EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #NIGERIA: The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to the family of an Irish engineer who was shot dead in Nigeria earlier this week. Father-of-two Robert Gray, 45, was shot dead in the east of the country earlier this week while working with an Irish company on a road building project. His body is expected to be repatriated next week, it is reported.
2. #APPLE: Samsung stole the innovative technology that was created by Apple, a US court has ruled and must now pay the maker of the iPhone $1 billion in damages which is around €800 million. The a jury ruled that Samsung had infringed on several of Apple’s patents and software and must now pay damages. Samsung has said it will appeal the decision, the latest in the ongoing ‘tech wars’ between the smartphone and tablet makers.
3. #THEY LIKE US: A poll carried out by the Ipsos MRBI for the Irish Times in both Germany and Ireland has found that the Germans are more favourably disposed to us than any other eurozone country currently in a bailout. The poll found that 46 per cent of Germans felt Ireland was doing enough to fix its economy in comparison to 23 per cent who said we need to do more. Three per cent of Germans want us out of the euro.
4. #PROPERTY TAX: Speaking of Germany, our bailout overlords, the latest Department of Finance updates to the memorandum of understanding with the Troika have indicated that a property tax based on the value and not the size of the house is likely to be introduced at the Budget. More trips to the bond markets, multi-annual budgets and more details on that much-talked about sale of State assets are also contained in the latest documents.
5. #EUROZONE: The Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is in France today to meet with President Francois Hollande. It’s been a busy week for Samaras who met with German chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday in a bid to get Greece more time to implement reforms as part of its bailout programme. However, Merkel was firm in her belief that Greece must stick to its programme and timetable, a view likely to be echoed by Hollande today, BBC News reports.
6. #UNLUCKY 13: They might not like to admit but the government has listened to Michael Healy-Rae as the independent TD welcomed the reports that it is to change licence plate registration next year to avoid the unlucky number 13 appearing on licence plates of new cars. It was an idea the Kerry deputy first told us about in February and he said yesterday that while he was ridiculed by the media and laughed at in the Dáil he is glad the idea is now moving forward.
7. #THIS IS CHARLIE BIRD: It is the end of an era at RTÉ as one of the station’s most recognisable faces, Charlie Bird, has announced his retirement. The 63-year-old is bringing the curtain down on a long, nearly 40-year career in news in which he covered some of the biggest stories both here in Ireland and across the world. We’ve been looking back at his best bits.
8. #MARLAY PARK: After events at the now infamous Swedish House Mafia in the Phoenix Park last month concert security was tight at another ‘electric music’ event in Marlay Park in Dublin last night as DJ David Guetta wowed thousands of fans at the venue. The Irish Times says there was a notable security presence outside the event with gardaí stopping and searching those entering.
9. #TALL SHIPS: If you’re heading to the Tall Ships festival in Dublin today you might be interested in this story from the courts yesterday where a High Court judge granted an injunction against the displaying of a 16ft model of the Titanic following a dispute between a former couple. The model is worth as much as €70,000.
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