EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #NORTHERN IRELAND Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore is to visit Northern Ireland today, where he will meet the North’s political leaders and administrators in Belfast. The visit is to mark 15 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and will include meetings with the UK’s Northern Secretary, Theresa Villiers, First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
2. #FINANCE Taoiseach Enda Kenny will speak at an economic conference in Granada, Spain, today. He will travel to Lisbon, where he will meet with Portugese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. RTÉ reports that the talks are expected to focus on EU financial affairs. He met with his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy yesterday, where he updated him on the Irish presidency.
3. #RIGHT TO DIE The Supreme Court will rule today on whether Marie Fleming, who has multiple sclerosis, has the right to end her own life with the help of another person. The seven judges will issue their ruling at 10.30am on Fleming’s challenge to the ban on assisted suicide. The case would have major implications if the judges were to rule in favour of the former lecturer.
4. #ON THE RUN A dangerous prisoner is said to be ‘on the run’ after escaping from prison officers. Christopher Doyle was jailed in 2002 over the assault and robbery of a pensioner who died following the attack. Doyle is serving a separate sentence for dangerous driving and was visiting his father in hospital in Dublin when he ‘vanished’, reports the Daily Mail. Gardaí are said to be on high alert and the hunt is underway for Doyle.
5. #PAKISTAN A suicide bomber has killed eight people in Pakistan, police say. Forty five others were wounded when the bomber rammed his motorcycle into a bus in Peshawar today. Violence has spiked in the country ahead of national elections on May 11.
6. #RACISM There are five ‘serious incidents’ of racism a week in Ireland, according to the Immigrant Council of Ireland. It says that reported incidents of racism have grown significantly, and have been reported on public transport, in offices, on the street and in neighbourhoods. However, the ICI also says that racism remains under-reported in Ireland.
7. #BALI An Australian holidaymaker is said to have been raped on the Indonesian resort island of Bali by a thief who broke into her family’s rented villa, police said. The 28-year-old Perth woman was attacked at around 8pm GMT on Friday (4am Saturday local time). The assailant is said to have threatened her with a knife and raped her when he discovered there was nothing in the family safe.
8. #JACKSON The family of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, are to launch their case today for massive compensation from the promoter of his last tour. Opening statements are due in Los Angeles at the wrongful death trial of Katherine Jackson against AEG Live, whom she blames for negligently hiring Conrad Murray, the doctor convicted over Jackson’s killing.
9. #WIKILEAKS What happened during a reported ‘hijacking incident’ at Dublin Airport 37 years ago? A Wikileaks cable has scarce information on the apparent incident, but we have found out a few other details about the mysterious event.
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