Russia agrees on need for humanitarian corridors
On Thursday, Russia and Ukraine negotiators agreed to the need for humanitarian corridors to help civilians escape and to deliver medicines and food to the areas where fighting was the fiercest.
It comes as more than one million refugees have fled Ukraine in just seven days.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said a temporary halt to fighting in select locations was also possible.
The negotiators will meet again next week, the Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Podolyak as saying.
Meanwhile, Russian forces seized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine after fierce fighting which set ablaze an adjacent training facility, a local authority said. The fire was extinguished.
EU to consider further sanctions against Russia
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has described the shelling of a nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine as a “reckless act” and one that breaches international law.
Mr Coveney is in Brussels, where foreign ministers are meeting in for an emergency session to respond to the crisis in Ukraine.
Mr Coveney said that the EU will discuss adding further sanctions against Russia.
He said the intent is to isolated Russia internationally and send a strong signal to Moscow to show the world is “disgusted” by the events in Ukraine.
“There will be more Russian banks taken out of the Swift system,” he added.
Fuel prices expected to rise
Inflation could spike as high as 10 per cent in the coming months, as the fallout from the Ukraine war sends crude oil rocketing and the price of a litre of fuel hovers at close to €2.
In just the past week since Russia launched its invasion, European gas prices have more than doubled, coal has surged by 85 per cent, and crude oil has climbed by a fifth.
As the Irish Examiner reports, Kieran McQuinn, economics professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute, (ESRI), said Irish inflation will now spike much higher than previously thought and peak later this year at 8.5 per cent.
The ESRI had previously expected inflation to average 4 per cent this year and peak at 6 per cent in March.
Analog Devices to create 250 jobs in Co Limerick
Semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices has announced a €100 million investment in Raheen.
The investment will create 250 new jobs at its Co Limerick plant over the next three years.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar welcomed the "fantastic" news. In a post on Twitter, Mr Varadkar detailed that the jobs will include roles in areas such as AI, machine learning and 5G applications.
Co Leitrim fatal road traffic collision
Gardaí are investigating after a motorcyclist aged in his late 40s died in a road traffic collision in Co Leitrim on Thursday.
Gardaí in Carrick-on-Shannon are investigating the fatal collision that occurred on the R208 near Drumcong at around 5pm.
It is understood the motorcyclist and a car collided at Aghacashlaun, with the motorcyclist fatally injured in the collision.
The male driver of the car, aged in his late 30s, was uninjured and did not require medical attention. He was the only person in the car.
