Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you really, really need to know with your morning coffee.
1. #BRRR: This latest cold snap has seen a foot of snow fall in parts of Donegal, while air travel continues to be disrupted across the UK and Europe today. AA Roadwatch says drivers should take extra care this morning on the icy roads. This cold spell could last right up to Christmas Day.
2. #BANK OF IRELAND: BOI is pushing to make up the €2.2bn in recapitalisation required by the end of February and is expected to finalise a fund-raising plan this week to draw €1.5bn, according to the Sunday Times. Yesterday, senior BOI officials told the Sunday Independent that the bank had “no choice” but to pay a six-figure bonus to one of its executives several months ago.
3. #BANKS: The Sunday Business Post warns that some banking experts say that the small business sector could put further pressure on banks as more go out of business, leaving unpaid loans behind.
4. #CORK: A garda investigation is underway after a 15-year-old girl was killed in a sledding accident in Douglas, Co Cork, yesterday.
5. #US: The US Senate has passed a historic vote to drop the ban on allowing openly gay people serve in the military. The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal now passes to President Barack Obama, who said it was “time to close this chapter in our history”, the Washington Post reports.
6. #GERRY RYAN: The Sunday Independent claims that a small number of gardaí in Dublin have protected some rich and public figures with drug habits, including late RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan.
7. #AMANDA KNOX: US citizen Amanda Knox has been granted a review of forensic evidence used to convict her of the murder of her flatmate, British student Meredith Kercher, the PA reports. Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are jointly appealing their 26- and 25-year sentences for killing Kercher.
8. #KOREA: The UN is to hold an emergency Security Council meeting to discuss escalating tension between North and South Korea, Al Jazeera reports. South Korea cancelled plans to hold military drills on Yeonpyeong, the island which was recently shelled by the North, this weekend due to adverse weather conditions.
9. #DNA: Scientists will attempt to extract DNA from bone fragments discovered on a deserted South Pacific island in an effort to identify them as belonging to missing pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart. Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in 1937 during her bid to become the first woman to fly around the world.
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