First Lady Sabina Higgins is presented with a hat made by 16-year-old Caoimhe Dowling (right) from Presentation Secondary School in Listowel, Co. Kerry. A group of Young Entrepreneurs from the county were at Áras an Úachtaráin today.

Image: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

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

• Alan Shatter has compared current media scrutiny of ministers’ meetings with TDs like Michael Lowry as being akin to the McCarthyism of 1950s America. Shatter issued a stinging rebuke to today’s Irish Independent story which said he had refused to disclose whether or not he had met with Lowry in the aftermath of the Moriarty Tribunal.
• Three quarters of Catholics say the teaching of the Catholic Church on subjects like sexuality is irrelevant. 87 per cent of people told the survey – commissioned by the Association of Catholic Priests – that priests should be allowed to marry; 77 per cent back female ordination.
• The government’s unveiled plans to upgrade the electricity grid in the south and east of the country, and announced a public consultation on the new €500 million project.
• It’s been another busy few days for Phil Hogan. Yesterday he was jeered by protesters in Carlow (part of his home constituency); today he’s announced a review of laws on smoky coals, saying the bans can be modernised.
• Another thing Hogan is involved in: last week the minister tweaked Irish planning laws, meaning event organisers only have to give 10 weeks’ notice (and not 16) of an outdoor event. The move could revive chances of a gig taking place at Slane Castle in 2012.
• A fifth of Ireland’s young adolescents report hearing voices in their heads, according a new study into auditory hallucinations. Some of the phantom conversations last up to two minutes in length.
• GOAL has warned that Haiti could face a second cholera epidemic, warning that the return of rainy weather to the stricken country has already resulted in a fresh surge of infections.
• A neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida six weeks ago has been charged with second-degree murder by US prosecutors.
• The cost of living in Ireland rose by 2.2 per cent in the last 12 months, according to new stats from the CSO.
• Traffic at Ireland’s biggest three airports was down in the first quarter of 2012, according to new figures out today.

A North Korean woman cleans slaughtered ducks on a processing line at the Dudan duck factory which employs 1000 workers and produces 7000 tons of duck products a year in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

• Protesters gathered outside Leinster House today to demonstrate against a new Bill which would legalise abortion under certain circumstances. The Bill, brought forward by the ULA’s Clare Daly, will be discussed in the Dáil next week.
• A man in Alabama has been given a three-day jail sentence after showing up to court in baggy pants. The judge said the clothing was inappropriate and was tantamount to contempt of court.
• North Korea has allowed foreign journalists into its space control centre, where this weekend’s rocket launch – purportedly to launch a satellite into orbit – will be overseen.
• The GAA championship season is still weeks away but already there’s managerial movement: Val Andrews has quit as Cavan boss, while the Meath County Board is reportedly seeking to oust Seamus ‘Banty’ McEnaney – though the Monaghan man is standing firm and says he has the backing of the players.
• No such movement for Liverpool’s under-fire Kenny Dalglish, however, with club chairman Tom Werner saying the Scot’s job is safe.
• One Direction are being sued. By One Direction. You know, the band, One Direction. They’re suing the band One Direction.
• You might have thought your chance for 15 minutes of fame had gone. You were wrong.
• You may also have thought that on a sinking ship, chivalry could thrive with people allowing women and children to be the first onto the lifeboats. Well, you were wrong there too.
• The Daily Mail’s lovely lady de jour, Samantha Brick, is coming to your TV screens tomorrow night. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
• Is this the future? This video uploaded by YouTuber sohail7411 shows what life may be like as optical technology advances.

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