Category Archives: Misc

I love you, man.

This afternoon.

Dublin city centre

Meanwhile…

Proposals to introduce an age limit for the sale or supply of e-scooters look set to be dropped by the Government, amid fears that the measure would be unenforceable.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan is understood to be proposing a number of amendments to the Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021, which legislates for electric scooters and electric bikes as well as other road safety issues.

E-scooters are currently classed as “mechanically propelled vehicles”, meaning they should not be used in public places without tax, insurance and an appropriate category of driving licence.

The legislation will create a new vehicle category to be known as Powered Personal Transporters (PPTs) which will include e-scooters and similar devices.

Age limit for sale of e-scooters to be scrapped (Irish Times)

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Above from left: Fatin Al Tamimi, National Chairperson of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and activists Zaid Albarghouthi, from Palestine, and Dubliner Ciara Margolis

This afternoon.

Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

The Irish launch of a new European Citizens’ Initiative to ban trade with illegal settlements.

If an ECI garners one million signatures from EU citizens over 12 months, the European Commission must consider and debate the petition’s demands.

Via Academics for Palestine:

A European coalition of more than 100 civil society organizations, has launched a European Citizens Initiative (ECI) to stop trade with illegal settlements in occupied territories. Academics for Palestine is a partner of the Irish ECI campaign, along with other 20 Ireland-based social and cultural organisations.

Academics for Palestine calls on its supporters and every EU citizen concerned about human rights, social justice and fair trade to sign the petition.

Even though illegal settlements constitute a war crime under international law, the EU allows trade with them. In the case of Israel’s settlements, the UN Security Council has called on states to render them no assistance, and the European Union has repeatedly declared that they constitute a flagrant violation of international law. Nevertheless, the EU continues to trade with them, which has emboldened their ongoing expansion.

Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign chairperson, Ms. Fatin Al Tamimi, said

“Despite the overwhelming support of the Irish people for the Occupied Territories Bill, the Irish government has shamefully refused to enact it. This ECI now gives us a rare and exciting chance to speak directly to the political bureaucrats in Ireland and the EU. We the citizens of Europe can make our collective voice heard to change on this issue. Together we can stop EU trade with, and sustenance for, illegal settlements in occupied territories, including my own country of Palestine”:

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Anyone?

Any excuse.

Previously: The National Coursing Meeting took place in Clonmel but could this be the last time the event is held? *newstalk, February 7)

Staying in tonight?

Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies And Videotape.

Via RTE:

In the deeply personal new documentary, Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies and Videotapes, producer, broadcaster and gay activist, Bill Hughes, tells the story of his friendship with radio and TV star Vincent Hanley.

Bill reveals the story of Vincent’s life and ultimately his tragic death from AIDS in 1987, set against a backdrop of an Ireland in the throes of a devastating AIDS crisis.

Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies and Videotapes, on RTÉ One tonight at 9.35pm.

Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies and Videotapes – Fab Vinnie and me (Bill Hughes, RTE)

RTE Guide cover via RTE

Former EU Commissioner Phil Hogan in this morning’s French daily Libération

This morning.

Further to former EU Commissioner Phil Hogan’s golfgate resignation…

Vie RTÉ News:

In an interview with French newspaper, Libération, Mr Hogan is understood to have suggested taking action against the Commission.

The paper’s long time Europe Correspondent, Jean Quatremer, writes that he met Mr Hogan for an exclusive interview and that Mr Hogan “did not rule out the idea of demanding compensation for the damage suffered“.

Mr Hogan had previously apologised for attending the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Clifden, Co Galway, but denied that he breached Covid-19 quarantine rules.

In the interview, Mr Hogan said that during the golf dinner, he had been sitting next to the former minister for agriculture Dara Calleary, who, he said “participated in the Government meeting which decided on the new restrictions“.

The paper says that Mr Hogan met the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen four times in three days following the controversy, which erupted on 17 August.

Meanwhile…

On Monday, 24 August, according to Mr Quatremer, Ms von der Leyen asked Mr Hogan to write a precise chronology of his movements.

However, Mr Hogan is quoted as saying that at this meeting he felt “that she wants to end this affair as quickly as possible and that she wants me to leave. She immediately believed in the interpretation given by the Irish Government, which claimed that I had undermined its pandemic strategy by my actions.”

The paper states that the following day, Ms von der Leyen “demanded” that Mr Hogan give an interview to RTÉ “to explain himself”.

Mr Quatremer writes: “A commission president who manages the media agenda of a commissioner is undoubtedly a first.”

UE: comment Ursula von der Leyen a viré son commissaire au Commerce pour rien (Liberation)

On the podium yesterday from left: Iszac Henig (silver), Lia Thomas (gold) and Nikki Venema (bronze)

Yesterday.

Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Via Swimming World:

The final night of the Ivy League Championships featured a battle of transgender athletes for the title in the 100-yard freestyle. Ultimately, it was the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas who prevailed over Yale’s Iszac Henig, with Thomas adding to her previous victories at the meet.  Princeton’s Nikki Venema was the third-place finisher

…..The showdown in the 100 freestyle marked the first clash of the meet between the transgender swimmers in an individual event

Thomas also got the best of Henig. Thomas is a first-year member of the Penn women’s team, following three years as a member of the Quakers’ men’s program. Thomas’ participation on a women’s team has generated considerable controversy, due to undergoing male puberty and now competing against biological females. Henig, meanwhile, is a third-year member of Yale’s women’s team and transitioned to male at the beginning of last year.

Lia Thomas Sets Records in 100 Freestyle; Completes Ivy League Triple For Swimmer of Meet Honors (SwimmingWorld)

AP

This morning.

Via Reuters:

Credit Suisse handled billions of dollars in dirty money for decades, an international media investigation based on a massive data leak claimed in the latest setback for Switzerland’s second-largest bank.

The bank held more than $8 billion (seven billion euros) in accounts of criminals, dictators and human rights abusers, among others, according to the investigation by a group comprising dozens of media organisations.

It was the largest leak ever from a major Swiss bank, OCCRP said.

The leak included information on more than 18,000 bank accounts, many of which “remained open well into the 2010s”, said the OCCRP.

Giant client data leak puts fresh pressure on Credit Suisse (Reuters)

Getty