Japan implements two-person cockpit rule
Japanese airlines will have to have at least two people in the cockpit at all times, the government said today, as Tokyo joined other airlines tightening the rules in the wake of the Germanwings crash.
Either a flight attendant or an off-duty pilot who is on board to be repositioned for assignments will be required to go into the cockpit when one of the two pilots leaves.
All domestic carriers will have implemented the rule within a week, the transport ministry said.
It comes after investigators confirmed co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed a Germanwings flight into the French Alps after locking his colleague out of the cockpit, killing all 150 people on board.
Over 60 job losses announced at Sligo vaccine company
An estimated 60-70 redundancies have been announced at Elanco Animal Health, a vaccine manufacturing facility based in Sligo.
It currently employs 166 people.
The company released a statement earlier today saying that a restructuring effort planned for the company would result in the redundancies.
Staff were told of the development in a meeting at lunchtime today.
Drivers escape serious injury in Clare motorway incident
Motorists have been warned to drive with care following a series of collisions involving ten vehicles on the M18 in Co Clare.
The accidents happened at around 11.30am following a heavy hailstone downpour.
Three accidents, each involving three vehicles, occurred in the northbound lanes at Manus between Junction 11 for Dromoland and Junction 10 for Killoo. A single-car crash occurred at the same location on the opposite side of the motorway.
The northbound lanes were closed at Dromoland and traffic on the southbound carriageway was reduced to just one lane.
Fire and ambulance services along with gardaí from Ennis, Shannon and Limerick City responded to the scene.
Nobody was found to be seriously injured though some casualties were taken to hospital as a precaution. The motorway has now been reopened.
Further delay in Irish nanny's murder trial
The trial of an Irish woman accused of murdering a baby girl in her care has been further postponed by a court in Massachusetts.
Aisling Brady McCarthy, originally from Co Cavan, has been held in custody since she was arrested shortly after the infant's death in January 2013.
Her trial had been due to begin on 6 May with the swearing in of a jury on that date.
However, that date has now been postponed and no new trial date has been set.
Ms Brady McCarthy will remain in custody pending a new trial date.
Suspected submarine seen in Finnish waters
The Finnish military has fired handheld underwater depth charges as a warning against a suspected submarine in waters near Helsinki.
The incident comes amid growing military tensions with neighbouring Russia.
The navy said it noticed an underwater target yesterday and again this morning and fired some warning charges – the size of grenades.
Finland, which shares a 1,340km border with Russia, has been increasingly worried about its powerful neighbour after a year of Russian air force sorties and military border exercises.
One killed in crash in Co Tyrone
One person has been killed and another seriously injured in a road crash in Co Tyrone.
The collision involving a car and a lorry happened yesterday evening on the M1 motorway near Dungannon.
Two hospitalised after disturbance in Waterford
An investigation is under way after two men were hospitalised in Waterford following an incident in the Mount Sion area of the city yesterday.
Gardaí said up to 12 men were involved in a row in which a slash hook was used.
The two injured men suffered cuts and were taken to University Hospital Waterford but were subsequently released.
Three arrested in SA for rape, murder of elderly nun
South African police have arrested three people for the rape and murder of an 86-year-old nun of Austrian origin nearly two weeks ago.
Sister Gertrud Tiefenbacher, from the Sacred Heart Home Convent in the village of Ixopo, southwest of Durban, was found murdered in her room after being suffocated with a towel, and her hands tied with an electric typewriter cord.
Police said the three male suspects, aged between 25 and 35, would appear in a local magistrate's court tomorrow on murder, robbery and rape charges.
Bird flu found at Iowa poultry farms
Initial tests have found probable avian influenza outbreaks at five new commercial poultry sites in the US state of Iowa, affecting more than six million birds.
Additional tests are pending to confirm the highly pathogenic H5N2 that is rapidly spreading, Department of Agriculture officials said.
Positive results would push the outbreak's national tally to more than 15.1 million affected birds from commercial flocks in 13 states.
Iowa state officials have quarantined the five farm sites.
Explosion outside Derry probation office
Probation offices in Derry were damaged in an explosion last night.
British army bomb disposal experts are examining a second device near the scene of the first blast in Crawford Square near the city centre.
No injuries have been reported, police said.
Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford said: "Whoever planned, assembled and set off the bomb in Derry on Monday night have nothing positive to offer the community. It put the lives of local people at risk and forced them to leave their homes."
