EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you really need to know as you start your day.
1. #RIOTS: A 68-year-old man who was attacked and seriously injured as he attempted to put out a fire during the unrest in Ealing, London, on Monday night has died in hospital. Police have launched a murder inquiry and are continuing to release images of people they would like to question about the recent riots and looting. No major incidents were reported in English cities last night, after the week’s earlier violence.
2. #DISAPPEARED: A body which was exhumed from a Monaghan graveyard two months ago is not that of teenager Columba McVeigh, who was abducted by the IRA in 1975. McVeigh is one of the ‘Disappeared’ – people kidnapped and presumed murdered by paramilitaries during the Troubles.
3. #FÁS: The Independent reports that some unemployed people have been taking the same FÁS course twice over fears they may lose their welfare payments.
4. #PFIZER: Pharmaceutrical giant Pfizer has begun paying compensation to the families of victims of a 1996 meningitis vaccine testing trial it conducted in Nigeria. Al Jazeera reports that only the parents of four of the 11 children who died have received payments so far. Dozens of people suffered disabilities after the trial.
5. #TRANSPLANT: A report from the inquiry into why a Co Leitrim teenager missed out on a liver transplant in London last month is due out today, RTÉ reports.
6. #CHINA: A Chinese train manufacturer has recalled 54 bullet trains in what is seen as a blow to the country’s high-tech travel development. The move follows a two-train collision last month which killed 40 people. Xinhua reports that the company said the recall was prompted by safety concerns.
7. #GUATEMALA: Guatemalan police have arrested two men suspected of participating in the massacre of over 260 people in 1982 during the country’s civil war, according to the BBC.
8. #HEALTH: The emergency department at Belfast City Hospital could close as early as October due to a severe shortage of doctors. Protests against the closure are planned for this weekend in an effort to dissuade Northern Ireland’s health minister Edwin Poorts from approving the cut.
9. #SESAME STREET: It’s time to call the Bert and Ernie wedding campaign off. The Children’s Television Workshop says that its Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie are best friends, but despite their human traits, “they remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation”. The statement follows a campaign calling for the pair to wed after their home town New York city legalised gay marriage.
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