Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you really need to know by 9am.
1. #OBAMA’S VISIT: US President Barack Obama has confirmed he will visit Ireland in May, as part of a wider European tour. Speaking in the Oval Office yesterday after a private meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Obama said he would visit as part of a series that includes a 3-day visit to the UK, and attendance at a G8 summit in France.
2. #LIBYA: The United Nations Security Council has voted to impose a no-fly zone over Libya in order to protect civilian safety. The 15 members voted by 10 votes to 0 (with Russia, China, India, Germany and Brazil all abstaining; the former two chose not to use their vetoes). The move bans all flights in Libyan airspace – and may trigger a military assault to remove Libya’s own airborne capabilities.
3. #JAPAN: Safety crews at the Fukushima I power plant may be close to finishing an alternative electricity supply that could end the week-long fears of a major meltdown at the plant. An emergency power cable has been laid, which could be used to power the plant’s regular cooling systems and stop operators from needing to gush sea water into the plant’s six reactors.
4. #TRAGEDY: A Wicklow father was killed in front of his son yesterday – when he was crushed to death by a falling tree as he chopped some logs. Eamon Smith was chopping trees with his young son at the Glen of the Downs in Co Wicklow when he was struck by a falling ash tree, the Irish Independent reports.
5. #PARADES: The ever-contentious issue of parades in Northern Ireland was brought to the fore again yesterday – when a Sinn Féin councillor breached an agreement not to fly any tricolours at a parade. Eamonn Mac Con Midhe carried such a flag at the parade in Downpatrick – causing DUP councillors to walk away from the parade, saying it was clearly there to “antagonise”, the Irish News reports.
6. #CURRENCY DIPLOMACY: The world’s developed economies have intervened in currency markets to weaken Yen, in an almost unprecedented move. The G7 nations. The seven nations said the action had come as part of “solidarity with the Japanese people,” the nations said. The intervention is the first such coordinated action in a decade.
7. #ROADS: Gardaí are appealing for witnesses who saw a single-vehicle traffic accident in Cork yesterday evening to come forward. A woman in her late teens were injured when the 4×4 she was travelling in hit a ditch on the old N8 between Kilbeheny and Mitchelstown. Six other occupants of the vehicle – all in their late teens – were taken to hospital by ambulance.
8. #CHELTENHAM: Today’s the last day of the Cheltenham festival – and Irish-trained horses are on the verge of an all-time record haul at the meeting, needing just one win from today’s races to confirm a record haul of 11 winners. TheScore.ie’s live coverage of the final day kicks off shortly after 1pm.
9. #TRANSPARENT: A see-through dress worn by Kate Middleton on the night she is said to have prompted the affections of her husband-to-be, Prince William, has been auctioned off for €89,000. The dress originally cost Kate €35 and was put together as a college project before she wore it at a charity fashion show at the University of St Andrews where both she and William attended.
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