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Thousands of properties across Scotland have suffered power cuts, according to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, which warned that some could face 48 hours without electricity.

About 2-3cm of snow has fallen in Aviemore in the Cairngorms.

A flooded rail line at Bowling station in Scotland

The storm has disrupted rail services across Scotland, as well as trains to and from London.

Air and ferry travel in many parts of Britain has also been hit.

A rainfall gauge in England's Lake District recorded 80mm - nearly half the usual 178mm monthly rainfall for December, the UK Met Office said.

The fastest recorded wind gust was 138km/h at Inverbervie on the north-east coast of Scotland, according to the forecaster.

Storm Gerrit comes less than a week since Storm Pia lashed parts of the UK in the run up to Christmas.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/1228/1423896-tipperary/ https://www.rte.ie/news/weather/2023/1227/1423794-weather-storm-gerrit/

Coastal flooding possible as warning issued for west

Thursday, 28 Dec 2023

Met Éireann has warned of strong gusts and possible coastal flooding as Storm Gerrit hits Ireland overnight

Met Éireann has warned of strong gusts and possible coastal flooding as Storm Gerrit hit Ireland overnight.

The forecaster issued a Status Yellow rain and wind warning for eight counties on the west coast.

The warning for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo is in effect until 6am tomorrow.

Met Éireann said a combination of spring tides, large waves and strong winds may result in some coastal and localised flooding.

A Status Orange wind warning that was in place for some southern counties expired a midnight.

Main Scottish road reopens after vehicles stuck in snow

Updated / Wednesday, 27 Dec 2023https://www.rte.ie/news/weather/2023/1227/1423882-uk-storm-gerrit/

Vehicles stranded by floodwater in Old Kilpatrick, Scotland

A main road in Scotland closed due to snow has reopened after drivers were left stuck for hours in heavy traffic.

Police Scotland had declared a major incident after the snowfall - brought by Storm Gerrit - resulted in vehicles being stranded on the A9 in the Scottish Highlands.

Snowploughs and tractors were sent to the scene near Drumochter to clear a way through.

The A9 further south, at Ballinluig in Perthshire, was also closed by police due to flooding.

Police said the road is now fully open in both directions but advised drivers to travel only if necessary.

The M9 was flooded at Stirling in Scotland RTE News New exodus causes havoc in central Gaza as Israel pushes advance Thursday, 28 Dec 202
https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/1228/1423898-middle-east/

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New exodus causes havoc in central Gaza as Israel pushes advance

Thursday, 28 Dec 2023

Palestinians living in tents in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah

Tens of thousands of already displaced Palestinian families took flight again in a new mass exodus in central Gaza today, where Israeli forces mounting a major advance pounded areas already teeming with those driven out of the north.

Further south, Israeli forces struck the area around a hospital in the heart of Khan Younis, Gaza main southern city, where residents feared a new ground push in toterritory crowded with families made homeless in 12 weeks of war.

Israel has escalated its ground war in Gaza sharply since just before Christmas despite public pleas from its closest ally the United States to scale the campaign down in the closing weeks of the year.

The main focus of fighting is now in central areas south of the wetlands that bisect Gaza, where Israeli forces have ordered civilians out as their tanks advance.

Tens of thousands of people fleeing the huge Nusseirat, Bureij and Maghazi districts of central Gaza were heading south or west today into the already overwhelmed city of Deiral-Balah along the Mediterranean coast, crowding into hastily built camps of makeshift tents.

"Over 150,000 people - young children, women carryingbabies, people with disabilities & the elderly - have nowhere togo," the main UN organisation operating in Gaza, UNRWA, said in a social media post decrying what it called "forced displacement" under Israeli evacuation orders.

The eastern part of Bureij was a theatre of heavy fighting this morning, with Israeli tanks pushing in from the north and east, residents and militants said.

Fighting near hospital in Khan Younis

Khan Younis, the main southern city where Israeli forces advanced this month after a truce collapse, came under heavy bombardment this morning from warplanes and tanks near the al-Amal hospital, west of Israeli positions.

The Palestinian Red Crescent, which runs the hospital and has its headquarters nearby, said 10 Palestinians were killed and 12 wounded in one bombardment there, the third strike targeting the area around the hospital in less than an hour.

Residents said they believed Israeli forces were trying to provoke a new exodus ahead of a further ground assault in the city. Al-Amal is not far from Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in Khan Younis and the largest still functioning in the enclave.

Palestinian officials reported 50 people killed in strikes in Khan Younis and in the central area. Israel reported three more of its soldiers killed in fighting in central and southern areas, bringing the toll in the ground campaign to 169. The past week has seen some of its heaviest losses of the war so far.

Latest Middle East stories

Israel says it will not halt its ground campaign in Gaza until it annihilates Hamas, which controls the enclave. The war erupted when Hamas militants crossed the borderand killed 1,200 people and captured 240 hostages on a rampage through Israeli towns on 7 October.

The Israeli assault has laid much of the enclave to waste. According to Palestinian authorities more than 21,000 people - nearly one per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million population - have been confirmed killed with thousands more dead feared lost in the ruins.

Virtually all residents have been driven from their homes atleast once and many forced to flee several times. Only a handful of hospitals are still functioning.

Palestinians say wiping out Hamas, which has been sworn to Israel's destruction for decades, is an unachievable aim given the militant group's diffuse structure and deep roots in a territory it has ruled since 2007.

Israel says that since 7 October, the deadliest day in its history, it has no choice but war to safeguard its security and return more than 100 hostages still believed held by militants. It claims to have killed 8,000 fighters so far.

But its Western allies worry that the huge civilian casualties will radicalise a new generation of Palestinians and spread fighting to other areas across the Middle East. This week, Iran-backed groups have attacked US forces in Iraq and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

US President Joe Biden warned this month that "indiscriminate bombing" jeopardised sympathy for Israel among its allies. Washington has publicly said Israel should make a transition from full-scale ground war to a targeted campaign against Hamas leaders.

European countries that back Israel's right to self-defence have taken this month to calling for a sustainable ceasefire, a position French President Emmanuel Macron took on a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.

Since the war broke out in Gaza, fighting has also escalated on Israel's border with Lebanon, and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the UN said in a report today human rights for Palestinians had sharply deteriorated.

UN urges Israel to end 'unlawful killings' in West Bank

A United Nations report issued today said the human rights situation in the occupied West Bank was rapidly deteriorating and urged Israel to "end unlawful killings" against the Palestinian population.

"The use of military tactics and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate force, and the enforcement of broad, arbitrary and discriminatory movement restrictions that affect Palestinians are extremely troubling," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

Post mortem due after body found in Tipperary house

Thursday, 28 Dec 2023

The house is located in the isolated townland of Ballycrana near Kilross

A post-mortem examination is to be carried out today on the body of a man found in a house near Kilross, Co Tipperary.

Gardaí say the results of the examination will determine the course of the investigation.

The body of the man, who was in his 30s, was removed last night from the house in the isolated townland of Ballycrana near Kilross and taken to University Hospital Waterford.

The man, who was from Poland, was discovered in a downstairs room in the house shortly after 4am yesterday.

The house in Tipperary The house is located in the isolated townland of Ballycrana near Kilross

It is understood the detached two-storey house, near the Tipperary and Limerick border, was rented by the deceased and a number of others.

A number of people had reportedly gathered at the house on St Stephen's night for a birthday celebration and gardaí are anxious to speak to those who attended.

The house remains sealed off for a forensic examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone with information to contact Tipperary town garda station on 062 80670, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.

UK Ireland News

Irish Independent

Major security operation for funeral of Dublin restaurant attacker Tristan Sherry who was shot with his own gun

Major security operation for funeral of Dublin restaurant attacker Tristan Sherry who was shot with his own gun (msn.com)

A gunman who opened fire in a Dublin restaurant on Christmas Eve was shot with his own weapon before being killed.

A significant garda operation will be put in place for the funeral of Tristan Sherry (26) who died following the botched gangland hit at Browne’s Steakhouse in Blanchardstown.

The father of one entered the restaurant shortly after 8pm and opened fire at a group with a sub-machine gun, hitting a 47-year-old man several times.

The gunman attempted to get away through a door, but it was locked. He was then confronted, disarmed and stabbed several times.

The Irish Independent has learned that he was also shot once in the head during the confrontation. The gun was not located at the scene and gardaí are still searching for the weapon.

Sherry was associated with a crime group in Finglas led by a drug dealer known as Mr Flashy. Gardaí believe the shooting is linked to a feud between this gang and associates of the 47-year-old gun victim, who remains in a serious condition in hospital.

This dispute has previously been linked to a spate of shootings, assaults and petrol-bomb attacks, while gardaí have also foiled a number of assassination attempts linked to the feud.

Funeral details for Sherry are yet to be announced but it is expected to be held in the coming days. A significant security operation, involving armed gardaí, is expected to be in place over fears of reprisal attacks.

One source said: “Gardaí have already carried out searches in an attempt to prevent any further incidents and there are serious concerns of retaliation.”

After the shooting, a web page was set up for Sherry on the fundraising website GoFundMe, with his family trying to raise money for his funeral costs. The page was removed after several hundred euro had been donated.

Footage has also emerged of the attack on Sherry by the victim’s associates, which showed him bloodied on the floor of the restaurant before being struck with an object.

Gardaí have reviewed CCTV footage of the incident and investigations into both the shooting and subsequent killing are ongoing.

Detectives are also attempting to identify Sherry’s accomplice, who was also armed when he entered the restaurant but fled the scene.

Gardaí have appointed a senior investigating officer to oversee the inquiry, while a family liaison officer is also assisting Sherry’s family.

The shooting has been condemned by senior political figures, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

Local gardaí are also being assisted by detectives attached to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, while increased uniformed and armed patrols have been deployed to the area.

“An Garda Síochána is aware of videos of the incident and immediate aftermath which are in circulation on social media and messaging apps,” a spokesperson said. “We are appealing to the public for these videos not to be further distributed.

“We are also appealing to the public to be aware of a significant level of speculation, misinformation and disinformation which is in circulation.”

Joe Coates, whose barbershop, JC’s, is around the corner from Browne’s Steakhouse, said he wasn’t fearful that the violent events of Christmas Eve would hurt business.

He said his premises was set on fire last year and he has seen a number of videos of violent incidents in the local area in recent months.

He told the Irish Independent: “In the local area it has been brewing for the last six to eight months or probably a year. It’s going to come to a head at some stage.

“I’ve been there 25 years. I’m not going to say you’re used to what happened the other night specifically, but you’re used to it.”

Mr Coates said he grew up in Finglas in the 1980s, adding: “The lads now, and the lads the other night, are a different kettle of fish.

“I think every generation is getting worse. You just get on with it. That’s the way it is unfortunately.”

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Related video:

Justice minister condemns shooting incident at Dublin restaurant (Daily Mail)

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