EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you really need to know as you start your day.
1. #RACE FOR THE ÁRAS It’s reported this morning that people close to Gay Byrne have said that he won’t run for the presidency this autumn. Friends have reportedly said that he has already made up his mind. Byrne said last night that he’ll be making a statement on Wednesday, and that he’s delaying his decision because one of his daughters is abroad.
2. #REFEREE A referee has died after collapsing on the pitch during a senior hurling championship quarter final in Derry last night. Attempts were made to revive Martin Mulholland using a defibrillator after he collapsed five minutes into the second half of the match between St. Colm’s Ballinascreen and Kevin Lynch’s from Dungiven.
3. #ITALY The Italian government has approved €45.5 billion worth of austerity measures after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called an emergency meeting yesterday. He has said that the government is “personally pained” to have to take these measures, which are in response to demands by the ECB.
4. #SHELL Shell has said that it’s working hard to ensure that an oil leak from a pipe in the North Sea is stemmed. The leak was reported yesterday, and the company said that it has managed to stop the flow but it’s not yet clear if the oil has been fully contained. The extent of the leak, at the Gannet Alpha platform, is not yet known.
5. #PFIZER The parents of four Nigerian children who died of meningitis have become the first people to win a battle against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer over a controversial drug trial. Pfizer was sued after 11 children died in a clinical trial when the northern state of Kano was hit by Africa’s worst ever meningitis epidemic in 1996.
6. #STATESIDE? Ireland captain Robbie Keane is being linked to a move to US side LA Galaxy. ESPN sources have said that the deal is all but done, and that Keane has travelled to California to discuss the transfer.
7. #BLOCKED Mobile phone signals were blocked to four subway stations in San Francisco yesterday in an attempt to hinder a protest against a police shooting. The protest, due to take place on BART station platforms, was in response to the shooting dead of man by BART police. The demonstration was planned to be coordinated using mobile devices.
8. #BERLIN Today marks the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall. A minutes silence will be observed at midday in memory of those who have died trying to cross the wall, which came down in 1989. At least 136 are known to have died, although victims’ groups say that number is much higher – closer to 700.
9. #RIOTS A man has been charged with the mugging of Malaysian student Asyraf Haziq during the London riots. A video of the incident went viral after it showed a group pretending to help a bleeding Asyraf, but then rob items from his backpack.
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