This afternoon.
Via Dublin City Council:
The Dublin Place Brand team within Dublin Council have launched a new campaign called ‘Open for Christmas‘ to encourage people to support city-centre businesses in the run-up to Christmas. The campaign features ads across outdoor sites, print, digital, radio and social platforms. Plus a video (above), featuring Dubliners and narrated by poet Stephen James Smith with music by Hudson Taylor.
A Soviet-era 82mm mortar launcher
This afternoon.
Via RTÉ:
The discovery was made after a courier was stopped after he arrived into Dublin Port at around 2am. When the car was checked an 82mm mortar launcher was found in the back.
The Bomb Disposal Team confirmed the weapon was an old Soviet mortar. The area was declared safe at around 5.30am and gardaí have since removed the mortar for technical examination. The driver told gardaí she was delivering the mortar to a collector in Northern Ireland.
Breaking Woman arrested after mortar launcher found at Dublin Port (RTÉ)
US President Donald Trump (right) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Dallas, Texas, USA last June
Last night/today
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the US Supreme Court to instruct legislatures in four states to throw out what he calls “tainted” results and select their own slate of presidential electors.
Via Newsweek:
The Republican-controlled legislatures in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin would then be free to choose electors who could vote for Trump when the Electoral College meets on December 13.
At least 17 states that voted for Trump have signed a brief supporting the Texas lawsuit, which claims that the four states in question didn’t follow election laws correctly in administering the 2020 election. Trump has also filed a motion to intervene in the case.
The U.S. Constitution permits states to decide their own laws on running elections and a variety of legal experts have harshly criticized the Texas lawsuit, with some arguing the Supreme Court won’t even hear the case because the state doesn’t have standing to sue its sister states in this way.
Can Trump Still Win the Election? Texas Supreme Court Lawsuit Chances (Newsweek)
Meanwhile…
Our Office has received many inquiries about the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit filed at the U.S. Supreme Court and whether Arizona will participate. Here is my statement and our legal filing: https://t.co/82qIu1lQ5B pic.twitter.com/tRY6c6lTJl
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) December 9, 2020
The Long-Shot Texas Suit Trump Is Hailing as the ‘Big One’ (Bloomberg)
AP
Dolly Parton
Yee.
Haw.
On The Late Late Show Country Music Christmas Special…
…Jennifer O’Brien writes:
The Late Late Show Country Music Christmas Special features none other than the First Lady of Country Music, Dolly Parton, as well as the biggest stars of the Irish country music scene.
…In a revealing interview with Ryan, Dolly, the most decorated female country performer of all time, will be speaking about the profound influence of her parents on her music, and the highs and lows of her illustrious career. Dolly will also discuss writing classics including I Will Always Love You, and her enduring friendship with Irish country star Margo.
Margo herself will be in studio, as will brother Daniel O’Donnell, for a chat with Ryan and some special musical performances sure to have viewers at home up on their feet.
For one night only, singers Una Healy, Cliona Hagan & Claudia Buckley will come together with a special tribute performance of a number of Dolly Parton’s greatest hits. Nathan Carter and The Three Amigos will also be among the performers on the evening.
The Queen of Irish Country Music, Philomena Begley will be speaking to Ryan during the evening, and there will also be music from Trudi Lalor, Barry Kirwan, and Mike Denver.
The Late Late Show Country Music Christmas Special tomorrow on RTÉ One, 9.35pm.
AP
From top: Pope Francis; Irish Catholic Bishops Conference in St Patrick’s College Maynooth in 2013
This morning/afternoon.
Via The Irish Times:
It is “morally permissible” for Catholics to accept a Covid-19 vaccination which involves the use of cell lines derived from aborted foetuses, the Irish Catholic Church has said.
The Catholic Church traditionally teaches that it is unethical to use stem cells derived from aborted fetuses in medical research.
However, in a statement on Wednesday, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference said Catholics could accept vaccines using these stem-cells if a more “ethically acceptable” alternative is not available.
“Questions have arisen that human foetal cell-lines, which have their origins in abortions carried out in the past, are used in the development and production of some of the vaccines for Covid-19,” the statement said.
Good times.
Getty/NUI Maynooth
This morning.
Sophia Heather writes:
Irish athleisure brand Powercut has launched a new collection just in time for Christmas gifting. Launched just 12 months ago, Powercut have quickly become Ireland’s fastest-growing athleisure brand. The brand offers performance wear, outerwear and loungewear. Premium, design centric and functional at a reasonable price…
Beats jammies, in fairness.
Irish-made stocking fillers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘Irish-Made Stocking Filers’.
Fit geek Emlyn Lewis.
The hero we deserve.
Emlyn writes:
I’m the guy that raced the Dublin Luas as Sonic in 2014, Megaman in 2015, Streets of Rage in 2016… Took a break and moved out of Dublin, although not in Ireland, thought you’d be interested in the continuation of my new athletic nerd music video challenge (above) I just finished working on here in Cardiff city centre, Wales…
In fairness.
Previously: Megaman Vs Luas
Last night.
O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.
Members of the Irish-Syria Solidarity Movement holding a vigil at the Spire to highlight the continued plight of tens of thousands of ‘disappeared’ from the war in Syria. Yesterday marked the 7th anniversary of the abduction and disappearance of the ‘Douma 4’ in 2013.
Greeting the new 74 ADL Enviro 400 Extended Range (ER) hybrid buses were, from left: Stephen Kent, CEO, Bus Éireann; Hildegarde Naughton TD, Minister of State at the Department of Transport; Ray Coyne, CEO, Dublin Bus; and Anne Graham, CEO, NTA
Fancy some soft-core hybrid fun?
This morning.
The first of an initial order for 100 double-deck electric hybrid buses placed by the NTA, destined for use in Dublin by Dublin Bus and in Galway by Bus Éireann, arrived.
The new buses will enter service early in the New Year.
The exterior of the buses features the new green, yellow and white Transport for Ireland, (TFI) livery, which will be ‘phased in across the entire public service obligation (PSO) fleet over the coming year’.
But what about the spec?
The buses, designated Enviro400ER by their manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited, utilise BAE Systems’ Series-ER hybrid system that incorporates a 32kWh next-generation lithium-ion battery energy storage system that can be charged externally via a plug-in connection.As a result, they are capable of running in zero tailpipe emission mode for a distance of at least two and a half kilometers and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30%.
Survivors of Symphysiotomy protest, Merrion Street, Dublin 2 in 2014
This morning.
The European Court of Human Rights has declared applications from three Irish women who underwent symphysiotomies in Irish maternity hospitals in the 1960s as inadmissible.
Symphysiotomy is a surgical procedure in which preganant women has the cartilage of her pubic symphysis divided to widen the pelvis.
Via RTÉ:
The ECHR has found that in one case the complaint was inadmissible as the applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies in the Irish courts.
In the other two cases it found the applicants’ complaints to be manifestly ill-founded, indicating that a question regarding the exhaustion of domestic remedies also arose.
Cases taken over symphysiotomies declared inadmissible (RTÉ)
Previously: Symphysiotomy on Broadsheet
