EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #EUROZONE European finance ministers are meeting in Poland today to discuss the various issues surrounding the Eurozone at present with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also expected to be in attendance. Geithner is to raise the possibility of leveraging the Eurozone’s €440 billion bailout fund to make it more effective in fighting the debt crisis.
2. #RACE FOR THE ÁRAS It’s expected to be another eventful day in the presidential race with RTÉ reporting that Sinn Féin will reveal which candidate it will put forward for the election next month. Meanwhile, senator David Norris is expected to appear on the Late Late Show tonight to outline why he intends re-entering the race.
3. #FIANNA FÁIL So important has the presidential race become, the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party held a six-hour meeting last night in which the Irish Independent reports deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív threatened to resign over leader Micheál Martin’s attempt to not nominate any candidate for the election. Despite its own senator Labhrás Ó Murchú indicating his interest in running, Fianna Fáil will not now make a decision on the matter until Tuesday.
4. #CORK A man has been arrested in connection with the suspicious death of a 42-year-0ld man in Macroom, Co Cork yesterday, it is reported this morning. The man in his 20s was arrested last night after Gardaí found the body of a man at a house in Massytown.
5. #LEIGHTON BUZZARD A fifth person has been arrested and faces slavery charges following the discovery of 24 men living in cramped conditions at a traveller site in Bedfordshire, England. Connors, who is pregnant, has been bailed until a court appearance next week.
6. #TRAPPED MINERS One of the four men trapped in a mine in South Wales has been found dead, police have confirmed this morning. Earlier, efforts to find the four men trapped in the flooded mine since yesterday had to be halted after divers were forced to turn back. The rescue operation continues today, Sky News reports.
7. #BACK TO SCHOOL The Department of Social Protection has still to process 36,000 claims for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance despite the school term already being well underway, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday. As TheJournal.ie reported last month, the Department of Social Protection has been inundated with applications which it has struggled to process.
8. #TEXAS A convicted double killer has been granted a last-minute stay of execution by the US Supreme Court after lawyers argued that the case was tainted by racism. Duane Buck had already eaten his last meal but his legal team argued successfully that a psychologist who testified that black men were more likely to pose a future public threat could have influenced the original sentencing, AP reports.
9. #IS THIS THING ON? Finally, meet the latest YouTube sensations, Esther and Bruce Huffman. The couple were getting to grips with their new laptop when they accidentally recorded themselves making faces, singing and engaging in a little bit of inappropriate boob talk. The video was uploaded to YouTube and so far has over three million views. Check it out:
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