EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #COURTS: A man is due in court in Galway today after being charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 47-year-old woman in Roscommon town. Ann Henry was found on the roadway outside a house on Saturday afternoon.
2. #RACE FOR THE ÁRAS: Fianna Fáil’s leader and deputy leader, Micheál Martin and Éamon Ó Cuív, are to meet privately today to discuss their difference about their party’s plans for the Presidential election. The Irish Times says Ó Cuív last week threatened to quit as deputy leader – after only weeks in the role – over the dispute about whether FF members should be allowed to nominate other candidates. The Irish Daily Mail says Dana will announce her entry into the race either today or tomorrow.
3. #GRANTS: Ruairí Quinn has announced a new independent board to review university grant appeals, in a move which has been welcomed by students’ unions. The body, the Student Grant Appeals Board, will be officially established today.
4. #WASTE: Irish restaurants lost €125m last year through having to dispose of food left behind by diners. A Unilever survey said nearly half of Irish diners admitted to ordering too much food – and then having to leave some behind.
5. #DALE FARM: Residents at the Traveller halting site are preparing for clashes with bailiffs today as attempts begin to enforce a court decision to evict them.
6. #DSK: In his first public interview since he was charged with the rape of a New York hotel maid, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has described his encounter with Nafissatou Diallo as “a failing vis-à-vis my wife” – but insisted that their liaison was consensual.
7. #GREECE: Protests continued outside the parliament building in Athens last night as the cabinet continued talks on trying to cut the budget deficit. Spending cuts and new taxes are needed in order to secure the next batch of bailout loans from the EU and IMF – the country will default without them.
8. #NETHERLANDS: It’s Budget day in the Netherlands tomorrow – but everyone already knows the content of the Budget speech, because it was uncovered by an enterprising journalist. Bram Talman went to the government website where last year’s speech was stored, changed the URL from ’2010′ to ’2011′ – and found the full copy of the speech to be given tomorrow. (The same trick doesn’t work in Ireland. We tried it before.)
9. #GINGERS: The world’s largest sperm bank has decided to turn down donations from red-haired men – saying there’s simply no demand for their, eh, produce. The Daily Telegraph says the supply of redhead sperm outstrips demand – and that Cryos now simply doesn’t want any more donations from men with red hair.
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