The 9 at 9: Saturday

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news to know as you start your day.

Mercosur midlands protest

1. Irish farmers angry over the EU’s Mercosur trade deal are holding what’s expected to be a largescale protest in Athlone today, as they try to muster opposition to the agreement getting ratified.

Tractors, hauliers and politicians are all expected to take part in a cavalcade through the Midlands town before a major rally.

Iranian uprising

2. Anti-government protests erupted last night for a 13th night in Iran, with people rallying in a northwestern district of capital Tehran despite an internet shutdown and deadly crackdown by authorities.

In Tehran’s Sadatabad district, people banged pots and chanted anti-governments slogans including “death to Khamenei”, in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as cars hooted in support. 

Greenland eyed monster

3. US President Donald Trump has again suggested using force to seize Greenland, saying the issue will be dealt with the “easy way” or the “hard way”.

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Journalistic privilege

4. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has said that proposed changes to laws around seizing journalists’ phones will actually benefit reporters, but the National Union for Journalists (NUJ) has said genuine concerns still remain.

It comes as there was  pushback to a Bill announced by the Justice Minister over Christmas that deals, among other things, with the rights of gardaí to seize phones and equipment belonging to journalists. 

Deepfake defence

5. Elon Musk has claimed that critics of his social media company X  “want any excuse for censorship”, as there is political pressure from Ireland, UK and the EU over deepfake pornography and child abuse images being created by the Grok AI tool on the X website. 

Pea souper

6. Road users in the east of the country are being warned of dense fog this morning, after another night of freezing temperatures. A Status Yellow fog warning is in place till 10am and covers Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow.

ICE killing anger

7. Anger is growing and protests are planned in the midwestern US state of Minnesota this weekend after fresh footage emerged over the killing of motorist Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

Cell phone footage apparently taken by the officer who fired the fatal shots shows him interacting with Good as he approaches and circles her car, and her saying, “I’m not mad at you.”

TG4

8. The campaign to make TG4 more accessible north of the border is heating up again, almost 30 years after the British Government committed in the Good Friday Agreement to explore the possibilities of making the channel more widely available in Northern Ireland.

Young Scientist 

9. Kerry student Aoibheann Daly has won the top prize at this year’s Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.  

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