EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie gives you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #FITZPATRICK: The former chairman and chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank Seán FitzPatrick has been arrested in connection with alleged financial irregularities at Anglo Irish Bank. Gardaí have confirmed they have arrested a man in his 60s and that he will appear before the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin today. It follows the charging of two former executives at the bank, Willie McAteer and Pat Whelan, yesterday.
2. #ANGLO: Meanwhile, the High Court will today hear an update from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement on its investigation into the now defunct Anglo Irish Bank. The ODCE inquiry has focused on the collapse of the bank with 150 files already sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Previously the judge in the case has expressed concerns about the length of time it has been taking to investigate the matter.
3. #CABINET: The cabinet is expected to meet for the final time before the summer break today. On the agenda will be reducing the numbers of TDs, reducing the number of councils, reducing the number of increments in the public service and extending the remit of the Freedom of Information legislation before Ministers go on their holidays.
4. #EUROZONE: The credit rating of Germany, yes that’s right Germany, is under threat after the agency Moody’s warned that the outlook for the eurozone’s biggest country is negative because of the wider threat from Greece. It comes as officials from the International Monetary Fund are due in Athens today to assess the progress of the Greek bailout.
5. #CONFIDENCE: Health Minister James Reilly has confidence in his junior minister Roísín Shortall. That’s despite Shortall not taking the opportunity to express her confidence in her colleague at the Department of Health when she was asked no less than four times. Reilly’s spokesperson told the Irish Times that the Fine Gael Minister has confidence in both Shortall and her fellow Labour junior health minister Kathleen Lynch.
6. #SYRIA: Government forces in Syria continue to reassert their influence in the capital Damascus and the country’s second city, Aleppo, where they have clashed with rebel forces who made gains last week. BBC News reports this morning that in Aleppo and the city of Homs there have been attempted breakouts by prisoners with activists saying that security forces loyal to president Bashar Assad are threatening to storm the prison in Homs.
7. #SPACE: The first US woman to travel into space has died. Sally Ride, 61, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 17 months ago and passed away last night. NASA said in a statement that Ride was “a pioneer of a different sort” in a “space agency filled with trailblazers” having broken the gender barrier 29 years ago when she blasted off in the Challenger shuttle. In case you were wondering., the honour of the first woman ever in space goes to the Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
8. #IPHONE: Apple is to drop the wide dock connector for its gadgets, starting with its new iPhone later this year it is reported. Reuters says that the current 30-pin port at the bottom of the device will be replaced with a 19-pin connector at the bottom which will apparently make room for a the earphones to also move to the bottom of the device. That could prove troublesome for the many companies who make accessories for Apple’s ubiquitous phone.
9. #DRINK JUICE: The Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has urged his country’s citizens to drink juice produced by a state-run company instead of Coca Cola or Pepsi. The left-wing leader says that drinking Uvita, a grape juice, will be better for you and better for the economy than buying soft drinks made by foreign companies, Associated Press reports.
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