The Daily Fix: Thursday

In this evening’s wrap-up: All eyes on Brussels, a new plant at Sellafield, some classic tourist no-nos, and Dublin Zoo’s latest arrival…

EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of all the day’s news as well as the bits and pieces that you may have missed.

All eyes are on Brussels this evening as Enda Kenny meets his European counterparts for a dinner ahead of an all-day summit tomorrow. Kenny earlier met his colleagues from the European People’s Party, including Angela Merkel, and raised Ireland’s interest rate with them – but has admitted that the Greek problem mean there probably won’t be a deal for Ireland this week.
There’s some good news on the banking front – Bank of Ireland is reporting a healthy take-up of its offer to exchange junior bonds for shares in the bank. So far the deal has saved the Irish taxpayer almost €2bn.
Pat Cox will, after all, be a candidate for Fine Gael’s presidential nod – after the former PD confirmed this evening he had secured the support of enough party members to seek the nod next month.
The government is being accused of overhyping its opposition to Sellafield this evening, after British authorities said they were planning to build a second nuclear power plant at the Cumbrian site.
Good and bad news on the economic front from the CSO. As a whole, the Irish economy grew by 1.3 per cent in the first three months of 2011 – but the domestic economy, as measured in GNP, fell by a whopping 4.3 per cent. So exports are doing brilliantly, but domestic demand fell through the floor.
Despite that, Ireland has done pretty well on the Failed States index this year… we’re the seventh least-failed state there is. Go team!
Health minister James Reilly says there are no immediate plans to restore breast cancer surgery services to Sligo General Hospital.
A major report published by the Council of Europe has criticised Ireland for failing to recognise transgender people.
The Winklevoss twins – whose struggle to take control of Facebook was documented in The Social Network – have decided not to appeal a US court ruling which blocked them from seeking a better settlement with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
A strange tale from Russia – where a woman was mispronounced dead, woke up in the middle of her funeral… and then died from the shock of it all.
It’s official! Whining is, scientifically, the most annoying sound. (Here’s seven other worthy contenders.)
CNN has some suggestions on what not to do if you’re a tourist coming to Ireland. Got any more suggestions for their list? Let us know.
Fancy going to the Rugby World Cup? If you book your tickets now, you might even get to be in the opening ceremony – because it turns out the organisers are running short on volunteers to help out.
Another day, another new arrival at Dublin Zoo! Today the Zoo welcomed a new white-crowned mangabey. Its gender isn’t yet known, but it’s been named ‘Sunyani’, after a region in Ghana.

The Daily Fix: Thursday

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Dublin Zoo welcomes Sunyani
Dublin Zoo welcomes Sunyani
Dublin Zoo welcomes Sunyani

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