EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #SHOOTING: Police in Colorado are trying to tackle the booby-trapped apartment of James Holmes, the man suspected of shooting dead 12 people at a cinema on Thursday. The building has been evacuated as firefighters and other emergency service workers attempt to defuse a number of devices they know to be inside. It is understood that controlled explosions may be carried out later today.
Meanwhile, more details are emerging about the gas-mask-wearing gunman who entered the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises and fired shots, killing 12 and injuring another 58 people. The 24-year-old is said to be a gifted student who, until recently, was a taking a challenging neuroscience programme at a local medical school. He was not known to authorities, other than receiving a speeding ticket recently.
2. #SYRIA: Up to 30,000 Syrians have fled the capital of Damascus in the past 48 hours as fighting between Bashar Assad’s forces and rebels escalates. Taxis, buses and private cars carried families into neighbouring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan just as the UN Security Council voted to extend the UN observatory mission for a final 30 days.
3. #QUINNS: Seán Quinn Jr, the son of Ireland’s one-time richest man, has spent his first of 90 nights in prison after he was jailed for failing to comply with a court order to stop stripping assets from the family’s €500 million property group. A warrant for the arrest of Quinn’s nephew, Peter Darragh, has been issued after he failed to appear in court yesterday. The Irish Times reports that neither his legal team nor family have been able to contact him.
4. #JAILED: Earlier this week, Dublin councillor Louise Minihan was jailed for failing to pay a fine…and she wasn’t the only one. Twenty-five people a day are being sent to prison for not paying fine, according to new figures.
5. #MICHAELA: A fresh inquiry into the death of Michaela McAreavey is to be launched, according to the Mauritian Prime Minister. Navin Ramgoolam said a judicial inquiry will be held into the murder of the 27-year-old schoolteacher on the island in January 2011. The manner in which the police investigation was undertaken will also be probed.
6. #HOLIDAYS: Irish holidaymakers could be out-out-pocket and lose their vacations as booking agent Selfcatering.ie has gone bust. Thousands of families who have pre-paid for holidays in Ireland, Britain, Europe and the US received notifications that the company had ceased trading with immediate effect on Thursday.
7. #ABUSE: The €500,000 design for a new memorial dedicated to victims of abuse in Ireland was unveiled yesterday. Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said ‘Journey of Light’ by Studio Negri and Hennessy & Associates – to be built in the Garden of Remembrance - will “act as a testimony to one of the darkest chapters in our State’s history.
8. #iFORGOT: Ireland’s TDs will soon be the proud owners of new tablet computers but an investigation by TheJournal.ie has revealed that a number of similar devices sit relatively unused at Leinster House.
9. #6DAYSTOGO: With less than a week until the Opening Ceremony, the Olympic Torch has finally touched down in London after a relay that saw the flame brighten up more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages over the past 70 days. Kelly Holmes, who won 800m and 1500m gold at Athens 2004, was the first torchbearer in the host city but a decision is yet to be made about who will be the final runner to light the Olympic flame.
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