Morning Briefing, 19th January

Dia Duit,

The Govt is to publish the Children's Rights Amendment today (Breakingnews). Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he will only go ahead with the referendum if he gets all-party consensus on the wording.

The 5 axle ban comes into effect in Dublin (RTÉ) AA Roadwatch says the introduction of a ban on five-axle trucks travelling through Dublin city centre has had an impact on M50 traffic this morning.

The US Senate is try and find new avenues of limiting Bush's power in Iraq (France 24) Leading Democrats touted a proposal that would revoke the October 2002 authorization that allowed Bush to invade Iraq.

Germany is the latest country to cancel footbal games over hooliganism (BBC)

Germany has also jailed a Holocaust denier (Al Jazeera)

A prominent far-right acvtivist has been sentenced to five years in prison for Holocaust denial by a German court.

Ernst Zuendel was extradited from Canada and on Thursday was handed the maximum possible sentence under German law for the crime in the southwestern town of Mannheim.

The court said it had counted 14 instances on Zuendel's Internet homepage where he denied the historical facts of the Holocaust and incited anti-Semitism

The 67-year-old has previously published works entitled The Hitler We Loved and Why and Did six million really die?

Thats it for now, have a good day!!

Senate didn't vote on objection to troop buildup

Senate Democrats failed to garner the 60 votes they needed to consider a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

The vote was 56-34, with seven Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with senators who oppose the troop surge in Iraq.

The Democrats have a razor thin 51-49 majority in the Senate so mustering 60 votes will require at least 9 Republicans to cross the floor, that is if all the Democrats turn up to vote.

Some quotes from the debate (CNN)

"We are policing a civil war in Iraq," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said before the vote. "American troops should not be in the middle of that war.

"This nonbinding resolution, as a practical matter, doesn't do anything, but was designed to try to disapprove of the new mission," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said after the vote. "Our view is you cannot discuss the new mission in Iraq without discussing funding for the troops."