LAST UPDATE | 31 Mar

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.

Dodgy boxes

1. Over the weekend, we opened our inbox for you, our readers, to tell us your views on dodgy boxes and illegal streaming. 

Your replies were mixed – see what people had to say.

Ukraine

2. The Minister for Foreign Affairs will arrive in Kyiv this morning on a two day visit to coincide with a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers and will have discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the anniversary of the Bucha Massacre.

Our correspondent Niall O’Connor is in Ukraine and will bring you the latest news from the region.

Simon says

3. Finance Minister Simon Harris is to outline details of his much touted savings plan later today as a way of making investment more accessible for the public.

In a speech at the first Savings and Investment Forum in the Central Bank in Dublin, the Tánaiste is expected to set out some key principles of the model being worked on ahead of its likely introduction as part of the Budget later this year.

Minimum wage

4. Recent increases to the minimum wage in Ireland did not lead to low-paid workers losing their jobs, despite concerns aired, new ESRI research found – but an increase in younger employees on the lower rate of minimum wage shows employers may be offsetting some of their labour costs.

Middle East

5. US President Donald Trump threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, including desalination plants, if a deal to end the war with Tehran is not reached “shortly”.

Renewed appeal

6. Detectives from the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch are making a renewed appeal for information on the 1973 murder of 18-year-old Marian Beattie.

It is currently reviewing Marian’s murder in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone 53 years ago today and police are appealing for information surrounding the circumstances leading to her death.

Man on the moon

7. NASA’s first manned mission to the Moon in more than 50 years that will take its crew deeper into space than anyone has gone before is “ready to go”, according to space agency chiefs.

Four astronauts are due to blast off aboard the 322-foot rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Wednesday, if weather conditions hold and barring any last-minute hitches.

En Français 

8. The CEO of Air Canada will be stepping down from his role later this year after he attracted widespread criticism for delivering an English-only video condolence message after two of the airline’s pilots were killed in an airport collision.

The two pilots were killed in a collision on 22 March between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

John Stephens

9. Fianna Fáil officially confirmed its candidate in the Dublin Central bye-election, selecting local city councillor John Stephens for the vote.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s party announced Stephens, who currently serves as Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, at a party selection convention yesterday evening in the Ashling Hotel in Stoneybatter.