GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know to start the day.
The Morning Lead
1. In our Morning Lead, Eoghan Dalton visited Britain’s oldest Irish club in north-west England, where members of the Irish community are backing Labour heavyweight Andy Burnham as he seeks a return to Westminster amid a growing challenge from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Water quality
2. Urgent action is required to sort out Ireland’s consistently poor water quality, the Environmental Protection Agency has said.
Strait of Hormuz
3. The first tankers carrying Iranian oil exited a US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, two days before Washington and Tehran launch talks on an agreed peace deal still scant on details.
Legal aid fees
4. Concerns over solicitors “maximising” their earnings through criminal legal aid payments has been highlighted in a confidential Department of Justice report.
Climate change action
5. The government has been urged by the Climate Change Advisory Council to provide “targeted measures” to increase electric vehicle uptake among lower-income households in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
Retail theft charges
6. 41 people are due to appear before court today as part of a garda operation targeting retail theft and organised retail crime across south Dublin.
Jeremy Clarkson
7. Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he has been diagnosed with cancer.
Trump ballroom
8. US president Donald Trump’s ballroom project at the White House will cost as much as $600 million (or about €516 million), with more than half coming from taxpayers.
World Cup
9. Lionel Messi scored a dazzling hat-trick for Argentina on Tuesday to equal Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 16 goals at World Cups as the defending champions swept Algeria aside 3-0.