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

• AIB has confirmed plans to seek 2,500 voluntary redundancies as part of efforts by the State-owned bank to cut costs. The bank said it would “need to consider other options” if they did not achieve the redundancies on a voluntary basis. It is the largest single redundancy announcement in Irish banking history.
• Gardaí have arrested 25 people in connection with the sale and supply of drugs in the Coolock area of north Dublin. The men and women have been charged and released on bail to appear in court at a future date.
• Gardaí have also confirmed this evening that the body recovered from the sea at Howth in Dublin earlier today is that of Anna Byrne, the 35-year-old heavily pregnant woman who went missing from her home in Meath yesterday.
• The Central Bank has said that it requested the removal of the camp set up by the Occupy Dame Street protesters on the advice of the gardaí. The camp was removed overnight and almost totally cleared by the time Dubliners were heading to work this morning.
• The government has had to weather criticism over the Fine Gael photoshoot that was cancelled this morning. The media event was intended to celebrate one year in government but the idea was described as silly by Labour Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte this morning.
• But while one photoshoot was cancelled Taoiseach Enda Kenny was able to find an alternative one on this International Women’s Day.
• Syria’s deputy minister for oil has defected in a video posted to YouTube. Abdo Hussameldin is the first government minister to publicly defect from Bashar Assad’s regime since the uprising against Assad’s rule began a year ago.

Look into my eyes: After last night’s Daily Fix, you’d think we had an obsession with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste but here they are deep in conversation at the launch of the ‘Succeed in Ireland’ initiative, which aims to 5,000 jobs in five years, today. (Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

• In the Dáil today, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty was suspended after rowing with the Ceann Comhairle over the employment history of the new Secretary-General in the Department of Finance, John Moran. Here’s how it all unfolded.
• While neither the Ceann Comhairle nor Deputy Doherty were lost for words, Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said he was when he was accused by Seán Fleming of having a “vested interest” in the BAI investigation into the Seán Gallagher ‘bogus tweet’. Here’s what that was about.
• As the European Central Bank (ECB) held interest rates steady today it had some good news to report: While the rest of the eurozone is struggling with the financial crisis, the Frankfurt-based bank quadrupled its profits last year.
• Announcing the interest rate decision today, ECB president Mario Draghi said that the issue of the Anglo Irish Bank promissory notes has not been discussed at governing council level. This means that Ireland is unlikely to secure a deal before it has to pay €3.1bn to bondholders in the now defunct bank later this month.
• Last night, we told you that Pallonji Mistry was Ireland’ richest citizen. But who is he? We’ve been founding out.
• Keep your eyes on the sky tonight because the Northern Lights may be visible over Ireland. It will be the largest solar flare in the last ten years according to Astronomy Ireland.
• Finally, it’s almost St Patrick’s Day and while we don’t normally post ads, we thought this one from Guinness was particularly good as this sheepdog attempts to round-up the lads for a pint:

YouTube: Guinness

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