EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #SEAN DUNNE: Former Irish property tycoon Sean Dunne says he owes $942 million and only has assets of $55 million. According to RTÉ News, Dunne disclosed the sums to a Connecticut court where is seeking to be declared bankrupt.
2. #BOTCHED ROBBERY: The Irish Independent is reporting this morning that the gun attack on former politician and bankrupt developer Ger Killally was a robbery gone wrong. It reports that gardaí believe that the gunmen knew that Killally was carrying €20,000 in the boot of his father’s car.
3. #DRUGS: Two Lithuanian men are being detained at Wexford Garda Station after heroin and amphetamines worth around €190,000 was seized at Rosslare Europort. It was Ralph the drug dog who sniffed out the drugs in the van that was disembarking a ferry from France.
4. #ISRAEL: An airstrike was carried out by Israel in Syria. It is believed that Israel was targeting a weapons shipment headed for Hezbollah based in neighboring Lebanon. The White House and Pentagon officials declined to comment on the reports.
5. #PORTUGAL: Portugal’s prime minister has unveiled a package of austerity measures that aims to cut 30,000 public sector jobs, push the full pension age back from 65 to 66 years old and increase the hours that civil servants would be expected to work, from 35 hours per week to 40. The measures were announced so the country would be eligible for another slice of the much-needed bailout fund.
6. #SYRIA: Hundreds of families have fled the Sunni districts of the Syrian city of Banias, fearing new attacks after a “massacre” in a nearby Sunni village. At least 50 people are believed to have been killed, but more are missing so the toll could go up.
7. #CALIFORNIA FIRE: A fire that is threatening 4,000 homes in California rages on. The wildfire has nearly tripled in size since it began on Thursday, near Malibu and 65 kilometers west of Los Angeles. California typically has fires later in the year, but strong winds and temperatures in the 30s Celsius have triggered a series of brushfires this week.
8. #STRIKE: Staff at a plant which treats water for 248,000 homes and businesses in Dublin and Wicklow are to strike over what they say is their employer’s refusal to recognise their rights to be collectively represented by their union, SIPTU. It will begin at 6.30am on Tuesday 7 May at the recently reopened Shanganagh Waste Water Treatment Plant in south Dublin.
9. #PSYCHOPATHS: Children who under-react to images of people in pain may be at risk of developing psychopathy as adults a study of children with conduct problems has found. One of the psychologists involved in the study said that the findings are an indication of ‘early vulnerability, rather than biological destiny’.
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