EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #HIT-AND-RUN: Gardaí investigating the hit-and run which killed a 48-year-old man in Donegal at the weekend, are examining a car found at the scene. Alan McSherry was walking home on the Newtown Road in the early hours of Saturday morning when he was struck by a vehicle. His body is believed to have been discovered by his wife.
2. #REBEL REBEL: Fine Gael senators have been told that they can not miss any of the upcoming votes in the Seanad between now and Christmas as the possibility of exiled senators siding with the opposition piles pressure on the government, the Irish Examiner reports.
3. #SMOKING: The Irish Cancer Society has insisted that laws like the workplace smoking back are helping change attitudes towards the habit, despite recent research suggesting workers have been undeterred. The society said that the 6.8 per cent reduction in smoking prevalence shows the legislation in working.
4. #EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: Four options for the redrawing of Ireland’s European constituency map have been outlined by Fine Gael with two options proposing Dublin as three-seater. The proposals are to be submitted to the Constituency Commission for a decision ahead of next year’s elections.
5. #TELEVISION: Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has called on the public to have their say on the new broadcast charge as the consultation period begins. Speaking today, the minister said that the property tax register could be used for the collection of the new charge.
6. #HEART HEALTH: A survey conducted on behalf of the Irish Heart Foundation has found that four out of five people in Ireland over the age of 45 are affected by high cholesterol levels. The foundation has warned that this can lead to a narrowing of artery walls and in some cases heart failure.
7. #SYRIA: The United States has warned Syria that it will face action over the “moral obscenity” of a chemical weapons attack as UN inspectors gathered evidence about the incident. The US has also cancelled a meeting with Damascus ally Russia on the Syrian conflict that had been scheduled for this week.
8. #WILDFIRE: The massive fire in and around the Yosemite National Park in California is still just 20 per cent contained and BBC reports that ash from the blaze is now raining down on a key reservoir. City officials say they are moving water to lower reservoirs and monitoring supplies for contamination.
9. #BADGERS: Some 5,000 badgers will be shot in England as a cull starts today in an attempt to curb he spread of tuberculosis in cattle. Animal rights groups are against the cull and have called for a vaccination programme like that in Wales to be introduced instead.
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