EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #PFIZER Staff at the Pfizer plant in Newbridge were told by management this morning that150 jobs are to go at the plant. Speculation had been growing that jobs were to be cut. The company said that operations in Ireland will not be affected by the move.
2. #PAY BACK Bank of Ireland is to begin repaying the State the €1.8 billion that it was given as part of the bailout. The repayment will begin ahead of a March 2014 deadline and the money will come from a sale of the government’s preference shares to private investors.
3. #MISSING The inaugural National Missing Persons Day is marked today, and Gardaí have chosen it to launch the Child Rescue Ireland (CRI) alert smartphone app. The app was created with the help of the Vodafone Foundation Ireland and will be used to send out CRI alerts to the public.
4. #JAIL A loyalist bandsman has been jailed for three months for playing The Sash outside a Catholic Church during last year’s Ulster Covenant centenary parade, the Irish News reports. A co-accused had his three-month sentence suspended.
5. #SYRIA An investigation has found that Irish troops in Syria reversed onto a landmine after coming under fire in Golan Heights. They were travelling in a convoy of armoured vehicles when they were fired on,and it was originally thought the blast was from an IED.
6. #STARDUST The Stardust Victims’ Committee have called for a new inquiry into the deadly nightclub blaze, saying that they have new evidence. They allege the original investigation was ‘flawed’, the Irish Sun reports.
7. #NEW YORK The operator of the train that derailed in NYC experienced a ‘daze’ while at the controls, his lawyer said. William Rockefeller is said to have experienced a phenomenon called ‘highway hypnosis’ and hit the brakes when he felt something was not right.
8. #THAILAND A temporary truce is being observed by protesters and security forces as Thailand prepares to mark the birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Hundreds of protesters descended on police headquarters yesterday.
9. #DEATHS Two skydivers collided in mid-air in Arizona yesterday and died after plummeting to the ground with collapsed parachutes. The accident is believed to have occurred while around 200 people were staging a simultaneous jump.
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