EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you start your day.
1. #CREDIT CARD: €243 in Tesco, €20 in the Dáil Bar and a restaurant bill for €561 – documents obtained by TheJournal.ie show exactly what the Department of the Taoiseach has spent on its credits cards in Enda Kenny’s first year in charge. The Department spent almost €25,000 on the credit cards in total in the space of one year – higher than the previous year, but significantly lower than figures for 2008.
2. #CAO: Points for many third-level courses have risen, particularly in the area of maths, science and technology, according to the CAO which released its college offers this morning. Separately, problems have been reported with the CAO website unable to handle heavy traffic this morning, with unhappy students taking to Twitter to express their unhappiness with the site.
3. #DEATH THREATS: The head of the agency responsible for collecting the household charge has said his staff have received a death threat and hate mail. The Irish Examiner reports Gardaà are investigating after Paul McSweeney of the LGMA said that staff received a shotgun cartridge in the post.
4. #SUSPICIOUS: Gardaà are treating the death of an 81-year-old man in Ballyedmond in Wexford as suspicious after his body was discovered outside a house on Sunday afternoon. A 51-year-old woman was arrested at the scene and is being held in Enniscorthy Garda station.
5. #TONY SCOTT: Hollywood director Tony Scott has died after jumping off a bridge in Los Angeles. The 68-year-old English director was responsible for box office hits including Top Gun, Crimson Tide and Beverly Hills Cop II. He is survived by his wife Donna, their twin sons, and his director brother Ridley Scott.
6. #BLACK MARKET: The State is losing more than €860 million a year to the black market, mostly due to the sale of illegal cigarettes, according to a new report by Retail Ireland. The lobby group said that one quarter of all cigarette sales in Ireland are on the black market, and 12 per cent of all diesel sold is illegal.
7. #NORTHERN IRELAND: The PSNI is investigating after loyalists made a death threat against a Belfast-based journalist. The National Union of Journalists has appealed to politicians and others who may have influence with the Ulster Defence Association to have the threat withdrawn against the unnamed journalist.
8. #CHINA: Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced political leader Bo Xilai, has been given a suspended death sentence by a Chinese court for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. The case has rocked the Community party ahead of a power handover due to take place shortly.
9. #LOVELY GIRLS: The Rose of Tralee – official purveyor of Lovely Girls for the past 53 years – returns to television screens tonight, with 32 Roses from around the world taking to the stage in Kerry in a bid to win the title. We’re going to be liveblogging the whole thing later tonight and tomorrow but in the meantime, we’ve put together The Big Fat Rose of Tralee Quiz. Good luck…
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