EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #ULSTER BANK: Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside £125 million to compensate hundreds of thousands of account holders affected by its recent ‘technical glitch’. About £28 million of this will be directed towards customers of its subsidiary Ulster Bank.
2. #LOUGH DERG: A search has resumed on Lough Derg after a damaged and upturned speedboat was spotted close to Garrykennedy in Tipperary last night. It is not yet clear if anyone was on board when the vessel capsized.
3. #TAOISIGH: The State has paid out more than €83,000 to four former taoisigh (Albert Reynolds, John Bruton, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen) this year for secretarial assistants, airport VIP services and mobile phone usage – and that’s despite the scheme being scrapped at the beginning of 2012.
4. #SYRIA: The United Nations General Assembly is to vote on a resolution that condemns the Security Council for failing to stop the violence in Syria. A day after Kofi Annan stepped down from the position of special envoy, the international community hopes to put pressure on the council to take action as reports from the ground suggest intensified fighting between rebels and President Bashar Assad’s forces in Aleppo.
5. #PHOENIX PARK: Calls have been made for MCD to appear before a Dublin policing committee next month to answer questions about the Swedish House Mafia concert in the Phoenix Park in July. Nine people were stabbed at the event and a subsequent Garda Commissioner’s report described the control centre as “not fit for purpose” and the venue as unsuitable for large-scale dance music concerts.
6. #ROADS: Despite mandatory breath testing being introduced in 2011, figures revealed by RTÉ have shown that more than half of drivers involved in serious road collisions between July and December last year were not tested for alcohol.
7. #MAEVE BINCHY: The funeral of Irish author Maeve Binchy takes place in Dalkey, county Dublin this morning. Those who wish to pay their respects, wherever they are, can watch the service through RTÉ’s livestream from 11.30am.
8. #FAKEBOOK: Facebook may not be as popular as it seems…the social networking site has admitted that over 83 million of its almost one billion profiles are either fakes or duplicates. CNN reports that about 1.5 per cent have also been labelled as “undesirable accounts” because they have been created solely for spamming purposes.
9. #SAIL ON, SAILORS: Sports fans will need stamina this weekend as it’s an absolute bumper one kicking off in London. The athletics events finally get under way but there is also more action in the pool and boxing ring. Need some sustenance? Head over to TheScore.ie for their full Olympic Breakfast.
Irish competitors to look out for today include sailor Annalise Murphy who is currently leading in the Women’s Laser Radial, Anna Merveldt and her horse in the dressage and Joanna Cuddihy, Ciarán Ó Lionaird and Fionnuala Britton on the track.
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