminalisation was not the answer and had led to an increase in prostitution and trafficking in other jurisdictions.
Obama to host anti-IS coalition summit
US President Barack Obama will host a summit next month of leaders of the international coalition fighting so-called Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
The summit on countering violent extremism on 29 September in New York comes one year after Mr Obama vowed to crush IS during his United Nations speech.
Since then, the jihadists have captured territory in Syria and Iraq and gained a foothold in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East, with alliances as far afield as Nigeria's Boko Haram.
Mr Obama last year hosted a Security Council meeting during which a resolution was adopted to curb the flow of foreign fighters joining IS extremists on the battlefields in Iraq and Syria.
Italian mobster arrested while sunbathing on beach
Italian police arrested a fugitive mobster named on the country's top 100 most dangerous list as he sunned himself on a beach near Rome, according to media reports.
Giuseppe Ammendola, boss of a clan within the Naples-based Camorra syndicate, was on holiday in Torvaianica near the capital and had rented an apartment there for his family - despite being on the run since 2012.
"Peppe The Kid", as he is known, was wanted on charges of extortion, money laundering and belonging to an organised crime group.
He was unarmed when police swooped in to arrest him on the beach and went quietly, the reports said.
